Yeah, I don't have any punny turn of phrase to open this article. It's unfortunate, but what can you do? Hopefully, future episodes will present more opportunities, but I can't promise anything.
After the powerhouse that was the last episode, this episode acts as more of a breather. I get the logic, but it would have been nice to see the momentum put to better use.
Not that this episode is bad, there's quite a lot to like, but it doesn't have the same impact that the preceding episode did.
Annie herself takes a backseat this time around. She tries to reconnect with Joy to no avail. When we last see her, she's curled up on the couch, eating ice cream in a bit of depression. You can't really blame her. Joy wants nothing to do with her, Nadia steps in and not only enforces the separation, but tells Annie that she can't work at the hospital anymore, which I assume cuts her off from her medication supply (though seeing as she stopped taking them anyway, that might be a moot point.) On top of that, Annie comes out the loser in two major confrontations. Abdi getting the upper hand, I understand. He's more seasoned and has a tougher background, but even Joy's friend Chance mouths off to Annie and shoves her with no repercussions. Not exactly a proud moment for Annie Wilkes.
Instead, the episode shifts its focus to Pop Merrill, as he learns that his chemo isn't working. While Nadia does present him with possibilities beyond that, he chooses to accept his fate. The scenes with him are well done and Robbins does a good job making it count. The Irish wake that he decides to throw is one of the highlights of the episode, bringing both a bit of humor and pathos to Pop, as well as his family.
Speaking of family, a bombshell is dropped as Nadia learns the real reason why Pop adopted them in the first place. It had been hinted at, but it's made clear here that he was the one who killed their parents and took them in due to what he saw as a debt.Suffice it to say, Nadia doesn't take it well. Her storm off was well deserved, but I'm not sure why that was the note the writers decided to end it on.
I would've thought that the scene with Ace taking his brother to the church to be "converted" would have been the way to go. It was the most intense scene in the episode and, despite being fairly brief, did a lot to set up what is to be the arc for the remainder of the season. Ace's speech to Chris is a bit of an exposition dump, but at the same time, it's a milder example as Ace is speaking rather casually about what had happened before.
Credit to Chris, even after being stabbed in the stomach, he puts up a decent fight. His response was both a highlight and oddly humorous. Things don't end well for him, but he went out on a high note.
One quick follow up, apparently it was Greg Grunberg who played the cop. Neither his Wikipedia nor his IMDB page said anything about it, which is why I concluded that it wasn't him. After seeing him again here, I became even more convinced it was him and did some more digging. On the plus side, I was right, so that's good. It would have driven me nuts if I had remained under the impression that it wasn't him, but just someone who looked almost exactly like him.
In any event, this episode was solid. It doesn't leave as lasting an impression as its predecessor, but it does what it does well and while it isn't quite as tense, it's never boring. It's sad to see Annie sidelined, but there's still plenty of good character and story arc material to keep the viewer happy.
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