After the hiatus, this episode was actually quite easy to jump into. It picks up more or less where its predecessor left off, with Jess and Trish having to dispose of Will's body lest Jess become implicated.
While you'd think this would act as a motivator to put Jess' investigation into focus, the story is somewhat sidelined by other plot points, such as Jess being evicted. On the one hand, it's frustrating, as it seems like it's killing the show's momentum. On the other hand, the characters are all likable and sympathetic enough that you enjoy their various interactions.
Even Jess is able to walk that fine line of "snarky and aloof, but still relatable to the audience". I thought for sure that her attempt at hypnotherapy would have been an unmitigated disaster. OK, the doc ends up bailing, but she gave it much more of a chance than I thought she would.
Sadly, not every character gets that same benefit. I should have felt sorry for Hogarth. I mean, she's really sick and now her partners are trying to force her out of the company. Unfortunately, her one scene with Foggy pretty much robs her of any sympathy. You almost want to see her partners win this particular case. Even Jess isn't having any of it when Jeri comes to her and Jess wasn't even there for that scene. To her credit, Hogarth does earn some points in the following scene when she opens up to Jess about her condition. She still owes Foggy an apology, but at least she dodged the hate sink.
Griffin is an interesting case. Up until now, he seemed like the kind of character who was so good that they had to be up to something. It's a common plot twist. It seems like this episode lays that to bed, with Jess saying that she looked into him and he essentially checks out. It isn't 20 minutes before he's doing something shady after coming across Trish's video file of the Whizzer.
Now, maybe this is a fake out and Griffin really is on the level. If it isn't the case, the show might have done better to let that simmer for a while. Let the audience drop their guard and think that he's an ally before dropping that twist. Right now, it's too soon to tell. A part of me is hoping that it goes the other way and that Griffin really is just a guy who's trying to be helpful. We'll have to see.
Even IGH gets something vaguely resembling development. It would have been easy to cast them as the nefarious shadow organization, but from what "Hansen"s dialogue suggests, they were trying to save people's lives. You'd think that they were attempting to create an army of metas or something, but it appears that was just an unintended side effect. IGH's methods are obviously still suspect, but it does create some ambiguity, making for a potentially more interesting adversary.
"Hansen"s speech could very well have just been typical villain motivation speech, but she does seem legitimately appalled when Jess suggests that she would have been better off dying with her family all those years ago. How soon she forgets that she put an end to Kilgrave's reign of terror and helped bring down the Hand. Those are kind of big deals.
I was surprised at how much humor the episode managed to get in. It isn't at the expense of the more serious and dramatic elements, and it feels like it still fits. It's mostly dry quips, but they still pull some legit laughs from the viewer.
Tha handful of Marvel nods were also a nice touch. Jess being asked by her super-intendent's son if she knows Captain America was amusing (though also a bit sad as it seems like the movies and shows will remain forever segregated). I'm not sure if Jess describing Trish's investigation as "cloak and dagger" was supposed to be a nod to the show of the same name. That could honestly just be a coincidence. I still need to check that series out now that I think about it.
Overall, this was a solid outing. The slight pacing problems are offset by the fact that the cast plays really well off each other. The script also gives the cast plenty of great material to work with. As such, you the viewer are kept engaged in even the more mundane elements of the story. It also ends with a big enough wham note to hook you for the next episode. It should be interesting to see where things go from here.
Click here to become a Swagbucks member
Click here to join our Patreon campaign
No comments:
Post a Comment