Summary: Marcus has to testify but he lies and says that Hannah wanted to date Bryce. Tyler pranks Marcus for lying in court. Andy returns and gets in an argument with Olivia. Clay discovers that Justin has heroine and Tony sends Sheri to take care of him to get him out of the addiction. Alex gets Clay to send him the tapes so he can listen to them.
The Good: There was some good drama created from Marcus lying in court. I think it's a welcome development that opens up the possibilities for what could happen in these court scenes to affect the case. With the idea being planted in our heads that some of these kids can lie, it raises a lot more intrigue for other characters like Mr. Porter and Bryce for when they choose to testify. Furthermore, the lies added a lot to the high school storyline with people wanting to attack Marcus for lying, which is a realistic follow-up that raised the stakes of the story. I'm excited to see more about how he reacts, if he will redeem himself and just what he does next in general. I love that this episode added some depth to why Marcus did what he did to Hannah. I really wish we had gotten this last season as Marcus' character came off as wildly inconsistent in the last season. I appreciate that the writers gave him proper motives and a character arc to be explored. This is well set-up for some powerful storytelling down the lien as Marcus will likely have to do a lot to redeem himself for lying and trying to be somebody he's not, in an arc which should be similar to Sheri's from last season. I really like the Alex and Jessica relationship, much more than the Jessica and Justin relationship. While I don't really care for them as lovers, I think they have a strong friendship and it's easy to understand the bond that they have developed. I'm also pleased with Mr. Porter's story arc. While I really wish that we could see the immediate aftermath to him listening to the tapes and choosing what to do, I am fine with what we got. We can see that Mr. Porter has chosen to try to make a difference in whatever time he has left which is easy to sympathize with. No Skye in this episode. Good. The Bad: The problem with Marcus is that we don't know the hard-working and likable guy that he is supposed to be. The only part of him which has been explored is the person he isn't supposed to be, leading us to only being familiar with the bad parts of his character. This makes it so we have no chance of liking him, making his storyline not as interesting or emotional as it should be. I also don't like the idea that Marcus was called up as a witness without giving any idea of what he was going to say. Surely if Dennis wanted to bring him up, he would have made sure that Marcus would say something beneficial to his case. Andy inexplicably showing up was random and unsatisfying. His arrival felt forced and unnecessary, making me question why he was brought in anyways, other than just creating some cheap drama. Speaking of unsatisfying, the gun shooting also fell into that category. After all that build up last season with Tyler and the gun, this was the least interesting direction to go. There were some big issues here that have plagued this entire season which I haven't had a chance to talk about yet, so I'll discuss them now. For one, this vision of Hannah that Clay is seeing is terrible. She offers nothing to the plot and doesn't even make Clay any more interesting. She just feels forced into the story and I really don't like it. A few character arcs have been repetitive and poor. Alex's story hasn't gone anywhere in the past four episodes and I'm just thankful that he's finally listening to the tapes. Zach's story arc is also completely stagnant with nothing interesting happening with his duelling friendships with Bryce and Alex. These storylines haven't lived up to their potential at all. I think the way that Scott has been portrayed is really bad. He's being so obviously framed as a suspect that it's clear he isn't a suspect. I also don't like how Olivia's story for the past two seasons has only consisted of her being sad/angry about what happened to Hannah, and they continue to show this over and over again. It's powerful the first few times and Kate Walsh does a good job, but after a while it really drags on. This narration needs to go away now. It only just occurred to me that the narration is supposed to be what the witnesses are saying at court which is just really bad writing. It's pointlessly pretentious stuff. The Unknown: What was that memory that Alex had with the blood? Very interesting. Best Moment: I'll pick the actual moment that Marcus lied in court as it was dramatic and tense. Character of the Episode: Marcus. Conclusion: This episode had some good aspects and moments but it was another overall disappointing episode because of lots of familiar and some new flaws. Score: 56
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
Categories
All
|