Summary: Victoria wakes up in a room and remembers nothing, not even her own name. She goes outside and is chased by terrorizing people while others film her and watch. She meets a girl named Jem who tells her that the world has been taken over by technology and that everyone just watches now. Their goal is to reach a transmitter called White Bear to find safety. When they reach there, Victoria fights for her life, but discovers that it was all a play. She is in fact a criminal and is forced to go through this tortuous play every day as penance for her role in the murder of a 6 year old girl, where she filmed the entire thing.
The Good: Wow. This was something else entirely. I have never seen a TV episode like this one, making this one of the most unique television experiences I have ever had. I have never been this confused, stunned or disturbed by an episode of TV since that episode of Game of Thrones (if you have seen the show, you know the one). This episode has to be one of the most uniquely powerful pieces of art I have seen. It's hard to think about where to start, so I'll just start at the beginning. We open the episode completely confused and disoriented along with Victoria, whose name we don't even know at this point. There is lots of intriguing mystery and we genuinely don't know what has happened as we try to piece together who this character is, where she is, and what is going on. It's a genuinely confusing experience, and one which sucks you in right away and allows you to sympathize with the characters since we can completely understand what she is going through; after all we are currently experiencing the exact same thing. The early parts of the episode are crafted really well in how they give us answers without answering much at all. The answers feel credible, but not quite right, and it makes me crave more for an answer. To distract me from the answers though, the episode builds tension brilliantly within the mystery, and it ends up becoming a sort of horror thriller, and a damn good one at that. Fear of the unknown is the worst kind of fear, and this episode capitalizes on that to make for some uncomfortably tense viewing. Then in comes the twist. I have to say I was expecting some kind of big twist, but what we got completely annihilated my expectations and genuinely stunned me. It turns out that everything that happened was just a well-orchestrated play designed to punish our main character who was responsible for the horrific murder of a 6 year old girl which she filmed on camera. The reveal is socking and very well done, as it gives us a satisfying answer about these mysterious flashes Victoria had been having, while also serving as a horrific twist to inform us that Victoria is far from a good person. It's deeply uncomfortable to see this, as Victoria screams and suffers as she realizes that she has done something awful and is now living a life of punishment for a crime which she didn't even know she committed. It's brutal and devastating and allows us to still sympathize with this murderer due to the sheer brutality of the situation she is in. This concept is incredible though, and it takes a really creative mind to come up with something so brilliant. To face up for her terrible crime, she is essentially being shown how it felt to be the little girl she killed every single day, where something awful happens to her as people just stand around filming her. And then this all culminates in the final 30 or so minutes of her day, which is the only time where she actually ahs to face what she has done and watch as hundreds of people boo her and throw stuff at her. And of course the irony in all of this is that all of the people who are contributing to this are essentially just becoming what she was: a watcher relishing in the suffering of another human being. It's really powerful storytelling which is not only a thought-provoking examination of justice, but also a look at the hypocrisy of being a human being and the disgusting things we do to get our revenge on other people who have done bad things. One of the most interesting parts of this episode was the fact that the White Bear Justice Park is profiting from Victoria's suffering. Instead of just punishing her in a jail cell, they cause her endless suffering every single day and make money off of it, all the while acting incredibly cheerful about what they do, going as far as to tell their audience to "have fun" at the park. This is a really sick and twisted justice system, which seems to not even care about the unjust elements it has. Lastly, as I was watching the episode I was noticing a lot of flaws and I was ready to put this down as the weakest episode. For example, the same hunters tracking down Victoria felt ridiculous, the amount of close calls were just dumb, Damien dying in such dramatic fashion was ridiculous, and Baxter having no clear motives was dumb. I was thinking about how this sloppy writing just felt like an average film, but the twist at the end surprisingly revealed that it was all supposed to be an average film. There were so many clichés because it was all a play, and with that one reveal, the episode went from one of the worst written, to the very best written episode of the entire show, and that removes almost every problem I had with the show. The Bad: So apparently the people here have the technology to just erase memories. Why don't they just wipe people memories? Surely they shouldn't feel the need for such excessive punishment when they can just wipe memories and have people essentially start anew. The episode had one somewhat major flaw in its main character. She was annoying at times which affected my ability to sympathize with her, and also made her endless screaming feel almost tiresome and too depressing. This episode's character writing isn't as good as other episodes, and it certainly doesn't pack as real of an emotional punch as something like "Be Right Back". As much as I want to give this a really high score for its outstanding writing and twist, I don't feel that it has deep enough emotion to justify that. The shock isn't exactly subtle and it is hammered in repeatedly, and while that doesn't bother me too much, it hurts this episode's chances of being truly ascendant as a TV episode. The Unknown: Is this system of punishment just? I was going to raise a point about wasting money on this park, but apparently it's self-sustaining and likely makes more money than it uses, so there is no money concern here. But is it really okay to put somebody through so much endless suffering? Are there other facilities like this in the world for other criminals? Or is it just for Victoria? Best Moment: The reveal of the twist was spectacular, and everything that followed was just stunning and devastating television. Fantastic stuff. Character of the Episode: Victoria. Conclusion: This was one hell of an experience. I can comfortably say that this was one of the most devastating episodes of television I have ever seen, but it's hard to rank it amongst the best episodes ever, so scoring is really tough. I suppose the best way to describe the episode, is that it's one of the best experiences out there and is something you absolutely should watch, but as an episode of TV, it doesn't hold up as one of the best ever. Still, this episode is a tremendous accomplishment and will go down as another huge success for the show. Score: 79
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Summary: Martha and her lover Ash are in a happy relationship until Ash is tragically killed in an accident. Martha struggles to get past this and goes for a new technology which creates a new robot which mimics Ash's voice. She also discovers that she is pregnant. She orders a physical robot of Ash to have with her, but is eventually creeped out by it since it isn't really Ash and is basically just a memory. Martha banishes Ash to the attic as a memory as she lives her life.
The Good: Another powerful episode kicks off season 2. This episode once more delved into the horrors that technological advancement could hit the world with, while also giving us a moving and devastating character arc throughout the entire hour. The concept, as usual, is nothing short of brilliant. This episode focuses on the idea that technology can bring back the spirit of a deceased loved one in the form of a robot, and how it will affect the way we move on from tragedies. It's a clever idea, and feels like something we may not be too far away from having in our world, making the horrors explored in the episode feel so real and impactful. The episode started off very simply, and with the charm of the actors, it provided us a relationship we could care about in the first 5 minutes. This makes it so when Ash dies, we have a good idea of what Martha has just lost and it's incredibly easy to put ourselves in her shoes, especially if you understand how it feels to lose a loved one. Hayley Atwell does a tremendous job of portraying Martha's pain after she loses Ash, and her eventual desperation to get Ash back, through this mysterious program somebody had suggested to her. Her obsession with the phone Ash was done really well. We get to see her clinging onto his memory more and more, as she loses all other social activity in an attempt to reconnect with this memory of Ash, which she can't help but want to spend all her time with. It's a powerful message which reflects the natural human inability to let go and move on, and through the excellent storytelling, we get to see the negative effects that Martha clinging on to Ash has on her life, and how it ultimately ends up bringing her more suffering than good. This brings me to the robot Ash which Martha does everything to get her hands on. The phone Ash was easier to connect with, as she doesn't get to experience all of Ash's habits, but when this robot comes in, she realizes that what she has gotten is just a shell with pieces of Ash's personality added into it, and the robot just follows her around like some sort of lot child or animal. It's brutal to watch and very creepy, and it's sad to see this memory of Ash rapidly drive Martha insane as she realizes that it can't give her what she wants it to. The climax of the episode is a fantastic scene which perfectly portrays Martha's struggle as she brings "Ash" to the lover's leap spot and asks him to jump off, but at the same time lets out her anger that he isn't refusing in the way Ash would. But in the end, all this does is torture her more, as she now has to look at an image of Ash crying and begging her not to kill him. Her scream at the end perfectly encapsulated her misery and felt like a perfect cathartic conclusion to her story, so perfect in fact, that I think the episode could have ended there if it wanted to. But one thing this show des brilliantly, is offer one extra twist at the end, creating even more emotion while still driving home the episode. The ending to this episode is gut-wrenching as we learn that Martha has sent Ash up to the attic, just like Ash's mother did with the photographs, essentially adapting him as just a memory. It's really powerful, not only from the idea that her daughter seemingly visits him extremely rarely, but also from the thought that Ash is just standing there waiting, probably for months at a time, just for somebody to visit him once for a little while. That's even more powerful stuff to end the episode on. The writing on the show is superb as ever. There were so many little things which impressed me a lot. There were these fantastic little touches which made robot Ash feel even more inhuman when compared to the real Ash, including his hollow reactions to Ash's childhood picture and the Bee Gees song which Martha played in the car. The way the show handled Ash's death was great as well, making it impactful while also leaving some interesting ambiguity to it (see: The Unknown). Lastly, I thought the nature of the pregnancy test was fantastic as instead of a happy moment, it served as a painful reminder of what Martha has lost and how tough it would be to move on. The Bad: Sarah signing Martha up for the program felt stupid. How did she get Martha's information? Clearly they weren't that close since she doesn't appear again in the episode. And also, how would the company let Martha get signed up without her own consent? I felt like there was a bit too much repetition towards the end of the episode. I think the show lingered on Ash's creepiness and how it was bothering Martha a bit too much. I feel like it diminished the power of the episode quite a bit since the overall message seemed to drone on. Though that last point could definitely just be a problem for me. Having lost some people close to me recently, this was a very tough episode for me to watch, and a lot of the time it was too much for me. I can't deny that the storytelling was outstanding, but it was incredibly rough to watch, and I think that for me it was a bit too rough. I can't deny the episode's quality, but considering my uncomfortable reaction to it, I can't rank it amongst the best of the show. The Unknown: How did Ash end up dying? You would have to suspect that it was from his cell phone addition (another nod to the show's messages about technology). I like that the show leaves these small things ambiguous to let us fill in our own answers. Best Moment: The scene between Martha and Ash on the cliff was definitely the most affecting. It was easy to understand Martha's dilemma and her scream was fantastic. Character of the Episode: Martha. Conclusion: Black Mirror continues its strong streak with another excellent episode, which examines loss and the affects it has on people. While this episode is really uncomfortable for me to watch, I can't deny that the writing was outstanding. Score: 75 Summary: Captain John Franklin leads his crew to find the Northwest Passage on 2 ships, The Terror and The Erebus. After The Erebus gets caught in ice, Francis wants to harbour both ships for the winter, but Franklin chooses to press on, getting a crew member to dislodge the ice. One of the crew members, David, gets mysteriously sick and dies. He is buried in a coffin with a loose lid. After 6 days, The Terror and The Erebus get trapped in the ice and are seemingly stuck for the winter.
The Good: This show really has a Ridley Scott horror feeling to it, reminiscent of the first Alien movie. There is a real uncomfortable tension brought in by outstanding visuals with bleak colouring creating a sense of foreboding in a lot of the scenes. Furthermore, the cramped cinematography gives off a claustrophobic feel, which is aided by the presence of a huge amount of crew-members which occupy almost all empty space, and also some fantastic sound design which accounts for the gentle flowing water and the creaks and groans as the ships travel. While very little has happened so far, there has been a unique slow-burn tension present in the entire episode, similar to the first hour of the "Alien" movie. Hell, there is even a scene which reminded me of the famous "chest-burster" scene from that film. The characters in the show are simplistic so far, but we get a good idea of who they are. Captain Franklin is a good man, and though he made a poor decision by pressing forwards, he clearly doesn't do it for greed and ambition, but rather in an attempt to keep the crew optimistic despite the blatantly miserable conditions. This is much better than just having an annoying character as captain who is difficult to sympathize with. The other characters, like the doctor, Francis and James have been well-defined so far and I'm interested to learn some more about them as the show goes on. Thankfully, the acting from all characters has been excellent so far, and with high-tier actors working the show like Ciaran Hinds, Jared Harris and Tobias Menzies, I suspect that the acting will remain a consistent high point of the show. I did like the little bit of characterization that the character who went to cover David's body (forgot his name, oops) got. We don't know much about him, but he got to demonstrate some morality by not leaving David just out in the open like that. I also like the characterization of the doctor, who tried to show some heart for David, before doing his job and cutting him open, and also of Francis, who clearly has experienced something traumatic in the past. Like a lot of other successful pilots, this show does a great job of setting up a lot of questions as it gets started. I'm very intrigued to find out what happens in the show and I want to see more, which means that the episode definitely did its job. The Bad: The biggest problem with this episode however is that it is VERY slow. It's risky to have such a methodically paced pilot because it has a chance of alienating viewers very quickly. When I look at this episode as an overall package, very little actually happens and that makes it rather tough to get involved in the show early on, despite the intrigue it raises. I'm curious, but I can't call it good television yet. I feel that the episode took too long to get to the big moment of the ships getting trapped in the ice and that the episode may have been more gripping if that had happened a little earlier on. Anybody who has seen any horror will know that David will return in some form. The loose coffin lid felt like an easy way to bring him back without any complications. I'm fine if they want to bring him back as a twist, but I wish it wasn't so easy to spot that detail. The Unknown: What sickness hit David? What did it do to him and how did it kill him? How did he get it and how does it spread? Do other crew members have it now? How would they be able to know if they have it? Who was the person David imagined? Were they just a hallucination or were they actually there in some form? Are they connected to the sickness? What did David mean when he said "he wants us to run"? Did he mean run from the man, or is the man trying to help them? What was the dog barking at? Is there something that the dog noticed that the humans didn't? Is David going to return in some form? Best Moment: While the moment didn't really impact the story much, I really enjoyed the crew member's descent into the water. It was a fantastic horror scene which put us in an uncomfortable situation where we didn't know what awaited us under the water. The arrival of the dead body was very good and appropriately scary. Character of the Episode: Franklin. Conclusion: This was a solid pilot episode, but it was very slow and I don't feel that enough happened to really engage us into the story. Of course I do expect things to get better once the horror aspect actually kicks in, so this episode is far from problematic. It's just completely unspectacular and feels too focused on set-up. Score: 60 Summary: Chandler is afraid to commit to his relationship with Janice but after talking to his friends, he overcommits and scares Janice away. Joey recruits Phoebe as an agent to help him get auditions but she doesn't want the job because she hates telling Joey when he doesn't get an audition. Ross is displeased to see that Ben is playing with a Barbie and tries to get him to play with something else.
The Good: I enjoyed the Chandler storyline a fair amount. His scenes were funny and he got a lot of good moments as he played a desperate guy who doesn't want to ruin his biggest relationship yet. I enjoyed the conclusion of the story too where Chandler is somehow able to keep his relationship together which surprises Monica and Rachel. Ross is fine in his storyline too and provides the odd chuckle, which is perfect for a background story like his. Phoebe and Joey also provide the occasional laugh in their storyline. The Bad: Chandler is a bit excessive at times, which takes away from his storyline. A lot of the funny moments feel like they are overacted which diminishes their impact. The other storylines are fine but I feel like they don't have much too them and I didn't laugh as much as I would have wanted. The Phoebe and Joey story was fine, but it wasn't funny and didn't have much of a point other than the ironic twist that Phoebe made up bad things about Joey to get out of her job, but even that felt out of character for Phoebe who values her friends more than that. Best Moment: Chandler horribly failing his aloof encounter with Janice at the store was very funny and definitely got a lot of laughs out of me. Character of the Episode: Chandler. Conclusion: This episode had a strong Chandler story, but unfortunately it was bogged down by overacting, while the rest of the episode really lacked. In the end we have just a decent episode. Score: 62 Summary: Liam is a lawyer who lives in a world where everyone has a grain - an implant in their heads which allows them to re-watch any of their memories at any time. Liam attends a party with his wife Fi, involving an old friend of hers named Jonas. Liam suspects some adultery to be going on and by examining memories with his grain he finds them to be true and discovers that his child isn't even his. Fi seemingly moves out with the child, leaving Liam alone and he removes his grain to cut off his memories.
The Good: This was another tremendously powerful episode with depressing themes and a strong look at technology and how it can affect lives. This show continues to impress me with its storytelling and understanding of how to make the audience emotionally invested while also providing impactful scenes which hit hard. First of all, the concept of this episode was brilliant. It wasn't as far-fetched as the previous episode and the idea of having some sort of chip installed in your head to film all of your memories seems to fit very nicely in the real world. After all, it does seem like an appealing idea on the surface, and I'm sure that most people have at least wondered about how convenient it would be if you could just record everything you experience. But this episode takes a look at how these chips will make us suffer and it was immediately used in a clever way to solve a relationship drama, which is pretty much the first thing each of us would expect the chip to be useful for. Yet of course, as we see in this episode, the grain won't provide us with the satisfaction we may expect and it could very well do more harm than good. I'll be going into more detail about that later (see: Best Moment). The concept of the grain was implemented in really smart ways too. I really liked Liam re-watching his interview over and over again in an attempt to get some answers, and even more, I liked how the grain has become an important security measure in the world, with the airports viewing a person's private memories to ensure that there isn't anything suspicious. I thought that Liam's paranoia was conveyed really well and that his scenes with Fi had real tensions to them. It seemed pretty clear that there was something going on, and the episode did a great job of making us suspect that something was up during the party at Jonas' without ever telling us the details. From Fi's reactions and her suspicious behaviour, it seemed clear that there was something going on between her and Jonas, but it never felt horribly obvious until Liam started scavenging his memories and finding more and more evidence that something isn't right. The tension built beautifully and led to a lot of fantastic scenes between Liam and Fi where they argued about what happened before Fi is ultimately exposed as an unfaithful wife who lied to Liam. There were a lot of great small things too. The sex scene was creepy and disturbing in every way as it cut between both Liam and Fi recalling their past memories of sex before showing us the 2 of them, dead-eyed and straight-faced in bed, just slightly moving. It was a haunting visual for sure and one that really conveyed how different the grain would make real life. I also really loved how Liam accidentally estranged the babysitter when he showed her a joke he had made about her which he had completely forgotten about. That moment felt very real and really demonstrates how the grain would o just as much harm as it would good, as it has serious potential to destroy relationships. The Bad: This episode was flawed though. The biggest issue for me was that the characters weren't really likable at all. I didn't sympathize as much with Liam as I think I should have. He came across as an asshole and wasn't much better than his cheating wife. Because of this I felt a disconnect with the characters, and I didn't root as much for Liam to find the truth as I think I should have. While the episode was powerful because of its ideas and handling of themes, I think it missed a trick by not making us care about the characters' story. The previous episode made me care about Bing's character but I really couldn't be bothered by Liam or Fi's characters in this episode. I feel like Liam descended a bit too quickly into his paranoia and anger. It felt rushed and wasn't really aided by the fact that I hardly knew who Liam was before he started suspecting his wife of cheating. The transformation didn't feel earned in the same way Bing's or even Michael's was in the previous episode and that also affected the quality of the episode. It's hard to buy that Liam didn't get arrested. Surely Jonas just got footage on his grain of him being threatened by Liam who was obviously impaired and driving. That's really illegal, so shouldn't the cops have been called for Jonas to show the evidence against Liam to get him arrested? It seems ridiculous that he seemed to have gotten away scot free after such a serious crime. The Unknown: What happed at the end? Did Fi just move out with her child? Is she with Jonas now? Where did that leave Liam? We never got confirmation that the baby was Jonas', but I don't think we needed to get it. It just makes perfect sense for it to be, so I'm going with that assumption. Why did Jonas feel the need to remove his grain? Was it because he blames it for what happened to him, or rather was it because the memories he had were just torturing him so he had to remove it? Either way, the final scene was sad and powerful. Best Moment: The final 4 minutes were spectacular. It was horribly sad seeing Liam around his house all alone, just re-watching all of his past memories when he was happy with his wife. The use of colour was tremendous as the past memories were bright and vibrant whereas the present was dull and lonely. This final sequence did a tremendous job of showing us exactly what Liam had lost in the past day or so. This final scene also reinforced the message of the grain can do more harm than good. Sure, without the grain, Liam would have been living with a cheater, but is this depressing, miserable life really better for Liam? Besides now he has all of these happy memories which have become bittersweet and will likely haunt him more than they ill do good. And that's what makes the ending so powerful, as we see that Liam can't stand the pain he feels anymore which is brought on by these past memories which have now become even easier to access and dwell in. One can only assume that depression rates have increased now that these grains have become popularized, due to the easy ability to stress from past experiences. This scene was so good because of how thought-provoking it is and how it makes a very clear and powerful point about the new technology. Character of the Episode: Liam. Conclusion: This was another great episode, though it was certainly flawed. It didn't reach the heights of "Fifteen Million Merits" due to some character and writing issues, but overall it was still another powerful episode with a meaningful message. After just 3 episodes, Black Mirror has completed its first season, and in those 3 episodes, it has already made its case to be one of the best TV shows I have ever seen. With a focus on standalone episodes, thematic exploration and raw emotional power, this show is basically primed to succeed. And I'm so glad to say that the writing is superb and allows this show to exceed all of its potential, making for some special viewing. I can't say anything about the rest of the series yet, but this first season of the show is excellent television and is must-watch. Score: 74 Summary: Bing lives in a dystopian future where everybody lives in cells with advanced technology and have to run the bikes every day to power the world. There is a show called Hot Shot which is the goal for everybody to enter. Bing meets a new girl named Abi Khan who is a talented signer. Bing helps her get into Hot Shot but instead of taking her as a singer, they take her as a porn star. Bing plots revenge and gets into Hot Shot himself and makes a chilling speech but he is hired to produce real speeches like that himself.
The Good: I thought this was stellar storytelling. Last episode was interesting and had some flaws but left an overall positive outlook with some really good storytelling. This episode on the other hand completely killed it on almost every level with even better storytelling, tighter writing and more thought-provoking themes. I thought this was one of the best standalone episodes of drama I have ever seen, up there with "Two Boats and a Helicopter" and "International Assassin" from The Leftovers, though not quite that amazing. I really loved the sudden introduction to this advanced modern world. The last episode was more grounded in our reality, but this episode shifted to a drastically different setting and I thought it was done really well. The first 15-20 minutes of this episode really didn't accomplish much for the plot, and was instead focused on introducing us to how this futuristic world works, while impressively completely avoiding exposition. We were shown things and pieced things together ourselves, which is so much better than watching and being told everything that is going on. It felt earned and I felt like I got to explore this world instead of just having it shown to me. Without those first 15 minutes, this episode wouldn't have been anywhere near as engrossing as it was and this excellent world-building paid off hugely later in the episode. Speaking of the pay-off, my god, was it stellar. All the small things, the toothpaste (pays off when we see Bing using minimal toothpaste to save merits), the ability to skip ads (pays off when Bing runs out of money to skip ads and suffers through Abi's ad), the repetitive biking (puts over why Abi would choose to have a better life), the broken vending machine (allows a good reason for Bing and Abi to talk again), the annoying redhead who always decked out his avatar (the powerful final scene), and more all had moments where they aided the story and had genuine emotional impact. The show expertly had small moments of pay off like this throughout the episode, leading to so many small moments of satisfaction, increasing my interest in the episode even more. The characters in the story were really good too, especially the main character. Bing was very simple in his motivations. He is bored in life because everything is so fake and all the people around him are just as fake as the actual world around him. And when he finally finds something real and has it taken from him he is suitably mad. We have sympathized with this character and to see him lose the one thing he actually found is heart-breaking and it's so easy to feel for him and understand that he wants to do something about it. Better yet, we never quite figure out what his goal is until he actually enacts his performance, which is where everything becomes crystal clear and once more truly satisfying. How great was that big speech though? The episode had expertly demonstrated how fake and controlled the world is, so it was relatively easy to pick up the theme of the episode. And then in that big scene, we got a terrific performance from Daniel Kaluuya which not only drives in the theme but provided a powerful catharsis for the character of Bing who had finally snapped after being so fed up with the world he was in. The entire time, I was at the edge of my seat and I was incredibly satisfied with the conclusion of this character's journey which ended with him just blowing off tons of steam. This episode, like the last one had a killer twist at the end as well which was dark and powerful. Apparently Judge Hope was far better at manipulating the audience and the performers than anyone expected as he managed to turn Bing's outburst of truth into yet another game, something fake for the world to just enjoy and pay money for. It was a powerful message, saying how in the world we all just take anything good and use it to make money for ourselves and how all of this awful world we are a part of is of our own doing. And the message is even more resonant as Bing actually gives in at the end and sells out to the world, now using his truth as another fake thing for people to enjoy. He caved just like Abi did before and we are left with a dark message at the end where Bing lives "happily ever after" in his fake and uninteresting world. I thought the side character of Glee was pretty good at providing some laughs as she had waited for seemingly forever. And hilariously enough there was some pay-off for her character too as we see that she was a trash singer the whole time and had no real talent. The Bad: It really doesn't make sense that the world would make it so that you have to watch some of these ads and u can't just stop watching. I understand that it's a metaphor for mobile games, which also have required ads which you have to watch before getting to do what you want, but it feels a little excessive for you to not be allowed to close your eyes. It's not a big problem though as the closing eyes thing really helped make the best moment of the episode even more powerful. Another nitpick, but shouldn't somebody be pissed at Bing for destroying his cell? And wouldn't they notice that a large piece of glass was missing? That felt a bit too convenient. The Unknown: I doubt we will get answers to any of these questions. But that is the fun of it all, as it leaves us to theorize the true meaning behind this and come to our own conclusions. What is the time period here? How far in the future was this story? How did technology get so advanced? Is there an outside world to this? Are the characters just in some kind of prison, or is this really all that is left in the world? Was the forest at the end real or just another screen? Were Abi and Bing ultimately able to find some sort of peace with their lives? Or did they simply suffer in this false world the entire time? It's a sad thought but it could very well have been their fates. Best Moment: While Bing's speech was incredible, I don't think it is quite the best moment in all of this. That would have to go to Bing's breakdown in his room after Abi is taken away. I was able to buy into their relationship due to the fantastic first 15 minutes which established how lonely Bing's life is, making me believe that he would truly care about her, who he feels is real. So to have her wrenched away and forced to live in such an inhumane life against her will was awful for Bing, and it was powerful to see that he has fallen so low with insufficient merits to the point where he has to just watch all of the pain he put Abi into. It was sad stuff, and it was really powerful seeing Bing just break down quickly and descend into panic and anger over time. Stunningly good storytelling. Character of the Episode: Bing. Conclusion: This was an outstanding episode of television. The storytelling, characters and themes were so well done and everything about this was extremely well-thought-out with attention to detail and understanding of the emotions which make television so powerful. This was a must-watch episode. Score: 81 Summary: Monica starts making jam to get over Richard and Joey eats it. Phoebe is stalked by a man who mistakes her for Ursula and they start a relationship. Chandler goes to Ross who gives him advice about how to sleep with Janice without cuddling her.
The Good: There were lots of things to like about this episode. The story of Chandler trying to sleep with Janice without cuddling was Friends at its best and his conversations with Rachel and Ross about it were hilarious. I really love how Ross had kept everything secret from Rachel with his "hug and roll" technique before Chandler blew it like an idiot and got Ross in trouble. The scenes between them had tons of comedic value and I was laughing the entire time, all the way until the big pay off at the end with Ross telling Chandler that "women talk". Monica's decision to make jam was pretty good and added for some good laughs with Joey and one great laugh (see: Best Moment). The sperm bank idea was harmless fun and had a good sitcom story where Monica came to realize that she really did want to have a guy in her life with her baby. The Bad: The stalker storyline wasn't that great unfortunately. There were some nice laughs, but it was obvious that he wouldn't stop following Ursula so that took away a lot of the story's impact as well as some of the comedy when Ursula turns up at the end. Best Moment: Chandler asks Joey if he wants the Xerox girl naked or a bug tub of jam, to which Joey hilariously responds with "put your hands together". Fantastic comedy. Character of the Episode: Chandler. Conclusion: This was 2/3s of a fantastic episode but the Phoebe story unfortunately wasn't that great. This was another really strong episode though and had a lot of good laughs. Score: 73 Summary: Michael is the prime minister and he receives a video from an anonymous who says he has captured Princess Susannah and will only release her if he broadcasts a video later that day of him having intercourse with a pig. The video was uploaded on YouTube and has gone viral. As the situation worsens, and the terrorist isn't found, Michael is forced to perform the act to save Susannah. Susannah is let free but she was released a half hour before the act. The terrorist kills himself.
The Good: This was such a unique pilot for a TV show. I've heard a lot about this show, and to say the least, this first episode really surprised and impressed me. I really liked the overall story. Sure it was ridiculous (see: The Bad), but it was so ridiculous that it became genius, as it was such a creative new idea which added some very real stakes to the episode. The episode had the basic kidnapping story with the main character needing to do something to save the victim, but it was kept fresh by the extremely strange ransom which not only piqued my interest, but kept me hooked for the entire hour, allowing me to enjoy the story. Like seriously, the ransom requested for the prime minister to have intercourse with a pig on a live broadcast. Who expected that? I surely didn't and the episode did a great job to make me think about what the ransom could possibly be, before blowing my mind with what it actually was. I laughed immediately after hearing it and I thought it was stupid, but the stupidity of it all kept me invested somehow and allowed me to completely enjoy the episode. That was masterful writing which took advantage of the active mind of the audience and used it to create something really good. The overall message was really good too. I love this look at how technology destroys people and turns a private and embarrassing story into everybody's problem. It's a message which hasn't been done to death and it was intelligently and subtly placed into this episode without it ever feeling like it was rubbed in our faces. I also like the detail of how the crowd were initially almost excited to watch the event before being overcome with horror as their PM did something truly horrific to save a life. It's a good portrayal of how people usually don't realize how terrible things are until they see or experience it firsthand. I really liked Michael as the main character in this episode. He did a great job portraying the prime minister's initial hope that everything would work out, before slowly getting more aggressive and scared as he realized that he may actually have to do something terrible. There were a lot of really good scenes with him, such as the one where he walked down the hall to do the act as the camera zoomed in on his face. His assistant talked in the background, but the words reaching Michael's ears weren't matching the lips. The sequence was wonderful and did a fantastic job of portraying Michael's fear and unease. The actual act was suitably horrific without showing anything. The reactions of the people watching were all that was necessary to convey the uncomfortable nature of the situation and how awful it was. It would have been too much to actually show the act, so I think the subtle approach was absolutely the right call. The ending was stellar too, providing a real irony as it was revealed that Susannah was released a half hour before the act, rendering the whole thing pointless. The Bad: The whole thing feels a little too ridiculous. I could never buy something like this actually happening and it seems ridiculous for the PM to actually do something so embarrassing on live television. Even worse is the fact that majority of people seemed to want him to do it, including the people he worked with. I could buy a few people making that decision, but not 86%. That's just insane and unrealistic. How did the terrorist know that they were planning a fake with Rod Senseless? Apparently there were social media posts, but how did he get access to all of this without anybody else knowing? Apparently it was only one man, so it's hard to buy that he can pull all of this off by himself. Susannah getting released early felt too convenient. Did nobody really notice her on that bridge for half an hour? Surely there were tons of people who didn't want to watch the awful act on television (especially CHILDREN) so why weren't there more people outside who could have potentially found Susannah? The one girl working for UKN was a really stupid story. It was a side-plot and seemed to accomplish nothing. It's hard to buy that a news reporter would go into such a dangerous location without informing anybody, especially when there was a government mission taking place. The Unknown: What were the killer's motives? Apparently he was an artist, so was this some twisted form of art he was trying to create? I doubt we will get an answer, but it's really fascinating to come up with theories for why this guy did what he did. Has Michael lost his wife after this whole ordeal? That's quite a tragic ending if it is the case. Best Moment: The final twist that Susannah was released earlier was a genuine surprise and made all fo the suffering essentially meaningless. We were treated to Michael throwing up and crying immediately afterwards, making for some really tragic and painful viewing which this pretty hard. Character of the Episode: Michael. Conclusion: This was such a uniquely crafted episode. It was a simple story which we have seen hundreds of times, yet with a ridiculous twist which both added to the story and took away from it. While there were lots of cons, I think the good outweighs the bad here and I can comfortably say that this was a good pilot episode. I'm really intrigued to see what other stories this show will explore. Score: 67 Summary: Flashbacks show Hannah's last day alive. She goes to talk to Mr. Porter to talk with him but she doesn't get much help. She commits suicide soon after. In the present, the students have their depositions. Tyler reveals the existence of the tapes. Clay goes to talk with Mr. Porter and gives him the tapes. He has also recorded Bryce's confession for tape 14. Justin tells Bryce about the tapes. Jessica tells her father about Bryce's rape. Alex shoots himself in the head and is in critical condition.
The Good: This was a solid finale for the show. There were tons of powerful moments throughout and the show made sure to focus on its primary theme and ensure that the viewers understood what the show was all about. I thought the flashbacks were well done for the most part. I was very happy to see that Hannah actually did look for some help before she died and that letting everything out when making the tapes gave her something of a will to live. That felt much more real than a lot of the other things in this show and it pleased me. The suicide scene itself was really well constructed. I can understand why some people would be appalled by the graphic depiction of suicide, but I feel that it was necessary for the show to demonstrate everything that Hannah did and emphasize how terrible it is. I'm treating this show as a form of entertainment instead of a PSA for suicide so I'm not bothered by the depiction of suicide, but it is easy to see why some would be bothered by this. I thought the scene was a good pay off for Hannah's story and it was a suitably depressing end for her story. I enjoyed Clay confronting Mr. Porter as well. I thought their conversation as really good an did an excellent job of putting over the idea that we could definitely do more good by paying more attention to others and being kinder to them since you will never know what they are thinking. I thought that Tyler was handled nicely as well. He seems to be getting more bitter and angry in every episode and I'm excited to see him reach his breaking point. It was also very logical for him to be the one to reveal the truth about the tapes. Nobody really cared about him and Tyler really has nothing to lose at this point in his life, so it made perfect sense for him to give up everybody's secret. The Bad: Overall this episode was similarly disappointing in the same way almost every other episode disappointed. There were too many writing flaws for this episode to truly be successful. While I enjoyed most of the flashbacks, I did not like Mr. Porter's conversation with Hannah very much. Don't get me wrong, I liked parts of it, like Mr. Porter refusing to pick up the phone and Hannah being scared to talk about the rape, but the overall package felt very weak. The biggest problem is how quickly Hannah gave up on Mr. Porter. She said absolutely nothing to him, so how was he supposed to help? If she really wanted to live, surely she would have said more before giving up. But apparently she didn't say more which feels like a big mistake. The most realistic way for this to go down would be if Mr. Porter actually didn't help her when she told him everything, but since she told him absolutely nothing, it's hard to feel like Mr. Porter let her down here, which is what I should be feeling. The best way to help somebody feeling depressed or suicidal is to talk to them, so the show should have been much more careful when portraying somebody trying to get help by talking to someone. Furthermore, Mr. Porter telling Hannah to move on was stupid and uncharacteristic of Mr. Porter to say. It's unfortunate that the writers had to take so many shortcuts in this storyline. Another nitpick is Clay. I could understand Hannah not talking to Clay because the last time they talked he was obviously very hurt. But then in this episode he was very obviously trying to rebuild his relationship with Hannah, so why not just talk to him instead of Mr. Porter? Or how about Tony, who was clearly still very kind and friendly to her? Tony doesn't work in this story. He is so rooted in the background that it's impossible to care about him. Here he makes a huge decision to give the Baker the tapes, yet the scene means nothing because I have no idea why he did that. That entire arc failed to deliver, and we don't even get the pay-off of the Bakers learning about why Hannah killed herself. It's just a cliff-hanger for next season (more on that later). Justin and Jessica are still terrible. Their scenes are getting repetitive fast and it's hard to buy that Justin cares so much about Jessica. Even though Jessica was raped, I still can't care at all about her which is a result of weak acting an character writing. I didn't like Courtney's deposition. Why did they show her that picture? What was that supposed to accomplish? How did it make it into evidence and not get questioned by the lawyers? Weak writing which was just used to create some weak drama for Courtney. I'm pretty displeased that very little was wrapped up with this episode. We had some powerful moments, but a lot of the characters didn't reach anything of a conclusion in their arcs and a lot of plot threads were left to be resolved next season. I really don't like that the show did that, especially since we spent 13 overly long episodes getting to this point. It hurts even more that we got very little resolution at the end and are left to tune in for another season o presumably 13 more episodes. The Unknown: What will Mr. Porter do with the tapes? Will he show them to others? Will he try to get Bryce arrested? Or will he do something else? What is Alex's fate? Is he going to die or will he survive? What was with the phone call to Zach beforehand? Is Tyler planning a school shooting now? Or is he just going after the students? Did he shoot Alex instead? Tyler did take Alex's picture down from his list of targets. What will the Bakers so with the tapes? Will they do something if Mr. Porter doesn't? Or could they end the lawsuit now? Best Moment: The suicide scene was the most powerful and chilling scene in the episode. Character of the Episode: Hannah. Conclusion: This episode was rather disappointing even if it was powerful. There was little resolution and writing flaws still took away from this. The season overall had a load of potential, but bad writing seems to have consistently damaged this show to the point where it has hit nowhere near the level I was hoping from it after the first episode. I will definitely watch season 2 with hopes of more resolution for the characters there, but I don't expect season 2 to suddenly fix the major problems the show has. This show feels like a lot of missed potential despite it being an easy watch which is fairly entertaining. Score: 58 Summary: In flashbacks, Hannah accidentally loses several hundred dollars. She isn't close with Clay anymore. In her depression, she goes to one of Bryce's party and he rapes her. She begins to work on the tapes. In the present, Jessica remains hostile towards Justin. The students all receive notice for subpoenas except Sheri. Clay talks with Bryce and accuses him of being a rapist. Bryce beats him up.
The Good: There was appropriate misery for Hannah here. With just one episode left in the season, we really had to understand why Hannah did what she did. While I think there is still a big problem here (see: The Bad), the rape at the hands of Bryce is a fitting moment to send Hannah over the edge to begin feeling suicidal. I did like getting some more background behind Justin's relationship with Bryce. It did feel pretty odd that he didn't cut ties with Bryce for being a rapist, but thankfully we were actually given a realistic reason why Justin couldn't turn on Bryce. He feels indebted to Bryce and wouldn't be comfortable repaying Bryce by turning him in and breaking their friendship. I wish we had characterization and character motivation on this level more often. I really enjoyed the group meeting in this episode. Usually those scenes have felt like bland filler and haven't been interesting, but with the impending subpoenas, this time the scene had a purpose and a sense of tension which made it gripping and interesting. The discussion felt more important and it was nice to see the clashing ideals of all of the characters as they tried to determine what the best option was for moving forward. The truth may seem like a sensible thing, but considering the situation, it's easy to understand the thought process of those who don't want to reveal the full truth. I really enjoyed Alex's final speech suggesting that they were all flawed people who did play a part in Hannah's suicide (see: Best Moment), but I feel like that scene also had a really worrying aspect about it too (also see: The Bad). There were some really good small scenes as well. I liked the Clay and Hannah interactions being really awkward after what happened at the party. It felt suitably sad and tragic. Sheri deciding to finally tell the truth was a nice moment as well, and continued to have her as one of the most likeable characters on the show. I also got a good laugh every time Ryan bluntly responded to Courtney's claims that Hannah lied. The Bad: The biggest problem I have here is that Hannah has never attempted to get help for her problems. I was hoping that the party would have been Hannah's lowest point and that the rest of the show would be her trying to find some help. Unfortunately, the how has seemingly ignored the aspect of a suicidal person attempting to get help for their condition which not only makes Hannah seem extremely unlikeable (more on that later) but also misses a VERY important point about suicide. While I enjoyed Alex's speech, it suggested that they were responsible for Hannah's death because they chose not to be friends with her. While that's partially true, and it's easy for them to think that way, it seems to suggest that Hannah had tried really hard to get help but they had refused to help her. But we know from the flashbacks, that it's completely false and that Hannah never really asked for help. That makes it even harder to buy into the idea of Hannah's suicide which is really poor. Hannah as a character is badly hurt by this development as well. The fact that Hannah didn't get help strongly implies that she actually did kill herself for attention which is the exact thing a show like this should have been doing everything to avoid. With the idea of the tapes being almost like Hannah getting revenge, this show needed to make a point to not make it seem like Hannah killed herself just to get back at the people who she thinks did her wrong. Unfortunately the show has not done that at all, and it makes Hannah seem like a really unsympathetic character which is not at all how I should feel towards a suicide victim. Katherine Langford has put on a hell of a performance as Hannah and it's a shame that the character she is playing seems really unlikeable. At this point the performance is the only real thing that is keeping me engaged in Hannah's story. Jessica remains annoying as well. Now she seems to remember everything about the rape and how painful it was. I'm not doubting that it hurts to be raped, but she suddenly seems to recall the feeling which is ridiculous seeing how she pretended for weeks like it never happened. This storyline has been handled really poorly at times and I wish it had been executed with better character writing. The problem with the students' scene is that a lot of them are still very shallow and I don't acre about them. Because of that, it's hard for me to get invested in what they want or what their ultimate fate will be. I wish that I had a better idea of who these characters are so I could care. But since I don't care, the whole story surrounding them has a good chance of falling flat. Tony and Brad's scene was hard to care about too. Brad has hardly been in the show and I don't buy into his scene with Tony. While it is nice to get a scene of Tony letting out how he feels, the scene missed out on being good in my opinion because it was hinging on a relationship I really can't be bothered to care about. In the end the scene felt like an unfortunate waste of time. It also doesn't help that Tony is still a shallow character who I know next to nothing about because the show has been so preoccupied with keeping him mysterious. Clay confronting Bryce was a total miss in my eyes. In one scene, Bryce turned into just a generic teenage villain while Clay did something seemingly out of character by confronting Bryce directly and getting him to admit to raping Hannah. There was also an extremely odd scene of him cheering afterwards. I presume that he recorded the entire conversation and that's why he is happy but why on Earth did the show not reveal he recorded it? It's a dumb attempt at shock value for the finale I presume and it left t Bryce scene feeling extremely awkward and unfulfilling. We should never be played by having a show leave a very important character motive in the dark for the sake of shock value. It ruins my emotional engagement. The Unknown: So did Clay record the conversation with Bryce? What does he plan to do with the tape? Why did Tyler buy a gun? Who does he want to shoot? Who was in the ambulance at the end? Was it Clay? The show seems to be suggesting that. Who shot him? Tyler? That would make a lot of sense but I feel like it's too obvious to be the answer. Best Moment: Alex's speech was really great and allowed us to really reflect on how guilty the entire group must be feeling after what happened to Hannah. It's true that had somebody remained close to her, she may still have been alive and it's nice to see somebody attempting to make that point. Character of the Episode: Alex. Conclusion: This episode was a solid continuation of the story. The show remains enjoyable but is still way too flawed, and the huge issue regarding Hannah really dragged down this episode for me. I had held out hope that the show would understand how to portray a suicide victim but I was let down here. Score: 56 Summary: Ross tries to get everybody ready to attend a gathering at the museum. Rachel can't choose what to wear. Chandler and Joey fight over who gets to sit on the chair. Monica is distracted when she hears a message from Richard which could be new or old.
The Good: This is how to do a bottle episode. This whole episode took place in Monica's apartment and was tremendous fun. All of the 6 friends got moments to shine and there was a lot of smart comedy here based off of the simplest of things. This is an exemplar episode which shows how good use of characters and smart writing can turn even the most simple of stories into hilarious and memorable stuff. The conflict between Chandler and Joey was clever and felt real, while also featuring some hilarious dialogue. Monica's story was excellent too as it featured more smart fallout from Monica's relationship with Richard and also providing some fantastic comedy to boot. Ross' panic throughout was very funny and so was Rachel being horribly indecisive and getting Ross upset. The Bad: Nothing really. The writing was too good for me to find any flaws. Best Moment: Joey arriving in all of Chandler's clothes and mocking him was the funniest moment for sure. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: This episode was superb. Smart writing and understanding of character made this episode something special. This is Friends at its finest. Score: 83 Summary: Shane and Otis escape the school but both are hurt and being chased by walkers. Shane shoots Otis in the leg and leaves him for dead to allow himself to escape. Daryl and Andrea look for Sophia and come across a walker of a guy who committed suicide. Lori and Rick debate over if they should just let Carl die. Shane comes with the tools and Hershel performs the surgery to stabilize Carl.
The Good: The twist at the end was fantastic. I genuinely wasn't expecting that, so it totally caught me off guard. I had thought Shane was bitten or something along those lines and I was going to be frustrated by Shane hiding a bite like an idiot. But the twist that he sacrificed Otis instead was so pleasing because it made perfect sense for his character to do that. Shane has always looked at things logically instead of morally, and Otis wasn't going to let Shane fall behind so he instead let Otis fall behind to get the supplies to Carl. It's easy to understand why he did it, but the question is was it a morally correct move? And does this signal a change in Shane now? There are some fascinating ideas now which could be explored in future episodes regarding how Shane gets affected by this decision and if he will be forced to make a choice like this again. The twist really saved the episode because there wasn't much that really connected me with this episode (see: The Bad). There was genuine emotion from seeing Shane do something so cruel, and it made the ending of the episode have emotional resonance. I thought the editing of the reveal was very well done and contrasted well with Shane examining who he really is by looking at the mirror. Furthermore, I think the twist was even more powerful because I was initially disappointed that we didn't see Otis' fate. I was really expecting Shane to get scratched or bitten, so when he didn't my disappointment transformed into shock and satisfaction. That's the perfect way to execute a twist and it added so much more to this episode. I enjoyed the actual school action sequence too. It was logically planned out and had some really enjoyable and tense moments throughout. I'm glad that we got to see some more development on Daryl as he revealed some of his backstory. The scenes with him and Andrea were pretty good and allowed us to understand that Daryl is a much better person than Merle was. The Bad: I don't think Lori wanting to let Carl die felt earned. It would have been nicer to have some set-up for Lori deciding that she may want Carl to just not experience this awful world. The scenes were fine exploration of the horrors of this new world, but I think they could have felt more realistic and organic, or even delved a little deeper than they did. I also wasn't a fan of Carl conveniently waking up to only talk about the deer to help prove Rick's point. The suicide victim was a bit too on the nose for Andrea's story. What are the odds she would find that walker and realize that she may actually want to live? This episode almost felt like it had no content. It consisted of a bunch of average conversations which didn't accomplish much and there were very few talking points aside from the ending twist. This felt completely different from the pace that season 1 was going at, and the short length of my review really accentuates that. The Unknown: How will that twist affect Shane's story? What is his future in the group? Will he still leave or could he maybe stay and try to enforce his more straightforward approach to surviving compared to Rick's moral method? Best Moment: The execution of the twist in the final 2 minutes was superb, and added a lot of emotion and memorability to the episode. Character of the Episode: Shane. Conclusion: Up until the ending, this felt like a slow and almost pointless episode, but that twist added so much resonance and power to the episode and practically was the only reason this episode has such a good score. Score: 66 Summary: In flashbacks, Clay and Hannah connect at Jessica's party and hook up but Hannah shoves Clay off after remembering her past. In the present, Clay listens to his tape and struggles through it, but he makes it through with Tony's help. Justin finds out Jessica is at Bryce's and tries to take her away. He reveals that Bryce raped her.
The Good: This episode was much better because the show felt like it had a purpose here and wasn't just filling time. There were always important scenes going on. Clay's story was a pretty good examination of how one can be afraid to face their past and always blame themselves for the tiniest of things even if it wasn't their fault. While there were some flaws in this approach (see: The Bad), it did send a powerful message about how people would react when a friend commits suicide. Dylan Minnette hasn't been fantastic in the role of Clay, but I felt he did a great job here. I thought the humour for once was very good. Usually the humour in this show doesn't come off particularly well, but there were a lot of funny moments here which successfully put a smile on my face. There was some smart dialogue which I thought worked very well. I enjoyed small things like Clay arriving early which fit his character, and Hannah bringing up the oddity of Clay's name. This episode was really hinged on us caring about Clay and Hannah's relationship, and thankfully that has been one of the show's strong points. Both characters have great chemistry and it's easy to see what they like in each other. Their scenes had some good power to them and the tragedy of Hannah's ultimate death gave the scenes a fitting sadness to them which also paid off by making us care about what Clay is going through in the present day storyline. There were some really good pay off scenes for the side storylines. I was very glad to see the rape of Jessica addressed and thankfully it has had immediate consequences as Jessica appears to have finally shut Justin out and there will likely be some tensions between Justin and Bryce now. I really like the reveal that the lawsuit will involve the kids now. It adds a lot of tension to the final 2 episodes (see: The Unknown) and really makes me anticipate whatever comes next. The Bad: Unfortunately the lawsuit story does circle around the stupid idea that the Bakers never found the page of names in all of Hannah's stuff. They were searching her room, so how on Earth did they not find that earlier? The rape story was held down because I really don't care about the characters involved which is a real shame. Had Justin and Jessica been more fleshed out and likeable, this could have been a really great storyline with a powerful conclusion. Instead it's a weak story with a decent pay off. The reasoning for Clay being on the tapes is awful and it unfortunately undercuts a lot of what was the show's most powerful episode. It's hard to buy that Hannah would put Clay on the tapes for this and possibly ruin his life without any thought for his well-being. Clearly Hannah cared about him, so it makes no sense why she would do this to him. This also feels far too much like a cop-out because the writers didn't know what reason to put Clay on the tapes for. Unfortunately the big moment of Hannah blowing off Clay didn't have the impact it should have. This is because it draws on us buying into how traumatized Hannah has been by the previous guys she had hopes for. But sadly the show failed at doing that and only ever told us that Hannah was hurt by this, without ever showing us. This was one of my biggest complaints earlier in the story and it's really damaged one of the show's biggest scenes now. That really goes to show how important it is to make us care early on instead of waiting for later. There were a couple of nitpicks for Clay's story too. The tension of Clay killing himself was non-existent. Of course he wasn't going to kill himself, so it really wasn't worth teasing that. The Clay and Skye argument was really petty too and almost felt like a fight between grade 3s. I felt that they should have been shown as more mature and it would also help to at least get a better idea of their relationship. The Unknown: Who will have to talk for the subpoenas? Presumably it will be everyone on the tapes. Will anybody reveal the existence of the tapes? What will they say about Hannah? Will the Bakers or the school learn any important new information? Will anything be said about Bryce? I'm very interested to see what happens. What is Skye's story and history? What is her purpose in this show? She still feels only like an extra character. Does Alex still love Jessica? There have been some awkward moments in the past which highlighted his affections for her, but does he still have those feelings? Or have the writers just forgotten? Perhaps he feels so guilty that he no longer feels that way. Best Moment: I really loved the vision Clay had of him actually comforting Hannah instead of leaving her. It was tragic and very emotional to watch and was a really nice take on how somebody with regrets would play out themselves not making a big mistake. Character of the Episode: Clay. Conclusion: This was a really great episode at times and had a lot of emotion to it, but unfortunately the sloppy nature of this show once more takes away from what could have been a tremendous episode. This ends up being simply good instead of being as great as I feel it could have been. Score: 63 Summary: In flashbacks, Hannah leaves the party with Sheri who runs over a stop sign but doesn't want to call the police about it. Later, Jeff drives and doesn't see the fallen stop sign and is killed in an accident. In the present, Clay confronts Sheri about what she did but while Sheri doesn't tell the truth to Jeff's parents, she is paying for her mistake in her own way. Clay tells the truth to Jeff's parents. Tony meets Clay and tells him the next tape is his.
The Good: Hannah is being handled much better in these later episodes. I'll have to leave the problems from the earlier episodes in the past and say that Katherine Langford's performance has made me buy that she has started really hating her life. Now that we are getting time to see Hannah on her own, we can get a good idea of how she is struggling to deal with the pain she carries with her while the show also makes us understand more about why she did what she did. Sheri's story was really good because she has been the most easy to like characters so far. She seemed genuinely upset about what she did and while she couldn't quite bring herself to reveal the truth, I was glad to see her doing something to attempt to make up for her fatal mistake. It makes her feel more human than most of the other characters on this show. Seeing Clay upset about Jeff's death was pretty powerful and helped to explain away a moment when he was probably more rude to Hannah than she could have been. It was good to see how he reacts to death considering that we never got to see his immediate reaction when he learned about Hannah's death. I enjoyed the ending as well. It was nice to see Tony coming to see Clay to help him get through his tape, and I like that Clay got nerves when he found out it was his tape next. It felt pretty real and also consistent with Clay's character who had a tough time getting through the tapes. The Bad: Justin and Jessica are still a problem. We got some development for them now but it's too little and too late for me to care at all about them. I also have to seriously question Jessica going to Bryce. I thought she had made the realization that she was raped last episode but apparently she either didn't, making that scene pointless, or she just chose to ignore it. Either way, her hanging out with Bryce was ridiculous and felt like the stupidest thing her character could have done. Jessica has quickly become the stupidest and most annoying character which I really don't like. I really should sympathize with her much more than I do. I thought Sheri abandoning Hannah right away was dumb. Their conversation was like 30 seconds long before Sheri just left Hannah on the side of the road. It felt dumb and out of character for her not to talk more to her and just leave her on her own like that. The scene also felt rushed which is odd considering that this episode was 10 minutes shorter than usual and could have easily gotten away with a little more time. The Unknown: What happened with Clay and Hannah at the party? Clearly it is what put Clay on the tapes, but if he doesn't know what it is, then what could it be? Was Jeff actually drunk or not? From what we know of him, I would say that he wasn't but I guess we will never know for sure. Best Moment: The ending was the most powerful moment for sure, and while I don't think Tony and Clay's relationship has been the best executed in the show, it has gotten a lot of screen time so it makes sense to put some focus back on them as Clay goes through this big moment. Character of the Episode: Sheri. Conclusion: This was another solid episode, and while it didn't do anything great, I thought it was an easy enough watch. Score: 60 Summary: In flashbacks, Hannah cuts her hair in an attempt for a fresh start but it fails. She goes to Jessica's party and meets Clay. At the party she witnesses Bryce rape Jessica and is too afraid to do anything. In the present, Clay tries to bring Bryce to justice. Marcus has had enough and gets Clay suspended by planting weed on him. Clay opens up a little to his mom and angrily goes to Tony to let out his frustrations.
The Good: I really liked the opening sequence. It really put us inside of Hannah's life in a way that nothing else in the show has done before and it lets us understand why she is feeling so much pain and loneliness. I wish the show would have more scenes like this. It was a good showing of Hannah trying to improve her life, but ultimately failing because of how much she has been suffering. This was the most real I think the show has been when portraying Hannah. I was happy that we got a new story for Hannah. While I don't think the party story was great, it was new and has added another big reason for Hannah to turn towards suicide. Witnessing a rape would be horrifying enough, but doing nothing and feeling guilty about it afterwards is a really interesting story and I really hope that the show explores how Hannah feels after doing nothing to help Jessica. I need more than Hannah's narration saying how she couldn't live with herself, I want to see it happen. I thought Clay's arc was solid again. It's nice to see him get angry because of what Bryce did and quickly begin to break down once again, leading into a pretty good final scene where Clay lets out his frustrations to Tony. I liked seeing him talking to his mom as well as he got to let out some of his feelings but obviously couldn't reveal everything. The scene wasn't spectacular but it was pretty solid. Also we got to see Justin and Clay finally having a proper talk, which was also solid but unspectacular. It was nice to get a better idea of Justin's morals though. I was happy to finally see the group do something to Clay by getting him suspended. It was much more effective of a threat than the stupid car driving scene from a few episodes ago. I also like Clay's reaction to getting drugs planted on him. By this point he's so miserable and just doesn't care so he doesn't bother explaining himself. The Bad: The Justin and Jessica relationship is still a total failure. We have no idea why they like each other, what keeps them together or who they even are as characters and that is awful. Because of this I just can't be bothered to care about if Jessica was raped or not, and I don't care about the effect this will have on their relationship. Jessica also seems to only now be questioning if she was actually raped which is insane. She should have been bothered by this from the very next day when she woke up, especially if she has actual memory of Bryce raping her instead of Justin. It's a really bad flaw which I wish could have been handled differently. It makes it feel like Jessica is only having problems with this when it's relevant to the story. This episode feels like it was bogged down by many of the same flaws the other episodes had. Poor dialogue, weak characterization, focusing on the wrong thing and wasting our time with a lot of filler. In the end, the episode was a bit difficult to get through, and if I wasn't invested in Clay's story or intrigued by Hannah's, I probably wouldn't care for this at all. The show needs to start improving now if it wants to have some kind of big impact at the end. The Unknown: Why was Hannah in the bedroom? It seems like we are getting that answer really soon. What is with the random clips of Clay running? Where is he going? When is this? Best Moment: Clay's anger towards Tony towards the end was the most powerful scene I suppose. Character of the Episode: I'll say Hannah for this one. Conclusion: This was a solid episode, but once more, it contained pretty much every big problem I've had with 13 Reasons Why as a whole. The episode was enjoyable though and had nice moments, but it's still being held back from being as good as it could be. Score: 58 Summary: In flashbacks, Hannah joins the poetry club and writes a poem which is then published by Ryan, humiliating Hannah. In the present, Tony takes Clay on a walk and reveals that he was there when Hannah died. Clay gets the tapes back and gives Hannah's poem to Olivia.
The Good: We have finally seen Hannah with her parents. It's really bad that the show took 8 episodes to show an example of what Hannah's life at home is like. You would think that would be one of the first things the show touches on. Better late than never though, and what we got was pretty good. We are clearly shown that while Hannah's parents were loving, they may not have ever given her the attention she looked for and were too busy arguing or dealing with their business to show much care for Hannah's life. Seeing Hannah come home clearly upset after deciding not to do poetry anymore, only for her parents to ignore it was pretty telling. I did like the Tony is gay reveal. It's nice to see diversity like that in the show. I was also amused that Clay was completely oblivious, which is one of his defining traits at this point. It made for a nice laugh and it was the most organic scene that Clay and Tony had this episode. This episode was very repetitive (see: The Bad), and I think it only really benefitted one scene. The show seems to show Clay come so close to making Hannah feel good over and over again, only for him to unintentionally mess it up at the very end every single time. I wonder if that's why he is on the tapes? That seems really harsh, but I'm sure that something major happened for Clay's tape, whenever it is. The Bad: The repetition was a huge problem for this episode, and it made so much of it feel like filler. It has been present in previous episodes, but those have usually had enough going on for me to not really be bothered by it. Furthermore I could always believe that things would be explored more in the next episode. But now we are 8 episodes in and there should not be any more filler. Yet this whole episode was pretty much filler. For the Hannah story we once more got to see a nice guy who wasn't actually so nice storyline which has gotten so bland over the past few episodes. We also saw Mr. Porter talking to somebody about Hannah for hat feels like the 100th time with no actual payoff. The group of kids met up again to say that Clay was a problem for what felt like the 1000th time and they still haven't done anything. And once more the Bakers came into a completely filler conflict which had no impact on their character arcs or the overall story and served to waste our time. Let's add in Justin and Jess being dislikeable with a stupid relationship which is impossible to carer about and we have a completely generic episode from the show which has everything I hate about it. The biggest problem I have with the filler is that it's wasting time the show could be spending trying to flesh out its characters. I've said the characters are extremely shallow and that still remains true, so the show chooses to just waste time instead of making me care. That's really annoying to see and is one of the biggest things preventing the show from being as good as I think it has potential to be. I would much rather take actual character development over a scene of Alex deciding to go to the Bakers store and doing absolutely nothing. The rock climbing story was dumb. It had no tension whatsoever and didn't really serve to make Tony and Clay bond more as friends so I'm left questioning its purpose. I also found it hard to buy into Clay's excitement after finishing the climb, and I honestly thought he was being sarcastic at first. Hannah's storyline had some big flaws as well. They completely reused the idea of having people laugh at Hannah after something was spread around the school from the first episode. I also found it ridiculous that everyone was reading the poem. Like seriously, who in the school actually reads things like that? Definitely not everybody. And nobody makes fun of poems like that. They would just gloss over it and move on, not actively laugh at the writer. The show continues to make everyone aside from Hannah seem like unrealistic assholes to make us sympathize with Hannah and it is getting more and more frustrating. It was hard to buy into Tony's sadness surrounding Hannah's death since we have seen them interact like maybe twice in the whole show. We can't just be told they are friends, it needs to be shown to us. The Unknown: What will the Bakers do with the poem from Clay? Best Moment: I'll pick Tony describing the day Hannah died because the sheer tragedy of the event made me feel some emotion for Tony having to see all of that. I just wish we knew more about his relationship with Hannah so that the scene would have had more emotion so I could consider it one of the best in the show. Character of the Episode: Tony. Conclusion: This was a poor episode. The show is treading water to make it to 13 episodes at this point and it's frustrating to get an episode where nothing is accomplished at all. The show has at least been decently entertaining in previous episodes which were weaker, but this episode did absolutely nothing for me. The show needs to get moving again so maybe it can end on a high note. Score: 45 Summary: In Flashbacks, Zach comforts Hannah after what happened with Marcus. the next day he wants to go out with her but she shoves him away. Zach gets upset and starts stealing compliments from Hannah's compliment bag. In the present, Clay struggles with hallucinations during the day and has an outburst during a basketball game. Clay scratches "Why Me?" onto Zach's car. Clay returns the tapes to Tony. While giving a tour to foreign exchange students, Clay has an outburst and rants about the state of the school.
The Good: Clay's storyline was excellent in this episode. The hallucinations were fantastic and helped put us into Clay's mind, which he is quickly losing control over. It adds some tension to the scenes since we know we can't even be sure if what we are seeing is actually happening while also making us question Clay's reliability of a protagonist and if he is going to remain trustworthy throughout the series. Dylan Minnette stood out in his episode after not really making a mark in previous episodes. He played the depressed and bitter Clay really well and conveyed the change in his character very well. I also like the little detail of Clay's scar getting worse to reflect his mental state, even if the makeup does look like crap. The ending of the episode was great. I was surprised by Clay giving up the tapes, but it makes a lot of sense for him to do that, seeing how they are quickly ruining his life. I'm sure the tapes will find their way back to him very soon, but I'm glad that the writers took the effort to show that Clay will do anything to try to escape how he is feeling right now. The ending scenes with Clay were excellent as he attempted a new positive outlook on everything now that he is free of the tapes, but he was unable to escape and ended up making a big scene with a powerful outburst. Hannah's story has really lacked for me so far (see: The Bad), but I still felt like there were some nice improvements here. I really liked the scene where she left a note in the class compliments bag but was forced to hear practically nobody really care about the message. This kind of scene was really needed from the show to emphasize Hannah's loneliness and how she felt like she had nothing and nobody. I suspect the rest of the seasons will have more scenes like this. At least I hope there are more. I am able to buy into Hannah's deteriorating state a little bit more in this episode due to Katherine Langford's great performance. We haven't seen Hannah on her own nearly enough in this show, so it's really up to the acting in these short scenes to make me care and for the most part, she did a great job. Zach was pretty good in this episode. I was more than pleased to see a character get more development and be likeable overall for once. I was glad that Zach always behaved kindly towards Hannah, and that the whole reasons he was on the tapes was just because Hannah was going through a really tough time and accidentally made an enemy. Zach keeping the note was a great touch to really emphasize that he is a good person and has some regrets about what happened. I also like that the show touched on Zach's loneliness as well, which I would have loved to see explored in more detail. The Bad: Once more, I feel like the person who hurt Hannah went out of character to do something. Zach stealing the compliments from Clay was just stupid and petty and felt like something from grade 5, not high school. It was seriously dumb and didn't fit the story at all. Zach logically should have just stopped talking to Hannah, but then she wouldn't have a reason to make a tape, so the writers had to put in something dumb to make up for it. Speaking of grade 3, the whole concept of a compliment bag in high school is ridiculous. Nobody would do that in real life. It's worse than the dollar valentines in the last episode. I feel like the whole conflict between Zach and Hannah was dumb. They know they both made some mistakes (Hannah especially), so why did they not just talk it out like sane people? Like seriously, why would Hannah make some stupid note instead of just confronting Zach and talking to him to tell him to stop? Also why did she lie about him crumpling up the note and throwing it to the ground? Are we supposed to somehow believe that she thought he did that but he didn't? If it's not that, then the show is having Hannah lie to get revenge on Zach which is EXACTLY what I said the show should be avoiding. Hannah as a whole is sort of failing as a character at the moment. Katherine Langford's performance is currently the only thing that is making me feel some sympathy for her. This entire situation was totally brought on by her. I could understand if she had just felt bad about this and blamed herself which led into her depression, but instead she blames Zach for literally getting mad because Hannah was mean to him when he tried to be nice and she embarrassed him in front of his friends. Why should we feel bad for Hannah here when she did something cruel and clearly doesn't own up to it? Hannah cannot be portrayed as unlikable in a show like this, yet that is exactly what happened here. We desperately need to see more about how Hannah feels on her own and how the situations around her drove her to take her own life. I had expected each tape to get worse and worse, but so far they have just been petty things which I can hardly buy brought her to this level of sadness. Of course the dialogue is still fairly poor. So is the relationship between Justin and Jessica which continues to make me question why they are even together anyways. The Unknown: What is Skye's role in the story? Is she on the tapes too? That doesn't make much sense seeing how she isn't communicating with anybody else, but she still needs some kind of purpose to be a part of the story. What is Mr. Porter going to tell Clay? Will Clay spill the beans on the tapes now? Will he get them back? How? Will Tony give them back or will something else happen? So could Hannah really be lying about what happened at Jessica's party? Since she lied here, it may be possible that she lied about other things. Best Moment: Clay's outburst at the end was gripping and powerful and it felt extremely real. Clay has been pushed to a breaking point here and it's been fascinating to see him slowly lose connection with himself and start doing irrational things. This was no exception and it provided what I think was the best scene in the show so far. Character of the Episode: Clay. Conclusion: This episode was powerful and had a great story revolving around Clay and even did a good job of developing a side character. Yet the show still keeps stumbling on stupid things and it's quite frustrating to see the potential for a great show being wasted through bad characterization of Hannah, poor dialogue and idiotic character decisions. This was still good, but by all means it should have been much better. Score: 61 Summary: In flashbacks, Marcus calls Hannah after getting matched with her for dollar valentines. Hannah initially likes him but Marcus completely embarrasses her on their date. In the present, Alex and Monty get in a fight and Monty is suspended while Alex is let off with a warning. Clay starts to hook up with Sheri but she reveals that she just wants Clay to not think poorly of her because she is on the tapes. A frustrated Clay tells her to leave.
The Good: I thought the fight storyline was really well done. The situation felt like a realistic position for a fight, and considering what we have seen from Alex, it fit his character to do something like confronting Monty for being stupid. The honour board meeting which followed was also really good and had some great storytelling which seemed to highlight the show's biggest moral question: who is responsible for the actions of others? I enjoyed the exploration of the topic, even if it was brief. Clay's character arc remains extremely interesting. He's becoming more open but as a result is also falling more into depression while doing so. The storyline with Sheri was pretty interesting and added even more reasons for Clay to continue his descent. I said it before, but I'll repeat it again; I think Clay's arc has been much better than Hannah's. It was nice to see a scene of Hannah on her own, dealing with things and apparently starting to have slightly suicidal thoughts. I wish the early parts of her story were told better, but if they start focusing on her emotions now, I still think her character arc can be turned into something really good. The Bad: The entire concept of dollar valentines was pretty stupid to me. I can hardly buy that the school would try something like that. Marcus' story was extremely dumb. He has come off as a pretty decent guy so far in the show, so to see him try to take advantage of Hannah felt horribly out of character and ridiculous. I think his character got by far the worst treatment out of any other characters who were focused on in the tapes. I hardly knew anything about him before, and that is still completely the same. The storyline surrounding Hannah's parents has gotten pretty repetitive. We just see them grieving episode after episode and then having a really basic conflict which is resolved by the episode's end. I don't think we need so much focus on their characters at the moment, and more needs to be done to characterize the high schoolers instead. Unfortunately that wasn't the only repetitive thing either. Hannah's story was yet another one about how guys can suck. It had very little substance to it and honestly I don't think the show would be any different without it. It was by far the weakest story thus far. The characters of Justin and Jessica are suffering the most from not receiving enough focus. They spend so much of their time arguing so it's extremely hard to care about or even buy into their relationship. Both characters come off as annoying assholes on their own as well so they have ended up being some of the series' worst aspects. Sheri's motives were ridiculous. If she wanted Clay to like her, why not talk to him about it instead of just pretending like she isn't even aware of the tapes? Her reasoning is shallow and stupid and makes me dislike her character as well. It would be nice to have other characters to like in this show. The Unknown: I'm still standing by my theory that Jeff died, hence the transition to Clay tutoring Jeff after looking sad for a few seconds. What is Skye's story? She seems to like Clay based off of her comments to him being with Sheri. Was the guy Tony talking to his boyfriend? I assume so, and I think that means that Tony actually wasn't following Clay there. That also raises the question of why he is following Clay. Also what are his secrets? Whose secret is it that he's keeping? Hannah's? Or somebody else? Best Moment: The honour board meeting was a pretty great scene in a weaker episode. Character of the Episode: Alex. Conclusion: This was the weakest episode of the series for e. Not a whole lot happened, there were few talking points and Hannah's story was definitely the most repetitive and empty it has been so far. Without the excellent Alex/Monty storyline, this episode would have been a complete failure. Score: 53 Summary: Rick rushes Carl to Hershel's farm. Hershel is a veterinarian and saves Carl but he requires more operation. Shane and Otis, the man who shot Carl go to a high school for medical supplies but are cornered by a horde of walkers. Lori learns that Carl is shot and rushes to the farm. The rest of the group don't find Sophia but prepare to leave a message for her on the highway before they head to the farm.
The Good: This was a slower episode but it still had some good moments throughout. Rick was the star here as Andrew Lincoln put in a killer performance showcasing Rick's shock from the whole Carl situation. He impressed in every scene and made me buy into his current mind state. The emotion was easy to buy into here as Rick was forced to watch, helpless, as his son lies in critical condition. A lot of the scenes were suitably sad as a result, making them fairly powerful. There were a lot of other good scenes too. I liked T-Dog and Dale's story for the most part. T-Dog got to raise some interesting points about how life is during the zombie apocalypse and how maybe they should just be looking after themselves instead of after others. It was quite fascinating to explore an idea like that, and it's something I would love for the show to touch upon more often. It was good to see Daryl get some more development to show him as a more likable person. He shows grit and determination to get Sophia back under the guise of being cold and also saves T-Dog once more by giving him some antibiotics. I also love that there was what seemed to be the blue meth from Breaking Bad in Merle's stash. The Greene family at the farm seem like decent enough people but I'm definitely interested to learn more about them. Hershel is a decent character so far and it's interesting that he believes so firmly in a cure coming for the infection. The Bad: The walker attack on Andrea in this episode was pretty bad. It was just there for drama's sake which was weak and the set up for it was stupid. Andrea for whatever reason was walking way behind which was already dumb, but then for some reason there was a walker hiding behind the tree. What??? Since when do walkers hide like that? And why did it attack Andrea and not the group when they walked by? Poor writing. I was also put off by nobody wondering if T-Dog was infected. He had a walker lying on an open wound and then got a fever, yet nobody is suspecting infection? That seems stupid, and if T-Dog isn't infected it's even worse because it shows that the writers never intended for us to suspect the obvious answer, Lori is hard to like in this episode. She has just been a generic annoying wife/mom and she continued that here by taking her frustrations out on Hershel who is literally saving her son's life. I need to have more characters to like in this show, but the writers have failed to provide even a single reason for me to like Lori. I didn't like Rick attempting to leave Carl and do everything himself like Jack from Lost. I don't buy hat as being part of his character and I feel like it would be so much more in character for him to want to stay with Carl no matter what. The school attack scenes disappointed me too. It's obvious that Shane isn't going to die there, so the scenes lack tension and there were some sloppy moments there too. For example, why didn't they see the walkers earlier and only wait to get closer? It seemed to exist just for drama. Also did they not leave themselves an escape plan from the walkers? Why not save some flares to distract the walkers before they make their escape as well? Also it seems that they waited several hours for it to get darker before enacting their plan, so surely they would have thought of an escape strategy. Additionally, the filming at the end was weak. Why aren't Shane and Otis just going into the school to escape? The camera is suggesting that they are trapped but they really aren't at all. Poor cinematography. And that awful evening filter returns again this episode. Ugh. The Unknown: The 2 children in the show are both at risk of dying now. Will they both die? Will they both survive? Or will only 1 of them die? I believe that Carl will survive but that Sophia won't. After all she has been alone for 2 days now, so it will be hard to buy into her surviving. Best Moment: There wasn't much which stood out here, but I'll go with Shane comforting Rick a little and ensuring that he will stay with Carl. The 2 have been at odds very often, so it's really nice to get a reminder that they are still friends. Character of the Episode: Rick. Conclusion: This was a slower episode and while it had some decent moments, there was also a number of flaws which took away from this. Score: 58 Summary: In flashbacks, Hannah works hard to get Courtney as a friend again. Hannah goes to a dance and connects with Clay but she leaves after Courtney spreads awful rumours about her. Clay takes Courtney to Hannah's grave in an attempt to make Courtney accept her role in Hannah's death. Courtney leaves frustrated. Justin, Alex and others take Clay into a car and threaten him to stop doing what he's doing. Clay's mom begins working with the school on the lawsuit.
The Good: I really enjoyed Clay's storyline in this episode. In a lot of ways, his descent into depression has been much more fascinating to watch than Hannah's descent to suicide. Unlike with Hannah, we get to see Clay on his own, so we can understand how everything is having its toll on him. We get to see his feeling down and depressed so we can relate with the struggle he is going through. This is what we need for Hannah as well because it can make for some really compelling television. The dance scenes were pretty good throughout. It was a nice little event that continued developing Clay and Hannah' relationship to really make us feel about what Clay lost when Hannah committed suicide. This episode was easily the most sad so far and it's scenes like these which made it that way. I really liked the way that Courtney spreading an awful rumour completely ruined another great moment for Hannah. These episodes seem to be patterned to have Hannah begin to have something only for her to lose it immediately after and I think the pattern largely works. I just want to see more of Hannah in between these patterns. I thought the scenes at Hannah's grave were pretty good. It was nice to get a better idea of what Clay was doing by making justice. It wasn't to prove anything to anyone, but instead he has selfish motives of wanting others to pay for what they took from him. It's a really sad story and a mature one which impressed me. I didn't expect this show to start exploring morally gray area as well as it did in this episode. Tony talking with Clay was great too and finally allowed the characters to just sit and talk about how they are feeling. I want more scenes like this from the show with the other characters to give me a better understanding of them too. Alex speeding and not stopping was pretty great. It continues to show that he has been very affected by the entire situation and seems to be slipping into suicidal tendencies himself. Now the question is if anyone is going to notice how far he is slipping. The Bad: The same flaws persist with this episode. The dialogue is really terrible at times and Hannah isn't as compelling as we expect her to be because we don't get a good look of how she is dealing with the awful things that are happening to her. One thing I really don't like about this show is how hateable everyone is. I like a few characters, but so many characters seem like downright awful people and that is pretty annoying. For this show to work, I need to understand these characters and be able to sympathize with them more than I actually do. The idea that Hannah tried to get a limo was dumb. I don't care what the situation is, I don't think any teenager actually tries that. I don't see how Justin having Alex drive a car fast is supposed to intimidate Clay. Everybody is in the car and he won't get in trouble I they are pulled over. How was that intimidating? And if they crash, everybody is screwed so I doubt they would do that. It was dumb and more frustrating because we still didn't get a concrete answer on why everyone hates Clay so much. Can they not just talk to him about things to try to make him understand instead of just threatening him? The Unknown: The principal mentioned losing 2 students. Who was the second? We were introduced to Jeff in the flashbacks but he is nowhere to be found in the present. Could he have died somehow as well? Apparently Hannah lied about Jessica's party. Is that true? What did she li about? Why would she lie? As I've mentioned before, I think it's a dumb idea to have Hannah lie so I hope the show handles the situation intelligently. How will Clay's mother working on the case with the school affect him? Will it create more reasons for him to talk about Hannah or the opposite? Best Moment: Clay talking with Tony was pretty powerful television. Character of the Episode: Clay for finally starting o captivate me. Conclusion: This was a good episode which delivered the most powerful stuff in the show so far. The show is still flawed but it seems like it may be starting to improve now which is a great sign. Score: 63 Summary: In flashbacks, Lydia captures Offred and introduces her to the Red Center. In the present, Serena confronts Offred about what she did with Fred. Offred learns she is pregnant. Serena shows Offred where Hannah is living and ensures that she will be kept safe. Offred shares some venomous words with Serena. Warren is amputated as punishment for his crimes. Janine is to be executed by the handmaids, but they all disobey Aunt Lydia and refuse to do it. Offred open the package to discover letters from other handmaids. Nick takes Offred from the Waterford residence into a van. Moira reaches Little America and reunites with Luke.
The Good: This was an excellent season finale which had a lot of great cathartic moments and also consisted of a lot of unclear scenes which served to set up a fantastic cliffhanger leading into the next season. I'll start by discussing the early parts of the episode first. Offred and Serena's scenes were simply excellent throughout. Serena was brilliant as she was awful to Offred while also managing to be relatable as she is so clearly desperate to have a child. It was wonderful to see Serena berate Offred for what she did with Fred before immediately forcing her to take a pregnancy test. That scene alone does a great job of demonstrating what Serena's priorities are. Better yet though, was their subsequent tri where Serena takes Offred to show her where Hannah is currently living. What followed was one of the show's most powerful moments as Offred was forced to helplessly watch as Hannah was mere metres away from her but she was unable to get her attention. And if that wasn't enough, the show follows up with a wonderfully cold outburst from Offred towards Serena which was effective on pretty much every level of emotional storytelling (see: Best Moment). Another major character who had some great scenes was Fred. While we unfortunately still don't know much about him (see: The Bad), it's made crystal clear that Fred is an awful human being at this point. We learn that Serena is aware of what Fred had been doing with Offred and is very upset by it, and Fred very clearly doesn't care. But after a tremendous scene where Fred learns that people actually do listen to the wives' opinion when laying down sentences on the husbands, Fred does a total 180 and tells Serena exactly what she wants to hear: he made mistakes but it's okay because now they are going to have a baby. It was a really good way to set up season 2 which I presume will have a fair bit more focus on the relationship between these 2, especially with Offred seemingly going somewhere else. Let's talk about that ending now. We know very little about what actually happened to Offred and that makes it a fantastic cliffhanger going into season 2. Nick tells her to trust him but we can't say for sure where his current allegiances lie, and I can't say if he is making a move for himself against the Waterfords or if he is genuinely helping her. It's wonderfully ambiguous and does a great job of putting us in Offred's shoes as we have as much of an idea of what's happening as she does. A great ending. I really loved the climactic scene with Janine's attempted execution. It was suitably grim when we realized what was happening and I thought Ann Dowd was spectacular as she conveyed the conflict within Aunt Lydia as she sentenced Janine to death. The subsequent refusal from the handmaids was a great moment and finally gave us something to cheer about in this show so filled with misery. The "I'm sorry Aunt Lydia" line was superbly used as well and was a great callback to the flashback which opened the episode, giving the moment even more power. Lastly, the group walk from the handmaids felt very earned after that scene and I thought it was 100 times more effective than the weak ending from "Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum". Seeing Moira meet Luke was a nice moment as well. Her actual arrival in Little America was great and Samira Wiley did an excellent job of conveying the shock of actually being able to live her own life without being somebody else's tool for the first time in years. Her meeting with Luke didn't feel hollow at all despite my complaints about their characters, and I think it had a suitable amount of emotional resonance to it, created by the idea that these 2 characters were alone for so long and now they finally have somebody again. The Bad: It was disappointing to not get any information on Fred's backstory. He had been such a fascinating mystery throughout the season, so to discover that he is a total scumbag without any motives behind why he chose to be a scumbag was extremely weak. It feels really lazy in the same way it was lazy that no detail was given to how Gilead functions. I was very displeased with Moira's escape from Gilead. We had a whole episode wasted on Luke leaving Gilead, which established how hard it was to escape, yet Moira just casually drives out of Gilead with no focus given to her. That's such a cop out and is completely disappointing on every level while also making "The Other Side" feel like even more of a waste of time. Furthermore, we know that Moira was caught when she left before but we never found out how. Had we been explained this, it could have created some genuine tension as Moira left in the previous episode with her knowing that she can't afford to make the same mistake again. It could have made for a tense story which gave us a bit more insight on Moira's character and it also would have made the scene where Moira reaches Ontario much more powerful than it was. Instead we got practically nothing for her which was a huge waste of storytelling potential. The Unknown: What consequences did Aunt Lydia have in mind for the handmaids? Could the end of the episode be those consequences coming to fruition? What are Nick's motives at the ending? He openly displayed his love in front of Serena earlier in the episode, so could that have had something to do with it? Was Nick perhaps choosing to escape before Serena learns anything more? Or is it nothing to do with that? Is Nick saving Offred from Aunt Lydia? Or has he turned the other way and decided to turn Offred in for something? Will Offred's pregnancy save her? Could Offred's pregnancy be why she was taken away? Could it be because Nick told somebody about Fred's activities with Offred? There are so many questions to keep us hooked into season 2 which is great. Best Moment: Offred throwing everything at Serena for teasing her with a simple view of Hannah was tremendous. It felt real because we know that Offred has been on the edge for a long time, and this was the shove over the edge that sent her into emotional hell. Her words had real venom to them and really hit hard. Character of the Episode: Offred. Conclusion: This was an excellent finale with a lot of extremely powerful and memorable moments. It had some flaws throughout, but the storytelling was more than good enough to overcome them to make this episode stand out. I'm definitely excited for season 2. As for the season as a whole, I thought it was pretty good, but it had a lot of weaker aspects including its side characters and world-building. Honestly if this show's acting and storytelling wasn't as stellar as it was, this would have been a pretty big flop of a TV show. Thankfully though the performances invested me into the storylines and even if the writing dropped the ball a number of times, I still enjoyed it because I had gotten invested to a few of the characters. In the end this season was good, but I think it could have been great had some things been handled better. Let's hope that season 2 fixes the problems I had so this show can hit the next level which I know it's fully capable of hitting. Score: 73 Summary: Flashbacks show that Hannah was being stalked by someone. She teams up with Courtney and discovers that it's Tyler but Tyler has taken some pictures. Hannah doesn't want to hang out with Tyler o he shares the pictures with the school. In the present, Clay speaks with Olivia (Mrs. Baker) about Hannah. The Bakers begin doing work on the lawsuit. Tyler reveals that he loved Hannah. Clay stalks Tyler and sends a naked picture of him around the school.
The Good: This was another solid hour with decent enough storytelling. The story is still satisfying and enjoyable to follow, even though it frustratingly seems to be settling for a lower level than it should be (see: The Bad). We learned some interesting details about Tyler here which led to him being basically shunned as an outcast by the group. It's interesting to see that Clay decided to throw Tyler under the bus, which seems to be exactly the kind of thing that people did which led to Hannah's suicide. The show is making an interesting statement with that final scene and I'm curious to see what the follow-up will be. I enjoyed Clay much more in this episode until the end. I loved the scene with him and Olivia and the editing which highlighted his fears of possibly revealing the tapes to her. It's a very real feeling and I'm glad that the show was able to creatively explore it for a little bit. I also really like that the show decided to include Clay having regrets about Hannah's suicide and the actions he took in the past. I commented on the last episode that Clay should have more of a reaction to Hannah's death, and I think this is a very good way to start doing that. I really liked Marcus' character. Though we aren't sure if we can trust what he says (see: The Unknown), I really did like his opinion on the tapes. I love that somebody decided to call out Hannah for doing something as awful as creating these tapes. It's a pretty messed up thing to do, and while I'm 99% sure the tapes are just used as a plot device for the show to explore the concept of suicide, I'm very happy that the characters in the show aren't treating it as a plot device and that they have their own opinions on the tapes. One strange thing about this show is how easy it is to watch. It's such a fascinating mystery to try to find out what drove Hannah to kill herself, and it's just as fascinating to find out how all the other characters have been affected by it. While the show doesn't always give us the highest quality, it's completely hooked me because I'm very interested to see more. I think it's a unique show because of that and I also believe this is the reason why the show became so popular because people just couldn't stop watching it once they had started. The Bad: This episode was the weakest so far in my opinion though with lots of flaws. For one, Tyler is extremely shallow and we know nothing of substance about him. Why is he so antisocial? Why does he take pictures? We don't know, and that's a problem since these are his motives we are talking about and we don't know what they are. The lawsuit story is extremely dull. While I think Hannah's parents are important characters, they certainly don't need this much focus, especially when the show is struggling to flesh out its main cast. The show can't afford to juggle so many characters, and the school lawsuit story is just adding far too much to the story. The show is making me worried about how they are portraying Hannah. At this point she should surely be feeling pretty sad and lonely because of what she's gone through, but I really don't feel that. I think this is because the show refuses to actually show us how Hannah is doing when she's alone. Instead all we get to learn about how Hannah really feels is the stupid narration which I still feel is the show's worst element. If we are to care about what's happening to Hannah we need to be shown what's happening not be told about what's happening. If the show doesn't start examining the effects that all these things are having on Hannah, there may be some big problems down the road. Clay "making his own justice" was stupid. It felt completely out of character for him to do that, and it's a huge problem when I don't understand why the protagonist makes a crucial decision. The show seems to imply that it's to get even with Tony or something like that but that makes no sense. The ending was just stupid. I'm also quickly getting annoyed by all the drama from the other students who keep talking about Clay being a big problem. Why? If you don't tell us why, I don't care and it quickly becomes a waste of my time. Apparently Clay is "dead" after he sent the picture of Tyler. WHY? It makes no sense and I really need to understand why these students are after Clay so much. The Unknown: What's the point of the second set of tapes? Why did Hannah make them? Also why isn't Tony on the tapes? If he isn't on the tapes, how does he know about them? So it's basically been confirmed that Bryce isn't aware of the tapes, so I presume he isn't on them which is a bit of a surprise seeing how much of an ass he has been so far. Also what are the goals of the students who are after Clay? We need an explanation immediately. Best Moment: Tough to choose, but I'll go with Clay's fears that Olivia would blame him for Hannah's death. Character of the Episode: Clay. Conclusion: This episode had more solid progression, but the show is being too vague and mysterious and it's taking away from the significance of a lot of the drama. On top of that, the show isn't focusing on the stories which really matter and it's starting to hurt the quality. This episode was still really enjoyable but it's easily the weakest so far because of all its flaws. Score: 55 Summary: In flashbacks, Alex creates his list to get back at Jessica for not having sex with him and Hannah is bullied about having the "best ass". In the present, Clay speaks with Alex who is feeling extremely guilty about Hannah's suicide. Clay is forced by Bryce and friends to buy a bottle of liquor and chug it.
The Good: Alex's character was really good in this episode. Though we don't know much about how he was before (see: The Bad), we can very clearly see how Alex has changed for the worse after Hannah's suicide. This episode does a great job of exploring how depressed he has become in a bunch of effective scenes like his talk with Clay, the ending where he emptily plays video games before jumping into a pool and when he quits the jazz band because it's "pointless". So far the show hasn't really examined the guilt of the people who Hannah believes to be responsible since both Jessica and Justin have been very unlikable about the whole situation, so that makes it feel very refreshing to see Alex act like a decent human being who feels bad about what happened. Clay and Hannah's relationship remains one of the best parts of the show. They have good chemistry together and are pretty fun to watch, so I think their scenes work pretty nicely together. I'm definitely very interested to see what happens between them. The store scene where Bryce gropes Hannah was done pretty well I thought. While it feels like it was overdramatized (see: The Bad), it serves as a very effective way to continue Hannah's downfall which is bound to only get worse after each episode. It was good to get some basic backstory on Justin as well. He was pretty shallow so far, so it's nice to get a hint that there is more to him than what meets the eye. It seems that his parents are utter garbage, which does help humanize him a bit. As a side note, I really like that the Coach is looking out for Justin and seems to genuinely care about him. In a show about suicide, it's important to establish that there are lots of decent people who care about the main characters' well-being. The Bad: I'm starting to have a bit of a problem with Clay as the series moves on. Apparently he was much closer to Hannah than it initially seems, so in that regard it's pretty weak that he doesn't have more struggles trying to move on like Alex does. Hannah's narration is really hurting the show more than it's helping. It leaves no room for subtlety and it feels so dramatic that it honestly completely ruins the emotional resonance of smaller moments. Hannah crying while leaving the store could have been powerful, but instead it felt completely empty to me due to Hannah's over-dramatic narration. Having Hannah narrate while sounding completely unlikable and overdramatic really only serves to make me dislike her character which is absolutely not what I should be feeling for a girl who committed suicide. Hannah's paranoid trip through the school with Alex's list flying around was really poorly done. The show could have gotten creative with its cinematography to heighten Hannah's paranoia, but nope, instead it relies on Hannah's crappy narration once more to weaken the impact of a scene. I also found it pretty ridiculous that the students were passing around Alex's list in paper. Seriously? Nobody does that anymore (they use phones) and teachers would stop it from continuing anyways. I wish that the character focus was better in each episode. I feel like too much time is spent on rather unimportant stuff, like Clay drinking, when it really shouldn't be. I would find these episodes more compelling if they focused on a specific character and actually explored that character. Like this episode was fixed around Alex, yet I don't know a whole lot about him. I would have loved to get a better idea of his story so I could at least sympathize with him a little more and understand why he did what he did. But instead we get nothing about who Alex was and we need to care about who he is in the present. This works somewhat for Alex since his guilt makes me sympathize with him, but it's completely failed with both Jess and Justin who are almost insufferable to me at this point. Alex making his list was dumb as well. We get a half-baked explanation on why he did it which isn't good enough. To add to my last point, we really needed to see what drove Alex to making that list so we could sympathize with him more for making the mistake he did. But we don't get to see what was going through his head, so it leaves us to dislike him a little bit as well which isn't good. Apparently he loved Jessica, so he broke up with her because she didn't want to have sex yet?? Seriously?! That is an awful thing to do which doesn't fit Alex's character at all, so we desperately needed some more insight on why he did that, but we just don't get it. The Unknown: From the look of things, Bryce and Tyler both never got the tapes, since they don't seem aware of their existence. Interesting. Where are Tony's allegiances? Whose side is he on? Why was he beating somebody up in an abandoned location? What was that for? Why does Alex not trust Tony? Why do Justin and all the others seem to be after Clay? What is their purpose? Why? What is Clay going to do? What happened at Jessica's party which was very important? What is Clay doing now which is illegal? Best Moment: Alex's outburst at Monet's was excellent. It felt like an earned moment which really highlighted Alex's guilt and how he feels that if people had been better, including himself, Hannah could have been saved. It felt like a very real outburst from a troubled teenager who had recently lost a friend. This was my favourite scene in the show so far. Character of the Episode: Alex. Conclusion: This episode was another solid instalment, though it was more uneven than the others. It had the best and the worst of the show, which makes it a bit of a mixed bag. Score: 60 Summary: Ross tells Rachel about his sexual fantasy about Princess Leia and Rachel tells Phoebe and Monica to Ross' dismay. Rachel encourages Ross to talk to guys about things like that. Joey is having trouble getting used to Janice since he can't stand her. Monica suffers from insomnia after breaking up with Richard.
The Good: This was a great episode to kick of season 3. The storylines were great follow-up from season 2 and had lots of comedy throughout. The Joey and Janice storyline was great fun and I loved how Joey ended up coming into a very small conflict with Chandler about Janice before trying to like her and failing. It was pretty funny throughout and was a good story to do with Janice back into the show. Monica' story was very good too. It made sense that she would be so affected after breaking up with Richard and it led to several funny lines, and a really great ending where Jack Geller got to come in for a little bit, being awesome as always. The best storyline was definitely Ross' though as it led to a good discussion about the differences between guy friendships and girl friendships which led into a fantastic scene between Ross and Chandler. The Bad: Nothing really. I suppose it doesn't have quite enough comedy to really be considered one of the show's very best episodes. Best Moment: Chandler freaking out Ross by saying how his mom's face appears sometimes when he has sex was hysterical. It's slightly funnier than the final scene with Ross ad Rachel in my opinion. Character of the Episode: Ross. Conclusion: This was a really strong and funny episode which was a great way to kick off season 3. Score: 79 Summary: In flashbacks, Hannah become friends with Jessica and Alex and hang out to drink hot chocolate. Then Jess and Alex stop coming and Hannah learns that they are now dating. Alex makes a list and breaks up with Jess, causing Jess and Hannah to have a falling out. In the present, Clay tries to meet with Justin who is staying at Bryce's and smoking. Jess tells Clay that Hannah is a liar. Tony is revealed to be in contact with Hannah's parents.
The Good: The Hannah, Jessica and Alex storyline is a pretty good main focus for this episode. Their friend group is an excellent portrayal of the kind of casual, and quirky groups which sometimes exist in high schools. While the "FML" thing seems a bit much, I did enjoy the idea of their friendship and the falling out was suitably sad to watch. It's fitting as an early conflict which started Hannah on the road towards her suicide, and I'm definitely interested to see Hannah's character slowly devolve through the course of the series. At the moment her character seems a bit shallow, but I'm sure that she will be developed more as we go through the show and get more insight into her mental state. The other characters are also pretty shallow at the moment, but the show has definitely started to flesh them out. Right now the show is fascinatingly showing us the many different ways these teenagers are dealing with the gilt of feeling responsible for Hannah's death. Justin smokes, Clay remains a recluse, Jess is in denial that she is at all responsible and Alex looks absolutely miserable. It's nice to see such a broad look at how people react to suicides and the guilt they feel when they know the person who actually killed themselves. I'm interested to learn more about these characters which is a very good thing. I like that Clay's parents are noticing that something is bothering him. After all, why wouldn't they? It makes sense that they are trying to take steps to get him to talk. It also appears that Clay has a history with depression. I'm assuming that might play out a little in the story which should be another interesting storyline to watch. The Bad: Hannah's narration is becoming annoying unfortunately. It's way too heavy-handed and just doesn't sound like something we would hear from a suicidal girl. It's being used more to make the show stylish ad to deliver exposition than it is to be consistent with what Hannah's character should be like. The dialogue in this show has been really poor sometimes. The office scene with Hannah and Jess in particular stands out and is just extremely awkward. It's so hard to believe that 2 girls would talk like that and become friends. The dialogu3 problem is present for most of the episode, as it often feels far too wordy and unrealistic, especially when we are talking about teenagers who really should be using more slang than they actually are. At least it's much better than "Riverdale" though. I thought Jess and Hannah's fight was overly dramatic and escalated far too quickly. It was pretty annoying and did nothing to make me like Jess as a character, though that may have been the point. The Unknown: Who else has had the tapes before Clay? I presume that he's one of the last people, if not the last person with the tapes. Why is Clay on attendance alerts? What did Justin tell Mr. Porter? Is the school becoming aware about the existence of the tapes? Why did Marcus and Zach try to pick up Clay? I assume they were on the tapes too. What was the point of that scene? What are their current motives? How s Tony involved with all of this? Why is Tony in contact with Hannah's parents? He seems like a really trusted friend. What are his motives? What will he tell Hannah's parents? Why did Alex make that list? Did he even make it? What is "there" in the tapes, which Justin and Jess reference? Can we actually trust Hannah? Jess says that she lied, so is that true? It's very risky to have Hannah lying especially since she committed suicide and it really wouldn't put a good look on suicide victims as characters, so the show really should avoid going down that route. Best Moment: Not much stood out, but I suppose the best part would be seeing Alex for the first time in the present. He seemed like a totally different person and felt like a real example of somebody who is suffering from somebody else committing suicide. Character of the Episode: I'll give this one to Alex who I think stood out the most in his limited screen time. Conclusion: This was another solid episode which continued the mystery of what lead Hannah to taking her own life. The show is beginning to expand and seems to be consistently decent at the very least, despite the notably weak dialogue. Score: 62 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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