Summary: Jimmy and Kim get married and they vow to communicate better with each other. Kim patches things up with Mesa Verde after Kevin blames her for what went down by fighting back against him. Jimmy is immediately called by Nacho and goes to meet the imprisoned Lalo who wants out on bail. Jimmy and Kim have sex later and Jimmy tells her about the Lalo case. Meanwhile, Nacho reports to Mike that Lalo has ordered him to be in charge and to burn down a Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant. Mike decides to take a new approach to deal with Lalo and he meets with Jimmy. Gus has a Madrigal meeting and meets with Peter Schuler regarding their plans. He assures him that things will go smoothly. Gus and Nacho work together to burn down one of the restaurants. Jimmy follows Mike's instructions and manages to get Lalo out on bail by bringing up witness tampering by Dave Clark. Howard confronts Jimmy about how he has been getting attacked, Jimmy responds by lashing out at him.
The Good: This was the most united episode the show has had since season 1 outside of "Chicanery". The major storylines all intersected each other and events in one half of the episode ended up directly influencing the other, which was immensely satisfying to watch. Even though Jimmy did join up with the cartel storyline back in "The Guy for This", that episode didn't feel like it was the momentous combination of the Jimmy half and the cartel half of the show. On the other hand, this episode does feel like that combination, and because of that it somehow manages to feel even more significant than last week's fantastic episode. This episode was doing a whole lot of things. First up, it explored the fallout of two key moments in the previous episode: Kim's proposal of a marriage and Lalo's arrest. The episode wastes no time in jumping right to it. The cold open is a lengthy sequence of Jimmy and Kim's wedding. There's no fanfare, no guests, no honeymoon, not even any rings. It's as cold and rushed as a wedding could possibly be and it is plainly quite awkward. Jimmy and Kim are happy enough, but you can see Jimmy's worries that perhaps this should have been a bigger moment. The fact that Jimmy is only communicating to Kim about her desires on the day of their wedding is telling enough of the problems in their relationship. This wedding is an attempt to rectify that since they have both vowed to tell each other everything going on in their lives, but if they aren't even communicating the day of their wedding, who's to say that they ever will communicate properly? This wedding seems like a horrible idea and even though both Jimmy and Kim are hopeful, it's hard to imagine this ending well. The key tragedy of Kim is that every time we think she's getting closer to finally leaving Jimmy for good, she ends up sinking even deeper with him. It hasn't had any major consequences yet, but now with Jimmy being open to Kim about his newly made cartel connections, there has never been more danger for her. The other big fallout was from Lalo's arrest. This was such a pivotal moment in the last episode because it completely upended and opened up the Gus vs Lalo conflict in a new way, promising something fresh and unexpected in the continuation of this storyline. And that's exactly what we got here. Lalo's arrest has ramifications on everyone because it didn't end up being a solution. It just changed what the problem is, and now everyone is left scrambling trying to come up with an actual solution. Nacho hoped that he could get out, but Mike immediately shuts down any chance of that happening in the near future once it becomes apparent that Lalo is still a threat. Gus thought that he would soon be able to resume business on the meth lab, but at the end of the episode he finds himself angrily burning down one of his own establishments with Nacho to keep Lalo at bay, taking yet another hefty business loss. And Jimmy is getting it worst of all, as his job to represent Lalo leads him into a whole new conflict that is an absolute joy to explore. It's fair to say that Jimmy McGill hasn't emerged too much this season. Much of what we have seen is the vile nature of Saul Goodman at work, following nobody's rules but his own with one goal: profit, no matter what he has to do to ensure that he does. But now Jimmy is faced with a serious moral dilemma, one that he hasn't had to face before. He has a massive opportunity to earn more money than he has ever desired, but to do so he has to join up with the cartel, crossing a bridge into dangerous territory he never even imagined he would explore. Saul is more than willing to join forces with Lalo and do this, but Jimmy is very skeptical. We get to see his morality come back in the intimate scene with Kim. Instead of continuing to keep his secrets, he actually opens up to Kim about how Lalo offered him to become a friend of the cartel. Ironically, being pushed further into being Saul Goodman has brought back a little bit of Jimmy to the surface. And unfortunately the two opposing sides of Jimmy make him more unstable than ever. The final few scenes of the episode are outstanding television. We see Jimmy flicking between himself and Saul Goodman at a moment's notice, first in the courtroom, and then later with Howard. His guilt that he feels for Fred's family is contested with his desire to earn Lalo's respect and make a truckload of money for himself. There's a fantastic reflective shot, one of the best shots of the series, that perfectly shows how fragmented Jimmy is with his two personas pulling at him. And it's here, at the worst possible time, that Howard shows up and Jimmy launches an incredible speech on him, the episode's defining moment (see: Best Moment). Jimmy isn't the only character being explored in meaningful ways. Kim gets a fair amount of development as she deals with the failure of the Acker case. Kevin is understandably angry and shames Kim and Rich for their poor performance, and the meeting ends on uncertain terms. But then Kim does something really surprising. Taking a page out of Jimmy's book, she loses her professionalism and goes back to Kevin's office, telling him how things really are. Rich evidently feels quite awkward about Kim's unprofessional display and is left gaping as Kim rips on Kevin. And yet, the honesty works. Kevin decides to continue with Schweikart & Cokely and Kim gets a taste of the success that Jimmy's methods bring. It's a very interesting development that continues to send Kim further and further away from being a good, ethical lawyer, into something more questionable. Mike also gets some really good content here. I've been critical on how poorly his early season arc was handled, but this episode resolves some of my biggest issues with his character. In his scene with Stacey we finally get a good reason why Mike decided to join up with Gus, and it makes far more sense than anything else I had thought up. Mike simply decided to stop pitying himself and trying to be righteous. He simply has to do his best with the options he has, and his time spent reflecting at the village in Mexico allowed him to come to this conclusion, deciding that even though Gus' cause may not be the right one, it's the best option that he has. I still feel that this explanation did come too late and that this story could have been told in a much clearer way back in "Dedicado a Max", but this explanation did improve my views on Mike's overall story. Looking back, I can now understand the purpose of Mike's time in the village and it does have more emotional resonance now than it did during my first watch of the episode. Every time I question the writing team's decisions, they always manage to make up for it and I'm left trying to remind myself not to doubt them because there is always a satisfying story being told. There were plenty of other little things I really liked about this episode. The presentation of this was spectacular and it was the most visually striking episode of the season thus far. I was pleased to see Mike and Jimmy reconnecting again, and Jimmy's response to him on the phone was perfect comedy. The cameo of Peter Schuler was a wonderful addition to the episode that allowed some more insight into the business side of Gus' operation while also hinting even more at his mysterious past in Chile (see: The Unknown). I also loved the callback to Schuler's food tasting that he did in "Breaking Bad". Another really great callback was the mention of Jimmy's two former marriages. Lots of people were theorizing that Kim may become Saul's second ex-wife who was described in "Breaking Bad" as having been caught having sex with Saul's step-dad. Confirming that Kim would be Jimmy's third wife both served as a fun Easter Egg and also gets people to stop thinking about the possibility of such an absurd event happening in the show. Finally, I'm once again wowed by this show's continuity, using minor story beats previously used to play a major role. I would never have imagined Mike's role as Dave Clark to be used in such a big way to get Lalo out on bail, and the pieces slid into place so perfectly in this episode. Little details like this really raise the show to a whole new level. The Bad: Nothing I would call bad. The Unknown: What is Gus' relationship with Schuler? What happened between them in Santiago? The show has been giving us more and more teases of Gus' past and I'm starting to think that we may actually learn about what happened in Chile. Why does Mike want Lalo out of jail? Does he have a plan to take care of him? If so, what is he going to do? Where is the money that Jimmy has to pick up? I imagine that transporting $7 million would be quite complicated. Why is Jimmy feeling so much guilt about Fred's family? Does it have something to do with the plan that Mike gave him? What is Jimmy going to do to clear Lalo's name? Best Moment: Jimmy's encounter with Howard was absolutely fantastic. I'm really glad that the show didn't portray Howard as a fool and that he was able to figure out that Jimmy was the one who was sabotaging his life. It made sense for Howard to confront him to inquire about answers, but you also get the feeling that Howard maybe wanted to help as well, talking about how Jimmy is in pain. But unfortunately, bringing up pain was the worst thing he could have done. Jimmy is frustrated by Howard's ability to have moved past Chuck's death, which already gives him plenty of reason to despise him. But also, Howard is the biggest reminder that Jimmy has of Chuck. So now when he is caught in this vicious moral struggle, the shadow of Chuck is the worst thing he could possibly see. So Jimmy completely lashes out. He is vicious and hateful towards Howard, spitting venomous words at him, even doubling down on blaming him for Chuck's death. This isn't entirely rage directed at Howard though, it's also rage directed at Chuck. He's trying to show superiority over Chuck, embracing his new persona as Saul Goodman and ragefully shouting down at Howard how he has ascended to a whole new level that doesn't need to be held back by any ghosts of his past. The scene is masterfully executed and is a definite highlight of the series for me. Character of the Episode: Jimmy. Conclusion: Another absolute cracker of an episode. While this one didn't quite have the emotional intensity of the previous episode, it delivered in other departments, providing us with an outstanding examination of Jimmy's internal conflict while advancing the story in clever new ways that leave you craving for more. This season is firing on all cylinders now. Score: 76
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Summary: In flashbacks, Sun is confronted by a woman who demands $100,000 or she will reveal that Jin's mother is a prostitute. Using her resources, Sun meets with Jin's dad to confirm this. She pays off the woman using money from Mr. Paik, indebting Jin to him forever. She also reveals that she knows the woman is Jin's mother and that she will kill her if she sees her again. On the island, Sun is concerned when Jack asks her questions about her pregnancy. Sun goes to Juliet and learns that pregnant women die on the island. Juliet takes Sun to The Staff to confirm is the baby is Jin's or Jae's. If it's Jin's, Sun will die, but if it's Jae's, she will live. The baby is Jin's. Juliet leaves behind a report for Ben. Meanwhile, Mikhail stumbles upon Desmond, Jin, Charlie and Hurley as they try to save the parachute woman who is dying from a wound. Mikhail saves her life and in exchange Desmond lets him go. Mikhail tries to steal the satellite phone but Jin stops him. The woman wakes up and reveals that Flight 815 was found and all of its passengers are dead.
The Good: This was an excellent episode for Sun. She has always been the most interesting of the female characters on this show, and she proved that again in this episode. We get to see the strong-willed, determined Sun dealing with engaging conflicts in both the past and the present, and Yunjin Kim delivers a strong performance, ensuring that it's a blast to follow Sun's struggles throughout. The flashbacks tell a very good story that fills in some of the gaps in Jin and Sun's history. These flashbacks were excellent, and featured some of the show's best side characters in Sun and Jin's fathers, two very different men. I was glad to see Sun using her family's power to her advantage in this episode as she tracked down Jin's father and also identified the woman blackmailing her as Jin's mother. It showed us a new side of Sun, who had commonly played second fiddle to her husband and father. Here we see a confident, ruthless Sun who stops at nothing to get what she wants, going as far as even intimidating her father (see: Best Moment). On the island, Sun shows the same grit and determination as she sees through Jack's suspicious behaviour and immediately goes to Juliet for answers. The dynamic between Sun and Juliet is unique and I really enjoyed seeing Sun slowly come around to trust her as she learns more about who Juliet is. Their relationship develops nicely to the point where I can buy into the idea of Sun letting Juliet go back into The Staff alone at the end of the episode. Both characters were given very good stories in this episode to emotionally engage us. Sun is put in one hell of a predicament as no matter what the case is, she loses. Learning that she is going to die is a hard reveal for Sun who breaks down, but she shows her grit once more by looking on the positive side, expressing joy that the baby is Jin's. It's a wonderful little moment for her. Juliet also benefits from that moment as the news is bittersweet for Sun, but at least she got a smile from her patient rather than a grim realization. Juliet's arc in this episode is how she has lost the joy of being a fertility doctor due to the harsh realities of her research. But here she is rewarded for helping Sun, which is nice to see. The other half of the island storyline is also very effective. Most of the episode's drama comes from this storyline as Desmond, Charlie, Hurley and Jin scramble to figure out who this mysterious woman is and how to help her. It's fast-paced and exciting stuff made all the better by the inclusion of Mikhail who unexpectedly survived being thrown into the fence. It was wonderful seeing Mikhail again, and his presence lead to increased tension and a very good action sequence between him and Jin. However the real highlight of this storyline is the conclusion where the woman finally wakes up and drops a major bombshell that will presumably have huge ramifications (see: The Unknown). The Bad: Mostly just small things in this episode. The way Juliet wakes Sun up is needlessly dramatic and only happens to give the audience a small burst of tension. The same goes for Jack showing up in Sun's garden at the start of the episode. It's getting a bit tired since we have seen Sun hearing rustling in the jungle countless times by now. Also, I was annoyed to see that Kate has resumed her random bodyguard role from "Maternity Leave" as she tries talking for Sun and getting her away from Juliet. The Unknown: How was Flight 815 found with all of its passengers dead? Is the island some kind of a connection between parallel universes? Could this somehow tie in with the theory that they were dead all along? How would that work, especially since we have seen people like Richard and Ethan travelling to and from the island at will? How will this impact the story going forwards? Is Sun destined to die now? What if she is taken off the island before birth? Can that save her? I don't think it's a coincidence that Juliet was unable to try this, perhaps her new goal will be to save Sun's life by getting her off the island. Also, that's 2 characters now who are destined to die, with Charlie being the other one. Is there any significance to this? Where do Juliet's loyalties lie? Is she still firmly loyal to the others, or is she planning to switch allegiances to the survivors? The "I hate you" at the end of the episode is a really important moment because of how nicely it suggests the possibility of Juliet betraying the others without actually confirming it. Best Moment: The scene between Sun and Mr. Paik was superb television. Desperate to do anything to get what she wants, Sun goes in hard against her own father, threatening him and trying to stay in control of their negotiation. It's a wonderfully executed scene that once more serves to humanize Mr. Paik. He doesn't relent to Sun's aggressive claims, but once he learns that she is doing it for Jin, he is quick to give her the money that she needs. But it comes at a cost. We learn that this whole thing is why Jin was promoted and why he wasn't allowed to leave after working for a short while like it was promised. It's a sad reveal since in protecting Jin's honour, Sun ended up transforming him into the monstrous man he was back in season 1. Excellent storytelling. Character of the Episode: Sun. Conclusion: This is another really strong episode. While not the show at its absolute best, this is very entertaining television with solid character work and some dramatic reveals to set up the final stretch of the season. Score: 68 Summary: Hector comes to Maeve and offers to help her escape. They go together but Maeve realizes that it's all just his loop. She wakes up in the lab and is surprised to find that Felix and Sylvester don't recognize her. She sees Lee who has survived his injuries. Lee takes her to the forge, but Maeve quickly realizes that Lee is a host, and the entire world is a simulation. She overloads the simulation and crashes it, allowing herself access into the real world where she gets a drone to retrieve her core and remove it from the simulation. After, Maeve wakes up and meets Serac who wants to recruit her to fight Dolores. Meanwhile, Bernard gets to Westworld and finds Stubbs who he realizes is a host. Stubbs has tried to kill himself after freeing Bernard since he has no purpose anymore. Bernard and Stubbs try to locate Maeve but discover that someone else has taken her core. Bernard gives Stubbs a new purpose: to protect him, and they go hunt for Maeve.
The Good: This is "Westworld" falling back on what it's good at to set up for the rest of the season. The Maeve storyline is everything we've come to expect from the show, filled with hosts on their loops, constant questioning of what's real and what's not and some pretty fun action. It's enjoyable to watch and the episode benefits from the show falling back on what it's good at. The writing is very strong here. I love how episode slowly reveals its series of twists to let us know where and when Maeve is. The mystery is introduced early on and it's refreshing to see a complete story as we aren't left with any tedious questions coming out of the episode. It's a complete mystery packed into an hour of television as we follow Maeve discovering she's in a simulation and ultimately breaking free into the real world. The Bernard storyline is solid too. Unlike the previous episode, Bernard has direction now as he hunts for Maeve, which will presumably take him to Serac. The return of Stubbs is welcome and I do like the reveal that he's a host. Speaking of Serac, the introduction of this new character was easily the highlight of the episode (see: Best Moment). I'm interested to find out who he is and what his motives are. Vincent Cassel is an excellent addition to the cast, and he stole the show in his one scene. The Bad: The problem with the show returning to the status quo is that it just doesn't interest me anymore. I'm tired of meaningless twists and confused timelines, so I just ended up groaning when I realized that's where this episode was headed. Was it fun to watch? Sure. But there is nothing under the surface here. It's just some fun television to watch as long as you turn your brain off and don't expect to get any kind of interesting character development or deeper themes. Maeve, like Dolores, has just become a killing machine, and she hardly has any character anymore. I don't feel like I can relate very much to her, and so there's an emotional disconnect. So watching Maeve simply escaping a simulation doesn't have me at the edge of my seat at all. It's merely intriguing to me and I don't get any greater emotions coming out of the episode. It's a shame because despite how well written and well directed this episode was, it did nothing to enthrall me. The Game of Thrones reference was pretty unnecessary and took me out of the episode a little bit. It's a nice nod and I would have appreciated it more had it been integrated more naturally into the show's world. But instead it was more distracting than anything else. I really don't have much to say about this episode which is telling. The show remains fun but there isn't a whole lot to dive into at the moment. The Unknown: Why was Maeve put in a simulation? Did Serac do this? Why? Did he anticipate Maeve's escape so they could have their meeting? Why did he go through the trouble of doing all of this? Who is he anyways? What is this system that he created? How is Serac able to control Maeve? What is the device that he has? Will Maeve eventually agree to work against Dolores? Will Bernard track down Serac? Best Moment: Maeve wakes in a well-maintained garden and meets with Serac who knows exactly who she is and proposes an alliance with her. The scene features some incredible acting with both Maeve and Serac trying to control the flow of their conversation, each trying to accomplish their own goals. Maeve wants to understand the nature of her own reality and kill Serac, while Serac wants to win over Maeve's trust and loyalty. Serac is good, but Maeve's confidence in following her own path is too much and she decides to kill him. However, Serac is surprisingly able to control her and shuts down her functions. Then, presumably he prepares to reset the scene and try yet another approach to get her to trust him. It's a very well-written scene filled with intrigue, captivating dialogue and a pair of superb performances. Character of the Episode: Maeve. Conclusion: This was better than the season premier at least, but "Westworld" still hasn't convinced me that it's worth watching this season. While this episode was fun, there wasn't enough under the surface to invest me in the story that is being told. Score: 58 Summary: In flashbacks, a young Kim refuses to get a ride home from her tardy, drunk mother. In the present, Jimmy works on filming various commercials but Kim comes to him, telling him she changed her mind about their plan. Jimmy is hesitant but relents in the end. However, after humiliating Howard using some hookers he represented, Jimmy decides to go through with it anyways. Kim gets Kevin and Paige to meets with Jimmy to discuss terms, but Jimmy goes against Kim's wishes and shows Kevin commercials that will tarnish the reputation of Mesa Verde and also brings up that he will set up a copyright infringement case against them. Jimmy leaves and Kim and Rich get hard to work in an attempt to fix this. Kevin leaves and meets with Jimmy, Jimmy offers Kevin terms and he accepts. Later, Kim returns home and lashes out at Jimmy for conning her like that. She is prepared to break up, but then suddenly suggests that they get married. Meanwhile, Nacho gives Gus more intel and Gus assigns Nacho to report to Mike from now on. Mike goes back to Lalo's attack at TravelWire and gets Lalo's car to be identified as a prime suspect. He arranges it so Lalo is discovered by the police and is arrested.
The Good: This episode knew how to build intrigue the way "Better Call Saul" does best. We're often treated to scenes of characters working on a project, but we're often missing a few key details to fully understand what they are doing. This episode utilizes that to its fullest effect in the Jimmy/Kim storyline. We start the episode by seeing Jimmy filming various commercials, though we don't know what he plans to do with them or what his approach is to stick it to Mesa Verde. This intrigue is immediately established early in the episode, and it's very important that it is established. Since we know that there needs to be a pay-off down the line, we know not to buy into the idea of Jimmy shutting down the operation just because Kim says so. We know that these commercials have to be shown at some point, and so we can anticipate that Jimmy isn't going to back down. But in this case, it isn't bad to know where the story is going. Knowing that Jimmy isn't going to adhere to Kim's wishes allows the episode to overflow with tension as we wait for Jimmy's game to be revealed and for the inevitable impact that it's going to have on Kim. Everything boils over at the meeting, which ended up being one of the episode's two incredible scenes. Everything is fine early on, but we are just waiting for the ball to drop. And when it does, it is awesome. The look on Kim's face when Jimmy drops the 4 million on Mesa Verde tells the whole story. Jimmy absolutely dials it up in this episode, embracing Saul Goodman to his very core. He's charismatic, unyielding and a complete asshole throughout the entire sequence. And Kim looks shellshocked when she realizes the storm that she's caught in. She tries to usher Kevin out of the room, but Saul can't be stopped and he says all of the right things to ensure Kevin stays and that he can take complete control of the meetings. Then we get the reveal of what he was working on. The slanderous commercials and Jimmy's "smoking gun" of copyright infringement are tremendous, and the episode lays on how significant this is with expert performances and even better cinematography and editing. The slow zoom on Kevin's face as he festers in his own frustration was such a powerful shot that truly captured how much chaos Saul left in his wake. Kevin's decision to just cut a deal with Saul and end it all was completely understandable, and it was the perfect end to another perfect con. But while executing a perfect con is enough for Jimmy to be happy, it's nowhere near enough for the flabbergasted Kim, who looks like she has been through a trauma by the episode's end. She returns home to Jimmy, horrified and confused by what just happened. For the second time, Jimmy played her and unlike the last time, this one was intentional. Jimmy's moral flexibility has gradually gotten worse and worse as the show has gone on and now Kim gets to see firsthand that the man she loves is never going to fix this. He has been spiraling rapidly ever since Chuck's death and now he has taken it too far. So Kim lashes out hard at the end of the episode, having had enough of Jimmy's lies and deceptions, having had enough of this relationship that has done nothing food for her. She seems like she is ready to storm away from him no matter what he says to her, the same way she refused to get into the car with her mother at the start of the episode. But there's just something about this relationship. Something that makes it so Kim just can't walk away, no matter how many reasons she has to do so. And so when she tries to put her foot down, she says something completely unexpected that causes the story to make a complete u-turn. What if she and Jimmy get married? What makes this episode's story so damn effective is how the characters don't have to spell out their motives to us. There are so many ways to interpret the scenes in this episode (especially that stunning final line) and that's shown by how many unique takes there are on this episode. It's an episode that is open for interpretation which allows it to have extra depth that other episodes of the show don't have. all of thsi combined, the unpredictability, emotion, suspense and deep character development ensure that this is one of the show's finest episodes, one that will have a profound impact on the story as a whole. And I haven't even talked about the other subplots in the episode yet. First up is Jimmy's continued sabotage of Howard. These scenes manage to be both hilarious and hard to watch. It's funny because the ideas that Jimmy cooks up to attack Howard are excellent, and sending some hookers to meet him in order to embarrass him and hurt his reputation is a hilarious idea. Even funnier is when we see him relishing what he's done to Howard. But it's still hard to watch. It's painful because this petty asshole is not who Jimmy is supposed to be. Jimmy is a con man, but this outright unnecessary sabotage is pure Saul Goodman. Howard doesn't deserve to have this happen to him, but Jimmy does it anyways. It's certainly one of the worst things he has done in the whole series, up there with the stunt he pulled with poor Irene back in "Fall". And the episode clearly paints to us that the glee he got out of conning Howard here was one of the deciding factors to him choosing to go through with the Mesa Verde plan anyways. Jimmy can be a good man, but whenever he dips his toes into the sweet illegal territory, he just can't help himself. Lastly, we get to the Mike storyline where there are some very big happenings. For one, Mike is reunited with Nacho, finally giving Nacho a little glimmer of hope. With Mike's help, he does have a genuine chance to escape, and I'm excited to see what will come of their alliance. The rest of the episode focuses on Mike's plan to get Lalo arrested, which was another big twist that completely reshapes the direction of this season. I've been critical of Mike's storyline (see: The Bad), but he is always at his best whenever he has a job to work on. It's a blast seeing Mike pose as a private investigator, worker in the police office, and even as a police officer himself in order to secure Lalo's arrest. Furthermore, I absolutely love that the logistics that brought Lalo down were his irrational actions back in "Winner". I was harsh on Lalo's chaotic actions in my review of "Winner" (an episode I actually love even more now) because I thought that they were small instances of sloppy writing. But I'm extremely impressed that Lalo's actions ended up bouncing back on him, and it was these reckless maneuvers that have resulted in him being taken off the streets. This was such intelligent writing, and it made the story much more satisfying than it had any right to be. The cameos from detective Tim Roberts from "Breaking Bad" and Cliff Main were very welcome. The Bad: Mike's character arc in the first 5 episodes of this season ended up being quite the disappointment. This episode feels like it jumped ahead to a point where Mike is now loyal to Gus without actually giving us any good reason for him to actually be loyal to him. It makes Nacho's comments about why Mike is working for him feel like they hit the mark. We're supposed to believe that Mike has good reason to work for Gus, but we aren't given anything more than revenge. I'm disappointed that there wasn't more to Mike's journey towards working for Gus, and I honestly think that showing Mike spiraling downwards was a waste of time that could have been used to develop their relationship more. The Unknown: Why did Kim suggest getting married? Is it because she can't bring herself to end their relationship and has resigned to sticking by him? Or are there more reasons for this? What happens now that Lalo is busted? Will the Salamancas send more men into America? Will Lalo go to Jimmy in an attempt to free himself? Best Moment: It's a real toss-up between the meeting scene and Kim's outburst at the end of the episode. I think I'll go with Kim's outburst because that ending was so unexpected, but both scenes were equally fantastic in my eyes. Character of the Episode: Kim, though Jimmy is a very close second. Conclusion: What a wonderful episode. This was exciting and emotional, and completely changed the direction of the show multiple times with some spectacular twists. I'm genuinely unsure how the story will proceed from here, and the uncertainty really excited me. This is a game-changer of an episode to throw out halfway through a season, and I really appreciate the ambition for the writers to do something like this. Score: 80 Summary: In flashbacks, Desmond runs away from a marriage with his girlfriend Ruth to join a monastery. He doesn't fit in however and is soon fired. Once he's fired, he meets Penny at the monastery and they leave together. On the island, Desmond has a vision of Charlie dying to one of Rousseau's traps and somebody arriving on the island, someone he hopes is Penny. Desmond gather Hurley, Jin and Charlie to go "camping" in hopes of seeing Penny. Shortly into their trip a helicopter crashes into the sea and somebody parachutes out into the jungle. The group head inwards to find her. Desmond almost lets Charlie die to ensure Penny does arrive but he changes his mind at the last moment. They find the person unconscious in the jungle. She isn't Penny, rather another woman who knows Desmond's name. Meanwhile, Kate tries to get back on track with Jack but he ignores her so she ends up going back to Sawyer and they have sex. However, Sawyer realizes why Kate went to him and lets her know about it.
The Good: This is a very fun episode to watch. The very first scene of the episode provides a hook as we get a glimpse into one of Desmond's visions, which sets the stage for the rest of the episode: somebody is coming to the island and Charlie has to die for it to happen exactly as Desmond saw. The plot is laid bare in these opening moments and the rest of the episode is just as thrilling and dramatic as you expect it to be. On top of being a fun watch, this also ends up being a hugely important episode. The arrival of somebody else to the island is a massive development, likely one that will shape how the rest of this season plays out. The presence of this mysterious woman is immediately intriguing and it's the kind of forward movement the plot needed. Desmond's story is very well done too. His key conflict comes from the idea of if he's going to sacrifice Charlie in order to ensure that Penny arrives on the island safely. This is a wonderful use of Desmond's abilities since knowing what is about to happen gives him an engaging moral dilemma. The moment where Charlie's death is impending is very dramatic and you do get worried for a moment that Desmond may actually let Charlie die to further his own goals. It's very interesting drama which does actually pose some more interesting questions about how this world works (see: The Unknown). The flashbacks have some good moments in them too. I like that Desmond's cowardice is shown to extend further than Penny since she isn't the first woman he has left out of fear. I thought that Desmond's speech about how he knew he was supposed to go to the monastery was extremely well done, and it sounds like just the kind of ridiculous crap that Desmond may be telling himself to deal with the fact that he's a coward. The meeting with Penny at the end was another terrific moment since these two have excellent chemistry together. Lastly, I thought that Desmond's past in the monastery was a neat explanation for why he calls everyone "brother". The Kate/Sawyer/Jack subplot was pretty well done for what it was. This love triangle storyline certainly isn't top tier television, but I am impressed at how well the show is handling the characters involved. Kate's desire to be with Jack is easy enough to understand, and we can see why she would go to Sawyer to get comfort once Jack has become too distant. Kate has always been selfish, so she is certainly not above using men for her own needs. I really appreciated that Sawyer discovered what she did and was completely fine with it. This story could have easily become unnecessarily melodramatic, but the writers showed restraint. The Bad: When you look into the logic behind this episode, things quickly fall apart. The only reason that Desmond, Hurley, Charlie and Jin go on their journey is because Desmond had his vision. Otherwise it would never have happened. This is a common problem with all time-jumping stories. There's always the risk of writing a time paradox, which allows the entire episode to fall apart when the details are scrutinized. If the writers want to delve further into the complexities of Desmond's powers they need to be more careful than this. I was also bothered by some of the editing in this episode. I thought it was really excessive how often the writers spliced parts of Desmond's visions into the episode. That was very unnecessary and I think it took away from my immersion in the episode when there are random flashes being thrown in where they don't belong. I thought the flashbacks could have been stronger. Sure there are some good scenes and the story is well written, but there isn't enough to make the story really stand out or change how we view Desmond as a character. I was bothered by Sawyer outright asking Kate to have sex randomly. They only ever did it once, and that was when Kate thought Sawyer was going to die. Furthermore, there was an intense break-up scene shortly after that, so why would Sawyer ever think that he would just be able to have sex with her whenever he wanted? It's such a strange request, especially seeing how long they had been apart prior to the previous episode. The Unknown: Who is the woman at the end of the episode? How did she know Desmond? Was she sent by Penny to find him? Is the universe recognizing that Desmond is saving Charlie's life? I wonder if the universe somehow targeted Desmond specifically with this vision to tempt him into letting Charlie die. It would be very interesting if the universe operated like that. Furthermore, it could also explain the time paradox problem if the universe was somehow breaking its own rules in response to Desmond breaking the rules by seeing the future. Best Moment: Desmond meeting Penny for the first time was a really sweet moment. Intercutting that with Desmond saving the woman from the parachute ended up being a genius choice since it combined the feelings of love and happiness with feelings of hope, turning the whole sequence into something really sweet and powerful. Character of the Episode: Desmond. Conclusion: This episode was a lot of fun to watch and Desmond got some more strong development as he remains one of the show's better characters. However, there are some flaws underneath the surface, blocking the episode from scoring too high. Score: 68 Summary: In flashbacks, Juliet meets with Richard and Ethan who take her to the island in the sub. Once on the island she meets Ben and is tasked with solving the problem of women dying in labour on the island, but she is unsuccessful. Juliet wants to leave, but Ben forces her on the island by promising to heal her sister whose cancer has returned. Juliet agrees to the deal. Later when Ben finds out he has cancer, Juliet angrily accuses him of lying. Ben shows her a video of Rachel and her new son to calm her down. In the present, Jack protects Juliet from any interrogation. When the group returns to camp, everyone is less than pleased about Juliet. However, Claire suddenly gets sick and Juliet reveals that it has to do with the medications Ethan was giving her. She retrieves some of Ethan's supplies and saves Claire, earning some trust. However, it's revealed that the whole thing was planned by Ben because he wants to have somebody in the survivors' camp.
The Good: Juliet's story is really well done. We get to see her transformation in full by comparing the early flashback Juliet to the current Juliet on the island. The difference is huge, and it's great to finally see what it was that led to her becoming so cold. We learn that Ben essentially held her hostage on the island for 3 years, simply not allowing her to leave and seemingly emotionally manipulating her the entire time (see: The Unknown). And in all that time, she was operating on patients who were continuously dying, and with nobody close to talk to about her feelings, it led to her becoming closed off emotionally. What helps the story even more is how easy it is to sympathize with Juliet. We know that her heart isn't into staying on the island and there is never a moment in the flashbacks where we don't know what she wants. It's clear that she just wants to leave the island, and that makes her no different from any of the survivors on the beach in that her main goal is to return to the life she had before coming to the island. From a plot perspective, this was really well done as well. We get to see that Juliet was always tightly involved in the others society, and there will presumably be answers on the way now that she's infiltrated the camp. We already get some good answers about why Ethan kidnapped Claire, why she was important and why the others did experiments on pregnancy. We're slowly getting a more fully formed view of how this society works and I'm excited to see more of it. One of the most interesting aspects was Richard, who seemed to have spent a lot of time off the island, possibly as some sort of recruiter. I'm very interested to learn more about him. The island storyline is very well done. Juliet's arrival in the camp shakes things up as expected, and for once I think that everyone's reactions are explored fittingly, since it's obvious that the survivors would not be at all comfortable with one of the others joining their camp. Moments like Hurley being sent against his will to keep an eye on her and Sayid immediately trying to interrogate her make perfect sense. I was also very pleased with Sayid and Sawyer choosing to follow her since they naturally did not trust her at all. That allowed for a great confrontation which pleasingly allowed Juliet's character to shine as we got to see how she approached the problem of Sawyer and Sayid not wanting to trust her with anything. The twist at the end of the episode was very effective. Juliet is there as a spy, and it's her job to get people to trust her. She already succeeded with Jack and so she has infiltrated the camp and will likely be feeding information to Ben. But the intrigue comes in when you consider that Juliet wouldn't have any reason to stay loyal to Ben and it's possible that she changes sides to the survivors. I'm really excited by this storyline and I can't wait to see where it goes. The Bad: Nothing I'll call bad. This was a very consistent episode. The Unknown: Apparently Jacob himself was going to cure Rachel. Who is Jacob? Can he leave the island? Is he on the island? The others seem to worship him. Is he some kind of deity or a grand leader of some sort? It seems like Juliet was converted to whatever belief system the others have which is very interesting. Did Rachel actually have cancer or did Ben just make that up? I wouldn't put it past him to manipulate Juliet like that to get her to stay. But if he did actually cure her cancer, it raises some important questions. How did he do that? Can Jacob cure cancer? Why did Ben get cancer then if he can cure it? Why can't women give birth on the island? Is it something to do with conception that's the problem? If so, why was Claire successful? What does it mean for Sun since she got pregnant on the island? Is she going to die or can Juliet somehow save her? Why are the others so concerned with solving this issue? Are they scientists? What's the point of all these experiments? Why did Ben send Juliet as a spy? What are his plans for the survivors camp? Best Moment: Ben showing the video of Rachel to Juliet was heartbreaking stuff. Juliet has been isolated for so long that she is hardly even herself anymore. But with the slightest glimpse of home, she immediately falls back into the timid, emotional woman she was before, a desperate plea to anyone that is around that she wants to go home. But nobody listens, and when Ben shuts the TV off, Juliet is thrown back into her unfortunate reality. It's a fantastic moment that perfectly captures the emotion of Juliet's storyline. Character of the Episode: Juliet. Conclusion: This was an immensely satisfying episode to watch, one that gave us lots of answers about the others through Juliet's flashbacks while still managing a spectacular character journey showing us how Juliet went from the timid and nervous woman to an emotionally detached and ruthless woman. It's a welcome episode to get after the story was essentially put on hold for 2 whole episodes. Score: 75 Summary: In the real world, Dolores infiltrates the company Incite by killing a shareholder named Gerald and taking his money. She develops a relationship with Liam, the son of the founder of Incite and works to get information about the company from him. She soon discovers that he doesn't have access to the deeper workings of the company but he knows who does. Right then, Liam's bodyguard Martin realizes Dolores is an infiltrator and knocks her out and attempts to kill her quietly. It backfires and Martin is killed and replaced by a host, though Dolores is shot in the process. Meanwhile, Caleb is an ex-soldier who is struggling to get by and can't get over the death of his friend. He does petty crime jobs by night using the RICO app. He decides to pursue a purpose and ditches his therapy program and ends up meeting an injured Dolores. Meanwhile, Bernard has been blamed for the deaths in Westworld and is a fugitive in hiding. He decides to go back to Westworld. Maeve wakes up in a Nazi-Germany style theme park.
The Good: This show is as beautiful as ever. The effects, the acting, the cinematography, the soundtrack, all of it is terrific. The presentation for this show has always been a high point. Even when the story gets too convoluted, or the shallowness of the characters gets exposed, the show still looks great and is easy to watch. The introduction to Caleb is the best stuff in the episode. He's a new character, so the show puts in effort to give him some development and create a meaningful character arc for him. Caleb is an ex-soldier struggling to get over his past and move on, something that isn't helped by the horrible class system in this futuristic world. It's easy to sympathize with Caleb, immediately making him a far better character than most that we've seen on this show so far. I appreciate that time was given to set up his storyline, making his encounter with Dolores at the end of the episode mean something. Caleb wants something real, and now he seems to think he's found it in Dolores. It's ironic considering that Dolores could very well be the most false thing he has encountered that entire day, including the robot he talked to over the phone. The Bad: Unfortunately this show is still misfiring quite a bit. Outside of Caleb, every character feels way too shallow and uninteresting to keep my interest. Dolores isn't a character anymore, she's just a thing that wants to kill people which I'm not at all interested in watching. It became tiresome last season, and I don't want to see Dolores on a path of destruction anymore. The other established characters don't have much of interest to do either. Bernard is performed tremendously as ever, but his arc in this episode is rushed and uninteresting. We don't have any reason to care about him at this point, and I'm finding it tough to even describe his personality despite knowing this character for 2 full seasons now. When you take away the mysterious plot elements from the show, these shallow characters are exposed, as they were here. That leads me to my second problem. I'm glad the show has stopped with the convoluted time jumping (I hope), but the problem is that we've been given nothing to take its place. Part of what made season 1 and 2 so entertaining was that it was really fun trying to puzzle out what was actually going on, and these dynamic plot elements were able to make up for the poor character work to a certain degree. But without any of that here, we're left with an empty show that doesn't offer anything different from your average TV drama with bland, 1-dimensional characters. This episode was also paced pretty poorly. It's a really long episode at 68 minutes and somehow the episode manages to feel both rushed and slow because of some strange choices in presentation. The episode is paced very slowly as we get countless shots where not much is happening. The show enjoys showing off its impressive cinematography, but when there is no drama happening on screen, it can be pretty dull to watch so many shots of just the environment and the actors doing their jobs. But the episode also feels rushed because it skims rapidly through what should be the most powerful moments, not giving them a chance to stick with me. Take Liam and Dolores' relationship as an example. It's established, developed and destroyed so quickly that I feel nothing for either of the characters, who by the end of the episode I don't understand any better than I did at the start of the episode. It's all so rushed. And yet it still feels slow because the episode takes forever to actually get from the start of the relationship to the end because there are so many wasted minutes spent developing a plot that I'm not at all invested in. With Dolores working to overthrow humanity in the real world, all of the stuff happening in the theme parks feels unimportant in comparison. As such, I don't care at all about what Bernard and Maeve are up to. The samurai world in the last season ended up being a waste of time, so how can I believe that this Nazi Germany world will be of importance. The Unknown: What are Dolores' plans for Incite? What is she trying to do? Who is this Serac that she's trying to get in contact with? Why has Bernard been isolated from Dolores? Does she have any plans for him? Why is he going back to Westworld? What will come from Caleb meeting Dolores? Will she recruit him in her plans to destroy humanity? Or will she want to destroy him? What is Maeve going to do in the Nazi Germany theme park? The only scene that leaves me guessing about time jumping is the one with Charlotte. When did this happen? I thought Dolores was Charlotte. Has she created multiple versions of herself and released them in the world? How many other Dolores' are there? Best Moment: Caleb unsubscribing from his therapy and vowing to move on and find something real was one of the few moments that stuck with me. Character of the Episode: Caleb. Conclusion: This was a pretty dull season premier. I commend "Westworld" for trying to reinvent itself but it just didn't work since the show failed to create a new form of itself that's worth watching. I'll keep watching for the rest of the season, but if the show's quality remains as weak as this episode, I'll likely be dropping the show. Score: 53 Summary: Jimmy starts putting legal roadblocks on the eviction of Acker, frustrating Kevin who simply wants to get the place torn down. Kim lets him know that Jimmy is working for Acker but Kevin refuses to take her off the case. Kim tries to get him to consider relocation, but Kevin is too stubborn and the plan backfires. Kim decides to take things a step further and gets Jimmy to find someone to investigate Kevin's personal life. While working on the investigation, Rich visits Kim and reveals that he suspects that she is up to something. Caught off guard by this, Kim lashes out at Rich. Meanwhile, Mike stays at the small village and recovers, helping the old lady taking care of him. Gus eventually comes by to visit and they speak. Gus asks Mike to work with him, using Mike's understanding of revenge as a motive.
The Good: This is a very focused episode, only cutting between two storylines: Jimmy and Kim's attempt to get Mesa Verde to relocate and Mike's stay at the Mexican village. Both storylines are similar in how they get the central characters, Kim and Mike, to make some critical decisions that will have a huge impact on their futures. Kim's story is easily the highlight of the episode. Kim has been one of the biggest dramatic hooks in the series since we are completely unaware of what awaits her in the future, and we can only hope that it isn't anything too bad. But she always seems to be at risk for something going wrong, and it usually seems to be Jimmy's fault. But now things are quite different. This hole that Kim finds herself in is entirely of her making. She didn't need to work against Mesa Verde but she chose to do it anyways, and now when faced with every opportunity to stop, she continues to push it further and further. Kim is risking so much for such little reward and it's scary to watch her make what could be a series of fatal mistakes that may cost her the career she has worked so hard to build. This episode builds up that tension so well as Kim continues to make bad choice after bad choice, and it all culminates in horrifying fashion when Kim learns that her boss has not been fooled by Kim's plan. Bubbling with fear and anxiety, she explodes at him in front of everyone, leaving her poised in a very uncomfortable position heading into the next episode. Where the episode works so well is that is makes us understand why Kim is making these horrible decisions. We know that she empathizes with Acker and doesn't really care much for Kevin, so emotionally she wants Acker to have some sort of victory. But she is stuck representing the wrong side. Realizing how far she is from the job she wanted to do (representing the little guy) is soul-crushing for her, so even if she isn't aware of it herself, it's clear that a part of Kim is trying to tank her own career to punish herself for joining up with the rich and ignoring the poor. She has betrayed her own morals already, and that's why she now finds it so easy to bend the rules and break some laws in this episode. For once it isn't Jimmy that's making the choice to cross the line, it's Kim. And it's all because she regrets all the decisions she has made to come this far. It's tragic, it's relatable and it's scary to watch. We can only hope for the best for Kim, but with her current mindset she seems well on her way towards tragedy. The episode had a lot of humour as well which I appreciated. It's always a joy to see Jimmy and Kim at work on a con. We never really know what Jimmy is planning, but seeing the results of his schemes is always a blast. His escalating stunts to fight off the construction crew were hilarious with some really absurd jokes. The imitation scene was brilliant and it nicely displayed how much closer together Jimmy and Kim always are whenever they are working a con. Lastly, Mr. X's cameo was an excellent piece of comedy, and a welcome return of a character we last saw in "Pimento". Lastly we get to Mike's storyline, which is pretty solid. This isolation is exactly what Mike needs to get over his self-pity and start returning to the man he is supposed to be. Following a nice cameo from Dr. Goodman, Mike is forced to accept that he can't go anywhere and he is annoyed by this. Being as stubborn as he is, the fact that he is being taken care of by somebody else is frustrating for him and he makes every attempt to find a way out before settling in. When he settles in, we see him acting like himself again. He helps the lady taking care of him and keeps him self busy doing handyman jobs, and all seems fine. Then Gus arrives and we can see the rage on Mike's face when he hears his voice. Mike doesn't respect Gus at all. To Mike, Gus is simply a business associate, a man he doesn't even like. Their relationship is quite far from what we see in "Breaking Bad". The final scene of the episode gives us a hint of how they will end up making peace. Gus once again shows a deeper side to him by revealing that he funds this village as a memorial to Max. I can only imagine that Max had a desire to help the poor, having been poor himself and Gus is keeping Max's dream alive by donating to this village. Of course he doesn't explicitly say any of this to Mike (see: The Bad), but it's a nice touch to his character. The final moment of the episode shows us what I can presume is the reason why Mike joins up with Gus and it makes sense. Mike has been motivated by revenge for much of the series (revenge against Matty's killer and against Hector) so he will understand Gus' plight. The Bad: Unfortunately I feel like Mike's story didn't quite work. This episode was the perfect opportunity to stage a transformational arc for Mike to make us understand why he would join Gus and to make us emotionally invested in their relationship. But the episode just didn't commit enough to do that. What we got was a simplistic story that works well enough. But considering the standards that this show sets, that is nowhere near enough. The problem is that we don't have enough context for why either character would trust the other. Mike can understand revenge, but is that really enough for him to set everything aside and go back to working for Gus, the man whose work lead to Mike having to kill Werner. And why does Gus care so much about Mike anyways? We need to know more about these two characters to make this relationship work. If this scene is just the start of their relationship, I suppose it's fine. But the way the scene is presented, it feels like this is supposed to be the big moment where Mike chooses to work for Gus, and I just don't buy it. I think that it would have been better had Gus been more open to Mike about his past and who he really is. That could have helped build a bond between them, but the show is far too interested in keeping Gus mysterious which I feel isn't necessary at this point in the story. In the end, I'm left very disappointed by Mike's story in this episode since it should have been so much more powerful than what we got. The Unknown: Would Stacey really be okay with Mike suddenly vanishing like that? Presumably it has been a few days since she last saw him. What did Kim discover that gave her hope for framing Kevin? Is it something to do with copyright infringement involving the Mesa Verde logo? Now that Rich knows about Kim's schemes, what is he going to do about it? What is Kim going to do? Is she going to try to back out or will she keep on recklessly trying to save Acker? Best Moment: Kim lashing out at Rich in front of the whole firm for telling her his suspicions was a brutally tense scene to watch. I'm afraid for Kim and I can tell that she's afraid for herself in this scene, having to directly face how unethical and self-destructive her actions have been. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: The idea of running two parallel character stories was excellent and it should have resulted in one of the show's better episodes. But this ended up being another middle of the road episode due to the drastic difference of quality between both stories. Kim's story was fantastic, with some of the season's best content, but the Mike story was disappointing. Hopefully it's just a fluke and the rest of this season can deliver much stronger content. Score: 66 Summary: Joey and Ross get locked on the roof when they stay behind to watch for a comet and they try to find a way down. Chandler can't sleep so he tries talking to Monica to pass the time. Rachel and Tag go to work at night when they argue over who is at fault for some reports not being submitted. Phoebe wages war against a fire alarm that won't stop beeping.
The Good: This is a fun episode. "Friends" almost always excels with these gimmicky episodes and this is no exception. The episode starts perfectly with everyone together. I wish the show allowed the entire cast to interact together more often since the lines and the comedy often feels most natural in these situations. After the characters branch off, most of the stories are really good. Joey and Ross are the highlight as they try to climb down the fire escape. All of the episodes' funniest jokes come from this story and it is a joy to watch. Rachel and Tag also have a very strong story. Their bickering over who is at fault gives depth to their relationship and makes it pretty clear why they are attracted to each other with all of the fun they are having. There are some really funny moments as both of them try to shift the blame to the other person in clever ways. Chandler and Monica have the occasional clever joke as well. The Bad: Chandler and Monica's story is too simple and the jokes aren't creative enough to be memorable. Phoebe's story is pretty awful since she has nobody else to bounce off of with the only funny joke coming from when she thinks the fire alarm is knocking on her apartment door. Her entire storyline seems so implausible as the fire alarm inexplicably keeps beeping without reason. Best Moment: Ross asking Joey where the pipe holding the door open is followed by Joey's slow and painful realization was a hilarious moment. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: For the most part, this was an excellent episode that played to the show's strengths. Was everything excellent? No. The show still has problems with consistency across storylines and that did hurt this episode. Still, I can confidently call this a great episode of comedy. Score: 70 Summary: In flashbacks, Kate meets Cassidy in Iowa and Cassidy helps her arrange a meeting with her mom. Kate asks why she turned her in and her mom tells her that she loved Wayne and warns her that she will scream for help if she ever sees Kate again. Kate parts ways with Cassidy. On the island, Locke visits Kate and reveals he is leaving with the others. Kate is gassed and she wakes up handcuffed to Juliet in the jungle. They head back to the barracks and have a close call with the smoke monster. Juliet reveals she had a key to the handcuffs and handcuffed herself to try to endear herself to Kate since she was also abandoned by the others. Juliet and Kate meet up with Sayid and Jack and they head back to camp. At camp, Hurley convinces Sawyer that he's going to be banished so Sawyer starts trying to get on everyone's good side.
The Good: Kate's flashbacks were fine. It was nice to get an explanation as to why her mom screamed for help back in "Born to Run". The conversation between Kate and Diane is well done, and I appreciate how the episode frames Kate's view of her actions (noble and justified) against Diane's (selfish and criminal). It's also good to see Cassidy again in the flashbacks, and having her meet Kate is very unexpected and leads to them developing an interesting connection which we may see come up again (see: The Unknown). The island storyline had some moments too. The Juliet/Kate dynamic is unique and there are some good moments from their time in the jungle, particularly everything involving the smoke monster which remains one of the show's most engaging mysteries (see: The Unknown). The B-story is a ton of fun as Hurley cons Sawyer and gets him to be nice. It's funny and entertaining, especially considering how invested we are in both Hurley and Sawyer. Buried beneath all the fun is a good story of Sawyer learning to be a leader which does feel worthwhile. The Bad: Unfortunately much of this episode feels completely pointless. I don't know why so many episodes this season have been filler but it has made many episodes feel completely inconsequential. This is one of those episodes. The only important event that happens is that the others leave the barracks. Then Kate and Juliet end up in the jungle and the plot of the episode is just them walking back to the barracks so everyone can leave together. It's all so skippable and I feel like if we skip from Kate being gassed to everyone else waking up, we miss nothing from the story outside of minor mystery building with the smoke monster. Additionally, Sawyer's story ends up being pointless too. He seems to be set up as a leader, but with Jack, Kate and Sayid on their way back to the beach, he won't be a leader anyways. The Juliet and Kate drama was flat and completely uninteresting. Instead of developing the characters at all, the show inexplicably decides to spend their time talking about Kate's non-romance with Jack which is really dull and I found myself completely bored by all of it. The love triangle stuff has always been one of the show's weakest points. Even the Kate/Jack scene wasn't good in this episode. Typically Jack and Kate's scenes have bordered on having too much melodrama but have had enough depth to remain compelling. But here it goes way too far and their scene just doesn't work because it feels like it's trying to hard to make us feel Kate's guilt for messing things up with Jack. Unfortunately the episode doesn't succeed at connecting my emotions to Kate's. The Unknown: Where are the others going? Why is Locke going with them? What are they going to do with him? Why did they leave everyone else behind? Why was Juliet left behind? Are they actually abandoning her like that? Or is this some kind of a trap engineered by Ben? Why was Juliet antagonizing Kate so much if she wanted to be accepted into the survivors' camp? It feels like something is going on. Did Dharma build the sonic fence to keep the smoke monster out? Why can't it go through the fence, or even over it? It seems that even the monster has some limitations. Also, the monster seemed to "scan" Juliet like it did with Eko back in "The 23rd Psalm". This is interesting. Does this mean that the monster is going to end up judging Juliet like it did with Eko? Best Moment: I'll go with Kate speaking to her mother, it was one of the only scenes that I was invested in. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This wasn't a good episode. There wasn't a lot to connect with, and the storylines felt both pointless and melodramatic. We've had 2 filler episodes in a row, this season needs to start picking up soon. Score: 49 Summary: In flashbacks, Nikki and Paulo steal diamonds from a rich TV show producer but the diamonds make them grow apart. While on the island, Nikki is increasingly invested in finding the diamonds which makes Paulo paranoid that she doesn't care about him. Paulo finds them diamonds and hides them from her. Nikki finds out and paralyzes him with a spider but she gets paralyzed too. In the present, Hurley and Sawyer find Nikki and Paulo paralyzed but think that they are dead. They investigate to find out what happened but don't end up getting an answer. They end up burying Nikki and Paulo alive along with their diamonds.
The Good: This was a fun episode that tried something new. The characters of Nikki and Paulo hadn't done much before and weren't very well received so the writers chose to kill them off in what ended up being a pretty fun and creative way. This episode feels less like "Lost" and more like a murder mystery, which is a neat format break that allows the show to do something different in taking care of these two characters. Admittedly, the story for Nikki and Paulo is very well done. They're despicable people but are still human enough to understand and that makes this story resonate more than it should. By the end of the episode I understood their conflict very well and it was a little tragic to see their relationship fall apart the way it did. The final visuals of Nikki and Paulo being buried alive was pretty horrific and it felt like a suitably grim fate for the two of them, giving the episode a memorable conclusion. What made this really stand out was the details. This episode was impressively well written and packed with foreshadowing, Easter Eggs and group interactions that impressed me. The foreshadowing in this episode was lovely. Nikki's comment about how guest stars always die at the start of the episode was fitting considering that she and Paulo were essentially just glorified guest stars themselves. I also appreciated the nod to them not wanting to end up like Boone and Shannon with the irony being that they ended up being buried on the island just like Boone and Shannon. I was pleased with all of the callbacks. We got to see more footage from the crash that neatly integrated things like Boone searching for a pen, Ethan making an appearance and Dr. Arzt returning. The story allowed for these cameos to fit in organically so it isn't just meaningless fanservice. The episode also gave us some answers about the others when Ben and Juliet visited the Pearl (see: The Unknown). I appreciated that the survivors discussed some of the mysterious things that are going on, like the monster and Mr. Eko saying "you're next" when he died and what that meant. Furthermore, there was also some speculation on if Nikki and Paulo were in touch with the others which was another fun detail. Lastly, I was really happy to see Charlie making amends for attacking Sun back in "The Long Con". I'm glad that this storyline wasn't forgotten and it gave both Charlie and Sun some good moments in the episode. The Bad: This episode was filler though and that does hurt its quality. It's fun to watch but the episode doesn't fit in at all with the overarching story and could easily be skipped without missing anything. If this was the pay-off for Nikki and Paulo, I think the show would have been better off if they just hadn't bothered introducing these characters at all. They just feel like a waste of time now. Even if the episode wasn't bad, Nikki and Paulo didn't end up adding anything to the story. It seems farfetched that Nikki and Paulo would discover things like the Beechcraft and the Pearl and hear plans from Ben. What makes things especially bad is that the two of them told nobody about any of this which makes no sense. Surely they should mention these things right away! Instead it seems like they simply didn't care. Nikki and Paulo's death has little impact because nobody else really seems to care that they died, especially Sawyer who continually messes up their names. The Unknown: So the others knew about both the Pearl and the Swan. Why didn't they man these stations? Surely they could have taken both of them if they wanted, like they did with the Flame. Why leave these two? Did Ben simply not want to do experiments here? That makes no sense, especially considering that Ben hadn't even seen the Swan when he was first captured. Also, we learn that Ben was likely captured on purpose with the idea of manipulating Jack. Why did he make such a risky move? Who did he place in charge while he was captured? Why was the smoke monster involved in Nikki being paralyzed? Did it condemn Nikki and Paulo to death the same way it condemned Eko? Best Moment: Charlie confessing what he did to Sun was a powerful moment. It's nice to see Charlie making a conscious effort to redeem himself, knowing that his days are numbered. Even knowing that Sun would be angry at him, he doesn't make excuses but simply resigns himself to her judgement of him. It's a lovely piece of character growth. Character of the Episode: I'll give it to both Nikki and Paulo, why not. Conclusion: This was a solid episode overall. It was a lot of fun and was written very well, though it couldn't overcome the fact that this episode didn't need to exist and was the most filler episode of the show so far. Still, I had a fun time watching this and the score should reflect that. Score: 65 Summary: Kim resolves to fix Acker's situation and makes a proposition to Kevin and Paige but they decline. Unwilling to give up, Kim approaches Jimmy, who has been using increasingly unethical actions, with a proposition. Jimmy had a meeting with Howard who gives him an offer to work at HHM. Jimmy is pretty unwilling to join HHM and immediately accepts Kim's offer. Jimmy becomes Acker's representative to fight against Mesa Verde. Jimmy goes to Howard's house and throws bowling balls onto his car. The DEA watch over Gus' dead drops and capture 3 guys and $700,000. Gus falls victim to anxiety as he awaits a response from Victor signifying that the plan was a success and nobody too major was busted. Mike tries to reconcile with Stacey and is unsuccessful. He provokes the gang people again and is beaten up and stabbed. He later wakes up at an unknown location likely in Mexico, having been saved.
The Good: This was another strong episode of character exploration that gave the characters genuine conflicts to deal with and made this season's central storylines become a little more clear. A great example of this is the Jimmy/Howard storyline that is told throughout the episode. It's telling of this whole conflict that the first thing we see during the scene where Jimmy meets with Howard is Jimmy toying with the ring he got from Marco. As ever, Jimmy is trying to balance out his inner conflict of the good lawyer vs the con man. We haven't seen this uncertainty from Jimmy this season, but now it emerges as Jimmy likely has a good idea of what Howard has to say and remembers how all he ever wanted back in season 1 was to just work with HHM. But it only stays for a brief moment. Pretty quickly, Jimmy ends up distancing himself from Howard during their discussion. He's unnerved by Howard being the same egotistical businessman as before, especially considering how much he has changed as a person since Chuck's death. Not only does Howard's offer to work at HHM clash with Jimmy's desire to play Saul Goodman at court, but the essence of how Howard has returned to normal clashes with Jimmy's unorthodox method of moving on where he became an entirely new person. For Jimmy, Howard represents one final chance for him to stay Jimmy McGill, get over his problems, and to achieve everything he could have dreamed of back in season 1. But Jimmy rejects all of what Howard stands for by the end of the episode where he gleefully throws bowling balls at Howard's car (set up by a wonderful cold open that builds mystery in a classic "Better Call Saul" way). It has been an absolute joy to see Saul in action. It looks like Jimmy's dealings with Lalo and Nacho in the last episode actually had a very positive effect on his mind. He dipped his toes into the criminal underworld, had a heavy payday, and he wants to succeed like that again. The way he manipulates the two junkies early in the episode is superb, proving that he isn't above sacrificing his own clients to get more money. His ethical values are all but gone, as we see once more in the courtroom where he uses underhanded tactics to get a mistrial. Jimmy enjoys doing this more than anything, and he's becoming more and more destructive than ever, especially with how he commits wholeheartedly to his new life as Saul. And as always, Kim can't seem to escape Jimmy's destructive nature. Once again, we see Kim turning back to Jimmy's sly methods in an attempt to help one of her clients. It's a horrible thing to see because Kim is risking her career in a big way by conning Mesa Verde, one of her own clients, in an attempt to help Acker, something that she feels she has to do. Now there isn't anything wrong with Kim wanting to help Acker, knowing how much she relates with "the little guy". But going to Jimmy seems like a huge mistake. She's expecting to face up against Jimmy in this case, but she's going to get Saul Goodman which won't be good. This episode emphasizes a fundamental difference between Jimmy and Kim. Jimmy is happy to make a mess without any regard to whoever is left to face the heat or clean it up. But Kim does care about the consequences of her actions, and I get the sense that this fundamental difference between both of them will lead to a lot of conflict. It's only a matter of time before Jimmy takes things too far in this case, and I'm very afraid about the blow-back that this will have on Kim. The stuff with Gus was also very impressive. Gus has gotten some development throughout the show, but it hasn't been anything that we couldn't have already guessed about him. But here we get a new insight on his behaviour, as he sits at his desk, brimming with anxiety and taking it out on poor Lyle, who is left scrubbing the fryers for a man who will never be satisfied. Gus has almost always been in control when we have seen him. But here is one of the very few times where Gus' fate rests on the actions of others, and the idea of not being in control eats him alive. It's a wonderful bit of development that is subtly included, and wonderfully edited into the episode as we intercut between the DEA's operation and Lyle scrubbing. The inclusion of Hank and Gomez was pretty fun as well. They played a specific role in the story, so their inclusion certainly wasn't just fanservice. But we also got a nice tie-in to "Breaking Bad" as we see the over-the-top Hank providing a rousing speech after being disappointed that he hasn't yet busted the guy that we know he ultimately will. It felt like a conclusion for Hank and I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't appear again in the series. Mike's story was very curious in this episode. His story continued naturally as he fell further into grief and self-loathing. In this episode we see him get rejected by his family, and having no motivation to do anything else, he purposefully looks for a fight so he can get beaten up and punished for what he has done. Mike has hit a new low and looks like he is ready to die for all he has done. But the ending of the episode provides a very interesting twist with Mike waking up in an undisclosed location, having been saved by somebody unknown. This is a good cliffhanger that provides an intriguing mystery. I'm intrigued to find out who has Mike and how they will help Mike get back to working for Gus. The Bad: There's nothing bad about this. But one thing I have to note is that despite this season being very enjoyable so far, it hasn't succeeded in engaging my emotions to the next level in ways that the show has done before. Usually the show has turned some pretty ordinary episodes into something terrific by providing some outstanding scenes ("Slip" and "Breathe" are good examples) or by emotionally engaging me into a character's plight ("Rebecca" and "Quite a Ride"). This season hasn't quite hit that level yet. I'm sure it will in future episodes, but it's worth noting that these early episodes have been missing that spark. The Unknown: How will Gus' anxiety be explored in future episodes? Will he somehow overcome this flaw before "Breaking Bad"? Where is Mike? The way the scene is shot suggests Mexico to me. What happened to him at the end of the episode? Who saved him from the beating he was taking? Was Gus watching him? Was it Lalo who was absent this week? Or was it somebody else entirely? Best Moment: Jimmy and Howard's meeting was wonderfully well done. The acting was top-tier and the scene brilliantly conveyed both Jimmy's conflict and Howard's transformation. Character of the Episode: Jimmy. Conclusion: There's no better show on television right now at exploring inner conflict. Not a whole lot happens in this episode, but there is some stunning character exploration as the season makes some very important moves towards setting up its climax. The first 4 episodes haven't been the show at its absolute best, but they have laid very important groundwork in a wildly entertaining way. This season has started very well. Score: 68 Summary: In flashbacks, a depressed Locke is approached by Peter Talbot who suspects that his mother is marrying a con man, the same man who Locke donated his kidney to. Locke doesn't tell anything to Peter but goes straight to his father and tells him to stop ruining people's lives, ordering him to leave or he'll tell Peter's mother the truth. Peter turns up dead and Locke confronts his father who pushes him out of an eight story building, ending in Locke's paralysis. On the island, Kate, Locke and Sayid try to free Jack. Kate and Sayid are quickly apprehended, though Locke sneaks into Ben's room and inquires on the whereabouts of the submarine. After talking with Ben, Alex takes Locke to the submarine, where he promptly blows it up. However, this works in Ben's favour as both Jack and Juliet were going to leave shortly on the submarine. Locke is captured and Ben shows him that the island somehow brought Locke's father to the island, and he has been imprisoned by the others.
The Good: This is a terrific episode of drama. This episode continues the trend of "Lost" departing from its slower paced, character-driven format in favour of more exciting and dramatic scenes with a sense of suspense always lingering behind every scene. Quite literally every moment in this episode is superb and adds to the story being told, providing us a masterclass of an episode that absolutely nails the storytelling, the twists and the character development. I'll start with the wonderful story we got in the flashbacks. For once, the flashbacks told a story worth telling as we discovered what put Locke in the wheelchair. We get to see once again that Anthony Cooper took everything from Locke. He took his kidney, he took his father figure, he took his relationship with Helen and now he's taken his ability to walk. It's so heartbreaking for Locke because this really feels like the last nail in the coffin. When we catch up with Locke, he's horribly depressed with very little going well in his life. All he had left was a final chance to go back to his father and get back at him for what he did. Locke had learned from before and wasn't about to let his desire for a father figure consume him. Instead, he just didn't want other people to suffer the way he has. But even then, he's still a complete sucker and totally falls for Anthony's manipulations yet again, leaving him a broken shell of a man by the end of the flashbacks. The final sequence with a dejected Locke being put into a wheelchair by the chipper physiotherapist is heartbreaking television, and is easily the most powerful moment we have seen in flashbacks since Desmond's meltdown in season 2. The flashbacks even tie into Locke's island story, which is something that hasn't been very common this season. Just like in the flashbacks, Locke tries to take control of his life on the island, and all of his efforts all end with the same result: yet another manipulation. But island Locke is a changed man, and the episode takes the time to explore him and his mysterious motives in depth. We learn that his plan is to destroy the submarine because he believes that it's cheating for the others to be able to leave the island and come back at will. At least that's what he tells Ben, but we learn by the end of the episode that this isn't the whole truth. Learning about the extent that Anthony has ruined Locke's life gives us a perfect reason why Locke doesn't want to leave the island outside of being put back in the wheelchair. He's afraid of his father. He doesn't have much left, and nothing scares him more than the idea that what little he has can be taken away. So he enjoys his time on the island precisely because of the isolation. He's happy to have broken free from the rest of the world because now he can actually do whatever he wants without the fear of being stepped on. The submarine represents a chance for Locke to return to the world, and not wanting to do that, Locke is more than happy to blow it up and ensure that there's no way off this island. It's a lovely bit of character writing that serves as the icing on the cake for what was a tense and exciting episode. The drama on the island built up so well. The highlights of the episode were certainly the scenes between Locke and Ben. The two had such a wonderful dynamic together and their scenes came together perfectly. The acting from Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn was simply stellar, and the dialogue written for the characters was somehow even better. The atmosphere was electric whenever they were talking, and the connection that their conversation had to the deeper themes and plot of the show made everything feel must-watch. The rest of the episode holds up well too. The entire episode is dedicated to the attempt to save Jack and blow up the submarine, allowing the episode to naturally build tension. As the episode progresses, there are plenty of tense moments, like Locke hiding in the closet or the others capturing both Kate and Sayid. It's very exciting television that's easy to enjoy, and the added layers of storytelling make it even better. There are a lot of other really strong moments. I enjoyed the Kate and Jack conversation, and I especially liked how they paralleled the conversation they had back in "I Do". Rousseau got a very nice little moment as she got to look at her daughter's face for the first time in years. Ben had an outstanding episode all around as he manipulated Locke before lying through his teeth to Jack and Juliet, knowing full well that they wouldn't be going anywhere. Lastly, the ending of the episode is spectacular. Anthony appearing on the island is a wonderful twist that completely caught me off guard (I thought the episode would go the generic route and end without showing us what Locke saw in the room - I'm very pleased the writers resisted the temptation to do this). Not only does this propel the magical forces of the island forwards in a significant way, but this also sets Locke up with a terrific conflict as he's not going to be able to escape the threat of his father anymore. He'll have no choice but to face his past and get over it if he wishes to continue living his new life. The Bad: Nothing I'll call bad. This was one of the show's most consistent episodes yet. The Unknown: How did Ben end up getting sick? Did he do something that angered the island? Is there some meaning to this? How do the others get electricity and plumbing? Ben's line about the hamsters was hilarious, but I'm curious if this will actually be answered. Where is this magic box? How did it bring Anthony to the island? When did he get there? What have the others done with him? Did they know who he was? I have so many questions about that ending. Who is Richard? He seems to be a higher ranking other, so does he have a particular role? Best Moment: So many of the Ben/Locke conversation snippets could have been the best moment of the episode. My favourite has to be when Locke accuses Ben of cheating and not listening to the island's demands. A frustrated Ben is evidently hit hard by this accusation, and wonders how Locke could possibly think that know the island better than him after such a short amount of time. Locke then replies with the best line of the episode: "because you're in the wheelchair, and I'm not". A spectacular moment. Character of the Episode: Locke. Conclusion: This is "Lost" back at its absolute best. The drama, storytelling, acting and writing all came together perfectly to make the best episode of the season so far, an episode that completely reshapes the story with some excellent twists and also does some very worthwhile exploration of Locke, the show's best character. This was an absolute win, and a sign that despite some inconsistency, there is still much that this show can do to wow us. Score: 84 Summary: Nacho takes Jimmy to meet Lalo. Lalo recruits him to help with Domingo's arrest. Jimmy meets with Domingo who is questioned by Hank and Gomez. Jimmy forms a plan with Domingo who ends up giving Hank and Gomez the location of Gus' dead drops, moving Lalo's plan forwards. Jimmy tells Lalo and Nacho that he doesn't want to do more work with them but he finds himself trapped in their business. Nacho tries to buy out his dad's shop to get him to leave town. However, his father sees through this and refuses to run away. Nacho reports Lalo's moves to Gus who decides to do nothing, unwilling to risk Lalo determining that somebody leaked information to Gus. Mike continues drinking and breaks the arm of a guy who attacks him. Kim is called in by Paige on her day off to deal with Acker, an old man refusing to leave his house so that the land can be used by Mesa Verde. Kim snaps at him after he pushes her to the limit and storms off. However, she comes back with kindness and tries to help him, only to be rebuffed once more. Upset, Kim returns to Jimmy and they throw beer bottles off the balcony together.
The Good: While the first two episodes set up the story for the season, this delved more into what I've come to expect from this show: interesting exploration of the various characters and the relationships they have with each other. This episode spent time with several key characters, showing us what their lives are like and detailing the conflicts they are dealing with using some clever metaphors and top-tier directing. Jimmy's story was really well done. Bob Odenkirk had a great episode all around as he conveyed Jimmy's fear and discomfort as he gets pulled back into business with Nacho, now being introduced to the dangerous Lalo. Jimmy goes back to the awkward discussion he uses with Tuco as he deals with Lalo and it's very engaging to watch. Better yet is how Jimmy's demeanor completely changes once he hears that he had only been brought to Lalo for legal services. Despite that, working with Lalo and Nacho still isn't something that Jimmy wants to do. Sure he gets a good payday out of it (one that he hilariously undershoots), but is it worth getting into such a dangerous world for this? Unfortunately Jimmy is left with no choice but to step into this world, and he's left in the same predicament as Nacho. He doesn't want to be involved, but just like that ice cream cone, there's absolutely nothing that he can do to keep the ants away. The origin of Domingo as a snitch is enjoyable to watch. Hank and Gomez make very welcome returns, and it is a pleasure to see them back on the screen. Unlike most shows, this one does fanservice extraordinarily well. These little Easter Eggs aren't here for no reason, in fact they play a crucial part in the story. Regardless of if you have seen "Breaking Bad" or not, the scenes where Hank and Gomez grill Domingo are engaging, and it's consistently interesting to see how Jimmy is going to get Domingo out of his situation. The solution with Gus being thrown under the bus makes perfect sense, and it continues the cold war between Lalo and Gus in an interesting way. Nacho has a very good episode as well. For the first time since "Coushatta", we get a good look at what his house life is like. Nacho has everything that he could possibly have wanted. He has money, drugs, girls, cars and a big house to top it all off. But we can see on his face that none of this brings any joy to his life. The house is shot in such a dull lighting, and the camera almost never gets close to the characters, making the house appear empty and lifeless. It's obvious that Nacho has no desire for any of this. He's met by his father and we learn that Nacho had tried to get his father to leave, likely in an attempt to get him away from the threat of Gus murdering him. But Manuel is smart enough to see through Nacho's plan and he refuses to leave. It's heartbreaking to see the state of their relationship. Nacho clearly wishes to reconnect with his father, while Manuel clearly wants to see his son escape from the cartel business he's involved in. But this episode makes it clear that there is no escape for Nacho. If he runs, Gus will kill his father. If he goes to the cops, he will never be safe, a point that's also hammered home by Jimmy trying to ensure that Domingo doesn't get killed for being a rat. All that's left for Nacho to do is to keep on surviving and hope that he can keep both Gus and Lalo satisfied. It's a horrible place for Nacho to be trapped in, and it's easy to sympathize with him. Kim also gets a chance to really shine in this episode. We return to her never-ending inner conflict and we even get some fascinating details about her past. Learning that Kim used to be poor neatly explains why she enjoys PD work so much since she is able to help less fortunate people, just like herself. But it also explains why being the main attorney helping Mesa Verde is so difficult for her. Being the lawyer working for a rich law firm isn't at all what she wanted to do, and it reflects poorly on her character. Kim wants to be there for the people, the last thing she wants is to be viewed as a smug corporate lawyer. It's telling of who she is that Kim isn't able to put Acker off her mind after she snaps at him. She comes back, looking to help sort out his situation. But he's already decided that she's a horrible person and he rejects her help. It's a heartbreaking moment for Kim that shows us exactly why doing independent work is so appealing to her. She doesn't want to be part of the big law firm, in fact she gets much more joy out of simply helping others. This takes us to the ending scene with Jimmy. The two of them are in a precarious place in their relationship. They don't talk about their lives and their struggles and instead just have fun testing the law together, the makings of a pretty toxic relationship. But that's what makes it so fascinating to follow them. The show makes it so tough to see where their relationship is going. One episode I'm left thinking that Kim is bound to leave Jimmy soon, but the next I'm wondering if Kim is actually able to tolerate Jimmy's complete disdain for ethics. This show is keeping me on my toes, and I'm left fearing for Kim's fate. The entirety of Kim's story this week took full advantage of my attachment to her and made me fear for whatever is about to happen to her. Despite very little happening, the show gets the most emotion out of every moment, making me just as hurt as Kim when things go badly with Acker. Mike's story is progressing well enough. There isn't a whole lot to bite into in this episode, but it's some solid progression of his guilt over Werner's death. He goes through life without a care in the world and engages in conflict when it isn't even necessary. It's evident that he thinks very little of himself now, and he's now reached a new low. The Bad: This episode isn't quite as suspenseful as it tries to be. The opening scenes with Jimmy aren't frighteningly tense because we already have a good idea of what Lalo wants with Jimmy. Jimmy is scared out of his mind, but we aren't scared at all. That creates a bit of a disconnect between Jimmy and the viewers, and that prevents the scene from being as good as it could have been had there been more mystery as to why Nacho had picked up Jimmy. The Unknown: Does Kim want out from Mesa Verde? It seems like she hit a breaking point with Acker, so I wonder what her next move is. Will she leave Schweikart and Cokely? Also, is Kim jealous of Saul? She seems dismissive of Saul in her brief talks with Jimmy, but I have to wonder if she is jealous that Saul is doing the exact job that she wants to do more than anything. Has Manuel been set up for death? If he isn't going to leave, then I don't see any other fate for him unfortunately. How much of this whole thing did Lalo plan to frame Gus? Could he have somehow staged Domingo's arrest as well? How is Gus going to handle the DEA finding his dead drops? How will this change his relationship with the cartel? What is he going to do to stop Lalo? Best Moment: The final moments of the episode were wonderful. Jimmy and Kim have both had a crazy day that pushed them to their limits. But they both come home and don't say a word to each other about it. Instead, they silently blow off some steam by flirting with the law together, as always. No matter how far their lives sink, they always go back to each other to break some rules together. It's a pretty destructive relationship, and I'm left feeling very nervous about what awaits Kim. Character of the Episode: Kim. Conclusion: This was a quieter episode than the first two but I actually enjoyed it a bit more. This show excels at character work, so this episode played to the show's strengths. It has been a quiet start to the season, but the storytelling remains terrific. Score: 69 Summary: Chandler and Rachel find some delicious cheesecake delivered to their door and can't stop eating it. Phoebe gets mad at Joey for cancelling dinner with her for a date but finds herself in a similar situation when David returns for one day. Ross is invited to a family wedding and Monica isn't, so she goes as his guest to figure out why she wasn't invited.
The Good: This was a funny episode on the surface. The Chandler and Rachel dynamic is a less common one, so it feels fresh to see them in a story together. There are some good laughs with them as they are unable to resist the temptation of the cheesecake. Ross and Monica are enjoyable in their storyline too. Phoebe and David have some good scenes in their short story, and Joey is consistently funny throughout the episode. The Bad: It feels like such a waste to have David return and not even be the focus of the episode. I'm surprised that so much time was spent developing the Phoebe/Joey conflict when it really should have been focusing on David's return and the effect it has on Phoebe. Ross and Monica are enjoyable but all of their most annoying traits are played up too much. The resolution of their story with one of Monica's ex-boyfriends is wholly unsatisfying. Did she really not know who the groom was? And why is it that big of a deal anyways? Best Moment: Joey pulling out a fork to eat the cake that had fallen on the floor was a good joke. Character of the Episode: Joey. Conclusion: This episode was fun and easy enough to watch but it did nothing special and fell into some classic sitcom trappings with wasted storylines and overly emphasized character traits. Score: 56 |
Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
February 2024
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