Summary: Flashbacks show that Wade was in New York when Adrian dropped a giant squid on the city, killing 3 million people. In the present, Laurie calls Wade into her office, having planted a bug on his desk. She requests that he inform her about the pills Angela is hiding but he refuses since it's personal. At home, Wade's extra dimensional security breaks down and he is frustrated. It's revealed that he always has some form of reflectatine to protect himself from psychic blasts. Wade goes to a support group and meets Renee. They hook up but Wade realizes she is part of the 7K so he follows her to their hideout where they are testing out some kind of portal. Senator Keene is part of 7K. It's revealed to be a trap and Wade is captured and offered by Keene to get Angela off of the board and in exchange he will show him something. Wade is shown a video by Adrian, revealing that the giant squid was his doing to unite people and prevent nuclear war. The squidfall is also his doing, and he is also the one who made Redford the president. Shaken by what he has seen, Wade goes through with selling out Angela and Laurie comes in to arrest her. Angela swallows all of the pills at once. Wade returns home, and thinks about getting rid of his extra dimensional security but changes his mind. The 7K pull up to his house with loaded guns. Elsewhere, Adrian is catapults himself out of imprisonment. He is revealed to be on a moon orbiting Jupiter, and he has been using bodies to spell out the message "save me". However, he is pulled back in by the game warden who arrests him.
The Good: This episode dove deep into the psyche of Wade which I really enjoyed. This show hasn't delved too deep into characters up until this point, so I was both surprised and pleased to get an episode entirely centered around Wade and his struggles. Wade ended up being a really interesting character. Previous episodes hinted at how paranoid he is about another giant squid coming, but this episode really dived into that paranoia. We learn that Wade never goes anywhere without reflectatine coating his head, even without his mask he has a hat which is lined with it. Furthermore, he frequently runs emergency drills for potential squidfall to ensure that he will be safe from it if it ever happens again. I thought that this fear was presented to us in a logical way. First we see the cause of his fear with the fantastic flashback sequence to kick off the episode, while also giving us the memorable visual of the giant squid in the middle of New York City. Then afterwards we get the suggestion from Laurie that Wade is not past his trauma yet, and she even enforces the show's theme of masked superheroes hiding personal trauma by putting the idea in our head that Wade only joined the police force so that he could have a reason to hide in reflectatine all day, an idea that is all but confirmed as the episode goes on. But Wade denies all of this. He tells Laurie he is past his trauma and even tells the support group that he's out of the tunnel. But he says all of this wearing reflectatine on his head the entire time, and his actions at his own house suggest that he is just another man troubled by the pain he suffered in the past. Wade's arc ties nicely into the plethora of reveals we get when he explored the 7K's hideout. There are several questions raised about their motives (see: The Unknown), but this episode answers just about every question I had about the squidfall and the mysterious giant squid event that took place in 1985, and giving really satisfying reveals for every answered question. Furthermore, these answers don't only service the plot, but they also service the arc that Wade goes through. Wade has held onto his trauma for 30 years, unable to let it go, but here he discovers that it was all a hoax and he shouldn't have been so scared about the squids since it was a trick this entire time. This is a huge revelation for him that puts him into huge inner conflict, which we see explored as the episode goes on as he betrays Angela. But it looks like he has made the wrong choice as not only has he sold out his friend, but it looks like he might have to pay for his mistake with his life. Another wonderful piece of character work is when Wade thinks about tossing his extra dimensional security, but goes back to get it. There are some habits that you just can't toss away so quickly. It's a lovely examination of this character, and it by far the most compelling content we've gotten from this show so far. The reveals in this episode were really strong. I've already touched on the reveals surrounding the squid, and I think they are brilliant. The video recorded by Adrian was an absolute highlight of the episode, so densely packed with information to analyze in order for us to better understand the story. In some ways it reminded me of the outstanding orientation video from "Lost". The other key reveal was that Senator Keene is actually working with the 7K. This is a big surprise and it brings a lot into play about prior scenes in the show and what his motivation is. Plus we also got it confirmed that Judd was part of the 7K and that the two of them were apparently working to keep the peace. I'm intrigued to learn more about how the 7K operate and that little bits of information we got here were wonderful. The Bad: I didn't connect with Wade's key decision as much as I should have. The episode had a lot to do, so much that I think it wasn't able to spend as much time with Wade's choice of betraying Angela as it should have. I wasn't as in-tune with the characters thoughts and emotions as I had hoped. The show is still a bit frustrating to go through. This episode was excellent but it is hurt by the fact that I wasn't particularly invested in the show in the previous 4 episodes, only intrigued. I feel that this could have been a better episode if prior episodes had built up the world and characters in a more compelling way up until this point. I thought that the Adrian scenes were out of place here. In an episode entirely focused on Wade it felt strange to switch over to what Adrian was doing, and it hurt my investment in Wade's story when I was suddenly ripped out of it and sent somewhere else. The Unknown: What are Senator Keene's goals? Why is he part of the 7K? What are they planning to do with the portal? Why did they go to kill Wade at the end of the episode? Is it because he knew too much? Did they succeed? Why was Keene involved in some of the events from previous episodes? Why did he send Laurie to investigate in Tulsa? And why did he allow himself to be threatened by a fellow 7K member at the funeral? So Nostalgia are pills containing memories. Does this mean that Will gave Angela his own memories? What happens now that she swallowed all of his pills? Will she essentially be living his life now? What's going to happen to her now that she has done this? Also she's now arrested. What is Laurie going to do with her. So Adrian is on a moon orbiting Jupiter. Why? What is he doing so far away? Who is keeping him there? Who is this game warden exactly? Who is he asking to save him? It looks like there was more he had written that wasn't shown. What else did he write? Best Moment: Adrian's video was a wonderful piece of television. A ton of important answers were revealed in this video, but on top of that, it was a pivotal moment for Wade who realized that everything he had believed in for so long was just a hoax. His entire world came down in front of him during this video, and it was amazing to watch. Character of the Episode: Wade. Conclusion: This was a great episode. We got a lot of big reveals and important plot details while also being taken on a compelling character journey as we explored Wade who turned out to be a really interesting character. Though the episode is hurt by how messy and confusing the show has been up until this point, I still think that it was really well done and I had a blast watching it. Score: 72
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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