Reviews

Wow, there were some MAJOR plot holes in this episode. How did Robyn get out of the airplane? Why was it snowing one minute (in the alley) but not at the protest? Is MEL turning into HER? So many unanswered, weird plot holes that have not been in previous seasons. There's always been a LOT of exposition in the scripts but this week, wow. If the writer's strike damaged anything it was the quality of this show.

Also, what was going on with the lighting in the early scenes; Queen Latifah and Mel's makeup was very obvious in HD. Did this episode get slammed together really fast? Is Queen Latifah bored with the series?

This season has been a bit uneven for me. After the first episode of the season we had to take a few weeks break because it just didn't seem to mirror the quality of the previous seasons. But we gave it a fair shot and have found some of the storylines interesting enough to hold our interest.

This episode felt a bit all over the place. First of all, if there was an explosion that wiped out the side of a building on Mars it seems like there would be no survivors instead of what happened. Especially since there were no pressure suits available.

Secondly, Ed's aging makeup is all over the place, this latest incarnation looking like a high school play. I know he's a main character and the like and the character has a grudge but his character is starting to really grate on our nerves and we're not finding a sympathetic string to hold onto.

Thirdly, I don't know if the character is poorly written or if it's poorly portrayed but the leader of the strike really feels out of place. The role doesn't seem convincing, and I don't know if it's because she's poorly written or if it's the acting. I know folks online like to complain about Kelly and Alaida, but I find them a bit more believable than this strike leader.

Watching this I feel like I'm watching Pre-Expanse activities without the production values of The Expanse. We'll finish out the season just to see what happens but it's not nearly as compelling as it used to be.

Did the show cross into some alternate reality where some of the characters are familiar but nothing else resembles anything we've seen before? Are the writers high?

I hate to say this, but if the folks that scream "groomers!" want evidence, just look at season four of this show. There is every possible checkbox on the LGBTQA+ punch card checked at least once with the students at this college.

Maeve's storyline feels tacked on as an after thought. Otis has gone brain dead. For some reason Dan Levy and Hannah Gadsby are there and outside of stunt casting they serve absolutely no purpose other than looking like brother and sister. There's a sister that I couldn't care less about, alien woman is gone, and there's too many scenes with the guy in the wheelchair.

I'm probably bailing on the show. This season is AWFUL.

The "A" storyline was all over the place. Wow, was it all over the place. Absolutely no credibility. None. Queen Latifah is much, much better than this. Horrible, horrible acting from the bad meanie woman (Michelle?) in the last scenes and every indication of sanity shows this episode HAS to be a dream because no episode has been this poorly written and made such little sense in the history of the series.

Now, the "B" storyline was excellent. Aunt Vi and Dee were well written, well acted, and that whole scenario was believable and portrayed unbelievably well. Hats off to Lorraine Touissaint and Laya DeLeon Hayes.

The whole cliffhanger thing at the end was just idiotic. I feel like it was written after the writer's strike started and they just grabbed some folks off the street to write an episode.

I found this to be the best episode of the series thus far. I also found it one of the hardest episodes to watch thus far, because some of the depicted violence appeared very real. I sympathized with the guest character and her plight, but when her husband hit Aunt Vi it made me tear up.

Every actor in this episode was on their game, especially in the last act. Robyn's interaction with Aunt Vi at the hotel, the fallout afterwards, all of it was emotionally gripping.

The show tackled, and more importantly, increased awareness of the very real problem of domestic abuse. I give the entire production a standing ovation for this episode. Well done across the board.

Awareness is important. Thanks for bringing awareness.