I have really been enjoying this limited series, so I'm disappointed to say that I really didn't think much of this episode. It's especially bad timing, being the penultimate episode, as ideally the show should be building to a great conclusion. Unfortunately I thought this episode instead just sucked all the momentum away.
Here's what I didn't like:
1. The episode took all of Peggy's agency away. She's been in control of her own actions and her initiative has driven the entire plot forward to date. It was inevitable that the SSR would get wise to Peggy and nab her, but the way the show handled it turned her into a victim. She spent almost the entire episode in conference rooms, usually handcuffed, and not especially in control of anything. The story happened to her, rather than the other way around. I thought that was jarring and unfortunate.
2. I commented last week that we had seen too much of the Russian psychiatrist, which meant that it was just intolerable spending even more time with him this week. The character just didn't work. I don't even like listening to him talk! And his hypnosis/mind control trick was a narrative crutch to avoid more cleverly plotting Leviathan's ability to influence things, and it just seemed silly (especially how easily it worked).
3. So Captain America's blood was a MacGuffin. That's OK, and not too surprising, but we sure did spend a lot of time on it throughout the series for it (apparently) not to matter at all.
4. I thought the show had been arcing the male SSR agents pretty well, taking them from chauvinist clods, to chauvinist investigators with some skill, to being respectful of what Peggy brings to the table -- but then they went back to being clods in this episode. I get that they would be suspicious of Peggy given what they had uncovered, but their intransigence about believing her -- at least lock the Russian guy in a windowless room; what's the harm? -- was silly.
5. The effect of dispatching Chief Dooley was kind of neat, OK; but the impregnable, can't-be-defeated heat vest was stupid in both concept and appearance. How convenient that it can't be cut off, disabled, tampered with, shut down, or turned off in any way! This is probably a more minor gripe, but I felt especially annoyed by it since I was annoyed by so much else already.
6. Poison gas? That's what Leviathan is after? Snooze.
I'm really hoping the show can pivot to a great conclusion. The other episodes have been handled so confidently that I'll choose to be optimistic. But I just thought this episode was a bad stumble with the finish line so close, so I'm concerned nonetheless.
Here's what I didn't like:
1. The episode took all of Peggy's agency away. She's been in control of her own actions and her initiative has driven the entire plot forward to date. It was inevitable that the SSR would get wise to Peggy and nab her, but the way the show handled it turned her into a victim. She spent almost the entire episode in conference rooms, usually handcuffed, and not especially in control of anything. The story happened to her, rather than the other way around. I thought that was jarring and unfortunate.
2. I commented last week that we had seen too much of the Russian psychiatrist, which meant that it was just intolerable spending even more time with him this week. The character just didn't work. I don't even like listening to him talk! And his hypnosis/mind control trick was a narrative crutch to avoid more cleverly plotting Leviathan's ability to influence things, and it just seemed silly (especially how easily it worked).
3. So Captain America's blood was a MacGuffin. That's OK, and not too surprising, but we sure did spend a lot of time on it throughout the series for it (apparently) not to matter at all.
4. I thought the show had been arcing the male SSR agents pretty well, taking them from chauvinist clods, to chauvinist investigators with some skill, to being respectful of what Peggy brings to the table -- but then they went back to being clods in this episode. I get that they would be suspicious of Peggy given what they had uncovered, but their intransigence about believing her -- at least lock the Russian guy in a windowless room; what's the harm? -- was silly.
5. The effect of dispatching Chief Dooley was kind of neat, OK; but the impregnable, can't-be-defeated heat vest was stupid in both concept and appearance. How convenient that it can't be cut off, disabled, tampered with, shut down, or turned off in any way! This is probably a more minor gripe, but I felt especially annoyed by it since I was annoyed by so much else already.
6. Poison gas? That's what Leviathan is after? Snooze.
I'm really hoping the show can pivot to a great conclusion. The other episodes have been handled so confidently that I'll choose to be optimistic. But I just thought this episode was a bad stumble with the finish line so close, so I'm concerned nonetheless.
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