Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Nick Antosca and Ned Vizzini
Directed by Michael Offer
Following an episode that had one storyline that was shown in non-linear fashion, this one felt too scattered. This was because the writers decided to service every possible storyline the show has presented up until now. There are strengths to this approach, namely showing how big the scope of the series is, and I’ve always been a fan of series with ambition. It forces viewers to keep up with the myriad of story points the show is presenting. On the other hand, it parcels each of the stories, resulting in little forward momentum and clouding the bigger picture.
The cliffhanger from “Another Fine Navy Day” was Marcus losing his Captain’s missile key while unconscious from the BZ attack and so that should be the central impetus for events in this episode. Unfortunately, the wider scope only allows for this to be a small part of the episode. It almost feels like a subplot that is competing with other subplots for air time. It’s not helpful to the cause when some of those other subplots weren’t as inherently interesting as the case of the missing missile key.
As it stands, the material on Sainte Marina is still stronger and more developed than everything going on in the US. The episode shows that Booth, the man who was beaten to a pulp by Sam during the chemical attack, works for the CIA. The chemical attack was designed with the clear purpose of showing that Marcus was losing control of the island and that the unstable US government really wants him out of the way so that they can deal with Sam. The government believes Sam can be the more malleable leader, the one easiest to negotiate (which means they probably want him as a puppet to control). I do find it hard to believe that Sam would just go an betray Marcus, even with all of the evidence so far pointing in that direction. Here, Marcus is painted as a potentially crazy despot who doesn’t care about the sagging morale of the Colorado crew, the escalating tension between the military and the natives, and is obsessed with finding out the crewmember who is responsible for stealing the key. I kept looking for that “Colonel Kurtz moment” from Marcus whenever the episode showed him onscreen, but it never came.
While the missile key thief operated right in front of his face (it was not a surprise to me that it turned out to be Cortez), Sam was in charge of bringing up crew morale. Having the crew gather for some much-needed downtime was a good moment, and that should pay dividends down the line. The revelation that Cortez took the missile key could easily be explained as well. She is probably angry at her captain for the hostage incident a few weeks back. There are plenty of potential explanations for why Cortez turns, and I think both Booth and the US government are glad there is some chaos generated on Sainte Marina. Not the least of which tension stewing between Serratt and Chaplin, which is not aided by a man strapping a bomb onto one of the Colorado crew members, as well as the COB being intentionally drugged by the island’s drug runners. That should have promise, but this is all setup for payoffs that should come in the future. The way the episode is edited, it feels like we’re seeing highlights of a story instead of the full one.
The actions on Sainte Marina do have an impact on the mainland, though. A source inside the government is able to funnel photos of a dead US official (Amanda Straugh, who we saw killed on the island in a prior episode) and an explanation for what really happened on Sainte Marina to Christine. It was a result of Kylie bugging the car of Christine’s “friend” Patrick. She shows it on live television, on a nationally broadcast interview. That isn’t a good thing, and I think there will be measures taken by the US government to shut Christine down. At this point, she knows way too much. It was smart for the show to have Kylie and Christine team up together. They have objectives that inter-mingle with each other so there is an actual purpose to having the two characters on the show. I don’t like the show going to the same well over and over again with Patrick blatantly hitting on Christine with her husband away, but at least everything he does in her presence is by design. He might be used to silence Christine to keep all of the events on Sainte Marina from going public.
As with the subplots on Sainte Marina, it’s hard to know where it’s all heading since there is so little development of the plots in this episode, but the questions keep all of the plots viable. The juice of the show is on the island. The more obtuse and mysterious stuff is happening in the US. This episode showed how difficult it is for the show to find the right balance between each situation. It served too many stories, handed out too much information. As a viewer, that can be difficult to manage at times, but the show still has my full attention. Even if it’s not going to last for much longer.
Score: 7/10