Contributor: Henry T.
Written by Ellen Fairey and Matthew Tabak
Directed by Stephen Cragg
I think this show should really stick to its supernatural roots and feel instead of devoting so much time to dead end plots involving politics or business deals. There is something of an explanation for the time Jane spent in the mysterious spiral staircase beneath the Drake. This is much more interesting than everything else, from the various political machianations to elevate Henry to some vaunted position. Time and time again, he has demonstrated no tangible qualities to merit such a position, with all of it dependent on connections cultivated by his friendship with Gavin.
The show also seems to be dropping plot points left and right. The search for Gavin’s red box is over and now Olivia is out to find her long-lost, previously-thought-to-be-dead daughter Sasha. It’s a subplot that doesn’t advance very much and we’re left with little in terms of a satisfying payoff. That comes in the final scene, where a bombshell twist (that I certainly didn’t see coming) is laid down, consequences to come later on as the series winds down.
Jane’s missing time is immediately addressed upon her visit to the apartment of one Maris Elder (Whoopi Goldberg, in a surprise guest appearance). Maris is on the show for only a brief time, yet her history with the Drake is fascinating and mysterious at the same time. She hasn’t left her apartment in more than two decades, which seems impractical on a number of levels but that’s best left alone. It turns out that she’s a former psychologist who uses regression hypnotherapy to recover Jane’s memories of the time spent inside the staircase. It doesn’t reveal how she ended up wandering in Times Square, but that doesn’t matter at this point. The therapy sessions are designed to further explore Jane’s deep connection with the Drake and its long history. Right now, it’s mainly focused on the 1920′s era, one where Jane has another encounter with Peter Kramer, the man who tried to kill her on Halloween.
I think that if the show was allowed to go on longer, it would have possibly explored other eras in the Drake’s history and undoubtedly, Jane would have been an integral part of them as well. Here, she takes on the persona of Libby Griffith, a former resident of the Drake who is also currently trapped within its walls. Kramer and an associate take Libby/Jane down to a basement, strap her into a chair, and proceed to torture her. This was hinted in Jane’s brief stay at the psychiatric ward from “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” Could those memories and Libby’s imprisonment within the walls of the Drake be connected?
It’s certainly possible, but when we and Jane are on the cusp of finding answers, Maris suddenly leaves the Drake as part of some past arrangement with Gavin. When she walks outside for the first time in years, she goes a few blocks and then transforms into a flock of doves that just fly away. I don’t think we’ll ever get an answer as to why that double-pronged symbol next to Maris’ door, one that Jane finds in Kramer’s journal, keeps Gavin from entering the apartment. Could that somehow be the key to eventually defeating Gavin in some way? The pieces are slowly coming together but the limited time for this series means that we won’t see the entire puzzle being formed.
But as I said, what’s going on with Jane is much better than the other subplots in the episode. I’ve long since given up on what Henry’s ultimate position of power will be. It seems to change with every passing episode. Here, a seat on the City Council may possibly be open, aided by various corrupt actions of the person currently sitting in that seat. Laurel is tasked to find blackmail material that Henry may or may not choose to use in order to force his way into that seat. It’s really material that I feel has run its course and is also somewhat out of place in what is supposed to be a supernatural drama. At least the writers give Olivia something to do (that isn’t always the case with this show), and it largely involves threats to Victor Shaw as well as getting closer to finding her daughter. There is the brief possibility that her daughter really is dead, and Shaw plays out the mystery enough to buy himself a bit of escape time.
It was ultimately not meant to be, as Shaw dies without giving up Sasha’s location. The big twist at the end is that Gavin goes to a bar to meet Sasha, and that she turns out to be Laurel! So Gavin has been lying to his wife all this time about knowing nothing surrounding the details of his daughter’s death. That death was obviously staged, which is something that has been clear from the beginning. It was Gavin that sent Laurel/Sasha to work with Henry in securing his political position. What else has he been making his daughter do all this time? I would imagine that Olivia will not like that her husband has been keeping such a big secret from her. We should see the fallout from all of these secrets as the series comes to an end in the final four episodes.
Score: 7/10