Just The Event today folks... sorry about that.
Spoilers...
The Event – “Strain” (B)
I really don’t know what to think of this show. It seems to seesaw back and forth between terrible and semi-competent on almost a weekly basis. I liked “Strain”. It wasn’t perfect, but it was engrossing enough to keep me interested through the entire hour. The problem is, so far the writers haven’t been able to maintain momentum in their storylines for more than one or two episodes and I end up taking everything good I see with a grain of salt, understanding that next week I’ll probably end up being disappointed by another boring and inconsistent affair.
“Strain” cut back immediately to the cliffhanger from last week – the frozen body of the poor dead soldier. Going into this episode that was the story thread I was most interested in, and I’ll admit I enjoyed uncovering the mystery of what the NTBs wanted with the body. I figured it would be some sort of biological weapon and the Spanish Flu explanation worked for me enough that I was satisfied with the answer.
I do have two problems with that resolution however – minor problems, but problems nonetheless. First, is in the giant inconsistencies with the last episode. I didn’t talk about it that much in my last review, but last week’s episode (the last few weeks’ episodes actually) started with a fairly intriguing premise, with a scientist testing ice samples and eventually committing suicide to protect his research. It was clearly meant to pique our interest in the weapon the NTBs were trying to find. Now that we know what that weapon is, I look back on that scene and it makes very little sense. Why would a scientist be taking ice core samples in order to look for a body? I mean I’m not a scientist but something doesn’t really add up there.
It’s exactly that type of short sited writing that is killing this show. Lost used to stylize episodes, but usually there was some substance in the resolution. I look at that opening sequence now and it just seems hollow. And really, it’s hard to trust the writing staff to follow through on anything anymore. Even when I’m watching something cool, in the back of my mind I’m still thinking “can they back this up”, which seriously hampers my enjoyment.
The other problem I had with the resolution is that now that Sean and Vicky have found out exactly what the NTBs were using the body for, there isn’t any mystery left in the storyline. Now granted, they may add something new in next week (they do still have that parchment), but at the moment I care very little about them finding the courier because at best it’s probably going to be primarily action based and without a compelling story to back it up I tend to find straight action to be a little monotonous.
One question I do have – and I could just be looking a little too into this – are Sean and Vicky starting to become an item. I’d be interested to hear your opinions in the comments about this, but I felt as though Sean and Vicky’s frequent conversations about why she was still helping him were pointing towards a more romantic connection. At one point Vicky asked Sean “why do you think I’m here” and it looked to me at least like she wanted him to realize that she liked him. She ended up playing it more like she was telling him just to stop asking, but I saw that longing gaze. I know what she’s looking for... probably.
I thought the President’s assassination storyline was decent this week, if only because we got to see a little more of Sterling. He’s been kind of quiet these last few episodes, which is unfortunate as he’s one of The Event’s more interesting characters. I did laugh a bit though when the writers had to stumble over the fact that Martinez’s Chief of Staff just sort of inexplicably showed up in the middle of the season and for some reason wasn’t around for the first attempt on the President’s life.
Anyways the two of them made a good team, and I enjoyed watching them try to figure out how to prevent Jarvis from becoming President. I’m interested in seeing what Sterling does with the evidence on his shirt sleeve. I’m assuming now that Jarvis is acting President it’s going to be a lot harder for Sterling to expose him, I just hope the writers can come up with some sort of semi-interesting way to play out that storyline.
I do have a theory about they’ll reverse the President’s condition however. There was a scene in this episode where his wife Christina broke down by his bedside. Now obviously that could be nothing. She’s a grieving wife watching her husband slowly die. What got me thinking was why the writers spent so much time portraying such an obvious character reaction. If you go back to last week you’ll remember there was some suspicion over whether Christina was an NTB or not. My theory is that she is, and her breakdown was meant to show that she legitimately cares for him despite being a sleep agent, in which case she may know how to counteract the poison and save the President. I’m probably wrong, but I mean what a call if I’m right... right?
Anyways, moving on... the last storyline of this episode – Michael and Leila covering up the murder of the man tasked with watching her – was probably the weakest. I didn’t mind watching Sophia’s tense visit, but honestly, of the three arcs in this episode this was the one I was least interested in. If Sophia does eventually find out about Leila stealing the phone it may make these two characters a little more interesting, but at the moment the show tends to drag whenever they’re on screen.
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