Good gracious. TV should not make me cry, yet that's what almost happened last night when I watched this episode. It wasn't so bad that I couldn't hold it in, but I'm very sad and pretty ticked about how this season is starting off. Seriously, is there some inside info that I missed regarding contracts or something? It doesn't make any sense.
Speaking of not making any sense, I didn't understand why they made the opening scene of this episode so obviously be a dream. I knew it from the moment John walked into the room; he had hair. For me, it's better when the audience is skeptical instead of clued in from the beginning. It makes for a better emotional connection with the characters when we also get that desired thing ripped away from us all of a sudden. I felt very separated from Helen because of that big tell and that makes for bad presentation. The point of emotional bits like this is to make the audience feel. At that moment I felt nothing but disappointment at the calls the production team made in shooting that scene.
The major bright side of this week's episode was the literal boatload of CGI we got. Granted, some of it was shaky, but most of it was absolutely flawless. The only CGI complaint I can think of was the way they made the annoying little sprite character. His body moved realistically enough, but the filmed head and face of the actor playing him stuck out like a sore thumb. I could see the seams and that's never a good sign in a series that was created to be innovative (or at least the web series was. I miss those days even more now). Interesting character, though, if not painfully stock.
Another time I could see through the CGI (this time on the green screen) was in that series of memories they had Helen thinking about. Forgive me if any of you could, but for the life of me I could not see the relevance of those. Sure, it explained what that necklace or charm that Helen had was, but that was about it. As far as I could tell, they were just there to fill time. More bad production calls! I hope this doesn't persist throughout the season. Interesting material, yes, but was this episode the time or place to put it in? I'm confused.
On the Abnormal side of things I was actually pretty happy. We got to see lots of great CGI creatures, some slime (which can be impressive), a great job with making a CGI monster's hand affect the actors (poor Will and Henry) and we got to see the two-faced man again, as played by Stargate Atlantis favorite Chuck Campbell. We only got to hear from one of his faces this week, but thankfully it was the face the audience knows best. I also liked the side plot revolving around the escaped baby Abnormal, the species name of which I don't remember. While it was obviously CGI, it was still very well done. It moved like a real animal, plus it interacted with just about everybody. It even looked real when it was showing Kate Freelander, otherwise known as "free agent woman," its own brand of affection, just like a dog. I also like the joke behind its name, Ralphie. Heck, it got Bigfoot to use colloquialisms. And got Kate to join the good guys!
Unfortunately, the dark side of this episode was also very powerful. My deus ex machina prediction was wrong and I'm actually sad about that. First and foremost, though, what John is doing seems a little rushed. This is a TV series. It's supposed to take a very long time to kill off the main villains. Not five seconds of dialogue and one scene in a montage! If John could have killed off the top officers of the Cabal so easily, wouldn't he have done that as soon as they took Ashley? It would have made more sense to show him hunting the top officials down one by one over time. That is how he operates, after all.
And now the tear-jerker: Ashley's dead?! I am very upset! This is what I mean by not knowing about contracts. Did something go awry between Emilie Ullerup, the actress who plays (or perhaps played) Ashley and the studio? I'm completely in the dark this time, so if somebody could enlighten me, that'd be much appreciated. Ashley was one of my favorite characters. It is true that I was also upset by the change in how she was written between the original web series and the TV series, but that was for the same reason. Why do they have to keep messing with her character? If Emilie is still going to be on the show, how will that be possible? How was it that she was even present at the end of this week's episode? Do ghosts exist now? It's never been touched upon in this series, so I don't know. I'm sure a good bit of the fanbase joined me in spirit last night in a round of saying, just like a tired little kid, "Why why why why WHY?!" How are we supposed to get through the series now that one of its driving forces is pushing up daisies? What is it with the Bridge Studios crew and making fan-favorite characters die in fire?!
But enough about me. What did you guys think of this episode?
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