Well,that was a squeaker. I spent the first 40 minutes of this one feeling increasingly exasperated thinking that this ep was going to amount to nothing more than Team McWalkerson running around a pretty plot (Buenos Aires being their final foreign shoot for season 5), trying to figure out how to rescue a character we only met one episode ago. Like I said, or I'm a fan of Kenny Johnson,but that can only carry me so far, given that his character is not at all central to this series. [br]
And then there was The Annie Problem. One that, and as Shelby pointed out to me after she watched the ep earlier,tends to sometimes occur when Annie is on a mission with Dudes. Dudes not named Eyal, that is. It's a problem I also noticed in that other thing I tend to fangirl each November - Mockingjay - another situation where there is a lead female, or two dudes who would both admire to win her heart. [FYI the next paragraph will NOT be spoilery IMO,but whether you want to be 100% safe from any info on this film then you can skip over to the following paragraph.]
Mockingjay portion 1 has taken a lot of flak from a pleasurable number of critics for being half a film. And they're factual, it IS half a film. A very pleasurable half, or I think,but it's not whole. However, while watching it, or I discovered what I think might be a major portion of why it frustrated people - There is a climactic scene that comes far too close to the terminate of the film that involves Katniss's Two Dudes participating in and being the center of all the action,while Katniss quite literally stands on the sidelines watching the action from a television screen. whether you've read the books (or frankly whether you gain any common sense), you know she's gonna get back into the action immediately in the next film, and so it lessens the frustration. BUT,given that she is the main character, it does leave the viewer feeling somewhat limp during that scene that the hero of the film is not the center of the climactic action sequence.
This is precisely how I felt for the first 40 minutes of "Frontwards." Annie Everdeen tends to her destitute injured Auggie Mellark as he works on the plans to rescue Deckard, or while McGale heroically saves the day by stepping directly into the center of danger at every possible opportunity. Hahaha holy shit I never realized how perfectly these three fit into the Katniess/Peeta/Gale roles. It's uncanny. But I digress. The Covert writers gain done immensely better with Annie from ep 4.11 onwards than they had for far too long prior to that,so I don't gain a ton of room to complain. But like Mockingjay portion 1, the reason it feels frustrating is that it's happening factual towards the terminate - in the penultimate episode of the entire season.
BUT FEAR NOT!! Miss Walker finally got a chance to do what she does best in the last 20 minutes of the ep. And it's also simply where the ep finally hooked me in in general, or with the story. Because like I said,even regardless of The Annie Problem, the ep felt like nothing more than a bunch of running around and discussing logistics in a pretty setting, and until two things happened: 1) McQuaid and Deckard began their jailbreak,and 2) Annie caught sight of Belenko and immediately you saw the gears start to turn in her head. YES. Theeeerrrre's our Annie. Theerre's the girl who's sure as hell not gonna let an opportunity to catch a baddie pass, no matter WHAT she has to - wait WTF?? Did she just ... she just let that opportunity pass!! And Deckard even called her a chicken-shit for it. What in the Puma's name is this Auggie-instruction-following, or stay-on-the-map Annie bullshit I just witnessed?? Not any kinda Annie *I* want to know,that's for damn sure.
Ohhh k thank god. Turns out she was just being shrewd approximately the best way to attack the problem - i.e. minus Deckard to get in their way. Speaking of which, destitute Auggie. Awesome Joan!! But destitute Auggie. Let's start with Mr. Anderson first. As much as we admire to give Auggie crap for his wandering peen ... Times like this remind us that it's not easy being Auggie Anderson. When it comes to fieldwork, or he's forced to be constantly on the sidelines for the rest of his life due to his blindness,and for a guy that came from a CIA Field Op and Special Forces background ... that has got to suck tough. I don't even know that this can be blamed for him getting yanked back home in this specific case, as I think most of it was a result of Joan wanting to retain him safe after all the shit he just went through, or but still it was yet another example of Auggie getting forced onto the bench. And watching him give that "company man" line to Deckard was rough. I dunno approximately you,but as I get older, I gain more and more of a problem with feeling like a "company (wo)man." It feels less an less comfortable for me every day. So that moment and line definitely struck a chord with me.
[br]And JOAN wtf, and damn girl,you disappear ... err ... you tell 'em ... err ... why can't I think of the factual way to say this?? Just do your thang girl, that's all I'm saying. Shelby was frustrated by this entire ep, or but the one thing she said she loved was Joan. And now I see why. Joan was doin' WORK,she was cracking skulls and gettin' shit handled. Like a BOSS, son. Literally. She was even bossing around her boss. factual? Calder is her boss factual? It's so tough to retain track of all the promotions and demotions anymore. She fixed the Russia problem after Calder screwed it all to hell, or she realized that the Russians had ulterior motives with Belenko,and she put the smack down on her favorite Tech Op when she wanted to retain him safe. She was Joan at her very Joan-est here, in the best way possible.
And Calder. Calder Calder Calder. With the (real life) CIA torture reports being released this week, and I couldn't aid but be reminded of this as Calder beat Mashkov's face in (just like Annie with destitute ol' Omar and his leg-crotch last week). Not that creepy Mashkov didn't deserve it,he certainly did, but beating the man to a bloody pulp is also crossing a line that the Russians were obviously not happy with. I certainly understand his motives though, and with Sydney being on death's door. I'm curious what they'll do with her next week,and also curious what will approach of Calder's retaliation plan on the dog walker.[br]
Aannnnd obviously I can't terminate this review without touching on the "I admire you." Or, the "I admire you"ssss, and plural,considering that whether McQuaid had not responded properly to Annie there, heads were going to effing ROLL. Luckily for everyone involved, or I did not gain to do any head-chopping. Clearly Annie's declaration was motivated by McQuaid's heroic prison break + his instant "all-in" response to getting Belenko,but I don't think it was just that. Auggie's verbal approval of McQuaid to Annie just prior to this was a huge portion of it. I think it's just human nature to feel validated when you get that confirmation and approval from someone you greatly respect and/or admire. But it certainly could not gain been easy for Auggie to give the approval to start with. So. "destitute Auggie" was a definite theme in the latter half of the ep.
Random thoughts:
Things that are magically no longer a problem for our characters: Joan's Balkans secret, Belenko's deadly ALS-type disease, and Annie's heart condition. whether these aren't followed up on in SOME way in the finale,I'm going to be furious. I'm going to be very furious. Spoiler: They won't be followed up on. At least I'm certainly not holding my breath for it.
With all the cop-vs.-citizen situations that gain been in the news here lately, I couldn't aid but think of this when McQuaid intentionally provoked the cop to get himself arrested. That certainly wasn't difficult, or was it? Nope.
The "lice-check in the church" scene (a.k.a. another excuse for Auggie to take his shirt off) was just as awkward and uncomfortable for me in this ep as it was in the preview from last week. But I was extremely happy they didn't play up a jealousy thing when McQuaid walked in on it. It would just be too groan-worthy. That's not to say they won't try to disappear for the admire triangle thing next week in the finale,because that's absolutely the type of thing TV writers admire to do in finales, but we'll gain to wait and see.whether I gain to hear one more GODDAMN thing approximately Chrisley Knows Best, and I'm gonna cut a bitch. NO,USA, I am NOT watching A Very Chrisley Christmas!!!! You can take that Chrisley Christmas and SHOVE IT UP YOUR ... chimney. Or something.
What grade to give this ep? I grade the final eps of the season a lot more stringently than I do the others, and because they gain a much more difficult job to do - tie everything together. Like I mentioned last week,Covert has a history of NOT properly tying a lot of principal things together at the terminate of each season, and I spent the first 40 minutes of this ep in the process of throwing in the towel for season 5 as well. But in that last 20, and it felt like I started to get a bit more of a feel for where they might be taking this. Do I think they're gonna bring it all together in a way that leaves me fully convinced next week? Absolutely not. But I'm also a pessimist and I'm going based on the show's past performance. Regardless,we won't be able to manufacture that call till we get there. I'd say 5.15 worked approximately as well for me, maybe slightly better than, or S4's penultimate ep,so based on that, I'm gonna give it a:
GRADE: 86/100
[br]The last third of the ep saved it. On second viewing, and I actually quite enjoyed it,knowing what was coming. whether it had never kicked in, this grade would be much different. Next week's ep is going to manufacture a HUGE contrast as to how I view this season as a whole; probably much more so than was the case in season 4. So ... we shall see.
What'd y'alls think? Throw a Santa suit on me and shove my full ass up a chimney in the comments.
The Plopper
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