“Yeah, so I think I’m going to start Dark Winds since all my other shows went away,” I said last week, like the platinum-certified Hot Dummy I am. But shows, like a boomerang, sometimes they come back. As such, when I was submitting my review of Stranger Things S4 to Rotten Tomatoes, I saw Tomatometer ratings for a new season of Roswell, New Mexico. Huh. Luckily, I wasn’t too far behind the curve, but my point is, s’lot of TV out there. I see, for instance, that I also missed a Riverdale episode. I am going to scream. But before I do that, let me double up on these two and we’ll get back to normal next week.
But where is normal on the show these days? Well, let’s get up to speed. In reading my review of last season’s finale, I see it irked me. As I said, I want to like this show. They just make it so hard sometimes.
How will they do now? Let’s check-in. We’re six months in the future, or rather, six months after that finale. On the one hand, I like that we’ve fast-forwarded through some stuff, but on the other hand, uh…we fast-forwarded through some other, important stuff. Relationships have become more serious, for one thing. Like, it’s alright that we rejoin Maria at the end of her apparently successful health journey. As literally vital as it is to her, it probably wouldn’t make for compelling TV, at least not with this show’s tone.
But then there’s the relationship stuff. Michael and Alex are moving in together. Max wants to propose. Isobel is, uh, still seeing Anatsa, the gal who once went home with Max. (You will never normalize this for me, sorry.) It all feels super-quick and/or super-weird, especially for the latter. I mean, they exchange “I love you”s! They’ve been together for like, five minutes, as far as I’m concerned.
And as I mentioned in that finale review, the show just up and decided that Kyle was in love with Isobel. As Anatsa is not part of the main cast, it then feels like she’s just treading water until they will they/won’t they Kysobel into existence. And as they did the same thing with Maria with Malex, I do not care for it. (Fun fact: When a Southerner says they don’t care for something, it’s a polite way of saying that they hate it. They’re trying to soften the blow in case the listener likes it, bless their heart.)
But I’ll reserve judgment–barely–and let the show move on to its new seasonal storyline. There are new aliens! They’re doing alien-powered bank heists! Neat. Pour it directly into my mouth. Hey, as long as they’ve stopped expecting me to follow a bunch of essentially gibberish science, then I’ll go for whatever. And I do love a good heist.
These aliens, whom we get in only small doses in episode 1, end that episode with a big sky show. We’re talking something that looks like the Northern Lights, but then rains down fire and shimmery stuff. But don’t worry, Liz tells Max, it’s nothing alien. It’s basically just an overgrown case of St. Elmo’s Fire. Dang, she’s optimistic, one week after confessing that she wants to postpone any engagement talk because she’s so pessimistic.
Anyway, new aliens. As I’ve said before, when the show benches characters, then I’ll just assume they’re in the pods. My instincts are right-on this time, because that’s exactly where our trio of newbs has been. They just happen to have broken out six months ago. That seems like more than a coincidence, no?
They are, by the way, Tezca (Brigitte Kali Canales), Bonnie (Zoe Cipres), and Clyde (Andrew Lees). Yes, really. Bonnie, for one, may have only had just a taste of human life, but she wants to do all the best things, like go to the movies, listen to pop music, and eat patty melts. I love her immediately.
The heists are a bit puzzling, though. Incidentally, it starts as Cameron’s case, but she pulls in the newish sheriff in town, Max, who then pulls in “consultant” Dallas. They have to figure out what the point is. Normally, the point of a heist, obviously, is to steal like, money or fine art. Something valuable. But Bonnie and Clyde leave the money behind. What is the treasure they’re seeking then?
We don’t know the exact McGuffin they’re seeking, but we do find out that it’s all a Jones thing. When Max confronts Clyde at Graham Green’s exhibition, Clyde mistakes him for Jones. We learn a lot of things in rapid succession, like that the new aliens have no idea that Jones is gone. And that Jones sent a message, which prompted their podvacuation. The message not only made them come calling, but it also tasked them with collecting whatever it is they’re searching for in the heists.
Max stumbles in the exchange, though, when Clyde says “she” is looking forward to meeting him. Having known only of the bank-robbing duo, Max assumes he means Bonnie. However, Clyde is talking about Tezca. Hey, what has she been up to lately? Well, she’s capturing Alex. It seems that’s also a part of the Jones plan.
7.5/10 – We’ll see how it all turns out, of course, but so far, I like the new aliens a lot more than Jones and his nonsense. Again, I love Bonnie. I also like seeing Malex, as well as Echo, try to be happy for once. On the other hand, the other relationships just feel awkward. Like Isobel’s whole thing. She and Anatsa are in love, but Isobel mind-wipes her? And that’s after Max, in conversation with Anatsa, refers to Isobel as “the woman you’re sleeping with,” as in, he doesn’t take their relationship seriously. Then Isobel shows up at the Pony, making heart eyes at Kyle, who’s on a date with Some Woman. It all just plays as very unnatural.
Finally, we haven’t seen her in two episodes, so Rosa’s in a pod now.
