[S4E7] Something Stupid
Montages are an interesting device. They are often used to show the passage of time or to quickly develop something that could take multiple episodes (or even seasons). Better Call Saul created a striking montage of two people who are in the same geographic space but drifting apart.
[S4E7] Something Stupid
Continued division turned into something else during the course of the hour-long episode, calling into question what fans have been seeing all along. Meanwhile, fans were reintroduced to scenarios that once again call back to Breaking Bad.
When Huell is apprehended for 'assaulting' a police officer, he's informed that he faces up to two years behind bars. Unwilling to take the hit, he cooks up a plan to skip court and make a run for it, which Jimmy tells him is ill-advised. Jimmy promises him that he would come up with something so he wouldn't have to go to prison, though it becomes apparent after his talk with Kim that there may be some illicit means involved.
"Something Stupid," the seventh episode of the show's outstanding fourth season, kicks off with a musical montage set to the song of the same name. Made famous by Frank and Nancy Sinatra, it's a meticulously constructed tune, its verbose lyrics and complicated two-part harmony embodying the fear of being really close to someone but holding back because you're worried about revealing you're more into them than they are into you. (It's made slightly awkward by the fact that Frank and Nancy were father and daughter, but this is the Nicole Kidman/Robbie Williams version, so no harm done.) It's one of the most astute soundtrack selections in the history of the BCS/Breaking Bad universe, and that's saying something.
But you can see on her face, courtesy of the typically powerful wordless performance abilities of Rhea Seehorn, that she's planning to do something she's confident a) will work and b) shouldn't be done. I don't want Huell to go to jail, but I don't want Kim to offer up her soul as collateral, either.
"Rest and relaxation," Mike grumbles. Werner agrees. Mike understands, but he also remains wary of Kai, who hasn't really done anything bad yet, but is clearly trouble waiting to happen. Mike even asks Werner if it would be okay to send Kai back to Germany, but Werner counters that Kai is his best demolition man, and it would be in everyone's best interest if he stayed. Mike is stuck with Kai for now. But it's obvious that something bad is going to happen between these two men real soon.
The divide widens later when Kim brings Jimmy to an office party and Schweikart and Cokely, where Jimmy proceeds to make a drunken ass of himself. Driving home from the party, Kim dryly comments: "Well, that was something." Jimmy cranks up some loud music, oblivious.
Claude should have never agreed to something that he couldn't handle. Lyn needed to explain herself and her sexuality to her husband better. Floyd should've avoided this entanglement without understanding all facets of it from the married couple.
Instead of Lauren showing any signs of that triggering something in her, she spent a weird amount of time attempting to defend Robert's running down civilians and killing a man. He doesn't get a pass or the benefit of the doubt because of his uniform.
Veronica gave Helen her Sickle Cell study back, which is often the first casualty because it is a disorder that doesn't affect a prominent enough demographic. But she took something else away. If that doesn't sum up the Veronica method, then does anything?
It's respectful and has the perfect amount of sentiment that suits their family. As Max said, Georgia is in heaven, but Helen is here and in the now. Naturally, Luna wants to call her something of importance, and this works.
But amid all the happy family stuff, is anyone else wondering about Max's parents? It's been such a mystery in this series. He never speaks about them, and it was to the point where it made you think they were dead or something.
After starting out with some strong episodes and giving us that great John Dorie episode a few weeks back, it appears that Fear The Walking Dead has lost its momentum. The show has entered stupid territory now, and is starting to make many of the same mistakes as The Walking Dead, and at least one very big narrative error that's entirely original.
The stupid Walking Dead stuff is largely weird character decisions and bad action scenes. How did we get from Alicia, Strand and Luciana facing down Mel and a huge band of Vultures last week, to everyone hiding behind cover shooting at one another this week? How is that Alicia and her group, though clearly outnumbered, has the Vultures on the run almost instantly? This entire sequence felt like everything wrong with The Walking Dead's recent gunfights. I cringed throughout.
Fear The Walking Dead needs to decide what kind of show it wants to be. The Vultures have turned out to be villains without a cause; wannabee Saviors with hipster digs whose entire existence feels contrived. The interesting ways this could have gone, deepening the relationships between various characters, world-building, etc. have all been dropped. Althea went from being an interesting journalist to being stupidly dispassionate. Sorry, just because you're documenting the apocalypse doesn't mean you leave a man you've befriended and who has helped you in a pinch to die. Give me a break.
The previous episode (two weeks ago now) wasn't much better. It's pretty wild how the quality has been swinging so wildly from one week to the next. I hope the showrunners figure out what they want this show to become. Is it just a poor man's Walking Dead or can it be something better? Season 3 gave me hope. So did the first part of Season 4. But right now, that hope is dwindling.
Finally, Hop manages to get his spear lit. He wards off the Demogorgon while Enzo tries in vain to pry open the door. Above, Murray pulls a gun on the guard and demands that he shoot the Demogorgon, but of course, he refuses to be a traitor to his country. Murray and Joyce drag him up to the control room and tell another guard to open the door to let Hop and Enzo out. He also refuses because, as Murray says, these commies are committed, so Murray busts out his sweet karate moves and knocks them both out. Joyce promptly starts hitting all the buttons on the control panel at random, one of which opens the doors below. Enzo and Hop rush through it, but to their horror, the Demogorgon is not going down without a fight as it pries open the doors before they can close. Hop hurls the spear javelin-style into the Demogorgon's open mouth, and it screeches in rage and stumbles backward enough for the doors to close. Another door behind them opens, and Hop cautiously walks out, fists raised. He is stunned to see Joyce, who rushes forward and throws her arms around him. He looks utterly dazed for a few moments before he smiles and slowly presses his face against her head as they hold each other tight. (We're fine, there's just something in our eye.)
Contemplating their next move, the group decides to go to Nancy's house (you know, the creepy-crawly Upside Down version of it), where she keeps guns in her room. Steve walks with Eddie, who is getting quite the crash course on the Upside Down, or as he calls it, "Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit." They share an absolutely precious moment where Eddie admits he has always been a little jealous of how much Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) looks up to Steve. He says, "Kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. It's kinda annoying, to be honest." Eddie tells Steve it was very metal what he did back there with the Demobats and admits that if it weren't for the ladies jumping in first, he never would have jumped into Lover's Lake to save Steve Harrington's ass. Nancy didn't waste a second, which was, according to Eddie, "as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen." (Do you hear that? It's the Jonathan/Nancy shippers again. Should someone go check on them?) They arrive at the Wheeler house, where, to Nancy's confusion, her guns are not where she left them. In fact, something is way off, even for the Upside Down. She flips through her diary where the last entry is from November 6, 1983, the day Will went missing, and the gate was opened. Nancy's guns aren't here because they don't exist yet: somehow, the Upside Down is stuck in the past.
We hate to leave you hanging on that note, but let's take a quick detour and check in on El, who is unfortunately regressing. (Our girl still can't even crush a can of Coke.) Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) has no other choice but to jump way ahead in the timeline and immerse El in one last memory: the massacre at Hawkins Lab. It is the morning after El's bullies attacked her in the Rainbow Room. El pretends to not remember who attacked her. Dr. Brenner tries to get a confession out of the kids, when Two, snickering with his friends, tells him that El probably fell because she's "clumsy" and "stupid." Not the brightest move on Two's part. Dr. Brenner calls him forward and puts a shock collar on him and reminds him in a horribly painful way that he is not immune to the rules. He crumbles to the floor in agony while the kids watch in horror.
The Bates Situation. Back at Downton, we see a long tracking shot of Bates striding away from Downton while that ominous tinkly music plays in the background. Just in case you were operating under any sort of delusion that he was off for a spot of shopping instead of something horrible.
Meanwhile, over at Blood Money Mansion, while Valentine silently plays with an abacus (LOL), Malfoy tries to think of a way to expose the duel and hopefully get Ross hanged or something. He runs and snitches to the Attorney General, but the AG's response is basically, Get a life, loser.
Taub explains to the patient that he will catheterize his heart to test it electrically. Taub talks about how being different is hard before he realizes how stupid he sounds. He tells the patient it is okay to admit he's using drugs, so they can help him. The patient admits taking drugs, but Taub realizes he's lying. Taub plans to cancel the EP study. Suddenly, the patient starts coughing and can't breathe. 041b061a72