This episode gets RIGHT into it. We are in the middle of intense space action, and we see Marcus running around for reasons we can't decipher. Then he comes across Isaac, whose eyes start growing red and he sprouts out fangs all of a sudden. It's then revealed this was Marcus' nightmare.
This is an awfully confusing way to open an episode, but it does get explained later on. Then we are met by even more confusion as Isaac sits down beside a table during lunch, and a bunch of crew members immediately get up and leave. One of them comes back shortly after and says that was a little too harsh. She tells him where the resentment comes from, and this is where I realize instantly this is NOT going to be a good episode.
First of all, who the fk is this person? She's thrown at us in a scene with no real introduction. With Talla we were first given an episode where Alara was simply absent, then in the next episode we were introduced to a new lieutenant commander and got to know her a little. Basically the complete opposite of what is done here, where we're aggressively forced to accept a new character who not only has no build-up, but is so quickly unlikable that you already find yourself not wanting to care about who this is.
Secondly, while Charly has her reasons for being angry at Isaac (Her best friend was killed by one of the Kaylons), the way they go about it is so obnoxious and like I said, just throwing that at us right away was entirely the wrong approach.
But it gets worse. Not only does Charly have an axe to grind, but Gordon, for NO reason whatsoever, agrees with her and says he was never happy about Isaac being reinstated! Excuse me? Were those moments of you two palling around after Identity Part II and seeming totally fine about him still working there just pretending? This is so out-of-character for Gordon to hold such resentment towards someone who he knows very well is the only reason they're still alive.
But it gets even WORSE. You know the nightmare Marcus had in the beginning? Turns out the reason for that is because he's had a deep-seated hatred for Isaac ever since that day he found out about his origins and even tells him to his face that he wishes he was dead. He was also the one who sprayed MURDERER in the room where Isaac is working. Once again, was him being absolutely fine with Issac after Identity Part II just fakery? Either these two are extremely skilled at hiding their true emotion, or writer Seth MacFarlane just retconned his own episode. I just don't understand how he could misunderstand the original story so badly, which was brilliantly done and so far my favorite of the series. Marcus isn't one of my most beloved characters or anything, but this takes a giant dump on him in ways I never thought were possible. Once that leap with him was taken there was no point of return.
The hostility of most crew members eventually leads to Isaac taking his own life. This should of course be a dramatic and scary moment, but due to how terrible the plot has been up to this point I'm unable to feel anything.
There's only one aspect I can call remotely positive, and was the sole reason I didn't rate this a 1/10. Claire is conflicted about Isaac too, but unlike the others I mentioned this was already established in the original episode, and her relationship with Isaac has been left in the air since then. Another reason why it works is that she doesn't simply go "Oh, I hate that Isaac, he can burn in hell", instead she acknowledges that it's hard to unite the fact that he kidnapped her kids and almost got them killed, but he also saved them as well as humanity in the process. She gets broken up the most after Isaac's suicide, and the scene where she sits alone in the resturant the two of them had a date in is really well-acted by Penny Johnson Jerald.
Unfortunately this small redeeming factor comes way too late, and the problems I mentioned earlier only return once the crew gets into a new space battle (The circumstances of which are barely explained, almost like the episode itself doesn't care much) and Lamarr has found a way bring Isaac back to life. Ed orders Charly to help out and she refuses, because that's exactly what a loyal bridge commander is supposed to do am I right? In real life this would hopefully get you fired as soon as possible. Only once she has a conversation with Marcus who feels guilty over Isaac's suicide does she reluctantly change her mind and revive him. And even then she has to add "I didn't do it for you" in the most annoying manner possible. Seriously, is there a single moment where she doesn't feel like she has teeth gritting underneath? I hope to God that her presence is diminished severely for the rest of season 3.
And even though Marcus feels guilty and is the one who convinces Charly to revive Isaac, they somehow continue to screw his characterization up. At the end he enters Isaac's "quarters" and I'm waiting for that one single moment that'll redeem him, where he comes forward and forgives the old robot for what he did in the past. Instead, he says nothing and walks away! What the sh/t? What kind of ending is that?! There was one final chance to get Marcus right, and you ruin that at the very last second by making him still hold some sort of resentment despite everything. I could almost feel my brain bleeding when that happened.
Oh, and Gordon is simply neglected. No scene of him forgiving Isaac either. Splendid.
I want to bring up something else as well. I'm glad Claire and Lamarr at least mourn Isaac's passing and evidently really miss him. With that being said, this is also where the topic of suicide is fumbled. Both of them seem to be calling him taking his own life selfish (Especially Lamarr), completely ignoring the fact that it's not about selfishness or selflessness in the first place. Secondly, while you could argue Isaac had his own demons (Whatever demons you'd claim he was having) we saw directly hostile behavior from the other crew members. Especially Charly. So even if you were to try and blame somebody, why don't they ever address that he was made to feel unwelcome and despised by most people working on the ship? The only one who's shown feeling guilty of possibly contributing to a suicide victim's deteriorating mental state is Marcus, besides that it's only treated as Isaac made his own call and that's that. It's such a one-dimensional way of looking at a serious tragedy, and even stranger when you consider the fact that the episode of Family Guy where Brian and Stewie are stuck inside a vault handled the subject with more nuance and understanding.
Then in the last scene where Claire tells Isaac to come forward if something is troubling him feels more like a PSA than a heartfelt message. Probably because before that point they seemed to have no real clue of how to talk about something that serious.
I love Seth, I still think he's a talented writer and excellent performer, but given the serious tone of this episode he should've done more research before deciding to write about something that heavy.
Please tell me this was just a bizarre brain freeze moment and not indicative of the show's future.
This is an awfully confusing way to open an episode, but it does get explained later on. Then we are met by even more confusion as Isaac sits down beside a table during lunch, and a bunch of crew members immediately get up and leave. One of them comes back shortly after and says that was a little too harsh. She tells him where the resentment comes from, and this is where I realize instantly this is NOT going to be a good episode.
First of all, who the fk is this person? She's thrown at us in a scene with no real introduction. With Talla we were first given an episode where Alara was simply absent, then in the next episode we were introduced to a new lieutenant commander and got to know her a little. Basically the complete opposite of what is done here, where we're aggressively forced to accept a new character who not only has no build-up, but is so quickly unlikable that you already find yourself not wanting to care about who this is.
Secondly, while Charly has her reasons for being angry at Isaac (Her best friend was killed by one of the Kaylons), the way they go about it is so obnoxious and like I said, just throwing that at us right away was entirely the wrong approach.
But it gets worse. Not only does Charly have an axe to grind, but Gordon, for NO reason whatsoever, agrees with her and says he was never happy about Isaac being reinstated! Excuse me? Were those moments of you two palling around after Identity Part II and seeming totally fine about him still working there just pretending? This is so out-of-character for Gordon to hold such resentment towards someone who he knows very well is the only reason they're still alive.
But it gets even WORSE. You know the nightmare Marcus had in the beginning? Turns out the reason for that is because he's had a deep-seated hatred for Isaac ever since that day he found out about his origins and even tells him to his face that he wishes he was dead. He was also the one who sprayed MURDERER in the room where Isaac is working. Once again, was him being absolutely fine with Issac after Identity Part II just fakery? Either these two are extremely skilled at hiding their true emotion, or writer Seth MacFarlane just retconned his own episode. I just don't understand how he could misunderstand the original story so badly, which was brilliantly done and so far my favorite of the series. Marcus isn't one of my most beloved characters or anything, but this takes a giant dump on him in ways I never thought were possible. Once that leap with him was taken there was no point of return.
The hostility of most crew members eventually leads to Isaac taking his own life. This should of course be a dramatic and scary moment, but due to how terrible the plot has been up to this point I'm unable to feel anything.
There's only one aspect I can call remotely positive, and was the sole reason I didn't rate this a 1/10. Claire is conflicted about Isaac too, but unlike the others I mentioned this was already established in the original episode, and her relationship with Isaac has been left in the air since then. Another reason why it works is that she doesn't simply go "Oh, I hate that Isaac, he can burn in hell", instead she acknowledges that it's hard to unite the fact that he kidnapped her kids and almost got them killed, but he also saved them as well as humanity in the process. She gets broken up the most after Isaac's suicide, and the scene where she sits alone in the resturant the two of them had a date in is really well-acted by Penny Johnson Jerald.
Unfortunately this small redeeming factor comes way too late, and the problems I mentioned earlier only return once the crew gets into a new space battle (The circumstances of which are barely explained, almost like the episode itself doesn't care much) and Lamarr has found a way bring Isaac back to life. Ed orders Charly to help out and she refuses, because that's exactly what a loyal bridge commander is supposed to do am I right? In real life this would hopefully get you fired as soon as possible. Only once she has a conversation with Marcus who feels guilty over Isaac's suicide does she reluctantly change her mind and revive him. And even then she has to add "I didn't do it for you" in the most annoying manner possible. Seriously, is there a single moment where she doesn't feel like she has teeth gritting underneath? I hope to God that her presence is diminished severely for the rest of season 3.
And even though Marcus feels guilty and is the one who convinces Charly to revive Isaac, they somehow continue to screw his characterization up. At the end he enters Isaac's "quarters" and I'm waiting for that one single moment that'll redeem him, where he comes forward and forgives the old robot for what he did in the past. Instead, he says nothing and walks away! What the sh/t? What kind of ending is that?! There was one final chance to get Marcus right, and you ruin that at the very last second by making him still hold some sort of resentment despite everything. I could almost feel my brain bleeding when that happened.
Oh, and Gordon is simply neglected. No scene of him forgiving Isaac either. Splendid.
I want to bring up something else as well. I'm glad Claire and Lamarr at least mourn Isaac's passing and evidently really miss him. With that being said, this is also where the topic of suicide is fumbled. Both of them seem to be calling him taking his own life selfish (Especially Lamarr), completely ignoring the fact that it's not about selfishness or selflessness in the first place. Secondly, while you could argue Isaac had his own demons (Whatever demons you'd claim he was having) we saw directly hostile behavior from the other crew members. Especially Charly. So even if you were to try and blame somebody, why don't they ever address that he was made to feel unwelcome and despised by most people working on the ship? The only one who's shown feeling guilty of possibly contributing to a suicide victim's deteriorating mental state is Marcus, besides that it's only treated as Isaac made his own call and that's that. It's such a one-dimensional way of looking at a serious tragedy, and even stranger when you consider the fact that the episode of Family Guy where Brian and Stewie are stuck inside a vault handled the subject with more nuance and understanding.
Then in the last scene where Claire tells Isaac to come forward if something is troubling him feels more like a PSA than a heartfelt message. Probably because before that point they seemed to have no real clue of how to talk about something that serious.
I love Seth, I still think he's a talented writer and excellent performer, but given the serious tone of this episode he should've done more research before deciding to write about something that heavy.
Please tell me this was just a bizarre brain freeze moment and not indicative of the show's future.