I'll be honest and admit that I didn't watch any other of this series' episodes besides this one. I watched this one mainly due to Amber Heard's presence in it cause I'm presently involved in a in an exploration of her entire filmography.
So, I have little to say about the series as a whole and, in turn, about this episode in particular (cause of missing contexts) but I will say that the episode is painfully ordinary. By ordinary I mean that it has nothing that distinguishes it from family dramas of its time period. Perhaps this is why I wasn't motivated to watch the entirety of the series after I finished it.
The only thing that shakes some of the "ordinary" out of this episode is Heard's guest appearance in it as the character Riley. Although Riley's relationship to the other characters isn't entirely clear to me, what is clear is that Peter Markle (director) included her (and had Heard play her) for little more than to up the episode's appeal and dramatic tension to the viewer. And this worked perhaps more than he may have anticipated it to work, in my view. Indeed, Heard, through Riley, magnificently adds a sex and vivacious appeal to the episode that periodically shakes one awake out of the lull that the rest of it tends to send one into. Put another way, there's no denying that Amber's sexiness and attractiveness throughout the episode are as breathtaking as they're captivating.
This use of the young Heard by Markle to add sex appeal to the episode is, nonetheless disturbingly, in line with how most other Hollywood directors tended to use her in their works at the beginning of her career. And, it underscores a woeful and problematic trend in Hollywood where filmmakers (mostly men) use young attractive performers solely as sexual objects to add sexual appeal to their works.
Nevertheless, and as Heard did in several other notable early performances of hers (e.g. In Drop Dead Sexy, Remember the Daze, Day 73 With Sarah), she manages to channel more into Riley than her being a mere object of sexual attraction. She, for instance, impeccably shows Riley to be smart, calculating, and in control of her desires and wants - a portrayal that, of course, would not have been easy without some help from the writers of the episode. This portrayal of Riley by Heard is so good that, in the end, she succeeds in making the viewer appreciate Riley more as a human being, - that is, as a young woman trying to enjoy her life while securing her financial future - than as the sex object that she was made out to be at the very beginning of the episode. In no moment, perhaps, is this infusion of depth into Riley by Heard more apparent than in the scene where she's leaving David's (Oliver Hudson) cabin and she corrects David's assertion that, in trying to have fun with him, she's "trying to live out some fantasy" with a condescending "don't flatter yourself, I was trying to give you one". And, it is not just through Riley's words that we see greater depth to her in this moment but it is also through Heard's facial expressions in the moment and through how she looks at him before she leaves. This, no doubt, represents an A-list acting moment by the young Heard and is a hint that, even at that time, she was ready to take on more primary acting roles in her career.
So, in summary, Heard gave Markle the sexual appeal and dramatic tension that he wanted in this episode through the sexual objectification of Riley, which rescued the episode from being hopelessly boring from start to finish. However, she also went further and added a depth to Riley that shows Riley to be not just sexually appealing (which she obviously is) but also smart, in control, and calculating. Besides Heard's presence and performance, the rest of the episode and characters are quite... ordinary.
Thus, because of its ordinariness and lack of other outstanding features, I'd have given this episode a 4. However, Amber Heard's presence and performance have pushed me to give it a 6 instead.
So, I have little to say about the series as a whole and, in turn, about this episode in particular (cause of missing contexts) but I will say that the episode is painfully ordinary. By ordinary I mean that it has nothing that distinguishes it from family dramas of its time period. Perhaps this is why I wasn't motivated to watch the entirety of the series after I finished it.
The only thing that shakes some of the "ordinary" out of this episode is Heard's guest appearance in it as the character Riley. Although Riley's relationship to the other characters isn't entirely clear to me, what is clear is that Peter Markle (director) included her (and had Heard play her) for little more than to up the episode's appeal and dramatic tension to the viewer. And this worked perhaps more than he may have anticipated it to work, in my view. Indeed, Heard, through Riley, magnificently adds a sex and vivacious appeal to the episode that periodically shakes one awake out of the lull that the rest of it tends to send one into. Put another way, there's no denying that Amber's sexiness and attractiveness throughout the episode are as breathtaking as they're captivating.
This use of the young Heard by Markle to add sex appeal to the episode is, nonetheless disturbingly, in line with how most other Hollywood directors tended to use her in their works at the beginning of her career. And, it underscores a woeful and problematic trend in Hollywood where filmmakers (mostly men) use young attractive performers solely as sexual objects to add sexual appeal to their works.
Nevertheless, and as Heard did in several other notable early performances of hers (e.g. In Drop Dead Sexy, Remember the Daze, Day 73 With Sarah), she manages to channel more into Riley than her being a mere object of sexual attraction. She, for instance, impeccably shows Riley to be smart, calculating, and in control of her desires and wants - a portrayal that, of course, would not have been easy without some help from the writers of the episode. This portrayal of Riley by Heard is so good that, in the end, she succeeds in making the viewer appreciate Riley more as a human being, - that is, as a young woman trying to enjoy her life while securing her financial future - than as the sex object that she was made out to be at the very beginning of the episode. In no moment, perhaps, is this infusion of depth into Riley by Heard more apparent than in the scene where she's leaving David's (Oliver Hudson) cabin and she corrects David's assertion that, in trying to have fun with him, she's "trying to live out some fantasy" with a condescending "don't flatter yourself, I was trying to give you one". And, it is not just through Riley's words that we see greater depth to her in this moment but it is also through Heard's facial expressions in the moment and through how she looks at him before she leaves. This, no doubt, represents an A-list acting moment by the young Heard and is a hint that, even at that time, she was ready to take on more primary acting roles in her career.
So, in summary, Heard gave Markle the sexual appeal and dramatic tension that he wanted in this episode through the sexual objectification of Riley, which rescued the episode from being hopelessly boring from start to finish. However, she also went further and added a depth to Riley that shows Riley to be not just sexually appealing (which she obviously is) but also smart, in control, and calculating. Besides Heard's presence and performance, the rest of the episode and characters are quite... ordinary.
Thus, because of its ordinariness and lack of other outstanding features, I'd have given this episode a 4. However, Amber Heard's presence and performance have pushed me to give it a 6 instead.