Season One, Part 2
The task force’s new mission is, in some ways, more disturbing to me than its first. There’s something less horrifying about the stereotypical ‘bad guy’ plot to blow up a city or take over the weather or something on a grand scale – maybe because that’s what we’re used to from the Marvel type villain. Or maybe because it’s less personal, so somehow less impactful. Volchek was one of those ‘bad guys’ – though I was also fascinated by Volchek as a villain. We saw enough of his backstory to understand some of how he became so bent on revenge, and he was smart and devious and the actor had lots of charisma in spite of the character he was playing. Is it wrong that I kinda miss him?
The villain of this mission is, frankly, just horrifying – in a turn my stomach kind of way. I don’t mind my media dark, so I’m intrigued. What are we going to find out about this guy??
This is the first full episode in what feels like Part 2 of the first season of the show. It’s disconcerting that it’s so different, but I admit it also ups the fascination factor. Even the pace of this episode is much slower, especially in the beginning. We follow the new bad guy in acute detail as he listens to radio propaganda, puts on camo gear, loads his rifle and goes hunting. The music is even slow, and while I was fairly sure this was going to be a bad guy, it was almost deceptively peaceful. Until the gut punch at the end of his hunt.
We see that a few years earlier, the guy is out of work, presumably for PTSD reasons, and reacts badly when a friend/colleague suggests that he should get back to work or he’ll be called a malingerer. His girlfriend is also pushing that, and you can see the pressure building up – he’s like a powder keg, waiting for a match. I find this guy scarier than Volchek because it’s “everyday” rage and violence, and we’re all surrounded by people like that in real life. As soon as we meet his girlfriend and her adorable beloved little beagle, my stomach was queasy. When she betrays him and he takes the dog with him when he leaves, I was full on nauseous.
The task force needs a name for their killer; Meachum suggests Todd. I’m not sure why that’s funny, but I laughed and so did the rest of the team. Nevertheless, Todd it is.
I don’t like Todd.
Guess Who’s Back?
They know that the Governor of California and the POTUS are the targets, thus the need for the task force – which Oliveras returns to join also.
That’s not a big surprise, though we couldn’t be absolutely certain they’d bring her back. Considering that the sparks between her and Meachum are definitely part of the show’s appeal, though, it would have been an odd decision not to have Jessica Camacho return.
Things are strained between Meachum and her after their almost-hook-up ten months before, especially because Oliveras has been dating the doctor who cured Meachum, Julio. Meachum is clearly threatened by that, posturing by insinuating he’s been doing a lot of sleeping around himself, “doing all the living I can with whoever, more than one whoevers…”
Oliveras: Gross.
Meachum: it’s not gross, it’s human nature.
(Sam and Dean Winchester may have had this same conversation after Dean’s tryst with twins, just saying…)
They start to argue, and he accuses her of taking whatever “this” could have been and tossing it out the fucking window. But no, he’s not upset, he insists. (Also, have they had no conversation for the past ten months about “this”? Is this literally the first time they’ve spoken? And if so, why?)
Hmmm.
After work, they all go out for drinks except Oliveras, who says she’s busy. Meachum lashes out at that, in an annoyingly passive aggressive way, asking Fitz “Single? Feels good, doesn’t it, not to be tied down?” loudly enough for her to hear.
It’s like now that he’s all better, he’s back to being an asshole!
(It’s okay, like I said, I like my media dark and my characters complex)
Fitz talks too much (endearingly in my opinion), Evan worries about Molly (who Bell has said is hanging out with some bad dude drug dealers) and Meachum scans the bar for girls to pick up. He offers to get the next round and instead takes off with one of them, leaving his friends to fend for themselves.
Like I said, kinda an asshole.
That does let us have a shirtless Meachum waking up the morning after as the woman he slept with gets dressed to leave, however, so I’m not gonna complain too much.
Woman: That was fun as hell. I left my Instagram on your mirror. DM me.
He says okay, and she smiles.
Woman: You don’t know how to do that.
He says no, but reassures himself as she leaves with a “still got it.”
Progress
It’s understandable that after his brush with death, Meachum wants to prove he’s really alive, and it’s obvious he’s jealous that Oliveras is dating the doctor, but I suspect he doesn’t feel that great about acting like a jerk.
Sure enough, he seems to realize that the next day, as he and Oliveras are once again in the car.
Meachum: I mighta said some things… it was uncalled for so I just wanna apologize for my behavior.
Oliveras: I don’t know how to feel. This is like the day Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean – an apology from Mark Meachum, I never thought I’d see such growth, such development…
Meachum: You done? I’m trying to be serious. I’m happy for you and the doctor. He actually seems like a good guy. Let’s be honest, you and me? That woulda been… we woulda wrecked everything we’ve got here.
She takes his apology then (even though we the audience don’t really buy it and can see that neither of them really buys the ‘we woulda wrecked everything’ excuse). She thanks him for “apologizing and for being gracious in your own fucking weird way.”
They get back to work, awkward conversation over.
The team also makes slow progress trying to figure out the owner of the cabin where the dead woman was found, first meeting with reluctant but eventually cooperative Singaporean diplomats.
They then turn their sights on a guy named TK who rented Cabin number 6. He’s an ex con and into a pseudo religion cult thing, so he’s a good candidate to be suspicious of.
That gives us our chase scene of the episode, with TK on a motorcycle and Meachum swerving in and out of traffic and up on sidewalks chasing him, good music playing.
It also gives us lots of Jensen Ackles intensity as Meachum is determined to catch the guy.
Unfortunately, they don’t. When they lose him, Blythe assigns Bell and Shepherd to go pay his ex wife a visit.
Meachum protests someone other than him getting the assignment.
Blythe: Share the wealth, Meachum.
When they eventually bring the guy in, Meachum and Oliveras amusingly pretend to be part of TK’s cult to get him to talk.
It turns out some guy paid him to rent the cabin and he just didn’t ask questions.
I do like that there are sometimes red herrings thrown into the mix in this show, and that the task force doesn’t magically get every answer right. Even smart people make mistakes sometimes, especially when things are as complicated as these stories are.
When they get the contact information for that person and send a message, they get a surprising one back: Is this the Feds?
The next moment, the translation for the manifesto comes through. Blythe:
Where Do We Go From Here…
Gotta say, I’m little confused about exactly what’s going on here….but intrigued. Also still a little bit nauseous.
The sweeping changes to the story line of Season 1 still feel a bit jarring, from the change in ‘big bad’ to the resolution of Mark’s brain tumor angst.
This case (and Todd) haven’t quite grabbed my interest like Volchek did yet, but I do have a lot of feelings about Todd already, and that’s probably a good sign. Meachum and Oliveras are interesting in their push-pull relationship with sparks they’re both denying and Mark Meachum is fascinating even when he’s being an asshole, in part because he’s so ambivalent about it.
I wonder what next episode will bring….also a good sign.
Watch the new episode next Wednesday on Prime Video!
You can read Jensen Ackles’ thoughts on fandom
and Supernatural and The Boys in his chapters in
Family Don’t End With Blood, There’ll Be Peace When
You Are Done, and Supes Ain’t Always Heroes!
So we got oliveras going home and jumping her boyfriend….. Kind of an asshole? They need to get together just to cut down on the collateral damage.
Call me crazy but I read some comments somewhere griping about how unsexy the kiss between Amber and Meachum was and how Jensen could have done better..
Uhm what? Did my Amazon Prime stream glitch? Was there a behind the scenes I’m not aware of? Did they mistake Marks One Night Stand for Amber? Correct me if I’m mistaken but did I miss a kiss between he and ONS? There might have been a forgettable quick “Hey that was fun, I’m out of here” peck but I don’t think I would have overlooked that…
Great review! Thought the Governor was a pretty formidable character. And didn’t you get the impression that Meachum had actually been celibate while Oliveras was gone, his “Still got it!” comment after his one-nighter indicating his relief? It would help explain his lashing out, if it’s coming from loss of hope and a little feeling of betrayal. Thanks!
These are exactly the same feelings I have.
And I don’t feel that now that Meachum is better, he’s back to being an asshole (if he ever was).
I don’t blame Oliveras if she didn’t keep in touch with him during his treatment (we don’t know for sure). She might have been working undercover or something.
But I can totally understand him, who, after being completely honest with her and trusting her enough to show her his vulnerability, after declining her offer to spend the night together (which could have been a kind of Dean Winchester’s-last-night-on-earth opportunity to have sex) so as not to ruin a possible future relationship, after perhaps having harbored hopes during the ten months of treatment, which must not have been a walk in the park, he might feel somewhat betrayed by her physical and emotional distance.
After all, just one episode ago we heard him say: “I don’t have a lot of history with people who give a shit about my life.” So he probably feels that it was a mistake to let his guard down and instinctively returns to his defense mechanisms, like acting like a jerk and bragging about his sexual conquests to show that he doesn’t care about her.
Besides, whenever he tries to change his attitude and have a serious conversation (he wouldn’t do that if he were the jerk he sometimes seems to be), Oliveras responds with sarcasm, making fun of his behavior.
That makes me think that she is also trying to get over her feelings for Meachum and so going back to her initial behavior (e.g. first meeting in the first episode) is her defense mechanism.
I was dissapointed how things played out with Oliveras. Not because the romance didn’t work out, that could have happened irl, however they’d been partners and Mark had taken a big step trusting her with his vulnerability, only for her to apparently be ok with what appears to be a lot of radio silence during his treatment, then make out like his hurt isn’t valid and transforming her guilt for what could only be seen ( in his eyes and mine)as abandoning him emotionally, into him being the awful one in the partnership.
Yes , he was being a bit snarky and overcompensating, but it takes two to make a strained partnership.
I love that Meacham christens the bad guy Todd. Same name as a crappy character in The Boys (MM’s ex’s boyfriend)
I really like these characters. Glad to see them back working the case. I also liked Volchek better as a villan. This villan was so so until he killed the dog. That ususlly does it for me. I’m interessted in seeing where this is going and what’s his back story. except for his girlfriend cheating, what made him like this/ What gave him PTSD?
The last shot of the poor, sweet dog running was heartbreaking.
I figured out what’s bugging me about Oliveras. As things stand with her appearent absence as a friend. She reads like the friend who gets a new man, spends every waking hour living and breathing “Him”. Neglects friendships and obligations, then gets surprised people have issues. Maybe that’s not going to be the case eventually , but I hope it’s resolved to get to a better place soon.
Why haven’t Mark and Amber talked? She was under over, but had time for Julio. Hmm. She had issues as well. Not since Moonlighting ( an old show that launched Bruce Willis, with Cybil Shepard), has the banter been so sharp and heated. Yes. Dean and Sam Winchester had snark. This has different vibe. Haas is a great dialogue writer. It’s how folks talk these days. Being in streaming gives it freedom to be messy. This show never fails to give us gif material. “I still got”. Psychologically,Lynne, can you go into how after a major medical trauma, it may be a challenge to resume physical sexual activities and maintain vulnerability. The villain. Is super scary- homegrown- not a foreign operative. And that John Wick moment! Poor doggy. Show goes so fast I needed to to see a rewatch to realize just how the new villain’s friend betrayed him. Fast paced. Great stunt work. And it’s too soon to have two characters who have chemistry do the horizontal tango. Do we care about Molly yet?
Probably in the minority but I just do not see any chemistry between Amber/Mark much less Jessica/Jensen. None. Which is weird because Jensen can exude chemistry with an inanimate object.