2-11. You Want a War?

The Cluster works together to take down Sun's brother.

Running Time: Approx. 57 minutes. Written by: Lana Wachowski, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: Lana Wachowski.


THE PLOT:

When Detective Mun attempts to arrest Sun's brother, Joong-Ki (Lee Ki-chan), at the Bak Gala, Joong-Ki shoots the detective and flees. Sun is able to catch up with him, but is unable to make herself take revenge. She escapes - But so does her brother, with the aid of a political figure.

Meanwhile, Kala discovers that her husband is cooperating with a major corruption investigation, and has implicated one of his business associates. A major change occurs in the relationship between Nomi and Amanita. And Lila (Valeria Bilello) returns, taking a particularly vicious revenge against Wolfgang for his refusal to join forces with her...


CHARACTERS:

After his lapse in the previous episode, Will is back to acting as the de facto leader of the group. He halts Sun's blind thirst for vengeance at the gala by pointing out Detective Mun's arrival, and it's his "Get the bastard" that sets the stage for the chase that follows. He is also the architect of the plan to turn the tables on BPO at the end of the episode.

The relationship between Nomi and Amanita has gotten a lot of focus this season, to the extent that I've noted that Amanita feels like an honorary member of the Cluster. Their quiet scene that follows the big action piece brings that thread to its climax for the season, as their relationship undergoes a major shift. As has been true of almost all of their scenes together, it's a very well-turned moment, and Jamie Clayton and Freema Agyeman continue to show an absolutely unforced screen chemistry that really sells the relationship.

As in Season One's finale, every character gets a chance to contribute something to the episode, from Capheus' driving skills to Kala's chemical know-how and observational abilities, to Wolfgang's handiness with violence of pretty much all types. Sun, Will, and Wolfgang are the most prominently featured here, but nobody is forgotten.


THOUGHTS:

"Are you serious? My sister is the fucking Terminator?"

Sun's relentless pursuit of Joong-ki is at the center of a breathtaking action set piece that more or less makes up the first half of this episode. The sequence does not feel like something from a television series. It's more in line with the kind of larger-than-life set piece you would find in the Wachowskis' Matrix movies.

I love the sense of geography to this sequence.  It starts in the lobby of the gala, when Joong-ki shoots the detective and escapes in the chaos. Sun's pursuit of him takes us through the gala to a shootout in a parking garage. From there, we move to a car chase in the streets of South Korea, and finally to a direct, one-on-one confrontation. It's terrifically kinetic and energetic, but it also maintains a strong sense of where the characters are.  This may seem like basic filmmaking competence (and perhaps it is), but it is very refreshing after entirely too many Hollywood action set pieces that have left me wondering when the dust settles: "So how did the characters get here from there?"

The rest of the episode does a good job of keeping the pace going. After the chase, we get a chance to breathe with the Nomi/Amanita scene, and take in some new exposition that was doubtless prepping a Season Three plotline in the scene between Kala and her husband. Then the episode upends expectations during a particularly tender Kala/Wolfgang moment, which kicks us into the final Act.

...And here's where my only issue with the episode is. The last part of the episode remains gripping, but it also feels rushed. Lila takes revenge on Wolfgang and BPO seems to have the Cluster cornered, but Will Has a Plan (TM) - and with almost no transition and frankly too little explanation, the episode ends with the Cluster somehow having turned the tables.  An extra 10 minutes or so was badly needed, so that Will's plan could be a little bit better defines. Yes, I know the very end is meant to be a surprise - But it's a surprise that comes out of nowhere, with not enough planted to even retroactively understand what happened. I'll withdraw this complaint if all is explained at the start of the series finale... But as it stands right now, the entire last bit plays as vaguely incomplete, and represents the one factor costing this episode full marks.

That cliffhanger is a beauty, though. And when the episode ends, I'm left very grateful that I wasn't watching at the time... When this cliffhanger would have been presented by Netflix as the final end of the series, before a fan campaign pushed the company to finance a movie-length finale.

It is clear enough that this series was creatively far from over, but I am glad at least that it was afforded the opportunity of a proper ending - an ending I look forward to watching very soon.


Overall Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: If All the World's a Stage, Identity Is Nothing But a Costume
Next Episode: Amor Vincit Omnia



Review Index

1-4. What's Going On?

Wolfgang and Kala share a moment.

Running Time: Approx. 55 minutes. Written by: The Wachowskis, J. Michael Straczynski. Directed by: Tom Tykwer.


THE PLOT:

Sun finally is able to see her father, Kang Dae (Kyong Young Lee), and informs him that "the auditors already know." Her brother, Joong-Ki (Lee Ki-chan) has been embezzling money, too incompetently to even properly cover his tracks. "Someone is going to jail for it," Sun tells her father - And since her father has rarely so much as acknowledged her existence, the company will be better able to survive the scandal if she goes to prison, while her brother remains free.

In Kenya, Capheus' star has risen after his beating of the Superpower Gang. His bus is full of passengers now, all of them eager to travel on the safest bus around. But his actions have caught the eye of crime lord Silas Kabaka (Peter King Nzioki). Silas has an offer for Capheus - and he knows exactly the enticement the young man won't be able to refuse...

In Germany, Wolfgang and Felix decide to celebrate their caper with an expensive night on the town. In India, Kala draws nearer to the date of her wedding to Rajan (Purab Kohli), a man who is seemingly perfect in every way but for whom she feels nothing. In Chicago, Will manages to get some answers from Jonas, through unexpected means.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Nomi is being prepped for surgery, with no apparent hope of escape or rescue...


CHARACTERS:

Thus far, I haven't really mentioned Tina Desai's Kala in these reviews. She has not been the focus of a single episode, the plot of her unwanted wedding running very much in the background. In this episode, Rajan, her seemingly perfect fiancé, is very insistent that he wants to exchange rings as part of their ceremony.

"Married men in India don't wear rings. There is nothing to show their commitment. That is why I want one... I want the whole world to know I'm bound to this woman." His vehemence makes this statement feel a bit possessive, even sinister. This may be unintentional, and Rajan could well end up being the very nice guy he seems - But this is the first time I've actively felt something "off" about him. Meanwhile, a showstopping scene late in the episode emphasizes a connection between Kala and Wolfgang, visually establishing them as the very type of couple Rajan wants Kala and himself to be.

For his part, Wolfgang allows Felix to drag him along on a night of profligate spending. The entire time I was watching this strand, I was shaking my head; after snatching a heist out from under the nose of a dangerous criminal, surely the last thing you should do is draw attention to a sudden cash intake. There are no consequences in this episode, but I would be actively surprised if this night on the twon didn't come back to haunt both Wolfgang and Felix in the fairly near future.

Finally, this episode gives us a lot of time with Sun. Having established much of her personality in the previous installment, we now learn bits of her backstory. Rejected by her father in favor of her weaker and stupider brother, she has built up resentment toward them both - But also feels the weight of family obligation, something drilled into her by her late mother (Hye-Hwa Kim).


THOUGHTS:

What's Going On? is the best episode of the series to this point, and is the episode that inspired me to write these reviews instead of just watching the show (as I had originally intended). It is the first episode to offer a payoff to previously building threads. The scene between Will and Jonas provides a few answers, along with some helpful terminology - The eight main characters form a "cluster," able to share each others' lives and borrow skills. Jonas tells Will that he now has "seven other selves" - That the eight are no longer truly separate individuals, but rather parts of a whole (much like each of the eight threads is part of the whole that is this series).

This is the first episode since Limbic Resonance in which every one of the regulars gets at least one good scene. It's a noticeable contrast with that first episode.  Then, we knew none of the characters, so moving constantly from one to another was distancing - We were barely getting a chance to know one person before being introduced to the next. After the steady character building of Episodes 2 and 3, this episode is able to move from one character to the next without it being jarring or confusing. Since all strands are advanced, or at least touched on, What's Going On? goes by remarkably quickly.


WHAT'S UP?: MUSIC AND JAILBREAKS

Near the end of the episode is a purely cinematic sequence that I can't imagine working as well in another context. At the end of Wolfgang's night of excess, he and Felix end up singing karaoke... very, very badly. Wolfgang is ready to walk away from the stage, when the song, What's Up? by Four Non-Blondes comes on - at the exact same moment that Riley, in London, pulls up that song on her personal playlist. The song gets an enthusiastic reaction from Wolfgang's audience, and at the same time he is hearing it through Riley's headphones. So he sings. And we transition among all eight of the characters, each singing along with Wolfgang. Some of them start to visualize the others - Wolfgang and Kala definitely see each other, and sing to each other with broad smiles on their faces.

It's impossible to do the scene justice in a narrative description - Suffice to say, it is three glorious minutes in which the actors, the editing, the overall context of the story at this point, and the song itself fuse into something greater than the sum of those parts. It is, in a word, breathtaking.

And is followed up by the long-awaited rescue of Nomi from the hospital, with the assistance of Will, who takes control of her body long enough to free her from her restraints. She is able to make it to the hospital lobby, where Amanita, pretending to be a nurse, ferries her out of the building to a taxi.

With that running plot thread ended, and particularly punctuated by the previous musical set piece, it feels very much like an End of Act One. We've met all the characters. We know their basic situations. The Evil Conspiracy has at a minimum identified Nomi, who may now be free but will likely have to run fast and hide well to stay free. And both we and Will have at least some comprehension of the eight's abilities.

The episode ends with Nomi, still reciting the lyrics to the song, suddenly asking in all seriousness:

"What's going on?"


Rating: 10/10. Builds on the previous installments to deliver a truly great hour of television; the first episode to show that this series can truly be something special.


Previous Episode; Smart Money Is on the Skinny Bitch
Next Episode: Art Is Like Religion



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