In what is clearly the most impactful Marvel content to be released this past weekend, the fifth episode of the season follows the immediate aftermath of Connors return and Tandy’s continued pursuit of the missing girls.  But of course things are never that simple and both Tandy and Tyrone are faced with unexpected and thematically intertwined challenges.

Tyrone is initially upset with Tandy for bringing Connors back since that’s not what they agreed upon.  They have a brief argument about it and Tandy reminds him that things didn’t go the way she wanted either since she went to get information about the missing girls from Mayhem and came back empty handed.  Tandy then notices that her mother has been calling and goes to check on her.  It turns out that her mother has started seeing someone, but Tandy doesn’t approve and accuses her mother of finding a guy exactly like her abusive father.  Tandy repeats her advice to Mikayla from earlier this season saying, “Leaving someone who hurts you isn’t hard Mom.  You just leave.”

Throughout this season Tandy has shown a very rigid stance on domestic abuse and emphasizes that it’s not a difficult decision, you just leave when you’re being abused.  But there’s only so many times she can repeat this sentiment and it makes for some rather simplistic storytelling.  Hopefully Tandy will soon be faced with a situation that isn’t as clear cut.  There are often many reasons why people choose to remain in abusive relationship and so far Tandy hasn’t been confronted with that.  It seems that the show is trying to explicitly say that you should immediately leave any type of abusive relationship, but the world isn’t that black and white.  Relationships are incredibly complex so ignoring the nuances that might compel someone to stay in an abusive relationship makes Tandy’s repeated advice much less effective.  And that’s a shame, especially since this season seems to be attempting to tackle some very real issues in addition to domestic abuse.

We also see Tyrone in this episode struggling to decide Connors’ fate.  In an unexpected turn of events it’s revealed that Connors is anxious to atone for his sins and turn himself in to the police.  Tyrone brings Connors to his father, Otis Johnson, and the two of them try and figure out what to do with him.  In what was my favorite scene this episode, Tyrone asks if Connors deserves justice and Otis sternly asks him what that word means.  Miles Mussenden‘s performance in this scene conveyed the fear that Tyrone was contemplating murder as well as his own desire for revenge on the man who killed his son.  But despite their pain, both Tyrone and Otis agree to go along with Connors’ plan and steal incriminating evidence from his Uncle in order to clear Tyrone’s name and put Connors behind bars.  This also opens up what Connors calls the Promenade Society which is a historic and exclusive organization for the most influential men in the city.

Even though Tyrone and O’Reilly manage to steal the key and follow Connors instructions exactly, the file they’re after appears to be missing.  In a rage, Tyrone takes Connors to the church and starts beating him up but he soon decides against it.  Instead he goes home and brings Connors to his mother.  The look that Gloria Reuben gives Connors is incredibly haunting.  Both she and Miles Mussenden have done a great job with relatively little screen time this season and they’re able to convey so much with so little.

While all this is going down, Tandy continues investigating the missing girls.  She talks to Andre Deschaine who’s been helping some of the victims and he points her in the direction of a woman named Lia who’s abusive “ex” boyfriend might be able to shed some light on what’s going on.  Tandy and Lia get rather close and they both open up to each other about some of the hardships they’ve been through.  However, at the end of the episode it’s revealed that Lia isn’t as harmless as she first appeared.  This also illuminates the meaning behind  the story Tandy tells throughout the episode about about a farmer who nurses a dying viper back to health only to be bitten and killed the moment it recovers.  We think this story refers to Connors who we know to be a villain as Tyrone helps him along a path of redemption, but it’s revealed at the end to be Lia.  At the moment it’s unclear what her motives are and why she’s helping her boyfriend kidnap these women, however I’m sure we’ll find out more about her in the coming episodes.

VERDICT

4 empty wine bottles out of 5.  

The show continues to rapidly cut between Tandy and Tyrone’s story to varying degrees of success.  It seems to be intended to make obvious thematic parallels between what’s happening in both storylines, but it continues to be rather jarring.  Instead of a more typical structure of focusing on one storyline until a moment of climax or revelation then picking up with the other and following it the same way before switching back, this new format seems to have become a consistent part of the show.  It’s a bold and interesting choice, but I don’t think it’s working very well.  It also has the effect of making the the thematic parallels so obvious that it leaves nothing open to interpretation.  However, the two main plot lines this season have been very compelling and the twist with Connors was a great way to shake things up in an unexpected way.  Overall, the forward momentum of the season has been maintained and that’s a huge plus in my book.

ONE-SHOTS

  • We don’t learn very much about the Promenade Society in this episode, but I have a feeling they’ll turn up again in association with Tandy’s investigation into the missing girls.
  • Tandy recovered from that pepper spray awfully fast.
  • It would have been nice if Lia was introduced an episode or two earlier.  It seems like she came out of nowhere and we haven’t had much time to get to know her which makes the betrayal a bit less impactful.
  • With the bear, Connors doesn’t really look like a slimy scumbag anymore.  It’s a good look.
  • I’m really excited to see the new cloak Otis is making in action!