Yet another show that I completely binged during COVID-19 is finally back with another season that I feel happy about being able to now follow every week. (Or minus four since I missed the first few episodes.) But despite the fact that I saw the show later, I've still been highly anticipating it for two years. Now we're back with a premiere that takes us into the future a little bit and leaves us with some overhanging questions about what has happened up until now. This episode places me firmly back in this world and gave me everything that I wanted to see right away.
These writers are not afraid of putting our lead character in positions of true tension. In his own head, this season will work as redemption story for a character who have done a lot of bad things throughout the two previous seasons and will have to learn about forgiveness. The episode starts out with a brilliant scene that puts his entire mindset in the focus. Barry is still left with a lot of anger over what happened in Season 2 and it's up to him whether or not he will learn to move past it or have to deal with it head-on for the rest of his life. It also puts other characters in unexpected situations, but never loses track of who its lead character is. Despite spending a lot of time with supporting characters like NoHo Hank and Sally Reed, the show, just as it always has, works to put its lead character in the foreground and have everything add to his development. The ending gave me a scene that I didn't expect until later in the season, but I'm glad that they're not wasting time with an unnecessary buildup and play a different tune, sending us in a much different direction than I thought we we're going. I would have liked to see a little more to certain characters and see where they ended up after the last season, but I expect that to be furthered developed on in upcoming episodes. So far, I'm just happy to be back in this crazy world.
"forgiving jeff" was the perfect episode to start off this season with and it showed that the writers are still on top of their game. They understand the need to focus on Barry and his development, using the other characters and their storylines to add onto his mental problems, crafting tension for many upcoming episodes.
