Love Island

There were so many things wrong with this episode it is hard to know where to start. From a personal POV it was so boring I wanted to skip forward a few minutes repeatedly. So here is the review in question form.

Did this flashback give viewers a big reveal about any characters motivation or relationship? Nope. Nothing we did not know already.

Did this flashback episode provide new information a out any current plot point? Not really. Although the potential tech-bro deal origin is explained. That could have been done with the sentence "We had a beach house nearby during lock down"

Did this move any story forward? Nope again. As other reviewers have mentioned, this killed momentum.

Did it show the effects of the Covid lock down effectively? Hell no! A bit about Bradley's family but no mention of all the worries we all had at the time. Job, income, care homes. It was a really 2D Wikipedia entry episode.

Was there a missed opportunity? Hell yes! The anti-vax movement that seemed supported by some right wing media. That would have made a great story about a newsroom taking the science based view.

What a waste.

Let me start off by stating I'm a big fan of this show. There are some things about this episode I actually really liked. Unfortunately there was a little more to dislike in this one.

We can all agree COVID was a scary time because none of us knew what was happening and although we now have hindsight, this is being told from the vantage point of being in the moment. I totally get that, but my goodness does this show like to treat every issue like it's black and white. They covered three very nuanced topics in this episode, all of which were written as if you prompted chat GPT to explain them.

There has been great writing throughout this series so I hate to be so negative. I just feel like this script could have used a little more thought in order to make a larger impact.

Confusing at first but kind of a good reminder of how America was reshaped through the pandemic, the end of Trumps presidency and the momentous shift in polity as a result.

It's almost hard to believe what happened to the world back then, kind of surreal but it happened and this episode deftly handles how relationships were affected, the rise mental health issues and politics at large. An odd interlude but sort of a good idea and a clever way to refresh our memories of the journey the characters have been on.

I guess this episode was built out of out takes from series 2 due to the impact of the writers strike on delivery timelines.

Such a disappointing episode. Why did they flashback to COVID? I actually thought I had started the wrong episode when I opened the AppleTV app.

I had anxiously been waiting to see where the great story that was playing out was heading next only to be let down and trying to understand why this complete change of course was necessary and/or relevant. Totally lost story momentum. What I love about TMS is the anticipation & continuation of what the next episode will bring. After watching this episode I can easily wait until next week. Fortunately, this had been the only episode that didn't meet the mark.

Like @Charlie_Chocolate and others, my first reaction to this was that it was misplaced in the running order, and maybe it was for some unknown reason. It (with some editing and small tweaks) have made a reasonable S3E1, but to land in the middle of S3 makes little sense. I wonder what happened.

It's a real shame, because if you stretch credibility a bit (like the Bradley last-minute space shot) I've enjoyed this season so far. Although new episodes get released on Wednesday, I hold them to watch late on Friday night as has been my routine since S1. It's a bit of a tradition in my house to let it roll around 11PM on Friday, sitting in a darkened room with my cat to keep me company and a single malt scotch at hand. It's one of my favorite nights when a new episode becomes available because the show is just so much fun to watch, starting with the opening with the battling balls and the great theme song. Even with the overly large cast that's hard to keep track of and the breakneck pace of things happening, it's great fun, and such a treat for the eyes thanks to the tremendous production values.

So, to have this one land with a thud was disappointing. Too bad, because things were going so well...