When We Go

I reluctantly tried to watch episode 2, 15 minutes was enough for me. For me, this is a childish amateur performance by stupid adult uncles and aunts who have learned the tricks of "Lost" to deceive the viewer by stretching everything possible. The creators just enjoy the nonsense that they add on the go, coming up with incompetent, formulaic phrases like: stumbled - woke up... I'm not discouraging you from watching, watch if you like.

The third season convinced me that the creators are in a creative crisis and apart from a sentimental domestic drama they have nothing to offer the viewer. Characters who once aroused interest and curiosity have now become lifeless puppets, moving according to a script devoid of originality. Each new episode brings the same hackneyed cliches and monumentally predictable plot twists.

The dialogues have become flat and strained, and attempts to add drama look pathetic and inept. It is sad to see how a once promising project slides into a banal melodrama with obvious moves and stereotypical characters. Even the musical accompaniment, which used to create an atmosphere, now only serves as a background for indistinct and repetitive scenes.

Attempts to re-interest the viewer with unusual storylines and confusing mysteries look like pathetic attempts to cling to the remnants of former glory. Instead of creativity and originality, we see a pipeline of template solutions that do not in the least contribute to the development of the plot or the growth of characters.

However, if you are satisfied with all this, keep watching. Perhaps, among all these cliches and newly minted plot loops, there is something that will hook you. As they say, there are no companions for taste and color, and there will always be exceptions to every rule. Perhaps this series is not for me at all, but it can resonate in someone's soul, causing awe and interest where I see only a creative dead end.

Enjoyed this episode. It moved the story forward and I expect has set up future events. What caught in my brain though was when a certain pregnant character began sneaking and eating some unusual items. I was immediately reminded of another character, this time in a book. In Stephen King's sixth Dark Tower novel, The Song of Susannah, one of the main characters, Susannah Dean, is pregnant. Her pregnancy occurred in an unusual very Stephen King-ish manner. In the novel, Susannah repeatedly creeps away from the others in her party and eats some disgusting things and hides it from her compatriots, at least for a time. At childbirth her "baby" is quite abnormal. From what is happening in this episode one might think something similar may be coming in From. IMO, not the only King type thing in the show. Aside from the Lost similarities, I think there is quite a bit of SK scattered about.

I think after such a shocker of an episode and a conclusion like episode 1 had you're going to be guaranteed to have an episode like this, which is a little unfortunate. While the performances of the cast were absolutely brilliant, all of the emotional fallout and turmoil is just not as interesting nor exciting to watch in a show like this.

The sub plot continues to thicken and that's a good thing, but much like the main story arc, a lot of it felt procedural and standard, if not completely predictable.

So all in all, this weeks episode wasn't the most exciting that the series has to offer and certainly not compared to the season opener but it was a very well acted episode that served its purpose to set things up for the rest of the season.

7/10 - hate to have waited a week to watch it but a necessary and effective "setting the season up" type offering.

Ended up turning this episode off after 15 minutes. Episode 1 of season 3 was not great, a lot slower, a lot more drama filler that doesn't progress the story line, a lot more depressing, and it's starting to feel like it's flirting with torture porn. I was hoping it was just a weak start to a new season so reset my expectations and gave it another go with episode 2 and I can now saw that I am now officially done with this show. It has gone from being an intriguing, edge of your seat, sci-fi mystery thriller in season 1 (and season 2 to a lesser extent) to a bleak, depressing dystopian soap opera where it's become painfully obvious the writers are trying to stall for time. The whole torture porn vibe is back making it apparent that is the direction they wanted season 3 to go in. It reminds me slightly of Lost in that it genuinely feels like the writers don't know where to take this show so they're digging their heels in trying to stall for time with character drama and violence - cheap filler that does not progress the storyline.

This episode was exceptional in a ton of different ways. It was not action packed like the previous episode but it was about the people, the aftermath of everything that happened in the previous episode. I felt like everyone brought their A game and this episode revealed some things that will alter a lot of things. I'm really excited to see where things go from here with different relationships with different characters, different mysteries popping up while certain things are being explained. I have been riveted through the first two episodes of season 3 and I'm hoping this is able to continue for the entire season.