Oscarjbunting

Wow! What an episode! This one came completely out of the blue in a subversion of the genre, in the best possible way!

Out of all the finales this week (Barry, Succession, Ted Lasso), I think this might be my favourite - at the minimum it was the most inspired, unique and enjoyable out of all of them!

The episode cleverly ties all of these story lines that have been building all season together in a satisfying way, delivering high stakes, comedy, drama and suspense along the way - the episode being double the length of standard episodes also allows them to pull you into the plot without stretching the story, or starting to feel boring.

Overall I think this was one of my favourite episodes of this show, it just continues to improve episode over episode, season over season and I'm incredibly excited to see where it goes next!

I left a review for episode one saying that it felt like a slow burn, and that to me it felt like it was missing a lot of its comedic energy - this episode showed me that they've still got it, and hopefully they continue to build and expand on that energy.

I think it's these wonderfully surreal moments when you think you know exactly where the story is headed next, and can't help but watch as all your expectations are turned on their head in some incredible, beautiful, and often times hilarious ways.

This episode took me from suspense to laughing to shock and back again in the best possible ways, and gave me the confidence that the magic that made me fall in love with this show is still in there!

I enjoyed the season opening and am excited for where the show is headed, it feels a bit like a slow burn but into episode 2 the story really starts speeding up.

I just can't ignore that it feels much more serious and almost bleak in tone compared with previous seasons, hopefully we will get some more tonally balanced episodes later down the line, but I can see the show taking this tone for the remainder too - which might not be a bad thing as it feels more artistic, and surreal, but looses its comedic timing for me in this opening.

The performances, writing, cinematography, music and especially some of the incredible transitions really stand out to me as high points, however the bleak tone and dramatically toned down visual comedy- heck, it feels like they've cranked down all the comedy leave me wondering just how much I'll enjoy the rest of the season.