isabellacheng

This would have been a superb 9+/10 episode were it not for the singular horrific miscast. And no I'm not talking about Awkwafina, this time. Issa Rae completely missed the demeanor of a period drama. There was no emoting from her face, and no expression in her voice. It was difficult to make-believe that she was an A-lister who wanted to "do more". If the producers wish to do a race/gender swap, just grab anyone from the Bridgerton cast. I'm amazed how this even passed initial screen tests.

Emma Corrin, on the other hand, was phenomenal. Her performance carried the entire episode. In a certain montage, there wasn't even any dialogue, and I ran out of tissues. That's what good acting looks like.

All in all, "Hotel Reverie" holds a really promising premise. This could have been one of the best Black Mirror stories, were it not for the disastrous miscast.

I mean this finale is all over the place. So many story lines happen at the same time in a chaotic manner. These two final episodes would have been much better split into four episodes.

Part of the messiness is there to provide cover for the final plot twist, but I saw it coming a mile away thanks to Chekhov's Gun. Next time, the writes might want to go with "smart writing" instead. Another reason for the messiness is that the writers want to conclude the existing arcs in case the series is going to be cancelled, while simultaneously creating new plots for a next season if the show is going to be renewed. There really isn't enough screentime to do both.

Here are the story lines that I can recall off the top of my head from the last two episodes:

• The main bomb arc (Kind of got cancelled.)
• Kate's abductions and baby rescue (Would have better take place in the penultimate episode. Otherwise now the protagonists are gonna blow up all the kidnapped human babies on the Grey's "ship". Kate and Ben also forgot Max could see aliens. They didn't believe him back then, but now they should.)
• D'arcy being a loose cannon, again (Hope I got the capitalization right. Lol)
• Liv, Mike, Lena (Why devote screentime in the finale if their investigation did not go anywhere in this episode?)
• Bridget, Sahar, Max (Why are Bridget and Sahar reintroduced now? Also the exploding thing isn't cool.)
• Asta and Jay (Asta should have tried parenting for once, instead of sending Jay away, again. But now it is depicted as wholesome.)
• Joseph (Needs more time to elaborate his motivations and... his recovery.)
• Asta and her mom
• D'arcy and her parents
• The general doing stuff
• Alien Tracker and his son (Why are they even reintroduced to the show?)
• The plot twist

Most of these plots were being built up throughout the whole season. It is sad to see the writers speedrunning their conclusions. Each of them deserves more screentime to do justice. If there is not enough budget, the extras (in the order of my above list) can easily be cut.

Nonetheless, this season is rather enjoyable to watch. Definitely an improvement over the last season. Now that the main casts are all aware that alien exists (to a certain extent), I look forward to seeing how the dynamics will play out in the next season.