#ep 1x12

[adhd-merlin]

guy who's dying to let the king die voice: you know, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted him dead

[eg515]

Jack Hurley is back!! and he's part of the international Leverage team!! 😭😭💖

[captainpogue]

I would like to request more Baker twin scenes. Please and thank you.

[amaliabalash]

Oh my god Xander asking out Buffy is so painful I can barely even look at the TV.

[adhd-merlin]

merlin: gwen. if you could kill the king, would you?

gwen: what?

merlin: like, if you had the opportunity and the means to kill the king without any repercussion would you do it

gwen: ...merlin, are you thinking about killing the king?

merlin: haha, of course not. answer the question

[eg515]

lol Eliot and Nate straight up turning around, barely holding it together, and looking into the camera like they're on The Office when Parker and Hardison fake-make out during a heist? this is exactly the kind of content I signed up for, thank you.

[eg515]

oooohh is The Golf Job the boys' counterpart to the girls' Paranormal Hacktivity Job? 👀

[youregonnabneefi]

This episode did not have a compelling case or plausible science, but it had decent character work. If I’m willing not to think too hard, watching the episode is like a carousel in an amusement park: none of the exciting ups and downs of a roller coaster but you still get a mildly entertaining ride on colorful horses.

Anyway on to the specifics:

I always enjoy the little bits of Astrid backstory. While it’s never explicitly stated, getting to see her be competent at languages previously and computers this episode provides a reasonable rationale for why she was chosen to be Walter’s “FBI lab liaison” so to speak. Also, we get a little more insight into Astrid’s personality which was being a little snoopy. I don’t know why I wouldn’t have expected that from her, but it makes sense given that she is an FBI agent.

As previously mentioned, the whole science part of this episode was very wishy washy. Maybe the writers knew it because they spent like two lines of dialogue on the potential mechanism. Otherwise, it was just, “ooh, focus on the melted brains.” Nothing made any sense: the neuroscience, the computer science, nada. “Particles scattered all over the internet.” Yeah, sure, okay.

This is going to sound counterintuitive given how much I dislike Harris, but I wish he was given more character work. He’s very flat and one-dimensional, so every time he opens his mouth, it just feels like a waste of oxygen. He seems very willing to throw the entire Fringe division under the bus just to get back at Olivia, which I guess means his friendship with Broyles doesn’t mean much? At least it’s bringing out the supportive side of Broyles, which I appreciate. Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean I wish for more Harris screen time. I think the existing scenes with some tweaks in dialogue would’ve been sufficient.

I will always enjoy Ella and Rachel appearances. In a note completely irrelevant to the episode’s plot, I found it interesting that Rachel was cooking pasta since, in the previous episode, Olivia teased her about her cooking while cooking pasta. I would’ve been okay without the awkward Peter/Rachel set up though. If I had to choose a preferable awkward set up that goes no where, I think I’d pick the Nina/Broyles one.

“He cannot possibly be that stupid.” “He’s 19.” “Good point.” Me first watching this at age 18: not a good excuse

Finally, I liked the conclusion of the Walter subplot. It had a nice double subversion of expectations in that Walter could indeed handle the encounter, but also that the mom of the lab assistant wasn’t a one-dimensional caricature out for blood (cough take notes, Harris cough).