Oops, forgot to post this earlier this week.
I really enjoyed watching the episode with everyone at the same time. I think being able to use the chat function and all communicate our thoughts made the show more engaging, so it gave me a bit more insight into how fandoms engage with each other in the digital age of media. While there’s nothing like watching it in person and everyone feeling the same vibe in the room, it was still really fun.
As for the episode, I kind of don’t know how to process everything that happened because I don’t think anyone could’ve predicted all that. I’m sorta annoyed at how quickly and easily Max was recovered, it felt like they were leading up to this big evil max storyline that would set the rest of the season... but it was so anticlimactic. Now him and Liz get their happy ending, but obviously that’s too good to be true so I wonder what will further go wrong in their relationship.
There’s a lot to unpack with the Kyle & Isobel scènes but I’ll just say that I think they’re kind of an odd pairing since I can’t remember if they’ve ever even spoken to each other on the show. They seem like the two most distant characters in the show, which makes it even more interesting for them to be together. Tho I would love to see isobel explore her bi side and maybe even Kyle cuz he was in a gay bar lol.
That threesome scene... straight out of a fan fiction. Despite carina seemingly wanting this scene to be an emotional moment between the three that causes a messy chaotic situation in the future, I didn’t interpret the scene as emotional in a romantic way, but rather a “we almost died” emotional way. I think it was irresponsible for Michael to live this fantasy of hooking up with Alex and Maria together because there’s no way this ends up working out, and someone is seriously going to get hurt. On that note, I think it was interesting that Alex is the one who said it was a fantasy to sleep with his best friend and his crush because that sounds like something that Michael should be saying in this scene. Although I don’t like this scene because of the messiness and irresponsibility, I do like how it opens up a conversation on mainstream TV about sexuality being more fluid and less binary.
I know that Maria was the OG ship with Michael in the original book and series and that her moms mystery is also her storyline, but I do think it’s unfortunate that Maria seems to fail the bechdel test bc I see her main storyline as being part of michaels love triangle. Though, I think Michael & Alex are endgame, so hopefully this isn’t a waste of Maria’s time and potential in terms of character and story development.
This episode just felt like someone was high when writing it because it’s so bizarre and weird with the genre-bending and experimentation. It felt like a break from the main alien mystery storyline of the series and I think I prefer the mystery of the aliens more than the mystery of what the heck is gonna happen with all these relationships in the future.