On the second episode of BrianDead viewers continue to follow Laurel try to be an ethical voice of reason when nearly everyone around her either acts strange or contentious, while her brother, Luke ultimately is about to loose his position as Majority Whip by the episodes end. Oh, and did I mention it's the forth day of the Government Shutdown?
Tax Prom turns out to be an interesting event not just because Laurel ultimately gets used and was intentionally fed bad information by Gareth, with an evening that was almost romantic, but also Laurel runs into two friends that she knew sometime before.
We first meet Stacie Zara (Nikiya Mathis) as both admit they found their way to Washing D.C. because they needed money instead of perusing their passions, but Stacie points out that one of their other friends, Abby Summers (Brooke Bloom), is also at Tax Prom, but Stacie insists that Abby has changed and gone very right wing.
As It turns out, Abby was definitely taken over by the space ants when we later catch up to three woman having a little get together (or intervention). Laurel and Stacie push Abby on her new views and new affiliates, but Abby lashes out with some fair points about Laurel's upbringing, including her wealth, that later Laurel apologizes for. However, unfortunately for Stacie, later Abby locks her in a room and the space ants invade yet another victim!!
Other predominate stories from episode include introducing three more of series' season regulars. The first is FBI Agent Anthony Onofrio (Charlie Semine), who begins to investigate the death of Dr. Dauider, and then also we meet an eccentric genius named Gustav Triplett (Johnny Ray Gill) and lastly, Rochelle Daudier (Nikki M. James), the daughter of previous deceased Dr. Daudier.
At the beginning of the episode viewers start with a scene of Scarlett fiercely interrogating FBI Agent Onofrio, whose come to asks Laurel questions about the death of Dr. Daudier (and Laurel re-imagines the head explosion several times and the audience gets to experience it from multiple vantage points). Later, after meeting Rochelle, she takes the information Rochelle gave her to his office to try and call attention to the coincidence between the two death.
Gustav's story starts from playing outdoor chess on many chessboards until he comes to a young man named Oscar (Bobby Moreno), who seems to be unconscious and he quickly calls for an ambulance and Oscar taken to a hospital. At the hospital Oscar is given a brain scan, in which his brain is radically changing on the image screen. In a panic, he tells Gustav that he needs to get "them" out, but it's ultimately too late when Oscar's head explodes in a scene so similar to Dr. Daudier's.
Rochelle happens to be a medical student at that very same hospital Oscar was taken to and she's trying to follow leads that will help her understand what happened to her father. By the middle of the episode she finds herself in Laurel's office seeking answers, since Laurel was one of the last people with him. She shows Laurel the cat scans from Oscar to make the connection that what happened to her father was not an isolated incident, nor was the equipment bad...
But what really was at the heart of the episode was the story about a little girl who had cancer named Annie (Ripley Sobo). She was raising money by going to 20 destinations across the country and her last stop was to be The [Abraham] Lincoln Memorial, which was closed due to the Government Shutdown. Laurel tries to ask Luke for help in exchange for getting information that could help him solve his problem by finding out what Republican was cast out to make way for the Democrat, but Luke doesn't follow through and instead, he and Red Wheatus take advantage and use the girl, who also happens to be an Atheist, politically in a ping pong match in regards to blaming the other for the Shutdown. But Laurel, being a kind and good people-person she is, is able to reason with the security guard. Annie, her father, and Laurel are able to share an amazingly private and rare unencumbered moment with the giant seated monument of Abraham Lincoln.
What I Liked:
Laurel continued to stand out as a positive beacon of hope in a contentious world. Her story with both helping Annie and being able to apologize to Abby (despite what she now is), showed how much she cares about helping others and her ability to reflect on her own actions. Helping Annie was a reflection of herself, as both characters were used, but neither gave up hope. In addition the photograph with the Lincoln Monument that Annie took with Laurel, was also a nice through line connecting us back to Laurel's passion in wanting to be a documentary film-maker.
The show also keeps introducing lots of characters. In the short term, it makes the episode another kind of set up episode, since we can't get too far underneath them, but in the long term, it allows for there to a bigger sand box to play in. The only short term speculation I can make, might be that Gustav and Rochelle may end up protagonists, like Laurel. I'm am very curious what that dynamic is going to look and feel like.
For me, Scarlett's scenes were a a delight. I find her to be one of the more comical characters and victims of the space ants!
"Forever Juice" - There's something so brilliantly ironic about the space ants eating brain tissue and the surviving victims would become vegetarians!
The Good Wife Factor/Other Odds & Ends
- Opening with REM-like spoof song!
- An FBI Agent was a reoccurring character during season 7 of TGW. There seems to be a major contrast to this, as Agent Onofrio seems more easy going and not so relentless.
- Gareth giving Laurel bad intell is reminiscent of something Cary Agos, Kalinda Sharma, Louis Canning, or David Lee would have done.
- The Democratic Sessions and turn over with Majority Whip reminiscent to judges and verdicts in style and tone
-"Grace, what's overheated blood?" -Agent Onofrio. Grace was also the name of Alicia Florrick's daughter. Onofrio's boss, Grace, wasn't actually at work, and by not noticing this sooner, may make us question his law enforcement skills, but the line about asking some weird question and the character's eating habits in that scene, was something Grace Florrick would of also have done! In addition his office space is reminiscent to the young NSA monitoring people and their cubicles, although that even seems more upscale compared to this!
Favorite Scenes:
-Laurel and Annie take their picture/have an interesting conversation at the Lincoln Memorial.
-Scarlett ironically interrogates a more passive FBI Agent Onofrio
-Abby talks on the phone with Laurel/Space Ants Attack Stacie
-Other Democratic Senator offers her bid for Majority Whip
Mythology/Mystery Observations/Questions:
-Some victims survive and some do not (Their head's explode, eeewww). Perhaps it relates to those that resist change. Red Wheatus and Randall Burke both had drinking problems--so being inebriated might help in surviving this transition??!!
-Space Ants in Laurels Apartment! They are cannibals! They ate the ones killed by Laurel! But where did they go? Why did they leave??? Did they eat themselves to hide their own evidence or were they just starving?
- Not only do victims love The Cars, but they are vegetarians!
The original version I had viewed was not the final version and was 90% completed, but I found the music and audio editing did wonders for the episode and made the tone a little less contentious and gave much better transitions between the scenes! I felt the second episode tried hard to lay out some more pieces/characters on the table, but retained a fun entertaining quality, but also continued with a heart of gold with it's female lead.
What did you think? Are you going to try and stick with this summer series? Let us know in the comments below!!
As It turns out, Abby was definitely taken over by the space ants when we later catch up to three woman having a little get together (or intervention). Laurel and Stacie push Abby on her new views and new affiliates, but Abby lashes out with some fair points about Laurel's upbringing, including her wealth, that later Laurel apologizes for. However, unfortunately for Stacie, later Abby locks her in a room and the space ants invade yet another victim!!
Other predominate stories from episode include introducing three more of series' season regulars. The first is FBI Agent Anthony Onofrio (Charlie Semine), who begins to investigate the death of Dr. Dauider, and then also we meet an eccentric genius named Gustav Triplett (Johnny Ray Gill) and lastly, Rochelle Daudier (Nikki M. James), the daughter of previous deceased Dr. Daudier.
At the beginning of the episode viewers start with a scene of Scarlett fiercely interrogating FBI Agent Onofrio, whose come to asks Laurel questions about the death of Dr. Daudier (and Laurel re-imagines the head explosion several times and the audience gets to experience it from multiple vantage points). Later, after meeting Rochelle, she takes the information Rochelle gave her to his office to try and call attention to the coincidence between the two death.
Gustav's story starts from playing outdoor chess on many chessboards until he comes to a young man named Oscar (Bobby Moreno), who seems to be unconscious and he quickly calls for an ambulance and Oscar taken to a hospital. At the hospital Oscar is given a brain scan, in which his brain is radically changing on the image screen. In a panic, he tells Gustav that he needs to get "them" out, but it's ultimately too late when Oscar's head explodes in a scene so similar to Dr. Daudier's.
Rochelle happens to be a medical student at that very same hospital Oscar was taken to and she's trying to follow leads that will help her understand what happened to her father. By the middle of the episode she finds herself in Laurel's office seeking answers, since Laurel was one of the last people with him. She shows Laurel the cat scans from Oscar to make the connection that what happened to her father was not an isolated incident, nor was the equipment bad...What I Liked:
Laurel continued to stand out as a positive beacon of hope in a contentious world. Her story with both helping Annie and being able to apologize to Abby (despite what she now is), showed how much she cares about helping others and her ability to reflect on her own actions. Helping Annie was a reflection of herself, as both characters were used, but neither gave up hope. In addition the photograph with the Lincoln Monument that Annie took with Laurel, was also a nice through line connecting us back to Laurel's passion in wanting to be a documentary film-maker.
The show also keeps introducing lots of characters. In the short term, it makes the episode another kind of set up episode, since we can't get too far underneath them, but in the long term, it allows for there to a bigger sand box to play in. The only short term speculation I can make, might be that Gustav and Rochelle may end up protagonists, like Laurel. I'm am very curious what that dynamic is going to look and feel like.
For me, Scarlett's scenes were a a delight. I find her to be one of the more comical characters and victims of the space ants!
"Forever Juice" - There's something so brilliantly ironic about the space ants eating brain tissue and the surviving victims would become vegetarians!
The Good Wife Factor/Other Odds & Ends
- Opening with REM-like spoof song!
- An FBI Agent was a reoccurring character during season 7 of TGW. There seems to be a major contrast to this, as Agent Onofrio seems more easy going and not so relentless.
- Gareth giving Laurel bad intell is reminiscent of something Cary Agos, Kalinda Sharma, Louis Canning, or David Lee would have done.
- The Democratic Sessions and turn over with Majority Whip reminiscent to judges and verdicts in style and tone
-"Grace, what's overheated blood?" -Agent Onofrio. Grace was also the name of Alicia Florrick's daughter. Onofrio's boss, Grace, wasn't actually at work, and by not noticing this sooner, may make us question his law enforcement skills, but the line about asking some weird question and the character's eating habits in that scene, was something Grace Florrick would of also have done! In addition his office space is reminiscent to the young NSA monitoring people and their cubicles, although that even seems more upscale compared to this!
Favorite Scenes:
-Laurel and Annie take their picture/have an interesting conversation at the Lincoln Memorial.
-Scarlett ironically interrogates a more passive FBI Agent Onofrio
-Abby talks on the phone with Laurel/Space Ants Attack Stacie
-Other Democratic Senator offers her bid for Majority Whip
Mythology/Mystery Observations/Questions:
-Some victims survive and some do not (Their head's explode, eeewww). Perhaps it relates to those that resist change. Red Wheatus and Randall Burke both had drinking problems--so being inebriated might help in surviving this transition??!!
-Space Ants in Laurels Apartment! They are cannibals! They ate the ones killed by Laurel! But where did they go? Why did they leave??? Did they eat themselves to hide their own evidence or were they just starving?
- Not only do victims love The Cars, but they are vegetarians!
The original version I had viewed was not the final version and was 90% completed, but I found the music and audio editing did wonders for the episode and made the tone a little less contentious and gave much better transitions between the scenes! I felt the second episode tried hard to lay out some more pieces/characters on the table, but retained a fun entertaining quality, but also continued with a heart of gold with it's female lead.
What did you think? Are you going to try and stick with this summer series? Let us know in the comments below!!
