BrainDead - 1.07 "The Power of Euphemism" - Review: Killer Queen

This weeks episode of BrainDead fantastically delivers, well, more of every almost everything!

Viewers continue right where the last episode left off with Laurel basically telling Gareth about the bugs eating people's brains. Upon realizing Laurel was serious, Gareth was taken aback, but not to the point where he didn't try to understand her, but their date is interrupted by a phone call from Wheatus wanting to know what he was doing and who was there in the office to take his call. Gareth tells him he's having drinks with Laurel and that Mike The Interns was the one left to take his calls.

In one of BrainDead's more deliciously disturbing scenes, viewers learn that Wheatus' brain hosts what appears to be a rather large queen-leader-winged space insect! The insect, that he politely calls Lady, exists his ear, crawls down his arm onto a bed of flowers, and lays some eggs, before returning back into what must be the cushy head-space of Wheatus! All of this turns out to be a strategic move to use "Mike The Intern" (Brandon Flynn) as an explosive device or another HCI, as the FBI call them, to further push that there are terrorists afoot in the US Capital, which lead an FBI Psychiatrist Consultant, J.K. Cornish (Kurt Fuller), to pay Laurel a visit.

Cornish is pleasantly polite, despite that he tazes, abducts, and begins to prepare Laurel for a what is called, "controlled immersion", a lower level interrogation tactic, that is not considered waterboarding, only because the water amounts are less and are used in way where it is harder to drown.

But Cornish is not the only one Laurel has to deal with. She and the audience gets reintroduced to FBI Agent Blades, but further more, she's again confronted by FBI Agent Onofrio! The two briefly share a scene where they discuss what Anthony now is and she threatens to tell the camera monitoring them the truth about the bugs. Anthony just laughs telling her to go ahead. She does, which was actually a smart move, because then the FBI have to take in account if they are dealing with mental illness, which entails going about what they are doing another way...

In the meantime, Gustav and Rochelle begin to discover the space ants communicating when they go to Laurel's office after Gustav couldn't get through to her on the phone. Picking up on some bug conversing, specifically from Scarlett, and realizing Laurel wasn't there, they come to conclude from Gareth that Laurel may be in trouble. They set out with Rochelle thinking that maybe they can use the recorded frequency to reach out and communicate with the infected and maybe that will lead them to Laurel. They at first run into an infected jogger, who stares at them a while listening, before nodding and running in the opposite direction. Gustav believes they should follow, but it only takes them back to Scarlett, suggesting that this was specifically a signal from her. Rochelle however again thinks that maybe they can try and break down the frequency into the equivalent of words, so that they can start figuring out what bits of frequency mean. But what transpires, is not language, as much as it is some kind of kinetic physical demand! the first part results in the infected getting up and running their heads into walls! The second part, forcing them to raise both hands straight up in the air!

The remainder of the episode deals with Luke coming to learn from Rochelle, Gustav, and help later from Gareth and a tip off about Agent Blades, that Laurel may be being held by the FBI and may trying to get information by less than inviting means. Luke doesn't sign off on what the FBI asks, but instead subpoenas FBI Director Louis Merchant (Jeremy Shamos) for a special Senate Intelligence Comity in which the senate must vote on the motion. 

Getting ready to vote, Luke notices that one senator that he believes would be against this form of interrogation, is missing in action. He learns that he is probably with his mistress after he calls his father for help. They are able to find the senator, but unfortunately, because this is being publicly broadcast on C-Span, he refuses to vote against the FBI's directive. Luke uses the tip off about from agent Blades grilling the FBI director on "controlled immersion", revealing that it still seems unethical form of waterboarding, despite that it is legally not considered the same thing or even "torture", but even still Luke it appears at first that Luke's ambitions are going to be thwarted. 

All is almost lost, as Laurel is moments away from being tortured. At first it appears the majority is with Red and the FBI, but Gustav and Rochelle arrive just in time to cause some frequency mayhem, as many of those that voted for it, turned around and tried to double vote against it with both hands in the air! They try again with equally perplexing results, which also includes some random heads banging against the walls! 

This leads the FBI to let Laurel go. Cornish give Laurel a ride back to work. He is a bit perplexed himself that she would want to go back there considering what everyone witnessed on TV, which is strangely contrasted with him revealing that all of those interrogation tactics that they would of used on Laurel, had been used on himself, but tells her he's lucky, but shakes her hand and says, "Until next time."

Laurel is then reunited with Rochelle and Gustav! They hug, as Gareth watches from afar and decides to go back up the stairs, instead of visiting Laurel. She also reunites with Luke and in a final twist, a surprise visit by her father. Using their cell phone app from a short distance away, Rochelle and Gustav discover that it appears Dean Healy is one of the infected!


What I Liked:

My favorite scene was no doubt Red Wheatus and the introduction to what appears to be a queen insect. The horror of seeing one of these insects just come out of his ear with the fact that was so much larger than the others, had wings, and just gently crawls down Red's arm before feeding her vegetable and having her leave her eggs onto the flowers was partially so amusing, because of how the scene was shot and executed, but also because of way Red chose to treat her.

Now granted, we don't know what exactly this means, if this is the only queen or female in the Washington DC area? If there are other space ants still in Red's brain along with her and/or if this makes Red a leader, Thee leader, or a protector of this female, but the scene gave a kind of humanizing notion onto the space-ants themselves. Unfortunately, it's a bit short lived, since basically new baby space ants hatched to try and take Mike The Intern as a new host, only to have Red endues Mike's head to explode in front of the FBI Director, having Mike's space ants act as little suicide bombers!

It also was very entertaining to see Gustav and Rochelle be able to use the frequency they collected from Scarlett as way to enforce nonsensical, but effective demands! When they found out that one of them was to put both arms up in the air, I almost thought we might get a song and dance from The Village People!

Kurt Fuller was also a great treat for a guest star. Notably a he played Judge Peter Dunaway on The Good Wife, but Fuller has has done some pretty great roles from the kind of magical spell book-making enthusiast on Felicity and even a somewhat villainous FBI agent on the third season of Alias or Zachariah on Supernatural. Like almost always, Fuller plays a characters whom have rather friendly dispositions, but this time one that is contrasted on what might be considered a questionable line of work or sense of morality. Even though I enjoyed his dynamic with Alicia on The Good Wife, I do think the audience got a lot more out of this character and his interaction with Laurel, simply because Laurel does come off as unsuspecting and comes into rather close and personal proximity with Cornish, where Alicia naturally looks more formidable and their relationship always had some distance. I do hope he appears again before the end of the season, which seems likely, because I doubt with what the FBI just witnessed, won't lead to a bigger investigation and/or a higher intelligence agency will come into play!

And lastly, viewers seemingly get a reveal with Dean Healy! Now BrainDead could easily be giving red hearing with this tease, as there could be something else causing the feedback and juxtaposing the scenario with Anthony Onfrio, since this was also an episode where viewers catch up with him, after recantly learning the truth about him a couple of episodes ago, but even just the prospect of thinking about how he could be infected, gives a lot of presidents to remind the audience that we ought to try and take a closer look at the senior Healy.

Some of what we know: The episode told us that he was once a senator, like his son, presumably also a democrat, but his current occupation is still a bit unclear, but at the very least, he seems to be very aware of what is going on with his children. If he would be infected, it would be an easy explanation for how Laurel has come to characterize his recant behavior being espionage-like and would also explain why he was so adamant about Laurel not talking about the insects and alerting the CDC. On the other hand, the pilot did mention something about him going into security, but again it is vague on what exactly that means. Is he an intelligence official or consultant? Does he just monitor a specific building or monument? And has he done any surveillance work in the past prior to the start of the series or is this a new thing where "security" was just code for covering his half-eaten brain's tracks?? With the exception of being with his kids, we have only seen Healy alone in a room full of monitors and television screens watching the news. The one thing that gives me some pause is that he looked like man who was torn between emotions when going to hug Laurel. Now whether that's because Don Healy is in fact struggling with the space ants in his brain or if in fact there is something else behind Healy, all remains to be seen, but it feels like it could go either way. It might be heartbreaking, but maybe even fun to see if Laurel and/or Luke may try to save him by bringing her mother into the mix, but I also think it would be interesting if he turns out to just be character of great power who know more about what is going on...



Mythology:
-Scarlett's frequency broken down into two parts creates two commands: Running One's Head Into A Wall and Both Arms Straight Up!
- There is at least one 'Queen Bee'. Early promotional photos from the series hint at Wheatus being central to the mythology in some way. One of which is that he would be infected, but perhaps it stems further in that Red is some kind of ring leader or the protector of one?
-They now can more easily see the infected conversing and they know they can use their phone app as a communication or a control devise.

The Good Wife Factor/Odds and Ends:
- As mentioned above, actor Kurt Fuller reoccurred on TGW as Judge Peter Dunaway
- Actor David Furr who played Dr. Colin Mitchel also appeared on an episode of TGW as Tim Ladis, one of the three people behind Bitcoin in the episode titled, "Bitcoin For Dummies". He also is an The Americans alumni.
- Jeremy Shalmos is also had a one shot gig on TGW as Karl Dolon in the episode, "The Next Month", but Shalmos has had bigger roles on Better Call Saul and Nurse Jackie.
-To think even the insects themselves will eat vegetables!
- The fast-paced table dancing is very similar to the way many episodes of TGW where executed.
- I thought the insect eggs looked rather beautiful, like little crystal droplets.

Did you enjoy the episode? Favorite scenes or character dynamics? Do you think Red is a type of leader? Is Dean really infected? Sound off in the comments below!

About the Author - Darthlocke4

Laura Becker (Darthlocke 4) is a long time commentator, TV addict, and aspiring writer participating with other fans on SpoilerTV. She writes reviews and analytic type articles. Some of her other interests include philosophy, cultural anthropology, reading, drawing, and working with animals, as she grew up and continues to work on her family's horse farm.

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