And so, Rainer has been freed from his train, somehow and
other, and has helped Bo to destroy the Una Mens. Wait, what?
Last week’s episode, “Waves”, was not the most successful
episode of LG up to date and not just because of direct allusions to Disney’s “Beauty
and the Beast” and “The Little Mermaid” movies; the reasons are more multifold.
First, let us speak of the plotlines. There are two, as the
norm in S4. In one Bo and Rainer reminiscence on their initial interactions on
the train; in the other, Kenzi, Dyson and Lauren work to figure out just who is
stealing legs from people.
Yes, that is correct – legs. Borrowing from “The Little
Mermaid”, albeit from the original, written by Hans Andersen, LG has created a
family of mermaids that steal legs from people and graft them onto themselves.
They have power over water and their tears crystallize into salt, but tap water
tends to kill them instead. So far it makes sense and really, the only flaw
with this plot line was Kenzi’s (Ksenia Solo’s) clothing of choice: she was
probably going for sexy, but ended up looking scrawny instead – but even that
is fully countered by the part when Kenzi realizes that BO isn’t going to call;
her BFF has appeared to have moved on in favor of Rainer. In addition, Kenzi,
Dyson and Lauren showed that they can work as a team and work very
efficiently too, especially when confronted by more powerful enemies, such as
the merfolk.
Onto Bo and Rainer and their Una Mens’ killing. Let us give
Bo credit – she tried to her way out of this confrontation. But the Una Mens
summoned their monk minions and attacked Bo personally, so Bo had eventually to
pull out a sword out of (insert noun of your choice here) and kill them
instead, regardless of their final curse. The catch? Mr. Trick came over to her
before the confrontation and warned Bo about killing the Una Mens, that their
death will result in their power getting transferred to the last seed
(conveniently stolen from Mr. Trick earlier in this season and no earlier),
which will then become extremely powerful! And so it happened, and the seed
became powerful, and someone currently unknown has reached out for it...
One of the problems is in the continuity of this episode. In
part this is intended – a large part of this episode is taken by the flashbacks
of Bo meeting Rainer, of Bo talking to Mr. Trick about the Una Mens, but in
some parts it was clearly a goof, like the whole sword angle of Bo’s or that
somehow Mr. Trick knew about what was going to happen in the future, even
though Rainer is the one with foresight...
And the second problem is
Disney. Showcase has tried to assimilate Disney into their shows before – their
own spin on “Beauty and the Beast” TV series can witness to that...as well as
to the lack of success of such attempts. Showcase’s “Beauty and the Beast” is
rather emotionless, bland and cliché – and so was “Waves”. Despite the actors’
overall attempt to liven the episode, it did not work: “Waves” remained as cold
as LG’s merfolk supposedly are, and only when, in the final quarter of the ep
did the script move away from Disney, did LG return to its own.
So: Showcase should stay away from Disney – otherwise this
will result in a situation that will not benefit either of the parties.
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