[S4E9] Survivor: Part 1
For the most part, New Amsterdam Season 4 Episode 9 was a wonderful hour. Shanthi Sekaran did a beautiful job with the storytelling as the N.A.H. docs treated a series of undocumented individuals while I.C.E. breathed down their necks.
[S4E9] Survivor: Part 1
We don't see her in action behind the scenes, pulling the strings. We don't get to follow her anywhere to see how she works. We only get her particular brand of chaotic evil, wreaking havoc on any and everyone within her path.
The episode received moderate reviews from most critics, with most praising the episode's focus on the secondary characters, but others commenting negatively on the series' shift in environment and the episode's pace. Katla McGlynn of The Huffington Post summarized the episode by saying: "Phew! That was quite an episode. Although we didn't get to see what's happening with the rest of the group, we learned more about Michonne than ever and finally got to see Carl become a man. Instead of a traditional rite of passage like a bar mitzvah or a co-ed birthday party, Carl got to kill zombies and eat copious amounts of pudding! Welcome to adulthood, Carl."[1]
Larry also asks his rabbi if this is an okay thing to do within the Jewish faith and the rabbi assures him that if Cheryl permits it, it's okay. The rabbi also asks to bring a "survivor" to Larry's dinner party. Larry, believing that he means a Holocaust survivor, agrees, and also invites his father's friend Solly, a real Holocaust survivor. He is dismayed to learn too late that the rabbi's survivor friend is Colby, a contestant from the television show, Survivor. As a result, at dinner, Solly and Colby get into a heated argument over who had it harder, which ends with Solly accidentally splattering the gravy on Larry, who happened to be sitting in the middle of the fight.
Larry and Cheryl are writing their own vows, and Cheryl includes the line that their marriage will continue into the afterlife. Larry is annoyed and says he thought they were able to fool around in the afterlife because "till death do us part". On their way to the vow renewal ceremony, Solly's glass eye reflects light which hurts Larry's eyes. Solly believes Larry's covering his eyes is a mockery, and gets annoyed to the point of accidentally spilling wine on Cheryl's dress. At the vow renewal ceremony, Larry offends Cheryl with his insincere vows, and he also offends the rabbi by saying "let's roll" since the rabbi's brother-in-law died on September 11, uptown, in a bicycle accident.
The Manifest passengers have been on one wild and miserable ride since flight 828 touched down after being missing for five and a half years, despite no time passing for them in the sky. When the series returns for the first half of the fourth and final season, set two years after Grace (Athena Karkanis) is murdered, things have never quite been so dire. Ben (Josh Dallas) is still enveloped by his grief and search for his kidnapped daughter Eden, whom Angelina (Holly Taylor) took after she stabbed Grace in the abdomen and left her for dead. Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) is trying to captain the lifeboat and save the passengers, while Saanvi (Parveen Kaur) continues to use science to try to find an answer to beating the impending death date. From there, things fall apart.
Michael pretends that corporate has ordered the staff to work late on a Friday night, then pretends to call corporate to reverse their decision. Their Friday evening now free, Jim and Pam have no excuse for declining Michael's latest invitation to socialize - in this case, a dinner party at his condo. Although Dwight wants to attend, Michael explains that the party is only for couples, that he also invited Andy and Angela, and that he only has six wine glasses.
During a disastrous game of Celebrity, Jim excuses himself and pretends to have received a telephone call informing him that his apartment has flooded. His attempt to escape the party with Pam is thwarted when Michael notes that only one person needs to check on the damage. Jim concedes the point and tries to escape alone, but Pam forces a smiling Jim to stay.
When the police arrive to investigate a disturbance call, Michael says that he will not press charges against Jan and will "take the fall" for what happened. On the advice of the responding officers, Michael agrees to go home with a friend. Jim and Pam are unavailable because Jim's apartment is "on fire"--Pam corrects him: "flooded." Dwight happily takes Michael in his car.
Back on Vulcan, Archer and T'Pau enter the High Command chamber. V'Las attempts to contact security, allowing Kuvak to quickly pinch the sublieutenant guarding him and grab his weapon, stopping that order. Archer reveals to the council that V'Las bombed the Earth embassy as part of his plan to round up the Syrrannites so they wouldn't find the Kir'Shara. Despite V'Las' insistence that the Kir'Shara is a myth, Archer activates it, showing the holographic teachings of Surak. Kuvak says they must study the artifact, and T'Pau reinforces that quantum dating will prove to the assembled Council that it was from Surak's time. V'Las angrily exclaims it's all lies and tries to destroy the Kir'Shara only to be stunned by Kuvak, who then contacts the assault fleet to call off the attack.
It's hard to blame MTV or los producers for this when the fact is that most of the appeal of these shows is seeing the drunken, classless partiers interact with normals in the real world. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic prevents that from happening, so instead MTV films these weird isolation seasons and then struggles to make the drama stretch for an entire half-season. Don't get me wrong, comrades. This Gus storyline shows promise. But the pacing is all off.
Small spoiler ahead: somewhere in the latter episodes she says something like being with walkers was safe because of camouflage but it wasn't life. Being with people is life. She even said that she doesn't love her sword, because it is part of that life among walkers.
In the end, Bates comes through to save the day, not once, but twice. Do we all still like Bates now? Because I've made my distrust of him pretty clear throughout this season, and no more than now do I feel validated. Robert asks him to go through his Rolodex of prison friends to find a handwriting forgery expert to fake a letter instructing Sampson's doorman to let Lady Mary in. Bates confidently says he can find one, because it turns out the handwriting forger is HIM. After Mary and company come back empty-handed from Sampson's sad, sad apartment, Bates pulls a sleight of hand and pickpockets the letter from Sampson's jacket right in front of him. In just a matter of a few episodes, Bates has gone from Anna's loving, concerned husband to a potential murderer and the guy who does all of Robert's dirty work. I'm inclined with others here that it's basically time for Bates to die.
Back in the present, Ruby possesses the body of a maid at the hotel where Sam and Dean are staying in order to warn them that demons are closing in on them. She passes them the address of the cabin where she left Anna, tells them to exit through the bathroom window and to leave the car, then departs. 041b061a72