The episode was OK, but I felt it wasn't so much storycrafting as story*telling*...in the sense of the writers are just straight-up stating "ok, here's whats going to happen now".
The whole premise of the plot seemed rather contrived...just a way to un-burn the trailer and thrust the whole "key" plotline back into the show after they let it languish for a couple seasons. Everyone seemed very concerned with the books, but there was a lot that didn't make sense - why couldn't HW get $100k for them? With the kind of operation they're running, $100k should be petty cash to them, especially for valuable intel like a collection of Grimmoires. Also, how did no one notice that half the volume of the chest was secret compartment? Its one thing to hide some papers or a passport under a false bottom, but an entire collection of crossbows and other giant medieval armaments? And why exactly is the lock "too big"? How can you tell? That seemed to be a particularly convenient thing for Monroe to notice. And, overall, the plot seemed to just drag its feet and stumble around fitting out very little actual action into the hour. There was a whole lot of "lets talk about what we're going to do and then do it, and then spend a lot of time looking at things, and then talk some more about what we're going to do after that, and go do it, and look at some more things".
They seemed to treat the characters, particularly Monroe, very one-dimensionally. He was like S1 Monroe again, the goofy clock dork with the disparate violent history that occasionally peeks through, and his uncle was just a hamfisted copy of that. The characters were supposed to find it amusing, I just found it hackneyed. He's got so much more character depth than that. And his whole revenge scene was wholly unsatisfying, mostly because he dispatched the Anubi so dismissively, it was barely even on screen, and then Nick barely batted an eye and that was the end of it. Monroe barely batted an eye about it either, which belies everything they've spent time building up in terms of his rejecting and controlling his violent nature; I can understand why he slipped back into it under the circumstances, but to have him be so flippant about it afterwards is the problem, like nothing happened. And the fact that the villains in this were apparently so unthreatening made it seem less like an adventure and more like just a mechanism to introduce a MacGuffin.
JuliEve is getting a little annoying, just like Juliette did, in her wooden delivery. Juliette was accidental, Eve is deliberate (the writers finally writing to her acting talent), but its annoying just the same, particularly the way she keeps dissociating with Juliette so vociferously. Yeah we get it, you're brainwashed, but it just comes off as semantics when Juliette says it with her lack of inflection and emotion. Like a schoolyard argument where she just goes "Uh uh no I'm not, that was Juliette and I'm Eeeeve!"
HW continues to annoy me as a name, too...why is it even called that? Its a little casual for a quasi government agency with SHIELD-level operations, its not like they're a ragtag band of resistance fighters. Its not historically accurate. And the initials HW are particularly awkward to spell out, so it doesn't even abbreviate well.
I'm hoping that the payoff for this purely set-up episode is worth it....we're basically going from zero to hyperspace in terms of plot speed, pick up and fly to Germany and get right into the Key Hunt.
The whole premise of the plot seemed rather contrived...just a way to un-burn the trailer and thrust the whole "key" plotline back into the show after they let it languish for a couple seasons. Everyone seemed very concerned with the books, but there was a lot that didn't make sense - why couldn't HW get $100k for them? With the kind of operation they're running, $100k should be petty cash to them, especially for valuable intel like a collection of Grimmoires. Also, how did no one notice that half the volume of the chest was secret compartment? Its one thing to hide some papers or a passport under a false bottom, but an entire collection of crossbows and other giant medieval armaments? And why exactly is the lock "too big"? How can you tell? That seemed to be a particularly convenient thing for Monroe to notice. And, overall, the plot seemed to just drag its feet and stumble around fitting out very little actual action into the hour. There was a whole lot of "lets talk about what we're going to do and then do it, and then spend a lot of time looking at things, and then talk some more about what we're going to do after that, and go do it, and look at some more things".
They seemed to treat the characters, particularly Monroe, very one-dimensionally. He was like S1 Monroe again, the goofy clock dork with the disparate violent history that occasionally peeks through, and his uncle was just a hamfisted copy of that. The characters were supposed to find it amusing, I just found it hackneyed. He's got so much more character depth than that. And his whole revenge scene was wholly unsatisfying, mostly because he dispatched the Anubi so dismissively, it was barely even on screen, and then Nick barely batted an eye and that was the end of it. Monroe barely batted an eye about it either, which belies everything they've spent time building up in terms of his rejecting and controlling his violent nature; I can understand why he slipped back into it under the circumstances, but to have him be so flippant about it afterwards is the problem, like nothing happened. And the fact that the villains in this were apparently so unthreatening made it seem less like an adventure and more like just a mechanism to introduce a MacGuffin.
JuliEve is getting a little annoying, just like Juliette did, in her wooden delivery. Juliette was accidental, Eve is deliberate (the writers finally writing to her acting talent), but its annoying just the same, particularly the way she keeps dissociating with Juliette so vociferously. Yeah we get it, you're brainwashed, but it just comes off as semantics when Juliette says it with her lack of inflection and emotion. Like a schoolyard argument where she just goes "Uh uh no I'm not, that was Juliette and I'm Eeeeve!"
HW continues to annoy me as a name, too...why is it even called that? Its a little casual for a quasi government agency with SHIELD-level operations, its not like they're a ragtag band of resistance fighters. Its not historically accurate. And the initials HW are particularly awkward to spell out, so it doesn't even abbreviate well.
I'm hoping that the payoff for this purely set-up episode is worth it....we're basically going from zero to hyperspace in terms of plot speed, pick up and fly to Germany and get right into the Key Hunt.