It’s penultimate episode time, where all the best drama comes out to play. This show is no exception, although there are some aspects of the plot that annoy me. All in all, everything gets teed up for an eventful season finale.
The school ball is fast approaching, and although Maeve is too cynical for dances and Otis is too awkward and anti-patriarchy, they both wind up with dates. However, as the night goes on, it’s clear both of them would rather be there with each other. Elsewhere, Eric seeks out a new source of strength as he tries to recover his spirits after his attack in episode 5.
It was inevitable that this show was going to have at least one school-dance episode, and I think placing it here actually gives it better dramatic material than at the end of the season. Both Maeve and Otis are on the brink of something, questioning whether they have what it takes to go after it, or if they even want it in the first place. And everything goes down: there’s teenagers getting secretly wasted, barbed tete-a-tetes in the bathrooms, an overwhelmingly public declaration of love, a dramatic entrance that’s almost a literal record-scratch moment, and Adam’s mom taking pre-dance photos of Adam with his headmaster dad, with the exact same fervor with which an excited parent would snap pictures of their kid with their date. This episode has it all!
Unfortunately, it also has what appears to be multiple mid-game Black love interests, and even in 2019, that was already tired. I like both of these characters. They’re charming and entertaining and they’re clearly into their love interests, for not-always-discernible reasons. But the wheel weaves as the wheel wills, and unless this show is heading for a sharp curve, both of them are just pitstops and ultimately won’t matter. And that sucks.
Eric fares better than either of them. While it doesn’t cancel out these other characters’ shoddy treatment by the story, it’s good that Ncuti Gatwa has some nice material to work with. Eric is still feeling depressed and aimless, but he’s offered a bit of grace from a few unexpected sources, and that helps him regain his confidence and sense of self.
There are a few strong scenes to note here. I really like watching Gatwa’s expressions when Eric is at church with his family, listening to the preacher’s message that “love your neighbor as yourself” means you have to love yourself first. As with episode 6, it’s all in Gatwa’s face as he wordlessly reacts to the scene around him. He’s at first wary of the very idea of hope, then starts to feel moved despite himself, then dives in with abandon. And Eric has a great scene with his dad, addressing that, while his dad obviously loves him, that love is so frequently sublimated into fear for Eric’s safety/belonging, which drags Eric down instead of building him up.
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