A major event shakes Colony’s foundation as a new villain rises in “Lost Boy.”
Er, rather, experimenting with itself.
It wasnt just our upper lips after all!
Turns out both have the same screen presence, oddly enough.
If it sounds like Im trivializing something tragic and dire here, well, I am.
I usually attempt to be extra serious and reverential to this series in my reviews.
And you know what?
I bet this episode is amazing on paper.
Its meticulously designed, strenuously thought out, and delicately crafted.
I can spot that from a mile away and admire it, too.
(Thanks, you two.)
And, unfortunately, its because of the performances.
Believe me, that is something I donotwant to say!
But this week, they appear to be acting in a completely different TV show.
A show thats more exaggerated, not nearly as subtle, and, dare I say, campy.
A show that is not theColonyI fell in love with.
But I get it.
Its been a friggin long-ass 13-episode season for these folks.
Faking emotional breakdowns all day, every day is not easy work.
(Mastering your glower is everything on this show, is it not?)
There is such a thing as overselling things, though.
And thats what I feel is going on here.
Characters overreact as the actors who portray them search for where they left their motivation.
So the experience is not as intimate this time around as it usually it is.
We feel everything these characters go through, big or small.
Sometimes theres a fumble or two but its only for a moment.
Instead of being present with the characters in the action here, were watching from afar.
And that cheapens the whole experience somehow.
Perhaps this distance is created by this episodes format.
That alone removes us from the events presented here by several degrees.
Will it let the story start dictating the characters full-time now?
(In other words, is it going to go theLostroute?)
Or will we still feel like were living inside the skins of these characters?
Delivery aside, there is still a lot to admire about Lost Boy.
It aims to be a dystopian art film and winds up being a pretentious TV movie-of-the-week instead.
But regardless of how it played out on-screen, this a pivotal episode no matter how you slice it.
Rating:
3 out of 5
