#zrs9m16

[abeltownshipslittlebitch]

My review for ZRS9M16

Warning: Spoilers below

Okay, so for once I’m glad to say I didn’t hate this episode. Like the entire time I was waiting for something to happen that would make me angry and never want to replay this ep, but that didn’t happen. However, since we had to wait 10 months in between P1 and P2 of S9, I have to say this ep felt a little underwhelming. However, because I didn’t hate this mission, let me tell you some of the things I did like and some of the things I didn’t.

What I liked:

•Peter. This is a given. I love Peter. I’m a Peter/5 shipper now bc of this season. Just about any time he spoke I was happy. He wasn’t as sarcastic as normal but he wasn’t self-deprecating either so I’m okay with that. Also I don’t blame him for trying to shoot Ernie. Seeing that Ernie has given us no real reason to trust him, and he literally ratted us out and gave away our location, I say good for Peter for taking the initiative.

• Moving on to Ernie. I LIKED that he gave away our location. Just like how we have no real reason to trust him, he has no reason to trust us. Unless we tried to kidnap him, there’s no way he would have come with us. Do I think he’s the secret boss? No. If he was, he wouldn’t be hiding in a shed/garden thing. Also it’s clear he has no memory of Five and the others so he couldn’t have made the call to Guillemette to let her know we were spies. Because if he did remember us, he wouldn’t have waited until we were about to leave. I think he would have made it clear he knew us when Janine and Five met him. Anyway, it made sense to his character to rat us out and I like that.

•I liked that Sam actually gave a shit about Five this ep, even if it was one line to Maryam “We can’t leave Five!” Although I do kind of wish for once Five could quip back bc I would be saying “oh so now you care about not leaving me?” Bc I’m still salty about him leaving when Five got that data injection thing.

•Moving back to Peter, I’m glad he didn’t get hurt this episode, something I was sure was going to happen when Bakari started talking about electric floors. I’m glad he didn’t get shot and or hurt in any other way. I’m wondering if this is S2S actually listening to complaints about how annoying it was in P1 for Peter to get hurt for laughs almost every ep.

•Bakari. Now I don’t like Bakari as a character. After calling Tom weak I don’t think I’ll ever be able to like him. But I liked that he was actually useful this mission, and that he didn’t try to get Five or Peter to take one for the team and get hurt or caught. I know Five has the biodata, which could explain it, but it’s nice that he didn’t try that shit on Peter either. I don’t care about Janine so if he would have asked it of Janine he would probably get double points but he didn’t so he just gets a mention here.

Now on to what I didn’t like:

•Janine. I don’t like her. So it’s a con for every ep that has her in it.

•We never met secret boss man. That’s one of the main things I was looking forward to. I want to know who he is. Is he a new character? Is it Valmont like some ppl on Rofflenet has theorized? Who? I want to know. I don’t think it’s Ernie. To me it doesn’t really add up. If it is him then I’m changing canon bc it just doesn’t make sense.

•I wish we would have kidnapped Ernie. Like I know I said I understand why Peter shot at him after he gave away our location, but I feel like kidnapping him would have not only given us leverage but Ernie seems pretty spineless so being able to interrogate him to figure out what’s going on in RSB would have been great.

•Where was Veronica? I did like that Bakari was useful, but Ronnie didn’t have anything to say about us getting out of here? Sam separated from us mid-ep, but Veronica always has something to say, so her being silent just felt a bit odd.

•The overall meh-ness of this mission. Was it bad? No. Was it something I would play again? Maybe, but not likely. There wasn’t anything that wowed me, and after waiting so long for the mid season premier, this felt a bit disappointing just because we’ve had 9 season of ZR and a lot of their mid season premier eps are really good, especially since mid season finale missions usually end on a huge cliffhanger.

Overall I feel like this ep wasn’t bad, but it could be better. I’m sort of wondering where we’re gonna go from here since we spent most of S9P1 trying to get to RSB and we were only there for a few eps before breaking out. I’m curious at to what they plan on doing with the rest of the season. Please let me know what y’all think and how y’all felt about this episode.

[goodplace-janet]

thoughts on zrs9m16:

- you INFILTRATE Guillemette? you infiltrate Guillemette like the spy? oh! oh! torture for runners! torture for runners for One Thousand Years!!!!!

- i enjoyed the parallel to 555's escape attempt, this time with Bakari getting a taste of his own medicine. looking forward to creeping through these spooky tunnels, maybe learning more about the red fungus, trying not to get eaten by one of those sand worms, idk

- I like that the vital info that Five carries puts them back at the center of the plot rather than on the periphery of the story like in recent seasons. It also creates a situation where other characters might put themselves in danger to protect them, if Five isn't strong or fast enough to get themself to safety? The angst potential, y'all

PETER LYNNE: And fighting Van Ark. Again. Look, I know I'm not one to talk, but why can't the dead stay dead?

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY but also lmao

(I initially was disappointed when Peter turned out to be recycled Simon, and now I like the character and his growth etc. But it is SO funny that he is the one to point this out, I can't)

tbh, I had a hard time getting immersed in the Abel vs Van Ark 2.0 conflict, probably because I simply don't care for it? But it seems really obvious to me that a physical clone is not necessarily a copy of someone's memories and motivations, and it feels like there should be more uncertainty about how BOTH nature and nurture have influenced his personality.

ON THE OTHER HAND, they started this journey with the assumption that he is the original version, still alive somehow, still out there causing problems on purpose, and that he would be their primary adversary. And then they actually came face to face with the individual who looks identical to the man who caused them so much trauma. Under those circumstances, they can't be expected to completely reconfigure their perceptions within the course of what, an hour? (Speaking of which, remind me to update the cliffhanger index 😬)

So idk.

ANYWAY

- the advice of using bad memories as code is such a great detail. this crew has so many bad memories between them, it could totally be brought back in future episodes for some quality heartbreak

SAM YAO: Wait, we can't just leave Five!

and The Writers(TM) were like “i will sprinkle in some angst for the 5AM fans”

- time for Sam + Veronica and Maryam to go collect Maxine, Frances, and Mo and stage a rescue and/or rendezvous

JANINE DE LUCA: You can drop the act, Professor.

ok but where would this clone have gotten his degrees and teaching credentials? this is what i'm talking about

SAM YAO: General... they'd obviously been keeping you in the dark about [Van Ark]

GENERAL BAKARI: I always thought creating [Van Ark] was a mistake...

*oprah voice* so what is the truth

I wish i could remember what bakari knows/says he knows about literally anything, but i didn't do the rerun/relisten i intended, so *shrug emoji*

- i want the final boss to be Valmont, so we can finally find out what is UP with him and maybe get a big showdown between Brent and Amelia with our little team just kinda stuck in the middle lol