If you would like to read my review of the last episode, click here.
Synopsis: Ramon goes missing after a disturbing family incident. Audrey clashes with Steve during and after a morning talk show. Ashley and Malcolm weigh the pros and cons of a corporate future. Farid’s guilt drives him to extremes, damaging his family ties. Greg gets enlightenment during a visit with Audrey’s brother Ike. A cataclysmic event shakes the family to its core. (HBO)
Writer: Alan Ball
Director: Jeremy Podeswa
Rating: TV-MA
Running Time: 5mins
Airs: Sundays at 9pm on HBO Canada (Canada)/HBO (United States)
This episode started where the last left off with Malcolm beating on Ramon for what happened. He thought he was saving her from a fire so he threw her out of the treehouse but there wasn’t a fire and was just another hallucination. It wasn’t his fault but Ashley wasn’t happy with Ramon.
Ramon believed something was coming. While driving with Greg and Duc to the hospital, Ramon saw another “11:11” and chased a fire man to a family having a barbecue. Meanwhile, when talking to Hailey, she claimed to have seen a fire and smelt smoke. Duc confronted Greg about his earlier cheating and how it related to his upbringing from a teenage prostitute. The conversation then shifted to how neither of them was perfect and that Greg knew Duc wasn’t celibate.
Shokrani was still reeling over the near accident. Another flashback of him as a child showed his mother handing him the device that he would use to mutilate himself. Her mother scratched her face as his Uncle Amir was taking him away. Kristen and Navid texted each other about their situations and talked about leaving their problems behind.
An upset Greg returned home after losing two sons. Ramon texted Kristen that he was okay but didn’t want to see or talk to anyone. An emotional Duc visited Carmen for comfort. Shokrani felt remorse for leaving his mother behind. He believed what was happening was all a punishment. Kristen and Navid had trouble being intimate before an upset Kristen drove them away.
Shokrani woke up in the middle of the night to find the same device that mutilated him as a child. He would later use it to punish himself while his wife watched. Duc and Carmen shared their childhood traumas. Greg went back to working on Duc’s foreward, he got a call from Ike (Ted Levine). Ramon tried to find the fire man in his game. He got a message from the fire man telling him to meet him in public at a mountain.
Ashley and Malcolm talked about the business deal with her website. Later, she met with someone about the deal. Audrey made an appearance at a morning show promoting the Empathy Initiative. During the appearance, a caller pressed Steven who admitted that he walked away from his problems rather than solving them. Audrey left Steven.
Ramon had a knife pulled on him by a homeless man who wanted to take his bike. That man just happened to have the same name as Henry. Shokrani’s family witnessed the outcome of his earlier behavior and both believed he needed help. Greg visited Ike to talk about Ramon and how he was on fire again. Whatever was affecting him was outside of him and was everywhere.
Duc and Carmen finally went there. Ashley thought she was only wanted for her race so she was considering not accepting the deal. Shokrani visited Imam Chuck who cleaned his wounds and they connected philosophically. Navid said goodbye to Kristen since he and his mom were going to San Francisco. More weird imagery followed Ramon on his way to the mountain. Ike didn’t believe Ramon had the same condition as him. As the clock struck 11:11, Ike felt something and the mountain erupted. The subsequent quake stopped Duc and Carmen.
Ramon continued towards the mountain and the fire man as it continued to erupt.
Overall, this was a good episode and a somewhat satisfying season finale as all the characters seemed to get a resolution accept for Ramon thanks to the cliffhanger ending. Over the course of the season, the show has become something completely different. While good individually, the pieces never quite fit together and this was still the case here. The character stories didn’t quite work with the supernatural element as it just felt forgotten by the end. Maybe they’ll explore it next season if there is one.
Score: 8/10
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The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.
