Avenue 5 (1×09) Eight Arms But No Hands Review

Synopsis: A search party commences for Matt, who’s in hiding with a guilty conscience , and the airlock codes. Iris questions Karen about her rumored affair with Ryan. Rav seeks an apology from Judd for ruining her life, as chaos ensues when a seat on a rescue shuttle suddenly becomes available. (HBO)

Checking back in on Avenue 5, it has certainly improved since I’ve written about it last. It just needed to find a direction and now it kind of has now that it focuses on the dysfunction of the ship’s passengers and crew as they deal with being stranded in space and less on the goings on Earth. There was a little too much going on before therefore the narrowing of the characters and the subplots have made for a much easier watch though Josh Gad’s Judd continues to be a sore spot as his performances as well as the material have simply not be funny, however, it is improving. Hugh Laurie’s Clark continues to be the saving grace for the series. Ultimately, if you think that these characters will be coming back to Earth anytime soon (because why should they?) then think again.

Eight Arms But No Hands began with the characters still reeling by the stupid deaths of some the passengers that happened at the end of last week’s episode. Matt felt so guilty about what happened (he was responsible) so he changed the airlock code and disappeared. The room immediately assumed he’d kill himself as they struggled to think of something nice to say about him. The characters then split up in pairs to scour the ship for Matt (Karen and Iris worked on jettising more stuff out of the ship). Meanwhile, Rav and the shuttle meant for Judd arrived.

The search for Matt was going nowhere but the dialog between the different pairings was fun (Clark and Judd and the supermodel Matt and his sweet moves stood out). Matt’s room was interesting. Rav getting caught up with the happenings of the ship was funny (as was her later slapping Judd a few times). Clark and Judd eventually found Matt who had since given up. His mention of filling the void meant his hunger. Meanwhile, the crew needed Joe’s face and fingerprints to take control of the ship just in case Clark failed.

The major part of the episode of course involved the characters fighting each other for a spot on the shuttle. The best moment was Judd being convinced to not go since he was universally hated on Earth. Iris was the one who actually got to leave as she accidentally locked herself in. Meanwhile, the characters would be given bad news as Karen jettising items out of the wrong airlock meant that the ship was knocked off course again, extending their trip home for 8.5 years.

In the end, seeing that the crisis ending the season is still the same, hopefully next season changes things up as this formula certainly can’t last too much longer.

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Keith Noakes

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.