Episode 4

Let me start by being thoroughly honest: I hated Episode 4. It was weak, as if the writer didn’t have a handle on who these characters were and how they worked in this world. The “good” guys were smug to the point of stupidity, the “bad” guys inhumanly (not in a godly way) thoughtless.

Only Anders survived this episode for me, and that only because he somehow managed to get a happy ending for all his clients by betraying each and every one of them. That bit of the episode was pleasingly clever (where the cold medicine became the new Viagra, was selling like hotcakes, that Rosie got a book contract, and the guy got his Disney movie, etc.) but that was the sole saving point of the whole.

We learned that Dawn is ever so nice and green and perfect — and completely passive and oblivious. Why did she let Ty torture that blackmailer and what was Ty thinking when doing so? That was pretty much the definition of grievous bodily harm in my opinion — dismissing it as Indian rope burn due to having brothers doesn’t make it any less torture. I did appreciate the name tag gag, but it was a gag for manipulative hardened Anders, not for logical-sensible Ty.

There was no logical-sensible Ty here (nor was there much in Episode 3, I admit). His character is all over the place. After two solid episodes of him being the thoughtful dependable character, Episode 3 turned him into a sentimental fool (I had hoped it was temporary although I loved loved loved the fairy apple snow scene) and Episode 4 into a thug.

There was simply no chemistry between Dawn and Ty. And yet, they portrayed him as lovesick. In contrast, there was enough chemistry in that single scene with Anders and Ty (the one with “don’t mess in my business”) to power an entire slash community of fan fiction writers.

*cough*

Mike, noble Mike, made me want to smack him. He’s being an absolute idiot as far as family finances go (which, I am afraid to say, Anders is completely right about). You can’t have it both ways: supporting Olaf in abandoning Rhiannon *and* displaying unnecessary priggitude about the dodgy house, without even going after the incompetent subcontractor, that’s just inconsistent.

The Olaf storyline made me crazy. Lying, ineptitude, immaturity, callousness. How did wise ZebraReindeer Olaf, who comforted Ty after he had to say goodbye to Idunn, suddenly become this…oaf? (Don’t say an l-ectomy. The pun is too obvious.)

The development was so obviously intended to show Axl’s “growth” as the adult/leader of the family, and yet it fell so flat. Only the actor’s charm who plays Axl really pulled this off for me. I loved his confrontation with Anders, and his quiet moment with Gaia. Apart from that, it was such soppy sentimentalism, that I thought they brought in a Hollywood writer rather than relying on NZ talent.

I have little tolerance for schmoopitude and poor character writing.

What a let-down, especially when a lighter hand and a different writer could have had the characters and story progress to the needed end-points without the ham-handed character assassination that occurred.