Was it just me, or did the shots of Jake and Eric in the car during that opening scene look like something out of an Ed Wood flick? Not once was it ever even remotely convincing that they were really on the open road in a car. I believed it about as much as I believed Eric when he said he’d be ready to use his gun when the time came. Something I found funny, though, was that after I complained about how I didn’t buy into the chemistry between Skeet Ulrich and Kenneth Mitchell last week, they actually came off really good this episode. Maybe it’s only when they’re trying to act sentimental that I don’t buy it. Whatever the case, their sequences in Rogue River while searching for medicine to save their father’s life are unquestionably the best of the bunch this week. Of course, part of that was less to do with them than with the action scenes in the hospital, but even so.
That having been said, however, I also really enjoyed the further painting of Gray Anderson of the town’s resident asshole, thanks to his grilling of the Hawkins household. Gray kept going farther and farther over the top with his requests of Robert and his family, and you wanted to see just how much they were going to put up with it. In the case of Robert’s teenage daughter, it seemed as though it wasn’t very long at all; I admit to having been somewhat surprised that it was an intentional performance on her part. It was also nice to see Gray put in his place. That’s what you get, you son of a bitch!
In fact, the only scenes that didn’t really do anything for me were the scenes with Heather and Emily, with their attempts to make ice. The only thing I found interesting from a character development standpoint was the one bit with Heather coming within an inch of a freak-out when she couldn’t seem to make the ice; actress Sprague Grayden played the scene as if Heather felt like she was letting down this family who had taken her in, and although it could’ve gone over the top, I felt her performance worked well.
So, at the end of the episode, we still don’t know for sure that the meds worked on Mayor Green…although the preview for next week proceeded to answer the question for us (gee, thanks, CBS!)…but we do know that, in the future, Eric shouldn’t take off his fucking jacket!!!
Good lord. What an idiot.
