Make Way for Medusa – As Black Bolt is taken to Evan’s lab, Medusa and Louise try to track him down while Auran and her team do the same. Crystal meets new friends to help an injured Lockjaw. Maximus finds a new path to ruling and Karnak enjoys some Hawaiian chill.
It’s an improved episode this week as more of the show’s separate story areas find their feet. Last week’s conclusion brought Medusa and Louise together. Both are much more entertaining this way as they go on a mini road movie together. Louise’s Felicity Smoak clone quirkiness plays off well against the more stern and serious Medusa determined to re-unite with her husband. The fish-out-of-water comedy is better as Medusa’s confusion over aspects of the Human world has Louise for context and related quips. Even the moments of Louise geeking out over-hanging out with alien royalty from the moon are fun. I wasn’t sold on Crystal’s crash landing to Earth last week but the resulting scenes are much better than expected. From her first conversation with quad biker Dave, this screams of a romantic subplot whereby Crystal will fall in love with a human. Yet there’s good dialogue in their exchanges, especially with the third wheel of Dave’s ex in the mix.
The main stories also see some good progression thanks to the involvement of geneticist Evan and Maximus being his secretive private funder. While Max has overthrown the Royal Family of Attilan by force, he will never be truly accepted as a leader due to being an Inhuman squib. So if Evan can unlock the secrets to human/Inhuman genetic transformation, Maximus can finally become a true Inhuman and be seen as the rightful ruler. It gives Maximus more credibility as a villain; he must have been planning this well in advance to fund and setup Evan’s lab. While on Earth, we get some good payoffs as Black Bolt and Medusa finally reunite to mark a good halfway point in the season. In the first half they find each other, the second they find their way back home. There are some nice teases over Louise being part of that story as her SpaceX-like company can get to the moon (eventually). This establishes a clear end game of the Royals returning to Attilan via shuttle more than likely accompanied by Louise. I really liked the expanded back story of Louise’s scientist father missing out being a Moon astronaut as NASA favored pilots. Having her make that journey for her father and herself would pay that off well.
Unfortunately, the show is still throwing dumb moments at us thick and fast. The various Royal Family members are still casually telling people of their moon city despite the fact it’s supposed to be a colossal secret. The episode even opens trying to sell the idea that a regular road car could successfully chase down a helicopter.... oh dear. That’s almost as a bad as getting more whiny emo b**** Mortis. While there is considerable improvement all round, the Karnak and Gorgon stories are still floundering before their eventual reunion. I can see why they’d mix the precise-thinking Karnak with the laid back and free-spirited Jen for such a contrast but the ensuing material just isn’t that engaging. The jokes on his seriousness don’t land and his toddler like waddle into the water downright embarrassing. Gorgon’s story with his surfer buddies is getting better as they are building some chemistry.... so this episode seemingly leaving that behind feels like a giant hoof backwards. Of all the main cast, I feel like Eme Ikwuakor’s Gorgon has become the least effective. He doesn’t feel like a powerful warrior. In fact, he’s feeling increasingly awkward on screen.
Inhumans marks its mid-season point by finally gathering itself after a difficult landing. It’s finally starting to show some promise and hopefully will keep moving in that direction.