POINT - 3x01 - "After the Fire"

[indy42]

POINT
3x01
"After the Fire"

READ HERE

Starring
Michelle Rodriguez as Alex Weiss
Jeremy Davies as Derek Shan
Adrian Lester as Harding
Ken Leung as Wells
Michelle Monaghan as Sophie
Christoph Waltz as C.O.
Alexandra Daddario as Molly
with
John Leguizamo as Scott Cereghino

Guest Starring
Karl Urban as Jasper Aaronson

[Dale]

3x01 – “After the Fire”

Point has often been a show of ups and downs for me; sometimes showing signs of brilliance and other times ... well let’s just say less than brilliant and leave it at that. But Indy has a clear passion and dedication to his work and that often shines through despite some of the narrative failures, which is what keeps me coming back. Now “Point” is entering its third season which I wouldn’t have guessed would happen back when Indy started this show and he seems to have a clear sight on where he wants things to go.

Season Three picks up moments after we left “House of Cards” at the end of Season Two, with the distraction of the Amphitheatre. Scott finds himself conscious is a sea of dead bodies and what follows is almost a dream like scene as Scott runs outside to find a waiting Limousine. The conversation between C.O, who was waiting inside the Limo, and Scott was suitably cryptic for C.O and kind of made you wonder for a moment just who side Scott’s on. I liked how casually C.O talks about our heroes, stating “And Sophie ... yes she’s lovely” despite the fact he just tried to blow them all into a million pieces.

Fin Black has been both an interesting, yet kind of flat character so far in the shows history. I do like this little tug of war for control he has going on with C.O. Fin makes threats to C.O that he can make C.O do what he wants and C.O just kind of shrugs it off, almost challenging Black to try. It creates a nice sense of animosity yet cooperation between the bad guys and I hope the heroes of the piece can exploit it to screw up whatever plan in New York C.O and Fin have.

Scott’s day just isn’t going at all the way he wants is it? C.O’s conversation with Scott was reminiscent of some of the stuff he said last year, challenging the group of five as he put it to try and stop what he has planned. I liked the subtle nods to these plans and the House of Cards cult (I’m assuming that’s what he meant) being thousands of years old. Scott being shot at left for dead is a good way to end the Act, and we’re left questioning if that group of five will soon be a group of four.

Act Two began with a very interesting conversation between Sophie and a mystery voice on the phone. Part f Season Two that really irked me was the talk of their being a mole in Johnson’s organisation and then that plot line being all but forgotten about until the end. I liked the phone call with Gregory and the fact he has information for Sophie. It’ll help move the plot along and put the heroes on the case as it where.

Wells and Derek in the amphitheatre was good stuff, I liked how it tied in with the Limo leaving and Jay getting a send off after his appearance at the end of Season Two was cool. I liked that you followed up on the “C” brand because that was a cool idea that I enjoyed last Season. Sophie’s phone call, getting in contact with part of the group was telegraphed but it worked. I thought Derek’s reaction to Sophie’s car being bombed was a little weak and the dialogue here wasn’t your strongest. It lead into a good moment though as Sophie realized that Scott was the one with the detonator.

The ending few scenes well executed. I really liked the return of Alex and the concern Derek showed for her. I think the time skips at the beginning of each Act was a little too much and the little “What about [Insert Character Name Here]?” got old very quickly. I think it must have been done with every character at some point this episode. Derek saying Scott had a run in with C.O kind of leaves his fate open ended. The attack on Alex and Harding was just the kind of thing you’d expect from this show and I hope, after their weird out of nowhere kiss in the previous season Harding and Alex are forced to spend more time and build a stronger bond with one another.

The closing scene with Fin and Aaronson worked very well, the dialogue was some of the strongest in the whole episode and the subtle little nods as to what was about to be revealed built up to the ending moment nicely.

Overall, this was not the perfect opening to Season three “Point” could have hoped for but it’s a strong one. It wastes no time in delivering the some kind of action we expect from the show whilst also positioning the positions for the Season to come. The episode had its flaws but the good outweighs the bad in my opinion. I’d like to have seen more from Alex since I think she’s been the shows strongest character since Season One and apart from a scene or two at the end we didn’t really get much from her. The bad guys trying to put a corrupt politician in the White House works fine and plays nicely off the early conversations between Fin and C.O as they discuss no longer having a public face. A solid start to what I hope will be the most focused Season of “Point” yet.


Overall: 7.5/10