POINT - 3x03 - "5"

[indy42]

POINT
3x03
"5"
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
Tony Lee as Li

[Dale]

3x03 – “5”

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The opening scene was really good stuff, it also covered one of my big annoyances about the Season so far, in the assailant having directions to the rendezvous point on his person. The idea of it being a setup works very nicely and I really liked how Alex and Harding came to the conclusion just in the nick of time. Their narrow escape provided a nice tense moment to open with and Alex being hard on herself for not realizing it was a trap sooner is fitting with her personality.

The Poker Game was fairly standard and I think you may have exhausted every stereotypical Mexican name imaginable in those opening two scenes. The name Cristo got a smile out of me and I liked his little back and forth with the Poker players. It lead to a good moment and the return of Li. With both Gorman and Li now back, the show is starting to feel more connected to Season One which brings a nice sense of continuity throughout the whole series. It was also a nice shocking way to end the teaser leading into Act One.

Jacob Blonde of the FBI intercepting Alex was a nice move and throws another obstacle in Alex’s path. Their conversation at the Coffee Shop was well done bar one or two moments. One such moment was Blonde telling Alex about the weapons then Alex asking if the shipment was drugs as if Blonde hadn’t told her a thing about the weapons at all. It felt like those lines got switched around somehow. I like how all of this is tying back to the bank robbery which started the show (back to the continuity thing) and Jacob asking Alex for help gives Alex something to do which I’m cool with. The border line (double meaning!) blackmailing was well done and I liked that Alex would go out of her way to get Harding a pardon. The scene has been one of the stand outs so far this Season, good stuff man.

Blonde being so up front with Harding about not being able to drop the charges whilst Alex wasn’t present was really nice. Blonde just seems like a great character right off the bat, willing to say or do anything to get the job done. Alex being caught out so easily doesn’t surprise me; things never go according to plan for the good guys in “Point”. I’m not so sure she should have broken character so easily and turned attention to the dead bodies in L.A.

Blonde’s meeting with Cristo not being show seems like a mistake to me. It was what the episode had been building towards. It’s not shown, then all of a sudden Blonde is shot, Alex is wrestling with Miguel, the bullets are flying and people are dying. It seemed like you go to the end and kind of rushed things a little which hurt the episode in my opinion.

The ending scene of Act Two leaves me apathetic. Blonde was a solid character. He had some good exchanges with Alex and seemed interesting which is more than I can say for the majority of characters introduced last Season. So I was sad to see Blonde pop his clogs so quickly. The little nod to Gregory, aka Theo Gorman however works well and helps to put Alex and Harding on track to meet up with out other heroes in New York.

The two person assault on the house was fairly awesome, and you knew Alex meant business as soon as she shot the guard at the door. Alex finding the picture of the president does indeed raise the question of “What does this mean?” and it should be a lot of fun finding out. Harding finding Li is intriguing and I wonder how Harding will take having to come to terms with his part in the bank robbery once again.

Overall, this episode was on track to be one of the better “Point” Episodes. Focusing entirely on alex and Harding was a good call after the opening two episodes cause I did feel as if they were falling by the wayside a little with such an intent focus on Derek and company in the opening two. The stuff with Blonde was extremely well written and wish it was extended over a couple of episodes so we could have gotten more stuff with him and Alex. I think the ending to Act Two really hurt the episode but Act three did a lot to recover from the hiccup. Alex and Harding’s discoveries should lead to some quality stuff in the coming episodes and I hope “Point” continues in this more straight forward, less time skipping, type of format.

Overall: 8/10[/center]