[6.8/10] Pretty easily the weakest of the series so far. I really like the idea of the A-story, with Lindsay getting fed up after The Freaks lure her into one zany adventure too many and she ends up wrecking her parents’ car, and her ditching them for an attempt at returning to her old life.
But the results are mixed at best. There’s not really much of an arc to it. Lindsay just returns to the Mathletes, decides it doesn’t fit her anymore, and then goes back to hanging out with the Freak contingent once more. There’s an interesting idea of trying on your old life and realizing it no longer fits, and I appreciate that Nick, Kim, Daniel, and Ken all come to cheer her on in the Mathlete competition which helps motivate it a little, but for such an interesting setup, the show just kind of lets it hang there a while before resetting the status quo.
It’s also not clear what Lindsay’s deal with the mathletes is. The idea seems to be that the mathletes are conniving and always turning on each other despite their staid, nerdy exteriors, while the freaks are rough around the edges but support each other. The problem is that the mathletes are all undeveloped, so it’s hard to grok that. Shelly is basically rude to Lindsay from the beginning, so when Lindsay pushes back at her, and the rest of the mathletes gets on board, it feels like just deserts rather than ruthlessness. And more than that, the only mathlete we really know as a character, Millie, continues to be nice to a fault, which undercuts the show’s “the mathletes are a viper’s nest” bit.
The Sam story is just a dud. I like the idea that he’s insecure about his look, and his little dancing routine in the mirror is freakin’ adorable. But again, there’s no real ending to the arc there. He just hears the guidance counselor’s device and resolves to be confident and cool...the end. His efforts to run away before more people see him in his jumpsuit have some looney tunes amusement, but on the whole it feels like an underdeveloped nothing of a story without the laughs to make up for that.
Overall, this one is a bit of a disappointment, both because Sam’s story is basically DOA, and Lindsay’s feels like a wasted opportunity, but it’s fine for what it is.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-02-03T22:34:27Z
[6.8/10] Pretty easily the weakest of the series so far. I really like the idea of the A-story, with Lindsay getting fed up after The Freaks lure her into one zany adventure too many and she ends up wrecking her parents’ car, and her ditching them for an attempt at returning to her old life.
But the results are mixed at best. There’s not really much of an arc to it. Lindsay just returns to the Mathletes, decides it doesn’t fit her anymore, and then goes back to hanging out with the Freak contingent once more. There’s an interesting idea of trying on your old life and realizing it no longer fits, and I appreciate that Nick, Kim, Daniel, and Ken all come to cheer her on in the Mathlete competition which helps motivate it a little, but for such an interesting setup, the show just kind of lets it hang there a while before resetting the status quo.
It’s also not clear what Lindsay’s deal with the mathletes is. The idea seems to be that the mathletes are conniving and always turning on each other despite their staid, nerdy exteriors, while the freaks are rough around the edges but support each other. The problem is that the mathletes are all undeveloped, so it’s hard to grok that. Shelly is basically rude to Lindsay from the beginning, so when Lindsay pushes back at her, and the rest of the mathletes gets on board, it feels like just deserts rather than ruthlessness. And more than that, the only mathlete we really know as a character, Millie, continues to be nice to a fault, which undercuts the show’s “the mathletes are a viper’s nest” bit.
The Sam story is just a dud. I like the idea that he’s insecure about his look, and his little dancing routine in the mirror is freakin’ adorable. But again, there’s no real ending to the arc there. He just hears the guidance counselor’s device and resolves to be confident and cool...the end. His efforts to run away before more people see him in his jumpsuit have some looney tunes amusement, but on the whole it feels like an underdeveloped nothing of a story without the laughs to make up for that.
Overall, this one is a bit of a disappointment, both because Sam’s story is basically DOA, and Lindsay’s feels like a wasted opportunity, but it’s fine for what it is.