1x08 Ghost Stories

(1,234-word review) The first half, or mostly everything up to the revelation about Nathan Bowen, while imbued with a mild feeling of "decent enough but could be better," similar to the second and fifth episodes concerning less story progression and more character development/time with the characters, was still worthy of an 8 out of 10 – even then, not to mention the 7s I gave those two episodes weren't even low ratings, though an eight has more discernible weight and power behind it, hence the relevance of mentioning that this one was worthy of such a rating regardless of the shared similarities with those two one-rating-lower instances; it gets the point across that it was slightly more effective and impactful – that it was better by a tiny amount than its fellow successful equivalents.

Hell, in addition to the ineffectiveness of that initial feeling, it was also temporary, and the extra detail is that it was merely surface level anyway. That's because each story arc – Tandy's fight against the Roxxon Corporation in and for her father's name/Tyrone's fight to bring down Connors – was given prominent progression. She obtained additional information/evidence of their negligence, incompetence, and stake in the eventual explosion of the oil rig that claimed lives, which goes against the lies they fed the public and the families of everyone who died, particularly the expedience nature of it all through painting her father as the scapegoat; Tyrone "successfully" accomplished his objective and took down Connors.

However, the most important thing has yet to come. That designation belongs to the final half. Tandy and Tyrone's arcs, through the progress and unfolding of them, laid the groundwork for it. Both of them had supposed conclusions that were undoubtedly the opposite. From that point onward, the pacing kept picking up, and the "conclusions" were flipped on their head, resulting in them crumbling, accompanied by twists and turns.

The tone of the episode shifted in a flash with the reveal that Nathan Bowen was abusive to Melissa Bowen – imagine the effect that has on Tandy from multiple angles: learning that her father, who she propped up in her mind, was abusive/not as much of an incredible man as she believed and perceived him to be, followed by the realizations that everything she AND her mother have been doing concerning the Roxxon Corporation to clear his name was based on a false belief. She could even feel worse about Greg's death because of that but also because of the first angle regarding the abuse and how Greg was a decent guy from what we were shown; she probably has extra regrets about how she initially treated him now and that he was killed over attempting to clear the name of such a man. That's likely the most wrenching aspect of all this for her: the fact that her mother has been spending the last eight years trying to "get justice" for Nathan despite having suffered abuse – the long-term mental and psychological side effects worst of all.

That revelation solidified this episode's already-existing, festering merit for the remainder. Tyrone's side of the tone shift, the conclusion of his story arc, and the subsequent crumbling of it happened next, with the ending, and I have a few things to say about it. It was somewhat of a shock in two ways – that itself was a shock because I've seen this entire show once before now; I forgot about such a pivotal thing.

The first way was Fuchs' now-revealed red herring characterization; he had perceptible importance but through a subtle, ambiguously questionable lens. The second way relates to something I remember happening to O'Reilly, either at the end of the next episode or in the finale, which I thought involved him for a split moment; I also remember it leads to something else, something that was a bit of a twist and crossed over to the next season with a prominent focus on it concerning that element of her character.

Anyway, everything lined up; everything made sense, pointing to the assumption that he was the type of character his presentation suggested, only he wasn't, hence the slight shock factor for me this time. But I vaguely recalled that reveal/twist right when the scene began.

"Ending" by Isak Danielson – a fitting name in this instance, given its corresponding placement – the song that began after the front-row experience within Melissa's head up to the final scene was top-notch, and the quick, easy-to-miss visual storytelling in the middle of that montage was equally so. I am referring to how Tyrone showed emotional, though overall support but in a non-forceful way to Tandy without being intrusive by following her at a distance and hinting to her that he's supporting her – that he's there, in addition to being close enough to become further involved in that showing of support in a more intimate, face-to-face way whenever or if she needs it. That presented a different outlook/consideration to Tandy in the form of Tyrone, who contradicts and counteracts her mother's words about how everyone only has themselves.

The other songs, "Dark Side" by Bishop Briggs during the back-and-forth montage of Tyrone and Tandy's respective preparations for taking the crucial step in advancing both story arcs of theirs and "to the grave" by Bea Miller afterward as each advancement is unfolding, were comparably excellent. Bishop's song didn't sound familiar, but I immediately recognized Bea's because it's one of the many songs I have downloaded; the origin of that was likely due to hearing it in this episode in the past, except the memory of it escapes me now.

Amid everything aforementioned, we got some potential foreshadowing from Chantelle Fusilier's (Evita's aunt) story about the 4,000 deaths in New Orleans caused by the Spanish Flu, particularly the part about Jack Rogers giving up his life through the selfless act of giving all of his blood to save a dozen patients, plus his lover. Besides the possible relation of what she said about ghosts – ("Only spirits looking to settle a score would harm a person. Ghosts aren't about abject fear. They're about justice. They're here to right a wrong.") – to Tyrone's masquerading-as-Billy ploy against Connors, with the slight variation of being about "abject fear," the story could be foreshadowing the imminent disaster she spoke of to Evita in the sixth episode that she believed was coming, relating to the divine pairing; Jack Rogers and Bobo Smith were likely one of those pairings.

The energy that the Roxxon Corporation is digging up is probably the present-day equivalent of the Spanish Flu; Tyrone is Jack, and he'll absorb all of it, and out of everyone who gets infected, and possibly out of Tandy, the equivalent of Jack's lover. He'll be saving people, only it'll be too much for him to handle, and the deviation from the past instance of the divine pairing will be that she ends up returning the favor of him helping her open the door inside Ivan's mind, as he did tell her that she owes him for doing that, and that'll be through the act of saving his life afterward: breaking the "one will live, and one will die" cycle. Concerning the "returning favors" aspect, that would essentially do as much for his assistance with Ivan but not being saved by her; however, saving someone's life is a significant enough deed to apply to both instances.