1x04 Make Way For... Medusa

[6.3/10] It’s become clear that Inhumans is sticking to a soap opera structure for its storytelling this season, meaning there’s not much of a unified story or even a theme within an episode, but rather we just check in with the different characters in their different portions of the narrative a little bit each week, with one or two stories getting a little more focus. There’s nothing wrong with that. It makes things feel a little jumbled at times, but particularly for a show that’s been uneven in terms of quality, it’s essentially diversifying the series’s portfolio, so that if one storyline annoys you, you won’t have to deal with too much of it.

The downside is that when something on the show is working, it makes the other plotlines look weaker by comparison, and that’s definitely the case this week with the Medusa/Louise pairing. I have to admit, I couldn’t even remember Louise’s name until this episode, but there’s a really great dynamic between her and the Inhuman queen that makes their part of the episode the best thing Inhumans has done so far. Something about the haughty, determined regent bouncing off the nerdy, occasionally out-of-sorts, but just as strong-willed scientist really works. It’s a credit to the performers who have great buddy comedy chemistry with one another, and even the material they’re given to work with is pretty good (sans the heavy-handed flashbacks) at explaining what role each fills in the other’s life and what’s motivating them.

Were that the same could be said for Karnak’s awful storyline. I actually liked what little we say of his watered down Breaking Bad situation in the last episode, but here, Jen, the only woman among the collection of Walking Dead rejects he runs into, quickly becomes a manic pixie dream girl, who’s just there to teach Karnak the wondrous ways of Earth while causing the obviously evil dude to go murderous. It doesn’t help that a 90s slow jam plays over their gratuitous scene at the beach, while the bad guy cornily looks on with an ominous look.

The rest of the episode is hit or miss. There’s some juice to Maximus dealing with his old friend on the genetic council who abandoned him once it was clear that teregenisis had made him human. Again, there’s an interesting core to the idea of Maximus trying to topple a system that valued him less because of how he was born or made, and this may be giving the show too much credit, but it feels like we’re poised to see the rest of the royal family understand/accept Maximus after their own time being with an understanding humans. But for the most part, Maximus has cheesy bad guy material to work with.

That includes him talking on the phone to the doctor/researcher who picks up Black Bolt and his new friend. The storyline is pretty undercooked here, but Black Bolt and his buddy figure out that something is fishy with the Doctor (who has a nice screen presence), and get the hell out of dodge, eventually running into Auron and her gang (including Mortis) who are hunting them. The whole confrontation is pretty stupid, with the gas explosion miraculously not hurting our heroes, just the bad guys, and the entire thing coming off cheesy as hell. But I guess Black Bolt and Medusa are reunited as the gang slowly regroups, which, frankly, just makes me sad we don’t get more of the pure Medusa/Louise team-up.

We also get a blink-and-you’ll miss it scene with Gorgon loudly declaring that these guys he’s known for a few hours are officially like family to him now, and he’s had a rapid change of heart about how he feels about humans. It’s super rushed, and Suicide Squad basically tried my last bit of patience at superhero stories declaring that people are a family without adequately developing it.

Last, and potentially least, is Crystal talking to the Human Hunk who drove his fourwheeler into LockJaw, and him just so happening to have an ex-girlfriend who’s a vet tech. It’s poised to be a lame love triangle (as the awful between the Hunk and his ex portends), and other dumb shtick like Crystal randomly changing into farm girl attire or being taught how to high five by the Hunk makes this part a real stinker.

Overall, good chunks of the episode are pretty weak, but the Medusa/Louise material is so good that it lifts all boats, and it helps that it gets the lion’s share of the runtime here.