1x05 Something Inhuman This Way Comes...

[5.2/10] So it seems like, despite the show’s propensity to check in with every character each week, one story or pairing is going to get an extra portion of the spotlight, and unfortunately, this week it’s Karnak and Jen, his manic pixie dream girl. I think that term (coined by the estimable Nathan Rabin) gets overused, by my god is this a paint-by-numbers application of it.

Jen shows up. She sleeps with Karnak after minimal introduction. She introduces him to the important concept of “doubt” and then, for vague reasons, says they have to go their separate ways. She’s a completely obvious prop for Karnak’s development here, and it doesn’t help that the lesson she’s constructed to impart -- that Karnak should embrace the notion of uncertainty now and then -- is as trite as any you’ll find on network television. This is a real loser of a storyline, even before you get to the cliché, drug-running antagonists, and the fact that it gets so much attention drags the whole thing down.

The small counterpoint to all of this is Gorgon (who’s apparently ditched that new “family” he was so keen on) trying to think like Karnak in order to find Karnak. There’s some very belabored flashbacks about the two of them having conflicting impulsive/uberplanning philosophies, and while the notion of the two learning to think a bit like the other, the execution is seriously facepalm-inducing.

And yet somehow it cannot compare with the worst, most stock scene of the show, which is saying something. When Crystal and Generic Hunk #4 use Lockjaw to teleport to the beach, they too have a ridiculous, poorly-acted conversation, this time about control vs. freedom, where the Hunk teaches Crystal the marvelous concept of “hang loose” and they announce their feelings in the way that no one does. It’s hard to put the awfulness of this scene into words, but rest assured, it’s almost worth seeking out just to see how clunky one sequence can feel (and it’s the second time in two weeks the show’s had a human run into the ocean to show one of the Inhumans the value of free-spiritedness.

The rest of the episode is fine. Medusa and Black Bolt’s reunion pays some dividends with the two communicating, but it rapidly devolves into another on-the-nose lesson about the Royals believing in the goodness of Atalan while Locus (or whatever the latest, disposable redshirt Inhuman is) talks about the caste system and how they have no freedom there. It’s meant as a searing commentary on the hypocrisy of our heroes, but it just comes off as obvious and cheesy.

The same goes for Maximus nearly turning on his barely-a-friend for questioning him. I think it’s supposed to teach us that Maximus is growing paranoid and a little unbalanced, but it’s frankly hard to tell. And the prospect of some group of hooded figures who are against Maximus adds no intrigue to the proceedings either.

Really, the only solid part of this episode is Auron waking up while being dissected by the doctor who rescued Black Bolt and taking over. There’s an intensity there that’s lacking in the rest of the episode, but it’s pretty thin broth.

Overall, this isn’t the lowest Inhumans has sunk, but it features some really clunkers that detract from the okay-to-solid material around them.