[7.3/10] I have real mixed feelings about this episode. I love what “Ro’s Reunion” does in terms of the psychology of Ro and Zeta. There’s a host of complicated feelings that come with seeing long lost family members, especially when it could mean jeopardizing or even jettisoning the found familial relationship that has sustained you up until this point. Ro putting not only her freedom at risk (via the risk of being shipped back to a girls’ home), but having to decide whether to put Zeta at risk, in order to find her long lost brother, is meaty moral stuff.
By the same token, I like Zee’s part of it too. Him telling Ro that he would miss her, but that he wouldn’t want to keep her with him knowing it would keep her away from her family is a really warm thing to say from ol’ sugar-circuits. At the same time, the ending, where the pair realize that, blood or not, they’ve become like family, is the right sort of resolution here.
The other side of the coin is that I low-key loathe the plot obstacles the episode throws in our heroes’ way here. For one thing, this isn’t a story that lends itself to action, so they have to contrive a corrupt TV producer trying to trap Zeta and send him off, and the NSA springing on them to inject some fireworks into what’s otherwise a mostly internal story.
But my bigger complaint is that the show takes what could be an interesting dilemma -- Do I turn my heartfelt reunion with a long lost family member into a television spectacle, and maybe one that puts me and my friend at risk, because it’s the only way? -- into a cornball T.V. corruption story. The prospect that the producer and foster care worker are hiring actors to produce televised schmaltz, misleading innocent people, and being on the take from one another and the state for such betrayals, is such a weird, over-the-top sort of villainy. Oh and of course, the ersatz Oprah who hosts the show knew nothing about it. It’s strangely exaggerated corruption while toothless in its unwillingness to show an Oprah-type being in on the scam.
Overall, the strong Ro/Zeta material makes this one worthwhile, and even must-see for the show, but the weak attempt at talk show conspiracies and tacked on action sequence drag it down.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-07-03T18:46:22Z
[7.3/10] I have real mixed feelings about this episode. I love what “Ro’s Reunion” does in terms of the psychology of Ro and Zeta. There’s a host of complicated feelings that come with seeing long lost family members, especially when it could mean jeopardizing or even jettisoning the found familial relationship that has sustained you up until this point. Ro putting not only her freedom at risk (via the risk of being shipped back to a girls’ home), but having to decide whether to put Zeta at risk, in order to find her long lost brother, is meaty moral stuff.
By the same token, I like Zee’s part of it too. Him telling Ro that he would miss her, but that he wouldn’t want to keep her with him knowing it would keep her away from her family is a really warm thing to say from ol’ sugar-circuits. At the same time, the ending, where the pair realize that, blood or not, they’ve become like family, is the right sort of resolution here.
The other side of the coin is that I low-key loathe the plot obstacles the episode throws in our heroes’ way here. For one thing, this isn’t a story that lends itself to action, so they have to contrive a corrupt TV producer trying to trap Zeta and send him off, and the NSA springing on them to inject some fireworks into what’s otherwise a mostly internal story.
But my bigger complaint is that the show takes what could be an interesting dilemma -- Do I turn my heartfelt reunion with a long lost family member into a television spectacle, and maybe one that puts me and my friend at risk, because it’s the only way? -- into a cornball T.V. corruption story. The prospect that the producer and foster care worker are hiring actors to produce televised schmaltz, misleading innocent people, and being on the take from one another and the state for such betrayals, is such a weird, over-the-top sort of villainy. Oh and of course, the ersatz Oprah who hosts the show knew nothing about it. It’s strangely exaggerated corruption while toothless in its unwillingness to show an Oprah-type being in on the scam.
Overall, the strong Ro/Zeta material makes this one worthwhile, and even must-see for the show, but the weak attempt at talk show conspiracies and tacked on action sequence drag it down.