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The stakes are high this week on The Brink. With Walter not being able to keep up his part of the deal, the President takes executive action that will most definitely lead to a nuclear attack. And jokes, probably.
Still dealing with the crazies that have taken them in as prisoners/guests, Zeke and Glenn go ahead and agree to help them indulge in their fantasies in exchange for the use of a phone. This comes after an admission of cannibalism and an obvious imbalance displayed by their captors (now named Martin and Vanessa). A gunshot, an arrow, and lots of yelling later, the group finds themselves on their way to the hospital. In a wacky turn of events, Zeke comes face to face with his earlier would be captors, one of which he had elbowed quite hard in the face. Turns out, the broken nosed angry man is the son of a warlord. Way to go Zeke.
This part of the storyline is fine and all, but it feels like it’s been shoehorned into the overall arc in order to keep that connection with the everyman. There’s no need for the contrast though, as it’s all supposed to be satire. From what I garner, they’re using Zeke in order to demonstrate the problems that come from war. How is it affecting the people on the ground, etc.? However, isn’t that what Alex and co are supposed to be for? It’s the exact same idea, but just with a few little tweaks of character here and there. Maybe my cynicism for the whole project has finally gotten the best of me, but the extraneous details are keeping the viewer from more important scenes.
On the other side of things we now have Walter trying to get information out of his wife, the same wife who’s taken the job at the Pentagon and is working for Walter’s arch nemesis. It’s nice to see the dynamic between them, but it was a little disappointing that there wasn’t more in store for them this episode. I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Walter is the best part of the show, and using him sparingly isn’t doing anyone any favors.
The storyline has gotten more interesting as the world marches on to oblivion. Knowing what we do about politics and the general way of war, it’s actually not that far off to think about a crazy general coming to power and threatening all of man kind’s existence. One has to wonder if this isn’t hitting closer to home for some of the officials that have actually had to deal with this sort of situation. As we move towards the season finale, it becomes more and more pertinent to find out what’s actually going to happen with the country constantly teetering on the brink. Either they’ll begin a war (effectively screwing more than just themselves) or things will deescalate. Either way, it’s going to drastically change the dynamic of the show into a whole other monster.
The biggest moment in this week’s episode was the revelation that Alex has inadvertently led the Pakistan government to believe that he’s holding the seven girls he’s been protecting at the embassy hostage. After days of complete radio silence, the girls are given the wifi password and immediately begin to tweet about the goings on within the embassy. Of course, they’ve taken to calling Alex “Uncle Creepy”, a message that comes off looking like code when they complain about his antics over social media. Alex has now escalated the situation to the point of no return.
The girls will play a critical role in this, and I have to say I was impressed with the way they set the storyline up. While the script itself is generally still questionable, the storyline and the major plot points are keeping things afloat. Moving into next week, there may or may not be an attack on the embassy. That’s a sure fire way to set things into motion if they do decide to strike back/strike down any potential threats to the US. Considering the fact that HBO has renewed the show for a second season, I think it’s safe to sit comfortably in the glow of the series’s better episodes we’ve been getting. It was touch and go for a while there. Things could be better, but they could always be worse so here’s a big thumbs up for that!
