[rating=7.00] “There Will Be Consequences”
The first finale of The Brink finally had something the rest of the season was missing. Humor! It exists! This isn’t to say it made up for the rest of the season, at all. This final episode should have been the end of the story. However, instead we got a cliffhanger that ensures hijinks for another insufferable five hours of a war story that closely mirrors events happening every day. What ever happened to escapism?
To no one’s surprise, everything worked out perfectly for everyone involved because America. Currently season two is ordered, but not yet written. Perhaps they’ll pull a True Detective and start from scratch with new characters (a subsequent presidency perhaps?) or (more likely) they’ll bring back all the usual suspects. On paper, this should have worked. The talent is there, the network is there, and yet we were in a constant state of upset over the failures we faced every week.
If you’re keeping track, this week Walter was able to save everyone’s ass for nothing more than the satisfaction of keeping the world from fracturing, again. Granted that’s a pretty big win, however how hard is it for the President to give him a pat on the back for doing the job of a whole war council? Walter’s resignation won’t last long, if they do bring back the original characters next season he’s literally the only person holding up treaties and borders to keep World War III from starting. On that same note, where are things going with Alex? Will they send him to Paris after-all? And if that’s the case then is that setting us up for next season?
The big reveal we got at the end of the episode was the fact that the fuel carrier holding the bomb crashed in East Africa (more specifically Eritrea.) Of course, the bomb is nestled safely in the wreckage, and is quickly picked up by who we can only assume to be Africa war lords. If the bomb wasn’t safe in the hands of a crazy General, things will undoubtedly get way worse in a country where everything can disappear in the vast country side. How will they handle it this time? Zeke and Jammer are already wandering the wilderness, so they won’t be around to get intoxicated and shoot things. Maybe send Alex up? Let him bumble his way through it? Paris and then high-jacking a plane to save the day. It could work.
Since nothing really happened, the episode legitimately felt like a five minute short. Walter managed to screw his wife, which hey, that’s definitely a reward for all his hard work. However the whole thing was a set up to ensure various countries and high-ranking entities know that Walter can organize a world-wide initiative with his eyes closed. Or buried deep in the ever gorgeous Carla Gugino, whichever happens to work better with the situation.
The President was finally funny this week. Granted it was only for about a minute, but it was nice to see someone interacting with Walter other than himself. That’s one of the huge issues the show is facing, the lack of interaction between characters. Think for a moment how frustrating epic shows are when it comes to the character maps. Game of Thrones for instance finally had a few of the fan favorite characters meet for the first time. As hard as it was to wait, and as strange as it is to see them all in the same scene, things get more interesting and act as a promise for great things to come. By contrast, Brink is not an epic. Nor is it a serious drama that needs a lot of build-up. It’s a half-hour satirical war piece that refuses to meet its potential.
Since the second season is inevitable (unless the HBO gods step in) one can only hope that the series has finally hit its stride. If every episode had the same cadence, humor, and tone as the finale there would have been a decent comedy to follow all the heavy shows HBO tends to offer during the summer. Though it doesn’t seem likely that The Brink will ever become a rip-roaring number one comedy, it has the ability to at least work with what it’s got.
