The blue filter is defeated! Huzzah! This was a really good episode.
Cons:
I feel like I have a decent list of little nitpicks, things I didn't love, but the overall pacing of the episode worked so much in its favor that I don't weigh these negatives very heavily against the overall successes... but let's go over them really quickly.
Tezca's death was the biggest negative for me in this episode. It was played up in a super dramatic fashion and I feel really bad but it just did absolutely nothing for me. Isobel and Tezca didn't get the time to really develop much of a relationship; her redemption felt half-baked to me. I think part of what made it less impactful was that she didn't really do anything in the pocket dimension, so what was the point of her sacrifice? In the end, it was Michael creating the fuel, Max able to hold off the storm, and Dallas using his water powers, that got the portal back open when Clyde closed it. So Tezca just came along in time to... die? I also wish, considering that's the last of Tezca, that she could have explained why she shoved Alex in the quicksand to begin with. Was it really just to get him out of the way? Or did she know that Michael would end up following him, and that since he has Jones's DNA, he'd thus destroy the pocket world, and that's what she wanted? I don't know, I'm super unclear on this, and I also don't really care, which isn't the best sign.
Eduardo's daughter appearing again felt like a waste of time, I'm sorry to say. A lot of watching this last season has been seeing things I wish they could have trimmed away to tighten the story, and this character is definitely one of those things.
While I'm really happy about the Isobel and Kyle development, I do want to say that their scene highlights once again the bonkers ridiculousness of this season's timeline... when Isobel said "it's been a long time coming" all I could think was... she and Anatsa broke up like five days ago or something. Lol.
I'm totally on board for the Dallas/Maria potential, although I do wish Maria would mention my boy Gregory Manes. And it did kind of annoy me that Maria considers herself closer to Dallas than to anyone else on the other side. Not just Alex, her childhood best friend, or Michael, a man she was in love with just a couple years ago and still considers a close friend, but Isobel too... all three of them are people she has longer and more complex relationships with. I wish the episode had complicated this a bit. Instead of "who are you closest to" make it more ambiguous, like Maria needed to reach out to the person who's been her recent touchstone, the person helping her the most with her powers and her current journey. Then, it would make sense that it would be Dallas! This is probably a nitpick, though. It's fine. Dallas/Maria is fine.
Seeing a banner that said "Malex" on it, and hearing Dallas actually say the word out loud... gave me so much psychic damage. Can we not, y'all? Please spare me. So glad Michael shut that shit down, Malex deserves a better and less fourth-wall-breaking wedding!
Pros:
So as I said, the above section looks long, but the overall pacing and strength of this episode means that my qualms were way, way, outweighed by the positives.
To start with, I was incredibly moved by Liz's arc in this episode! She realizes that her actions might have lasting consequences, and that she might have to reckon with brain damage when her intellect is something she prizes so deeply. I think that works so well as a conflict for Liz to face, something where she can't be at fault for becoming addicted to the alien mist, of course, but she still needs to reckon with the choices she's made that have led her on this path.
And we had so much good theming about individual accomplishment vs. working together. Liz is distraught over her failing memory, but she has Rosa and Kyle by her side. I loved the detail about Rosa locking up the mist. Liz says that this means her sister knew she was weak and would fail, but Rosa says no, it's okay to need help. In the end, Liz gets help from Michael, from Maria, from Kyle, from all sorts, in order to create the fuel that opens the portal. Liz is capable of great things, but she needs the love of those around her!
I could be annoyed at all the flip-flopping and unnecessary drama in Max and Liz's relationship this season, but ultimately I'm just happy to watch them be happy and cute together... I loved Max getting his powers back, and Liz's concern for him as he went into the pocket dimension after his brother and their friends. Echo has such good energy together when they're not failing at basic communication, so it was nice to see a bit of that here in the penultimate episode of the show.
Kyle and Isobel's awkward interrupted conversation, and then their kiss just before Isobel marches into danger, were both really cute. Cuter still were Liz and Max's reactions, where Liz drops her mouth open in astonished delight, and Max cringes away from the sight of his sister making out with Kyle Valenti. I loved it so much, and I'm happy these two get to exit the show with some measure of happiness, hopefully with the finale next week solidifying that they're going to give their relationship a real chance.
Maria played a more utilitarian role in this one, there wasn't a ton of time for her to have character moments, but I did like how this episode was really an all-hands-on-deck situation. She gets the info that Liz needs in order to open the portal from their end, and she also helps with the bait and switch, keeping the real console away from Shivani and thus having it in place and ready when Michael and the others are ready to use it.
So, aside from the accursed blue filter, what did I think of our last episode spent in the pocket dimension? Well... this was some premium Malex content, y'all, what can I say? Alex wants to marry Michael before he dies, and Dallas is there to help make that happen... but Michael backs out, saying that his vow is to make sure Alex doesn't die at all. This is more or less exactly what I was hoping would happen. I like how the bulk of the episode is Alex despairing, because he really does feel that his own life is forfeit, and Michael gently and at times insistently cajoling him to keep going.
The scenes at the Crashdown (or I suppose it was the Atomic Café back then) were particularly moving. One of my favorite line deliveries from Vlamis ever is when he says that being in this world is like being in a microwave for Alex. He says it with such gentle tenderness, his hand cradling the side of Alex's face and neck. Later, we get the moment where Alex encourages Michael to go on without him, and Michael's reaction was another real highlight for me. I feel like usually in similar situations the person who is being asked to leave someone behind will react with emphatic indignance, like "No! Never!" But this was a lot softer. Michael basically just gives him an indulgent head-tilt and is like "don't be ridiculous." Which I loved so, so much. Also, the line "my heart is about to explode"... like, Michael is keeping his cool, seemingly keeping it together for Alex's sake, but everything is on the line for him here. If he loses Alex, it will destroy him, and Michael makes that very clear. Alex seems more or less resigned to the fact that Michael won't abandon him. He wants Michael and the others to escape, he think his life is already lost, and yet he knows there's no arguing with Michael on this one.
One of the through lines in the Michael and Alex scenes is that Alex tells Michael to stop thinking with his heart, and making emotion-based decisions that aren't based in reality. At the wedding, Alex is basically like: "I'm a dead man walking, here, and it's literally my dying wish to marry you, please don't be delusional about our chances." And then later, he tries to get Michael to see that sometimes the best way to cope with reality is to meet it head-on, instead of living in the fantasy of how things might have been different. And what I love so much about this, is that Alex is... wrong. It all comes to a head in the excellent final scene between them in the episode, when Michael, the one who has been carrying the torch for the both of them, finally loses his hope, and Alex tells him he was right to keep fighting, and to not give up now.
I love everything about this, what it says about how the two of them work as partners, the ways in which they hold each other in check and also push each other to be better. The not-so-subtle truth of the matter is that Alex chastising Michael to stop being so emotional is a patently empty and false criticism, since Alex is the one who has given in to his despair. And yet of course you can't blame him, Michael can't blame him, he'll just keep going, holding him, doing everything in his power to bring him back home. Excellent performances from Vlamis and Blackburn as always... I'm going to be thinking about the way Michael's voice breaks when he says he wanted to build a home with Alex for a long, long time..... let them build that home, Roswell! We're so close!
Some cute moments I want to mention before I finish this up: Michael and Alex flirting about Michael's horticultural interests, and taking long showers together... I was giggling so much at the fact that Bonnie and Dallas have just had to put up with all their couple-y energy together. I've had an agenda for a long time that was "let Alex and Michael be a couple around other people", because we don't get to see much of that at all, and finally, this episode hit the spot! In a similar vein, Isobel coming in and holding Alex's hands, saying it's so good to see him... theirs is a friendship that I firmly believe in, even though it's happened entirely offscreen. I just got so many warm and fuzzies to see a little hint of it here. I also loved the sibling feels of Max and Isobel holding hands and going into the quicksand in order to rescue Michael, Dallas, Alex, and Bonnie. We got an Isobel and Michael hug, too!
I can't believe next week is the finale, I am already getting a little emotional about it although it also doesn't feel quite real? Six months ago I was just starting this show for the first time, and since then I've written well over 100,000 words of fanfiction about it, along with tracking my general thoughts per episode on season four... it's been a wild ride, everyone.
8.5/10
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