Friday, May 03, 2019

My Review of Now Apocalypse's 1x05: "Stranger Than Paradise"


Written by Gregg Araki & Karley Sciortino
Directed by Gregg Araki

Ulysses: "I guess aliens really are for the tin foiled hat crowd after all."

What this episode might have lacked in aliens, it did make up for in some raunchy antics as Ulysses, Carly, Ford and Severine all took that trip to Palm Springs for a party of sex, some connections and one hell of a creepy overture.

The sex first - Ulysses copped off with a woman named Aja and she was annoying as hell. I kind of hope this is the first and only time we see Ulysses with a woman as even in this episode he did say he was gay, which was a difference when the first episode indicated that he might have been pansexual. Anyways, the sex scene with Aja wasn't as graphic as any Ulysses has had with men and thankfully didn't last that long either.

On a slightly better sex front though, Carly met a lovely guy named Leif (played by Breaking Bad's RJ Mitte) and while she didn't actually go through with having sex with him, there was a decent connection between the two as Carly managed to actually be nice to him for more than five minutes. Then she remembered that she had a long suffering boyfriend who she decided not to cheat on ith Leif but instead got naked in a pool and play fought another girl by the end of this episode.

As for Ford - the guy really didn't get to have a good time this episode. He had to beg Severine to come to Palm Springs and before she eventually abandoned him, she made no effort to hide her contempt with having to socialise with other people. I don't mind Severine being more standoffish at times but the sooner the show has Ford ditch her, the better.

Then there was Barnabas. He's not exactly made his lust for Ford unknown and the moment the latter was in a vulnerable state, Banabas wasted no time in trying to take advantage of the situation by trying it on with an unconscious Ford. Luckily for the latter though, Ulysses really is that friend in a bad situation as he made sure that Barnabas didn't get his way with Ford. Ulysses being the best friend was the obvious highlight from this episode.

- There was a book signing with Mitchell Kent which resulted in the guy being an absolute asshole to Ulysses.
- Severine had to rush back to LA because those two twins found something important. Given the lack of alien stuff in this one, here's hoping it's something to move the plot along faster.
- Assuming this show gets a second season, is it much to guess we'll get a Coachella themed episode then? The gang did mention going there next year.
- Chronology: From where the previous episode left off.

Stranger Than Paradise did little to advance the main plot but it had some nice character moments such as Carly and Severine poking fun at the Bechdel Test and of course, Ulysses looking out for Ford. I did like Leif as a guest character, so I wouldn't mind seeing a little more of him in the series.

Rating: 6 out of 10

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