"You are so broken, Joanie."
This episode was fantastic. I loved (finally) seeing Joanie's character have much more screen-time and get fleshed out, as we were finally able to get a sense of the kind of person she's become since Alison's death. As it turns out, she's battling a lot of demons. The scene where Joanie explained to E.J. how she's terrified of being alone because of what she might do to herself was absolutely heartbreaking -- and one of Anna Paquin's best performances.
There was a lot to love here, including finally getting closure on Cole and Luisa (who made a surprise appearance in old age makeup). We found out a lot about Cole's life after Alison's passing and what his relationship with Joanie was like; and also what Joanie's relationship with Luisa was like, and how she became a "mom" to her. Joanie's relationship with Paul in present-day was an interesting one too, and the scene where she lashed out at him just in order to get him to be angry at her (a self-destructive behavior we've seen all too often in Alison before) was quite powerful and well-done. Joanie's character is certainly a complex one and quite well-written. I also adored the supermoon scene with those high-tech weather glasses, and thought it was the first actual 'sci-fi/futuristic' piece in Joanie's segment that worked well; especially because it led to the revelation for Joanie that her mother couldn't have killed herself that night. An honorable mention for E.J. too, who was a bit of a "character of convenience" put there just to move the story forward, but he did have some funny lines and a weird but memorable personality.
However, as much as this episode was complex and fascinating most of the time, there were also a few flaws in logic. For example, there were so many coincidences in this episode that it was almost hard to take it seriously. The fact that Joanie would stumble upon E.J. who just happens to be studying generational trauma *and* obsessed with her family was more than convenient, and then the fact that he knew exactly where to find Alison's (not destroyed by water damage) death report files in the abandoned police station, and then the fact that he just happened to have met Cole before and knew about his obsession with Ben Cruz. This, of course led to Joanie remembering Ben in a dream, which is actually plausible as she was not too young at the time, and her realization that Ben may have killed Alison.
Overall, this was still one of my favorite episodes of the season, and the complexity of how Joanie became so broken after Alison's death, even going as far as trying to build her life completely opposite to Alison's, was quite fascinating. I am really liking what the writers are doing with the idea of how trauma can be passed on from one generation to another, but I feel as though they could have gone about it a better way than to have E.J., a literal expert on Joanie's entire lineage just show up and guide the way for her. So, flaws in logic aside, this was a powerful, fascinating episode.
This episode was fantastic. I loved (finally) seeing Joanie's character have much more screen-time and get fleshed out, as we were finally able to get a sense of the kind of person she's become since Alison's death. As it turns out, she's battling a lot of demons. The scene where Joanie explained to E.J. how she's terrified of being alone because of what she might do to herself was absolutely heartbreaking -- and one of Anna Paquin's best performances.
There was a lot to love here, including finally getting closure on Cole and Luisa (who made a surprise appearance in old age makeup). We found out a lot about Cole's life after Alison's passing and what his relationship with Joanie was like; and also what Joanie's relationship with Luisa was like, and how she became a "mom" to her. Joanie's relationship with Paul in present-day was an interesting one too, and the scene where she lashed out at him just in order to get him to be angry at her (a self-destructive behavior we've seen all too often in Alison before) was quite powerful and well-done. Joanie's character is certainly a complex one and quite well-written. I also adored the supermoon scene with those high-tech weather glasses, and thought it was the first actual 'sci-fi/futuristic' piece in Joanie's segment that worked well; especially because it led to the revelation for Joanie that her mother couldn't have killed herself that night. An honorable mention for E.J. too, who was a bit of a "character of convenience" put there just to move the story forward, but he did have some funny lines and a weird but memorable personality.
However, as much as this episode was complex and fascinating most of the time, there were also a few flaws in logic. For example, there were so many coincidences in this episode that it was almost hard to take it seriously. The fact that Joanie would stumble upon E.J. who just happens to be studying generational trauma *and* obsessed with her family was more than convenient, and then the fact that he knew exactly where to find Alison's (not destroyed by water damage) death report files in the abandoned police station, and then the fact that he just happened to have met Cole before and knew about his obsession with Ben Cruz. This, of course led to Joanie remembering Ben in a dream, which is actually plausible as she was not too young at the time, and her realization that Ben may have killed Alison.
Overall, this was still one of my favorite episodes of the season, and the complexity of how Joanie became so broken after Alison's death, even going as far as trying to build her life completely opposite to Alison's, was quite fascinating. I am really liking what the writers are doing with the idea of how trauma can be passed on from one generation to another, but I feel as though they could have gone about it a better way than to have E.J., a literal expert on Joanie's entire lineage just show up and guide the way for her. So, flaws in logic aside, this was a powerful, fascinating episode.
