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Season Finale Review B+ SPOILERS

posted 9 years ago by Pippy-4
8 replies | jump to latest

'Aquarius' Season 1 Finale Review

Old Ego Is Too Much A Thing” sees the storylines of the first 13 episodes come to a head as Emma (Emma Dumont) gets out of jail and returns to the ranch, Charlie (Gethin Anthony) makes a power play, and Hodiak and Shafe (David Duchovny, Grey Damon) pursue an old case.

***Spoiler Alert***

This review contains spoilers for S1E13 of Aquarius. Read at your own risk.

The Good

Charlie’s power play. When Ken’s boss kills one of Charlie’s girls, Charlie uses the death as an opportunity to have something over on the two men. It’s a smart move on the part of the show since we’ve seen Ken, who is interested in climbing the political ladder, determined to get out from under Charlie’s thumb. It shows us that even if Emma is free from her parents, they might not be free from her in season two.

The flashbacks. It’s about time we got to see just how Charlie is connected to Ken and his boss and how it all played out when the prostitute went missing. Ken was even more involved in the death than the audience might have thought. He didn’t just cover it up, but he killed her to. No wonder Charlie has such an easy time keeping his hooks in him.

Emma and her mother. When Emma’s mother tries to reason with her while she’s in jail, the two wind up saying exactly what they know will most hurt one another. It seems they’ve reached the point of no return in their relationship. It will be very interesting to see if they interact and how in the new season.

Shafe and Hodiak get their guy. Hodiak is reeling (and drinking) after his son is taken in, but he and Shafe still go after a lead on their serial killer provided by Charmaine. Hodiak takes things just a little bit too far though and both of the brothers that were responsible end up dead. Hodiak owns up to his use of one brother as a decoy and wanting both men dead though. It’s not usually something you see play out on a cop show in such a straightforward way. Of course, the commissioner decides to give them both a medal of valor for their actions rather than disclose the nature of the crimes, so there’s still a classic 60s cover up there.

Sadie makes a play of her own. When Emma confronts her about just why Sadie turned her into the police, Sadie admits her jealousy. She wants to feel loved the way that she sees Charlie loving everyone else, but she just can’t seem to get to that point. It’s only when she steals a baby to replace Mary’s stillborn son that she seems to get what she wants.

Charmaine goes out on her own. We don’t get to see nearly enough of Charmaine on the show, and it’s too bad because I find her attempts to be taken as a serious police officer so interesting. She tries at least twice as hard as everyone else on the show and her persistence pays off. This time though, when she runs down a lead on Guapo for Shafe when he asked her not to, she ends up being recognized by Roy, one of Charlie’s motorcycle gang guys, and we get one big cliffhanger to bring you back when the new episodes start up.

The Bad

Walt’s storyline. I love the show and I find this look at the 1960s fascinating, but the storyline involving Walt wanting to expose the military for what they’re doing in Cambodia is most definitely the slowest moving part of the show. I am glad that there was a conclusion of sorts for Walt’s efforts though.

The Questions

How far will Sadie go in season two? Sadie seems to the one of Charlie’s girls who is willing to do anything and everything to get Charlie’s approval. I have a feeling she’ll go darker than stealing a baby next season.

Will Ken survive? It seems unlikely that he’ll be the one getting shot in the struggle at the end of the episode. It’s much likely that he’ll be covering up yet another murder.

What will happen to Charmaine? Charmaine’s fate is definitely the one piece of the episode that’s left hanging, a nice hook to bring you back for more when season two begins. It’s a little trouble to think that the show was originally conceived as a limited run series though and that there was the possibility of fans never knowing what happened to her. Chances are, she’s simply going to turn up at the Manson ranch as one of his girls when the show picks back up because she just couldn’t get away.

Grading the episode: Overall, a satisfying conclusion to the season as we see several storylines close and new ones open up. B+

The Movie Net Work

[–] dlmcfarland2-2 9 years ago

I'm wondering when the show will broach the Tate-Labianca Murders.

[–] therealshapeshifter 9 years ago

Good synopsis/review, Pippy-4.
Re:

How far will Sadie go in season two? Sadie seems to the one of Charlie’s girls who is willing to do anything and everything to get Charlie’s approval. I have a feeling she’ll go darker than stealing a baby next season.

I saw this as a potential setup for continued competition between Sadie and Emma (note the look on Emma's face when she sees Charlie kissing Sadie after the baby scene) that will lead to them being even more willing to do anything Charlie asks. I see it as an explanation for the motivation to execute the Tate crime. However, I'm not sure if Emma will go through with it. She backed off on taking two hits of LSD, and she seemed to question stealing the baby.

I wonder if they'll wrap up the Tate murders next season or wait until the last. There's a lot of media and legal fallout to cover post-murders should they choose to focus on those aspects.

[–] madnessrules 9 years ago

I don't want Charmaine to die bc I really love her on this show, but I want her back on the Originals since she's one of them so I'm being selfish lol

I was shocked at how much I loved these episodes when I binge watched the episodes on demand

[–] Pippy-4 9 years ago

I think Aquarius just keeps getting better and better

[–] tvlover1961 9 years ago

I didn't know that was the finale but now it makes sense. Thanks for the synopsis 👍

[–] Pippy-4 9 years ago

Aquarius, An Era of Turmoil and Free Love
by John Delia
David Duchovny pulls off an exceptional performance in TV’s “Aquarius”. The first season of the series, now on Blu-ray in an unrated version, is loosely based on Charles Mansion prior to the murders of the La Bianca’s and Sharon Tate. The show introduces events that led up to the discovery of Mansion’s commune, the investigation, prostitution and how he established his following. Support actors are exceptionally good and the fast paced script plays out nicely without interruptions or cut-away.

It’s 1967 Los Angeles and America has charged into the flower child era protesting Vietnam, practicing free love, establishing communes, and creating groups like the Black Panthers. Police are trying to control order and a number of teenage girls have been listed as runaways in the LA area. The first three episodes of Aquarius deals with establishing characters, the luring of 16-year-old Emma into Charles Mansion’s (Gethin Anthony) commune and the search to find the missing teen.

Charles Mansion (Gethin Anthony) gets confronted by Detective Sam Hodiak (David Duchovny) in
Charles Mansion (Gethin Anthony) gets confronted by Detective Sam Hodiak (David Duchovny) in “Aquarius”

Emma Kern (Emma Dumont), the daughter of a prominent lawyer Ken Kern (Brian F. O’Byrne) and his wife Grace (Michaela McManus) has gone missing. Getting little help from the police, Grace contacts close friend Detective Sam Hodiak (David Duchovny) in hopes that he can find Emma for her. Sam has problems of his own trying to rebound from a difficult marriage to Opai (Jodi Harris) and attempting to locate their son Michael (Jason Ralph) who has gone AWOL from his military unit. Taking on the case and needing a plain clothes cop that can assist him, Sam gets assigned a young undercover cop Brian Shafe (Gary Damon) who has been working on a drug investigation.

So begins a story that includes hippies, prostitution, strip clubs, crime and adultery. And that’s only the beginning of the “Murder, Madness, Mansion” of Aquarius. Director Jonas Pate movies the first 3 episodes along at a fast pace establishing the main characters that will be at the center of the story and providing a very challenging show representative of this period of change and disorder. He’s meticulous with the era working with automobiles, sets and costumes that fit the hippies, radio communications strapped detectives, life in a commune and recreating locations in and around Los Angeles. He does a brilliant job of providing intrigue, captivating the audience with continuous revelations, unusual sexual practices, violent confrontations, subjects in the news during the 1960’s and several plot twists.

Claire Holt plays Charmain Tully, Gethin Anthony as Manson and Gary Damon as Brian Shafe

This ideal cast makes their roles believable showing the change in lifestyle that took over the 60’s and early 70’s. Duchovny works the no-nonsense free-wheeling Detective Sam Hodiak to the bone. He’s determined to find Emma even though it entrenches him in the more evil plot of a man who controls the men and women he recruits. Wanting to please Grace, he finds himself blowing the case wide open and putting himself in more danger than anticipated. On a comical note check out Duchovny’s hair, his crop may have been in the period, but nothing I’ve ever seen.

Emma Dumont as Emma Kern and Ambyr Childers as Sadie in “Aquarius”

Casting the role of Mansion may have been difficult as trying to capture the evilness of the criminal with very sadistic eyes can hardly be duplicated. For Aquarius they chose to use Gethin Anthony (HBO’S “Game of Thrones”), who although a very good actor, really doesn’t capture the wickedness look of the monster who lured young women and men into his lair for sex, prostitution, theft, murder and other decadent ways. For those who are not familiar with the notorious Mansion case, Anthony does however depict his uncontrolled behavior and charismatic personality. He was originally cast as Mansion in the digital miniseries Aquarius: Summer of Love that aired with four webisodes on the internet. The four are included as an added bonus in Special Features on disc 4 of the Blu-ray.

The casting experts chose the perfect support actors for the key roles. Ken Kern the father of Emma is played Brian F. O’Byrne (TV’s “The Last Ship”). Ken may be adamant about getting his daughter back, but has a deep dark secret that keeps getting in the way. As Hodiak’s partner, Grey Damon (TV’s “Twisted”) plays Brian Shafe a pivotal character to the production who jumps into the fire portraying the undercover half of the team. He’s a determined character who has been working plain clothes for vice.

You can read the rest and see the pictures here

http://acedmagazine.com/aquarius-revisiting-evil-and-free-love/

[–] Jackshipp 9 years ago

This show.
I was mildly interested until about episode 9.
Then. All of a sudden.
It got real good.

[–] Pippy-4 9 years ago

I admit that I got into David's previous show faster than I did with Aquarius. But once I did I really loved it. Although I was a little more than mildly interested