Last week's humdinger of an ending blew our minds in all sorts of ways. First, it made Leila's kidnapping probably the most oddly repurposed in history, and second, it drove The Event's convolution alert level all the way up to severe. In the wake of all that confusion, how did tonight's "Casualties of War" measure up? I'd say to leave off the headache-soothing compress, but what the episode lacked in convolution, it made up for in heavy-handed moral dilemma. Onward, stalwart viewers!
1. The plane crash victims, continuing to violently hemorrhage, have begun to look like extras for The Walking Dead. President Martinez wants to get a cure, but he has to negotiate with alien leader Thomas, who wants the detainees released. Stalemate!
Convolution level: GUARDED. It was a lot like watching Fox and Cablevision negotiate retransmission. No one is getting what they want until Martinez, after a lot of procedural agonizing over whether to save the passengers, remembers he's got a trump card: He can cut off Thomas's access to Fox shows on Hulu (or, you know, execute the detainees). Thomas caves and agrees to release the counteragent as long as Martinez gives him Sophia. "Deal!" Martinez exclaims, under the disapproving glare of his wife. "Would you really have taken Thomas's Hulu away?" she probes. "Let's not dwell on this any longer," Martinez says. "There are still many issues to work out in the B story."
2. After Sean's cell battery problem is quickly solved (further impressing it's silliness) he finally contacts Leila. She then realizes the dad from Boy Meets World is using her to set a trap and tries to escape. Mr. Matthews quickly throws her in another dark room where she will wait helplessly until Sean arrives. (Thank heavens we have the barely two-dimensional Vicki to balance out the gender roles in this situation.) Sean, having tracked Vicki's cell phone, realizes he's headed for trouble, so he sends the picture of Vicki's son that he took last week. Thus begins another round of negotiations!
Convolution level: ELEVATED. A series of Vicki flashbacks (oddly juxtaposed with her standing over Leila with a gun) show she abducted her son after orphaning him, though she was ordered to leave no one alive in the house. I suspect this was meant to humanize Vicki. It might work if it weren't woven into the episode in the show's characteristic arbitrary flashback fashion. In any case, Vicki, to save her son from bluffing Sean, shoots about every person in the precinct. The heroes escape with a hostage, and both Leila and this subplot are free from their dark hole of a prison.
Final analysis: GUARDED. Nothing blindsiding this week, but the question that leaves me unsettled about the episode is: What is Vicki doing? I do not believe that question has an answer. But if you can provide one, please chime in below!