What I’m Watching: People of Earth

People of Earth: Season 1, Episode 6 “Significant Other” (B+)

I think this episode might have been inevitable since the members of the support group needed to come out to their friends and family. I’m very glad it came around, since it was insightful and great to see how each of the experiencers interact with the people closest to them in their daily lives. What we saw with Gina’s attempt to help them open up was a moderate level of support from all of their people with varying degrees of distance. Richard’s brother was definitely the most entertaining, arguing with him in predictable fashion since they’re actually very alike. The other relationships demonstrated boredom and frustration, mostly resulting in eye-rolling and a dismissive finish tied to similar antics in the past. Chelsea’s husband bursting in after she lied to him about where she was going was probably the harshest development, and I wouldn’t consider the event a success. What I enjoyed most about the episode was Ozzie bonding with Father Doug, who appreciated the opportunity to, for once, not be seen as just a priest – his mother calling him father being a prime example of that. I like that he’s become a major player on the show and hope to see more of him. But for now, let’s focus on the unexpected acceleration of the mothership’s arrival, which is sure to be interesting. We’ve seen how well Jeff has functioned with Don on Earth with no outside pressure, and so I’d expect that he’s going to go into full overdrive mode making plenty of mistakes.