Tuesday, July 27, 2021

What I’m Watching: The End

The End: Season 1, Episode 4 “Polar Bear” (B+)

This episode, while not entirely pleasant, showed us that it’s not just the world that these characters are mad at for forcing them to continue existing, but also at each other, as we saw a very vicious interaction between Oberon and his grandmother in which she refused to address him by his preferred pronouns and he rather bluntly questioned why she hadn’t just gone and died already. The most startling development was what Kate decided to do with the concoction she hadn’t actually thrown out, knowing full well what Edie might do with it but suspecting that she was having a better time with life than she was before, thanks in no small part to the truly fantastic Pamela and despite the annoyance of her family, including her granddaughter vomiting in her lap in the car. Their visit to Persephone and Oberon’s father was enlightening, and he seems perfectly content in his situation, making friends and doing all of his research about how Oberon might one day regret the choice he made to leave his former life behind for good. The spotlight on Art is truly heartbreaking, though at least those around him treated him gently, informing him that his payment method wasn’t going through and waiting as he struggled to remember the PIN for his ATM card when he tried to use cash instead. Edie wasn’t quite as gentle, but it seems like that’s not her strong suit and she tends to approach situations in a brasher, less subtle way.

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