Emergence Review: RDZ9021 (Season 1 Episode 5)
Jo takes the fight to Kindred on Emergence Season 1 Episode 5, “RDZ9021,” but ends up biting off more than she can chew.
“RDZ9021” is another one of those episodes that are almost inevitable in the grand scheme of the series. At some point, the confrontation between Jo and Kindred would come to a head, and, honestly, it’s better that they do that now than later, especially if Kindred — at least for the moment — appears to be the big bad for the series.
A big downside to an episode like this is that, by design, there can’t be a lot of resolution to this arc. This is a fight that will last at least for the rest of the season, and the episode itself even understands that most of this isn’t getting wrapped up yet.
ALLISON TOLMAN, TOM KEMP, ROBERT BAILEY JR., TERRY O’QUINN
Instead, the episode leaves it, mostly, on the note of Ed and his returning cancer while the ball, as far as Kindred is concerned, isn’t really moved up the field all that much. The most that we really get is Piper making some sort of mental contact with him, which feels disconnected from the rest of everything that’s going on here.
One of the bigger problems with “RDZ9021” is that the show expects us to have an investment in Benny and his survival, which isn’t really the case. It revolves so much, at least in the early bits, over whether Benny may or may not live past his gunshot wound, and it really misjudges our connection to that character.
Benny probably could have died in the first scene of this episode, and it’s dubious whether anyone would have cared all that much. It should have been someone else in mortal peril, but no one else would have really made sense for this kind of plot development.
ASHLEY AUFDERHEIDE, CLANCY BROWN, DONALD FAISON, ALLISON TOLMAN
Ultimately, this is one of those cases where the show did the best it could with what it has at its disposal, even if that still isn’t the best.
One of the rather interesting things that this episode does is capitalize on the viewer’s knowledge of Terry O’Quinn’s previous work as John Locke on Lost. O’Quinn is able to deliver these calm almost soothing monologues that seem almost unrelated only to tie it back to what’s happening and that evocation is too reminiscent to be coincidental.
A part of this is that O’Quinn is very good at what he does and could most likely deliver dialogue like this in his sleep. It also feels like the show is using the goodwill that the audience has for him and his character from Lost to make us think more favorably of him, much like the last season of that show did.
TERRY O’QUINN
This also brings up just how deliberate that casting is on the show’s part.
It seems very purposeful to have someone that we collectively recognize as being particularly enigmatic to play this kind of character. It leads viewers to think that there’s another dimension to this character that’s soon to unfold.
More than anything, “RDZ9021” operates as a positioning episode, setting up the series for the next set of episodes. It’s not exceptional, but it is necessary.
What did you think of this episode of Emergence? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Emergence airs Tuesdays at 10/9c on ABC.
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Drew Koenig
Drew has an ongoing, borderline unhealthy obsession with pop culture, but with television in particular. When he's not aggressively trying to get out of a perpetual state of catching up, he can be found passionately defending the ending of Lost. More of his online work can be found at The Lost Cause and he also co-hosts The Lost Cause Pod.