Impulse Review: We Are Not Who We Were (Season 2 Episodes 3-5)

Have you seen the girl with the mind on fire?

We have, and she has a story worth the burns. 

Impulse Season 2 Episodes 3-5 are masterpieces. They are stunning, Emmy-award worthy television that too few people are watching. 

I must admit that I have been hemming and hawing over my review. Each of these episodes is deeply personal for me. 

To reveal how these episodes impact me is to also reveal myself. 

While unpacking the episodes is at times painful and unnerving, the characters on Impulse are so willing to fight for healing that it inspires us to likewise be brave.

NIKOLAI: Just reminding you, you were a person who had a life before what happened and you’ll have one after.

So, here we go.

The Hero’s Origin Story

Townes continues to indefatigably believe that Henry is a superhero and he is a sidekick. Putting aside his dismissal of Jenna’s talents, his perspective is very valid. 

Impulse is many things, including the story of folks with superpowers trying to fight off evil in their communities. 

Heroes, naturally, have origin stories.

Impulse Season 2 Episode 4, “The Moroi,” and Impulse Season 2 Episode 5, “Crossing the Threshold,” shift the locus of the heroes’ origin points from the moment of the trauma to the moment of them wresting control of their power. 

What happened to Henry and Nikolai becomes secondary to the ways they build the resilience to overcome. 

Resilience doesn’t quite capture the excruciating and painstaking work Henry does to regain her safety, to regain herself.

Per Nikolai’s insistence, Henry does a kind of prolonged exposure therapy to get back in the truck where she was assaulted. 

Prolonged exposure is a real therapy that therapists use to help people with PTSD manage their triggers or fears. 

For example, a person who had an accident on a horse might start by looking at pictures of horses and move slowly to more exposure to horses until they can be around a horse without unmanageable anxiety. 

This is essentially what Henry does, with Nikolai’s help. His help is a key component of both characters’ development. 

Henry craves normalcy. She lies to Grady about college and what she likes to learn (oh, how I instantly ship it). Then she looks on, forlorn and distant as they do regular young adult stuff. 

Part of what Clay’s actions stole from her is the ability to have an embodied experience. She isn’t comfortable in her own skin; that’s not a safe place anymore. 

Nikolai helps Henry, inch by literal inch, gain back a sense of normalcy. It’s almost as if with each scoot forward Henry comes closer to who she is, not what happened to her. 

The little factoids Nikolai shares with Henry are spot-on examples of how specificity can best illustrate universal experiences. 

The “Mork and Mindy” conversations in our lives ground us in reality. They assure us that not everything is heavy and that we are not alone.

Nikolai is this neutral person in Henry’s life. He is not really part of her world. There is not the pressure to be a good friend, a good daughter, a good employee, or a good witness with Nikolai. 

In that way, he is like a therapist. A guide who is showing her a way to healing without judgment. 

Nikolai is by no means a perfect person. He is, though, essential to Henry’s success in gaining control over her power. 

The scenes where Henry works to get in the truck and the one where she finally feels safe and takes a trip to the warmest place from her youth are more than just five-star scenes.

These Impulse scenes are therapy; they are healing; they are precious.

Nikolai’s mentorship is equally important to his character development. 

On “The Moroi,” we learn about the immense trauma that provoked Nikolai’s first jump. 

Again, the power is in the specificity. Nikolai’s brother playing piano on the floor to try and quiet his fears is a harrowing depiction. It’s unforgettable.

Through the vehicle of his relationship with his brother, we learn that being a big brother is core to Nikolai’s identity. 

Finally, he can mentor someone who has a chance of surviving. And he is in a perfect position to help her because he has been through the same thing. 

 The parallels between Nikolai and Henry are showcased in a gorgeous fashion. 

Music is a huge coping mechanism for both of them and we see clearly how they are both badass rebels at heart.

They are artists. 

They both have lost innocence in unimaginably cruel ways. 

They both have felt that they are helpless to save the people they love; bad things will just keep on happening as long as they are around.

They also have both had people speak into their lives at just the right moment to spur courage. 

For Nikolai, this is the waitress at his favorite restaurant. He still visits her; she is an anchor in his life. Her presence and implicit trust in him spurs him to want more for himself. 

On Impulse Season 2 Episode 3, “For the Lost,” Henry connects with her mom’s friend Fran, played by the wonderful Angela Asher. 

The rock n’ roller has some sage advice for Henry. 

FRAN: Sometimes, the good stuff’s harder to talk about than the bad. And the bad is really hard to talk about.

Fran’s support helps Henry to be brave enough to open up to her mom, even if what’s let out of the opening is anger.

The confrontation Henry and Cleo have in the car is like wasabi. It burns like heck but it’s also healthy. 

CLEO: I am entitled to my pain. Everyone hurts in a different way. And you don’t get to judge me for that. And I’m sorry that I hurt you, and I’m sorry that I’m a person.

Likewise, the waitress’s support of Nikolai emboldens him to confront some things with his uncle. 

NIKOLAI: I’m not Moroi. I didn’t die in that church. 

 SERGHEY: You’re something. You are not who you were. 

The many parallels elucidate how deeply Nikolai connects with Henry. He is old and he is battered down by his work with the Bad Company. 

He somehow has lost most of his sense of taste. Nothing in life has much meaning. But then he meets Henry. 

He can be a big brother again. He might actually manage to save her this time. And that gives him something to live for. 

Henry doesn’t know any of this and, frankly, she’s smart to be suspicious. But, that ignorance doesn’t make the relationship any less heart-shattering and poetic. 

Henry comes out on the other side of their therapy-ish sessions able to access the vibrancy of life. 

They are both definitely superheroes in my book.

The Sidekicks

Townes and Jenna are Henry’s talented nerd sidekicks. Even though it is a typical setup for a superhero show, Impulse is anything but typical. 

Impulse Season 2 equalizes the call sheet. Even though Henry is certainly the lead, the other main characters have storylines that are entirely separate from, and at times more central than, Henry’s. 

As a result, we gain intimacy with Jenna and Townes. 

I love how Townes embraces his autism as a kind of superpower. It is really cool and important to see an autistic character who is confident, sexy, and interesting. 

He’s much more a knight in shining armor than a robot. 

He is frustrating at times too. Zoey is so shady and Townes is making himself such an easy target. At the same time, he doesn’t need to be coddled. 

Part of what he loves and admires about Henry is that she never coddles him. But, we’re all worried about Townes. 

It is an excellent decision to make Townes the subject of some real danger. That feels impending and it will be an excellent test for all the Impulse characters. 

Just as a side note, if the Impulse writers ever want to go for a Townes and Henry ship, I am fully on board. Neurotypical people can and do fall in love with neurodivergent people.

Townes knows and likes who he is. Jenna, on the other hand, doesn’t really know who she is and she is afraid of finding out. 

We know that Jenna is a lesbian. We also know that Jenna likes rules.

She likes predictable outcomes and plans. Liking girls somehow messes up the order of the universe that she is supposed to uphold. How incredibly relatable. 

Jenna is used to fitting in. Rules and norms help her feel safe in a vicious world that took her mother away. Her road to self-discovery is tender and beautiful and painful. It feels like an honor to watch it all happen.

Opportunity Cost

Anna and Lucas are out here playing chess with their lives. 

It is more profound and less calculated than a game, but still. They are weighing and measuring and becoming and atoning. 

Lucas seems to be in the freaky position of being a replacement son for Esther Miller. 

Even as the strange rituals disorient viewers we come to understand that Lucas wants to belong, and he wants to change.

LUCAS: I haven’t had much of a chance to become anyone other than who I have been, up until now.

Considering Lucas’s mom is entirely unconcerned with her older child, and the code of honor that the Mennonite community is perhaps willings to share with Lucas, it is no wonder that the forgotten son is interested in staying. 

The dialogue in Lucas’s scenes is brief but powerful. Every word cuts deep and elicits a perplexing range of emotions. 

Unlike Lucas, Anna is ostracized on the episodes. 

She loses. 

Anna doesn’t give up, though. She is an intrepid investigator. It is unsurprising that people don’t believe her. She believes in herself. 

One of the most exciting aspects of “Crossing the Threshold,” is the unresolved question of what Anna is going to do next. 

Impulse manages to craft enigmatic, relatable, and flawed characters while building a supernatural world at the same time. That’s not even to mention the cinematography and the score. 

This show is a gift and I will never stop gushing about it. 

Jump Shots

• Clay narrating over Henry’s experience facing her trauma is just brilliant. He’s talking about it, but she’s actually doing the work.
• The casting by Lisa Bech and Sarah Katzman is perfection. 
• I wonder if Maddie Hasson has her eyebrows insured? She should. They’re a national treasure.
• Jenna is going to go OFF in college. 
• Cleo and Thomas are relationship goals.
• Shannon Kook is excellent as Wesley Kido. Nikolai had remained loyal because of Wesley. But now, things are different.  

What did you think of this episode of Impulse? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Impulse airs Wednesdays on Youtube. Premium members can stream all of Season 2 now. 

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Impulse: Maddie Hasson on the Power of Trauma and Finding Comfort on Season 2 of the Hit Youtube Original Series [Video]