Dispatches From Elsewhere Review: Janice (Season 1 Episode 3)

On Dispatches from Elsewhere Season 1 Episode 3, “Janice,” the team infiltrates the Jejune Institute’s stockholder meeting in order to rescue Fredwynn, who is already on a reconnaissance mission of his own.

While the premise sounds thrilling, it’s an episode that’s actually fairly thin on plot.

The group gains entrance to the meeting without much trouble, and the real substance of the episode is Janice’s experience on stage as she relives her wedding day using a VR headset. 

Thus far, each episode of Dispatches From Elsewhere has addressed the experience of loneliness from a different perspective. 

For Peter, human connection is like something glimpsed through a glass window; he has always been able to see that it exists, but he can’t seem to touch it or feel it. 

Simone’s loneliness is characterized not so much by the absence of other people, but rather by the overwhelming presence of self-consciousness. Her own mind, with all of its doubts and insecurities, takes up so much space that there’s no room left for anyone else. 

Janice, by contrast, has already made the most meaningful connection of her lifetime; her story is about what happens on the far side of love after it has already been found and cherished for decades.

With her husband now confined to a bed in their home, it’s time for Janice to rediscover her individuality — who she wants to be when she’s no longer defined by her family relationships. 

We all have moments of contact with our younger self, usually made through some scrap of documentation: an old diary, a yearbook, or even a Facebook memory. Such moments remind us of the distance between who we are and who we used to be, and can be a source of both joy and melancholy.

Maybe we’ve learned to let go of old goals that felt like generic cultural prescriptions, things we were told we should want but never truly desired; or maybe we’ve lost touch with a part of ourselves we used to cherish, and are struck by the sense of loss. 

Dispatches From Elsewhere makes this confrontation with the past a literal one, as Janice shares a long conversation with the younger version of herself — the bride on her wedding day. 

The scene feels lovely and ethereal at first as Janice moves through the virtual space of the wedding hall, gazing at old friends and recognizing the abundance of love she’s been lucky enough to have in her life.

But things take a painful turn as her younger self begins asking questions, demanding to know if she’s kept an old promise to retain her sense of independence and adventure, and reacting scornfully to her answers.

It feels like the classic moment in a hero’s journey, in which the hero realizes they must reckon with their past in order to keep moving forward.

The show isn’t subtle about presenting its characters as classic folk heroes, ones whose stories adhere to a set of narrative conventions. Each character has set off on a quest, one that will take them on strange paths through both the external world and inner psyche; along the way they meet several strangers, each of whom has a lesson to teach.

There’s nothing particularly surprising about this kind of storytelling, but much like the fairy tales we cherish and revisit throughout our lives, familiarity is what makes the story pleasurable. 

And Dispatches from Elsewhere is, above all else, a kind of fairy tale version of adulthood — a sometimes playful, sometimes sinister representation of the journeys of ordinary people.

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

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Dispatches From Elsewhere airs Mondays at 10/9c on AMC.

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