Dispatches From Elsewhere Review: Simone (Season 1 Episode 2)

Dispatches from Elsewhere Season 1 Episode 2, “Simone,” takes us inside the mind of the titular character, who struggles with a belief that she is unworthy of love.

Her fear of messing up, or of losing — through some fault of her own — whatever joy and affection she manages to find hints at a personal catastrophe in her past that we may never learn about. But we don’t need to know every detail of Simone’s history in order to understand her — we just have to be human. 

It’s lovely to gain new insight into a character who, when we saw her from Peter’s perspective, seemed to have her life totally together and leaned effortlessly into fun and adventure like it was her normal state of being.

Once we see things from Simone’s point of view, however, we learn how rare that is for her.

In the same way that the game has awakened a capacity for feeling that Peter feared he’d never have, it has also created a fearless impulse in Simone. When she’s wrapped up in the scavenger hunt or on the trail of the next clue, she’s able to stop thinking about her anxiety and simply live in the moment.

Simone: You know that voice that either tells you you’re either doing great, or you’re a piece of shit?

Peter: I’m not sure.

Simone: Lucky you. Well, right now she’s quiet. Also, I guess I like that if anybody’s looking at us, it’s just ’cause you’re holding a fish.

Simone also has a powerful fear of attracting stares from strangers, and of being judged. That anxiety is probably specific to her experiences as a trans woman, dealing with both street harassment and the burden of being frequently perceived as different or strange.

However, it’s also a fear that anyone who has ever felt like a social pariah or has any kind of social anxiety, can relate to. 

In that sense, the episode does an impressive job of allowing Simone’s transness to inform her character, but not define it. Identity impacts her perception and experience of the world, but only in the same subtle ways it does for every person, regardless of what identities they hold. 

Eve Lindley is a revelation in her role as Simone. She’s so good at communicating emotion through physicality, in ways both obvious and subtle.

There’s the troubled furrowing of a brow or the radiance of a dimpled smile, but there’s also the way Simone curls her shoulders in certain moments as if she is trying to make herself smaller — to be less obvious and to take up less space in the world. 

The most beautiful thing about this episode is the way Peter’s willingness to name his own embarrassment, and his own fears, inspires Simone to do the same.

Peter lacks an emotional intuition that other people have and he feels ashamed of that, but he’s brave enough to talk about that shame with Simone. He lets her see it, and then he trusts her to stay friends with him anyway — and she rewards his trust by opening up to him in turn. 

The dynamic between these two characters is endlessly watchable. They have such great chemistry, and both performers already seem to have mastered the subtleties of their respective characters and how they react to one another. 

While Dispatches from Elsewhere Season 1 Episode 1, “Peter,” largely focused on worldbuilding and setting the tone for the show, “Simone” immerses us further into the psyches of these characters.

It also sets up a romantic story about two people who help open up each other’s world, who support and compliment one another without expecting anything other than kindness in return. 

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 Sundays at 10/9c on AMC.

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