Lights Out: "Inflight"

Once I find out how much it would cost to install a personal lap-swim-only pool, I'll offer up a review of tonight's episode, after the jump....

How do you feel about Ed Romeo? Your mileage of this episode will invariably depend on how you feel about him as a character. Though I like Romeo a lot – I find his crazy side to be oddly captivating – I still can't over the fact that he is a plot device, and that the drama he has created doesn't have a long shelf life. Romeo only appeared last week, yet I found myself to growing quickly bored tonight with the whole “Ed takes Lights away from his family.” I don't mean to knock the execution of the plot; it is a relatively simplistic idea, and there's only so far you can take it before it gets old.

So I was pleasantly surprised when about halfway throughout tonight's episode, Lights began to push back against Ed's rigorous schedule. I say “surprised” because while I buy that Light's doesn't like being shut out from his family, the actual turn against his trainer was a bit out of the blue. But regardless, as we began to see Ed unravel at Lights' pulling away, the hour became fascinating. I couldn't look away while he attacked the cameramen, when he accused Lights of sabotaging their relationship, or when he attempted to kill Johnny. And Ed wanting Lights to tap into his rage? Well that scene was just creepy.

Yet I couldn't buy into Light jealousy of Ed getting Teresa to open up about her father so quickly. While recognizing that we haven't seen that much of Lights and Teresa marriage, it would seem to me that a) Lights wouldn't care about something so trivial and b) there marriage is strong enough that he wouldn't be shaken by this.

But what I did like is how Romeo stood in for long standing familial tensions that Lights has experienced. Just like his family at home loves Ed while his boxing family hates him, the home family had Lights give up boxing while boxing family wanted him to keep going. It probably won't be a plot point in the future, but it was nice for the show to use present elements to reflect on the past.

Luckily there was enough good stuff on the edges that this episode wasn't forced to live or die by the Romeo plot. Most notably, we spent far more time with Death Row than we have in the rest of the episodes combined. Though we saw a few week back that his is a man obsessed with the poetry of boxing – and life in general – but we have yet to see how he operates outside of the boxing world. There are no real villains in the world of Lights Out, and that fact that the show lives by this creedo makes its drama more interesting. Without any real reason to hate Reynolds – beyond the fact that he's Lights enemy inside the ring – it will add to the drama when those two meet up.

And then there's the ending. Though I obviously can't say for certain, I'm sure that Light's injury will clear itself up before the final showdown, so the question remains: What purpose does it serve? Is just going to be another source of manufactured drama? Or will it (hopefully) give us some reflection on the relationship between Lights and his brother? Considering the heavy-handed symbolism at play during the scene, I can only hope for the later.

What did everybody else think?


Additional Thoughts:

What father thinks having his young daughter around while Ed waxes philosophically about sharks is a good idea?

“Every time I come into this gym, somebody kicks me out.”

"Is your brother a boxer or a vampire?"

"I'm surprised he isn't levitating alongside of you right now."