The two part finale, “This Is Nowhere” offered a brief moment of finality before setting up a potential second season.
Last week I made the argument that Peacock was undercutting Teacup by doubling up on episodes that were also suddenly double the length. The problem persists into the finale, which was obviously scheduled to fall on Halloween, but also mismatches a pair of episodes that would have played more strongly by themselves.
“This Is Nowhere, Part One” is the shorter and more slow-paced episode, squeezing maximum tension out of its characters’ paranoia and distrust. The kids are exempt from suspicion about Assassin because they were isolated from Ellen (Kathy Baker), but all of the others? Fair game.
This leads to a number of small, intimate conversations as characters warily circle each other, debate if they have a future, and generally try to maintain a safe distance. Due to the accelerated timeline of the show, no one has developed cabin fever, but the constant suspicion and uncertainty has clearly begun to take a toll.
So when Ruben (Chaske Spencer) grows impatient and sets off in search of McNab (Rob Morgan), Don (Boris McIver) volunteers to keep an eye on him. It also means that James (Scott Speedman) and Maggie (Yvonne Strahovski) have a pretty candid conversation about the Visitors in their midst, but also doubles as a discussion about the state of their marriage.
And there’s a really great, underplayed moment between Ellen and Valeria (Diany Rodriguez) in the kitchen when it seems like the former might stab the latter. Writer Zoe Cooper does a really solid job of laying the foundation for the finale, while also paying off six episodes worth of emotional baggage between the characters, especially the couples (Ruben/Valeria and James/Maggie).
There’s also a bit of movement regarding the mythology courtesy of Meryl (Emilie Bierre) and Arlo (Caleb Dolden). The pair have sequestered upstairs where they’re protected from the adults by Nicholas (Luciano Leroux), which affords them time to draw a map and figure out the route to the machine that Harbinger believes could save the day. The kicker? It’s a loooong way away…well outside of the perimeter line of the trap.
Kevin Tanchareon directs both episodes of the finale and there’s a pretty big change in pacing and tone from Part One to Part Two. If the first half is slow, moody and contemplative, the second is filled with plenty of action, including the drowning teased in episode six and an unexpected car accident in the finale.
It’s a busy, albeit not wholly satisfying finale if only because there are too many developments and not enough time for them all to land. The pace is blistering, which works very well during the aforementioned action sequences, but they definitely overshadow the emotional gravity of events like James’ literal fridging or the decision to leave Ellen behind the line. You can feel series showrunner Ian McCulloch struggling to keep everything on track, so while the episode is still satisfying, it doesn’t pack the same emotional punch.
It feels, especially in those closing moments when a kind of calm has settled in, as if there’s a desperate need to end of a cliffhanger in order to convince the Peacock brass that the series deserves another season. And it does: between new characters Hayden (Jeremy Conner) and Izzy (Alice Kremelberg) showing up, the threat of more Assassins waking up, and Arlo/Harbinger’s need to get to the machine, there’s plenty left to explore.
Alas, “This Is Nowhere, Part Two” makes for a very busy and sometimes too speedy finale; a little more tease and a little less rush would have gone a long way.
Other Observations:
- Ruben’s efforts to break off a piece of the charred trap/tree was pretty solid. Kudos to Spencer for really selling how painfully hot the branch is as he struggles to break it off and get it into the jar.
- The moment that is most harmed by doubling up the episodes is Valeria’s death. It would have had so much more impact if we had to sit with Assassin-as-Nicholas’s betrayal for a week (caveat: yes, it would have been similar to Assassin’s switch from Olsen to Ellen in episode four, but we know Valeria and Nicholas a great deal more than we knew Olsen)
- I’m not fond of the “let’s kill someone and revive them” plotline, but Tanchareon shoots Meryl’s drowning really well (the overhead shots of her struggling; James and Maggie’s inability to hold her under; the actual underwater shots). Plus: the pause between her death and resuscitation is *much* longer than usual, so – combined with the show’s penchant for killing its cast – did make me wonder if she might actually die.
- As soon as we see the freezer door open, you know that’s where James is headed, but again, I didn’t actually anticipate they would leave him in there. For some reason, it seemed possible to briefly kill him and then bring him back like Meryl, but from all indicators, James has well and truly suffocated. Adieu Scott Speedman!
- The minute they left Ellen standing on the other side of the line with the dog, you just knew that something was going to prevent them from getting back to her. At least she’s got a bunch of animals she can eat if need be?
- There’s a moment of comedy when Hayden and Izzy take over the Assassins with their car (perhaps it’s the satisfying thunk of the bodies hitting the trees), but…that was great.
- Considering how breakneck this first season was, I hope that Peacock pulls the trigger and gives us another season. Not sure how this would all work as a road trip series, but if the battle of the Visitors can continue to be expanded or new twists to explore, I’m down to revisit this world in the future.
All eight episodes of Teacup S01 are now available on Peacock