BrainDead Season 1 Episode 11 Review: Six Points on the New Congressional Budget
Carissa Pavlica
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Before we get started, can I just ask if anybody is ever going to use these titles for anything ever again?
For example, the title of BrainDead Season 1 Episode 11 is "Six Points on the New Congressional Budget: The False Dichotomy of Austerity vs. Expansionary Policies," which is cute, and I even understand this one (pat me on the back), but SHEESH.
You can't even make a URL for Google search purposes out of it, and you're certainly not going to Tweet it. Nonetheless, it contained a reference to the Budget, which housed the Farm Bill, which hid the locations for the internments camps, so...good deal.
Of course, I happen to have NO IDEA what the alients are going to do with the internment camps, but let's all agree it ain't nuttin' good.
What WAS good, was this episode with the incredibly long, never-to-be-used-again title. Gareth is finally on board!!
I though this was just a charming affectation of yours, you know, you seeing bugs. I didn't want it to be a charming affectation of mine.
Gareth
We're also all in agreement there is absolutely no reason Gareth remains uninfected, nor that Laurel remains alive. I'm not asking, I'm saying that as a fact. Because we're all intelligent.
Whatever it is that's keeping them both alive and uninfected (uninhabited?) has to be explained at some point.
When (why are so many of my sentences starting with Ws??) Gareth considered resigning and ultimately asked Red if he still trusted him – moments before he witnessed Red and the queen doing their thing – Red had a genuinely kind and well thought out answer for Gareth.
Red is serious when he says he values what Gareth brings to the table. Maybe as the queen he knows he shouldn't mess with a good thing until it's necessary.
Yet that night, it certainly seemed as if the alients were crawling through Gareth's walls and his insomnia was the only thing that left him in one piece. Well, that and Laurel's desire to keep him intact, too.
But Red's magnanimous behavior can't be transferred to Laurel. Why haven't they tried harder to get rid of her? Because of her relationship with Gareth?
The whole CIA investigating Luke thing was obviously too perfect, especially in light of all the crap that's been going down with the government lately. The timing was off.
It was also too weird that the goofy PI with kids from The Good Wife would be the agent digging into Luke's background. Nuh uh. He's not someone I can take seriously just yet. (Sorry dude.)
But what really struck me about all of that was that they were two steps behind Laurel and her friends. Red, even with the queen in his ear, was no match for Gustav and his monkey brains idea.
Why don't you take your Tupperware of monkey brains and think about whether you want to make a documentary. And yes, that's the first time I've used that sentence.
Red
Then they managed to get into Red's office while the queen was vulnerable, tackle him and chase the queen around, even beating her with a magazine.
I was kind of hoping when the queen, with her nipped behind, was put back into Red's ear, she would cause him to have some vertigo issues and he'd be stumbling around a bit. Nope. I guess a flattened queen is still a queen.
But holy moly. The trouble Red went to in his attempt to draw Laurel and her friends away was really in depth.
Of course I know they have to go to that amount of trouble to keep the show as fun as it has been, because if they all died, the show would be no fun at all. Just none.
But setting up a fake CIA team, getting Luke to buy into it and then giving Laurel the credit for being one of the first people on earth to discover the alients and their purpose? It not was not only an elaborate scheme, it proved they consider her and the gang a formidable foe and one they can't quite top.
The question was whether or not the ruse fooled Luke. Given his many affairs and the ridiculousness of thinking he'd never be caught, my first thought is he was. But he also trusts Laurel and her judgment and is good at his job. The look on his face before he left the director's director behind was promising.
The best news out of this hour, in my opinion, was seeing the term "season finale" in reference to the two-part finale consisting of BrainDead Season 1 Episode 12 and BrainDead Season 1 Episode 13, which airs Sunday, September 11.
My assumption is a second season would be an entirely new cast unless Laurel, Gareth, Gustav and Rochelle went to another city to try to stop another alient invasion. I'd hope for the cast remaining and the story growing as opposed to starting anew.
Do you think all the viewers who continued watching were as smitten as us and the numbers have remained solid for a summer show? I'm keeping my fingers crossed. This has been a really enjoyable addition to my summer, and was not only fun, but thought provoking.
That's a far cry from Under the Dome. Sorry, Stephen King, but we know that wasn't what you intended when you wrote the book.
Where do you stand at this point? How is this going to end? What questions will be answered? Will we discover the point of the internment camps? What does a king bug do, anyway? Did the queen's squashed little butt hurt her in any way?
If you have missed any of this titillating programming, watch BrainDead online like all the cool kids.
Carissa Pavlica is the managing editor and a staff writer and critic for TV Fanatic. She's a member of the Critic's Choice Association, enjoys mentoring writers, conversing with cats, and passionately discussing the nuances of television and film with anyone who will listen. Follow her on X and email her here at TV Fanatic.
