Marvel’s Inhumans Recap: “Make Way For…Medusa”

Inhumans took one step forward last week and two steps back in “Make Way For…Medusa”.

Tonight the episode puts a weird amount of focus on romantic relationships which kills any momentum gained from the previous week. With all of the characters separated and in different storylines, everything feels extremely disconnected. Now that two members of the Royal Family have finally reunited, hopefully, the show starts moving at a faster pace.

“Make Way For…Medusa” is named after the Queen’s warpath to try to find her husband. Picking up from Black Bolt escaping jail in the helicopter, she’s holding the scientist at gunpoint while forcing her to follow. Of course, the two lose sight of Black Bolt but do manage to gain the attention from the police after the Medusa shoots a squad car off the road. They’re supposed to make up an odd couple, with Elise being the fast-talking nerd compared to the other’s cold logical nature. Sadly, the chemistry isn’t there and the script really isn’t helping either of the actresses’ sell their scenes. At one point, they talk about their love lives (or lack thereof), and later Elise claims she “doesn’t know much” about the moon despite being a scientist who’s spent her life studying it.

At least, the two women get to reunite with Black Bolt by the end of “Make Way For…Medusa”. The season isn’t that long, and drawing out their reunion would have been painstakingly dull so that’s thankfully wrapped up. It turns out the king has been stowed away at a genetics lab by a scientist who is apparently in contact with Maximus. It would seem that “Max,” has been in contact with humans for a while in hopes they could discover the key to terrigenesis. His human friend claims that he can use Black Bolt’s DNA to solve all genetic anomalies, which has the younger brother think twice about murdering the former king. However, Auran isn’t so sure and her band of goons eagerly attempt to take him down. This ends poorly for everyone, but at least the king and queen manage to kidnap one of her warriors before their escape.

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Karnak becomes very useful to the illegal pot farmers by utilizing his engineering knowledge to help out. While the farmer, Jen, is quite smitten with him, her coworker Reno isn’t so sure. “Make Way For…Medusa” spends a lot of time trying to develop Karnak’s and Jen’s relationship, with the two having a fun romp in the ocean before retiring to her tent. Unfortunately, Reno is watching everything unfold and by the episode’s end, he kills off their third farmer. Considering the actress Jamie Gray Hyder, who plays Jen, is only considered a guest star, her relationship with Karnak will most likely be a fling unless ABC decides to fridge her. The show has had a lot of cringe-worthy scenes that anything could be possible with this storyline.

Crystal is also getting herself into a blossoming romance since landing on Earth last week. After Lockjaw gets hits by a quad, he finds himself decommissioned. She’s incredibly angry at the driver, who turns out to be an attractive young guy who happens to know a veterinarian. Of course, his “friend” turns out to be his ex which brings on a lot of unnecessary drama. After Lockjaw passes a physical exam and goes back to sleep, Dave teaches Crystal what a high-five is marking the beginning of their flirtation. At this point, “Make Way For…Medusa” isn’t doing a lot to inspire confidence in any storyline involving the Royal Family because it feels like they’re all just meandering before their inevitable return to Attilan for a final showdown with Maximus.

Speaking of Maximus, he finally takes some steps towards being evil in “Make Way For…Medusa”. Since the genetics council won’t allow him to go through terrigenesis again, he decides to just kill them all. It’s pretty out of character from everything the series has shown thus far, but at least it actually gives Iwan Rheon something to other than monologue.

Next: Inhumans Recap: “Divide And Conquer”

Nevertheless, Inhumans desperately needs to give Maximus an evil agenda or at least the Royal Family a heroic one because at this point neither side seems all that pleasing to root for. With only four episodes left in the season (series?) the show will have to pick up the pace, and by the promo, it seems like it finally will next week.