Room 104: Ranking the season 2 episodes

Room 104 / image by HBO

2. FOMO

Gracie (Charlyne Yi) and her friends are in Room 104 to celebrate her 30th birthday. She’s obviously feeling the weight of hitting the big 3-0, but there’s something else bothering her as well.

She purposely left out her sister Karen (Jennifer Lafleur) from the festivities and we soon find out why.

As the second season premiere, ‘FOMO’ hit all the right notes – fun, relatable characters, and situations, but with a suspenseful twist.

The episode also had incredible diversity which is still missing from the majority of Room 104. I couldn’t help but love this episode because we can all place ourselves in the characters’ shoes.

Would we go as far as they did? Probably not, but the episode creators ensure the protagonists were somewhat sympathetic despite their actions. And that ending; it still gives me the heebie-jeebies.

1. Josie & Me

Mary Wiseman (from Star Trek: Discovery) plays two versions of Josie – a playwright who is late on her deadline to submit a play and a slightly younger version of herself who was celebrating the end of the semester at a college frat party.

The two of them relive the events of that fateful night in an effort to understand and define what happened to them.

I am surprised it took nearly two seasons for Room 104 to explore sexual trauma, but it is great that the showrunners took their time to create a sensitive portrayal of it. Mary Wiseman as the bubbly and pensive Josie’s was a delight to behold, and her casting ensured the character had more layers to it.

Josie is a loud-talking feminist who also struggles with body image issues regarding her weight and needs validation by attending frat parties. This was a difficult watch but tastefully directed and written keeping in mind the many obstacles that victims face – including themselves.