The episode revolved around Robin, the Inhuman cursed with visions of the future. The sandbox the writers were playing in was one used by many other sci-fi shows (and particular Star Trek episodes that quickly come to mind). We've seen the conceit where one character lives a life that no others will remember. We've seen a dark reality play out (sometimes at length) even when it will ultimately be undone by the heroes. I have been made to care about this sort of story in other contexts. It just didn't work that well for me here.
I think the key is that Robin is just a guest character, and one we don't know all that much about. We'd barely seen her as a child, and had never seen her before as an adult. In every incarnation of the character, we were kept at arm's length by how her visions kept her from clearly communicating. She's been sympathetic to some extent, but ultimately unknowable. And yet, in the twisted-up timelines of the story now being told, her story has to matter to us for it to matter at all.
We got lots of glimpses of a terrible possible timeline for the main characters -- but none of them will ever actually experience it or even remember it by the time this whole story is wrapped up. We didn't even get to see many of the most impactful particulars. We hear about the deaths of Mack and Simmons, but they're off-screen. We see May tap some inner source of warmth to become a mother to Robin, but it's hard to imagine that the May we know will ever be affected by that reality without living it. If only we'd had a little more investment in the character of Robin, this all might have landed more effectively.
It also might have helped over in the Flint story line if any of the other recurring characters at the Lighthouse had been left alive in the big purge of over the last couple episodes. But at least in this story, Mack and Yo-Yo were as significant in the plot as their new young friend we're just getting to know. I may not be all on board yet with our new apparent savior of the world, but I can at least enjoy Mack's thrill at getting his hands on a shotgun axe, and smile as Yo-Yo takes out a room full of monsters in the blink of an eye.
Not that a guest star focus has got to be inherently bad. Take the story line for Deke in the same episode. We've had a little more time with him to get more behind him, or at the very least start rooting for him to really embrace his inner hero. Having his veneer crack at the possibility of reuniting with his father worked for me. And there a twisting of the knife by having Daisy get his hopes up with talk of meeting her own father. When the whole thing turned out to be a ruse, it was a meaningful low moment for both.
A bit of a stumble, I feel, in what's otherwise been a really solid season so far. Not a critical one, though. I'd grade this episode a B-. And there's no reason to think things can't pick up again next time.
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