S04.E05: The New Girl

[Tabbyclaw]

Some very unusual cases of suicide lead the team to believe there is a hypnosis trouble afoot. But even the new girl Lexie can see there's something more going on than meets the eye.

 

[Elsinore]

I hated this episode the first time I watched it.

 

It only became bearable at the 43 minute mark when we find out she's been pretending.

 

I will never comprehend the logic of it, or the mental reasoning or why someone thought it was a good idea. Ever.

 

Upon the re watch I can enjoy the humour and the last scene (bonus "Yeah It's Me" actress of the year bit), but never that scene in the storage room. Bleh.

[BlueJay81]

I actually liked the resolution of this Trouble, actually had a horror feel to it and tied in well with the end reveal.

[Tabbyclaw]

I love basically everything about this episode. It's like a good twist movie, where you instantly want to watch it again to seek out all the 'tells,' and the way the tells are scattered is excellently done. Lexie ignoring the people who know what they're doing and wandering into a crime scene with an unstable man is really Audrey being unable to sit back and not try to help. Lexie needling the grunpy cop who won't leave her alone is really Audrey trying to push Nathan away so he'll be less likely to recognize her. Emily Rose manges to play Audrey, Lexie, and Audrey pretending to be Lexie distinctly, which is even more obvious when marathoning the front half of the season. Most noticeably, she puts a lot more of her acting into her face when she's pretending, while as a "real" person it's her voice and body that do all the heavy lifting. And we also have Duke possessed by a guy who's pretending to be Duke, so there's a lot of "deceptive" acting going on in this one and I love it.

[Shanna Marie]

This is definitely one that's better when you're spoiled, or on the second watch. When you think it's Lexie, she's just flat-out annoying. When you know it's Audrey, it's equal parts touching and funny. There really is a big difference between the Lexie we saw in the Bar(n) and this Lexie. Bar(n) Lexie was closer to being a real person. This Lexie is a collection of annoying traits that's way more out-there than the girl in the Bar(n), which makes sense when you know it's really Audrey taking the basis of Lexie (probably because it was the first thing that came to mind) and adding everything she could think of to create the person least likely to ever make a connection with Nathan and most likely to drive Nathan as far away as possible. But there are still moments when you can tell it's killing her to see him like that and to be so close to him but unable to really be with him.

 

But Nathan's side of things is also amusing because he's just so stunned and dazed. I suppose he's probably concussed, which doesn't help, but he's just not able to process it. I particularly like the bit where he's explaining the vending machine to her and he sounds so lost and confused even as he's having this very mundane conversation. Meanwhile, we've got Duke trying to manage his very messed-up friend and keep him alive. The friendship between Nathan and Duke is one of the best things about this season.

[LvHmBirth]

The only thing that bothers me about this episode is that when Lexie examines Nathan's head wound, you'd think he would have been able to feel her touch; the gig should have been up right then. But I agree it's very enjoyable on the second watch.