Episode 16 : "Wall of Crystal"
Summary
The stakes are raised!
Review
A novel episode which raises David Vincent's struggle up a peg and moves it into high gear, with desperate aliens, a sensationalist newsman, and an innocent family David must now protect. Unfortunately, everything that happens in the series from now on will be shadowed by the precedent set by this episode. Why don't the aliens just come back and kidnap David's brother again whenever David gets too close? Whatever happens with Bob's newborn child? Why are the aliens so quick to kill the newsman Booth, when his absence would most certainly make front-page news? (This was exactly the reason they didn't kill Vincent a dozen times over.)
And on a scientific note, how can a person suffocate out in the open air from a crystal only as big as one's fist? Wouldn't the lost air be immediately displaced by tons more air?
By itself, "Wall Of Crystal" is tense, suspenseful television with seamless special effects. But in the context of the series, the episode is a bit of an aberration, raising questions that the rest of the series is uncomfortable in answering.Review by Gerald Fitzgerald, submitted 2002-09-18
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