The Angel
We saw in the last episode that Clark’s secret had gotten out to the world. Not so much a secret given he himself didn’t know it, but the truth, maybe. Episode 2 of God’s Favorite Idiot starts with Clark’s co-workers seeing the waves of attention the videos uploaded on various social media platforms are getting. It almost seems he is standing in the middle of a trial. The public court – including his co-workers – are still confused about his glowing and are looking for answers.
Clark’s father, Gene, is also taken aback by the incident. He, though, believes that Clark is playing a trick and the video is a gimmick. He swears Clark to put an end to his trickery. No more “sauna pleasure” for Clark until he does so.
“Operation: Why Does Clark Glow” (could it get more obvious?) swarms Tom, Mohsin, Wendy, and Amily, who are all looking for possible explanations and crossing out the ones that do not seem right. Like combustion, which, by the way, has killed three of Amily’s uncles. But they deduce that Clark does not have it because Amily didn’t have a premonition about him; she had one for the other three.
Finally, after some senseless back and forth and procrastinating, we have a semblance of an answer. Wendy cross-references “Glowing” to the New Testament (God knows for what reason; pun intended) and finds a quote that explains it a bit. Matthew Five: 14 through 16. Magically, as Wendy is reading through, Clark joins her in unison and finishes the entire quote. When asked how he is clueless. One clue that then appears is that the Harry Styles song starts playing on a speaker. Amily and Clark take a walk to get their headspace cleared.
And that is when a big surprise is waiting for us. We see an Angel fly in from the sky to the ground. Clark faints and Amily nervously attends to him. Chamuel is his name; “sh”, not “s”. The “Cliff’s Notes” version (that was a nice touch, btw) of Chamuel’s visit is that God has selected him to help people on earth. Lucifer is waging war on Heaven and the good guys need Clark’s help. The angel sounds off an ominous warning about Lucifer and flies back. A USA Today reporter shows up at Clark’s house. But he isn’t able to anticipate “why”. When Judy Miller mentions that she has come to ask about the restaurant, that is when the light bulbs go off. He shoos her away.
Now that Clark has the “why” figured (barely, as of now), the group moves on to “why Clark”. Some more gibberish and Clark leaves with Amily when the conversation ends up becoming about poo. They share a kiss at Clark’s apartment. Just as things start to look up, they see a news report on tv. Reverend Milton brands Clark as a bogus man trying to deceive fellow citizens with “false miracles and trickery”. “Agent of the Devil”, he is called. People – believers and non-believers – start showing up at Clark’s house. Amily and Clark try their best to not pay attention; but can they?
The Episode Review
Many creators have tried recently to integrate the uniqueness of their plots and stories with a more weighted approach. They try to let the conceit unfurl in a normal, organic way so that their attempts do not feel forced. At times what happens is that taking this path does the exact opposite. It is likely the case here. Falcone and McCarthy seem to be too caught up in trying to downplay the bizarre event and make the show about the human connection. And it is not even that they have a lot of time on their hands to let the story play out itself.
I mean, the show can end with the sole focus of telling this story about Clark and Amily and how they find a connection with each other. But right now, they have not adequately or impressively brought out their UPS – the glow.
The Angel seemed like the perfect setup to give us some answers and the plot some tangible direction to take. But his visit is hardly five minutes. The execution here – and the writing again – feel too shabby and pointless. As much as I try to spend time with the leads and try to see them as normal, human beings, the result just becomes more disappointing.
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