We’re finally at the season finale of the first season of NBC’s Aquarius. With a lot of loose threads hanging around, let’s see how things play out in “Old Ego Is a Too Much Thing.”
As usual, this season finale review will be kept fairly spoiler-lite.
The episode opens with Ken Karn and Hal talking about the latest terrible thing that has happened in their lives. To further build to this point where the characters are in the present day, we flash back again to the night in 1959 when they performed their first cover-up with Manson. Hal hasn’t really been a major character throughout this season, but this episode shows us how involved he’s actually been with many different parts of the show that we weren’t aware of. It turns out that he’s also a much darker character than we would have initially guessed, and his storyline in this finale really serves to tie together many different threads. Charlie himself decides to use these developments to his advantage.
Meanwhile, Grace and Sam have a conversation with Emma in which they try to convince her to turn from Manson and his ways. The mother and daughter have another falling out, though, with Emma reveling in her emancipated freedom.
Sam finally tells Walt about the work that he’s doing to try to keep his son safe, and Walt finally agrees completely to accepting his help. This conversation leads to a chance meeting between Walt and Brian. This first scene between the three men together is short, but I really like the interaction that we’re able to get because of how well-developed all of our leads have become through the course of the season.
Unfortunately for Sam, things with Walt don’t go the way that he had hoped, and he’s forced to watch his son taken away as, over at the Spiral Staircase, Mary goes into labor after the return of Emma to the group. As could be expected, though, this also takes a tragic turn.
The remainder of the episode unfolds in ways that are both predictable and unexpected. The unsolved cases from the season are wrapped up cleverly, and all of the characters that we’ve grown to appreciate and enjoy watching end up in very different places than they were in the show’s pilot, be it physical or mental. I really can’t wait to see what happens next season as the story continues.
The first season of Aquarius had its share of down moments, and there were definitely some stumbles along the way, but I really enjoyed the thirteen episodes that we got. This season of the show was also an interesting experiment due to the release of all the episodes at once even as weekly installments were planned to continue throughout the summer. The production value of Aquarius, too, in my opinion, was fantastic. The acting was great, the writing was spot-on, and the portrayal of the time period worked better than I think anyone really expected it to. “Old Ego Is a Too Much Thing” wraps up the season in a solid (if unremarkable) way while leaving enough open to continue the story into the future.
What did you guys think of the first season of Aquarius? Are you satisfied with the ending? Will you be tuning in for Season 2 next year? Let us know your thoughts down below!
[Photo via NBC]
