Yes I have really enjoyed all the episodes this Season but even I cannot say that this is a brilliant season that lives up to the first. All the episodes up to this point have not been very re-watchable and there are a bit too many characters and subplots to follow. 'Other Lives' though is fantastic. Excellently tieing together many of the subplots and characters, in the other episodes there was always that "oh..." moment for me whenever we cut to another character that was not Ray or Ani. In this episode however, I never got that feeling. I thoroughly enjoyed every scene in the episode because it is finally feeling like this is going somewhere. Of course Ray Velcoro is still the best and most interesting character but he did not have to carry the whole thing on his shoulder this time. Vince Vaughn delivers his best performance to date as his character is finally given something interesting do. Taylor Kitsch is great here and I finally cared about the character's personal life as well as his place in the main story.
Once again we get a new director for the season in the name of John Crowley. This is the only episode he directed and he is definitely up there with last episode's director Jeremy Podeswa. There is this sense of dread throughout the whole thing, like it is all leading up to something - and of course it turns out it was. Crowley just like the other directors manages to emulate the first season's style quite well.

Overall, definitely the best episode thus far. All the characters and subplots finally feel important to the story and there seems to be an endgame to the whole thing. It just needs to deliver on the remaining episodes by continuing to improve and maybe it will be remembered more fondly.
9/10
- Lucas
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