WiC Watches—The Terror: Infamy
Kiki Sukezane as Yuko – The Terror _ Season 2, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/AMC
Episode 207: “My Perfect World”
RECAP
“My Perfect World” opens with a zombified mortician applying a patchwork of fresh corpse skin on the decaying Yuko, who applies lipstick to her stitched-up face. Still separated, Chester and Luz struggle with the dilemmas in their lives. When the despondent Chester tries to walk out of the internment camp, he is arrested and trucked away. Sickness is slowly spreading through the Japanese-American inmates, and Amy and Ken are desperate to find a way to help.
Yuko enters the barracks seeking information on ‘Taizo’ and temporarily possesses Major Bowen when he tries to confront her. Chester escapes his transit guards by jumping into a river. When Ken visits Bowen in an attempt to elicit more help for the sick in the infirmary, the traumatized and now deeply paranoid Bowen attacks him. Luz dates a nice Hispanic fellow her father approves of, then finds Chester waiting for her outside her house; the lovers once again plot to flee.
Derek Mio as Chester Nakayama – The Terror _ Season 2, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/AMC
Amy finds Ken holed up in Bowden’s office, the young man desperate to force Bowden to call in ambulances for the sick. Amy makes the call on her own but the MPs catch her and the situation spirals out of control and Bowden has Ken executed. Chester breaks into the Catholic orphanage where he was abandoned and digs into his files, discovering he has a twin brother named Jirou.
Chester and Luz arrive at her grandparent’s home in Aguayo, New Mexico. Yuko possesses Bart Ojeda and learns of Chester’s whereabouts before destroying him.
Miki Ishikawa as Amy Yoshida – The Terror _ Season 2, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/AMC
REVIEW
“My Perfect World” finds Chester and Luz on the run and Yuko hot on their trail. It also spends a lot of time in a secondary infirmary storyline involving Ken, Amy and Major Bowden, and the pace of the narrative slows down as a result. The scenes with Yuko deliver decent horror, but overall this installment feels as if it’s waiting for something (the next episode, perhaps), so it unspools an undercard idea (influenza breakout) to bridge the gap.
If you’re into the show — and you probably are if you’re still watching by Episode 7 — then it’s okay to spend some time with Amy and Ken, who are likable minor characters. There’s nothing seriously wrong with highlighting them in “My Perfect World”; the actors do a good job, but I wish they’d been given a dramatic through-line more connected to the central story.
Christopher Naoki Lee as Ken Uehara- The Terror _ Season 2, Episode 7 – Photo Credit: Ed Araquel/AMC
The scene where Yuko deftly manhandles Major Bowen is impressive, though I found myself wishing the show might do more with C. Thomas Howell’s character; Base Commander Bowen would be vastly more interesting as a conflicted character rather than a typical vicious bigot. Ken Uehara’s character develops well, however, turning out to be a courageous idealist instead of just a privileged pretty boy.
It’s great to see Chester and Luz back together again, even if it’s painful for both them and us: Derek Mio and Cristina Rodlo consistently get to play some of the most affecting scenes in the show, and they make the most of them. So, while “My Perfect World” isn’t the strongest episode of The Terror: Infamy, the progressions of the main characters promise it’s all still on the right track.