Alden Ehrenreich gives his best performance yet in “Firefall,” an aggressively funny episode of Brave New World that ends in a blaze of glory.
Brave New World gives us its best outing yet with “Freefall,” an episode that shifts gears from serious, exposition-heavy bottom shelf Westworld knock-off sequences into its own unique brand of enjoyable sci-fi. The excellent endeavor showcases John the Savage’s full embrace of New London and should convince viewers on the fence about swallowing the fandom pill to go ahead and gulp it down.
We start off seeing the Epsilon unit awake in his house. As he looks out at the rain, we see that Mustafa Mond is watching him. She informs Bernard that if he fails at assimilating John, Indra will have to make a correction. The episode wastes no time in raising the stakes for Bernard.
Meanwhile, Lenina is off her pills and experiencing some fascinating symptoms. Side effects include dominatrix behavior during intercourse, John McEnroe levels of tennis intensity, and tear-inducing trash talk, all of which Jessica Brown Findlay pulls off flawlessly.
Elsewhere, Bernard takes John to see Helm, New London’s visionary, who they find it crisis. Bernard properly drugs her up on some top-level orange and yellow goodies, brightening her day right up.
In the lobby, John attempts to talk to Helm’s crew. Every time he makes a move, they all click their pill dispenser in unison, which quickly becomes hilarious. The constant clicks and swallows give the episode a kind of comedic beat that lasts the whole way through. It’s probably not meant to be as funny as it is, but it works.
John, going against the grain, takes the advice of a lower class person and decides to go to Helm’s party in black instead of the starry attire everyone else is wearing. At the crazy rave, John hooks up with Helm. Later he teaches Bernard how to punch Harry, the new Director, in the face, which Bernard does and it’s brilliant. Then the crowd swarms John when he holds up Bernard’s arm in victory, which is even funnier. He’s on fire in this episode.
The episode ends with New Londoners increasingly taking to John’s savage ways. We also have Lenina and Bernard back together in a moon simulation. Is a love triangle forming?
John’s arrival in New London is very similar to a virus infecting a program. He causes disruptions wherever he goes and inspires dangerous behavior in others. While the virus inside of Bernard and the Epsilon was looking like the threat that could bring the dystopian paradise crumbling down, the savage may be the real danger.
This episode was very laidback, but has me very curious to see what happens next. And I’d certainly never laughed more at the show. And Alden Ehrenreich is finally getting into a groove with the character. This was by far his best performance yet. “Firefall” a triumph.
Episode Grade: A
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