‘Avenue 5’ Recap: ‘Wait a Minute, Then Who Was That on the Ladder?’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM. YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

​It’s always a wonderful thing when a television series finds a way to surprise the audience in the sneakiest of fashion. Because that means the writer’s room had something quite special planned all along and was able to fool us every single step of the way and truly, that’s something that applies to the HBO series Avenue 5. Because this hilarious comedy quickly established itself as a story that was going to chronicle a disaster in space in lighthearted yet bleak fashion. The kind that would subject the audience to a cavalcade of failures caused by disorganized chaos, that would eventually lead to some kind of happy-ish ending. But as it turns out, the next episode of this series just so happened to take the story in a fascinating new direction.
 
Because ‘Wait a Minute, Then Who Was That on the Ladder?’ took the time to reveal to the audience that this is going to potentially be a redemption tale of sorts, one that sees Captain Ryan Clark shed his standing as a loveable lush and faux captain, by becoming an honest-to-god leader of the Avenue 5. One that actually knows how to inspire people and outright lead a team and one that can make the tough decisions along the way. But it sure didn’t seem like that was going to be the case at first. Because there was a lot of business as usual in this tale, such as couples’ troubles, Karen’s lust to be in the spotlight and Judd taking the time to hob-knob with the passengers in a desperate and hilarious effort to appear normal for a change.
 
But in between all of that, Captain Clark was starting to surprise us. For he suddenly showed interest in his own ship and actually took the time to learn the basics of the space travel and how exactly the ship works and that was quite the unexpected twist. Because up to this point, he’s been all about hiding behind the bottle and using others to handle his business, and this positive change in behavior didn’t end with his desire to learn more about the Avenue 5. Because he also took the time to go below decks and actually spend time with the engineers, which allowed for him to get to know them properly and see them as people instead of indentured servants and this was just brilliant and heartwarming to see and that act is what lead to his first real moment of leadership.
 
Because Clark made it clear that the passengers of this ship needed to believe that there was some semblance of control and stability happening behind the scenes. And sadly, the harsh reality that the bridge was filled to the brim with actors that don’t know how to do crap, would eventually come to light and create chaos. Unless of course, the engineering division could help them look legit on a regular basis and they absolutely went along with this idea, and it was quite lovely to see Ryan bring a team together and act like a captain and see his plans work. But while it was wonderful to see Captain Clark change in this manner, what would this series be without a little hilarious chaos thrown into the mix?
 
Something that came about in the end of this tale, when it was revealed that the poo shield was venting into space. Which means that someone has to step up and save the waste so the passengers can remain radiation free, and who better to rescue all these brave souls than the man who saved the Avenue 3? And it should be interesting to see how the captain handles his first space walk in the next episode. But in the here and the now, it is best we celebrate one wonderful tale, one that finally saw Ryan earn his bars as skipper of this vessel. Because it means that at long last, a leader has emerged aboard this ship, and there is hope at last for real leadership and guidance. Provided of course the Avenue 5 survives this crisis and whatever other nightmares await the ship and its crew in the depths of space. Until next time.

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