‘Total Control’ Recap: ‘Season 2, Episode 5’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 205 of ‘Total Control’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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There are moments in this life that are so important and so powerful, that they stay with us for ages on end. Because there is a part of our minds that understands their significance through and through and we learned so much from them, we can never let them go. Which is why we hang onto our failures and situations that brought us joy that we had to step back from… because they provided us with some impactful lessons. But while most of us, use those lessons to guide us on how to conduct ourselves in the future, once in a while… some of us get a chance to revisit those moments by way of a second chance. Wherein perhaps we can do things differently a second time around and it just so happens… that Alex Irving was granted that amazing opportunity in this week’s episode of Total Control on Sundance Now.
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For when we catch up with her, here, she’s preparing to return to political life at last and make a difference. But before her second chance in politics got underway… there were some critical matters to handle at home. Because Eddie didn’t want to move to the capital and start his life over and Alex didn’t want to put any more undue stress upon him. Which meant that the two of them came to an agreement, so that Eddie didn’t have to uproot his life. In that, Alex would hand over guardianship of Eddie to a close family friend, a move that was difficult but necessary. For she knew that she would be working long hours and that the right thing to do was to let her son, be a kid in a comfortable environment, and after a short vacation together and a tearful and meaningful goodbye… Alex left home and made her way to the capital.

Wherein she and Rachel wasted little time in crafting their plans. For they both knew that it wouldn’t be long before the two major parties tried to sway independents to aid in their bidding and well… this is really where Alex took full advantage of her second chance. Because she knew full well that this was a grand opportunity to really stand up and make something magical happen and she seized control of the independents and motivated them to work together for a greater cause. All because she knew the importance of not wasting a moment in this office, especially when it comes to how quickly it could be taken away from her, and it was just inspiring and engaging to watch Alex grow into her own and work the room and make her second voyage to the government a worthwhile one.

But while it was amazing to watch Alex take full advantage of a second chance, there was one other important plot point of note in this episode. Because it turns out that after a little pressing, @Bait15’s real identity was revealed and, in the end, he was nothing more than a privileged, white, annoying little pissant brat that worked in the Prime Minister’s office, that also lived with his parents because he wasn’t even twenty-five years of age yet. And for some reason, he thought this kind of horrible talk was somehow just political in nature, allowing for some hard commentary on systemic racism to come into play. For when it is deemed to be a cultural norm, people see it as no big deal and the show deserves kudos for injecting that important commentary here and showing the impact of what those words do to a person, since it brought both Alex and Charlie to tears.

However, the only question that remains now, is what will come out of the confrontation between Alex and this punk. Since the political theater in the capital is strong and everyone is working to use any moment of weakness or humanity to bring trouble about for a competitor, and this could qualify as that. But while we wait to see if any kind of fallout comes from this… we can bask in one fascinating tale. One that subtly reminds us that if we are ever granted a chance to set things rights or obtain a second chance… to seize the day and never let go and now that we’ve reached the end of this particular tale, we sadly only have one more episode in Alex’s return to office to look forward to. For the season two finale awaits us next week and it will be interesting to see… what kind of challenges await Alex and her new allies when parliament convenes. Until then.

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