‘Pandora’ Season 2 Episode 5: Is Ralen really dead? The episode has more than one plot twist this time
Spoilers for ‘Pandora’ Season 2 Episode 5, 'On a Night Like This'
Despite the preposterous plot of ‘Pandora’ in general, the show sometimes manages to surprise us, and episode 5 of season 2 of ‘Pandora’ is one of those episodes. It’s not that the plot is extraordinary -- not even by a long shot. But there were a couple of surprising plot points at the end of the episode that makes you think that the show might be more maverick than one considers. Not good in any way. But reckless about how it proceeds.
Following Ralen, Xander and Jett reaching Las Venus, a planet that’s exactly the space equivalent of Las Vegas, they find out there that Ralen has become a prizefighter. They also run into Greg, a former medical cadet who left the academy back in season 1 without telling anyone where he was going. Oh, he also has a history with Jax. So, obviously, things are tense between him and Xander.
Anyway, they find that they have to purchase Ralen from the pit boss -- all fighters have a thingy on their neck that explodes if they try to escape. This thingy, by the way, looks like a glow stick ring you’d probably wear to Coachella if there was no pandemic. Over here, they take up disguise to make sure they aren’t recognized by the guy training Ralen (who incidentally was also once an Earth soldier). So, Jett disguises himself as a rich heir wanting to acquire a Zatarian fighter.
For some unknown reason, ‘Pandora’ decides to get all racist here and Jett, who is played by actor Akshay Kumar, takes a heavy Indian accent, bordering on offensive, in an attempt to disguise himself even though no one knows who he is or what he sounds like. Anyway, Ralen it transpired was scheduled for a fight after which the bidding price would be set.
During the fight, he gets severely injured. But a rematch is scheduled because Xander intervenes. At the same time, we find out that Ralen has already been purchased by none other than his father, who incidentally hates him, considers him a traitor to his people, and wants to watch him die in the ring. Before the next fight, Xander, Greg, Jett, and Ralen together dose the other fighter with an antidote to the addicting strengthening air that covers Las Venus. Sober, he thanks all of them. But they still have to fight.
But even with his understanding and lack of the addictive chemical component, the other fighter not just defeats Ralen, but also kills him. Tada! Big plot twist number one. So, yeah. Ralen is also supposedly dead now. This season of ‘Pandora’ is not shying away from killing characters, is it? Although it is possible that Ralen’s death is a ruse to rescue him. We’ll only have to suffer through future episodes to find out, right?
Back on Earth, things are boring. Jax has to get some secret information from a Sumi warrior woman, who is supposed to soon marry a Sumi monarch, who seems to be very attracted to her -- to the point where she tries to kiss her twice. Token gay representation out of the way, there’s a bunch of drama where the Sumi guards realize she is trying to spy. All that is shoved out of the way soon. But that’s when the second reveal is made!
It turns out that Zazie, Jax’s boring but enthusiastic roommate at the academy is a spy for Tierney. Boom! What a twist. Like interdimensional TV from ‘Rick and Morty’ this show seems to have an improvisational quality to its writing. People just do things and things are revealed out of the blue without any context and we are left wondering why we even bother with it. But fear not, we’ll bother with it again next week.
New episodes of ‘Pandora’ Season 2 arrive every Sunday at 8 pm ET on The CW.