1x07 Hicksburg

[7.5/10] This episode kind of comes out of nowhere. Did the show ever establish that Ro is looking for her real family? Did we know anything about her history beyond that she was a runaway and some vague intimations that she wasn’t hunky dory with her bio-dad? “Hicksburg” just kind of drops us into the situation and expects us to keep up with a rush of new developments.

Despite that, I like where it goes with them. This is a Ro-focused character story, and it’s nice to get one of those amid the broader action, excitement, and chase-the-robot stories we’ve gotten so far. As much as this is about the silly comedy and/or action of the NSA catching onto Zeta when he impersonates a celebrity in a small town, it’s also about Ro reckoning with her impressions of her foster family from when she was eight versus who those people are now and were then from the perspective of a grown-up.

That comes most of all from her foster dad, Sheriff Morgan. The episode does a nice little arc for Ro’s relationship with him. It starts out depicting him as kind of prickly and old school, telling Ro and Zee that he’ll move on his own time. Then the show shifts him warmer, telling Ro that he worried about her and always thought she’d have a home with them. Then it shifts back to him as the type of finger-wagging authority figure Ro bristled at, telling her that she always made the wrong choices when he finds out she’s allied with Zeta. But then, it closes on a note of sweetness, when he realizes that Zeta is a force for good, helps Zeta and Ro shake off the feds, and reaffirms that she’ll always have a home with him.

That’s simple but effective stuff, adding layers of complexity to a fraught father/daughter relationship that feel real and earned. Likewise, Ro’s foster sister Tiffany gets less shading, but reveals that not only did she have the same sort of “grass is always greener” envy of Ro that Ro had of her, but gives Ro a picture that lets her know she has a brother. There’s an implicit acknowledgement that things weren’t as bad as Ro perceived them when she was a kid, or at least that there was more to the story there, and it’s another layer of complexity I like.

(As an aside, the brother looks oddly like Agent West. Coincidence? I hope so.)

The rest of the episode is pretty good. Walt as Tiffany’s annoying paramour who resents Zeta for “stealing his girl” is more of a plot device than a character, but he serves his purpose. This one’s lighter on stunts than some episodes (to its benefit) but Zeta steering a log-roll away from civilians makes for a good set piece. And the humor involved in Zeta impersonating action star “Alex Heat” earns some good laughs.

Overall, this episode dives into some Ro family drama without setup, but it does well with it when it gets there.