Review: Common Side Effects “Amelia & Wyatt”

Overview

Marshall finds himself in a new circumstance that changes everything, leading him to reunite with an old friend and start a new plan. Frances finds herself torn in the wake of bad news.

Our Take

Judging by the episode title and in anticipation of a new episode of Common Side Effects I half-expected that this week’s episode was going to be a flashback episode that focuses on who the hell Amelia & Wyatt are. Like, we get a little bit of information this week and they help Marshall get out of a jam, but really we don’t know that much more than we did last week other than the fact that maybe Wyatt may have some importance later.

Other than that, we actually spend the time clearing out a couple of seldom-used characters and are kind of back where we were before Marshall went to jail in the first place. However, that’s not without advancing a number of the show’s characters with considerable growth coming to Agents Copano and Harrington as well as Danny Huston’s take on Jonas Backstein who is just CRUSHING in his role as the big bad. Just as good, Mike Judge, who I think needs to be in serious consideration for Emmy talk during the upcoming awards season and that’s even before we get his reprisal of Hank Hill in the reboot for King of the Hill. 

Overall, Common Side Effects seems to be prepping the final pose for the show’s routine as we get to the final two episodes of the series. The chess pieces are seemingly set though not without some nuances along the way that definitely tickle and somehow these guys have to pull it off in a matter of weeks…or do they?