Everything happens for a reason.
I have to say that having a more optimistic episode right in the middle of the season worked really well in season three and it works really well here again with an episode that I like quite a bit more than I liked San Junipero. In this episode, our appealing main characters, played with affability and charisma by Georgina Campbell and Joe Cole, take part in a bizarre full-immersion dating service. Promises of an eventual pairing with a 98.8% match are balanced by the odd system which pairs people off into couples for reasons that aren’t entirely clear for seemingly random periods of time. Gwyneth Keyworth gets off a great supporting performance as a condescending woman paired with Cole’s character. This episode is, I have to say, quite funny; there’s a running gag involving one of Campbell’s matches and one of his annoying habits that got a laugh out of me every time it came up. This is, ultimately, an episode that has a lot of affection for its central duo and it comes across. I wouldn’t even have used this word to describe San Junipero, but I’d say this episode has a lot of warmth. One might even say heart. The ultimate fate of the two characters is satisfying and hopeful and it manages to avoid feeling cheesy as well. After the absolutely black-hearted Crocodile, this episode feels like a comfortably temperate afternoon, where the sun warms, but doesn’t burn, and the wind refreshes, but doesn’t chill. 4 stars.
tl;dr – warm, witty, charming episode is the most hopeful and sweet so far, anchored by two charismatic and affable lead performances; a palette cleanser that refreshes. 4 stars.