LIGHTS OUT “Crossroads” Review

LIGHTS OUT “Crossroads” Season 1 Episode 7 – Just as the characters were met with various crossroads, so too, I think it’s safe to say, were the viewers. If you chose to stay with Lights Out despite the flaws of earlier episodes, this was a major payoff and should hook you for the rest of the season.

Stacy Keach’s role has finally evolved. For too long he was the grumbling old dude at the gym. Last week we got a taste, this week a full serving of the layers of Papa Lights. His rigid training regime and no joke attitude is a horrible joy to watch. I say horrible, because McCallany’s Lights is a character that, over the course of the past few episodes, has actually made me care about him. I like the fact that in and around the ring he’s in charge and he is a bull, but when it comes to the domestic issues he’s a complete bumpkin. In the wrong hands that contrast could be forced or cheesy, but with McCallany the transition is smooth.

So now that we’ve established how great Papa Lights and Lights were in this episode, the question must be asked: did Morales take a dive?

Say he did not, then the only substantial reason Papa Lights would not want to coach the big fight yet would be if Lights’ sister told him about Lights’ dementia. Obviously every adult in Lights Out is blind to Lights’ medical problems and have major trust and secrecy issues, so this is probably not the case: but there was the telling shot at the end of the episode after Keach made his exit and the sister lingered a few seconds too long in the background. Of course they could be just emphatically showing that she is now in the loop regarding Lights’ condition. I hope that’s not the case: the sister, well played for the scraps of lines she’s given, appears to be shouldering the burden Daniella had.

I have many pet peeves, but misusing children is one of them. I’ve watched a fair amount of television in my time and I could count the amount of shows that feature complicated family dynamics directly involving kids on half a hand. I was sort of hoping Lights Out would finally contribute to the drizzle, mainly because they’ve managed to stumble upon an actress who can deliver lines with some emotion (and pretty poor lines at that-really? Alcohol in school? Hello clichéd and lazy teenage rebellion writing 101).

More likely, Morales threw the fight thanks to some nifty fixing. Who fixed the fight? How will Lights react?

We finally got to see a spark between Teresa and Lights which has been absent since the very first scene of the very first episode. Teresa was not at all annoying in this episode: I like that she’s not supermom. I like that she realizes there is something up with her daughter, but she’s so heavily cocooned in her own secrets that she’d rather turn a blind eye and offer a weak “tell me when you’re ready” instead of digging into her daughter’s troubles. That’s character. Whinging about good for nothing husband who gave up his life’s passion for you and stomping about the house like some angsty emo teenager is not character; it’s crappy exposition.

The best part about the episode was undoubtedly the fight. I have seen real boxing fights on television and boxing movies in the cinema and (Raging Bull and Rocky excluded) I have never felt more riled up than when watching the fight with Morales. When Lights came back to knock Morales out, I was so caught up in the victory that it wasn’t until the diner scene when I stopped to rethink the outcome.

What did you think of this episode? Sound off in the comments below.

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