1.6 Stabbed With A White Wench’s Black Eye For the strongest element of the show is undoubtedly what’s going on in the world beyond the walls of high school and, although this episode took Emery, Roman etc. to a posh charity event for the bulk of the hour, the show seems determined to place the love life of its heroine above the political issues and genuine threat of annihilation that regularly produce the series’ best moments. For every moment we had with Grayson’s parents and their veiled plot to wipe out the entire Atrian race, we also had scenes of Roman unconvincingly confessing his love for Emery over music from the standard CW love soundtrack. These two elements shouldn’t clash as much as they do, and the reason Star-Crossed has become such a frustrating watch is completely down to the quality difference between them. While nothing in the show is going to change the world or even the TV landscape, it’s easy to imagine that, should it restructure its list of priorities and work on some of the character motivations, it could be a much better show. Maybe I’m just too old and jaded to understand the epic love connection that exists between Roman and Emery, but it doesn’t actually seem to exist. As tame as she and Grayson’s relationship seems to be, he’s the easier guy to root for. Which means that, with Eric also leaving the Red Hawks as of this episode, very few of the teenage characters are actively siding against the Atrians. This two-sided argument would have been useful when the eventual battle commenced but, as it stands, only Drake and Zoe are really planning on taking part in the war. Will this change when one side takes more drastic action? Or when the secret of Roman’s half-brother comes out? That seems to be the thing the show is waiting for, as the fastest way of forcing the two sides to clash is to introduce a child belonging to both sides, but for now we have to be content with lots of promises of violence followed up with very little action. And the love story, of course. Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Dreamers Often Lie, here.
