IR TV Review: THE SWARM - EPISODE 5 [The CW]

The effective personality of a show reflects in how it ups the ante versus where the conflict might take the leads. In Episode 5 of "The Swarm", the scientists and the doctors are catching up but not fast enough. The connectivity of what is happening around the world is only coming to bear because the lines of communication are starting to open freely but it might be too late. Egos and worries about stability at work are definitely very large motifs that plays throughout the entire series. The crux point and the one with the most pertinence here is Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Alicia, a scientist who has lost friends but also seems to find a bigger structure in the underlying signals that the marine life is giving off.

The chemical reactions as shown in the beginning in how the toxins being expelled by marine life and how they are starting to infiltrate every point of life is made clear. There is almost no escape depending on the pressure points in food source that these actions are causing. However this episode creates the biggest stakes in how it ends which is quite riveting but also pays off while simultaneously creating tragedy in ways the characters don't even know yet. The FX work is also quite well down especially on a television stage (something we tend to see more and more). To give away any more of the story would give away what happens. The characters make decisions that seemingly would have pertinance in their normal world but when outside forces start affecting it, all reactions go out the window and it becomes primal. A-

By Tim Wassberg