TV Review: Pan Am 1.13, 'Romance Languages'

“Romance Languages” is an episode with a serious problem; it’s airing out of sequence.

By Chris Swanson /

rating: 2.5

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€œRomance Languages€ is an episode with a serious problem; it€™s airing out of sequence. In a serial program like this, that€™s a major drawback. This episode should have aired, if I remember correctly, seventh. Instead it€™s episode thirteen. This means that we€™re seeing the mid-part of plot threads that have already been resolved, an end to a plot thread we didn€™t know was finished, and the start of one we saw the finish to recently. To say it€™s a bit confusing is something of an understatement, especially since those of us in the audience aren€™t told what€™s going on. We aren€™t told that this is airing out of sequence. But never mind, let€™s just move on. We start by seeing Laura (Margot Robbie) looking over photos in gallery. Yes, this is where we meet her mystery photographer. The two of them chat a bit and then wander off together. It is then heavily implied that she lost her virginity to him, something that Maggie (Christina Ricci) won€™t shut up about. Meantime, across town, we see Captain Dean (Mike Vogel) breaking up with Ginny. For those of you who, like me, didn€™t remember Ginny because her plot thread was €œmysteriously€ dropped several episodes ago, she€™s the mistress of a Pan Am vice president. She doesn€™t take Dean€™s breakup attempt well and starts throwing heavy things at him. We also find out that Kate (Kelli Garner) is still in a relationship with the Yugoslavian diplomat the CIA black-bagged a few episodes ago. Only that hasn€™t happened yet, so they€™re still a couple. This is good to a point because it adds some material to their relationship and adds some weight to its eventual fate. It€™s bad because, well, again, this is something that was tied up some time ago. Our last major plot thread has Collette (Karine Vanasse) meeting a twelve-year-old boy named Charlie whose parents are in the middle of a custody fight over who doesn€™t have to have him (or so it seems to me). He€™s a rather precious scamp who steals watches and bottles of booze, orders fancy wine in restaurants and has plans to cross Collette€™s Maginot Line, if you get my drift. He€™s played by an actor who bears a passing resemblance to a young Hayden Christensen, which makes some of his scenes even creepier than they already are. Everyone flies off to Rome on a plane that€™s carrying clergy for Vatican 2 (this takes place in the 60s, you say? I had no idea!). While there a number of things happen, including the true story of Laura and her photographer, Kate gets knocked down by a Yugoslavian man who warns her away from his countryman (which leads to a wonderfully tense scene with her talking to her controller on a payphone), Dean€™s would-be girlfriend smashes her face through a window, and young Charlie steals first base before showing up at Collette€™s bedside in the middle of the night. It€™s very hard to rate this episode. All the important points had no suspense for me because I already knew what the outcome was. It was nice to have the €œorigin story€ for Laura€™s photographs, but we kind of already knew what that was thanks to the €œpreviously on Pan Am€ bit before the previous episode. I did enjoy what I saw, I suppose, but ABC€™s baffling decision to air this out of sequence really wrecked it for me. I have to deduct at least a star from the total because of this. I feel that at this point it€™s pretty clear the writing is on the wall for the series. I€™ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that within two weeks of the airing of the finale, we€™ll get an announcement that it€™s been cancelled. I assume the only reason we haven€™t had one yet is because they don€™t want the ratings to crater for the finale. Which is next week. So€yeah. Got that to look forward to.