Episode Review of The Devil`s Window

I just watched the second episode of season 1. I have fond memories of this series, but this episode was a big disappointment. From my childhood I only remembered the overacting of Roscoe Lee Browne. For me this is still ok today, because he talks excitedly about basic science, which could set a good example for some of my professors at the university. But the rest of the episode was a big letdown.

Why I didn`t like this episode:
1) The whole time I was waiting for something more dramatic to happen. I like Darwin, and I felt for him, but the pace didn`t pick up. Ok, so Darwin is dying because of mysterious prokaryotes. But normally, more should happen in a dramatic series - "up the ante" would be the fitting expression. But after 25 minutes it still revolved around Darwin and some ridiculous pseudo-science phrases like "He is infected, it could be viral or bacterial." (!)

3) What`s with Dr. Raleigh Young? Yes, black smokers are only active for 20 years, but still can`t he wait some days to conduct his experiment? That`s the other thing concerning the scenario - no real pressure is put on Bridger in his pursuit to save Darwin. To be honest, I drifted off a little bit while watching, so I`m not sure, but there really weren`t any time constraints, no dilemma like "You can save a dolphin vs. You can find out the mysteries of the bowels of the earth". Yes, there was dialogue about this kind of dilemma, but it wasn`t played out effectively. (When Young was sitting there in front of the screen in some kind of meditative state, I thought: "You`ve got to be kidding me.")

4) And now to the inconsistencies: Why don`t they tell the vet that they can talk to and understand the dolphin? That would surely help with a diagnosis. Why touch the probe, when it is clear that it is contaminated with something unknown? And, why does no one - except the vet - figure out that Darwin got sick because of the unique ecosystem of the black smoker? Even if they hadn`t shown the rip in the probe for the viewer, I would have guessed that it had something to do with the black smoker.

I hope there will be better episodes ... I think, this episode wasn`t dramatic enough, but on the other hand didn`t deliver enough information on the biology of prokaryotes or thought-provoking bioethical dialogue. (Example: O`Neill confronts Raleigh - "But Darwin is a living thing, whereas your black smoker is not!" Could you be more shallow and pathetic?) That`s my point: Either make it more suspenseful, so I don`t drift off, or give me more information on something like the social behaviour of dolphins.