The Tourist 1×02 sees Jamie Dornan‘s character peel back so many layers to discover who he is after losing his memory. And while the first episode set the stage for what the show is about, the second episode went ahead and started showing us new facets of who he truly is. Within that we get to see his anger and his desperation at wanting to know who he is. But we also get to see how he reacts in new and confusing situations. The same thing goes for Helen and Luci. And because I’ve got so many thoughts on this episode, let’s break it down between our three main characters: Elliot, Helen, and Luci.
Elliot
The Man now has a name, Elliot. He kind of looks like an Elliot if I’m being honest. So we’re going to start calling him that now from here on out instead of The Man. Based on what we saw in the first episode, I knew that a reveal was coming when it came to his name. But I didn’t think that it would happen so fast. I’m so used to mysteries like this holding off for the entire season. And it’s refreshing to see his identity, or his name, being revealed so early. This is just another puzzle piece that will lead him to who he truly is. And while he’s doing all of that, I’m pretty sure Luci is going to be by his side the entire way. Because whatever connection that they have or had, it’s real.
As much as I was hoping for and enjoying the chemistry that I was seeing between Elliot and Helen, what Elliot has with Luci is electric. Yes, I’m a little disappointed that we’re going the stereotypical Hollywood route of the pretty fit guy with a pretty fit girl. And yes, I know that can change later on down the line because this is only episode 2. Keeping all of that in mind, Elliot and Luci feel like those kind of people you see in a TV show or movie that are always meant to meet. Maybe they’re not meant to be together forever because they’ve obviously broken up before. But they’re meant to be in each other’s lives. Sure, he was betrayed at the end that her help came wrapped up in a lie because she knew who he was. But I think that their connection is going to continue being part of this season.
Elliot and Luci aside, I really enjoyed how this episode of The Tourist allowed us to see Elliot’s anger. And the show did it in a way where Elliot understands that it’s part of him but he doesn’t like that it’s part of him. It’s like rediscovering who you are by finding all these scars on your body and not understanding how they got there. He doesn’t understand where that anger comes from. Nevertheless, he still decides to do the right thing when they discover that body and the barrel. His first instinct is to go and tell the truth and tell the cops what’s going on. It doesn’t matter that Luci protested because she didn’t want to get involved. She is involved. And so is Elliot. This all leads me to believe that whatever happened in the past, that’s in the past.
Elliot can be the good guy. I want to believe that he’s a good guy. And I want to believe that he can choose to change. I hope that stays true as I watch more of the series and unearth the mystery of it all.
Helen
The Tourist 1×02 is the episode that made me ride or die for Helen. There’s no going back. I would do anything for this woman and not regret it. A part of it has to do with the fact that she is pushing past so many boundaries for herself. She’s got dreams and she wants to take a chance and reach for them. That’s admirable and I’m so proud of what I’ve seen already and really excited for what’s to come when it comes to a character like her. I’m proud of her for inquiring about Elliot, trying out new things like meeting up with that cowboy hat-wearing asshole who is super creepy, and having that moment in the bathroom where she said “Bloody Mary” three times, in a way declaring that this is who she is now. Someone who pushes. Someone who tries.
Part of this ride-or-die for Helen also allows me to unapologetically say, “Fuck Ethan!!!” Every single time he opens his mouth and talks to Helen I feel like that Michael Scott GIF where he puts his hand up to his face and looks at Toby before saying, “I’ll kill you.” Ethan is a dead weight around Helen’s neck. In the last episode, he told her that one day she would be pretty again, insinuating that losing weight was the way to get there. And then this episode he went and called her a mediocre traffic cop with delusions of grandeur. He even went as far to call her selfish. He does not believe in her at all and is a huge part of why her self-esteem is shot.
I am 100% looking forward to Helen continuing to push boundaries for herself and in this relationship with Ethan the buffoon. And if things keep developing in the way that I think it will, she’s going to drop the dead weight that is Ethan and be happy without him. It’s going to take time and some hard work on her part because habits are hard to break and what Ethan is doing is clearly abuse that she will have to work through at therapy. But I believe in Helen and this crazy adventure that she is going to find herself in when she reunites with Elliot. She’s going to find out what’s going on and prove Ethan and her own doubts wrong. She is a force of nature and when she unleashes it, everyone better watch out.
Luci
Just like Elliot and Helen are flourishing as characters in The Tourist, so is Luci. I feel like in anyone else’s hand or in any other show that I watched, a character like her would just fall into the bad girl trope territory. Not here. There is something so intriguing yet soft about Luci. There are moments when she looks at Elliot and you know that there is tenderness there. They didn’t work out, and probably for a huge reason. But she still looks at him like he hung the moon. And that really makes something flutter in my chest that hasn’t happened in a really long time. And Elliot returns that look, even though he doesn’t remember her. It’s throwing me for a loop that I’m this invested and it’s only been two episodes.
I’m also really enjoying the way that Luci presents herself. It’s clearly someone trying to protect themselves. But there’s also a vulnerability like she’s reaching out to Elliot because she wants to have what they had before. But it didn’t work out for a reason. And she lied to him for a reason. We can’t forget that she lied to him and was suddenly asking him questions about how “wouldn’t it be better if he didn’t know who he was.” We also can’t forget that she basically stopped him from going to the police when a dead body was in that barrel by saying that he killed someone. There’s vulnerability with Lucy but there’s also manipulation. And we don’t get enough messy women characters like that on TV.
The more that I think about it, the more that I want Luci to interact with Helen. Because what Luci has with Elliot, we’ve seen that a billion times over. But I want to see how Luci and Helen get along. I want to see how their interactions are and what they bring out of each other. Because they are two interesting women wrapped up in this mystery and I don’t want either of them to disappear because of the weight of the mystery or whatever romance ends up happening. Both Luci and Helen deserve better. We deserve better. And after I finish watching The Tourist I’m definitely going to go on both of their IMDbs to see what other things they have done because they are acting their asses off in a show I never expected to wow me.
The Tourist season 1 is now available on Netflix.