Seven And One - Why So Many Mistakes?

[IHaveGoodInstincts]

I think Seven and One definitely specializes in the "Mind Games Department." I think that where the mind games start and tangible reality stops is what makes this episode so intense. Yes, the bathroom would not be airtight, but there's enough intensity going on that it all seems pretty real: visually real for us viewers (it is a cool scene to watch) and psychologically real for Frank who has been fooled, misled and for the most part duped by evil for most of the episode, not being sure what will happen next and sensing things will get worse. One of my favorite quotes from this episode is Frank stating to the Psychologist, "I don't know how to prove I'm not (delusional)." I find that statement true in trying to understand aspects of spirituality/religion in a world that tends to believe differently. I was originally going to say that Frank did some things in the episode that were not up to his usual caliber of thinking and acting, like pulling the alarm in the office. But then again, I would imagine that he may have done similar things when he took early retirement a few years back during his initial breakdown. As I think through more in what I am typing, it is also possible that the FBI holds Frank in such a high regard that a few mistakes in high pressure situations may be easier overlooked by those above him. I'm probably overanalyzing that this point, but it's fun and it feels good! Either way the death of the psychologist and Frank's FBI tenure were two issues left dangling at the end.

Regarding Frank's brothers, I don't think this episode is any more contradictory than MIdnight and Sacrament are to each other, which is minimal. MIdnight does not have Thomas Black, but that doesn't mean he wasn't there.

I think I originally made the comment about reality vs. dream/mindgame/spiritual attack in trying to sequence the episode. Yes, it would have made a cool season ender with an uplifting spiritual ending of sorts, but there were 3 episodes after it. Even without Nostalgia, which I understand was almost a filler episode that may have been written and devised for earlier in the season, we still have the last 2 episodes where Frank really leaves the FBI, at least that's how I interpret it.