Episode 405 is in a sense the payoff on the problems caused by Episode 403, problems we might not have even noticed because instead of having a week to chew on it we had two minutes or a day.
To recap: 403 asks Jane to take a huge journey from People treat me like a monster to I act like a monster to I am a monster to Wait no, I am a super hero. It's all good until that last step, which comes completely out of nowhere. You know, like a good twist should. But it's a centimeter off. Instead of Dr. Owens insisting she's not a monster and Jane refusing to believe him but going, probably despite her will, we get this radical unearned turn around in her psyche. She has done nothing to prove to herself that she isn't a monster. And in fact even Owens wanting her could be interpreted by her as being a result of her monstrosity.
So then we get to 405 and it's all about Jane trying to get her powers back. And the journey that the writers want to take is very very small. She's going to make a tiny bit of progress, one small show of her powers. And then she's not going to be able to tap into them again.
On the one hand, the problem here is sort of the reverse of 403; for as much effort and trust that she puts into this, she actually does earn some progress and the show won't let her keep it, which feels wrong.
But the other problem is, there's just not much about her story to hold our attention. Yes we have some flashbacks, but really that's the work for 407 much more than here, so they can't give us much. Her story really needs another piece--which is exactly what they would have had if they had brought her to the lab with her insisting she's still a monster. It's the "I don't even want to be here" or "You have to stop this I am a danger to everyone."
When you're writing you're always having to think in terms of Beginning, Middle and End. How does this decision ripple forward, both in terms of the rest of the episode and the rest of the season? 403 creates a HUGE ripple forward but then stops it at the end of the episode, leaving Jane in limbo. And so 405 has to in a sense start over. I actually think that's part of how we end up with Dr. Brenner again, too--it was such a meaty plotline before, it feels like there's momentum built into returning to it. Surely there must be more to play with. But no, it's really just a repeat of things we've already seen with the two of them in past season. And so at the end of the episode we end up quite becalmed.
