After exposing the secrets of the Glint corporation last week, Ozzie has become the toast of the journalism world, and ”Mars Or Bust” begins with him giving a speech to a group of enthusiastic J-school students, while simultaneously being offered a job at the New York Times. His bubble bursts rather quickly, however, when one of the students has followed his move to Beacon after his story on StarCrossed, and has surmised that he believes in aliens. Rather than dodge this claim, he quickly cops to it and believes that by doing so, he’s destroyed his journalism career.
While that would be settled later in the episode, he first has to deal with the frustration of Gina, who is understandably upset that he was willing to reveal this to a room full of journalism students, and by extension, the world, but not willing to participate in her own coming out day. This scene establishes the growing feeling that Ozzie, despite making connections with several members of the group, doesn’t quite feel like a full-time member of StarCrossed. While acknowledging his experience, he’s never been thrilled about it, and he seemingly wishes he was still observing the group as a reporter rather than being a true part of it.
And yet, this episode also requires Ozzie to handle the problems of both Father Doug and Gerry. After receiving an urgent message from a disoriented Doug, who fell asleep outside a drive-through following a hazy encounter, Ozzie finds Gerry, who is despondent after Yvonne breaks up with him. I’ll confess; after their enjoyable connection last week, I was sad to see this couple only last one episode, although when you consider Gerry’s intensity and general lack of stability, you could see why she wouldn’t be willing to commit. While Gerry’s initial pain is hard to watch, what’s even more difficult is his overall frustration with the world. Last week, his fling with Yvonne distracted him from his failed attempt at being an experiencer, as well as his generally depressing lot in life. Now, all of it is inescapable, which is tough to watch considering that despite his vast imperfections, Gerry is one of the more likeable characters on the show.
He does get a bit of a redemption when he is able to become a detective in Doug’s story. After a disorienting experience, Doug believes that he, too, has been abducted by aliens. However, Gerry figures out that it was actually just some kids who kidnapped him and got him high on whippets. Or so it seems. When they report their story to the police, we find out that H. Jon Benjamin’s cop character — who has been established as working with the aliens — set up the kidnapping himself, as a means of convincing Doug to kick StarCrossed out of his church, hoping it would lead to group disbanding once and for all. Sure enough, Doug forces them out, leaving their future in Jeopardy.