NB: I do my best to avoid pre-episode chatter and promotional material. I’d always rather encounter characters and story in their full episode text. So, I may very well have missed some bit of press or clip from season 2 that totally conflicts with my math here.
Hey, I *do* tag this “crazy talk.” =)
Okay. Let's start in 1987. One night at the White Dragon night club in Tokyo, Leland Goines mentions that his daughter wanted him to see THE GOONIES with her (01x11, "Shonin"). That didn't bug me at all when I first heard it. I was just excited about the idea of little Jenny Goines being keen on seeing THE GOONIES, and maybe a bit mystified at the notion that Leland might once have been a "cool dad." Later, I tried to imagine Leland taking Jenny to the movies and wondered just how old she would have been then. For a GOONIES fan I'd think 10-ish would be right. Maybe younger, what/w Jennifer's precociousness.
So, if we say 10 years old, that puts her birthday in 1977. Which means that in 2015, she'd be…38. Which, if you'll excuse my judging by appearances, seems like it adds a decade to the age of the woman we and James meet at J.D. Peoples. I took that Jennifer to be in her mid to late 20s, post-higher ed (probably accelerated) and w/a couple of years of legit and black site lab work experience under her now-committed belt. MAYbe 30.
So—one—we've got Leland's daughter wanting to go see THE GOONIES in 1987. Note that THE GOONIES was released in 1985. I can't remember Leland's exact phrasing, but maybe he's talking about a second run screening or picking it up at that new Blockbuster Video in town.
And—two—we've got a 2015 Jennifer Goines in J.D. Peoples (and later, fashionably hostilely taking over Markridge) who seems maybe a decade too young to be that daughter.
Hrm…How to explain this discrepency?
Obviously, there's only one explanation: Jennifer has an older sister.
Wanna know her name?
Marion!
In 2015, Cassie and Katarina meet Cole's father, Matthew Cole (01x12, "Paradox"). At the time James is a young boy, maybe 7 years old.
Matthew is suspicious of the pair-o-docs until they mention the Army of the 12 Monkeys, reminding him of something James's mother said…
MATTHEW: Marion, the boy's mother. She was going on about some monkey army.Matthew calls James's mother Marion, and gives a cursory description of an apparently cursory relationship…
MATTHEW: I didn't know her that well, Marion. I loved her like crazy, but it was a short thing. I asked her to marry me but she wouldn't. Then took off pretty soon after without saying much. When she tracked me down a year later, she had a kid. My son—You. Told me she couldn't protect you. I never understood what she was talking about, but I was grateful. Every day. Look at that. He's a… he's a good boy.So, I'm thinking that it's Marion, age 10-ish, who wanted to see THE GOONIES with her dad in 1987. Jennifer would've been wee yet. Maybe Marion was on track to be a Markridge rock star, perhaps a Night Room specialist, but not necessarily. But she turned her back on Leland and his work when she somehow uncovered the dark forces that were backing it (the Army of the 12 Monkeys, which would have included Ethan Seki for many years). Or maybe she never got that deep into Markridge operations. Perhaps she was simply a good daughter to her mother, her confidante, and Mom reveals the machinations of the 12 Monkeys to her, urging her to escape their designs and leave the family. When Leland uses his wife's supposed ravings as grounds to have her committed, Marion does just that, leaves the family. Leland disowns her, black sheep that she is, bumping Jennifer into the position of Goines heir.
COLE: He won't always be. But I'm trying to make up for it. I'm sorry I can't.
And while on the lam, doing the David Banner INCREDIBLE HULK thing in Philadelphia in 2007, Marion meets and falls a bit in love with Matthew Cole. Fearful of the Army and perhaps Leland/Markridge, she can't stay anywhere for very long, so she leaves Matthew after a short time. However, once James is born, she realizes she can't raise him while on the run, so she returns, and entrusts James to Matthew for a chance at a decent normal childhood.
I have a feeling that Marion knows that Cole is meant to be with his father, for as long as he can be, and to be there to help save his future self. I believe that the Goines women (whether Marion is one or not) have a gift-slash-curse of some kind of extrasensory sight. I suspect it's connected to ingestion of or exposure to red leaves. My favorite imagined scenario has Mom Goines being dosed w/red leaf tea while pregnant, either by an unwitting Leland, prescribed by an Army doctor, or a direct agent of the Army, affecting both herself and her unborn child/ren.
And now—well, as “now” as we can get in 12 MONKEYS—Marion is still at large. Does Jennifer remember her? I suspect that tracking her is probably a pet project of the 12 Monkeys. Or not… What if she successfully faked her own demise at some point? Early enough that Jennifer and Leland believe her dead for many years in 2015? That might be an "easier" explanation for her not being a factor in Goines business over the years.
* Of course, the EASIEST explanation is that I'm off my rocker, but where's the fun in that?
Oh. And who would play Marion Goines?
How about Madeleine Stowe?
So, to recap my crazy talk theory:
Jennifer Goines is James Cole's aunt. =)
Keep on keepin' on~
P.S. Leland Goines is James Cole’s grandfather! =)
3 comments:
Just revisited this bit of theorizing and realized that Leland did not explicitly mention his daughter wanting to see THE GOONIES. I filled that detail in on my own based on his calling the Precursor "One-Eyed Willy." I know, it's a bit of a deductive leap, but I still feel like it was a fair one to make. I *guess* he could've gone on his own? Or maybe with some gum-popping mistress? Ick.
Gee, just scoured ep. 11 for that Goonies reference, only to find your comment here below to say you imagined it! Maybe put a note at the top of the article? 😁
He definitely says "One-Eyed Willy." I walk it back in that comment because I realize that MAYbe Leland is punnily using "OEW" as slang for penis, but I think it's more likely that he's referring to THE GOONIES pirate, and the Precursor's legit resemblance.
He says it in the first few minutes of the episode, when his Japanese connection wheels the precursor out into the disco for him to inspect.
Unmake history! =)
Post a Comment