tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-188607172024-03-13T16:10:33.044-04:00wuzzon?the further I go, more letters from home... never arrive...cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.comBlogger1100125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-63765702605478945032018-04-07T20:33:00.000-04:002018-04-09T14:28:16.729-04:00ATLANTA: "Teddy Perkins": What the faduck?I'm gonna outline how I think the mechanics of this amazing slice of gothic horror worked. A (hopefully) straightforward-ish explanation of what people did when and why. If you haven't watched the episode yet, stop reading now, for beyond this paragraph, there be spoilers!~<br />
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My take is based on two big asks, the true identities and relationship between "Teddy" and "Benny."<br />
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1. The man who introduces himself as Theodore "Teddy" Perkins is actually Benny Hope. There has never been a "Teddy" apart from this alias of Benny's. Darius is basically correct that Benny created the "Teddy" persona to cover up/deny what he did to himself—and what happened to him—as Benny. Sometimes, Benny himself forgets that he's Benny, turning his cover into a genuine delusion.</div>
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2. "Benny," the man in the wheelchair who shows up at the end of the episode, is actually Benny's father. I like to think that he's actually Benny, Sr. and "Teddy" is Benny, Jr., which helps explain why "Teddy" without hesitation says, "Benny! You're alive!" when he rolls out of the elevator.</div>
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Of course, it could simply be the delusion.<br />
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What happened…<br />
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1. "Teddy" kills "Benny" a short time before Darius arrives. Benny stabs his father in the gut while he's in his wheelchair in the upstairs piano room. Darius's arrival apparently interrupts his clean-up of the scene. </blockquote>
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2. When "Teddy" explains to Darius that he doesn't have a butler, he plays back his reminders. "Wash your hands…immediately," is a reminder to clean his father's blood from them. </blockquote>
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3. When "Teddy" goes wandering off after that, Darius can't stand to remain in the room with the crack'd Owl's Casket. So he goes wandering as well. We then see that "Teddy" has the mansion wired for video, and can see and track a visitor's movements throughout his home. </blockquote>
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4. Eventually Darius follows the sound of piano music upstairs to the piano room. "Teddy" keeps him from entering, but Darius can see a wheelchair set in front of the upright with colored keys. This clicks for Darius as matching the progression of photos in the hallway, which show Benny as he ages, the last one depicting him in a wheelchair and covered up against the sunlight.<br />
Why was "Teddy" playing the piano when he should be focused on covering up his father's murder? Probably cuz he's bonkers. He doesn't record reminders for himself for nothing. =) </blockquote>
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5. "Teddy" shoos Darius away from the piano room, explaining that he'll see him downstairs with his glass of water, promising a mix of brands. This gives "Teddy" time to finish cleaning up the Piano room. </blockquote>
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5.a. This might be when "Teddy" moves his car. See also 7.a. </blockquote>
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6. After meeting up again in the gift shop, "Teddy" leads Darius to what will be his prized exhibit, a room dedicated to "Great Fathers." Featured center stage is a manakin or tailor's dummy dressed in a suit whom he calls his own father. This is when "Teddy" explains how his dad set he and his brother on a regimen at an early age to become not just good at piano, but good at life. </blockquote>
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6.a. I think that in "Teddy's" completed version of this exhibit, that manakin would be upholstered with his father's skin, or perhaps completely taxidermically replaced. =) </blockquote>
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7. When Darius suggests they finally cut to the chase and close the colored keys deal, They return to the upstairs piano room. The wheelchair we saw earlier is gone. After "Teddy" leaves to turn on the elevator, Darius notices a drop of blood on one of the keys. "Teddy" missed a spot when cleaning up. </blockquote>
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7.a. This might be when "Teddy" moves his car. See also 5.a. </blockquote>
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8. Darius loads the piano onto the elevator and presses the button for the first floor. However, he ends up in the basement—"Fine, destiny." There he encounters "Benny" who is actually "Teddy," dressed exactly as we last saw him, but with the addition of a black hat, wrap, gloves, and a blue face mask/bandage that covers everything but his eyes and mouth. Darius sees through this charade, but plays along because, bonkers, remember? Without speaking, "Benny" communicates to Darius that Teddy will kill them both and that he needs Darius to get him a gun from the attic to protect himself. Darius plays along and tells "Benny" that once he moves his piano into his car, he'll be back with his gun. </blockquote>
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9. Darius rolls the piano out the front door only to find that his U-Haul has been blocked in by the Hopemobile. He goes back into the mansion to find "Teddy." He finds him reviewing some home movies of one of Benny's piano session with his abusive drill sergeant of a father. Darius explains that he's been blocked in. "Teddy" says that he'll move the car. I think at this point, "Teddy" might be fine letting Darius leave with the piano. However, Darius then asks to use the bathroom, which to "Teddy" sounds like an excuse to move around the house. "Teddy" was the one who chalked to Darius in the basement that a gun was in the attic, so he assumes that that is where Darius is heading. Now Darius is a potential evildoer-slash-enemy, whether he believes it was "Teddy" or Benny he spoke to in the wheelchair.<br />
You can see the flick of the switch in "Teddy's" face when Darius asks about the bathroom. </blockquote>
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10. "Teddy" has Darius cuff himself to a chair in the foyer. This allows him to put down the gun and have some last words with Darius. His plan seems to be to kill Darius and stage things to frame him as a home invader who killed "Benny," his father. </blockquote>
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11. Darius may be the best possible person to stop this gothic clockwork. But even his grace is not enough. Just as "Teddy" denies Darius's beautiful notion of Stevie Wonder's seeing through music, the elevator arrives, revealing the real "Benny."<br />
Donald Glover's "Teddy's" look of shock through the mask of his face is amazing.<br />
"Benny" picks up the shotgun and kills "Teddy."<br />
We know this is the real "Benny" and that he's been attacked by "Teddy" because although he does seem to be wearing exactly what "Teddy" was wearing when he appeared to Darius in the basement, his white shirt is soaked with blood over his belly and otherwise blood-spattered, too. </blockquote>
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12. "Benny" motions to the still handcuffed Darius to give him the fireplace poker. In shock and perhaps gratitude, Darius complies, too late realizing that "Benny" needs it to push the trigger with the gun pointed at himself.</blockquote>
I *think* that explanation of events works out pretty well. We only ever see photos and film of *one* child, and that is Benny Hope. There is no Theodore Perkins. "Teddy's" story of how his father trained Benny for greatness is supported by the home movie clip we get to see. It's not hard to imagine that at some point, Benny, perhaps already a caregiver for his father, snapped, and began returning abuse on the man, physically turning his father into a copy of himself, and ultimately killed him…</div>
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…planning to turn him into a prized museum exhibit. =)<br />
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Also, I don't think that "Teddy" was planning to frame and kill Darius the whole time. That exchange they have in the screening room felt to me like a (bonkers) test, and when Darius asks about the bathroom, he fails it.</div>
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Question: Did anyone catch what message board Darius learned about the piano on? Sounds something like "Buy-something-King," but not tight/short enough to be "biking."<br />
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However, The Girl came up with an even more satisfying take. After watching with her—her first, my third viewing—she suggested that I might have the "Teddy" and "Benny" thing reversed. <i>So, "Teddy" is the father, and "Benny" is actually Benny Hope</i>. I *really* like this idea. That makes the father's name Teddy, and he's the one who's speaking to Darius throughout the story. Benny is Teddy's son, and he's the one in the wheelchair who shows up at the end. If you watch again, keep this possibility in mind when "Teddy" speaks about his father and reacts to Darius's comments about abuse and sacrifice. Also at the pride implied in the conversion of the home into a museum.<br />
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This also adds even more chill to "Teddy's" hope early on that at the end of "Benny's" suffering they might get a masterpiece.<br />
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The Girl also explained to me that the Jacksons' parents had cosmetic surgery to match the surgically altered noses of their children. I'd never heard this before. This hints to me at a backstory of father Teddy seeing Benny altering himself, perhaps to the point of illness, and doing the same to himself, so that they would appear very alike to anyone who didn't know really know them.</div>
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I kind of wish that the episode had ended with "Benny" unlocking Darius's cuffs before killing himself. Then Darius could hightail it out of there on his own, before the cops or anyone else shows up, and the entire episode could be framed as a kind of haunting, an interaction with ghosts, a projection of a dark "what if?" from Darius's own life. Crazy talk, I know.<br />
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Alas, not to be. It all (sur)really happened. And, man, I really hope later episodes refer back to this one somehow. Maybe musically? Perhaps they've already played music by "Benny Hope" in season 2 episodes and we just didn't know.<br />
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I *really* hope that Darius doesn't count the outcome of his f'd up day out as one of his two life regrets. He did everything he could to get that piano, as well as curb "Teddy's" madness. Part of me does hope that we get to meet his agent of regret-death, tho.<br />
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Darius should be able to get that piano out of impound. After all, he signed the papers, right? And he sure as faduck deserves it.<br />
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Keep on keepin' on~</div>
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cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-36652468974185133752017-12-13T11:30:00.000-05:002017-12-13T11:46:33.473-05:00MR ROBOT: Season 3: Mandela Effect & a Day Off…Hello, friend.<br />
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Collecting some bits and pieces that connect to the so-called Mandela Effect and M-Effect adjacent phenomena in the universe of MR. ROBOT. Note that this is no doubt far from comprehensive. As any watcher knows, this show goes deep. =)<br />
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Elliot’s employee ID number…</h2>
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072391. As a date, this is July 23, 1991. The date on which Nelson Mandela died as reported in a non-non-fiction essay published in South Africa in 1991. Before the essay was identified as non-non-fiction, this was passed around as a possible artifact/proof of the Mandela Effect. The ME explains that the phenomena of a great many people remembering hearing that he died in the 80s when in fact he passed away in 2013 is the side effect of a manipulation of the past of our timeline (somehow imperfectly allowing for some people to remember the original, or earlier timeline’s history) or the memory/history of an alternate timeline somehow psychically bleeding into ours.<br />
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This Esmail Egg is not strictly speaking evidence on which to build a logical theory about the MR. ROBOT universe, but a wink and a nod for us, the audience, a hint, but, y’know, possibly a misleading one.</div>
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Project Berenstain…</h2>
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The FBI runs an illegal surveillance initiative dubbed “Project Berenstain.” Within the world of MR. ROBOT, we’re not given a reason for this code name, but the first reference that comes to mind is the children’s book series, the Berenstain Bears. Why that would be associated with surveillance, I do not know, but maybe that’s the point in choosing a project name for the FBI. Not to be clever about it, but to name it according to some agnostic system or order—children’s book characters in alphabetical order?—and so, give nothing away about the nature of the program in the name, right?<br />
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However, in *our* universe, “Berenstain” is another collective memory glitch of the Mandela Effect. Many—including myself—remember the bears’ family name being spelled with an “e,” “Berenstein.” Seriously, I pronounced the name like “Einstein.”</div>
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Darlene’s a Sinbad fan!</h2>
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In an episode this season we got a glimpse of Darlene’s monitor which showed her torrenting SHAZAAM (1996), a movie that I believe was manufactured by the Internet (as Photoshopped posters, cases, fake trailers) in response to another Mandela Effect glitch—a memory of Sinbad playing a genie in a kids movie. The movie that seems to have inspired that mismemory, or overwritten it, is KAZAAM (1996), which starred Shaq.</div>
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What does this mean?</h2>
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I’m sure there are more Mandela Effect droppings in the world of MR. ROBOT, but this is all I’ve got in my head just now, sorry. Still, in a story with BACK TO THE FUTURE REFERENCES, discussions of alternate timelines, and a cameo by what appears to be a <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fcarygrantchang%2Fstatus%2F918336812724211712&t=MTYyNDMwMTg4OTdjZGQ5ZTBjMzg5YTM5NmUyZGE3Yjc2ZmY5MzNkNywzSUdSMlozZg%3D%3D&b=t%3Afhs3CsVeVaV3pdyXLXkAwQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fcabinboy100.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F168504135034%2Fmr-robot-season-3-mandela-effect-a-day-off&m=1">particle accelerator</a>, I don’t (want to =) believe they’re insignificant.<br />
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Assuming these facts of the reality of MR. ROBOT matter, they tell me that what we’re watching on the show is an earlier iteration of our own reality. So, when we examine the world and history and people in MR. ROBOT, we are seeing the source of the apparent aberrations we are now pointing to as evidence of the Mandela Effect. In the universe of MR. ROBOT, the bear family was named Berenstein, Sinbad starred in Shazaam, and Nelson Mandela passed away in the 20th century (I don’t believe that last event was reported in the show in any way, but please allow me the zany extrapolation). Then *something* altered the history of that universe, maybe once, maybe multiple times, ultimate resulting in *our* universe, one in which the bears are the Berenstains, Shaq played Kazaam, and Nelson Mandela died in 2013.<br />
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Could that *something* be WhiteRose and the Washington Township project (transferred, recreated, or completed in the Congo)? Has WhiteRose worked out the psychohistorical math to send information back in time to alter history so that the Washington Township leak never happens, Edward Alderson and Emily Moss never get sick and die, their kids grow up with their parents to be very different people, and WhiteRose herself is reborn as B.D. Wong, star of stage and screen, as she’s always truly wanted to be? =)<br />
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I go on about this rewriting of reality in this post: <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/168454170254/mr-robot-season-3-some-pre-finale-big-picture">Some Pre-finale Big Picture Theories…</a><br />
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Note that this bothers my brain a bit because in changing reality to change herself, WhiteRose may alter events so much that she will never acquire the resources to create and use a time travel device in the new reality (not that B.D. Wong couldn’t make it happen, I did say “may alter” =). If MR. ROBOT only allows for one precious universe/timeline, then that could result in a paradox (that may or may not be resolved by the universe itself somehow), but if it allows for multiple timelines, then she will have created a new reality (possibly ours), but not overwritten her current one. Sad.<br />
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If you like this idea, here’s a fun thought… Think of the universe of MR. ROBOT as the first, original timeline. If WhiteRose’s machinations lead to the creation of *our* universe and our Mandela Effect is real, then the Elliot and Angela and Dom and Tyrell that we’re watching have no equivalent to the Mandela Effect in their world. There are no memories or history of a previous iteration of reality to leak into theirs.<br />
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Also, if the universe is as good as a simulation and hackable, then something something something… =)</div>
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Take the day off!</h2>
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Something I’ve noticed that I consider ME-adjacent, in that it reinforces for me the experience of MR. ROBOT as an alternate reality…<br />
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When you compare the dates in MR. ROBOT to the days of the week they should fall on in our world, when it’s noted, they appear to be one day off. Someone pointed this out to me in season 1 or 2 but I can’t remember the details. I think it must have been about 5/9. In season 3, I noticed it when several people refer to the execution of Stage 2. They give the date as September 29 (2015) and refer to it as a Monday. On our calendars, 9/29 fell on a Tuesday.</div>
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I also found this little rabbit hole…Dom’s badge number: 22958. At least, I think that’s what it is. She identifies herself by it when she calls OpCenter for help. As a date, it becomes February 29, 1958. A leap day, but one that never actually happened! And the title—as <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.poemhunter.com%2Fbest-poems%2Fallen-ginsberg%2Ffeb-29-1958%2F&t=NzgzNTQ3ODc3ODVhOTc1ZWJhYjJlNzJiMmJiZmEzMDlkYjk4M2QyYSwzSUdSMlozZg%3D%3D&b=t%3Afhs3CsVeVaV3pdyXLXkAwQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fcabinboy100.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F168504135034%2Fmr-robot-season-3-mandela-effect-a-day-off&m=1">”Feb 29, 1958″</a>—of a poem by Allen Ginsberg about a dream he had “last night” of meeting T. S. Elliot (aka Terribly Sexy Elliot). I’m no poemologist, but I take the the poem to be Ginsberg recounting a dream of himself dreaming of an evening spent with an imagined version of his hero. MR. ROBOT-y enough for you?<br />
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Be seeing you.<br />
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Keep on keepin’ on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-65763116081325241892017-12-11T23:40:00.000-05:002017-12-11T23:41:41.018-05:00MR. ROBOT: Season 3: Some Pre-finale Big Picture Theories…Hello, Friend.<br />
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Gonna ramble on some Big Ideas that might explain what’s going on in the WhiteRosey sectors of MR. ROBOT…<br />
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WHITEROSE CAN HACK REALITY.</h2>
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The universe is a simulation, or at least effectively functions and exists as one, and WhiteRose is able to hack it. Currently only to a degree. She can copy and paste elements that exist and have existed in the universe. She can edit them, but only in certain ways. She currently has limited write permissions.<br />
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We've seen her do this when she copied a young Angela from the past and pasted her into the present to interview the adult Angela. <br />
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We also saw *someone* do this when Trenton's brother (who actually left town with his parents) was copied and pasted onto the beach next to Elliot. Each of these instances was edited, tailored to accomplish a certain task. This is the kind of "undo" that WhiteRose has promised and tantalized Irving and Angela with.<br />
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However, he cannot yet deliver what Angela wishes for—the return of her mother and Elliot's father, hale and hearty. Editing them to the degree that they would be cured and healthy is currently beyond WhiteRose's power. She needs to proceed with her Congo project in order to gain that ability. WhiteRose's ultimate goal is to be able to edit the universe so that she can make lasting and stable changes, for herself, and to herself. In order to achieve that, anyone and everyone may be expendable, but also revivable.</div>
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WHITEROSE HAS A TIME MACHINE.</h3>
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WhiteRose already possesses time travel capability, and she's used it countless times, each time tweaking events to get closer to an ultimate desired result. She doesn't believe in coincidence because when it occurs around her, she's had a hand in manufacturing it. In the events and timeline we see unfolding on the show, Elliot Alderson is the right person with the right connections and experiences in the right place at the right time for what WhiteRose needs to be done. I do not think that WhiteRose's time travel allows for a person to get into a DeLorean in 2015 and step out of it in 1985. Instead, what she can do is send herself (and maybe others) information. Maybe it's "psychic," a la PRINCE OF DARKNESS, but I prefer to think it's electronic, a la STEIN'S GATE. An email with an attached document sent from her personal server in 2015 to her AOL address in 1990.<br />
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How would this help WhiteRose? I'm gonna run thru a couple of *hypothetical* loops to demonstrate…<br />
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Let's say that in a previous iteration of the universe, WhiteRose identified Edward Alderson, Elliot's dad, as a useful tool in a takedown of ECorp and the global economy. He was poisoned by ECorp and had the coding/hacking chops to damage them. WhiteRose could have used her resources to encourage him to make the attempt. It fails. Edward can only do so much damage to ECorp in the 90s before he dies. However, his son grows up to be an accomplished hacker at a time when ECorp is committed to digital records and vulnerable to a catastrophic attack. But for whatever reason, this Elliot doesn't have the drive to pursue such a course. At the same time WhiteRose, Zhang, and the Dark Army try many paths to sink the economy and gain leverage for acquiring the Congo, but none pan out.<br />
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When WhiteRose believes she's exhausted her options in that iteration, she assembles an information payload—added to the one she received from her previous older self—for her younger self. ZIPs it, attaches it to her Chronomail, and hits [SEND]. The next iteration begins. This time, WhiteRose tweaks details at the Washington Township plant so that Edward dies earlier (perhaps by stepping up the timeline of her pet project there?). In the wake of his father's death, this Elliot makes toppling ECorp his lifelong goal. He grows up and assemble the fsociety team, but he's too reckless, and he gets himself caught or killed. His aggression needs to be tempered. He needs to be introduced to some already available channels instead of brute forcing his way every step of the way. Again, WhiteRose has many irons in the fire, but none prove successful. She assembles a new payload, updated with this iteration's edits and outcomes, and clicks [SEND] again.<br />
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The next iteration begins. This time, WhiteRose engineers events so that Elliot has a sister and a best friend who share his interests and motivation. Darlene is another hacker, naturally more reckless than Elliot, enough so that Elliot has to step up his responsible side. Angela is another victim of ECorp, whose shared orbit guides Elliot to a position beside her at AllSafe. This Elliot wants to take down ECorp, has the skills and access, and is levelheaded enough to accomplish it. However, when he does the math and comes up with an unavoidable body count, he cannot go through the hack, at least not 100%. WhiteRose takes notes and launches the next payload into the next iteration.<br />
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This time, WhiteRose somehow gets Edward to reveal his illness to Elliot in secret, leading to the first time Edward pushes his son out the window, and so, the introduction of Mr. Robot. Everything goes nearly perfectly, but the hack is thwarted. There's one piece missing, and WhiteRose thinks she's located the raw material from which to carve it. She adds her new experiences and insights to the next payload and begins the next iteration.<br />
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<br />
<img height="225" src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/624defb6a8f676d98e5d30da979be527/tumblr_inline_p0tzbmBjly1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<br />
This is the one we're watching. The one in which Elliot breaks his father's trust, angering him enough to push him out a second story window, creating Mr. Robot. The one in which Mr. Robot recruits fsociety and plans the hack. The one in which Angela's influence gets Elliot to the place he needs to be—Allsafe—to enable Mr. Robot's hack. The one in which they both meet Tyrell Wellick, the final (perhaps) piece of the puzzle, and low and behold, a bloodless 5/9—well, y'know, not counting the aftermath—and leverage enough for WhiteRose/Zhang to acquire the Congo!<br />
<br />
If this is the furthest that WhiteRose has gotten, then she is in truly uncharted territory. We've seen how she has numerous strategies in play (influencing the media to pump up a certain pompous buffoon's Q rating), and I think it's in that same vein that she turns to Grant for his advice in light of Elliot's proposal of Stage 3, something that would not have come up in any previous iteration of events. WhiteRose has the coltan mines of the Congo now. Maybe Elliot *has* outlived his usefulness. No doubt she's already made notes for her younger self to take steps to quell the unrest in the Congo so that her pet project can be transported there hassle-free in the next iteration.<br />
<br />
And what is her pet project? Her ultimate goal? Y'know, assuming she's already got this method of time travel? What could top that?<br />
<br />
What about the ability to run these iterations as simulations, allowing her to not have to *live* each iteration? Not that she feels it, but intellectually, for a hacker of time, that's got to be aggravating, right? Of course, each of those simulations is an iteration, too, so a subjective, paradoxical advance.<br />
<br />
How about hacking reality? Basically, the ability I discuss in my first theory. I feel like WhiteRose's ultimate goal involves taming cosmic forces to perhaps selfishly right a personal (cosmic) wrong. Did Zhang ever have a sister? Do Zhang and WhiteRose each wish to live as two separate beings? Or is WhiteRose her true self, and Zhang a mask? Would WhiteRose wish to recode herself as a biological woman? Or somehow able to transform at will? Perhaps her pet project, once complete, can realize these wishes.<br />
<br />
This would also make her promise to Angela a deliverable one, as I describe above.</div>
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<h3>
TIME TRAVEL AND STUFF…</h3>
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<br />
<br />
I would *love* for WhiteRose to have or be working toward, classic pulpy scifi time travel, but I just don't see it working out. Assuming that's the goal, and that she achieves it, she can't use time travel to go back and change or fix anything without endangering the machinations she engineered to enable it in the first place. Which logically means she can only go forward in time, and aside from hoverboards and gambling, where's the fun in that, right?<br />
<br />
Huh. Something (zany) just occurred to me. Maybe she wants to go *all the way* forward, to the Singularity and/or Omega Point. Sorry, "and/or" because I forget if they're mutually exclusive. I’m fuzzy on the details of each. In any case, once then-there, assuming there isn't some fascist super villain who's somehow able to dominate the state, WhiteRose can live or relive any life she would want…or something. Right?<br />
<br />
Yeah, like I said, that *just* occurred to me.<br />
<br />
Multiverse-hopping also sounds like fun, but I'm not seeing the upside to that, either.<br />
<br />
Maybe WhiteRose has been contacted by an alternate version of herself and given instructions on how to bridge and cross 'verses, but to what end? A Council of Cross-Time WhiteRoses who manipulate markets and technology across timelines? I'd *love* that, but it seems incongruous with the fabric and feel of the MR. ROBOT we've watched for three seasons.<br />
<br />
Maybe WhiteRose speaks of these things in earnest with certain parties in order to manipulate them, as dramatically seen with Angela. Irving has mentioned that he doesn't find the possibility of some kind of undo (Angela and Irving never name it) completely unbelievable, and I love the idea that such a promise is part of Irving's motivation, but just as likely is the notion that Irving is toeing the line with Angela, saying what he's supposed to say to keep her motivated.<br />
<br />
But you *know* Irving wants WhiteRose to deliver a reality in which BEACH TOWEL is a huge best seller and optioned for an HBO series, right? =)<br />
<br />
Some last bits of crazy talk…<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Washington Township has been the home of WhiteRose’s project for a very long time. If time travel is in play, maybe it’s only available for the lifetime of the functioning core of that project. How the heck is she having that “packed up” and moved to the Congo? Or is she having a second/newer facility assembled there?<br /></li>
<li>What properties of the DRC region and/or coltan would be so valuable to the presumably exotic science involved in WhiteRose’s project? EM radiation? Magnetism? Radioactivity?<br /></li>
<li>The Mandela Effect is visible everywhere in the show—and I *love* it—but maybe that's just the reality that this show lives in.<br /></li>
<li>I'd like for there to be an opposing force to WhiteRose, someone we haven't met yet, who's playing the game at her level, or maybe even one level above, unknown to WhiteRose. Maybe it's a future Elliot. Or someone we've been told is dead. Or an alternate WhiteRose. Maybe Elliot's landlord (is that Guillermo del Toro or G. G. Martin? =) is the Yoda to WhiteRose's Emperor?<br /></li>
<li>I think that someone or organization has repurposed Flipper's chip and is using him to track or spy or spoof Elliot and Mr. Robot. Krista's dick ex returning Flipper to Elliot as a curse on him was just a bit too dramatic for me to be legitimate.<br /></li>
<li>Does WhiteRose know that Elliot shares his body with Mr. Robot? Does she *recognize* this dual persona existence because she does the same with Minister Zhang? Were WhiteRose's parents exposed to the <a href="https://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/12/mr-robot-03x09-eps38stage3torrent.html">same poison cocktail that killed Elliot and Angela's parents</a>, but under different circumstances?</li>
</ul>
<br />
I know I've got more crazy talk in my rusty innards, but it's not coming to me just now. Hopefully events and revelations in this week's episode will rule some of it out. Just as likely, tho, it will inspire more. =)<br />
<br />
Be seeing you.<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin' on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-10585020106343740612017-12-08T16:19:00.001-05:002017-12-08T16:19:32.255-05:00MR. ROBOT: 03x09: Eps.3.8_Stage3.Torrent: Angela and Phillip…Hello, friend.<br /><br />Several moments from this week's ep have gotten some fleeting ROBOT-y thoughts to coalesce into almost-theories…<br />MR. and MS. ROBOT?<br /><br />When Angela discovers Leon waiting for Elliot in his apartment, she freaks, believing them to be in cahootz against WhiteRose's plans, which she believes will bring back her mom and Elliot's dad. We see her packing up her life into a cart and hitting the street, all the while apparently verbally checking in with herself, and possibly Qwerty. Of course this gets me thinking…<br /><br /><br /><img height="225" src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/d9c8b738d94775d31781a0e9ff3d27de/tumblr_inline_p0mrd22dSY1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Angela is experiencing a second persona the way Elliot has been. Maybe we're witnessing a relapse or reversion, and she's had this second self—Ms. Robot?—since she was a kid, around the time Elliot's and her parents died.<br /><br />How would this be possible? Whatever killed their mother and father in the Washington Township power plant also affected them. I'm unclear on the nature of the carcinogenic exposure, as well as when it occurred and over how long a time, but for the sake of this crazy talk theory, let's say that exposure happened/began before Elliot and Angela were born (and before the reported *leak*). So, their parents were already exposed when the kids were conceived. The power plant contaminant affected Edward Alderson's and Emily Moss's physiology in some way and these changes were passed on to the children. After they were born, it manifested in this potential for bifurcation of personality. So, they're mutants, and their mutation allows their single brains to be hosts to more than one mind.<br /><br />Or…Angela is just talking to the fish. =)<br /><br /><br /><img height="225" src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/2819d153e27eaac0fbd7eca76d902102/tumblr_inline_p0mregxIYc1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />The fish who spoke to Elliot in his withdrawal visions.<br /><br />GRANDPA PHILLIP?<br /><br />At the first meeting between EvilCorp and Allsafe, Phillip Price seems to recognize Angela. Sure, it could be from the Washington Township class action suit, somehow, but I'm thinking that he might have been reacting to her resemblance to someone that he does know—Angela's mother.<br /><br /><br /><img height="225" src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/8a763293102f9e146a08bb85ee467720/tumblr_inline_p0mruirTsZ1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Remember Emily Moss's living funeral shindig? Lawyer Antara Nayar mentions an anonymous would-be benefactor (again) to Angela's mom, and she refuses the offer (again).<br /><br />I'm suggesting that Phillip Price is Emily's biological father and Emily is his illegitimate/estranged daughter. This blood tie is a family secret kept from Angela. It's possible that Emily doesn't know, but there was something in the way she reacted and turned down the offer that has me thinking she knows who made it. Angela's father might know—he walked away from the convo when the offer to cover Emily's treatment came up—and is respecting Emily's wish, or perhaps honoring some legally binding contract, by keeping schtum about it.<br />PHILLIP ON THE SIDE?<br /><br />Could Phillip's reaction to Angela and the medical care offer be explained by Phillip being *Angela's* bio-dad and Emily's one or sometime affair? Emily worked for EvilCorp at the Washington Township power plant (doing what?). From what position with what duties was Phillip Price promoted to CEO? Maybe his pre-CEO responsibilities included administration of or visits to the Washington Township facility, where he and Emily became familiar and then began an affair.<br /><br /><br /><img height="225" src="https://78.media.tumblr.com/de245b6d0b9f45d0cba807f21fc22f08/tumblr_inline_p0mrvqgf5u1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /><br /><br /><br />Perhaps Emily broke it off once she got pregnant, and uncertain of the paternity, or played it that way with Phillip. Or maybe Phillip broke it off when he started angling for CEO and got himself into a position that took him away from Washington Township? Yeah, that might make things a little…smoother. Maybe he ghosted before Emily even knew she was pregnant. Only after the leak and Emily's illness (and Angela's birth) did Phillip re-enter her life, but only as this anonymous benefactor.<br /><br />Hrm…Maybe paternity isn't "necessary" at all here—just an affair…or dalliance. Who knows? Maybe they shared was some simple, singular, Christmas Miracle-ish moment of kindness once? Y’know, like accidentally killing someone together and burying the body. The usual. =)<br /><br />How about Phillip takes a shine to Angela (and so, Allsafe) to kinda-sorta-honor Emily? Could Phillip ever have been—or actually still be, under his crusty layers of greed and villainy—the kind of man Emily would actually fall for? Did Emily make Phillip a better man? For a time?<br /><br />Some show facts/history may easily bust these ideas—I readily admit my MR. ROBOT memory could definitely use an upgrade—but I do like riffing on theories and connections like these, almost as much as I enjoy considering the multiple choice options the show's given us for WhiteRose's Undo device or project… Time travel, parallel worlds, cosmic (re)programming…<br /><br />I do so dig this show. =)<br /><br />Keep on keepin' on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-42778326586886536432017-07-02T18:02:00.000-04:002017-07-02T18:02:46.529-04:00BABY DRIVER: Edgar Eggs!<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://twitter.com/cabinboy100/status/881163214557499394" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Edgar Eggs</a></i>—They're kind of like what people call Easter Eggs in other films, but with a quality that's distinctly Wrightian. What follows is a collection of notes and details from the film—references, motifs, callbacks, and connections—narrative, filmmaking, and personal—inserted and/or found (or imagined by me =) in the perfectly timed rhythmic clockwork beauty that is BABY DRIVER.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Please note that my memory for quotes is tres imperfect these days. I may present some dialogue in quotes or screenplay-ish format, but it's best-of-my-recollection, and the result is likely paraphrased.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Now entering SPOILER CITY…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The Octane Shuffle</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">On his Octane run after the first heist, Baby musicals his way down the road to "Harlem Shuffle." As he roughly follows the song's instructions, the song is backed up by the city itself, its lyrics presented in graffiti art, spray paint, and signs in Baby's environment. And it's not just static. In at least one instance, the graffiti on his way back from Octane is different, added to, compared to the graffiti on his way to Octane. A piece of wall that echoes "Right" the first time, also tells him "Shake Shake" the second.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Also, on the way to Octane, along with Baby’s “Harlem Shuffle” track syncing with graffiti and posted words in the environment, we see Baby match poses with a mural of a guy looking up to the sky and play “air horn” in front of a show window featuring a trumpet.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Also also, on the way to Octane we overhear a guy on the phone telling someone that they're late. On the way back from Octane he passes the same guy dressing down the other guy in person about having to be on time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Just before leaving Octane, a girl across the street catches his eye, right in front of a graffiti'd heart. It’s our Muse, Debora, but Baby doesn’t know that yet. By the time he exits the coffee shop, seconds later and heading in the same direction as her, she's mysteriously disappeared. On his way back to the Healey, he dodges a face-to-face with a policeman, two-steps around a sandwich board doomsayer telling him that he must save himself from sin, and when crossing the street, a police car just passes him by before turning on its siren. Signs and portents.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I wonder…Could the lyrics to “Harlem Shuffle” be a map to one of the getaway scenes? Or the acts and plot of the entire film…? Certainly can’t put it past Professor Wright =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Baby makes another Octane run after the armored truck heist, considerably less joyful, and for us, abridged. Along with the change in the cover of "Harlem Shuffle" it's a great barometer of a downward, darkward, trend in Baby's crime-adjacent fortunes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">What's on the Telly?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">When Baby flips thru channels at home w/Joe early on, I was hit with some deja view to the channel-hopping in <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://youtu.be/dOPFkaWYL1M" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">SHAUN OF THE DEAD</a></i> which connects clips from different shows to create a message about what's actually going on before our heroes quite suss it out. That's not quite what happens here, but the apparently random snippets of content do end up being (1) useful and (2) meaningful.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">1. Useful?</span></span></div>
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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="360" data-orig-width="480" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 20px -20px 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="360" data-orig-width="480" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/abdfabb7491a556e044aa9ea9b4e7a4b/tumblr_inline_oshcqrDZqr1rfqfei_540.png" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 540px;" /></figure><div class="media-button icon_close media-killer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #d95e40; border-radius: 50%; border: 1px solid rgb(217, 94, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: -11px; text-align: center; top: -7px; transform: scale(0); transition: transform 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.175, 0.885, 0.32, 1.275), opacity 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.84, 0.44, 1); user-select: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 21px;">
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">If we pay attention, we learn that Baby doesn't just electronically remix (Kid Koala!) the samples of the people in his neighborhood that he records on his microcassette recorder. He also does it conversationally. When he finds himself at a loss for original words, he verbally samples/replays dialogue—from art and life—that he's stored on his personal hard drive. So, on the TV, we see Alfalfa of THE LITTLE RASCALS squeaking out "You Are So Beautiful." These are the words that seem to uncontrollably fall from his lips soon after meeting Debora. On the TV, we see John Krasinski holding Meryl Streep in some farewell moment in I-don't-know-the-movie, no-doubt-cheekily announcing, "They grow up so fast, don't they?" When casing the post office with Nephew Samm, that's what Baby says to cover up his flub of a guess at the boy's age…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">TELLER: How old is he?<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />BABY: Four.<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />SAMM: I'm eight.<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />BABY: They grow up so fast, don't they?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">On the TV, we see Mike telling Sulley in MONSTERS, INC, "You and I are a team. Nothing is more important than our friendship." Later, this is what Baby tells Doc to reassure him of his loyalty and commitment to him. The clips are tools that Baby adds to his inventory for later use. They also serve as a Wrightian map of events to come.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">It's not just media Baby remixes, tho. He pulls from life, too. In the elevator down after the first heist, he hears Darling approve of Buddy's post-heist celebration plan…"That's the finest wining and dining of all the wines and dines in town." And that's how he describes Bacchanalia when he suggests it to Debora for their first date. Of course, the suggestion itself is a Buddy sample.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I've gotta wonder if Edgar Wright is a fan of a particular sketch from THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, with Alan Alda as guest. It was an immediate favorite when I saw it as a kid. Alda plays a fellow on a date who seems to be quite the charmer, saying all the right things. I forget if the date was at her place or maybe they show up there at the end of the night, but once she turns on the TV, we learn that most of what he's said to her have been lines from the movies. I think he denies it for a while, but when he finally breaks down into an emotional confession, a few seconds later, we hear that very same confession in the dialogue of a movie of the week. Genius.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">It's probably very telling that that sketch should burn itself into my brain, eh? =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">2. Meaningful?</span></span></div>
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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="791" data-orig-width="1062" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 20px -20px 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="791" data-orig-width="1062" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/1dbc3eb250ea191714552b09462159f4/tumblr_inline_oshcpjjz8V1rfqfei_540.png" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 540px;" /></figure><div class="media-button icon_close media-killer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #d95e40; border-radius: 50%; border: 1px solid rgb(217, 94, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: -11px; text-align: center; top: -7px; transform: scale(0); transition: transform 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.175, 0.885, 0.32, 1.275), opacity 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.84, 0.44, 1); user-select: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 21px;">
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">At the end of this series of channel flipping clips, we land on coverage of a bullfight. We see a matador stepping around a skewered but still strutting bull. We hear, and see via cc, the announcer…"The bull still stands.” In the moment, that seems to be a comment on the conversation between Baby and Joe. Baby has just told him, "One more job and I'm done." Joe tells him that he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, so Baby promises that he'll make sure nothing will happen to him. Joe explains that it's not himself he's worried about, a concern which somehow sails over his high-altitude head.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">However, before we cut to the next scene, the bullfight announcer continues…"The bull still stands…Bloodied, but not defeated. Gaston could not finish him on horseback and now must try his luck on foot." To different degrees, this predicts what happens to Baby after the post office robbery and also in his finale duel with Buddy in the parking garage. Post-post office, after skewering Bats, Baby (and Buddy and Darling) have to abandon their steed and escape on foot.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">By the way, the meaning behind the name "Gaston" can be stranger or guest.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Later, when it’s down to Baby and Debora vs. Buddy, they start car-v-car (the red Challenger and the police cruiser), but Baby tells Debora they have to get out of the car so that he can end this, and although he does that just to get into a different car, the final confrontation has all of the players on their feet. Well, y'know, until they’re not any more.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I think the second time we see Baby or Joe channel-hopping at home, Noel Fielding appears on screen for a few seconds. On my first screening, I thought it was a clip from THE MIGHTY BOOSH, but now I realize that it’s from the video for <a href="http://www.edgarwrighthere.com/2009/08/27/video-archives-blue-song-mint-royale-dir-edgar-wright-2003/" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Mint Royale’s “Blue Song,” which Wright directed</i></a>. It was sort of an early short form riff of his full-blown BABY DRIVER concept—a wheelman waiting on his crew to the sound—and duration—of a favorite song of the right length. A very fun watch and listen.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Speaking of Prophecy…</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I covered this in my <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/162500196694/baby-driver-whats-in-a-name" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"BABY DRIVER: What's in a name?"</a></i> post, but I think it's worth mentioning again for anyone who's going back for more. Pay attention to what Griff says about and tells Baby in his little tirade after the heist. I'm fairly certain every bit of it is true or will be proven true by the end of the film. Baby *does* think himself, if not better than, then outside and apart from, the crews that he works with. He can't be in crime and not be a little criminal. He will have blood on his hands.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">His closing remark is something like…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">GRIFF: Gotta hand it to ya, Totem Pole. I don't know if you're brave as shit or scared shitless, but you're gonna have to figure it out…Which one are you?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Courageous or cowardly? Baby himself doesn't know, partly because he probably hasn't thought about it, partly because he hasn't put himself in a place where that's truly been tested, but it will.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Actually, now that I think about it, on that matter, Griff is not right. It's not either-or, because Baby is both scared shitless *and* brave as shit. That’s kind of the point.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Bo's Diner and the Laundromat…</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Thinking about Bo’s Diner's decor theme and wall art…The big long wall has a mural of a couple in a convertible heading down Route 66, apparently a replica of postcard art that Debora later sends to Baby while he's in jail.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Soon after Debora and Baby first speak at Bo's, she excuses herself and tells him to feel free to ask her any questions he might have. When he calls after her to do just that and ask about the "Baby" song she's singing, we see her turn back to look at him with that wall mural as the backdrop, a premix of the moment when they hit the road together, first in Baby's vision, then in reality, five years later.</span></span></div>
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<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="360" data-orig-width="480" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 20px -20px 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="360" data-orig-width="480" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/d9ff7d057e43a950213bad6a807965c5/tumblr_inline_oshd1z0w7D1rfqfei_540.png" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 540px;" /></figure><div class="media-button icon_close media-killer" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-color: #d95e40; border-radius: 50%; border: 1px solid rgb(217, 94, 64); box-sizing: border-box; color: white; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 21px; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px; opacity: 0; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; right: -11px; text-align: center; top: -7px; transform: scale(0); transition: transform 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.175, 0.885, 0.32, 1.275), opacity 0.3s cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.84, 0.44, 1); user-select: none; vertical-align: baseline; width: 21px;">
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">How about the laundromat's decor theme and wall art? Space-y, featuring rockets and rows of laundry machines against a field of stars. Something fun to note: at whatever hour it is Debora and Baby hit the 'mat, everyone's drying their clothes in loads of red, blue, and yellow—popping primaries. A perfect musical film backdrop to their subliminal dance number. =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Does Baby ever actually eat, drink, or order anything at Bo's?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Where is Bo’s Diner? If ever in the area, gotta go—gotta go!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I wonder if the decor in the diner and laundromat was redone for the movie, or was left as magically found?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">We see Baby dial up Bo’s Diner before he leaves to take Joe to safety—555-1270. I think that was it. December 1970? Does that line up with a significant birthday or cinematic event?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">What it *does* line up with is a car part—<i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.americanmuscle.com/steeda-pedals-manual-2015.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a Steeda Mustang Pedal Kit, Manual!</a></i> =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The Rainbow Connection…</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">POSTAL WORKER: Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can’t have a rainbow without a little rain.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">This after saying she’s working “9 to 5, just like Dolly.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">It’s a sweet connect to the rain that falls the next day, the day of the post office heist, and the rainbow that appears five years later when Deb picks up Miles on his release from prison, ready to drive west on 20 in a car they can’t afford with a plan they don’t have.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I guess that’s romantic? Sounds like a lot of stress to me. =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">A slight stretch, but a little more “rain” falls during the parking garage duel, when the sprinklers kick in.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">It may also be a callback to Debora's first anonymous and unacknowledged appearance in the film, during Baby's first "Harlem Shuffle" to Octane. A headphoned Debora (who's not yet looking like a zeb-o-ra) passes Octane on the other side of the street. When Baby spots her, she crosses directly in front of a graffiti'd heart sitting on rainbows, sync'd of course to a nice beat or sting in the music. I *think* they're rainbows below the heart. Something to look for on my next screening.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Also, kind of walking the long way around, a figurative-to-literal connection to Paul Williams!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Dolly Parton -> imparter of Rainbow wisdom -> “The Rainbow Connection” -> written by Paul Williams.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">=)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">An Educated Guess From an Uneducated Man…</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Bats at Bo’s does a "reading" of Buddy and Darling. He calls Buddy out as an ex-Wall Street schmuck who played harder than he worked, running up debt that would "make a white man blush." He left behind a wife and maybe kid to run off with his favorite stripper and crime it up in a world of "three things—money, sex, drugs, and action…Oh, shit! That's four."</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">When he boils it down, he explains that Buddy and Darling rob banks to support a drug habit. Bats does drugs to support a bank robbing habit. They’re on vacation; he’s at work.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">The look on Buddy's face tells me that Bats is spot-on. BTW, Jon Hamm kills in this film! =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Buddy's got nothing to say, so Darling takes this opp to respond for both of them, explaining that Bats may think he's the crazy one in the crew, the wild card, but he's never seen Buddy when he's been pushed. "When he sees red, you won't see anything but black…" Darling's explicit warning for Bats actually predicts Buddy's relentless pursuit of revenge on Baby for her death.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Walter Hill Connections…</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Walter Hill is the director of the 1978 getaway driver flick, THE DRIVER (and THE WARRIORS and 48 HOURS). I've only just recently seen THE DRIVER for the first time and it is definitely the godfather of dozens of heist and chase films I've seen over the years. It's uncanny how I recognize it now in the DNA of the likes of HEAT, THE ITALIAN JOB, and DRIVE. Kind of a missing link between LE SAMOURAI and RONIN. Edgar Wright acknowledges the film's huge inspiration on him and his filmmaking and he pays his respects in a couple of sweet ways in BABY DRIVER.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">If you sit through the credits (and you should—these people made the film you just watched!) you'll see that Walter Hill played the court ASL translator for Baby's foster dad, Joe. He does not appear on screen. We only hear his voice as Joe signs…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">JOE: He's got a good heart. Always has. Always will.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">A minute or so later, we learn that Baby's been sentenced to a minimum of 5 years in jail, and we see him serving his time as prisoner number 28071978. That's 28-07-1978, aka the 28th of July, 1978, the original release date of Walter Hill's THE DRIVER!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Note that I did not pull that out of my wazoo. Seeing that number on screen, knowing it’s Edgar Wright at the helm, I just had a feeling, so went googling for info about THE DRIVER to uncover that connection.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Falcon Driver?</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Oh, man! Who is responsible for Baby’s wardrobe? For half if not most of the film, he is strategically yet uncannily decked out in duds that scream “Han Solo” to me. I’m talking A NEW HOPE—black vest over white shirt with dark pants.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">(Baby’s taste in clothes—as well as his backstory and talents—inspired this <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/162332027814/buddy-ive-driven-from-one-side-of-this-city-to" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">BABY DRIVER: Nerf Herder</a></i> mashup… =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">After the film, I was told that our Baby, Ansel Elgort, had been on the short list for the young Han Solo film. I honestly had no idea as I did and do my best to block that sort of “news” as much as possible when it comes to films I’m looking forward to.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Was this Wright, Elgort, or another member or members of the crew expressing their support for HANsel? I have no idea how the timelines of young Solo casting and BABY DRIVER shooting line up. But if the decision was made before shooting, maybe Ansel’s turn as Baby becomes a kind of what-could-have-been/what-you-missed strutting? =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">When I heard about the LEGO MOVIE directors being dismissed from the project, I thought that maybe they’d seen BABY DRIVER and realized that Edgar Wright had already made the movie—what’s the point now? =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">And in the Hollywood minute before Ron Howard was announced, I wondered if maybe BABY DRIVER might possibly be the perfect proof of capabilities for Wright as the new director. Alas—*sigh*—not to be.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I wonder just what the heck happened with Disney/Marvel/ANT-MAN and Wright.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Musicians in BABY DRIVER…</span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">When Baby delivers his coupe de grace in the parking garage…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">BABY: Fuck you, Buddy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">A perfect phrase and sentiment all on its own, but me being me, I do also wonder if he's paraphrasing Elvis—FYB vs TCB?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">When Baby does speak more than a couple of syllables, his southern drawl definitely vibes Elvis for me. And although we don't hear his voice when he's lip syncing to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion’s “Bellbottoms” in the opening heist, he’s definitely channeling Elvis hard in the moment. Or channeling Jon Spencer channeling Elvis. In any case, the impression is made, and it stays with me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Who gives Baby his mail in jail? Whoever it is has a very unique look—maybe costumed in an ill-fitting uniform?—a Sam Elliot mustache, and a distinctive voice. In the in-order-of-appearance credits, I didn't see him, expecting to find "prison guard" at the end of the list, after "judge." Later, on the twitters, I saw a tweet asking Edgar Wright who Jon Spencer played, and a reply that explained he was the prison guard! Yeah, I do not know my music or musicians very well, so never could've called that on my own. What a perfect cameo, though, right?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I can thank the end credits for informing me that Doc likes to hang out at Bacchanalia with Big Boi and Killer Mike (of Run the Jewels), two artists who contributed <a href="https://youtu.be/vHShmiCxL8s" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Chase Me"</i></a> to the movie's soundtrack.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Note that a lot of the above appeared in earlier posts <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/162334046002/baby-driver-take-a-ride-wedgar-wrights-rockin" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a></i> and <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/162360397645/baby-driver-screening-2-brain-dump" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">here</a></i>, but this rambling above is the most developed crazy talk (so far).</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">I've got some more half—well, more like quarter—baked thoughts, but will let them cook a while yet before posting. Don’t wanna give anyone blog salmonella. After all, these *are* made with eggs.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">*groan*</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">If you’re interested in seeing some BABY DRIVER fan art poster designs inspired by Edgar Eggs, <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/search/baby-driver+my-stuff" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">click here</a></i>. =)</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">All you need is one killer track…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Keep on keepin' on~</span></span></div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-24747600508906793312017-07-02T01:06:00.000-04:002017-07-02T02:08:24.724-04:00BABY DRIVER: What's in a name?<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">What’s in a name? When it comes to Edgar Wright’s movies, a lot! I’m gonna go thru BABY DRIVER’s major and minor players and quick-ish-ly discuss the significance of their names, nick- and -real. Note that I may be using the word “significance” somewhat generously… =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">SPOILERS follow!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Baby—Miles.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Well, I don’t think the significance is all that deep or mysterious on either name front for our wheelman. “Baby” describes his youth, his naiveté, and perhaps a degree of arrested development. “Miles” is a literal reference to his driving skills—miles of road covered—as well as a figurative one—a comparison of his talent behind the wheel to that of a certain jazz great on the horn. Given his mother’s pursuit of a singing career, I feel a pretty satisfying “click” at the thought of his being named after Miles Davis.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Jonathan—Debora.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I feel like I’m missing something when it comes to connections for both names given to Baby’s girl. We do get a fun discussion and revelation of the significance of “Debora” in the realm of songs with one’s name. I imagine Edgar Wright’s been walking around with some late night discussions of these names and stats in his head since high school. Could it be that cross referencing those numbers with actual lovable songs might have been all the calculus needed to decide on her name?<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" /><br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />And what about “Jonathan?” I feel like I may have missed a piece of a phrase in the exchange between Baby and Debora about her name tag. I think the punch line, as much as it was one, went something like—So, you’re the new Jonathan? Or maybe it was her telling him—I’m the Jonathan…? Frack. There’s gotta be another layer to this mix-up, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Joe—Joseph.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Baby’s foster dad. Did the movie reveal his full name at some point and I missed it? On paperwork somewhere in their apartment? Well, I didn’t pick up on a last name, so I’m just gonna tackle “Joseph,” and I gotta say, my take is a bit thin and simplistic. You can probably guess what it is—Who’s the most famous Joseph you can think of? And what is BABY DRIVER’s Joseph to Baby?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Yeah, it’s kind of a reach identifying Baby with Jesus, but if you do, then his Joseph does line up with the savior’s, right? Basically, Joseph is the man who steps in to raise a boy in place of his absent(ee) father.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Buddy—Jason Van Horn.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">There’s a hilarious exchange between Bats, No-Nose, and J.D. about the disguises J.D. has picked up for the Perimeter armored car heist.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">EDDIE NO-NOSE: Doc said Michael Myers!<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />JD: This *is* Mike Myers.<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />BATS: This should be the HALLOWEEN mask.<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />JD: This is a Halloween mask!<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />BATS: No—the killer dude from HALLOWEEN!<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />JD: Oh, you mean Jason…<br style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; outline: none 0px;" />BATS/EDDIE: No!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">This conversation by itself is <i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/162309870469/this-alternative-movie-poster-design-pays-homage" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;">a nugget of fried gold</a></i>, but would you believe it’s even moreso for being a set-up for the revelation that Buddy’s real name is Jason? Jason, as in the FRIDAY THE 13TH killer who just won’t die and keeps coming back!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Also—Jason <a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2Fj6SNzTTFcE0&t=ZTZmYWI0MzYyMzExYjc5MGY1OWVjNjgzOTVmMDA3ODkwZTZjMGY1ZixQV0ZwY3pYcA%3D%3D&b=t%3Afhs3CsVeVaV3pdyXLXkAwQ&p=http%3A%2F%2Fcabinboy100.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F162500196694%2Fbaby-driver-whats-in-a-name&m=1" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><i style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">VAN HORN</i></a>! =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I love the simple punniness of it—van horn!—but wonder if there is some specific association with van horns I’m unaware of? Maybe a particularly British take or insight?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Darling—Monica Costello.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">In the car after taking care of the Butcher & company, the crew presses each other about their names and Buddy explains that they only know each other by nicknames, codenames, monickers. With punny timing, Darling then reveals that her real name is Monica.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">If I dig a little into “Monica” in a musical way, I find that it’s the title of a track on THE KINKS ARE THE VILLAGE GREEN PRESERVATION SOCIETY, which of course sets off my HOT FUZZ detector. The singer of the song proclaims his love for Monica, who is—altho the song never explicitly says so—the town prostitute. A rude but perhaps not unfair comparison to Darling’s character (if we take Bats’s “educated guess” to be fairly accurate), and a shameless declaration that seems to fit Buddy’s love for her.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Later, we find out her last name is Costello from a breaking news bulletin. Monica Costello… My mind always jumps to Abbott-and- but I don’t think that applies here. =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Griff—short for Griffin.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">We never get his real name, but that doesn’t matter so much here. We do get Griffin, as in the legendary eagle-lion mashup beast. Depending on the culture and time in which you ask, the Griffin is supposedly supernaturally wise and partial to golden treasure and testing humans with riddles.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Frack, am I confusing the Griffin with the Sphinx? Hrm…I’m gonna go with it. Please feel free to comment with a correction or confirmation.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">After the first heist, Griff takes it upon himself to find out what makes Baby tick, believing his quiet and aloofness to be signs that he considers himself better than the rest of the crew. He explains to Baby—You can’t be in crime without being a little criminal…One day, you’re gonna get blood on your hands. He also comments on how Baby doesn’t seem to scare, saying something like—You’re either brave as shit or scared shitless…Which one is it?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Regardless of whether the name and significance of Griffin isn’t a perfect connect, he still plays a Cassandra-like Wrightian soothsayer in the shape of a bank robber.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I wish I could remember more/all of what he says to Baby, but I’d bet all of it is or comes true by the end of the film. Don’t forget what he says to the crew when he makes leaves them, stepping off the elevator…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">GRIFF: If you don’t see me again, it’s because I’m dead.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">That story will be an a-MA-zing extra on the dvd. =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Huh…Damn, was there something about his death in a newspaper, TV news bulletin, or over the police band in the background later in the film?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Doc.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I don’t think we get any clue as to his alter ego, if he has one. All we know is he’s a heist mastermind with impressive resources and a line on people with nasal troubles. We do see him sharing drinks w/Big Boi and Killer Mike at Bacchanalia… Hrm…Perhaps he’s an actual doctor? ENT to Atlanta’s entertainment elite? One who was once in love…I love that sentimental soft spot revealed when Debra enters. Just kinda ridiculously hard boiled romantically perfect. =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Beyond choosing the name for being short for “Doctor,” a title which would, with those who don’t know him, instantly imbue him w/intelligence, precision, and authority, I don’t have a great connect for the nickname. Although Doc himself would not think it flattering at all, perhaps the best that comes to my mind is Doc of Snow White’s seven dwarfs. While his manner is not a match for Spacey’s Doc (although his apparent soft spot for Baby might be compared to the dwarf’s paternal treatment of Snow and the other dwarfs), he *is* considered the leader.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Bats—Leon Jefferson III.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Leon, for lion? Hrm…The batty lion, crazy king of the jungle? That certainly works. When we first meet him, he’s sporting that playing card King sweater. =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Doc reveals Bats’s first name when Bats explains that the Atlanta PD are gonna need a Ouija board to Id them for their massacre at the farmer’s market. Doc tells him that won’t take long as his name is only four letters. Bats tries to be smart by saying “Bats” isn’t his real name and Doc hits back with something like “I know that, LEON.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">We get his full name in the same bulletin on the telly at Bo’s that gives us Darling’s. Leon Jefferson the third. I feel like I’ve found a great and fun Wrightian match/inspiration—Leon Jefferson Mohammed. That’s the name of the drug dealer played by Mykelti Williamson in the pilot of Michael Mann’s MIAMI VICE! I was a huge fan of the show, and I really wish I could say that I knew that name off the top of my head, but no, I’m just not that encyclopedic with my fanboy knowledge. I will say that I do still have dozens of eps on betamax tapes at my parents’ place. =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Also, Jamie Foxx played Tubbs in the big screen MIAMI VICE.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Eddie No-Nose—formerly Eddie the Nose.</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Do not ask what happened to Eddie’s nose. That’s a No-Nose no-no, page 1.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">J.D.—He puts the “Asian” in “home invasion.”</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I didn’t catch any hint as to his real name. Maybe J.D. as his nickname is a technical/filmmaking reference, like R2-D2? Perhaps specific to something or someone disposable or temporary? Or maybe it’s a clue as to his fate, for when or if he’s ever discovered, post-sunset, whatever’s left of him would surely be tagged as a John Doe, right? I feel like it’s a long shot that it would connect to “James Dean,” dying so young in his car…?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The Butcher—never get his name, but the actor? OMG! Paul freakin’ Williams! =)</span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Crazy amazing casting and a damn impressive delivery of a pig-themed bad cop sales pitch! Perhaps PHANTOM holds a special place in Wright’s heart? I know it does in mine. Or perhaps it’s the man’s extensive and inspiring musical oeuvre as a whole. Did he write any of the songs that appear in the movie? In any case, a joyous experience seeing him in the BABY DRIVER world, if only for a short and final time.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">And…that’s all I’ve got. This time, at least. I took a first crack at BABY DRIVER names in an <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/06/baby-driver-screening-2-brain-dump.html" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; background-image: linear-gradient(rgba(68, 68, 68, 0) 50%, rgba(68, 68, 68, 0.25) 0px); background-position: 0px 1.15em; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: 1em 2px; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0.15em; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">earlier post</a>. The rambling in this post (above) is an updated version of those thoughts.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">All you need is one killer track!~</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Keep on keepin’ on~</span></div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-13267100345965685972017-06-28T00:44:00.000-04:002017-06-29T16:21:15.515-04:00BABY DRIVER: Screening #2 brain dump…<div>
This post is gonna be a spoiler-tastic collection of notes, thoughts, Edgar/Easter eggs, and crazy talk on elements of Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER after a second screening tonight.</div>
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(<a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/06/baby-driver-take-ride-wedgar-wrights.html">You can review my post-screening-1 ramble here</a>.)<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j1rs_aYTcP0/WVO4AFH86DI/AAAAAAAABqI/zQT4ylGsDgM770bTE4exLgVdAhwQC6aqgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_7447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-j1rs_aYTcP0/WVO4AFH86DI/AAAAAAAABqI/zQT4ylGsDgM770bTE4exLgVdAhwQC6aqgCLcBGAs/s400/IMG_7447.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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About names and casting…</h2>
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<h4>
Buddy—Jason Van Horn.</h4>
I couldn't hold onto his last name after my first screening, just vaguely recalled it being Van Winklevossy, y'know? Something that fit Bats's educated guess from an uneducated man. But this time, I remembered, and hours later, I get it! I think? <a href="https://youtu.be/j6SNzTTFcE0?t=20s" target="_blank">Jason VAN HORN</a>! =)<br />
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<h4>
Darling—Monica Costello.</h4>
In the car after taking care of the Butcher & friends, the crew press each other about their names and Buddy explains that they only know each other by nicknames, aka "monickers." With punny timing, Darling then reveals that her real name is Monica. We find out her last name is Costello from a breaking news bulletin later. My mind always jumps to Abbott-and- but I don't think that applies here. =)<br />
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<h4>
Griff—short for Griffin.</h4>
We never get his real name, but that doesn't matter so much here. We do get Griffin, as in the legendary eagle-lion mashup beast, depending on the culture and time in which you ask, supposedly supernaturally wise and partial to gold treasure and testing humans with riddles.</div>
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Frack, am I confusing them w/sphinxes? Hrm…I'm gonna go with it, just to get my thoughts down.</div>
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After the first heist, Griff takes it on himself to find out what makes Baby tick, believing his quiet and aloofness to be signs that he considers himself better than the rest of the crew. He explains to Baby—You can't do crime without being a little criminal…One day, you're gonna get blood on your hands.</div>
<div>
I wish I could remember more/all of what he says to Baby, but I'd bet all of it is and/or comes true.<br />
Even if the name isn't a perfect connect, he still plays a Cassandra-like Wrightian soothsayer in the shape of a bank robber.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Doc.</h4>
I don't think we get any clue as to his altar ego, if he has one. All we know is he's a heist mastermind with impressive resources and a line on people with nasal troubles. We do see him sharing drinks w/Big Boi and Killer Mike at Bacchanalia, tho. ENT to hip-hop stars who was once in love, too? =)<br />
<br />
<h4>
Bats—Leon.</h4>
The batty lion. That works. I think we must've gotten his last name in that breaking news report, too, but I missed it. Nuts.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Eddie No-Nose—formerly Eddie the Nose.</h4>
Heh. That's a No-Nose no-no, page 1.<br />
<br />
<h4>
J.D.</h4>
I didn't catch any hint as to his real name. Maybe it's a filmmaking reference, like R2-D2? But specific to something or someone disposable? Or maybe a clue as to his fate, when or if he's ever discovered, post-sunset, he'd surely be tagged as a John Doe, right?<br />
<br />
<h4>
The Butcher—never get his name, but the actor? OMG! STILL ALIVE! =)</h4>
Crazy amazing casting and a damn impressive delivery of a pig-themed bad cop sales pitch! Perhaps PHANTOM holds a special place in Wright's heart? I know it does in mine. Or perhaps it's the man's extensive and inspiring oeuvre as a whole. In any case, a joyous experience seeing him in the BABY DRIVER world.<br />
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<br />
<h2>
And the rest…</h2>
</div>
<div>
<br />
Now, whatever I can recall that I want to recall, roughly in the order of appearance in the film…<br />
<br />
The graffiti behind Baby is definitely updated between his trip to Octane and back to the Healey building. Maybe in more than one place, but I'm only sure about the "RIGHT" + "Shake Shake" art. On the way to Octane, along with Baby's "Harlem Shuffle" track syncing with graffiti and posted words in the environment, we see Baby match poses with wall art of a guy looking up to the sky and play "air horn" in front of show window featuring a trumpet. On his way back, a sandwich board doomsayer tells him that he must save himself from sin, and when crossing the street, a police car just passes him by before turning on its siren.<br />
<br />
I wonder…Could the lyrics to <a href="https://play.google.com/music/preview/Twvmlwgsmcevij2wvon5aukqn6q" target="_blank">"Harlem Shuffle"</a> be a map to one of the getaway scenes? Or the acts and plot of the entire film…? <br />
<br />
Hrm…Maybe…? Certainly can't put it past Professor Wright =)<br />
<br />
When Baby flips thru channels at home w/Joe early on, there's a series of channel audio bits that felt a lot like SHAUN OF THE DEAD. The MONSTERS, INC bit that Baby uses on Doc—"You and I are a team. Nothing is more important than our friendship."—is part of it. At the end, we see coverage of a bullfight, a matador stepping around a skewered but undefeated bull. We hear, and see via cc—"The bull still stands." In the moment, that seems to be comment on Baby's sticking with his one-more-job-and-I'm-done plan, despite Joe's objection.<br />
<br />
However, before we cut to the next scene, the announcer continues, talking about how the matador, having failed to finish the bull from horseback, must now try his luck on foot, which is kind of what happens to Baby after the Post Office robbery and also in his finale duel with Buddy in the parking garage. Post-Post Office, after skewering Bats, Baby (and Buddy and Darling) have to abandon their steed and escape on foot.<br />
<br />
Later, when it's down to Baby and Deb vs. Buddy, they start car-v-car (the red Charger and the police cruiser), but Baby tells Debra they have to get out of the car so that he can end this, and although he does that just to get into a different car, the final confrontation has all of the players on their feet. Well, y'know, until they're not any more.<br />
<br />
I think the second time we see Baby or Joe channel-hopping at home, Noel Fielding appears on screen for a few seconds. On my first screening, I thought it was a clip from THE MIGHTY BOOSH, but now I realize that it's from the video for <a href="https://youtu.be/iHbndkcLM6A" target="_blank">Mint Royale's "Blue Song,"</a> which Wright directed and was sort of an early short form riff of his BABY DRIVER concept. A wheelman waiting on his crew to the sound—and duration—of a favorite song of the right length.<br />
<br />
Debora vs. her sister Mary for songs with their names.<br />
<br />
Bo's Diner decor/wall art—Route 66, couple in a convertible. Same as one of the postcards Deb sends Baby in jail.<br />
<br />
Where is Bo's Diner? If ever in the area, gotta go—gotta go!</div>
<div>
Laundromat decor/wall art—rockets and space.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Was the decor in the dinner and 'mat redone for the movie, or left as found?<br />
<br />
The senior waitress says that Baby's been coming there since before she started. She thinks/heard that his mom used to work there. Lucky for Baby Deb thinks that more sweet than creepy. =)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
BABY: I have different iPods for different days, different moods…</blockquote>
Bo's Diner number—555-1270. I think that was it. December 1970? Does that line up with a significant birthday or cinematic event?<br />
<br />
There's a beautiful pair of shots one after the other when Baby, at home, calls Debora at Bo's. He's framed in a doorway of a darkened room, Joe in the lit living room behind him, with most of the dark on screen to the right. Then we see Deb, framed by the dark foreground of part of the kitchen, or maybe a supply/pantry area, to the left, with the light of the diner behind her. There's a palpable sense of their connection thru that phone line that crosses a darkness between them.<br />
<br />
Or something. =)<br />
<br />
Baby notices JD's "HAT" neck tattoo. JD explains that it used to read "HATE" but he had it "fixed" to be more marketable to prospective employers. After all…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JD: Who doesn't like hats?</blockquote>
Baby invites Debora to "Buck & Ella" for the finest wining and dining of all the wine and dine in town.<br />
<br />
Deb and Baby make music with their glasses at Buck & Ella. The whole non-verbal carousel cam montage of their date there is in wonderful sync to the music. LA LA LAND, eat your hat! (Cuz, who doesn't like hats, right? =)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
DOC: Take the buds out, shades off. Take the nephew, it'll be less suspicious.</blockquote>
I remember thinking that this seems like a way for Doc to set Baby up for capture later, getting his uncovered face caught on camera. A contingency plan to keep Doc under his thumb? Or put him away after this job?<br />
<br />
NEPHEW SAM: You have a mint that says "Sam?"<br />
<br />
<br />
When Baby and Sam deliver their reconnaissance report, I think Doc says, "Chips off the old block." A hint of actual fatherly affection? A Fagin-like show of pride? A clue to his brother's identity? Something else?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
POSTAL WORKER: Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain, but you can't have a rainbow without a little rain.</blockquote>
This after saying she's working "9 to 5, just like Dolly."</div>
<div>
<br />
It's a sweet connect to the rain that falls the next day, the day of the Post Office heist, and the rainbow that appears five years later when Deb picks up Miles on his release from prison, ready to drive west on 20 in a car they can't afford with a plan they don't have.</div>
<div>
I guess that's romantic? Sounds like a lot of stress to me. =)<br />
<br />
Whenever someone slams a door or trunk, we hear Baby's tinnitus ringing. Always a flashback to the accident?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
BATS: You don't need a score for a score!</blockquote>
And he talks about Hex Songs…<br />
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"<br />
"End of the Road"<br />
"Hotel California"<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
BATS: An educated guess from an uneducated man.</blockquote>
Bats at Bo's "reading" Buddy and Darling. They rob banks to support doing drugs. Bats does drugs to support robbing banks. They're on vacation; he's at work.<br />
<br />
The bill at Bo's for four Cokes, aka three Cokes and one Coca: $5.70. Baby leaves a 20 and a note: Road trip 2am.<br />
<br />
When Baby and Deb are on the run after shooting Buddy at Bo's, Baby steps into a phone booth in a bit of empty lot to call Doc, who is not helpful. The booth has graffiti on its clear walls of tentacles reaching up from the ground—a visual representation of the realization of Griff's prophecy? This is just before they—Bonnie and Clyde? More like Bonnie and Bonnie—acquire the red Charger from the vaping punks. One of them asks Baby to leave him his phone but since it's playing the music, Baby says—Nope. =)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
BABY: Fuck you, Buddy.</blockquote>
Paraphrasing Elvis? FYB vs TCB? =)<br />
<br />
I didn't mention it in my previous ramble, but Baby definitely vibes Elvis at least as much as Han throughout the movie, and earlier, actually. When lip syncing to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion's "Bellbottoms" in the opening heist, he's definitely channeling Elvis for me.<br />
<br />
Caught in the credits this time that WALTER HILL is the ASL interpreter for Joe in the courtroom at Baby's trial. Only heard, not seen.<br />
<br />
Also, Baby's prisoner number is 28071978—the release date of Walter Hill's THE DRIVER. =)<br />
<br />
WHO gives Baby his mail in jail? Not credited (in order of appearance, he should've been last, and the judge was last). Whoever it is has a very unique look, and a distinctive voice. Guess I'll just have to see it again!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Keep on keepin' on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-36082364612387712982017-06-27T01:17:00.000-04:002017-06-27T15:51:41.133-04:00BABY DRIVER: Take a Ride w/Edgar Wright's Rockin' WheelmanThanks to the <a href="http://brattlefilm.org/category/calendar-2/" target="_blank">Brattle Theatre</a> and the <a href="http://iffboston.org/" target="_blank">Independent Film Festival of Boston</a>, I got to watch BABY DRIVER at an advanced screening last week!<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It is a gorgeous musical roller coaster ride of a film. Writer and director Edgar Wright supercharges another beloved cinematic icon-slash-genre—the Wheelman or Driver—with his remarkable style, vision, wit, and rhythm. While not *a* musical, per se, BABY DRIVER is very musical, delivering snappy dialogue, sharp looks, slick moves, death-defying driving, and brutal gunplay, all choreographed to a soundtrack beautifully interwoven with the film…<br />
<div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's not a lot more to say, really, beyond additional superlatives upon superlatives, and I don't want to go into scenes or characters too deeply and give up any of the fun. I think I'll just let one of the trailers do the talking…</div>
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<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Bottom line—GO SEE THIS MOVIE! And see it IN THE THEATER!<br />
<div>
<br />
[rant]<br />
And for Space Pope's sake, do NOT take your phone out for any reason while the movie is running. You just paid $10 to $20 for this amazing experience! We live in an age of wonder that allows you to ignore a movie for free at home. Save the spacebooking, twitting, and txting for later. Or if you're gonna do that, or even look at a message on your annoyingly-bright-in-a-darkened-theater phone, get out of your seat, walk to an exit, behind a barrier, or *maybe* the back wall, out of anyone's view, and then have a look, respond if you must, and get back to the show. If you're waiting on your wife to finish delivering, or the funeral parlor's supposed to call about Pop's arrangements, or you're expecting a call from the doctor with those test results—WTF are you doing at the movies? If your phone lights up and you can see it, believe me, everyone next to and behind you can see it. Keep it in your pocket. If you see someone next to or near you futzing w/a screen, do everyone a favor, be your own (and my) hero, and ask them to put it away or take it outside.</div>
<div>
[/rant]</div>
<div>
<br />
Beware, beyond this point, I'm gonna start lobbing spoilers into my rambling. So, exit pursued by a bear now if you haven't seen BABY DRIVER already!<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
CRITS (oh-so-minor, probably more like backhanded compliments).</span></h2>
</div>
<div>
<br />
I don't feel the heart in this that I do in the Cornetto films. Those films—SHAUN OF THE DEAD, HOT FUZZ, THE WORLD'S END—had relationships at their centers. But I have to say that my not feeling that with BABY DRIVER is very fair and true to the driver genre. You don't get the warm fuzzies thinking about BULLITT, THE BLUES BROTHERS, or THE FRENCH CONNECTION, right? Well, okay, maybe THE BLUES BROTHERS. =)</div>
<div>
<br />
The characters tend to be flat and archetypal, taking a back seat *sorry-not-sorry* to the action and style. Wright does get me rooting for some of the baddies along the way, because of their professionalism, circumstance, charisma, and, well, moral relativism. And while they may be flat, they own their two dimensions and are memorable, essential, love- and hate-able in their own ways.</div>
<div>
<br />
Of course, we know who we're rooting for—our Baby on board.</div>
<div>
<br />
Maybe this isn't fair to BABY DRIVER, but I'd *just* seen Walter Hill's THE DRIVER, right before it, and was so frickin' impressed with its style and tension and story-slash-chase-telling cinematography. I found myself wanting more from the final car-v-car showdown in BABY. I feel like both Wright's BABY DRIVER and Refn's DRIVE put their tightest and tautest chase set piece at the start of their films. They are a-ma-zing intros to each film experience, but greedy me, I want even higher peaks in the middle and the end.</div>
<div>
<br />
Oh, don't get me wrong—there ARE more peaks, gorgeously choreographed, executed, shot, and edited peaks, throughout. It's been a week now and I still feel my thoughts are vibrating from the experience.</div>
<div>
<br />
I'm gonna see it again, so maybe I'll revisit this notion of the "starting with dessert" problem, if that's what it is. Maybe it was having THE DRIVER on my palate affecting my perspective…<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
LOVES.</span></h2>
<br />
I love the reason that Baby is always listening to his music. I don't know which movie or story first used music as a way to time and count off the steps to a heist—at the moment I can only think of HUDSON HAWK =) —but I was almost surprised that that seemed to be what was happening with Baby's character in the film's opening chase scene (w/Buddy, Darling, and Griff). It almost seemed too, well, easy…y'know, for Edgar Wright. But it *is* Edgar Wright, so we know he's gonna do something brilliant with it.</div>
<div>
<br />
Yeah, I know. Sometimes I wish I could watch a movie with my 9-yo brain, and not think so much.</div>
<div>
Then we see Baby on his apparently regular walk to Octane coffee, and in a beautiful "Harlem Shuffle" music video starring Baby against the graffiti of Atlanta streets, we learn that music permeates every moment of Baby's life. Man, when Debora walks by outside the shop in front of the rainbow heart—so simply perfect. =)</div>
<div>
<br />
And I'm pretty sure that when he retraces his steps, "Shake Shake" has been added to a column or wall that had "Right" on the way in.</div>
<div>
<br />
Later we learn that there's more method to Baby's madness for music. Doc explains that he suffers from tinnitus, and music helps keep the ringing in his ears at bay. Later still, we learn that he has a habit of recording much of what he hears, using the audio as samples in musical creations of his own. I really wish we'd been able to see him create some more of those, and/or hear more from his extensive library.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
WRIGHTS.</span></h2>
<br />
Some little bits of fun that I feel are somehow Wright-ian, whether intended by the director or not. =)</div>
<div>
<br />
J.D., of Bats's crew, is given a simple assignment—pick up three HALLOWEEN Michael Myers masks for use in the robbery. What does he show up with? Three Mike Myers (as Austin Powers) Halloween masks. When questioned about his cluelessness, one of the gang tries to clarify—The Bad Guy from HALLOWEEN, the movie! To which he replies—Oh! You mean Jason! And hey—What's Buddy's real name? Jason! As in Jason from FRIDAY THE 13th? As in the guy who keeps getting killed by never dies?</div>
<div>
<div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
And what's Baby's real name? M I L E S of course!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Hrm…Good thing Wright didn't make this movie on the continent somewhere or Canada. His name would've been Kilometers! *groan*<br />
<br /></div>
Bananas! Doc reveals that's the phone call confirmation code word he receives from his contacts after a successful interaction. Darling reacts to the playing of one of Baby's tapes—"Is he slow?"—with B-A-N-A-N-A-S. When the Butcher's Atlanta PD colleagues show up for revenge on Doc, they give him the code word—"Bananas!"—along with some hot lead.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The invisible camera returns! In WORLD'S END, Wright shoots a scene between Simon Pegg and Rosamund Pike in the restroom of a pub with the camera pointed squarely at the mirror on the wall. Sure, it could be digital magic, but I can't help but wonder if Wright has pulled off some practical magic. Just the right lighting combined with a glass plate at the correct complementary angle or something? Well, whatever he did then, he does again in…I want to say at least two shots—maybe three, with reflections in a car exterior?—in BABY DRIVER. My lame brain is now only recalling one, tho, in a pan across the washing machines of a laundromat, a sweet bit of Courtship, American Style.</div>
<div>
<br />
Yeah, probably some "simple" digital trickery…But maybe only for the last 10% that some Houdini-like stage magic couldn't quite cover? I want to know but don't want to. =)</div>
<div>
<br />
And speaking of courtship—I kind of adore how Baby sharing his earbuds with Debora physically connects them while they're moving around the laundromat and talking. It turns their conversation into a sweet dance number. A bit of Wright magic.</div>
<div>
<br />
Becky & Ella? In the elevator down to P1, P2, and P3 after the first job, Buddy promises to take Darling to Bacchanalia, for the best wining and dining around, or something to that effect. When Debora presses Baby for an idea on where they'll go out, he tells her what sounds like "Becky and Ella" for the best wining and dining around. NB: Found out Bacchanalia *is* an actual ATL restaurant, but I don't believe we ever see its name or signage on screen.<br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
I WONDER…</span></h2>
<br />
About the "Spirit of 85" or whatever it was called. Doc mentions it to help establish Baby's cred. Apparently Baby tied the Atlanta PD in knots on what sounded like a crazy prolonged chase involving a cloverleaf interchange of highways. I think the word "spaghetti" was used? No doubt native Atlantans will appreciate the description of the feat. Baby's Kessel Run? =)</div>
<div>
<br />
Oh, man! Who is responsible for Baby's wardrobe? For half if not most of the film, he is strategically yet uncannily decked out in duds that scream "Han Solo" to me. I'm talking A NEW HOPE—black vest over white shirt with dark pants.</div>
<div>
<br />
After the film, I was told that our Baby, Ansel Elgort, had been on the short list for the young Han Solo film. I honestly had no idea as I did and do my best to block that sort of "news" as much as possible when it comes to films I'm looking forward to.</div>
<div>
<br />
When I heard about the LEGO MOVIE directors being dismissed from the project, I thought that maybe they'd seen BABY DRIVER and realized that Edgar Wright had already made the movie—what's the point now? =)</div>
<div>
<br />
And in the Hollywood minute before Ron Howard was announced, I wondered if maybe BABY DRIVER might possibly be the perfect proof of capabilities for Wright as the new director. Alas—*sigh*—not to be.</div>
<div>
<br />
I wonder just what the heck happened with Disney/Marvel/ANT-MAN and Wright.<br />
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
CINEMA SERENDIPITY…</span></h2>
<div>
<br />
I love it when my experience of films and shows connect in little unexpected ways…</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Last week, I got to see Edgar Wright's amazing action jukebox, BABY DRIVER. The next night, I caught Kumail Nanjani and Emily Gordon's hilarious, heart-warming and -punching rom-coma-com, THE BIG SICK. And tonight, a week later, experienced Bong Joon Ho's OKJA on the big screen before it streams on Netflix.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yeah, none of that connects on paper, but in my head it's a different story… =)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In THE BIG SICK, Kumail and Emily's non-dating dates reveal his obsession with cricket and appreciation of zombies, which of course would logically add up to a SHAUN OF THE DEAD poster on his bedroom wall. That's some solid math, and reminded me that I've followed some twitter exchanges between them about movies (about ROGUE ONE, Riz Ahmed, representation, and a buddy heist film).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The content of OKJA does not directly connect to anything Wrightian (as far as I could tell on a first viewing), but Bong Joon Ho's previous film, the must-see sci-fi fable SNOWPIERCER, features Jamie Bell as a character named Edgar, apparently named for Wright. That note, plus the fact that Edgar was best buddy of Chris Evans's Curtis, inspired a meta-mashup poster for SNOWPIERCER starring SCOTT PILGRIM's Lucas Lee.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yeah, like I said…it's all in my head.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Why do I have a feeling like this will be read back to me in court at a later date?<br />
<br /></div>
<h2>
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
BABY DRIVER AT AN ADVANCED SCREENING…?</span></h2>
<div>
<br />
Oh—how did I get to see all these films in the theater? And before their wide release dates? The <a href="http://brattlefilm.org/category/calendar-2/" target="_blank">Brattle Theatre</a> and the <a href="http://iffboston.org/" target="_blank">Independent Film Festival of Boston</a> are my enablers-slash-suppliers. If you're Boston-local and love moviegoing, I *highly* recommend you check their schedules and membership privileges, join/donate/support either or both, and see some amazing movies!</div>
<div>
<br />
Allright, enough a-ramblin'. If you made it this far, I'm sorry and thanks much. Now, get thee to the theater and BABY DRIVER up!</div>
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Keep on keepin' on~</div>
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cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-4529945975977841122017-05-20T19:20:00.000-04:002017-05-23T14:18:59.137-04:0012 MONKEYS: 3x02: Guardians: Catching up w/Jennifer Goines…A transcript—so, y’know, *SPOILERS*—of the opening to season 3 episode 2 of 12 MONKEYS. Our hero, Jennifer Goines, finds herself in 1920s Paris, having survived being dropped into the trenches of WWI four or five years earlier…<br />
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<hr />
<img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/2203106c2e5ff5a52bde83d6e3445985/tumblr_inline_oq9mb7AV1k1rfqfei_540.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 540px;" /><br />
Where am I right now? Somewhere warm? Safe? With people who care about me? Nope. Not me! Some of us got left behind. So, what do you do when you're stranded in the wrong place…? The wrong time…?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENNIFER: Just take these and mail them to America in 95 years.<br />
PRIEST: We'll all be dead in 95 years.<br />
JENNIFER: Then get God to do it.<br />
PRIEST: You're insane.</blockquote>
What do you do when not even God will help? You accept that the only one you can rely on is yourself.<br />
<br />
How do you send a message to the future? How does ET phone home?<br />
<br />
You need a venue. You gotta make a splash big enough to hit ‘em a hundered years from now.<br />
<br />
Make ‘em laugh!<br />
[ CHAPLIN ]<br />
<br />
<img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/32ce9310e881213b572de54e50d08b68/tumblr_inline_oq9mbr802L1rfqfei_540.png" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 540px;" /><br />
Make ‘em cry!<br />
[ E.T. ]<br />
<br />
Give ‘em what they want!<br />
[ ALIEN (a masterful production =) ]<br />
<br />
Just when you've got ‘em right in the palm of your hand…<br />
[ JAWS ]<br />
<br />
…you hit ‘em w/the goods!<br />
<br />
Your message—your piece de resistance! The story you were born to tell!
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
GODDESS: People of Earth…I am the Goddess of Time. I have traveled many centuries to vanquish my enemy…the Witness.<br />
WITNESS: Never! Despite your mesmerizing beauty and your luxurious hair, my army will destroy all of time!<br />
GODDESS: No, you won't! [Thrusts sword.]<br />
WITNESS: [Gags.] Blood! Blood! Blood! [Croaks.]<br />
GODDESS: The Army of the 12 Monkeys is no more! Now, I must travel back to my own time!<br />
Je Splinter! (I splinter!) The end.</blockquote>
[ Francois tears up the poster for L’ARMEE DE 12 SINGES. ]
<br />
<div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENNIFER: But Francois, give it a chance! If you don’t advertise, how will I build an audience?<br />
FRANCOIS: No one understands “time travel”!<br />
JENNIFER: Uh, the smart ones do.<br />
FRANCOIS: Do the space one! Or something with magic. People love magic.<br />
JENNIFER: But I need this to be a hit! For the history books! So I can be discovered!</blockquote>
<hr />
<br />
I do believe that Sean and/or Terry have just revealed their true purpose behind 12 MONKEYS (and perhaps a version of the show’s behind-the-scenes struggles?). They've created the show—and its audience—as a message in a bottle, tossed into the timestream, to be recovered by *their* Lasky, Adler, and Jones. I do hope that their Team Splinter finds this post and comes back for them!<br />
<br />
But, y’know, maybe not til they fix the mess that we call reality—*cough*2016election!<br />
<br />
And/or finish up season 4. =)<br />
<br />
Unmake history!<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin’ on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-87363428997723671192017-05-17T22:17:00.000-04:002017-05-17T22:19:39.401-04:0012 MONKEYS: Season 3 pre-binge thoughts…Some last-minute SEASON 3 thoughts and wishful thinking…<br />
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<h2>
TUNING FORK/TEMPORAL FENCE?</h2>
I still like my <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/04/12-monkeys-season-3-teaser-updated.html">previous thoughts</a> on this device as something that helps James focus his abilities, or as a piece of appropriated Witness/Black Hat tech that he psychometrically reads.<br />
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However, over the weekend I caught an ad on Syfy that shows James apparently planting the/a fork in the ground, like a flag. Maybe he just needed to support his weight on a trek or climb, but it really had the feel of a claim or border staking, y'know? Makes me think that it may be used to set up a spacetime perimeter, perhaps to protect a region of time and space around 2044 and the Splinter Facility. Or maybe a temporal roadblock, to protect the past from further interference from the future. The idea would be that wherever and whenever these forks are planted some kind of temporal interference wave would be generated, causing time traveling and time scanning tech originating from the future to read only noise. Maybe only one needs to be placed, maybe a set of them, to define a fence, wall, or ring.<br />
<br />
Hrm…Maybe it's a temporal perimeter alarm, a tripwire for an early warning system for Cole and Team Splinter?<br />
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<h2>
THE BLACK HATS.</h2>
Are the hats functional? A component that's paired with the vests? And matching shoes and gloves? Is there a lot of rain (or too much sun?) in the far future? Or in the red tea zone? The rain always HAS washed away most of the blood, right?<br />
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What about the style/design? We look at the Witness in Titan, and his followers all wear uniforms based on his garb. So, just for the heck of it, let's assume the Black Hats are doing the same, dressing to honor and identify with their leader. Who do we know that kind of owns that silhouette?<br />
<br />
Tall Man! Possibly and/or Tall Dad, now that we've seen him.<br />
<br />
So, I'm predict-o-hoping that we'll see Tall Man stage a coup in Titan, having recruited a chunk of the Witness's followers to his own brand of Time-entology, and scarper off to some hidden Time fortress or zone of his own. Could there be a second Titan? Why build one when you can have two for twice the price, right? From there he did/can/will launch his attacks on our Team Splinter and the Witness in order to ensure some cosmic outcome or order—or chaos, he seems to like that—of his own.<br />
<br />
I really do like that option. He gets to throw off the rigid fate-itude of the Witness's machinations. He gets to kick the Witness in the pants for deceiving his Messenger mother (Mantis/Vivian/Mother). And with a Time force of his own, he will get the chance to "set things right." Remember what she told Tall Boy on her death bed in 1971…<br />
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MOTHER: Have faith that the Witness has spoken, and that one day you, my son, will set things right…</blockquote>
And he can launch his coup while the Witness is weak, a child or adolescent, still learning the Witness trade. Remember, he's *safe* in Titan. No one's saying he's *powerful* in Titan. Maybe Tall Man's schism is history to the Witness's personal timeline, but (intentionally?) hidden from him since he was a child or youth at the time and required/requires TM's apparently faithful service in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.<br />
<br />
In any case, if Tall Man does break away with his own Time-tech-savvy army, he becomes a perfect greater enemy to both Team Splinter and the Witness.<br />
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<h2>
JENNIFER + DEACON!</h2>
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DEACON: See something you like, Granny?<br />
JENN: Not yet.</blockquote>
Jennifer 2044 recognizes Deacon and we think the "not yet" refers only to the scar on his face. I think and hope now that it means Deacon himself, whom Jennifer 2016 will eventually fall for. They have the clever/snarky pop culture common ground and "self preservation was never my thing" could probably apply to both of them at the right time. Also, crazy as it seems, Deacon killing her was kind of the ultimate ice breaker. A testament to the talents of the creators and writers.<br />
<br />
I love it when Deacon nods in approval at…<br />
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JENN: It's better to have a hen today…then an egg tomorrow.</blockquote>
What's the best "ship" tag for them? #Jenncon? #Deanifer? #Teddifer? #Jennodore?<br />
<br />
And of course Deacon survived the attack on Titan! He's safe under that dumpster—duh! =)<br />
<br />
Seriously, tho. He definitely survived. He's f@cking Deacon! Captured, maybe, scarred, definitely, but not dead. I like him for an unlikely knight of Time. I saw some fan art that evoked for me the Hound of GAME OF THRONES—Deacon Clegane. I so want that. Protector of one Mother (of the Witness) and partner of another (of the Daughters)?<br />
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<h2>
FURTHER (PAST) ADVENTURES OF AGENT GALE.</h2>
I really need the S-Files ("S" for "Splinter" =) of Agent Robert Gale revealed this season. At least ONE of them, pretty pleez?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
GALE: Y'know, Cole. I've known you a long time…<br />
COLE: Whaddyamean? We met once, in 44, right?<br />
GALE: Right…</blockquote>
And I *so* want his granddaughter to be staking out the Emerson in the hopes of meeting, and helping, Cole and company. Remember, there was an empty TaB can in room 607.<br />
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<h2>
TITAN ICON/SIGN OF THE WITNESS.</h2>
I'm really hoping we'll see a meaningful origin or explanation of the Titan icon. It evokes a figure and an arrow. Seeing an arrow in the world of 12 MONKEYS, I think of Time. So it makes sense that it would be a representation of the Witness himself—a being of Time. Who first makes the mark, tho? I know the teaser showed us the icon painted in red (blood?) on a wall, with Jennifer and probably young W gazing at it, but I'm not convinced that's the moment of its creation. Does it create itself? Copied from one of the pendants? Perhaps it originates with the Druze, once they learn what the Witness is and can do. It's their sign for him, glazed into their centuries-old pottery time capsules.<br />
<br />
Other ways to read the glyph? It could be two figures, defining the arrow with the space between them. Cassie and Cole? Back-to-back step dancing? =)<br />
<br />
I wonder if it tessellates interestingly. I think the result would give us a kind of a mask, not Witness/plague doctor shaped, tho. Maybe its first inscription is in a different orientation, as an arrow pointing to something.<br />
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<h2>
THAT KID.</h2>
<div>
Remember that time when Whitley, Deacon, and company were on patrol while the red skies were moving in? They run into a kid whom they assume came from a closeby refugee settlement…</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
KID: They're all gone…<br />
WHITLEY: Your parents…They get caught in it?<br />
KID nods, then walks back into time storm…</blockquote>
Think we'll get to see the other side of that storm this season? See where and when that kid came from as well as who his parents are?<br />
<br />
Of course I *want* him to be young Witness, and his parents, "caught in it," would be Cassie and James. Maybe little Hot Pocket is being put through some tests or training by Tall Man using the splinter tunnels of Titan, or experiencing the onset of his temporal abilities in an unexpected and uncontrolled way.<br />
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Only two days til the 3-night event! Guess we'll get some answers soon enough =)<br />
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<br /></div>
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Unmake history!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Keep on keepin' on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-24149967764037179832017-05-05T00:09:00.003-04:002017-05-05T00:23:02.205-04:00GOTG 2: First screening spoiler-ful brain dump…Saw GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 tonight for the first time—woo-hoo!<br />
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I'm not gonna go into much in the way of criticism of the film here except to say that it's a rockin' good time that goes deeper on character and a little shorter on plotting than the Volume 1. What I *am* gonna do is some half-baked comic book fanboy rambling and appreciation.<br />
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Gotta say, I was kind of WTF? when I realized that Sylvester Stallone's character, Grand Poobah of the Ravagers, was going by Stakar, who in the Marvel Universe is also known as Starhawk, aka "The One Who Knows." It seemed like a weird direction to take that namesake. Of course, it's still pretty much in line with Yondu's translation from page to screen, right?<br />
<br />
I didn't think that while watching the movie, tho. What "fixed" Stakar for me was one of the end credits scenes, where we see Stakar saying how pleased he is to be able to reassemble old friends-slash-teammates, including Martinex (Stakar's crystalline right hand, Plutonian in the comics), Charlie-27 (superstrong Jovian in the comics, played by Ving Rhames), and Aleta (comics Starhawk's wife, played by Michelle Yeoh). This is Starhawk assembling a roster of the OGs, from the 30th century team of Marvel comics!<br />
<br />
But—it's not to do any guardian-ing, but instead so they can go rob the heck out of the galaxy. Hrm…Some pretty heavy hitters—Sly, Ving, Michelle. How do they fit into upcoming MCU shenanigans? GOTG allies? GOTG imposters? Maybe their story-slash-heist unfolds in end credits scenes over a few movies? Right now they don't click in place for me.<br />
<br />
Still, very fun to see the MCU's version of the 30th century OGs.<br />
<br />
Tazerface! The reaction to that name in the film is so perfect! I wonder which Marvel writer created him and what s/he thinks about what's become of him? From what I remember of the comics, he was some kind of enhanced Badoon who had a personal beef w/the 30th century Guardians.<br />
<br />
Nice to see Yondu upgrade his arrow fin tech to more closely match Marvel comics' Yondu's natural fin. Legitimately sad to see him go already, even if he did get a proper Ravager funereal sendoff. He got a pretty decent arc, and even though you could see the biodad vs. real dad conflict-slash-realization from 40 clicks away, the actual unfolding of it was pretty rewarding and okay, even a bit emotional. Nicely done, Rooker and Gunn!<br />
<br />
Kurt Russell as Peter's dad. Kinda perfect. Ego as Peter's dad? Weird, but a good and creative answer to the question of MCU Peter Quill's paternity. I don't think comics Ego ever walked as a man, but I also don't think he was ever just a floating space brain, either. *Immediately* flashed to FUTURAMA. =)<br />
<br />
I think I first met Ego in the pages of FANTASTIC FOUR. Or maybe it was ROM? In any case, I thought he was part of the FF's universe, so was surprised to find him playing a part in the MCU. But then I remembered that when he met the FF, he'd already encountered Thor, so he's fair game as an Avengers connection. We did get one shot of Ego the Living Planet as he looks in the comics, a giant face defined by the landscape and funky organelles of the planet. I was hoping for more, tho, and maybe some of the funky macro-microbiological stuff from the comics, too, like humanoid antibodies and freaky scaled-up cells and organs, y'know? Instead, we get some gooey energy tendrils and Ego's Kurt Russell—and David Hasselhoff!—looking host body in various states of disrepair. Not bad, but y'know, a comic fanboy's heart wants what it wants—giant antibodies! =)<br />
<br />
It's nice to see Mantis on the GOTG roster, but her introduction seemed a bit crowbarred in. Ego keeps her as a pet and sleep aide. Her unique empathic powers enable her to help Ego sleep, because apparently he has trouble sleeping? Would've been nice to get a better explanation for her presence. Maybe she helps tame Ego's growing insanity/instability?<br />
<br />
Huh. Ego calls himself a Celestial, and Peter immediately asks him if he means that he's a god. So, MCU spacefarers are familiar with the term? Until Ego called himself one, I thought that Celestial referred exclusively to the giant space gods, one of whom's head has become the world-station known as Knowhere.<br />
<br />
I think in the comics, Ego is a legitimate Elder of the Universe, like the Collector and Gamemaster. Celestial as a title for him doesn't seem quite right to me, but o well…<br />
<br />
It *does* perhaps help with the logic of Mantis attaining a title of Celestial Madonna, tho.<br />
<br />
I wish there was maybe one or two more scenes-slash-steps to Nebula and Gamora's hatchet burying, but the arc does work quite well. Also very touching and smart to have Peter's eulogy for Yondu—the part about searching for something for so long only to realize it was next to you all the time (would getting Survivor's "The Search is Over" have been too nail on the head?)—apply both to the sisters' bond as well as "this unspoken thing"/CHEERS-Sam-and-Dianne between Peter and Gamora.<br />
<br />
The make-your-own-family theme is pretty irresistible. For a 40-something story consumer like myself, on paper that notion can seem trite and tired, but with these characters, and this writing, it still works on me. Several crescendos really helped, I think. Peter's reaction to Ego's admission of giving his mother that tumor (that was a smart stroke, no sympathy for Ego after that). Nebula's description of the duels Thanos forced on Gamora and herself, and the price she paid for her losses. Yondu and Rocket's breakthrough therapy session.<br />
<br />
Heh. Nice to see Stan Lee as a distinct space-suited character in conversation with the Watchers on the surface of some planet or moon in one of the stargate jumps, and then in one of the end credits scenes. The Watchers actually walk away from him as he explains that he's still got more stories for them. Very nice. =)<br />
<br />
In retrospect, I want to say that I should've seen the Adam Warlock cocoon coming when we were introduced to the golden-skinned Sovereign, but no, there was too much fun stuff going on with them to make me think of that while watching the movie. LOVE their ENDER'S GAME-y remote control space navy action.<br />
<br />
But, yeah—Adam Frickin' Warlock! =)<br />
<br />
Love the sweet laser balls weapons system on Yondu's heist ship, perfect for general offense and defense, reconfigurable for drilling into the core of a living planet, as well as a Death Blossom! =)<br />
<br />
When Howard the Duck showed up again in a space bar where the Ravagers were hanging out, the audience reaction was loud enough that I couldn't catch any of his dialogue. Nuts.<br />
<br />
Hrm…I think that's all I've got right now. I'm a bit frazzled when it comes to processing cinema right now as I'm coming off of eight days and 21 films of festivalizing. If I come up with more thoughts before my next GOTG2 screening, I may add/edit to this, and if a next screening fires up the tired synapses with more ideas, observations, and/or crazy talk, I'll ramble out a new post.<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin' on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-68487718240100271402017-04-29T11:01:00.001-04:002017-04-29T11:30:46.226-04:0012 MONKEYS: Season 3 Teaser: Updated thoughts…<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CzDWJKuwU5g" width="480"></iframe>
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My third installment of trailer breakdown crazy talk. If you’ve got the time, please check out the <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/04/12-monkeys-season-3-teaser-now-wvisual.html">first ramble</a> (covering the trailer bits from start to finish).</div>
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This post is going to include some more thoughts on the first clips of Cole in the post-apoc, the meaning of one of Cole's line that seems to be about passing on some undesirable traits to his son, a description of how to Kat and James can back at/to the future, a connection between the Witness's ensemble and the Black Hats' Time Vests, and—surprise surprise—probably a few tangents.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
James and the Giant Fork</h3>
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Early in the trailer, we see James standing outside the Splinter facility, time tuning fork in hand, the camera moving around him just a bit. The trailer then cuts to him standing in what looks to be a post-apoc Times Square. The camera is behind him in this shot, but still moving around him just a bit.</div>
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I rambled a bit about the possible functionality of the Time Fork—that it enhances his “James Cole doesn’t need a time machine” abilities, allowing him to induce and better navigate red-leaf-tea zone visits at will—but didn’t realize that we were being shown proof of it in those clips.</div>
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What if those clips are part of the same camera move around Cole, and what’s happening is that he is scrolling through time and space, similar to how 2044 Jennifer guided Katarina through spacetime during their mad red tea party. So, the full scene would start w/the camera in front of Cole, with the lab behind him. Then the camera moves in a circle with Cole its focus in the center while time and space change around him, showing us what he sees as he messes w/the 4-way rocker switch on his Time Fork controller, attempting to dial in a specific moment and location.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I suspect that this ability may only be a form of mental/astral projection, allowing him to see and hear what happens at a certain time and place, but not actually physically visit. MAYbe with some practice he can possess someone other than himself, tho, and affect things via a host body, the way the Witness can and has.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Time Fork? Time Trident? Time Bident? Timedent? Time Tongs? Chrono-prong?</div>
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COLE: If there's something wrong with him, he got it from me…</h3>
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Cole apparently wants to take responsibility for his son’s darkness or wrongness…</div>
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As Hank Hill would say—That boy ain’t right.</div>
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However, I want to believe that line of Cole’s about his son getting something wrong from his side of the family isn’t be about guilt or self-hate or a darkness within him, but an actual physiological issue. Cole’s pretty literally a freak of nature right now. The oldest Splinter-based time traveler around, known to Primaries of several generations, only known survivor of a personal physical paradox, and mental time traveler.</div>
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What if he’s concerned about passing on some dangerous condition to his boy? Hrm…When we’ve seen the Witness in his tricked out Plague Doctor get-up, there’s been…machinery, right? Possibly something along the lines of a respirator or life support. Maybe that’s exactly what it is. Maybe the child of two time skippers is fated to be formidable in the mental and temporal planes, but frail in the physical one?</div>
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Or better/worse yet, what if he’s worried about passing on special abilities?</div>
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What if what’s important about little Hot Pocket is not that he *is* the Witness, or grows up to be the Witness, but that he’s the ideal *vessel* for the Witness. As the offspring of two Splinternauts, one of them uniquely favored by Time (as Lillian put it—James Cole don’t need no stinkin’ time machine!), it would come as no surprise if Jimmy, Jr. exhibited abilities similar to his parents, the Messengers, and even Primaries, and perhaps some beyond them.</div>
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<h3 style="text-align: left;">
Back to the 80s =)</h3>
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I like to think so many things about this. I’m really hoping it’s not just 15 seconds out of a 2 minute montage that shows Team Splinter walking thru the Emerson in eight different eras wearing eight sets of characteristic wardrobe.</div>
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I love that James is basically dressed as Marty McFly, a callback to season 1…</div>
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COLE: Still don't believe me, do you?</div>
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AARON: I believe this cult is real, but no, I don't think you're Marty McFly.</div>
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COLE: Who?</div>
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Is there any way they’re doing a 21 JUMP STREET, infiltrating a high school dance or prom at the hotel? Please o please? =)</div>
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What would the prom theme or song be—”Time After Time?” “The Time to Remember?” “We’ve Got Tonight?” “The Power of Love?” =)</div>
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What are the odds that Jennifer Goines put together everyone’s ensembles for this particular mission?</div>
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If they’re stuck in the 80s for a while, with some downtime, Jennifer should really be taking them on field trips to the movies. If not for simple entertainment value, then as educational resources, so that the rest of Team Splinter can better understand Primary Jennifer’s eccentric way of expressing herself.</div>
<img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/5a6542deacb05a3ab5c724e8b161c2b7/tumblr_inline_ooa7jumraB1rfqfei_500.png" /><br />
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The clock on the mantel in room 607 is also frozen on 10:04, right? Will we get to see the moment/reason that stopped the Emerson’s clocks? In <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/159481334504/12-monkeys-season-3-trailer-sosyfys-posted-a-new">my earlier post</a>, I wondered if we might meet Agent Gale’s granddaughter, Roberta…</div>
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Maybe she’s inspired by the Emerson’s clocks to add that detail to her screenplay for BACK TO THE FUTURE? =)</div>
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Getting Back at/to the Future!</h3>
<img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/fa061d13986b139aafda6be716f0c65d/tumblr_inline_ooa7ogCuDe1rfqfei_500.png" /></div>
I’ve got a good scenario to go with this moment…<br />
<br />
At the end of season 2, we see Cole get into the chair and splinter away. The splinter beam is blue-white, same as it’s always been when Jones sends someone to the *past.” I imagine that what Jones does next is get in the chair herself after setting the controls to splinter her to the same coordinates as Cole—Raritan National Laboratory, sometime between 2015 and 2040, let’s say 2024, just for the heck of it.<br />
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The image above is what greets them…Project: Splinter…mothballed. Remember, after Ramse’s henchman is found dead in the lab, Elliot Jones’s project is shut down (thus freeing him up to work on Titan). In the wake of the spreading plague, the facility would be shut down, secured, but unmanned.<br />
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Why would Kat and James jump back to a time when Splinter was shut down? So that they could use the machine to splinter into the future! Remember, Elliot Jones’s machine succeeded in sending Cassandra Railly (and English ivy) decades into the future. Note that the splinter beam for those events appeared gold, not blue. We see a golden splinter seconds later in the teaser…<br />
<img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/d18970bea6b719399e33605f5e3934d7/tumblr_inline_ooa8jyrfFJ1rfqfei_500.png" /><br />
Remember…<br />
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GOLD : to the future<br />
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BLUE : to the past<br />
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GREEN: to the present (time travel without the time =)<br />
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RED: failure/malfunction?<br />
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I suggest that when Katarina and the rest of her team revived the Beast in the 2040s, and configured it for travel into the past, they disabled its to-the-future capability. Perhaps it’s still possible in 2044, but would require significant mechanical and electronic overhaul, practically impossible for Jones without her team.<br />
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So, in order for James to make a jump ahead to catch Titan in the future, he needs to jump back to 2024, so that he can jump forward to 2163.<br />
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And in that shot of the cloaked Beast, we’re seeing Katarina first arriving in 2024.<br />
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At least, that’s my theory. It could also be that 2163, or some other year, post-2044, after she and Team Splinter have had to leave the temporal facility for an extended time, maybe even before it happens in her personal timeline.<br />
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But I really like the idea of one step backward, two steps forward to get to the future. =)</div>
<h3>
From the Witness’s Suit to the Black Hats’ Vests…</h3>
Somewhere in my 12 MONKEYS ramblings, I wondered about the Witness’s need for a life support apparatus. The first few times we see him on the show, the mask seemed like it might decorative, serving to hide his identity while instilling fear in those who see him, as well as associate him with plague doctors, and so, plagues.<br />
<br />
In later appearances, we see that the mask seems to be sealed, its sockets holding eyepieces/lenses, and its “beak” connected via hoses to a breathing apparatus under his robe, attached to his body. So, the Witness wears some kind of life support or encounter suit. Why?<br />
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<img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/2473217f0e029c754012c25abe203cfb/tumblr_inline_op5ptdUXDm1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
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I had several thoughts…<br />
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1. His travels thru time have taken a physical toll on his health and body. Also in line with that, he may be extremely long lived, and although he may be aging slowly, he’s lived long enough that even the serum-enhanced metabolism passed down to him from his parents can only do so much in the face of centuries of life.<br />
<br />
2. The suit and mask provide enhancements to his natural or scientifically augmented time-associated abilities—mental and physical time travel as well as some kind of vision. Maybe it provides him a controllable dose of red leaf extract on demand to activate and/or supe up those powers. Like Time-Bane.<br />
<br />
3. The suit and mask provide protection from paradox exposure and reality rewrites. This is the most game-changing possibility, so of course, it’s the one I really love. =)<br />
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This would mean that he could interact with himself in other moments of his personal timeline without any danger of pain or paradox. The suit completely contains his…essence, so that when he is in the same room with himself at a different age, the universe doesn’t detect two of him in the same place, and so doesn’t “know” to trigger a paradox event.<br />
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This might lead to some perilous narrative knots, but knowing Terry and company, those knots would only lead to amazing ways of resolving them. I won’t go down those rabbit holes just now. Maybe in another post.<br />
<img src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/8beca399880cb2d4f8eea96000721fc2/tumblr_inline_ooa78mEPof1rfqfei_500.png" /><br />
What does the Witness’s spacetimesuit have to do with the Time Vests we see on the Black Hats (Time Shadows?) and Evil Annie Lennox? Well, I’m thinking that these vests are the next generation version of the Witness’s gear, allowing the wearer to travel thru time and affect changes without altering his or her personal history or any danger of paradox. I think this is also a clue that we’ll be dealing with a new player in the Time War in season 3—a faction/society/culture from a future farther off than 2163—<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
OLIVIA: …the very edge of time…an inch from falling over…</blockquote>
—possibly even an alternate, or earlier, timeline (a longshot, I think), or a kind of limbo, outside of time (not as much of a long shot). They would be the great grandchildren of time travel and a threat to both the Witness’s Army and Team Splinter.</div>
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Wacky fun ensues! =)<br />
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The Witness is coming…<br />
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But so is Team Splinter! =)<br />
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Keep on keepin’ on~<br />
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cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-34026652363456062542017-04-23T16:30:00.002-04:002017-04-23T16:41:57.585-04:0012 MONKEYS: Season 3 Teaser (now w/visual aids)<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CzDWJKuwU5g" width="480"></iframe>
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I posted a version without screenshots <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/04/12-monkeys-season-3-teaser.html">here</a>. Along with the stills, this v.2 is slightly wordier (can you believe it?), including some edits and additions to the first post’s text/crazy talk.<br />
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So…Syfy’s posted <a href="http://www.syfy.com/12monkeys/blog/watch-this-brand-new-12-monkeys-season-3-trailer">a new trailer for season 3 of 12 MONKEYS</a>. Usually, I would do my best to dodge promos before a show or movie is actually released. I like to get hit w/the text with minimal hints and no spoilers, as little pre-text as possible. But, given the paradigm-shifting “linear-binge” release of this season—leave it to 12 MONKEYS to Splinter an entire season (encompassing centuries =) into a single weekend, with all 10 episodes beamed in order over May 19, 20, and 21—I’m thinking I’ll need to get my wheels-spinning crazy talk wherever I can. And thusly, I ramble…<br />
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The first new shot of Cole, from the front (against Raritan National Labs?) and then from behind (against Times Square from I, LEGEND?), has him holding a tech-festooned staff. The design calls to mind a computerized tuning fork, *just* the thing for time/dimension/reality-hopping, or tuning/dialing. Perhaps one of its components is a tank of red tea, reloadable via Keurig-like cartridges? With a regulated IV feed or retractable needles in the handle? Maybe this device enhances or adapts Cole’s mental time travel abilities, allowing him to view specific points in time or even what-if?s. Could it be a way to enable him to physically travel? A staff version of the vests? =)<br />
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Titan appears as a complex/city in the distance with a sea with rocks or wreckage or maybe ice floes in the foreground. Does Titan only move in Time and not space (relative to the Earth)? <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/1vXypkM8AV12">Is it always in Colorado?</a> Climate change is real, people! It's not magic…It's science!<br />
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/ca51efeb3e69116536ee75ccbd4d9064/tumblr_inline_ooa789e9iR1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
We see someone with great posture ascend the steps within Titan to meet w/Tall Man, or perhaps his father, both surrounded by robed figures. RE: that posture…It reminds me of Ethan Seki, but knowing that he’s in this season, I’m thinking Gaius Baltar.<br />
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/119e1aa224e63a99e61be2a44a4f8eb5/tumblr_inline_ooa7hpvjIU1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Someone sits at the center of a spiral of glyphs drawn in white on a dark floor. My funnest thought about these is that they might be a new form of math, notation, and/or language, developed specifically to describe and understand Time. Unfamiliar to most humans, but somehow native and natural to Time. These characters represent values, constants, operators, functions, ripples, and paradoxes and describe relationships between them that we wouldn’t understand, but someone whose mind is steeped in Time would. The Witness…maybe Primaries…maybe maybe some human geniuses or those with an intuitive knack and understanding of Time…<br />
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/8beca399880cb2d4f8eea96000721fc2/tumblr_inline_ooa78mEPof1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
That first shot of the four hat-and-coated figures, silhouetted in the fog or smoke in the dark…The three lights on each of their vests powering on…Gorgeous! Evokes DARK CITY for me (a good thing =), and some kind of clockwork men. I want the tech to be embedded in these people, but a later shot shows us that this is likely tech mounted on a vest. Portable Splinter/Titan units, a la Doctor Who’s Vortex Manipulators? In a future world (like, the future of the future, post-2044) of 12 MONKEYS, that’s where my head immediately goes. Although, honestly, that seems very unfair, no?<br />
<br />
Still, if that IS what they are, I'd associate them with some very interesting story/logic that necessitates their not being usable before some year. After all, if the Witness's forces *ever* had this tech, they could have used it in the times Team Splinter has visited, right? Maybe the use of these vests shreds spacetime, and jumping back beyond a certain point would undo their invention in the first place? Or, y'know, something like that. =)<br />
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I’m *really* hoping that these figures are Something Else, tho. At the bottom of the <a href="http://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/12M-s3-Key-Art.jpeg">season 3 poster</a>, we see them standing in front of a console with the Witness’s/Titan symbol, and so, we want to associate them, right? But what if that’s just a couple of these…Time Shadows entering the Titan city limits? What if these guys are representatives of another player in the war across/for time? Perhaps descendants of the Witness and the Titanians, who know more than W does…Or are using W as their agent in their relative past?<br />
<br />
Or maybe they serve a Time Variance Authority. Some organization—who knows under what authority/morality?—that watches over and polices Time and History, countering and punishing anyone who seeks to change too much. Maybe to preserve their own existence, Time’s existence (assuming damage is done by reckless splintering), or their own ideal mission outcome.<br />
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Cuz, how great would it be to have everyone we know, set up as enemies and rivals in so many permutations, ultimately be on the same side versus some (apparently) greater Time fascist?<br />
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Or greater threat to Time itself? If we take the Red Forest being an End-of-Time paradise as a feint, constructed to get all the splinter chess pieces into the right places to bring about the birth of the Witness, then the Witness was never really about that, right? Maybe he didn’t come up w/that threat himself, tho. What if he adapted it from a greater threat to Time? So…Casserole & Son (*and* Jones, Jennifer, Ramse & Son, Olivia, the Daughters, the X-Monkeys, & Agent Gale, Primaries, Monkeys, Druze et al) are destined to fight someone who truly does want to destroy all of Time and replace it with… Well, nothingness seems like a good ultimate goal, let’s go with that for now.<br />
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What if the super-future is amazing, but in a universe in which time travel is ever invented, history must be choreographed in order for it to be realized and persist? So, this paradise future has a black ops arm that manipulates events in the past to keep it safe. The paradise is a wonderful destiny for humanity, but it robs humans in the past and present of free will. <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2015/04/12-monkeys-why-join-army.html">Which side would you fight for in that scenario?</a><br />
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Hrm…Looking a little harder at the <a href="http://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/12M-s3-Key-Art.jpeg">season 3 poster</a> again…Are there four Time Shadows (that works, right?) holding, like, an Ark of the Witness between them? I thought it was some kind of console/control panel, but now I’m seeing it differently. Interrrresting…<br />
<ul>
<li>A funeral for Time? For the Witness?</li>
<li>A Time bomb?</li>
<li>If the vests aren’t vortex manipulator-y, maybe their portable splinter device?</li>
<li>A Witness trap or cage?</li>
<li>Time picnic dinner?</li>
</ul>
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/9e10bc023fc23ddce20a26ac7b29b1e0/tumblr_inline_ooa7imw4WT1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
The Word of the Witness is shown preserved in plastic or lucite, hanging in a candelabra-lit room, a red-vine patterned banner (or glass pane?) behind it. Its Ramse-torn corner is still absent. Does Ramse still have that swatch tucked in a coat pocket somewhere?<br />
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/dc030565954b3c012a7f1f130dcdc514/tumblr_inline_ooa8ewwlBw1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
COLE: The man behind the apocalypse is my son?</blockquote>
Seems like Cassie’s breaking the news to him there. What if this is soon after the pointing-the-gun-at-wee-Witness scene? What if he draws on L’il W, hesitates, and Cassie finds him, stops him, and explains the horr-ironic truth?<br />
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Meet Johnny (Night Room), Jr. =)<br />
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A clip of some creepy Edgar Allen Poe-y Masque(rade) of the Red Death…EYES WIDE SHUT Cole and Cassie apparently in attendance. Hrm…Red Death…I had a theory back in season 1 that the Army might be an influence throughout history responsible for all major epidemics/plagues, as a way to thin the herd, perhaps disable or control meddling Primaries, and keep a population manageable via their resources and manipulations.<br />
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Cross fade to Cass and Cole going Nicholas Nickleby/Christmas Carol on some cobblestoned street…<br />
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KATARINA: It's been about them…</blockquote>
That's Jones apparently referring to Cass and Cole.<br />
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[aside]<br />
What would Cassandra name her child? I’m guessing, sadly, that Cole won’t be present for the birth. Assuming it’s a boy, maybe she’d go with her father, whom we haven’t met yet. Has Cassie mentioned him by name on the show? If not that grandpa, then how about Cole’s father, Matthew? (I don’t think we have confirmation that he’s James’s bio dad, but we never saw anyone question it.) Or—How about someone important to *both* of them? The person responsible for bringing them together? Katarina Werner Jones! Boy, *that’s* gotta sit well with Katarina, eh? (see/watch above line of dialogue =)<br />
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<br />
<aside><br />So, how about Jones? Like the space cat in ALIEN! Or Jonas? Jonas Cole. Jonas Railly? Or…Werner? Not so cute, but somehow fitting for a Witness-to-be, eh? Werner Cole, The Witness. Yeah. That’ll look good on his business card.<br /><br />I’m hoping for Morris. =)</aside><br />
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RAMSE: About time we set things straight…</blockquote>
If that is actual dialogue between Jones and Ramse, it signifies the formation of an alliance, between Ramse (and <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2016/07/12-monkeys-theory-palooza.html">Olivia and her X-Mon/Orphans of Time</a>) and Jones and Project Splinter. Their goal? To undo and/or destroy the Witness, which would likely pit them against one or both of his parentals. Ramse *does* like to boast about how he eats blondes for breakfast…~<br />
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Next we see an eyes-burning return to the Emerson Hotel, sometime in the mid to late 80s.<br />
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Will we ever see the lightning storm/strike that freezes the lobby’s clock? =)<br />
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Cole is dressed as Marty McFly. O, man! Are we gonna get an in-universe origin/inspiration encounter for <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/113037273784/back-to-the-12-monkeys-on-flickr-aaron-i-believe">BACK TO THE FUTURE?</a> Whoa…<br />
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So, how about this? Agent Gale’s granddaughter, Roberta, has somehow inherited his dossier on his wacky misadventures with Cole & the Gang, and is staking out the Emerson in the 80s, perhaps at her grandpa’s direction, but maybe on her own. She meets them, maybe joins them in splintering, if the tech allows (Deacon as Time…ummm…Peter? Paul? Judas doesn’t seem right, right? =) helps them out, but of course, is sworn to secrecy—who’d believe her, anyway?—but hey, disinformation as a 3-movie franchise wasn’t disallowed, right? Story credit: Bob Gale. =)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: Help me save him.</blockquote>
It’s just a pronoun, people. "Him" could be anyone…Junior/Witness, Cole, Deacon, Nessie the Time Puppy… =)<br />
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Christopher Lloyd, wearing the Titan pendant, apparently standing in an event-y tent illuminated by standing and hanging lamps…a remote location? An excavation site? A wedding reception? A pop-up portrait studio?<br />
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The pendant and wardrobe sells the Tall Man's father identity pretty hard. As far as we know, he wouldn’t have any Messenger blood. So, if he’s not enhancedly long-lived, what era/s would he have been operating in? Given the garb, perhaps from within the clergy? Maybe late 19th century into the first half of the 20th, to find/meet Vivian in the 40s. There’s gotta be a story there about why/how Vivian returns to the Army after rejecting the Witness. I still would really love for Tall Man to be playing a long con within the Army, <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/146225915339/12-monkeys-02x09-hyena-titan-red-forest">a sleeper agent of revenge</a> upon the Witness for doing his mother wrong.<br />
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Maybe Christopher Lloyd's playing TM’s *adopted* father or Army mentor? Cuz I still *really* want <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/146225915339/12-monkeys-02x09-hyena-titan-red-forest">his biodad to be Agent Gale!</a> =)<br />
<br />
Oh! What if he’s a missionary to the Druze?! Oooooo…I *like* that. That’s how/why he acquires the Titan pendant. In this scenario, he might not even be part of the Army! Although, if not, then he’s definitely an unwitting pawn or asset of theirs. Yeah, I definitely like that.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
COLE: If there's something wrong with him, he got it from me…</blockquote>
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/85d6d9e07a4dc07189a47e1e7b15688a/tumblr_inline_ooa7kpGAd41rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
We see some drawings of gun-pointing Cole, surrounded by arcane, rune-ish characters… There’s also a shot somewhere earlier in the teaser, looking down on a figure in the center of a spiral of similar marks on a floor, suggesting that the figure has drawn them. Jennifer? Young W?<br />
<br />
What if these aren’t all different drawings of the same moment, but of two? One in which James reconsiders killing the Witness, and a second in which he follows through?<br />
<br />
What if what if—relative to James’s personal timeline—the first time is when W is an adult and the second time is when he’s a child? OOooooooo~ That would be a history-rewriting temporal nukular option! =)<br />
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The drawings are followed by a matching image of Cole pointing the gun in reality, the exact some POV. If this were season 2, I’d say the drawings were done by a Primary who’d been targeted by Cole. His mission would have been to kill the Primary before a Messenger could paradox him or her. Could that strategy still be in play by the Witness or another party?<br />
<br />
Or are these drawings by the Witness, who has seen that Cole would come for him as a child? Does Cole know at this gun-pointing time that W is actually Jimmy, Jr.? I’m guessing not. Hrm…<br />
<br />
As determined as Cole might be to do in baby Witler, pointing his gun at any child should give him pause, especially with his own child no doubt foremost in his thoughts, separated by centuries.<br />
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We see Katarina approaching the mothballed/covered up Splinter device. A beautiful moment I think. When is this? In history and in her personal timeline? Could this be a flashback to when she first arrives at Raritan National Labs from Spearhead? Or a visit that calendar-year predates that (maybe in Kat’s past, maybe her future), after the Army shut down Mr. Dr. Jones when Cole and Ramse went off-Word. Or her return to the lab, in a future (splintered-forward?) visit, post-2044.<br />
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<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/029ca40c3fc6c3bd1b010941042925f2/tumblr_inline_ooa7pwfQxL1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
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OLIVIA: …the very edge of time…an inch from falling over…</blockquote>
<br />
I *think* that’s what she says. Is there an End of Time? Following thru on the idea that Time is a living thing, given life by Humanity, the End of Time would be coincident with the end of Humanity. Maybe Titan’s “home” setting is that era? If only Titanians live then, then they (and their one or few Primaries) basically ARE Time, no? Whoever lives then, would essentially *be* Time.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/d18970bea6b719399e33605f5e3934d7/tumblr_inline_ooa8jyrfFJ1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
We see someone bathed in the *golden* light of the Beast. This splinter event does not look optimal. Hopefully the splinterer survives…. Remember that the splinter beam goes to yellow/gold when zapping forward in time, and blue when zapping backward. I believe red is shutdown-slash-fail.<br />
<br />
Hrm…Those splinter colors do seem to match those of the lights on the Time Vests…Time Packs?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/ee6b5fd1801f5f47b7bfa6f0bd4f57c3/tumblr_inline_ooa7q7eTSQ1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
We see Cass approach a pedestal with a Witness plague doctor mask mounted on it…The mask is lit from above, but the space is lit by candles. This may be the same space in which the WotW is hanging.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/67e26e781aae84a619cef369b6a5a395/tumblr_inline_ooa7qeJ0oh1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENN: Stop talking like a super villain.</blockquote>
Jennifer continues to rock! Olivia and Jennifer seem to be speaking to each other through a chain link fence. Olivia’s lucky there’s something separating them, cuz *that* is going to be an interesting reunion. I wonder how close the nearest stabby item is when that happens. =)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
THE COMPLETE</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
NEW SEASON</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/d6be333be9862c763f5a089aff406e48/tumblr_inline_ooa7qtFjh91rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
KATARINA (or the new girl?): Don't make me put you down…</blockquote>
As Jones pushes thru double doors (at Project Splinter?)…Daughters behind her?<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/5990e70a949e3c0f7255bb53e741e2ca/tumblr_inline_ooa8kr98c41rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENN: They're coming—they're coming!</blockquote>
This may be Jennifer the Titan-zapped girl-out-of-time dropped into WW1 (or later, 2?), exercising her Primary abilities to warn her unwitting captors or guards of imminent Monkeys Army meddling.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/6e544486fed01a8c49404e1288ef065a/tumblr_inline_ooa7r3zhjy1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
DEACON: Go!</blockquote>
This looks like a shot from the season 2 finale, caught between a rock and robed-and-masked place, facing Witness acolytes in Titan, holding the pass so that Jennifer can escape get coin-tossed into Time. Maybe just cuz that footage is available, but maybe cuz we’ll see it again when we learn <a href="https://twitter.com/cabinboy100/status/756693859871121408">how he survived</a>.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/7eca042bc0666b710587e828aeea772a/tumblr_inline_ooa8lc3EAH1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Ramse, leading with a gun and firing…Nothing new there, right? Actually, when I saw this, something in the shot, maybe the building interior, got me thinking this might be from Berlin.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
IN ONE</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
WEEKEND EVENT</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: He's mine…</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/941bae2be49492d397c7a1c45ce78dc2/tumblr_inline_ooa7rfFduU1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Cut to Cass apparently giving birth…a new age-y red leaf infused water birth?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/412dd6f25060f57e7694a5c322b6490c/tumblr_inline_ooa7rqlNrx1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Tall Man looking true-believer-ecstatically pleased…Maybe a shot we’ve already seen?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/ed82769e16144efb56a6928ecf463264/tumblr_inline_ooa7s0zImF1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
EVIL ANNIE LENNOX: You can't have him…</blockquote>
She's sporting a 3-lights vest vortex manipulator over her MIB/Stranger/Observer/Chosen One/Time Shadow coat…<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/d298de79ff509ccd37112a5d9c93dd3e/tumblr_inline_ooa9b64Ap21rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Jenn and Cole stomping thru a complex (looks like Project Splinter), Cole loading his gun, Jenn following…<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/9af06125e2a2cc05cbfb770fb4d1fe14/tumblr_inline_ooa7skh5Lu1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
A chapel or small-ish cathedral (I don’t know what determines the difference), the sanctuary heavily candlelit…Are the walls decorated with gilded red vines? A figure before a table before the altar with his back to the pews…It seems the voice we hear should belong to that figure…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
W: Mother…Father…After all this time…</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/cfb634da977bac7776645ece601fd944/tumblr_inline_ooa7tky3kL1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Two people walk down the aisle, approaching the figure at the front of the chapel… Seems like Cass on the left, Cole on the right, guns in hand, possibly in those black coats—in disguise?—maybe wearing Time Vests.<br />
<br />
Did Cass and Cole ever officially get hitched? Maybe their ordained son can marry them here? =)<br />
<br />
Looking harder at this still, I’m seeing that the Witness is standing facing a casket! Is this then a very poorly attended funeral service? Who died? Tall Pops, perhaps? Or is the casket empty? A funeral for Time? Or is it not a box for a body, but an item, a device or a trap? Is this the “Ark” that the four Time Shadows carry in the season 3 poster? Pallbearers of Time?<br />
<br />
A Time capsule! Some artifact in this past era that needs to be preserved for use in a future one. Could this be the origin—or a stopover?—for the Annapurna Remains?<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<img height="234" src="https://68.media.tumblr.com/96446ff683266ba2209963fbdefbe856/tumblr_inline_ooa7twbTCY1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></div>
Cut to a figure raising a mask to reveal his face during "After all this time…"<br />
<br />
Knowing that James “Gaius Baltar” Callis is in this season, I think it's him and his Brit-ish/aristocratic accented voice. Not sure that the unmasking happens in that same chapel space or as part of that same scene.<br />
<br />
Based on W’s choice of words, seems like Cass will be separated from her son at some point in his infancy. Sad. =(<br />
<br />
Then again, if that’s the case, who’s to say that this person confronting them *is* actually Jimmy, Jr., huh? =)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
12 MONKEYS</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
NEW SEASON</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
MAY 19</div>
<br />
<hr />
It’s later than you think =)<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin’ on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-26026266213488811662017-04-11T20:14:00.000-04:002017-04-23T16:33:21.721-04:0012 MONKEYS: Season 3 Teaser<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CzDWJKuwU5g" width="480"></iframe><br />
<br />
So…Syfy’s posted a <a href="http://www.syfy.com/12monkeys/blog/watch-this-brand-new-12-monkeys-season-3-trailer" target="_blank">new trailer for season 3 of 12 MONKEYS</a>. Usually, I would do my best to dodge promos before a show or movie is actually released. I like to get hit w/the text with as few hints as possible. Go in with as little pre-text as possible. But, given the paradigm-shifting “linear-binge” release of this season—leave it to 12 MONKEYS to Splinter an entire season (encompassing centuries =) into a single weekend, with all 10 episodes beamed in order over May 19, 20, and 21—I’m thinking I’ll need to get my wheels-spinning crazy talk wherever I can. And thusly, I ramble…<br />
<br />
*UPDATE*<br />
I tapped out an updated version of this breakdown—with screenshot visual aids!<br />
Read it <a href="https://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2017/04/12-monkeys-season-3-teaser-now-wvisual.html">Blogged</a> or <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/159481334504/12-monkeys-season-3-trailer-sosyfys-posted-a-new">Tumbl'd</a>.<br />
<br />
<hr />
<br />
The first new shot of Cole, from the front and then from behind, has him holding a tech-festooned staff. The design calls to mind a computerized tuning fork, *just* the thing for time/dimension/reality-hopping, or tuning/dialing. Perhaps one of its components is a tank of red tea, reloadable via Keurig-like cartridges? With a regulated IV feed or retractable needles in the handle? Maybe this device enhances or adapts Cole’s mental time travel abilities, allowing him to view specific points in time or even what-if?s. Could it be a way to enable him to physically travel? A staff version of the vests? =)<br />
<br />
Titan appears as a complex/city in the distance with a sea with rocks or wreckage or maybe ice floes in the foreground. Does Titan only move in Time and not space (relative to the Earth)? <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/N8D9XvDvZrN2" target="_blank">Is it always in Colorado?</a> Climate change is real, people!<br />
<br />
We see someone with great posture ascend the steps within Titan to meet w/Tall Man, or perhaps his father, both surrounded by robed figures. RE: that posture…It reminds me of Ethan Seki, but knowing that he’s in this season, I’m thinking Gaius Baltar.<br />
<br />
That first shot of the four hat-and-coated figures, silhouetted in the fog or smoke in the dark…The three lights on each of their vests powering on…Gorgeous! Evokes DARK CITY for me (a good thing =), and some kind of clockwork men. I want the tech to be embedded in these people, but a later shot shows us that this is likely tech mounted on a vest. Portable Splinter/Titan units, a la Doctor Who’s Vortex Manipulators? In a future world (like, the future of the future, post-2044) of 12 MONKEYS, that’s where my head immediately goes. Although, honestly, that seems very unfair, no?<br />
<br />
Still, if that IS what they are, I'd associate them with some very interesting story/logic that necessitates their not being usable before some year. After all, if the Witness's forces *ever* had this tech, they could have used it in the times Team Splinter has visited, right? Maybe the use of these vests shreds spacetime, and jumping back beyond a certain point would undo their invention in the first place? Or, y'know, something like that. =)<br />
<br />
I’m *really* hoping that these figures are Something Else, tho. At the bottom of the <a href="http://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/12M-s3-Key-Art.jpeg" target="_blank">season 3 poster</a>, we see them standing in front of a console with the Witness’s/Titan symbol, and so, we want to associate them, right? But what if that’s just a couple of these…Time Shadows entering the Titan city limits? What if these guys are representatives of another player in the war across/for time? Perhaps descendants of the Witness and the Titanians, who know more than W does…Or are using W as their agent in their relative past?<br />
<br />
Or maybe they serve a Time Variance Authority. Some organization—who knows under what authority/morality?—that watches over and polices Time and History, countering and punishing anyone who seeks to change too much. Maybe to preserve their own existence, Time’s existence (assuming damage is done by reckless splintering), or their own ideal mission outcome.<br />
<br />
Cuz, how great would it be to have everyone we know, set up as enemies and rivals in so many permutations, ultimately be on the same side versus some (apparently) greater Time fascist?<br />
<br />
Or greater threat to Time itself? If we take the Red Forest being an End-of-Time paradise as a feint, constructed to get all the splinter chess pieces into the right places to bring about the birth of the Witness, then the Witness was never really about that, right? Maybe he didn’t come up w/that threat himself, tho. What if he adapted it from a greater threat to Time? So…Casserole & Son (*and* Jones, Jennifer, Ramse & Son, Olivia, the Daughters, the X-Monkeys, & Agent Gale, Primaries, Monkeys, Druze et al) are destined to fight someone who truly does want to destroy all of Time and replace it with… Well, nothingness seems like a good ultimate goal, let’s go with that for now.<br />
<br />
What if the super-future is amazing, but in a universe in which time travel is ever invented, history must be choreographed in order for it to be realized and persist. So, this paradise future has a black ops arm that manipulates events in the past to keep it safe. The paradise is a wonderful destiny for humanity, but it robs humans in the past and present of free will. <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2015/04/12-monkeys-why-join-army.html" target="_blank">Which side would you fight for in that scenario?</a><br />
<br />
Hrm…Looking a little harder at the <a href="http://nerdist.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/12M-s3-Key-Art.jpeg" target="_blank">season 3 poster</a> again…Are there four Time Shadows (that works, right?) holding, like, an Ark of the Witness between them? I thought it was some kind of console/control panel, but now I’m seeing it differently. Interrrresting…<br />
<ul>
<li>A funeral for Time? For the Witness?</li>
<li>A Time bomb?</li>
<li>If the vests aren’t vortex manipulator-y, maybe their portable splinter device?</li>
<li>A Witness trap or cage?</li>
<li>Time picnic dinner?</li>
<li>The Word of the Witness is shown preserved in plastic panes or lucite, hanging in a candelabra-lit room, a red-vine patterned banner (or glass pane?) behind it. Its Ramse-torn corner is still absent. Does Ramse still have that swatch tucked in a coat pocket somewhere?</li>
</ul>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
COLE: The man behind the apocalypse is my son?</blockquote>
A clip of some creepy Edgar Allen Poe-y Masque(rade) of the Red Death…Cole and Cassie apparently in attendance. Hrm…Red Death…I had a theory back in season 1 that the Army might be an influence throughout history responsible for all major epidemics/plagues, as a way to thin the herd, perhaps disable or control meddling Primaries, and keep a population manageable via their resources and manipulations.<br />
<br />
Cross fade to Cass and Cole going Nicholas Nickleby/Christmas Carol on some cobblestoned street…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
KATARINA: It's been about them…</blockquote>
That's Jones apparently referring to Cass and Cole.<br />
<br />
[aside]<br />
What would Cassandra name her child? I’m guessing, sadly, that Cole won’t be present for the birth. Assuming it’s a boy, maybe she’d go with her father, whom we haven’t met yet. Has Cassie mentioned him by name on the show? If not that grandpa, then how about Cole’s father, Matthew? (I don’t think we have confirmation that he’s James’s bio dad, but we never saw anyone question it.) Or—How about someone important to *both* of them? The person responsible for bringing them together? Katarina Werner Jones! Boy, *that’s* gotta sit well with Katarina, eh? (see/watch above line of dialogue =)<br />
<br />
So, how about Jones? Like the space cat in ALIEN! Or Jonas? Jonas Cole. Jonas Railly? Or…Werner? Not so cute, but somehow fitting for a Witness-to-be, eh? Werner Cole, The Witness. Yeah. That’ll look good on his business card. =)<br />
[/aside]<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
RAMSE: About time we set things straight…</blockquote>
If that is actual dialogue between Jones and Ramse, it signifies the formation of an alliance, between Ramse (and <a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2016/07/12-monkeys-theory-palooza.html" target="_blank">Olivia and her X-Mon/Orphans of Time</a>) and Jones and Project Splinter. Their goal? To undo and/or destroy the Witness, which would likely pit them against one or both of his parentals. Ramse *does* like to boast about how he eats blondes for breakfast…~<br />
<br />
Next we see an eyes-burning return to the Emerson Hotel, sometime in the mid to late 80s.<br />
<br />
Will we ever see the lightning storm/strike that freezes the lobby’s clock? =)<br />
<br />
Cole is dressed as Marty McFly. O, man! Are we gonna get an in-universe origin/inspiration encounter for <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/113037273784/back-to-the-12-monkeys-on-flickr-aaron-i-believe" target="_blank">BACK TO THE FUTURE</a>? Whoa…<br />
<br />
So, how about this? Agent Gale’s granddaughter, Roberta, has somehow inherited his dossier on his wacky misadventures with Cole & the Gang, and is staking out the Emerson in the 80s, perhaps at her grandpa’s direction, but maybe on her own. She meets them, maybe joins them in splintering, if the tech allows (Deacon as Time…ummm…Peter? Paul? Judas doesn’t seem right, right? =) helps them out, but of course, is sworn to secrecy—who’d believe her, anyway?—but hey, disinformation as a 3-movie franchise wasn’t disallowed, right? Story credit: Bob Gale. =)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: Help me save him.</blockquote>
It’s just a pronoun, people. "Him" could be anyone…Junior/Witness, Cole, Deacon, Witness the Time Puppy… =)<br />
<br />
Christopher Lloyd, wearing the Titan pendant, apparently standing in an event-y tent illuminated by standing and hanging lamps…a remote location? An excavation site? A wedding reception? A pop-up portrait studio?<br />
<br />
The pendant and wardrobe sells the Tall Man's father identity pretty hard. As far as we know, he wouldn’t have any Messenger blood. So, if he’s not enhancedly long-lived, what era/s would he have been operating in? Given the garb, perhaps from within the clergy? Maybe late 19th century into the first half of the 20th, to find/meet Vivian in the 40s. There’s gotta be a story there about why/how Vivian returns to the Army after rejecting the Witness. I still would really love for Tall Man to be playing a long con within the Army, a sleeper agent of revenge upon the Witness for doing his mother wrong.<br />
<br />
Maybe Christopher Lloyd's playing TM’s adopted father or Army mentor? Cuz I still *really* want his biodad to be Agent Gale! =)<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
COLE: If there's something wrong with him, he got it from me…</blockquote>
We see some drawings of gun-pointing Cole, surrounded by arcane, rune-ish characters… There’s also a shot somewhere earlier in the teaser, looking down on a figure in the center of a spiral of similar marks on a floor, suggesting that the figure has drawn them. Jennifer? Young W?<br />
<br />
The drawings are followed by a matching image of Cole pointing the gun in reality, the exact some POV. If this were season 2, I’d say the drawings were done by a Primary who’d been targeted by Cole. His mission would have been to kill the Primary before a Messenger could paradox him or her. Could that strategy still be in play by the Witness or another party?<br />
<br />
Or are these drawings by the Witness, who has seen that Cole would come for him as a child? Does Cole know at this gun-pointing time that W is actually Jimmy, Jr.? I’m guessing not. Hrm…<br />
<br />
We see Katarina approaching the mothballed/covered up Splinter device. When is this? In history and in her personal timeline? Could this be a flashback to when she first arrives at Raritan National Labs from Spearhead? Or a visit that calendar-year predates that (maybe in Kat’s past, maybe her future), after the Army shut down Mr. Dr. Jones when Cole and Ramse went off-Word. Or her return to the lab, in a future (splintered-forward?) visit, post-2044.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
OLIVIA: …the very edge of time…an inch from falling over…</blockquote>
I *think* that’s what she says. Is there an End of Time? Following thru on the idea that Time is a living thing, given life by Humanity, the End of Time would be coincident with the end of Humanity. Maybe Titan’s “home” setting is that era? If only Titanians live then, then they (and their one or few Primaries) basically ARE Time, no? Whoever lives then, would essentially *be* Time.<br />
<br />
We see Cass approach a pedestal with a Witness plague doctor mask mounted on it…The mask is lit from above, but the space is lit by candles. This may be the same space in which the WotW is hanging.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENN: Stop talking like a super villain.</blockquote>
Jennifer continues to rock! Olivia and Jennifer seem to be speaking to each other through a chain link fence. Olivia’s lucky there’s something separating them, cuz *that* is going to be an interesting reunion. I wonder how close the nearest stabby item is when that happens. =)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>THE COMPLETE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>NEW SEASON</b></div>
<br />
KATARINA (or the new girl?): Don't make me put you down…<br />
<br />
As Jones pushes thru double doors (at Project Splinter?)…Daughters behind her?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENN: They're coming—they're coming!</blockquote>
This may be Jennifer the Titan-zapped girl-out-of-time dropped into WW1 (or later, 2?), exercising her Primary abilities to warn her unwitting captors or guards of imminent Monkeys Army meddling.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
DEACON: Go!</blockquote>
This looks like a shot from the season 2 finale, caught between a rock and robed-and-masked place, facing Witness acolytes in Titan, holding the pass so that Jennifer can <strike>escape</strike> get coin-tossed into Time. Maybe just cuz that footage is available, but maybe cuz we’ll see it again when we learn how he survived.<br />
<br />
Ramse, leading with a gun and firing…Nothing new there, right? =)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>IN ONE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>WEEKEND EVENT</b></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: He's mine…</blockquote>
Cut to Cass apparently giving birth…a new age-y red leaf infused water birth?<br />
<br />
Tall Man looking true-believer-ecstatically pleased…Maybe a shot we’ve already seen?<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
EVIL ANNIE LENNOX: You can't have him…</blockquote>
She's sporting a 3-lights vest vortex manipulator over her MIB/Stranger/Observer/Chosen One/Time Shadow coat…<br />
<br />
Jenn and Cole stomping thru a complex (looks like Project Splinter), Cole loading his gun, Jenn following…<br />
<br />
A chapel or small-ish cathedral(?), the sanctuary heavily candlelit…Are the walls decorated with gilded red vines? A figure before a table before the altar with his back to the pews…It seems the voice we hear should belong to that figure…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
W: Mother…Father…After all this time…</blockquote>
Two people walk down the aisle, approaching the figure at the front of the chapel… Seems like Cass on the left, Cole on the right, possibly in those black coats—in disguise?—maybe wearing Time Vests.<br />
<br />
Cut to a figure raising a mask to reveal his face during "After all this time…"<br />
<br />
Knowing that James “Gaius Baltar” Callis is in this season, I think it's him and his Brit-ish/aristocratic accented voice. Not sure that the unmasking happens in that same chapel space or as part of that same scene.<br />
<br />
Based on W’s choice of words, seems like Cass will be separated from her son at some point in his infancy. Sad. =(<br />
<br />
Then again, if that’s the case, who’s to say that this person confronting them *is* actually Jimmy, Jr., huh? =)<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>12 MONKEYS</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>NEW SEASON</b><br />
<b>MAY 19</b></div>
<br />
<hr />
<br />
It’s later than you think =)<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin’ on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-81992623302962261782017-01-09T21:19:00.005-05:002017-01-11T10:03:45.589-05:00PASSENGERS: Space meh<div>
<a href="http://www.passengersmovie.com/" target="_blank">Website</a> | <a href="https://youtu.be/7BWWWQzTpNU" target="_blank">Trailer</a> </div>
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Not a lot that I really enjoyed in this, except maybe super-beardy Chris Pratt. That was definitely fun. There's one sorta-twist in the film, but it's barely even that, and it happens quite early on. It is important to the romantic relationship, but—well, I won't spoil it now.<br />
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I'll spoil it later, after a warning. =)</div>
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If you've seen a trailer or ad, except for the sorta-twist, you pretty much know what you're getting. A couple of fine specimens are stranded on a spaceship, faced with the possibility of living out their lives within its hull, never reaching their destination. We get a sort of Robinson Crusoe couple—Jim the mechanic and Aurora the journo—castaways on a spaceship with AIs and robots as supporting characters. Not the most dazzling premise, but given the power of a big budget, it could be taken to some very interesting and visually stunning places, especially when Arthur, the android bartender, suggests making the best of the situation. Y'know, basically, the starship is your oyster.<br />
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Yeah, I don't like oysters, but forget that. We see them indulge in some harmless vices and future fun, but man, they could've gone further and funner. Missed opportunities to amp up the space courtship and give us something truly big-screen-worthy.<br />
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Why don't you show us what movies or TV shows they choose to watch?<br />
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Then we get to see Jim apparently exhaust his amusement options and enter despair. This could also have been mined for more, in repetition and chaos and waste.<br />
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And of course, there's an existential threat to deal with. It was difficult for me to care all that much, given its vague explanation/portrayal.<br />
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Despite how impressive Pratt's Grizzly Adams beard is, alas, I cannot recommend this. I can give you more of the why, but I feel I have to give up the sorta-twist to do it, so, after this paragraph, I'll ramble further—WITH SPOILERS…</div>
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When I first saw the trailer for the film, I was mildly psyched. As soon as the movie came out, right before Christmas, I lost that. Tonight, I was looking for some candy and felt like this might hit the spot. I was kind of hoping for this to be something I could mentally insert into THE EXPANSE as an alt tale of the 100-some year journey of the Mormon Ark named the Nauvoo.<br />
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Mmm…Not so much. Underwhelming on the sci-fi front. Annoying on the plot front.<br />
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I appreciate the basic EVA suit design (still annoyed every time I see a helmet that's brightly lit on the inside, but I think designers are trying to be careful about pairing that with bright/brighter exterior lights these days), the mag boots, and the tethers, but why no propulsion options?<br />
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The thing that really bugged me—you've got three arms of the ship spinning for centrifugal force as gravity, but every time the characters are looking out at the stars, they are not moving or spinning. I get that the movie is probably looking for a romantic view as backdrop to the courtship, but imagine and create a space for that in the hub of the ship! Might as well just do artificial gravity, bleah.<br />
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When Jim has to protect himself from some superhot plasma, he turns a door in the interior of the ship into a makeshift heat shield. Maybe I missed detail that explains the door's worthiness for this use, but it sure played a lot more like a sarcastic remark, maybe a joke, than a legit thoughtful precaution. Needless to say, it worked.<br />
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And the plot front…So, it's basically YOU'VE GOT SPACE MAIL. You remember YOU'VE GOT MAIL? Substitute Pratt for Hanks and Lawrence for Ryan, change the bookstore war to a 120-year-long space voyage, Jim's engineering knowledge for Hanks's character's book mogul wealth, and that's pretty much it. The sorta-twist of the story/relationship is that Jim and Aurora are not accidentally woken up together. Only Jim is, and after a year of life alone on the ship, he decides to wake Aurora, to be the space-Eve to his space-Adam, or at least a compatible companion…Human company to help keep him from losing his mind and possibly taking his life.<br />
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Hrm…Y'know, later in the movie we see that they're able to raise chickens on board. Jim couldn't revive or artificially gestate a dog? =)<br />
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And hey, ho, whaddyaknow? They hit it off. Of course, Jim's spent weeks watching Aurora's profile/interview videos and reading everything he can find that she's written. In one of those videos, I think she says that a cup of coffee and a view of the Chrysler building can keep her writing forever. And when Jim leaves her a present of a Chrysler building sculpture assembled from machine parts and a cup of coffee, she doesn't question him on the inspiration. Maybe she told her that? Or maybe she's not surprised that he'd know because she'd assume that he checked out her videos and maybe she had done the same to him?<br />
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But we never see that. That would've been interesting. Having her present him with something that she could only know about after doing some digging. But no. We do see her sitting him down for an "interview," asking him to his face his motivation for leaving Earth.<br />
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Luckily, Jim has chosen wisely. He's picked his perfect match-whom-he-happened-to-study-and-obsess-over-for-weeks-maybe-months-as-she's-slept. Aurora even remarks, or maybe writes, about how amazing it is that two such unlucky people have lucked out in finding one another.<br />
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YOU'VE GOT MAIL bothered me for the same reasons. The guy has all this power and intel over the woman and she has no idea. Of course, it's revealed at some point, and she despises him for it, but then Something happens (I don't remember the deets of YGM now) and it's somehow all okay and forgiven.<br />
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Hrm…Maybe that means they DO belong together?<br />
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The Something in this case is that they both face immediate death by reactor core overload or something like that. Jim has to do an EVA to solve the problem, opening an exterior door to vent some superhot plasma or whatnot into space to cool the reactor, and of course, if successful, he will likely not survive.<br />
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There's a kinda interesting couple of seconds when they do some math over the comms. She says—Don't do it! I can't live without you! Better we die together! He says—There's 5000 other people on board…<br />
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Man, he gets to pull that out whenever he wants to for the rest of their lives, eh?<br />
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There's also an appearance by Laurence Fishburne as Gus Mancuso, as a slightly-magical crewman, woken early due to ship malfunction. He doesn't bestow too much wisdom, but does get them access to ship sections, controls, and capabilities not allowed to passengers. Y'know, before he abruptly dies. Oh! But before that, he DOES mention to Jim (on discovering that Jim woke Aurora) that he couldn't believe how lucky he got being trapped with Aurora, and starts to lead Aurora down a kinda bro-y path of yes-you're-right-it's-murder-but-don't-judge-Jim-too-harshly.<br />
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Weird bit of stuntcasting for the ship's captain, who doesn't appear until the last minute of the film in an epilogue showing the ship's arrival at their new green homeworld—Andy Garcia? Wack.<br />
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Oh, Michael Sheen as Arthur the android bartender seems like a waste of resources. Another missed opportunity. Maybe intentional misdirection of some kind? The ship's bar IS kind of gorgeous, and has this wonderful SHINING potential. It's a shame the story doesn't go that direction in a corrupted AI way. Would've made for a much better film.</div>
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The revelation of Jim's while-you-were-sleeping scheming to Aurora is delivered by Arthur as a result of poor word choice by Jim. When he says that there are "no secrets" between Aurora and himself, Arthur's small talk algorithm up and decides to reflect on how much Jim agonized over the decision to wake her from hibernation. Almost want to give the movie points for that, but the way it unfolds on screen is so clunky, I can't. And we've never seen Arthur in a situation like this before in the film. It's just…annoying.</div>
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Gosh, I hope this wasn't his last role before retiring from acting for activising…?<br />
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Yeah, so, I say skip it and watch MOANA or ROGUE ONE again instead. =)<br />
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Keep on keepin' on~</div>
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cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-59274442762949182662016-12-18T02:36:00.001-05:002016-12-18T02:42:29.554-05:00ROGUE ONE: Rambling, continued…Again with the spoilery whatever-comes-to-mind-ness on ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY…<br />
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------- SPOILERS FOLLOW -------</div>
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See my earlier ROGUE ONE rambles for a more complete picture of my madness…<br />
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<a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2016/12/rogue-one-post-screening-download.html" target="_blank"><i>Ramble 1</i></a> | <i><a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2016/12/rogue-one-second-screening-download.html" target="_blank">Ramble 2</a></i><br />
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Chirrut confirms that Baze is also an ex Guardian of the Whills when they're imprisoned in Saw's cells. I didn't catch it the first time, but when Baze mocks Chirrut for praying to the Force to open the cell door, Chirrut fires back with a remark about how Baze used to be the most faithful guardian. Makes his "return" to the faith on Chirrut's passing a little more poignant.<br />
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I think the formal name is Guardian of the Whills, and their job was protecting the Kyber Temple. Cassian uses the phrase "Kyber Temple," but that seems off, right? I mean, the temple isn't made of or about Kyber crystals. I *think* it must have been a Jedi temple, taken over and exploited by the Empire, post-Order-66.<br />
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Tarkin does look better every time I see him, but still, uncanny. For me it's his eyes. They move oddly, and don't seem to focus where they should. Seeing them move reminds me of Roddy McDowell in PLANET OF THE APES—eyes looking out from behind a mask of flesh attached to a face. His lips also seem a bit…I dunno…gummy? Or too thin?<br />
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I wonder if Lucasfilm can continue to make digital improvements and just replace the digital video files in theaters via overnight downloads/replacements. Could they have done just that between Thursday night and Saturday? =)<br />
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Okay. I'm not so sure that Red Leader, Gold Leader, and Biggs were shot with new actors at all. I think that all of their footage in ROGUE ONE could have been constructed, pulled, and/or edited from shots—perhaps some previously unused?—from A NEW HOPE, and composited into new cockpits and background action. And their ship-to-ship comms audio could definitely be clipped and autotuned if needed from their A NEW HOPE lines.<br />
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I think the only sex scene in the film is when the two Star Destroyers destroy the gateway. I'm pretty sure the "Love Theme from ROGUE ONE" was playing during that.<br />
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Planets/moons/locations we visit…<br />
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<ul>
<li>The Erso black sand farm planet…</li>
<li>The Ring of F—something, an asteroid trading out post…</li>
<li>The Imperial prison work planet (from which Jyn is forcibly rescued—"Congratulations!" =)…</li>
<li>Yavin-4…Why did they re-create the exteriors so differently? If ROGUE ONE events occur days before those of A NEW HOPE, the jungle and temples should be practically identical…</li>
<li>Jedha, a "war zone." Jedha city/Kyber temple and Saw's hideout…</li>
<li>Eadu, a planet of storms and the Imperial Kyber processing facility, headed by Galen Erso…</li>
<li>Scarif, home to an Imperial Citadel Tower which holds structural engineering plans and data, cuz why not?</li>
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Some dialogue I'm trying to remember properly…</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASSIAN: Rebellions are built on hope.</blockquote>
Nice when Jyn recycles that before the Alliance council.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;">
CHIRRUT: Are you serious? I'm blind!</blockquote>
Heh. *LOVE* Donnie Yen in this. I so wish he had more opps to strut his martial arts stuff. His take down of those troopers in Jadeh was wonderful—I wanted to applaud! But Baze's moment prevented me (thankfully =). Would have loved to have seen a fight sequence that was choreographed to better/best demo how Chirrut and Baze's skills could compliment one another.<br />
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I don't think I've ever seen that sand kicking bit before. Nice. =)<br />
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ADMIRAL RADDUS: Rogue One, may the Force be with you.</blockquote>
I think that's the first time I've heard/read that as "Rest in peace."<br />
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CHIRRUT: The strongest stars have hearts of Kyber.</blockquote>
This may be a SWU scientific truth? I don't know. I want/wanted this to mean something profound, and I can kind of see it as a description of Jyn herself, and maybe her father Galen, but I feel like I have to force it.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JYN: We'll take the next chance and the next and on and on until we win or all our chances are spent.</blockquote>
Also…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JYN: We'll find a way, or will find a way to find a way…</blockquote>
She makes it sound inspiring when she says it, but reading it, if you tilt your head just so, it can read as inane, no? But in the moment, against all odds, inspiring. And repeated by Cassian and Bodhi.<br />
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When I heard "Captain Antilles" in the Rebel base, I originally thought it was over a PA system, but now I'm thinking that it was actually Bail Organa who spoke the name, actually addressing the captain when he leaves Mon Mothma and enters the hangar area, giving him his orders—take Princess Leia, join/support the assault on Scarif, leave when you can and proceed to Tatooine so that Leia can recruit Ben Kenobi.<br />
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I also heard "Captain Syndulla" (Captain of the Ghost on REBELS) mentioned over a PA outside the temple/hangar/base, when Blue Leader stops the private who was monitoring communications and he explains to Mon Mothma that there is an attack on Scarif in progress. I did not spot the Ghost itself, but I wasn't thinking hard of looking for it. Maybe it's there somewhere.<br />
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When K2 explains to Cassian that to retrieve the Death Star plans he must "use the handles," I immediately thought: lamest (or most difficult? =) mini-game/challenge in the imminent ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS GAME.<br />
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Man! I *love* seeing X-wings take off into the skies of Yavin-4! =)<br />
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Also when they fly nap-of-the-Earth on/over massive Imperial space constructs or machinery. So cool =)<br />
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A disturbing thought about matters unsaid and not shown in the film… In the flashback dream to Jyn's childhood we see the Erso family unit enjoying a decent middle class Imperial life, an evening in for which Dad has recruited Mom to help entertain his boss. Very 1950s TV. Jyn wanders to the living room, maybe woken from slumber. Galen sees him and notes that she looks frightened… Why? And when she looks past her father to her mother, standing in the next room with Krennic maybe apparently gazing at her?, it is not happiness she sees on Lyra's face.<br />
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Is it just life under the thumb of the Empire encapsulated in that slice of life, or is it something more? Something darker? Maybe something Jyn doesn't consciously understand or acknowledge, as she doesn't pin anything on Krennic when she faces him at the top of the transmitter.<br />
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Something…?<br />
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May the Force be with you…<br />
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Keep on keepin' on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-42016554874539423852016-12-17T14:59:00.001-05:002016-12-17T15:20:12.748-05:00ROGUE ONE: Second screening download…Another ramble of movie thoughts after a second screening of ROGUE ONE. Beware—SPOILERS!<br />
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Oh, I don't think I actually said this in <b><i><a href="http://wuzzon.blogspot.com/2016/12/rogue-one-post-screening-download.html" target="_blank">my earlier post</a></i></b>, but I LOVE IT! Probably my best time at a STAR WARS film since ROTJ.<br />
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Okay, rambling on…</div>
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On second viewing, Tarkin is definitely CG, but looks really good. I think I might've believed it was a human actor w/some good makeup if only the eyes were done right. There's something off in how they focus (or don't, properly) and dart in a couple of moments.</div>
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Leia *is* flesh and blood (or if she isn't, well, frickin done, ILM =). Just slightly off in a look-alike way. My first screening was a late show and maybe my eyes were going and I think that seeing CG Tarkin prejudiced me when spotting other characters from ANH. Red and Gold Leaders, along with Biggs (the second Blue pilot to sound off after Blue Leader), all look like actors, probably ADR'd/overdubbed with autotuned dialogue from ANH. In any case, I love seeing these "old friends" on screen again.</div>
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After her first interaction w/Chirrut and spotting Baze in Jadeh City, Jyn asks Cassian who they are and he calls them the Guardians of the Whills. They protected the temple when there was still something to protect. He also makes a remark about how they're still around, just causing trouble. That seems odd/unfair, no? Or is he answering a different question?</div>
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I never quite got who/what the "Whills" are in Lucas lore. The entire epic is supposed to be from the Journal of the Whills. I always pictured these tall creatures with gangly limbs and wizened faces. Can't remember where that comes from, but probably a McQuarrie painting. =)</div>
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The music hit me better in some spots, but I guess I just don't love the main theme for of this film, the fanfarey one that plays with the title card.</div>
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I know there's no crawl, and that makes sense to me, comparing the nature of this story vs. the nine episodes, but I wish there was some way to work in the original theme. It *does* belong with the crawl, tho. O well.<br />
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Random thought that struck me about this film vs. the Skywalker bloodline story—this, and maybe other such films in the SWU, are like side missions in a game. I really do hope that Lucasfilm allows itself to explore the SWU at different scales and in different genres and tones once it gets a fix on the interest and success of this and the Han Solo film. I'd love to see a film about the acquisition of the Death Star 2/Endor intelligence before/during events of ROTJ, but have it be more cloak-and-light-dagger spycraft than military espionage and assaults. Of course, sadly, in the end, that information was meant to get into the hands of the Rebels, right? But the movie that tells that story will end with mission: accomplished.</div>
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Definitely felt the deaths more this time around. K2, we hardly knew you. Or did we know you better than most, actually? Except for Jyn, the character building is done in quick and pretty broad strokes, strong strokes, and successful for the most part, but whatev—friendships/brother/sisterhoods forged under fire, right?</div>
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K2's passing probably hit me hardest, softening me up for Chirrut, Bhodi, and Baze. Although, with Chirrut and Bhodi, their deaths were sort of transmogrified into Baze's last stand/march, when he wades into the remaining troopers blasting, taking hits, and then accepting his end in the detonation of a trooper's fallen grenade. I wish that march had been longer. It really felt like it was building to a Toshiru Mifune samurai-esque last stand, body riddled with arrows—well, tagged with blaster marks, I guess, but cutting down and then thrashing at anyone who attacks/approaches, until he takes everyone he can with him.</div>
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Or something.</div>
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Make ten men feel like a hundred! Would've liked for "ten" to have been an accurate count. I thought there might've been just ten on board the shuttle, but once they drop and roll out to light up the Citadel, it looked like there had to be maybe twice that. Maybe make twenty men feel like two hundred?</div>
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Don't know when I'll have the time, but I'd really like to watch/re-watch CLONE WARS and REBELS (only watched WARS on Cartoon Network back in the day and missed a few and never got to final season online, blerg) to connect some dots for myself. I'm sure that some of those project code names in the Scarif Citadel were callbacks to episodes, right—Black Saber? And I gotta see Saw in the CLONE WARS era. I honestly can't remember, but imagine him being a great character for Anakin foreshadowing of course.</div>
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I was hoping to catch Krennic babying his shoulder in present day, a sign of the lasting mark Lyra Erso left him with before she was struck down.</div>
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The effects of Saw's brainsucking lie detector creature definitely wear off. I wish there was a line or two about that, from Saw, or Bhodi, or maybe Force-sensitive Chirrut. Saw's losing-one's-mind remark made it sound like he'd effectively be lobotomized or amnesiac.</div>
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I like Jyn's no-nonsense speech to the Rogue One troops before leaving the shuttle on Scarif. About taking that chance, then the next one, and the next one, until we win or until we run out of chances. It's somehow hopeful and yet realistic. Boils the impossible mission down into the simplest bite-sized morsels, challenges that can be taken, met, and won, then on to the next.</div>
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Find a way.</div>
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Her "May the Force be with us" was great, as was Admiral Raddus's "May the Force be with you, Rogue One" from orbit.</div>
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On Yavin-4, when Bail explains to Mothma that he's sending someone he trusts with his life to recruit his old Jedi friend, we hear Captain Antilles paged. That timing makes me want to connect the dots, Captain Antilles, Artoo and Threepio's master before Luke, is charged with delivering Leia to Tatooine. However, the assault on Scarif diverts him, placing him, the Tantive IV, Leia, and the droids right where they need to be to make STAR WARS happen. Nice and neat. =)</div>
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Can anyone tell me if "Captain Antilles" and "Wedge Antilles" are the same guy? Is "Antilles" like "Smith" in the SWU? REBELS introduced us to Wedge this season, right?</div>
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Keep on keepin' on~<br />
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cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-63546292723285762352016-12-16T01:53:00.000-05:002016-12-16T12:24:25.989-05:00ROGUE ONE: Post-screening download…<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm gonna just ramble out my thoughts on ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY here. Whatever comes to mind, spoilerful notes and thoughts included.</div>
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- - - - *BEWARE* SPOILERS FOLLOW AFTER 2nd PHOTO - - - -</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like a full space station out tonight—fitting for a first screening of ROGUE ONE =)</td></tr>
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I've done my best to ignore, avoid, and miss all buzz, hype, leaks, and BTS whatnot about this film and I'm very glad I did. Its story managed to surprise me in a couple of pretty basic and important ways.</div>
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It dovetails with the beginning of EPISODE 4, pretty much because it must. Rogue One succeeds in extracting the technical readouts of that battle station. Only one Rebel ship that received the plans survives the arrival of Vader's Star Destroyer and one copy of those plans makes it onto a Blockade Runner that barely escapes, and it's this Runner we see at the beginning of EP 4.<br />
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At first blush, this feels wrong. It seems like there should be more time, and maybe space—a couple of stops, rendezvouses, or maybe ship transfers?—between this ending and the beginning of A NEW HOPE, right? But remember, at the start of STAR WARS, there is only one copy of the plans, it is precious, unique. This means there was no time or opportunity to make and transmit and/or launch copies to other Rebel contacts. And that means that the blockade runner we see captured by Vader's Star Destroyer is the one that escaped him over Scarif. It's also the blockade runner that Bail Organa dispatched to contact Obi-Wan Kenobi, a trusted friend and Jedi. All of the math works out.<br />
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Of course, if you want to ignore Occam's Razor, you might imagine that the Blockade Runner makes it to some rendezvous point, the data is copied and passed on to let's say five other ships, and all six ships then make a run for Yavin-4 thru various circuitous courses. Vader and the Empire manage to destroy them all until only Leia's ship remains, the one which originally received the Rebel transmission.<br />
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But, y'know, the momentum of those last minutes really does want to connect directly to the first minutes of A NEW HOPE.<br />
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The events, the time involved, just *feels* so compressed, counterintuitive, surprising. Maybe that's good, tho, at least for me, because it made me THINK about how it should have happened, which I somehow never actually have. =)<br />
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And I gotta say, I went into this expecting a feel-good big-win story. I mean, we know they get the plans, right? But I hadn't really thought it through… After all, "Many Bothans died," right? Only while I was watching ROGUE ONE, in the scene in Rebels central on Yavin 4 when Jyn Erso passes along her father's message and tries to rally the Alliance forces to assault the Imperial whatzit on Scarif, did it click for me that this was going to be a SEVEN SAMURAI scenario. A victory, but at a high cost.<br />
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Errata/apologies:<br />
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"Many Bothans died" was Mon Mothma speaking of the Death Star/Endor plans in RETURN OF THE JEDI. There was no reference to the dangers involved in acquiring the Stardust plans in A NEW HOPE. My badd.<br />
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The Force is with me and I am one with the Force. I *love* me some Donnie Yen in the SWU. =)<br />
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Donnie's Chirrut Imwe is a Jedi Temple guardian. In the aftermath of the Clone Wars and the ascendence of the Empire, he is out of a legit job, but still keeps close to his station, the temple on Jedha, where the Empire is mining Kyber Crystals.<br />
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Hrm… Are there a mess of tiny Kyber asteroids in orbit around Endor? In a belt in the Yavin system?<br />
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I'm liking to think that guardians might be Force-strong individuals who were found or realized their connection at too late an age to begin Youngling-Padawan training.<br />
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I'm fuzzy on whether his longtime space companion Baze Malbus was also a temple guardian. By his demeanor and fighting style, it seems not, but then again, his resilience and uncanny save-the-day timing might be signs of Force-strength, right? Just manifesting in a not-very-Jedi-Knight-y way.<br />
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Vader sabering and Forcing his way thru the Rebels is pretty sweet. =)<br />
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Felt like a pretty awesome remix of the original trilogy films. The Death Star, deadly chasm shootouts and drops, narrow catwalks over empty air, blaster turrets, X-Wings, AT-ATs, the Rebel fleet caught between Imperial forces and an energy shield, Yavin-4, Mothma and Dodonna, Red and Gold Leaders, even Tarkin and Leia, and was that Biggs as part of Blue squadron?<br />
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Oh, the fate of the previous Red 5…<br />
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Tarkin and Leia…Still walking the uncanny valley. So close to getting out with Tarkin, tho. Strange, for me, it was the eyes that really broke him. I think all the rest of him was acceptable. As for Leia…I feel like maybe her skin was too polished, and maybe her eyes slightly too large for her face, perhaps to push her youthiness?<br />
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I wonder about the decision making involved in going CG with them. Gotta say, Red Leader and Gold Leader looked great, but I guess they had their flight suits, helmets, and gear to support them. They were less naked/exposed CG human than Tarkin and Leia. Is it because of the timing of the events of ROGUE ONE vs. that of A NEW HOPE? I mean they cast new performers for Mothma and Dodonna, right? I'm sure there are some decent lookalikes for both Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher out there, at least, some close matches who could be prostheticked and thespianed to near perfection, right?<br />
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Contracts?<br />
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When Tarkin first appeared in ROGUE ONE, I thought maybe they would do something clever with him as a cameo, with his back to the camera and his face only appearing as a reflection in the space glass of his Star Destroyer. But, GMT's role turns out to be quite a bit more involved, smacking Orsen Krennic about.<br />
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Nice reference to the Death Star as Tarkin's baby/brainstorm.<br />
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Pretty awesome little "fix" for the exhaust port vulnerability. Always the butt of fan/nerd jokes, having it be an intentional design feature makes a lot of sense. Too bad Dodonna and Mothma never mention Galen Erso's hand in this in A NEW HOPE, tho, right? Of course, that would seem a bit conspicuous or superfluous in the context of the Skywalker-centric story, heh.<br />
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K2SO the reprogrammed Imperial droid was an excellent addition to STAR WARS's droid menagerie. I think it's pretty great how STAR WARS stories can get me to "fall" for droid characters. Alan Tudyk's K2 immediately called to mind AP-5 of STAR WARS REBELS.<br />
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Alan Tudyk's part in ROGUE ONE reinforces the "Can't stop the signal" deja view-ness I get with SERENITY. The final transmission of the technical readouts involves a sequence of cartridge insertion and switch flipping on a transmission tower/device that totally reminded me of Mal's signal broadcast.<br />
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A last blast of thoughts…<br />
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Man, it's a gorgeous frickin STAR WARS film. SOOO great seeing X-wings and TIEs going at it in bright and shiny daylight.<br />
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K2's death scene is wonderful.<br />
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Did Tarkin order the Death Star to target the transmission dish?<br />
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I love that Krennic gets to see that "his" Death Star is his doom. Reminds me of when Bucho's right hand man gets taken out by his beloved truck in DESPERADO. =)<br />
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Giachinno's music didn't quite work for me everywhere. It was strongest when it was, or played off of, John Williams's original themes. I get that this is the first in the "spin off" realm of STAR WARS, films that aren't focused on the Skywalker bloodline, but man, I *really* missed the fanfare opening.<br />
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I wonder how this movie plays for someone who hasn't seen STAR WARS before. A pretty decent sci-fi war film?<br />
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Chirrut's blind Force-adept action sequences were excellent. Nice to see a non-lightsaber staff doing some damage.<br />
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Has Vader made Mustafar into his "home?" Interesting that he's in something like a Bacta tank bath when we see him. Treatment for his apnea? =)<br />
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Also nice to see the no-look force-choke. Bad-ass. =)<br />
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Allright, that's all I've got for now. Maybe after another few days, screenings, weeks, I'll have more or even different, second thoughts. I'll try to get them down here if I can motivate.<br />
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May the Force be with you…<br />
aka<br />
Keep on keepin' on~</div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-84415108585173930612016-12-04T20:20:00.000-05:002016-12-05T09:59:01.016-05:00WESTWORLD: pre-finale crazy talk…<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Some rambling thoughts on WestWorld-ness before the first season finale plays…</span></div>
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<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 20px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; color: white;"><span style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">BERNARD = ARNOLD 2.0…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">This revelation was not a surprise, but I *am* annoyed that I didn't untangle the name/wordplay before last episode. I just hadn't thought about it and had forgotten Bernard's full name until I saw it in print again: BERNARD LOWE. Which probably every fan by now knows or has seen anagrams out to ARNOLD WEBER.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">That find is kind of at odds with Ford's own words, when we see him bring Bernard online for the first time and apparently pulls the name "Bernard" from out of thin air.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Perhaps Ford's own programming doesn't catch that consciously? Heh, yeah. I have a zany out there theory that Arnold created Ford and Ford created Bernard. Ford's mechanical family fits Arnold's philosophy of trauma = character, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Anyhow… So! Ford created Bernard in the image of his murdered-by-Delores partner, Arnold. Do Hosts age? Does Bernard look the way Arnold did when he died? If so, then…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I haven't found the time to do a re-watch, but when I do, maybe over the holidays…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I'm gonna want to look for scenes with just Bernard and a Host. Or Bernard with random Rosenrantzy types, if there are any such scenes. Cuz, the first time thru, we assume we're watching Bernard interact with someone or some Host. However, if Bernard was designed to look just like Arnold, then we may have actually been watching ARNOLD interact with someone or some Host, and thusly many of his words might have more and/or different significance, and also place the conversation 34 years in the past.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">BERNARD'S CONTINGENCY PLAN?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I think that Ashley Stubbs (security chief) getting lured out to the park and than captured by the (G)Host Nation as part of Bernard's (contingency) plan. Well, I *hope* that's the case. I like Bernard! And Ashley is the only one who sussed out and acknowledged Bernard's relationship with Theresa. He has an eye and head for uncovering truths and secrets, so Bernard setting him on a trail that leads to Ford's levels of manipulation and deceit might avenge or even save him.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But—the lure was Elsie's transponder signal or phone or whatever. Did Bernard remember what happened to Elsie before confronting Ford with infernal device Clementine?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But actually—he knew that Elsie was conspicuously absent (supposedly away), and knew that she'd gone snooping in the park before that. So, Bernard could have programmed the park's system to register Elsie's signal without an actual source present.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">THE REAL WORLD?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I'm really hoping for a revelation that shows us that the real world, outside the park, is a serious mess. Dystopian in some way or ways? Post-WW3? Environmental catastrophe? Plague? Corporate fascist state/s? Maybe an extreme 1%/99% schism? It *is* implied that it takes a decent fortune to afford a ticket to WestWorld, right? A playground for the rich.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">What if WestWorld is in a bubble, or a Matrix-like sim, or in orbit…? =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">CORPORATE ESPIONAGE?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">So the board itself is behind the transmission of proprietary data out of the park, presumably to some umbrella corp's military R&D division, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But maybe it's something else? And maybe Ford knows about it. Why would he allow it to go on? Perhaps because it's information he doesn't give a damn about.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Maybe it's not technical info at all, but compromising data/recordings of the behavior of certain patrons?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Maybe he's allowed certain data to leave his kingdom because he knows it's useless or unimportant? Or because he's intentionally poisoned it so that it's useless.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">When Bernard goes searching for the Woodcutter data, it’s registered as an anomaly. When he asks if any other anomalies are found in the park, Ford’s “family” is returned as five hits.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", HelveticaNeue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">AN OPENING/EXIT…?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Charlotte had Sizemore load up a decommissioned Host—Delores's father?—with the data that didn't make it out via the Woodcutter, right? But we learned from Felix and Sylvester (the two cartoon cats =) that modern Hosts are designed to self-destruct on leaving the park. Presumably this is no big secret, right? So Sizemore and Charlotte would take steps to disable this…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">If they can't modify the Host—Felix and Sylvester made it sound seriously nontrivial, right? Requiring something like building a new body from scratch?—that means that they'll have to deactivate the detection grid that signals that a Host is leaving or outside the park.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Perfect opportunity for Maeve to escape as well!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But—how the heck did she arrange for all of this to happen?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Hrm…Has the show been playing with time even within a single era (the "now")? So that the shenanigans with the Woodcutter and Charlotte and the data occur slightly later than Maeve's awakening and are in fact the result of Maeve's choreography? She could have tinkered with the Woodcutter's programming to get him to tilt the way he did, and then force the board to find another way to get the data out of the park—in the body of a Host!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">MIB = WILL || LOGAN?</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">I think a lot of people are set on MIB being an older Will, but bits and pieces of MIB's dialogue don't quite tip the scale decisively for me. Is Logan the prince of the money family that saves Delos? Does young Will marrying into Logan's family give him enough power to "save" Delos? Even if Logan dies in some park related mishap, or the fallout from one? I don't know.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The idea that MIB kept a dark side hidden from his wife and daughter works for both Will and Logan, with Will's dark side manifesting itself for the first time in his visit to WestWorld. Maybe he has to kill Logan? Or not save Logan? Or let Delores do him in?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">His connection to Maeve… It's weird and kind of weak to me that MIB would test himself by savagely killing two Hosts, a mother and child, in WestWorld. *Knowing* their Hosts, is it really a test of his potential for evil/darkness? Hrm…Maybe only if he believes that Hosts are *alive* as well…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Which—points to MIB being Will.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But—maybe Logan does eventually see and acknowledge something different in Delores alongside Will. After all, she's not really hiding her difference-ness 30 years back, is she? And if that's the case, Logan may know, or be ready to believe, that Hosts have the potential for the spark of life?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Yeah, I'm reaching…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">THE MAZE…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">The maze itself is the sum of a man’s life—the choices he makes, the dreams he hangs on to. And there at the center, there’s a legendary man who had been killed over and over again countless times, but always clawed his way back to life. The man returned for the last time and vanquished all his oppressors in a tireless fury…He built a house…Around that house, he built a maze so complicated, only he could navigate through it…I reckon he’d seen enough of fighting.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">MIB is repeatedly told that the Maze is not for him. Whom is it for, then? If we buy into Arnold as benevolent Creator, then I’d say it’s for the Hosts. A trial for a Host to experience, at the end of which she or he is made…complete, or free, or, y’know, something like that, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">While I love the idea of a game hidden within the world of the WW park, I’m not sure I buy any more that it’s all Arnold’s doing. It seems like it might be a diversion, or a trick, to somehow trigger Arnold’s sentience Easter eggs, to fool potentially troublesome Arnold code or Hosts into revealing themselves. Maybe it *is* Arnold’s creation, but a distraction from his real secrets…A shame to think of Delores and Teddy’s and even MIB’s journeys as a decoy, tho, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">But, doesn’t Maeve’s arc seem like the real maze?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Randomish aside—LOVED the appearance of a “Minotaur” as part of Wyatt’s marauders. =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: white;">GUESS WE’LL SEE SOON ENOUGH…</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">While watching this show, I've been torn between sitting back and leaning forward. Do I want to work at seeking and solving puzzles, or do I want to sit back and enjoy a fascinating, ingenious, gorgeous, and thoughtful bit of storytelling? I’ve been watching it pretty much alone, too, and keeping away from reviews and theories, only chatting with a high school friend who’s been very much more lean-in than I have been so far. Maybe I’ll lean-in harder next season…</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Who’s got the energy, tho? *sigh*</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Well, season finale and all, I guess I can mostly sit back for this one, right?</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Riiiiight… =)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: black; color: white;">Keep on beepin' on~</span></div>
cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-21682382706095534082016-07-18T00:15:00.000-04:002016-07-18T01:44:36.660-04:0012 MONKEYS: Theory-palooza 2Got a couple more partially baked notions to share…<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br /><b>TASK FORCE O</b><br /><br />So far, the conflict over the undoing of the plague-pocalypse and then the destruction of Time has been between two parties—the Witness and his Army of the 12 Monkeys versus Project Splinter and Jennifer Goines and her Daughters.<br /><br />But in the wake of their conflict, they have created a third, de facto party—the allies of Team Splinter and the discarded pawns of the Witness. People whose lives amount to collateral damage in the conflict between these two temporal superpowers.<br /><br />I believe that someone could organize these individuals into a strategic and effective force that can make a difference in the outcome of this time war—Olivia.<br /><br />She’s familiar with the Word of the Witness and the worldly workings of the Army over decades of time. She has visited the Red Forest and can navigate others to it via red leaf tea. She is gifted with supernatural strength and healing, and may very well be Splinter-compatible (like the Messengers, whose DNA and abilities contribute to her own, thanks to Vivian Rutledge).<br /><br />She’d be like Professor X, rescuing and recruiting his X-Men, or Nick Fury collecting Secret Warriors, locating literal and figurative “orphans” of the conflict—the likes of Samuel Ramse, Agent Robert Gale, Gale’s granddaughter, Victoria Mason and her son, Elliot Jones, maybe even her brother, Tall Man—and recruiting them to join her in defying the will, plans, and Word of the Witness.<br /><br />To assemble the most effective force possible, she’d need one thing that she’s apparently missing—time travel. As far as we know, she’s never engaged in actual time travel herself. She travels thru time the usual way—from past to future, one day at a time. Father created her in Germany in the 50s; Vivian brought her to America in 1961 to raise her; she grew up to become one of the leaders of the Army of the 12 Monkeys; and she rejects the Witness and his Word in 2016.<br /><br />It shouldn’t be THAT difficult for her to get access to Elliot Jones’s Project Splinter, right? We know that she quits the Witness in 2016, but we don’t see her turn in her Monkey gun and badge. She may still retain her position in the Army and its authority, and with that authority, she should be able to finagle access to Elliot’s to-the-future Splinter device, right? And that gets her access to the future. And once in the future, she should potentially have access to all of Time (via Katarina’s Project Splinter, or perhaps the Witness’s Titan?).<br /><br />Or maybe she contacts a Splinter agent in 2016 at the Emerson. Could she approach young Katarina? She wouldn’t need Elliot’s device if she can enlist the aid of a Splinternaut.<br /><br />Let’s assume she gets access to time travel tech. She could turn 2044 Titan into the action-packed final showdown of TIME BANDITS! She could Splinter in allies from any point in time, including…<br /><br />Samuel Ramse (post-Core-feedback blast, older? or perhaps still youthy, as proof for Ramse and company of her benevolent, anti-Witness intentions)<br />Agent Robert Gale<br />Gale’s granddaughter<br />Elliot Jones (2016 or later)<br />Jennifer & Daughters (2044, they stayed behind at the Bleeders’ camp)<br />Victoria Mason & son (rescued from the Immortal by Cole and Ramse 1975)<br />Tall Man (a future version?)<br /><br />Could she save those who have died, or appeared to have died?<br /><br />Elena?<br />David Eckland? (dis-Splinter-ated)<br />Eyepatch Ramse?<br />Charlie Messenger?<br /><br />And, since Olivia and none of these allies were actually present for the events we witness in 2044 Titan at the end of “Blood Washed Away,” they could Splinter in before them and pre-emptively undoing their deaths without causing a paradox.<br /><br />Maybe undoing isn’t necessary, tho. This would be wild, but what if Olivia’s agents are already at Titan when Ramse, Deacon, Hannah, and Marcus are killed? They’re the ones (some of the ones) in the masks and robes, and have faked our heroes’ deaths! =)<br /><br />Yeah…Probably not. Boo.<br /><br />And it’s probably “easier” to have C+C show up at the Bleeders’ camp to rally Jennifer and her Daughters to join them and save Ramse and the gang before they get Katar’d up.<br /><br />Better to keep Olivia’s Task Force O under wraps until they’re REALLY needed, right? =)<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br /><b>MAXWELL-RIGFIELD MANUFACTURING</b><br /><a href="http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fflic.kr%2Fp%2FJeEdhE&t=NTVjMTQ0NGZjNTFiNWEyMTg5YjI2ZDE1ZmU3NmI2YmJlYzM0YmJmNCxKY1pHQ0xmaA%3D%3D">What is it that they produce at that factory, anyway?</a> Think maybe they’re owned by, or become, a division of Markridge?<br /><br />If the factory IS consumed by a massive paradox (more powerful than what we saw in “Blood Washed Away”), perhaps it’s by design. The paradox may have blasted the factory, its machinery, and materials out of reality and into the red tea zone, ready to be shaped and transformed into Titan.<br /><br />I suspect that Elliot Jones is familiar with the red tea zone, thanks to some mind-expanding experimentation with the green-to-red ivy he created in his lab. He might understand the “timelessness” of the dimension, and figured out how to exploit it to develop the technology and complete the construction required to make Tall Man’s Project Titan a reality.<br /><br />- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -<br />Unmake history!<br /><br />Keep on keepin’ on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-10628635500786098552016-07-17T01:30:00.000-04:002016-07-17T18:51:01.724-04:0012 MONKEYS: Theory-palooza!<br />
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Gonna throw everything, theory-wise, that I’ve got cooking in my so-called brain out here and see what sticks. =)<br />
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Well, y'know, not quite *everything*, but whatever I can think of that has a bit more than just hey-what-if? behind it… Stuff that’s at least, umm, let’s say… half-baked.<br />
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Mostly. =)<br />
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I’m gonna try and keep the crazy-talk-splanations short. If you’ve read my rambling before, you know it tends to get away from me. Some of what follows has been covered in longer posts already.<br />
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<b>ELLIOT JONES IS THE WITNESS</b><br />
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Elliot Jones invents time travel into the future. In inventing that, he’s also responsible for the creation of red leaves. He’s also the first person, umm, causatively(?), not chronologically, to get a chance to experiment with them in a mind-expanding way. Given his hippie demeanor, I can easily imagine him rolling the leaf before crushing it. =)<br />
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So, he’s the first human being to visit the red tea zone, the limbo outside of Time and reality, the eventual home of the Red Forest. Without the guidance of a Primary or someone with a mental map, like Olivia, who knows what Elliot’s experience would be like? Maybe raw, unguided exposure to the red tea zone is what makes Elliot the Witness, what causes/allows him to “see everything,” like the ant stepping out of the (Time) line.<br />
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And maybe he becomes the Witness that Cassie, Olivia, and Tall Man meet in the House of Cedar and Pine when he’s on one of his mind-expanding trips and his body is destroyed and consumed by a paradox event, the one that creates the Red Forest, perhaps the 1957 Melinda paradox, or maybe as part of the chaotic Splinter event at Raritan Valley in 1957, or perhaps a physical meeting with himself, once he himself becomes a chrononaut.<br />
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The big question mark/issue I’ve got with EJ as the Witness? Is the restoration of his consciousness into a body on the physical plane, in reality, worth all of the manipulation the Witness is responsible for?<br />
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What else is there for EJ? Saving the world/reality? Doesn’t really seem his style, except that that’s the place where he keeps all his stuff. Saving someone who matters to him? Katarina? Hannah? That seems kind of thin, too, although I do like the idea that his treatment of Katarina tugs at what there is of his humanity, as described above in DAVE-ECKLAND-IS-ELLIOT-JONES. Maybe it’s all a means to a still greater science-y powerful end? Or in service to another, greater intelligence or cause?<br />
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I’d just really like for it to be Elliot, cuz he’s there at the beginning of time travel in its technological and psychic forms, and he’d be a fitting opposite to Katarina, who declares that she’s not the physicist that reality needs, she’s the one it got by default. When I heard her say that, I immediately felt that she was talking about Elliot.<br />
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<b>JAMES COLE IS THE WITNESS</b><br />
<br />
Duh, right? I had my doubts as to his ability to become this shadowy mastermind. James Cole’s natural bent is to take action in the moment. Get from point A to point B via a bullet, right? But what we’ve seen of Cole this season, and what Old Jennifer points out, is a transformation in Cole, growth towards becoming not just a leader, but a clever strategist, with still untapped potential.<br />
<br />
Y'know, when he hasn’t given up on saving the world to give his lady love a pre-apocalyptic life.<br />
<br />
Another huge asset for Cole-as-Witness is his apparent <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/147428241316/12-monkeys-witness-theory">“photographic memory.”</a> He can recall every thing he’s seen (and perhaps heard) in his experiences thus far and leverage ever piece of it to manipulate and/or re-create the scenarios and strategies he’s lived thru, but from the side of the Witness.<br />
<br />
How does he become the Witness? I still like the idea that our Cole confronts his older, Witness’d self, and sacrifices himself in a paradox. Ideally, it would be willingly, after reasoning out that he has to take this step to save/preserve Cassie, his friends, and possibly his family. In the aftermath of the paradox event, our young Cole’s consciousness is shunted into the red tea zone, along with the house and the Red Forest, while Witness Cole is fully resolved back into reality and able to move forward with his plans in/from his base of Titan.<br />
<br />
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<b>JOSE RAMSE IS THE WITNESS</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, I do believe <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/147257169196/12-monkeys-who-is-the-witness">I’ve covered this</a>. =)<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>SAMUEL RAMSE IS THE WITNESS</b><br />
<br />
The greatest straight-line (but there are no straight lines!) explanation for how he becomes big W is that it’s the Witness who takes his hand at the end of “Meltdown.”<br />
<br />
But, if future Samuel is the Witness, how could he safely take his hand? Simple enough—the Witness has developed technology that amounts to an essence containment suit. Wearable tech (perhaps that version of the Plague Doctor mask we’ve seen with the rebreather and other mechanical bits?) that prevents the the contact/reaction caused by close proximity with one’s out-of-time doppelganger.<br />
<br />
I’m 50-50 on whether Samuel lands in the distant past or future. I think either could be a great setting for the Witness to raise, educate, and train his replacement—his younger self. If it’s the future, a time and place somehow AFTER all the strife and death and conflict that he’s been raised in, well, the promise of that, a non-Red-Forest truly better tomorrow would be great motivation for Sam, who as a child demonstrated a pretty altruistic philosophical stance by chiding his father for possibly sacrificing billions to save his Sam’s life. Sam seems a natural for a big-picture-valuing ethical person, someone who cares about the Greater Good/Good of the Many.<br />
<br />
And Sam-as-the-Witness would certainly emphasize the story of Ramse going rogue to preserve his son’s existence. It might be presented as something remarkable, something to admire and aspire to (and paints the expected Traveler in a fiercely loyal and motivated light), but for Sam the Witness, it’s a reminder of how a connection or relationship can lead to disastrous decisions.<br />
<br />
One interesting “weakness” I kind of want to attribute to a Sam Witness is the salvation of his mother, Elena. I wince a bit every time Ramse stakes his claim of “fatherhood” to Cole, but I let it go. He done and lived and sacrificed a lot for his son’s sake, never mind that he’s only spent a month of two of actual time with the boy. But never once did I hear or see him consider some time traveling shenanigans to save the life of his son’s mother. You know exactly where and when she’ll be in the future—Leave a freaking note tacked to a bulletproof vest for her in 2016!<br />
<br />
I’d like for the Witness to have somehow saved Elena. It would be amazing if SHE’s the one who takes Sam’s hand in the green forest, altho his reaction doesn’t seem to be in line with that. At least, not if he can see her face.<br />
<br />
Hrm… Elena as the Witness? Yeah, I’ve thought about it, and would love it, but haven’t been able to connect enough dots to build a decent story for it.<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>JULIAN ADLER IS THE WITNESS</b><br />
<br />
Yeah, a longshot, and the details of getting from the Adler we know to Adler-as-the-Witness are tough to imagine, but watch “Resurrection” and watch Adler.<br />
<br />
Most of my Witness theory thinking involves one of our heroes as we know them being the pre-Witness. However, the funky looks from and at Adler in “Resurrection” seem to want to paint him as already the Witness. Having some fun in the field.<br />
<br />
He’s programmed every Splinter mission, right? The pre-Cole “volunteers.” The errorful and malfunctioning ones. The successful (or at least, not completely disastrous) ones. What if the machine always worked as it should, but Adler’s programming caused or faked malfunctions and errors by design?<br />
<br />
And in “Blood Washed Away,” he hits the road with Ramse and co, but at the Bleeders’ camp, he hangs back with Jennifer and the Daughters, and doesn’t go to Titan. I assume the plan is for Ramse, Marcus, Deacon, and Hannah to kill the Witness and come back for Adler’s time traveling know-how.<br />
<br />
But his staying behind does allow for him entering Titan on his own and changing into mask and robe to join his minions—or sisters and brothers—in time for Festival.<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>1957-1959 THIS WAS HOME</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/144785164982/12-monkeys-02x05-bodies-of-water-visiting-the">That message appeared on the wall</a> in the house by the Red Forest when Olivia walked in to her red tea meeting with Mr. W. In the flow of the conversation between Olivia and Witness, it was definitely an unprompted, unconnected remark.<br />
<br />
I want to believe that it was a message for someone else, not Olivia. That the Witness was finishing a red tea session with another visitor and that visitors are unaware of each other unless the Witness somehow wills it, even if they’re “present” at the “same time.”<br />
<br />
Or, maybe big W was careless about erasing his message from an already complete “earlier” red tea session.<br />
<br />
In any case, in the audience’s future, I see someone else visit the Witness and that someone enters the house “before” Olivia and maybe they’re trying to locate Cassandra and/or Cole and the Witness gives them that response: 1957-1959 THIS WAS HOME. So, it’s not meant to be taken as a first-person statement, but in reference to someone else (C+C).<br />
<br />
Perhaps it’s red tea’d Primary Lillian who visits, attempting to find a proper time and place to intercept her parents(?).<br />
<br />
Huh. Maybe that non sequitur *is* meant for Olivia. So that when she’s ready to take the fight to the Witness, she can exploit that information (disinformation?) to catch the Witness before he’s full Witness’d.<br />
<br />
What *would* Olivia make of that information, anyway?<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>TITAN IS DEATH</b><br />
<br />
Some possibly fanciful ideas about just who’s behind the masks and hoods of the killers of Ramse, Hannah, Marcus, and Deacon at the end of “Blood Washed Away”<br />
<br />
<b>TITAN IS DEATH 1</b><br />
<br />
Our heroes, Ramse, Hannah, Marcus, and Deacon, are killed by alternate versions of themselves. Ideally, goateed versions.<br />
<br />
<b>TITAN IS DEATH 2</b><br />
<br />
Our heroes, Ramse, Hannah, Marcus, and Deacon, are killed by people whom they killed. Each of them is done in slightly differently, as if each killer had a favorite method, or perhaps chose to deal with their killing in different, personal, degrees of intimacy. Ramse is skewered in the chest from afar—a slow bleed, so that he would see his people go before he does. Marcus takes it in the chest—facing his killer. Hannah in the back—her killer can’t look her in the eye. Deacon’s throat is slit—very personal, intimate.<br />
<br />
<b>TITAN IS DEATH 3</b><br />
<br />
Every mask and robe wearing Titanian is someone who was deleted from reality by a change made by a Splinter agent. Maybe the Army is made up of these orphans of Time, in need of home, family, and purpose. The Witness, Tall Man, and Titan provide all of this. They would be especially motivated to punish and prevent Project Splinter from adding to their number and possibly even undo their successes.<br />
<br />
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<b>DAVID ECKLAND IS ACTUALLY ELLIOT JONES</b><br />
<br />
Maybe Katarina has a type? I wouldn’t have guessed it right off, but it seems like it takes a bit of a hippie-dippie scientist fellow to break through her natural defenses. Both Elliot Jones and David Eckland fit that description. Eckland with more of the truly hippie philosophy behind it, a self-proclaimed pacifist, while Jones seems dedicated to his science (and the renown it should bring him), but seems familiar with a bit of mind expansion, man. Eckland could be Jones if he really got what he wanted and/or mellowed out, y'know?<br />
<br />
So, HOW would this happen?<br />
<br />
Through Immersion. Oh! Did I forget to mention? In order for this to work, Elliot Jones is/becomes the Witness. David Eckland is someone whom the Witness knows is/will be immune to the virus and part of the Spearhead contingent of scientists. He’s also someone who’s experienced Immersion. Whether it was voluntary (as a member of the Army) or against his will (a conditioned abductee), I don’t know, but either way, he was treated with and immersed in red leaf sauce, making him a vessel for the Witness’s consciousness whenever necessary.<br />
<br />
I’m gonna say that “whenever necessary” covers the months and years of Eckland’s courtship of and relationship with Katarina Jones. Maybe this is a purely recreational trip for big W. An astral vacation. Or maybe a bit of karmic adjustment, an attempt to make up for how he treated Katarina when they split back in 2015, and the pain that he caused her afterward—first as Elliot and then as the big W. As the Witness he learns that he set her on the path of considering an abortion of their child, then orchestrates the events which lead to her mourning Hannah’s loss for 20+ years. So, I like to think that he returns to her as David Eckland to bring some happiness back into Kat’s life, and maybe possibly perhaps his own. Who else could possibly be a better, proper match for the godfather of time travel than its godmother, right?<br />
<br />
Sure, the Witness was also controlling Cassie in 2044, but it was either a past or future Witness, and while they may have appeared to be at cross purposes, both were no doubt playing his and her parts just as required. Witness-Eckland does turn out to be the “solution” to the troubles unleashed by Witness-Cassandra after all, as well as the proximate cause (the grand romantic gesture in the name of love) of the Splinter energy that spirits Samuel away. If nothing else, we know that the Witness is a master multitasker.<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>PROOF OF THE UNREALITY OF C+C’s 1957-1959</b><br />
<br />
A couple of aspects of C+C’s experiences from 1957 thru 1959 that may signal that <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/147477297752/12-monkeys-02x12-blood-washed-away-1957-to">they didn’t occur in the reality shared by everyone else in the show.</a><br />
<br />
1. The passage of time.<br />
<br />
I can believe in the grind of the eleven months searching for the Primary being real and lived by C+C, but the jumps in time that follow the paradox… They might be jumps experienced by C+C themselves, as well as by the audience. It reminds me of the the weirdness of time in LOST’s Sideways reality, the willful malleability of time in the virtual reality of DOCTOR WHO’s Library planet, and the way Elliot gets his consciousnes to skip to the conclusion in that one episode of MR. ROBOT.<br />
<br />
Yeah, it’s a stretch, but I like it. And it’s a smart detail because it’s in practical service to storytelling.<br />
<br />
2. Agent Gale.<br />
<br />
How does neither Cole nor Cassie contact their friend in the F.B.I. while on this mission?<br />
<br />
That they don’t ring him in the eleven months makes me suspect the reality of that time as well, but I’ll allow it. Perhaps C+C work out that there’s nothing F.B.I. resources can help them with when it comes to auditing all of the Maxwell-Rigfield factory employees.<br />
<br />
But in the two years after the paradox…? Cole on his own? Why wouldn’t he contact Robert? He’s got an envelope with important information about his future to slip into his overcoat pocket, dammit!<br />
<br />
And Cassie, searching for Cole/Morris Morrison? What better resource than the F.B.I.?<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>LILLIAN IS THE 1957 MASSIVE PARADOX</b><br />
<br />
When Charlie paradoxes Melinda, C+C are caught in the event. Serumed up, the paradox sends their consciousnesses into a virtual reality, a temporary shared universe, in which we see the 1957-1959 events they experience transpire. In this bubble universe, Lillian is born, maybe to them, but maybe not. She is a Primary, born in the bubble universe. Being a Primary, she is aware of the reality/unreality of their situation and attempts to open C+C’s eyes to it. Maybe that’s enough to crack the bubble, but what about this?<br />
<br />
What if it takes a Primary paradox to bust them out? And Lillian offers herself up as that (being Primary, she knows it’s meant to be, y'know, if it is). And it’s HER unique Primary paradox that lights up Katarina’s readings in 2044 and results in permanent erosion of Time in the region of the Maxwell-Rigfield factory in 1957, and, for better and worse, the creation of the Red Forest in the red tea zone.<br />
<br />
So, Melinda’s paradox is the fuse and Lillian’s is the bomb. I imagine that C+C are ejected from the bubble and red tea zone back to reality moments after Melinda’s paradox and perhaps miles away, inside or near the Raritan Valley Labs.<br />
<br />
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<b>RARITAN VALLEY 1957</b><br />
<br />
The strange chaotic Splinter phenom that zaps those four soldiers at Raritan Valley to the future is C+C’s ticket back to 2044. Maybe these future versions of them have been hiding in the facility during the 2044 events since Meltdown. Heh. Maybe they’ve been following Raging Ramse and Imperator Primariosa on Titan Road for the last 11 months, too. And once Ramse, Hannah, Deacon, and Marcus leave Jennifer, Adler, and the Daughters behind for Titan, C+C reveal themselves and offer up a plan based on Primary intel from Lillian.<br />
<br />
Or something.<br />
<br />
What IS the tech that’s brought to the lab in 1957? Is it a piece of Titan in development? I so hope that it’s a piece of the “flying saucer” wreckage found in Roswell, NM. =)<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>RAMSE’S WALKABOUT</b><br />
<br />
What if Ramse met himself on that road? What would he tell himself? He came back ready to kill Cassie and then himself and ends up being talked into living for revenge on the Witness. Perhaps that’s exactly what future Ramse wanted him to do, but he painted the situation differently, something like what Old Jennifer tells Young Jennifer… The Old Ramse was where Young Ramse was once, and he chose to continue his walkabout and ended up living the life of a scav the rest of his (short?) life. He regrets not going back to get revenge on the people responsible for taking his son.<br />
<br />
Yeah, not a huge redirection, right? I’m just very taken with the idea of Ramse’s walkabout being a true Walkabout, y'know? The idea is to meet yourself.<br />
<br />
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<b>CASSIE CLOCKED RAMSE?</b><br />
<br />
Something that’s bugged me… Way back in the first couple eps of season 2, when Cole follows Jennifer up onto that rooftop in Chinatown, Ramse is also in pursuit, slightly behind Cole. He’s intercepted by someone we don’t see, tho, and knocked out. Then we see that Cassie beats Ramse to the roof resulting in the super gun fun.<br />
<br />
The timing implies that Cassie knocked Ramse out. Can we believe that? With surprise, serum strength, and Scav King training, I suppose…<br />
<br />
Still could it have been someone else? Could that moment have been exploited to replace or program/Immerse our Ramse? Could the Ramse we’ve known and loved in the episodes after that be a different or compromised one? He is pretty adamant about his intentional inexperience with red leaf shenanigans while working with the Army. Protest too much?<br />
<br />
Actually, he protested just right, and it does seem in line with his personality…<br />
<br />
Which makes it the perfect denial, right? =)<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>CASSIE DOESN’T LOVE COLE</b><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENNIFER: I see everything. The others like me. The numbers. 607. You, her.<br />
COLE: Cassie?<br />
JENNIFER: You want her to love you, but she doesn’t. Being single is not the end of the world. You two together is, though.</blockquote>
“You want her to love you, but she doesn’t.” What do we think of that? Hasn’t the rest of Jennifer’s Primary rambling been accurate, once it’s been deciphered and connected to actual events?<br />
<br />
Do we ever hear Cassandra tell Cole, “I love you?”<br />
<br />
Is she taking a (sexy) one for the team? Maybe Cole pointing out that Cassandra has succeeded in getting herself to a place where she has nothing to lose opened Cass’s eyes to the notion that Cole needs something to fight for. He’s completely resigned to letting the world burn and living his life out in the past. For whatever reason, Cole is important, and needs to get back in the fight, so, she resolves to create something for him to fight for—their relationship, perhaps their child (then Ramse will have to eat his “You’ve never been a father” words).<br />
<br />
There are worse reasons to live a lie, right?<br />
<br />
Anyone ever read DC Comics’s NIGHT FORCE back in the early 80s?<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>WHO IS ROBERT GALE’S GRANDDAUGHTER?</b><br />
<br />
In 1961, he tells Cole that he has a granddaughter, age 2. So, likely born in 1959. That makes her 16 in 1975, 49 in 2009 (James’s likely birth year), 55 in 2016, 59 in 2020, and 83 in 2044. 49 is a bit on the mature side to safely bear a child, so unfortunately, my wish that Gale is James’s great grandfather is not likely to come true. Boooo…<br />
<br />
Does this 2-yo in 1961 connect to anyone we know?<br />
<br />
How about Cole and Cassie’s child, born in 1959? I imagine the situation in the moment would be that C+C have had their child, they’ve been inspired/motivated to rally back to the Mission, hopefully with some intel about their friends that need saving, about to acquire transpo back to the future to take the fight to the Witness in Titan, and need to place their baby with someone they trust in 1959, possibly for the long haul.<br />
<br />
Agent Gale—and his child, apparently—to the rescue. Hell of a thing to do, but Gale is definitely one of the Good Ones.<br />
<br />
Would any part of this interaction/transaction add to the “bum hair” tally?<br />
<br />
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<b>A CRUEL THOUGHT ABOUT HANNAH’S ORIGIN/SALVATION</b><br />
<br />
What if Cass and Cole and Jennifer conspired to *fake* Zeit’s story and identity in order to bring Katarina hope again?<br />
<br />
It’s possible that Cass and Jennifer pulled off such a deception without Cole’s knowledge. It depends on whether Cole ever saw Hannah on her sickbed. I don’t think we ever saw him in the same room with Katarina and Hannah. In the several attempts Cole says they made, having that happen would have tipped Katarina off.<br />
<br />
So, Cassie’s the one who brings the girl to Jennifer and Cole in the woods. Where she’d get another/different 5-yo, I do not know. But on seeing her, Cole wouldn’t know it’s not her. And although Jennifer never sees Hannah’s face in Spearhead, I think her Primary abilities would clue her in if Cassie tried to pull a fast one like this on her own.<br />
<br />
Technically, to escape the loop, two things had to happen…<br />
<br />
1. Jennifer had to escape her execution.<br />
2. Katarina had to mourn her daughter’s death.<br />
<br />
So, saving Hannah was above and beyond, but certainly worth the effort to pull Katarina back from the precipice of despair.<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>“WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?”</b><br />
<br />
In the moment, seeing Cassie write those words in the bar of the Emerson Hotel, it seems like she’s writing them for Cole.<br />
<br />
We know what follows, though, at least, in the version that James recites to us in the series premiere:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Where are you right now?<br />
Somewhere warm, safe? Next to someone you love?<br />
Now, what if all that was gone? And the only thing you could do was survive?<br />
You would, right? You’d try.<br />
You’d do things, horrible things… until you lose that last thing you have left…yourself.<br />
But what if you could take it back… All of it?<br />
A reset switch.<br />
You’d hit it, right?<br />
You’d have to.</blockquote>
If Cassie does indeed continue to write this message, who could it be for? It almost seems to be leading up to apology for hitting reset, doesn’t it? So, written to someone who might get deleted or overwritten as a result of a reset. Yes, that could be Cole, but Cole is all too familiar with this conundrum from actual experience. He doesn’t need it spelled out for him.<br />
<br />
It seems to me like a message Cass or Cole might leave for their child. Maybe it’s a note that’s left with Agent Gale when he takes in their daughter…?<br />
<br />
Or maybe a note for posterity, to explain their mission. I suppose it would only ever be read if they failed, tho, eh?<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
<b>“YOUR LUCKY NUMBERS ARE 10, 42, 75, AND 3″</b><br />
We need for Young Jennifer to come across some artifact of Old Jennifer’s, some in-case-of-emergency-break case, w/a combination lock or password, so that these numbers will open it and reveal to her just the item or words she needs to see/hear (a dose of red leaf tea?) to step up properly to Motherhood.<br />
<br />
It’s too bad Cole wasn’t present for the recitation of the lucky numbers, because then he could flex his photographic memory later and reveal something Jennifer left for him.<br />
<br />
If Old Jennifer *was* in cahootz w/the Witness, or rather, playing at it, maybe she contributed these numbers as an override code for Titan. I mean, if you want the right numbers, who better to ask than a Primary (and 12 isn’t one of the numbers =).<br />
<br />
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - <br />
Well, that’s all I’ve got… All I’ve got time for, that is. =)<br />
<br />
If I can find more insomniac hours before the finale tomorrow, maybe I’ll hunker down and assemble one final pre-finale dropping. Lucky you!<br />
<br />
LOVE this freaking show!<br />
<br />
Unmake history!<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin’ on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-1079509779530737602016-07-15T22:30:00.000-04:002016-07-15T22:58:49.950-04:0012 MONKEYS: 02x12: Blood Washed Away: 1957 to 1959…Okay. There’s just too much going on in my head to cover in one post. I’ve had a dozen or so false starts on posts since 02x11 “Resurrection.” I have a problem pulling back to talk about big picture stuff and keep getting sucked into probably-incredibly-unlikely what-if detaily bits.<br />
<br />
Bleah.<br />
<br />
So, what this is gonna be—what this is—is me walking thru the events we witness occurring from 1957 to 1959 in “Blood Washed Away.” I’m not touching the events that we saw unfold at 2044 Titan at all. Then I’ll explain what I think they might mean. I’ll admit, I’m going out on an ethereal limb here, but I find some stuff out there that I like, and even though it may not be suitable for prime time, I’m gonna take a look at it.<br />
<br />
Do feel free to skip the two years of play-by-play and zip on down to “THE THING IS…” to get down to the nitty-gritty crazy. =)<br />
<br />
<img src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/9f7b2feab94e2ea0a5ac488b3c4a501c/tumblr_inline_oadwua3FOI1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
<b>1957 to 1959, APPARENTLY.</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/147468065934/cassie-and-jamess-hijinks-filled-year-of-domestic">C+C spend 11 months in 1957</a> trying to identify the Primary as an employee at the Maxwell-Rigfield Manufacturing factory to no avail. Of course, it turns out that the Primary, Melinda, is the wife of Charlie, an employee and friend of Cole's. Charlie, whose life began in 2015, sent back in time from 2043 with a Messenger partner to kill Melinda.<br />
<br />
Come November 7, 1957, Charlie is married to Melinda, who is suffering from cancer (and its chemotherapy, according to Charlie). His Messenger partner? Dead, circumstances unknown (I suspect that he's the nimrod who "fell" from the factory rooftop some time ago, tho). That mishap is part of some excellent choreography on the part of Charlie Messenger, as it removes the threat of his partner and sets the stage for the introduction of Reginald “Red Herring” Dupuy.<br />
<br />
Melinda's paradoxidation is a bit perplexing to me. Emotionally, I get it. But Charlie-philosophically, it seems a bit muddy (after two viewings, maybe number three will clear it up).<br />
<br />
She walks into the factory with the instrument of her own paradox—the bone dagger from the future. As a Primary, she has seen what happens to her, where, when, and how she is paradoxed. It happens at the factory and Charlie is the one who does it. In his words, Charlie is resistant…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: You're one of the twelve. You're a Messenger.<br />
CHARLIE: I was, but I won't be. Not to her. I can't hurt her.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: She's Primary. If you paradox her, you'll destroy everyone—everything. Where's the other Messenger?<br />
CHARLIE: He's dead. I'm not like them. Not everything the Witness said was true. Because when I saw you. I just…I couldn't do it.</blockquote>
<aside>This is interesting to me, because he's obviously been living in this era for some time (long enough to fall in love and marry and pick up the culture well enough to disappear into it, tasks well out of scope of his Messenger training), but was under orders to paradox the Primary as soon as he could. History shows that the factory fire occurs in November 1957, so why send him back months or even years before that? Why? Except to have things play out exactly as they do.</aside><br />
<br />
<img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/82217d41ced708323caa86a6ea1b2920/tumblr_inline_oadwvtzKxs1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
In his deeds, however… Well, he accepts the box from Melinda, opens it, and takes the dagger in his hand. He is ready to use it. Melinda has a gun. Cassandra brought a gun. Cole brings a gun. If it's about ending Melinda's suffering, a bullet would do the trick, possibly near-instantly. However, Charlie chooses the dagger.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
MELINDA: Do this…and we can live forever in the Red Forest like you said…<br />
COLE: Charlie!<br />
CHARLIE: I'm sorry, Cole. But you of all people should understand this.</blockquote>
Damn, that could mean so many things. Charlie doesn't just know Cole. As a Messenger, he knows ABOUT Cole. All of the gosh-shucks advice he gives him, he gives him knowing his actual Time Jesus-y circumstances.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CHARLIE: It's just so cruel. So when I say what I say, you know I know. Because when it comes down to it, the only thing you'll be wishing for is more time. Trust me.</blockquote>
And just a minute or two earlier…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CHARLIE: See? You do care. And whatever is stopping you two, it isn't worth it. This whole world could eat shit and die, It wouldn't matter if you were together.</blockquote>
An interesting echo of some of Jennifer's rambling on C+C in 2016…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
JENNIFER: You know, like a kiss. You just have to close your eyes and let the world die. You can be with him.</blockquote>
So, Charlie seems to deny the Witness when he says not everything big W says is true. But in the end, he goes along with his mission, and Melinda's wish/Primary vision, and paradoxes the woman he loves, against his own word—he won't be a Messenger to her, he can't hurt her.<br />
<br />
Of course, my take is that the Witness knew and planned on/for everything that happens as we saw it (see the aside above).<br />
<br />
<img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/803a10c215ef29e77853e7d6d215d88f/tumblr_inline_oadwwgQ8e31rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
Charlie stabs Melinda. Cole gets a shot off, maybe hits Charlie, since his stab follow-thru has him facing Melinda, his back to Cole. The pink and gooey paradox effect seems to catch Cassie, but not Cole. Cole's paradox speed seems to kick in and he pulls her to the shelter of some machinery. We see the paradox effect blow out the windows of the factory from outside as flames from exploding tanks of something or other shoot out of them.<br />
<br />
Nineteen days later we learn that Cassie is in a coma and no one else survived the explosion (none are as lucky as she is). Well, no one but Cole, who apparently was able to make himself scarce soon after. He visits her, surreptitiously, and explains to her that he is sorry that he failed, and that the best thing for her when she wakes up is to forget about him. And he leaves…<br />
<br />
We then see that Cassie is reliving her trance sessions with Olivia, hearing her voice guiding her to the House of Cedar and Pine in the Red Forest.<br />
<br />
Six months pass in a lighting and/or filter change (two seasons later, not a huge mystery, right?) and Cassandra wakes from her coma. That drops us into May 26, 1958.<br />
<br />
No comment from the medical staff about Cassie's blood or any funky effects of the Quantum Serum. Maybe they don't have the technology to recognize that there's anything unusual? Fifteen years earlier, a physical didn't reveal anything unusual about Ramse's health (aside from the advanced localized osteoporosis). In any case, she must've been in a REALLY bad way if it takes her serum-enhanced physiology six months to heal her.<br />
<br />
Another six months (November 26, 1958—Thanksgiving and Christmas soon) finds Cassandra working as a nurse for Dr. Ed, diagnosing Lyme disease years before it's officially recognized. I wonder if the boy she saves grows up to be someone important.<br />
<br />
A few months later and it's 1959, and we learn that Cassie spends some of her downtime writing in the Emerson Hotel bar.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: Where are you right now? Some place warm? Safe? Next to someone you love?</blockquote>
This must be the origin/creation of those words, familiar to us as voiceover we've heard in several episodes, first in Cole's voice, then in Cassandra's. This moment, their creation, as ink on paper, is interrupted when Cass turns to look at the man who's just ordered a whiskey sour. Alas, not James. We don't see if she continues writing, and which words follow, but it immediately makes me wonder under what circumstances does James ultimately read/recite them. After her death? Her disappearance? The words found in her belongings? Or planted in his pocket for him to find after some final mission or last stand.<br />
<br />
Next, we see a bellhop pass along a message revealing that Cassie's been searching for Cole, at the speed of 1959. A search for Morris Morrison, the alias given to James by Jennifer Goines in 2016 (Jennifer enables Cassie to find him!), has turned up an address…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
MORRIS MORRISON<br />
10 OLD PINES RD.<br />
BINGHAMTON, NY</blockquote>
<img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/a7fc93d763937950d30b84b6889238ef/tumblr_inline_oadwxfXuFz1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
Cassandra drives there and ends up parking in front of the House of Cedar and Pine, in reality, not the Red Forest. She approaches the house and finds James playing handyman beside it. He's just cut his thumb while sawing some wood for some home improvement project.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
COLE: What are you doing here?<br />
CASS: What are *you* doing *here*?<br />
COLE: The house? It's mine. I bought it.<br />
CASS: Why this house?<br />
COLE: I was driving by, saw the "for sale" sign. Needs a lot of work. The hospital… They weren't sure if you were ever gonna wake up. But I knew you would.</blockquote>
And they exchange pointed words about hurting each other, and when Cassie feels she's gotten the last word in about James leaving her out of fear, she turns to leave… And it begins to rain. The red tea deja vu familiarity of the rain stops her, and she turns back to him and notices that he's bleeding. The healer in her kicks in and she offers to help clean it up. While doing that…<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: Easy…We have to wash it first. It's not as bad as it looked. Just bled a lot.<br />
OLIVIA & CASS: Most of the blood has washed away…</blockquote>
<img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/d42bcc3253c5de9d65db8f43b92f01e3/tumblr_inline_oadwyadvwB1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
The exact words from Olivia's red tea trance guidance. The rest of the words come back to Cass as she wanders into the next room and recognizes it as the room in which she was trapped while possessed.<br />
<br />
<aside>Time Jesus, but I *really* wanted her to look out the window! Argh!</aside><br />
<br />
She understands that Olivia, the Army, the Witness, they KNEW that this moment happens, exactly as it does.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
CASS: Like a memory of tomorrow… They knew this place. This moment. You.<br />
COLE: What are you talking about?</blockquote>
It's aggravating how she still doesn't spill everything. The most she's ever told anyone about her experience while red tea'd or possessed seems to be what she shared with Ramse, about being in the Witness's head while he was in hers and seeing Titan. No details about the environment of the Red Forest or the house. Boo…<br />
<br />
If you're Cassandra, what are you thinking and wondering at this point? Does it dawn on you that Cole may be the Witness? Perhaps YOU are? Even if it crosses your mind, tho, no time for that! Gotta talk Cole out of giving up on saving the world again. Nope, he’s not hearing it. So, time to leave (again). Oh, but wait, Cole's saying ridiculous stuff about doing everything for me. Gotta straighten him out. Okay, I've said my peace. Huh. He just said that I don't have him. I’ve “succeeded” and there's nothing between us. Is that true? He looks pretty damn good, even in this creepy house. I better kiss him just to make sure there's nothing, and kiss him hard.<br />
<br />
Yeah, that's probably not how her thinking goes, but you've gotta wonder, right? There do seem to be a couple of moments when she was ready to storm off/out, but she kept getting pulled back in by something, either some Red Forest deja vu or more bittersweet nothings with Cole. In the end, she kisses James and she's thankful she packed her 2015 underwear when she followed him to 1957.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/917d8d4b9a14203dbdc9053e2753b26c/tumblr_inline_oadx07tL3W1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
When they started going at it, I thought of that wonderful Buffy-Spike homewrecking coupling. It’s a slight stretch, but I had a flash that these two serumed-up Project Splinter super-soldiers might very well replicate that scene here, and destroying the house could save them from a Red Forest fate, right? Alas, they exhibited no super-strength, and the house stands, intact and ready to be beamed to or re-created in the Red Forest. However, the episode did provide us with some intercut mayhem and some tres grandes morts to go with C+C's petite one. A pretty excellent bit of manipulation in its mix of despair and, umm, consummation. But also an aggravating bit of storytelling in its possible connection-by-juxtaposition of the two events. Sex and death—rock on!<br />
<br />
The show's writers are a pack of wonderful bastards, aren't they?<br />
<br />
<img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/9d9e7a465363ca6285d595c96dccc4af/tumblr_inline_oadxakIjH01rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
<b>THE THING IS…</b><br />
<br />
Cole and Cassie fail to stop the Time-killing paradox of Melinda Primary by husband Charlie X. Messenger in November, 1957. However, the effects that we see do not seem to correspond to either Katarina's or Tall Man's expectations.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
KATARINA: But we've picked up an enormous amount of temporal fallout between 1956 and 1958. The highest readings coincide with a single event… An explosion at a factory in New York on November 7, 1957. Hundreds of people were killed. The temporal signature indicates a massive paradox.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
TALL MAN: A paradox so powerful, it destroys the fabric of time... At least locally... Enough to maintain erosion forever. The birth of the Red Forest.</blockquote>
This apparent inconsistency has me thinking that C+C's experiences from 1957 thru 1959 unfold in a bubble/pocket universe—a shared reality that exists for the two of them. One in which the paradox resulted in a fire at the factory which killed everyone except the two of them, but not in the fracturing of Time. In reality, however, the paradox decimated the factory and much of the surrounding area.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/0de18edd05e7b9116b33a7f8d99253c0/tumblr_inline_oadx6uMnNN1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
I've theorized that a massive paradox caused by the physical confrontation of the mature Witness with his younger self creates the Red Forest. That the effect of the paradox of contact of a living time traveler (possibly Primary) with himself would result in blasting a chunk of the world out of reality and into the limbo of the red tea zone. This chunk would include the region that becomes the Red Forest and the house on its edge and also result in trapping the younger Witness within it. The older Witness might survive, resolved by the cosmos back into reality, and broken out of his loop, or, he may simply be disintegrated.<br />
<br />
So, when I heard both Katarina's and Tall Man's descriptions of the 1957 event, I really hoped this is what we'd see.<br />
<br />
Alas, not exactly. Not quite. But "not quite" could still be pretty frickin cool.<br />
<br />
I want to reach a bit now and say that the paradox-affected region covers at least as far as Binghamton and the Emerson, with C+C as the only survivors, serumed individuals caught nearly at the center of the event. But they don't survive in reality. The paradox has bumped them *out* of reality, into the red tea zone, the realm outside of time and the limbo into which the cosmos shunts paradox remainders. A release valve for temporal pressure and inconsistencies. This is the realm in which the Witness "lived/lives" until he departs for Titan. The realm those who partake of the red leaf visit via astral projection.<br />
<br />
We are seeing C+C living out their lives on an astral plane, a mental "Matrix" of a virtual reality. Why does it look and feel the way it does? Well, I'm not certain if the environment and its population of NPCs are…<br />
<ol>
<li>Duplicates, based on reality at the time of the paradox…</li>
<li>Constructed by the Witness, designed to his liking…</li>
<li>The product of C+C's own unconscious/subconscious thoughts and expectations.</li>
</ol>
So, the house that Cole chooses to buy might have been real, at 10 Old Pines Road in Binghamton, New York, and been consumed or "read" by the paradox front and transported to or replicated in the red tea zone. Or the Witness used his mind to shape the mental clay of the red tea zone to produce it, knowing that it would appeal to Cole from the outside and trigger Cass's programmed deja vu on the inside. Or Cassandra subconsciously shapes the red tea zone to create the house, based on her memories of the house as suggested by Olivia from the outside and visited when possessed.<br />
<br />
I pondered the possibility that the bubble might be filled with and inhabited by everything and everyone caught in the radius of the paradox event, but given how much geography is covered—from Binghamton to Manhattan to wherever the Maxwell-Rigfield factory was—and that 1957-1959 includes technology that connects any place to the rest of the world, I'm not going to follow up on what that could mean in this post. But I'd love the logic of it. Alas, I think that those non-serumed individuals caught in the paradox died, perhaps experiencing the chaotic aging effects of the anomalies seen in 2044.<br />
<br />
So what is the meaning or purpose of this bubble universe?<br />
<br />
It's kind of what Desmond thought the Sideways universe was in LOST. It's like the Fortress of Solitude in SUPERMAN II (did anyone else get that vibe?). It's like the Mars in ANGRY RED PLANET and that one Martian Chronicle. It's like the virtual reality of the Library Planet. It's SOLARIS. It's Mabel's Prison Bubble from Weirdmageddon. It's the Nexus from STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. It's a honeypot world. A trap which gives you your heart's desire/s. A trap meant to keep Cassandra and/or Cole from pursuing the mission and meddling any further in the Witness's grand design.<br />
<br />
What will it take to free them?<br />
<br />
<img src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/f9a9182108685a4acb9f32e3cfda643b/tumblr_inline_oadxf2iKTK1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
<b>CRAZY TALK…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
C+C begin to build a home together. They make plans that don't involve weapons and ammo checks or Splinter coordinates. They have lots of sex, and one of those sexytimes results in a pregnancy. Or rather, it will. We may not actually find out that Cassie's pregnant. Maybe we do, but maybe not. What we do find out, what we and Cole get, is a visit. A visit from their fully grown and mature daughter—possibly granddaughter?—named Lillian (Madeleine Stowe’s character). I want to say granddaughter, because if C+C have a daughter, how do they NOT name her Katarina or Jennifer, right? Hrm… But I suppose she could be their second daughter… Okay, I’ll allow it. Daughter Lillian appears to Cole one day, relatively soon after we last see him in "Blood Washed Away.""<br />
<br />
Is she real? If C+C have children in the bubble universe, in the red tea zone, are they real? I'm going to say real enough and you're going to pretend that that's an answer.<br />
<br />
When Lillian reaches puberty, she begins to experience visions, she becomes one of Time's neurons, a Primary. As a Primary within this bubble, she becomes aware of the experiences of other Primaries within the bubble and perhaps without. She knows about her grandparents and their time traveling history. She sees the screaming monkey. She sees the Witness.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/c062bc7191aee204382012ab311ca857/tumblr_inline_oadxgzir9a1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
In the future-meantime of the bubble, a scientist named Elliot Jones develops time travel into the future. His early tests of the technology result in the transformation of English Ivy into red leafed ivy. Lillian seeks it out and experiments with it, learns to navigate the red tea zone outside the bubble. From C+C's bubble future, she travels to C+C's bubble present, where and when she will explain to her not-yet-but-always-father the true state of their existence and experience. They are in a trap. They must break out. Yes, it will mean Lillian's death or deletion, but as a Primary, her duty is to the preservation of Time and Reality. Sadly, it seems many Primaries are wired to be satisfied with, even dedicated to, their envisioned, apparently predestined, fates. Also, hopefully, as a Primary, she has seen that she will succeed in freeing them, in freeing their minds.<br />
<br />
I think that once she shows them a flaw in the logic or environment of their bubble world, it will begin to fall apart. Perhaps it will require that both C+C see it and acknowledge it, and that will be an issue (I'm looking at you, Cole). But in the end, they break out. Maybe they take advantage of some Neo-like abilities in the red tea zone and conjure up some advantages to take with them once the bubble bursts. I can see the burst being a transformation of their world, with the House of Cedar and Pine as ground zero, into the Red Forest.<br />
<br />
<img src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/f7df4789ec2c3c591ea634b96ffefaca/tumblr_inline_oadxk1ifpe1rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
That would be lovely.<br />
<br />
But how do they get back to reality? Well, with the bubble gone, they are loose in the freshly minted Red Forest, the hottest property in the limbo of the red tea zone. If time flows at all in the zone, it's going to be wonky. Maybe Lillian will have given them instructions/Primary wisdom to follow, but maybe once the Red Forest is revealed, Cassandra will have a sense of what they need to do and where they need to go—Titan.<br />
<br />
Remember, Cassandra saw Titan town through the window of the Witness's house. It appeared in the red tea zone without any fanfare, Red Forest-adjacent, and picked up the Witness. If C+C can catch the flow of time just right, or perhaps just camp out in the right spot and wait until Brigadoon Titan appears again/for the first time, they can hitch a ride back to reality, 2044, Colorado, by walking from the house right into Titan town.<br />
<br />
If they beam into reality with Titan town at the right time, they may be able to prevent the deaths of their friends.<br />
<br />
I can see Lillian and Cole engaged in a conversation similar to Yoda and Luke's in EMPIRE before he leaves to save his friends in the city in the clouds. =)<br />
<br />
<img src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/8c96212573e26d7eb17b337f06aaccec/tumblr_inline_oadxluHFa91rfqfei_540.png" /><br />
<br />
<b>CRAZY TALK 2…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Adding a little wrinkle… In this scenario, Lillian is not C+C's daughter. She lives in reality, rooted in the/our present, 2016. She is a Primary and is aware of C+C's honeypot captivity, the Witness's manipulations, and the bleeding of Time. The skies above her are turning red. She has gained access to red leaf, perhaps thanks to Elliot Jones, maybe even Tall Man, and navigates the red tea zone to contact C+C in their bubble world. And everything after they meet plays out as it does in the first scenario.<br />
<br />
Maybe Lillian is a best friend of Cole's mother. If Marion's best friend was a decently functioning Primary, it would explain how she was clued into the threat of the Army to her son James, right? And she'd be able to share something more than just destruction-of-Time intel with him, perhaps something that gets him to see beyond Cassie and the idyllic world of the bubble.<br />
<br />
I'd like that.<br />
<br />
<b>WHAT NEXT?</b><br />
<br />
Of course, none of the above covers any of the action in 2044. Says anything about Cole (or Cassie) not being the Witness. Includes none of my rambling on several zany Witness theories…<br />
<br />
I’m my own worst enemy. So much so that I’d probably Katar an alternate self in the back in front of the Witness mainstage in Titan town.<br />
<br />
Or something… =)<br />
<br />
Unmake history!<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin' on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-60839982621888257842016-07-11T02:10:00.000-04:002016-07-11T18:16:16.741-04:0012 MONKEYS: Who is the Witness?I've come up with bits and pieces of a story-slash-theory to explain how several different characters might become the Witness when they grow up. I’ve dropped some of them in previous posts, but haven't been able to compose a decent "complete" story for any of them so far that fits all the data. The magically aggravating thing about the Witness's identity—given the events we've witnessed so far on the show (thru 02x11 "Resurrection"—turn back now if you haven't watched yet!), and the characters we've met: it really could be ANYone if you follow thru on the proper motivations and opportunities.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" height="225" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/e38fa61a6586e65c6f58114e5dfa1f8d/tumblr_inline_oa5wwjSwoB1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
I *want* for it to be <i>Elliot Jones</i>, but I can't find legit motivation in what we've seen of him so far. If he knew he had a daughter, if we saw that he truly loved Katarina (I certainly believe he has affection for her), if he was more than an apparently techno-hippie egomaniacal genius, well…<br />
<br />
Hrm…<br />
<br />
Maybe that's enough? =)<br />
<br />
I *can* come up with opportunities, but the reasons are kind of thin, or require just a bit too much imaginative heavy lifting on my part. For instance, one of my Elliot "Witness" Jones riffs posits that David Eckland is a temporal anomalitical opportunity seized by the Witness to romance Katarina again in reality—"a wild, romantic gesture to a beautiful woman all in the name of love." Cuz, if you subtract their scientific specialties—and allowing for a data set of two—I think you'll find that Katarina has a type. The science hippie, in attitude (both Jones and Eckalnd), at least, if not philosophy (only Eckland ever declares such belief, while Jones is quite focused on making a mark more than anything else).<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" height="225" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/95c5efbbbb33dec267cda46833b4730c/tumblr_inline_oa5wvkIsN81rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
I'd be okay with it being a grown up <i>Samuel Ramse</i>. But there's a lot of unaccounted for time in that. Easy enough to fill in with "indoctrination" of some kind, but I don't love that. A zany deus-ex (but then, what else would you call time travel, right?) that could go a long way to filling in the blanks—Samuel isn't blasted backward in time, but <i><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/115423445032/12-monkeys-why-would-anyone-join-the-army">forward</a></i>. To an era in which everything that he's experienced and learned about so far is history, and prelude to Something Good and/or Something Important. We've seen how Sam thinks the scales should tip with billions on one side and himself on the other. He demonstrates a particular moral and ethical clarity at a young age that could be the foundation for a Witness driven by the Greater Good.<br />
<br />
The forward Splinter blast might work for Elliot-is-the-Witness, too, but I’m not certain that he’s got the moral balance to take on a post dedicated to the Greater Good.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="420" data-orig-width="630"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="420" data-orig-width="630" height="266" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/f6f6ad8ab0469c12647a542ac1de174d/tumblr_inline_oa5x0aruDb1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
I'd also be okay with it being a <i><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/143400574466/12-monkeys-meet-whitney-ness">reluctant, for-the-greater-good(-and-also-Cassie), Cole</a></i>. But would rather it wasn't, unless this is an iteration in which a decision by our Cole can change that. I think and hope he's still in the process of becoming, and isn't ready to be a final version of himself just yet.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="472" data-orig-width="953"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="472" data-orig-width="953" height="197" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/3e64ded06f45e92ff62eda8adc93a6fa/tumblr_inline_oa5x20SZ5M1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
I'd still love for the Tall Man to pull a Doctor Doom-y, Thanos-ian fast one on the Witness (only to discover it's always been him!). Some vulnerability, failsafe, or override, that he's had built into Titan. It's Tall Man's initiative to have the Army embrace technology in the first place. That sounds like just the kind of foundation on which to build a Witness. For him to take the place of the Witness, though, well, I don't know that I see a great motivation for it. What does he want? Power? Has he truly drunk the Word of the Witness Kool-Aid? Perhaps simply self-preservation. He does tell Olivia that he is off to secure their future, and describes Titan as insurance against the future, perhaps speaking for the Witness, but most certainly speaking for himself. Perhaps it's payback. A long game play that may have begun with Vivian Rutledge's resentment of the Witness after surviving her assassination of Tommy in 1944?<br />
<br />
I'd *love* that.<br />
<br />
But right now, if I had to pick someone for the Witness, if the men came, with their guns, I'd have to say…<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="304" data-orig-width="540" height="225" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/58803c230abf50e325cc83163470b9d3/tumblr_inline_oa5x37MKUd1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
<b>RAMSE IS THE WITNESS.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
He's already demonstrated that he believes that the life of his son is worth more than that of billions killed by the virus. He follows that up by choosing revenge on the Witness (his son's killer) over the preservation of Time and reality.<br />
<br />
Yeah, Ramse's got the will for the job. But does he have a reason?<br />
<br />
With Ramse, while he acknowledges both, it seems the needs of the one—Sam (and himself)—outweigh those of the many—the majority of humanity killed by the plague. Remember, Ramse's the one who convinced Cole to become Katarina's Splinternaut way back when. If he hadn't learned about Sam, he would probably still be 100%—well, okay, 87%—behind Katarina and her mission/s.<br />
<br />
<b>WHY?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
So, why would Ramse become Witness? Well, those two motivations are still valid.<br />
<br />
1. To save/rescue his son. Using the Witness's resources, he learns that Sam wasn't disintegrated and killed, but successfully Splintered. And, well, if he's the Witness, we've already seen him save Sam, by engineering the Core overload that zaps him out of 2044 Project Splinter to the mystery forest and meeting him there, in person or via minion or Immersed proxy.<br />
<br />
2. To save the rest of the world (of the future, not the past). In part to make up for killing so much of it, in part to create/leave a world in which his son can live and thrive. Remember, Sam himself chided his father for counting him as more important/worthy/valuable than billions of strangers. Could Sam sit idly by while his father proceeds to ensure that happens again, only from the POV of the Witness? Ramse would surely have to do something to TRY to redeem himself. Given that the past must happen the way it's happened (at least until the Core overload), building a better future seems like the logical way.<br />
<br />
<b>WHEN?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
But when does he become the Witness? Titan Town, 2044 seems like the ideal opportunity. Ramse is following Jennifer's Yellow Brick Road, off to kill the Witness!~<br />
<br />
In his vengeful rage, I can easily see him pulling the trigger on the big W before looking under the/a mask. In fact, maybe he NEVER gets a chance to unmask the Witness—shooting him off of some precipice into the void or something—but once he kills him, he takes his place, the way he always has, once and future leader of the Army of the 12 Monkeys and Mayor of Titan town, in command of abilities and technology that will allow him to find and save his son.<br />
<br />
And that's how he is there to meet his son when the Splinter Core overload zaps him from 2044 to the—I'm gonna say—1950s.<br />
<br />
Thing is, he knows about C+C's mission to that era. What does he expect to happen? That he will team up with them to prevent the paradox that creates the Red Forest? Or does he need for that paradox to happen to ensure that he and his son survive? Hrm… Too many possibilities in that to guess, but remember the writing on the wall—1957-1959 THIS WAS HOME. What could that mean if the writer, the Witness, is a future Ramse?<br />
<br />
That he and Sam lived, happily I think, for that time. But how is that possible if a paradox occurs at the beginning of that duration? Could those two years have been lived in the Red Forest? Sam and Ramse have never visited the Red Forest, so they wouldn't recognize the house of cedar and pine. Settling there for some father and son bonding wouldn't seem obviously dangerous or conspicuous.<br />
<br />
<b>SPECULATION…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
This may be where my story frays and falls apart details-wise (not that my story thus far is exactly a detailed script to begin with : P). I still want to believe in the Tall Man's description of what happens in Upstate NY, 1957. A paradox so massive that it results in permanent temporal erosion and the creation of the Red Forest. It fits so nicely with everything that's come before. From Katarina, we learn that ground zero of the paradox is a factory explosion in New York on November 7, 1957.<br />
<br />
Do you suppose that date coincides with the disappearance of four soldiers from Raritan Valley National Labs? What is the nature of the device or artifact brought to the lab at that time?<br />
<br />
My ongoing theory has had a massive paradox encounter happen in the house itself (caused by one of our heroes <i><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/143400574466/12-monkeys-meet-whitney-ness">meeting and confronting himself</a></i>). The wave of the paradox swallows the house and the immediate surroundings removing them from reality and transporting them to the red tea zone, to become the Red Forest as we've seen it. Now, it seems, a factory may be the epicenter, and the house part of its surroundings. Paradoxing the factory may be how the raw materials for Project Titan are acquired, construction to be completed in the limbo of the timeless red tea zone. when it's complete, the technology within will enable the factory town to return and re-enter reality, to appear to anyone standing near those coordinates in Colorado as if it was built in an instant. A technological Brigadoon. And where/when would the Witness choose for Titan to touch down on reality? How about September, 2044? Just in time to pick up his younger self.<br />
<br />
What about the 1957 paradox?<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="506" data-orig-width="900"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="506" data-orig-width="900" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/0101afe15b066c338f2aa570a7ef0ed7/tumblr_inline_oa678s8SkO1rfqfei_540.png" /></figure><br />
<b>A CLUE IN THE WORD OF THE WITNESS?</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The <i><a href="http://share.pho.to/A9X4u/9l/original">Word of the Witness</a></i> refers to an "expected Primary" in 1957, but does not reveal a name. Jennifer mentioned that her Primary-ness kicked in with puberty, which makes a mutant-y kind of sense to me. So, if we're to trust the Word of the Witness, and the Tall Man, then C+C will be looking for an adolescent. The young Samuel Ramse.<br />
<br />
The Messengers have been sent back to paradoxidize Sam. What would make this a more massive paradox than any other so far? Perhaps they assault Sam just as his Primary abilities manifest? Or maybe his time displacement has somehow supercharged him in some way, augmenting his Primary potential, and thusly priming his paradox to be more powerful.<br />
<br />
<b>IF RAMSE IS THE WITNESS, THEN…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I think Sam is the paradoxed Primary. Given the consistently tragic turns we see in this show, I have to ask—what's the worst possible scenario we can think of?<br />
<br />
Ramse paradoxes his own son. Why would he do that? Some kind of ultimate Atari. But he would have to believe that his son wouldn't die. Maybe he knows that somehow? That would give him/them the two years together after the reported 1957 paradox. Hrm…<br />
<br />
A not-worst scenario would have the Messengers succeed, due to C+C's distraction or failure. This would set Ramse against them, determined to manipulate time to preserve and save his son. He would be dedicated to re-creating the scenario of Sam's paradox death, but somehow replacing Sam's death with someone else's, creating a moment of choice/decision like Young Jennifer's in "Resurrection."<br />
<br />
<b>THE PARADOX…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Regardless of who paradoxes Sam, it happens, and the event swallows the factory, the house, and the surrounding fortress and drops it in the red tea zone. The blood of the Red Forest? The blood of all the unprotected, non-serumed people caught in the blast. Also, perhaps, the blood of anyone who ever dies in a paradox. My theory has been that the Witness ends up in the Red Forest due to a paradox involving himself. He loses his corporeal self and only his consciousness remains, inhabiting the house in the Red Forest.<br />
<br />
Seems like what needs to happen is that Sam and Ramse are blasted into the red tea zone. They live together for some time until Sam, without the protection of quantum serum, dies or fades away. Ramse lasts longer, but begins to fade as well, as for whatever reason, he's never had complete protection from time. This is why he creates the "Plague Doctor" gear for himself.<br />
<br />
Then, he waits. Spends his "time" in the Red Forest learning and mastering his abilities until Titan arrives to take him back to reality and give him his body back. Perhaps he takes the opportunity to run several Splinter missions to plant seeds of his centuries-spanning plan (i.e. visit Kirschner, perhaps seal the Pact of Time's Custodian). Then he waits to complete his cycle, to be killed (apparently) by his own, younger hand, only to rise again to truly continue his work. A nifty trick he learned from Brother Cole.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="266" data-orig-width="500"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="266" data-orig-width="500" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/009d7c9b10417852efc863b583d165a1/tumblr_inline_oa67a1C3gU1rfqfei_540.png" /></figure><br />
<b>BACK TO TITAN…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I think that serumed-up, C+C survive the 1957 paradox in the factory, and are able to walk out once it touches down in 2044 Colorado as the completed Titan. Time moves around them, right? And paradox energy does funky things to a serumed-up traveler's speed and perception of time.<br />
<br />
They hitch a ride w/the factory to Titan in time to meet the Witness with Jennifer and Ramse. Wacky fun ensues!<br />
<br />
Or something.<br />
<br />
This'll all probably be dinged hard by revelations in tonight's episode, but I wanted to get some version of my crazy talk out of my head and in front of me to revisit later. If you're still reading, hope you enjoyed the ramble.<br />
<br />
Unmake history!<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin' on~<br />
<br />
P.S. This photo, posted by Sean Tretta, bugs me…<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="450" data-orig-width="600"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="450" data-orig-width="600" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/7b7b7de9448e9d5e55e92b3e93626cbb/tumblr_inline_oa67caLviy1rfqfei_540.png" /></figure><br />
This seems like it clicks with the factory and its explosion. Who are these people? Why are they important? Are they important? Is this a crop of a larger photo of all the factory workers, and the Xes a tally of victims of the explosion?<br />
<br />
Let's say these 12 are important. Who would be important in a paradox event? The ingredients of the paradox. What if the two remaining Messengers are sent to paradox more than one person this time, and none of them Primary (I find it hard to believe that 12 Primaries would happen to work at the same factory)? Could paradoxidizing 12 non-Primaries create the temporal event that Katarina detects and the Tall Man describes? What about removing 12 people whose actions, or whose descendants, have a significant effect on history? Would that produce an equivalent disturbance?<br />
<br />
P.P.S. If tonight’s ep doesn’t totally obliterate the Elliot Jones possibility, maybe I’ll go back and try to sort that story out in a post.<br />
<br />
P.P.P.S. Arrrgh! I love this show! Arrrrgh! =)cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-57880668356193519562016-07-10T15:26:00.000-04:002016-07-10T15:26:07.751-04:0012 MONKEYS: How does Titan get built?This is a follow-up to some earlier <a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/146225915339/12-monkeys-02x09-hyena-titan-red-forest">Titan talk</a>, offering a different path to the creation of Titan town. I don’t think I’ll be drawing from anything after 02x09 “Hyena” but FYI, I’m writing this after seeing 02x11 “Resurrection.”<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="1440" data-orig-width="2560"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="1440" data-orig-width="2560" height="225" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/c003306cc1ff969030583a3d5b6c80ff/tumblr_inline_oa45ckweyx1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
<b>ELLIOT JONES BUILDING TITAN TOWN…</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
At the end of episode 9, "Hyena," Elliot Jones meets with the Tall Man at stately Witness Manor. The Tall Man wants Elliot to helm Project Titan, an endeavor that Elliot characterizes as "massive." Tall Man implies that the purpose of the project is "resurrection" and explains that he needs it as "insurance" against "the future."<br />
<br />
Ominous, no?<br />
<br />
This is Elliot Jones, the Godfather of Time Travel, and he finds Project Titan daunting, requiring technology that would take decades to develop. But Even as he considers the impossibility of the task, he seems to be on the verge of a Eureka! solution. Remember, Titan itself isn't about Time Travel, but "resurrection." However, I think that Jones's problem-solving would naturally lead down a time-traveling path, and perhaps Tall Man (and the Witness) already know it. Elliot's work at Raritan Valley turns out to be a twofer! Laying the groundwork for Katarina to build on in the 2040s and also being the key to enabling the timely construction of Titan.<br />
<br />
Elliot knows that his device (Project Splinter 2015) is capable of sending matter to the future, and before he was shut down, he was very keen on testing with primates and then humans. I had the feeling he was itching to travel to the future himself.<br />
<br />
So, how would you use a device that can send you (and/or matter or information) into the future to build a machine, a complex, that would require decades of development, in the present? If you were a maverick of a scientific genius, you might start by doing a bit of research… Look for reports of any kind—news, science, criminal, intelligence, rumor, tabloid, folklore, anything—that might be connected to visitors from the future and/or their activities.<br />
<br />
Perhaps your benefactor, Tall Man, Inc., would offer up its resources to help? Note: It seems that while Ethan Seki was playing front man for the Army's investments, the policy was to give no indication that they have any familiarity with successful time travel or knowledge of future events.<br />
Maybe you even search for the project itself "Titan."<br />
<br />
Sort of like "Remember a garbage can…Remember a garbage can…Remember a garbage can…," but in reverse. Kinda?<br />
<br />
With the proper access/clearance, maybe in 2016 you uncover the same C.I.A. report that the Keeper prints out for Cass and Ramse in 2044. Perhaps you discover Agent Robert Gale's F.B.I. S-Files ("S" for Splinter =). In any case you collect enough intel to convince yourself that the past and present have been visited by chrononauts from the future, meaning that your device—or something like it—will be completed and perfected. So, if you can get a decent idea of when these time travelers came from (I'm fairly certain Cassie's statements to police must include that, right? And if not, then Gale's files certainly do), if you launch yourself to the proper era in the future—or BEYOND—you will be able to secure a ride back, and return with the knowledge of technology needed to realize Titan in the present, and if that's not enough, the ability to "make" all the time needed, between trips forward and back, to do so.<br />
<br />
This time-hopping process of developing and building Titan does not require that Elliot Jones BE the Witness, although that's certainly possible (I've been thinking/hoping it could be him since we first met him). What it does require are friendlies on the other end of his trips to the future. Hrm…To ensure that, it seems like he *would* need the resources of the Tall Man and the Army. Given their purpose, they are built to plan, staff, and supply for the long term (i.e. the Messengers). Or perhaps the staff/crew of Titan itself (assuming it's populated—his older self? Hrm… a Witness-y possibility =) are his collaborators on the other end.<br />
<br />
So, maybe it's as simple as Elliot Jones Splintering forward in time to when and where Titan is supposed to be built, finding it built, and then returning to the present—using the Witness's chronotech or Project Splinter's—with the technology required to build it. Other, less exciting possibilities include sending an agent, a message, or a device with a message in his place.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="286" data-orig-width="493"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="286" data-orig-width="493" height="232" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/da1d272de8ad285d02cb02f934fbdbc4/tumblr_inline_oa45dxaxkO1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><br />
Of course, the most interesting time for him to Splinter forward to would be September 2044, when Jennifer and Ramse arrive at Titan town to kill the big W. Would be great to see Elliot give Ethan a piece of his mind concerning his career, right? And maybe/more importantly Jennifer and Ramse and company could influence (or kill) Elliot to change history so that Titan is never completed, or at least, easily destroyed/disabled, preventing the return of the Witness to the corporeal plane (that's what I believe "resurrection" involves).<br />
<br />
Fun times ahead (and behind =) !<br />
<br />
Unmake history!<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin’ on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18860717.post-33105506825289287062016-06-17T22:30:00.000-04:002016-06-17T22:49:59.278-04:0012 MONKEYS: 02x09: Hyena: Watching the hands…Rambling on revelations in and observations on events that transpire in "Hyena."<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/e1b48038c4adf1407bdfdc3c0655125b/tumblr_inline_o8y3mfKkN51rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><b>THE RED FOREST…</b><br />
<blockquote>
TALL MAN: 1957. Upstate New York. A paradox so powerful, it destroys the fabric of time…At least locally. Enough to maintain erosion forever. The birth of the Red Forest. Try to stop it, but you can't, because it's already happened. It's like a memory of tomorrow.</blockquote>
This sounds very similar to how I've imagined the creation of the Red Forest. A massive paradox that blows away a chunk of reality out of history and into the red leaf limbo-slash-plane. I suspect that this paradox is also the origin of the Witness as we know him. Someone we know will lose their physical form in reality, while their consciousness, their self, will survive in the Red Forest. How long will it take him to master the abilities he's demonstrated this season? Immersion-possession, mental suggestion and shape shifting, receiving/directing his followers in the house…?<br />
<br />
I suspect this will happen, or be thwarted, and somehow collapse/reboot everything, in the season finale. Damn. That's gonna be nuts. =)<br />
<br />
It *does* seem very traptastic, tho, doesn't it? It's not like Cole didn't legitimately torture the heck out of TM to motivate him, but I get the sense that TM chose his moment to reveal this info. He paced it all just right, ready for every beat… He gives up the Red Forest origin story, then asks about Oliver Peters's press conference, counts the seconds til his bomb goes off, then his henchman showing up, and wriggling himself free in time to escape.<br />
<br />
Maybe "trap" isn't the correct word. Tableau? TM gives up the info in a very Witness-y way, to manipulate players into the positions he needs them in. I'm fairly certain that Team Splinter will understand that getting that info was "all too easy." I'm hopeful that they'll have a plan B and time-traveling plan C ready in anticipation. =)<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="310" data-orig-width="500"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="310" data-orig-width="500" height="248" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/88315c14ccc4edeca85d6e7246b58b2d/tumblr_inline_o8y3o4T7q61rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><b>TALL MAN v. OLIVIA.</b><br />
<br />
Before Cole played "Those Endearing Young Charms" on Tall Man's bones, we got to listen in on the two leaders of the Army in a quiet moment at stately Witness Manor…<br />
<blockquote>
OLIVIA: Do you remember when Mother would speak of the Red Forest? Promise that we were important, that the cycle would lead us to a world without time…without death?<br />
TALL MAN: Your father gave his life for it.</blockquote>
I definitely hear a capital M at the beginning of "Mother" as spoken by Olivia, referring to a title rather than a biological description. Perhaps Mother is an Army higher-up, someone who used to have Olivia's role as guide and speaker for the Witness?<br />
<br />
I wonder if the Messengers called Olivia "Mother."<br />
<br />
And Tall Man mentions Olivia's father again. The first/other time I recall was at the Paradox Ceremony for Traveler/Ramse/Ethan way back when. Tall Man seems to hold her father in high esteem, apparently saying that he sacrificed his life for the Red Forest. Could he mean specifically its creation, or is he speaking more generally of the cause? I want it to be for the literal forest, which, according to Tall Man, is spawned in the wake of a paradox in 1957 in upstate New York. That would make for a problematic timeline, tho, Olivia's father dying/disappearing in 1957 and Olivia likely born in the 70s, *maybe* late 60s, right?<br />
<br />
Hrm…Does it sound to anyone else like Tall Man knew Olivia's father? At the Paradox Ceremony he said something like, "Your father would be so pleased to see this." Was he a Monkey peer and colleague? A Primary on the side of the Army?<br />
<blockquote>
OLIVIA: Why hasn't it come? The Witness...<br />
TALL MAN: Works in mysterious ways, dear.<br />
OLIVIA: As do you. I never expected you to embrace technology this way.<br />
TALL MAN: We've spent far too long looking to the past for answers. Your leadership proved that. It's time to look to the future.</blockquote>
<blockquote>
TALL MAN: Peters has finally come up for air.<br />
OLIVIA: The Witness didn't foresee this, did he? Did he? He lies…</blockquote>
At this point Tall Man does something a bit horrible. He walks up to Olivia, places his hand over her mouth, and begins to asphyxiate her, keeping a tight hold and seal as Olivia helplessly attempts to twist out of his grip. He releases her before she passes out, or worse. As he walks away, Olivia gathers her wits as best she can, nonplussed, and asks…<br />
<blockquote>
OLIVIA: Where are you going?<br />
TALL MAN: To secure *our* future.</blockquote>
Olivia is losing her faith while Tall Man holds steady. Opposite reactions to the same issue: The Word of the Witness can no longer be trusted. Olivia's beliefs are shaken to their core. Tall Man revels in taking the reins in the Cycle of Uncertainty. He's never been comfortable with the idea of his fate being written for him.<br />
<br />
How far will Olivia's questions of the Witness take her? Is it possible that she will decide that she's been betrayed and used by the Witness? Will the Witness become a greater enemy to her than Project Splinter? Simply put, will she turn against Tall Man and the Witness and join Team Splinter, if only for one crucial mission or moment?<br />
<br />
And is that exactly as the Witness planned?<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/7435cbfdf083c3570c7cc9ef2ee5b82f/tumblr_inline_o8y3p14KFc1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><b>JENNIFER'S SHELL GAME.</b><br />
<br />
Gotta say, I *love* the circle that Jennifer and Cole open and close this episode. In 2044, Cole takes Jennifer to task for sitting on 30 years of foregone conclusions, "while" in 2016, Jennifer asks Cole how it all ends. And Jennifer tells Cole what she heard him tell her 30 years earlier which is what Jennifer tells Cole that she heard him tell her 30 years earlier which is what…<br />
<blockquote>
COLE: You got 30 years on all of us. You know how this ends, don't you?<br />
JENNIFER: A wise man once told me, "There are many endings, but the right one is the one you choose."</blockquote>
<blockquote>
JENNIFER: Then tell me what happens…How does this end?<br />
COLE: There are many endings.<br />
JENNIFER: Which is the right one?<br />
COLE: The right one…is the one that you choose.</blockquote>
The writers really got me with this one. My immediate first thought in 2044 is, hey—I bet Cole said that to her. But then I realize Jennifer says "a wise man," which is not how Jennifer would label Cole (but of course, it IS, if she wanted to obfuscate the identity of the teller =). So, I settled on the words possibly coming from Ramse, who may or may not be destined to be Jennifer's good friend, in some time period.<br />
<br />
In the shell game lesson that precedes this, Jennifer drops several interesting bombs, which, of course, Cole doesn't think to follow up on. Is that because he still considers her to be "crazy" as well as special? After everything that he's seen, heard, and experienced, and how well he's apparently adapted to the outside-iest of the box thinking there is—time travel, mental time travel, profiling Time as a conscious entity—how can he just discount remarks by this, or any, Primary?<br />
<blockquote>
COLE: I didn't come here to see you do a magic trick, Jennifer.<br />
JENNIFER: This isn't magic. This is a lesson. Perception versus deception. Cassie, Ramse, Katarina, her daughter, my daughter…all of them, distractions… You keep watching the ball, you should be watching the hands.<br />
COLE: I'm beginning to think you get off on this.<br />
JENNIFER: There was a time when you could have known for sure.<br />
[JENNIFER bites COLE’s hand]<br />
COLE: Ah! The hell was that for?<br />
JENNIFER: I told you to watch the hands.</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><b>DAUGHTERS?</b></li>
</ul>
Jennifer says "her daughter, my daughter…" Granted, those could be references to Hannah vs. Zeit, but in the context of that litany, it seems like a list of individuals, and tacking on a "pairing" at the end seems a little off. But, it IS Jennifer speaking hear, so who's to say? For me, tho, it opens up the possibility that she's had a daughter.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>GETTING OFF?</b></li>
</ul>
In response to Cole's remark about Jennifer getting off on the oracle-ness of her Primary abilities, and maybe the ceremony attached to being Mother of Daughters, she future-reminds him," There was a time when you could have known for sure."<br />
<br />
Being a dopey boy, well, I think you can hear Cole's clueless blinking in the wake of that, even if there's no actual time for it in the scene, right? And that little bomb whizzes right on by. =)<br />
<br />
Maybe specifically a reference to their kiss? But I think what's more important is that in general, she fell for him. Did/will she get the chance to actually be in love with him? Sadly, given the tense of her words—barring any Primary tense confusion—it seems not.<br />
<ul>
<li><b>WATCH THE HANDS?</b></li>
</ul>
And, what about "you should be watching the hands?" When he flashes back to her words later in the ep and earlier in time, we're shown Tall Man's gnarly hand. Cole's just started "working" on it with relish, but then he twigs to the figurative take on her words, realizes that this is a distraction, and the real danger is elsewhere. He notices Tall Man's hat, without the coat, and intuits the danger at the press conference.<br />
<br />
But, it turns out that in fact, he would have done well not to take his eyes off of Tall Man's gnarly hand, which wriggles loose just in time to allow him to escape in the wake of a well-timed entrance by his henchgun. Jennifer gave him two warnings in one.<br />
<br />
Or is it three? When I first heard her speak the words to Cole in 2044, I thought to connect them to something colorful, "hands…like the hands of a clock?" But after Tall Man's escape, I wondered if it might mean someone else's hands. Who do we know who might have a little thing, a bit of sensitivity, maybe, about their hands? Technically, it's only the one hand, but only creepy dudes and Kings of Pop can get away with wearing just one glove, right?<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="338" data-orig-width="600"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="338" data-orig-width="600" height="225" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/acf8e75719294d41cc35ecf05cba0012/tumblr_inline_o8y3qwUVib1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure>I'm talking about Ramse. Who, since his time in the Japanese prison seems to be pretty careful about wearing gloves whenever he can. I still haven't seen or heard anything in the show that explains why it is his one hand and arm didn't get the same protection the rest of his body did from the Quantum serum. The only "official" recognition of the fact was in the diagnosis he received when hospitalized in 1944—advanced osteoporosis in one arm. Was the serum not in his system long enough before he Splintered? Was his hand partially outside the stream when the Splinter initiated? Was his hand injured at the time he gave himself the serum, and so wasn't applied to a completely healthy "original?" Remember this, from "Shonin?"<br />
<blockquote>
OLIVIA: Time isn't perfect. Yet I'm envious how most of you seems to defy it.</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><b>WHAT ABOUT THAT BITE?</b></li>
</ul>
Tinfoil hat: ON! What if she gave Cole a dose of something right then? I don't think it took effect at all within the episode—or did it? Were his flashes back to 2044 because of a little bit of red in his system?<br />
<br />
Nah, probably not. I have an odd feeling that it was Something, tho. Heh. Maybe just a little mark that Cassie can ask about at just the right wrong time? =)<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/5ec2493ff005a4378e458436bb756ba5/tumblr_inline_o8y3rdGzjT1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><b>DON'T WORRY, COLE, BE HAPPY…</b><br />
<br />
Was interesting to see Cole's reaction to the Hyenas' plan to broadcast the truth about Markridge and the plague. In this sort of situation, in stories of this and adjacent genres, whistleblowing is a positive, righteous act. Transparency is The Right Thing, the Good. But here we have Cole, ostensibly our hero, explaining from a very difficult-to-argue-with position, that of someone who's *lived* through the aftermath, that the world is better off *not* knowing, at least for as long as possible.<br />
<br />
He frames it as a loss of hope, which *is* foremost in his mind after recent events in his life. Well, maybe foremost after torturing the man who killed his father…and anything/everything that Cass seems to be withholding…But after that stuff, hope, definitely hope!<br />
<blockquote>
COLE: What? What, you want to tell the world the truth? That there's no hope? That they're all gonna die? I've seen what happens when people think their days are numbered. It's ugly. We're not speeding that up.<br />
HYENA: People need to know the truth.<br />
COLE: No. They don't. I know what happens. We turn on each other. We become animals. Real ones, not like you're pretending to be.</blockquote>
And Jennifer tries to reason him over to the side of the Hyenas…<br />
<blockquote>
JENNIFER: I get that you're afraid. We are entering uncharted territory, but old me told you to come here, right?<br />
COLE: Yeah, so?<br />
JENNIFER: What do you think it took to face the Monkeys head on? Fearlessness, right? Fearlessness that comes from knowing that everything is gonna be okay. Old me is proof that I live to fight another day.<br />
COLE: What about everybody else? Hmm? Who's gonna save them if your little crew here is wrong?</blockquote>
"Uncharted territory." This Jennifer seems to know that Cole is not from a timeline in which Oliver Peters played blew the whistle on Markridge, its shady investors, and the plague. So, she and the Hyenas are going to Change things, and since they couldn't do it the way their doing it unless her older self sends Cole to join them, then they're…guaranteed to succeed?<br />
<br />
But it's here where Cole out-Primaries the Primary. He's like—I dunno—an analog Primary, doing it longhand, somehow. He can see what she apparently can't. That others may not make it. Cole is becoming quite the tactician. In season 1, he was basically a weapon pointed at the past, aimed and fired by Katarina and Project Splinter, and to my mind, a stretch for the secret identity of the Witness. Now, though, he's grown to be so much more, so much smarter and more capable than that. I love/hate to say it, but he's definitely getting/got a head for it now. And of course, he ultimately wants to create a world in which Cass can be happy. Scrapping everything to start again might be the only way to do that right.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/81936c55be6adbd6b4ededa22c9fdc1a/tumblr_inline_o8y3ryjvwq1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><b>HANNAH DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT KATARINA…</b><br />
<br />
A little disappointing. Hannah was 4 or 5 years old when the Daughters took her in, so she should have some memories of time w/Mama Katarina, right? But I suppose those would fade quickly enough in the 24 years since, with Daughter-ly duties, learning, and the fairy tale story Mother Jennifer told her.<br />
<br />
I just *really* wanted the possibility of <i><a href="http://cabinboy100.tumblr.com/post/145780132265/l-xanthia-kansaswolftlk-cabinboy100">Hannah stealthily visiting and/or watching over Katarina</a></i> as the years went by. Perhaps protecting her from scavs while out in the field and visiting her lab and rooms in the wee hours, going thru her photos, books, mementos, and notes…Maybe even learning enough to help complete some equations a few times when Jones falls asleep working on them.<br />
<br />
O well *sigh*<br />
<br />
And what about Hannah's remarks about the Splinter device?<br />
<blockquote>
HANNAH: Science killed the world. Now your machine is going to finish off what's left of us. </blockquote>
Where is this coming from? Is this judgement similar to Sam Ramse's take on his father's time traveling quest to save him? A wise child's reflection on her parent's reckless behavior? Or is this the culmination of teachings, learned with Jennifer and the Daughters? As a Primary, does Jennifer see the machine as an abomination (even though Time *likes* time travel)? As a survivor of the plague, with the knowledge of a Primary, does she see it—and technology—as evil?<br />
<br />
Does Jennifer have good reason to teach Hannah and her Daughters to be wary/untrusting of science? Of the Splinter device specifically? That conditioning could be a positive if the Daughters are an army that Jennifer plans to sic on the Witness and his technology. Will she lead them on an assault of Titan?<br />
<br />
Or, does Jennifer know that there is a time in the near future when the device must be destroyed or crippled and her Daughters will be the ones to do it. Another set of Messengers, waiting for the right moment? September 2044? Perhaps it will be done to prevent someone who's Splintered from returning (sent to distant past or future, as a trap?), or to prevent someone from the 2040s from exploiting it, or maybe to isolate some dangerous side effect or phenomenon, like the red skies, in the 2040s.<br />
<br />
Or something.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://67.media.tumblr.com/5f521d9a569c1b4339a933941ec1e324/tumblr_inline_o8y425DOb21rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure><b>RANDOM BITS.</b><br />
<br />
"The A-Team with all Murdocks!" Howling Mad Hyenas! Jennfier Goines is awesome in every time period. I just wish she wasn't so sad.<br />
<br />
Early on, Ramse asks Cole about his bullet wound—man, for a best friend, he sure perforates Cole a lot, doesn't he? Would love a JAWS-y scar scene with some of our main characters. Maybe back in Kat's office w/her good hooch. Or maybe a flashback to that whiskey that Cole brought back to share with Deacon, although that would leave Cassandra out of the mix, so maybe not. Boo.<br />
<br />
Kat and Project Splinter have been tracking the progress of the anomaly storms in 2044. On her wall is a record of recent observations and the last is dated September 14, 2044. Just a week to Jennifer's alleged expiration date!<br />
<br />
In this ep, for the first time for me, Jennifer said "Otter eyes" and I heard "Otterize," as in, to transform into an otter. It makes me wonder if this is the seed of a clue or hint, fuzzy and incomplete, in her Primary mind, something that will make sense in a crucial moment. A password? Or that it sounds like another word or phrase that will be one choice among several. "Authorize?" "Cauterize?"<br />
<br />
In any case, I still hope/believe that it connects to a yet-to-be-seen moment in Cole's future and Jennifer's childhood. A Splinter mission (or maybe misfire?) that has Cole drop in on the Goines's home one Saturday morning while 8-yo pre-Primary Jennifer is cartooning and Kellogg's Sugar Bombing, maybe w/a wide braced smile. She will see/meet him and dub/associate him with "Otter eyes." Years later, that will come back to her, fuzzily.<br />
<br />
Cole explains that anomaly storms are eating the future and working their way back in time (to 2016 at the time). Did Katarina explain that much to him before he Splintered? Is this a demonstration of a special connection or awarnes that Cole has to Time? I don't think so, not exactly. I think it shows just how adept he's become at navigating the weird logic of time travel and its side effects/collateral damage.<br />
<br />
Marcus makes an interesting point back in 2044, tho. In his—and Adler's—opinion, no one really KNOWS how the outcomes of Splinter missions are affecting the anomalies. Where there *seemed* to be a correlation before, there is not. Of course, other measures/countermeasures made in history via the Witness and the Army may have been/be/will be compensating, but basically, Whitley and Adler seem to be right.<br />
<br />
What if the time storms aren't working their way "backward" but are following the cracks in time left by Splinter events? What if they're appearing in 2016 (enough to make the news crawl on cable news) because Project Splinter has visited the time repeatedly? Next, would be 2015, then 1944 and 1975 (the Messengers Splintered then, too). Of course, there's no telling how the aftermath of the 1957 paradox—which, if the Tall Man wasn't b.s.ing them, is responsible for the creation of the Red Forest and thusly is a fixed point in Time—will affect or accelerate the red skies' spread. Fun times. =)<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://65.media.tumblr.com/0ce324848b4fbff5cf9feae5914eaeac/tumblr_inline_o8y43aE4v01rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure>Thought it was interesting that the Keeper was quick to taze with Ramse, but not so much with Cassandra. Did he lose someone, wife or daughter? Does he have a Daughter, perhaps?<br />
<br />
Yes, I did catch the use of past tense in Cass's truth about her hating Ramse.<br />
<blockquote>
CASS: I hate him…because someone I cared about…someone I sacrificed everything for…chose him over me.</blockquote>
She says "cared" and the Keeper reads that as true. When Ramse says "same," the Keeper reads that as true, too. So, do Cass and Ramse both no longer care about Cole? Of course not. Past tense "cared" and present tense "care" are not mutually exclusive states. So, she tells the truth while possibly playing—for Ramse's benefit—at not being as interested in Cole as she once was, and getting to spit some bile she'd been building up.<br />
<br />
I love that Ramse gets to express himself by echoing others in such succinct ways…<br />
"Me too."<br />
"Same."<br />
<br />
That’s so Ramse =)<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/584a1b181420c0ab823ea8c6b7a2f641/tumblr_inline_o8y443c8NW1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure>I hope we get a reason to see the Keeper again. I wonder how well he'd be able to read a Primary hooked up to a polygraph, eh? Did he ever identify who or what he was back in the world?<br />
<br />
He *feels* like a test or challenge in a heroic quest, doesn't he? Like a Sphinx, but not quite. A creature or being who will trades in truths. Sounds a little more Whedon than D'Aulaire's, right? But that feeling… A truly excellent character creation.<br />
<blockquote>
KEEPER: You know, whatever battle you're about to walk into together...It won't be your hatred for each other that will divide you. It will be the lies you tell to camouflage it.</blockquote>
Mythic, man.<br />
<br />
<figure class="tmblr-full" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200"><img alt="image" data-orig-height="675" data-orig-width="1200" height="225" src="https://66.media.tumblr.com/8f2cdc33e88378918cf58b6f18ca37df/tumblr_inline_o8y478T8pz1rfqfei_540.png" width="400" /></figure>And I didn't even get to the Elliot Jones, TITAN, and “See you soon” rabbit holes! I'm gonna try and cobble together something about EJ (*so* pleased to see him again! =), T-town, and the knock at the door in a post before Monday.<br />
<br />
Unmake history!<br />
<br />
Keep on keepin' on~cabinboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06861224210616160583noreply@blogger.com0