AOQ Dollhouse Review 2-8: "A Love Supreme"
Arbitrar Of Quality
review threads.
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DOLLHOUSE
Season Two, Episode 8: "A Love Supreme"
(or "I kinda thought I was supposed to end up with Bait, but...")
Writer: Jenny McArmit
Director: David Straiton
My original intro dealt with the fact that I didn't know quite what to make
of "A Love Supreme." After I expected the show to go one way given its last
two very good outings, it went a different way. In writing this review, I
realized it's not complicated at all. "A Love Supreme" is actually a
straightforward story, but it's told in an uneven way. Relentlessly uneven.
There'll be two scenes that drag, and just when I'm getting bored, something
will play out perfectly. I'll be thinking that a certain set of character
dynamics aren't quite clicking, and then those characters will have a solid
scene together. The plot will go somewhere that catches me even more off
guard than usual (yeah, I get caught off guard a lot), and then back off.
I don't know if I can evaluate the quality of the opening scenes, since I
already knew that Alpha would be returning for this one. (Actually, I was
more surprised to see Patton Oswalt's name come up in the credits.) But it
kicks off the pattern of spottiness as the rambling loser takes about five
hours to get killed. Followed by a cheesy interrogation montage and people
standing around saying obvious things (and Penikett overacting up a storm),
things look bleak, until suddenly Boyd decides to bring the awesome, and do
it concisely. He's apparently become the voice of biding one's time until
it's necessary, and keeps Paul from getting too elmo about his role in the
story.
This "down, then up" thing continues all episode, so I'm going to gloss over
most of the weaker stuff and focus on the moments when ALS abruptly shifts
into sharp focus. The next of those clicking moments is Topher's entrance
into the conspiracy. It seems like circumstances will force him onto this
side, should it come down to that, but he still has a few questions about
the whole thing. Having Echo surprise Topher by contributing to
conversations never really gets old, and the demonstration when she takes a
chance to show off is pretty cool.
From Topher: "I am obsolete! This must be what old people feel like. And
Blockbuster, too." Although when Echo takes charge and heads out with
"shall we go," I would have liked to have had Paul or Boyd respond with a
wry "if you like."
I admit I'm still not quite sure what their plan was, other than to watch
and wait. Putting Echo in a position to be wiped and re-imprinted seems
like a risk, given that each time everything gets submerged, if not erased.
Thus far, it's always required an electrical glitch or a blow to the head or
something to get her remembering again, so shouldn't they be worried that
one trip to the chair will set them back?
Alpha's trail of destruction makes the episode feel a little "bigger" by
nodding to the past. I wouldn't really call ALS "epic," but it momentarily
suggests an epic scope when the show drags out a recurring character - one
who goes back to the second _Dollhouse_ scene ever - and murders him on
screen by blowing him into tiny bits. It turns out that the next and final
apparent target is Joel Mynor, one of the only marginally sympathetic
clients we've seen for a "romantic" engagement. "It's just that this
morning I was engaged to a great girl, and now I'm hiding out with my dead
wife. . ." Now that Joel is no longer a client, he's portrayed almost
completely as a victim of circumstance this week - and it doesn't seem easy,
especially in the amusing scene in which Topher fails to reassure. The ways
in which he copes and doesn't cope with loss provide constant background,
and although I'm not enthralled enough at the moment to go theme-seeking, I'd
probably keep him in mind. The protect-the-victim plot leads to the
continuing mix of moments that are awkwardly filmed (everyone having
conversations about actives and imprints in front of "Rebecca") and those
that are pretty cool (Alpha suddenly turning the room full of tai chi
student into mass of zombie fighters).
The spottiness I was talking about earlier doesn't only apply to scenes. It
applies to characters and interactions. One moment I'm thinking that the
dynamic with Adelle and Paul playing mind games isn't particularly
compelling, and then they have one good exchange (about "knowledge of the
Dollhouse and an obsession with Echo.") One moment I'm thinking that Alpha
himself is honestly not that entertaining a screen presence, with his
flamboyance and unpredictability dulling the menace rather than enhancing
it. Then he gets a great entrance coming in through the bathroom window
(before getting tedious again. I don't share some peoples' love for Alpha).
I wasn't very interested in Adelle herself, overall, during the first half
of the episode. I feel like she's a lot more fun when she's balancing on
the edge of control and morality, whereas most of ALS finds her in pure
self-preservation mode. In theory, that's just not as compelling. Except
that there were a few scenes towards the end where wondering "how is she
going to get out of this one?" was pretty entertaining. I include the
running from the zombie dolls, and also her situation at the end. She's
been handed a folder full of informative vacation photos, one of the guys
who's been undermining her is brain-dead, Echo ("and who are you, exactly?")
in a very Caroline-esque incarnation has just taken charge and saved her
life. . . for now all she has to do is glower at the world in general, and
I'm curious in how she'll react.
As far as Alpha goes. . . the thing with him is that he's this
hyper-intelligent advanced being, but he's also a lovesick idiot who's just
trying to get a girl to like him. That was his character before, and
knowing that, his bait and switch act makes perfect sense, and comes across
as something that should have been obvious in retrospect. Of course his
target would be the person that Echo loved without being programmed to. And
after accidentally taking out Helo ("when did you die?"), of course he'd be
move to try imprinting himself with the persona. The subsequent fight
between Echo and Alpha is brief but solid, one of the show's few notable
action setpieces of late. We're kind back to the _Buffy_ paradigm now that
Echo has free access to all her imprints - we get used to our hero kicking
ass every week. But here when dealing with Paul's apparent death and facing
an equally superpowered and larger opponent, Echo never seems like she
really has a fighting chance at all. Not until Paul gets a chance to
communicate in the spirit [note to Gjokaj doubters: this is what an overdub
looks like], and there's a nicely framed shot in which she's almost able to
smash his head in like he asks. . . but not quite.
See, here's another piece of show that kinda works and kinda doesn't. The
moment of Paul's death is totally unexpected, at least to me. The
suddenness of it and Alpha's underplayed reaction are perfectly done. It
shows the potential to totally change everything. In the few seconds after
it happened, my mind was a little blown, trying to process the implications.
Then we immediately soften it by making him just mostly dead (or brain dead,
with his mind still existing in another form). Yeah, Penikett is presumably
still part of the show, and (although I didn't remember right away while
watching), the complete version of Paul Ballard was part of our unreliable
narrator's account of "Epitaph One." Although it seems silly to be too hard
on the show for not killing people left and right, I still can't shake the
feeling that once again, we were on the edge of something thrilling, but
decided to pull back. In any case, real death or near death, the biggest
plotwise reason will be the effect it has on Echo. Maybe she needs to stand
just a little more alone.
I'm surprised her reaction is so self possessed, after the initial emotional
outburst. When saying goodbye to Joel, Echo seems less like she's learning
by going through the same thing, and more like the voice of wisdom and
reassurance. Dushku plays it so warmly that it's as if everything will be
all right simply because she's talking. "I though I was past it." "You don't
'get past it.' It just becomes part of who you are." True. Well, everyone
will need that kind of composure about them. There are only five episodes
left, which usually means things are about to get really dark.
This episode uses the visual of glass shattering outward en masse on two
separate occasions (Echo as McGuyver and the fight with Alpha), and the show
has employed it before, too. Repetitive or not, it still looks cool.
I don't really have anything else to say about "A Love Supreme."
.
.
So.
One sentence summary: Uneven; transiently impactful.
AOQ rating: Decent
.
.
[Season Two so far:
1) "Vows" - Good
2) "Instinct" - Good
3) "Belle Chose" - Decent
4) "Belonging" - Good
5) "The Public Eye" - Decent
6) "The Left Hand" - Excellent
7) "Meet Jane Doe" - Good
8) "A Love Supreme" - Decent]
One Bit Shy
news:hg3s6a$j20$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
> DOLLHOUSE
> Season Two, Episode 8: "A Love Supreme"
> My original intro dealt with the fact that I didn't know quite what to
> make of "A Love Supreme." After I expected the show to go one way given
> its last two very good outings, it went a different way. In writing this
> review, I realized it's not complicated at all. "A Love Supreme" is
> actually a straightforward story, but it's told in an uneven way.
> Relentlessly uneven. There'll be two scenes that drag, and just when I'm
> getting bored, something will play out perfectly. I'll be thinking that a
> certain set of character dynamics aren't quite clicking, and then those
> characters will have a solid scene together. The plot will go somewhere
> that catches me even more off guard than usual (yeah, I get caught off
> guard a lot), and then back off.
Perhaps Alpha's function is to compel people to go where they need to be
rather than where they want to be. So I suppose Alpha is Joss in disguise.
I didn't find much surprising in the episode (the prior one was far more
surprising to me), though some of it puzzled me. I don't seem to see the
unevenness you do, though I think the prior episode is more entertaining. I
did experience some digital dropouts during its airing, so you can add me to
that list.
> I don't know if I can evaluate the quality of the opening scenes, since I
> already knew that Alpha would be returning for this one. (Actually, I was
> more surprised to see Patton Oswalt's name come up in the credits.) But
> it kicks off the pattern of spottiness as the rambling loser takes about
> five hours to get killed.
The look and mood of the scene (not so much the content) reminds me of a
similar scene in Kill Bill (2 I think). So much so that I wonder if it's
modeled on that. In Kill Bill it was one of those moments that you sit back
and just drink in the way Tarantino characters talk. Alas, the Dollhouse
scene is just boring. The language and performance both needed to be way
more stylish. Bad start.
> Followed by a cheesy interrogation montage and people standing around
> saying obvious things (and Penikett overacting up a storm), things look
> bleak, until suddenly Boyd decides to bring the awesome, and do it
> concisely. He's apparently become the voice of biding one's time until
> it's necessary, and keeps Paul from getting too elmo about his role in the
> story.
Call me shallow then, 'cause this was one of the best parts of the episode
for me.
I'm not sure why locked in a room and bound in a straight jacket translates
to outright torture for Echo, though I'm sure it's easy to find lots of
symbolism in it. Whatever the reason, it quite obviously is torture to her.
I love the opening of the scene with the montage of not always focused shots
of Echo in agony and uncomfortable (but pretty cool) background music.
I'm not sure whether Dr. Victor is merely deceived by Echo's put on, or
whether it's real innocent bewilderment coming from her, presumably via an
innocent imprint temporarily in charge of the body. In Epitaph One I recall
Echo once talking to Ballard about the imprinted personality that was
supposed to be running the body as if she wasn't there or aware of Echo et
al. So maybe it's possible to throw an ignorant personality into the
driver's seat for a while. That would be clever, but kind of mean to that
active personality.
Whatever the reason, Victor seems quite convinced that there's no guile to
Echo's behavior. I love how Victor smoothly moves from relating Echo's
innocence to a skeptical Adelle, to a leering observation of the lack of
innocence in a passing Sierra, to an unexpected and unflattering
psycho-analysis of Adelle. Topher, the accidental audience, loved that.
And then it was capped by a unique version of Victor agreeing to a
"treatment", expressed with a casual anticipation akin to him looking
forward to sitting down to a glass of cognac or some such civilized
pleasure. Coming up with fresh variations on the various Dollhouse rituals
has become one of the quirky pleasures of the series - a quiet signature
element if you will.
I'm not sure if Boyd really believes that Adelle is abusing Echo in order to
get to Ballard, or if he's just seizing the opportunity to whip Paul into
shape. I do think Boyd sees his own calm performance as soldiering onward -
following Echo's lead actually - and sticking to their plan. And, you know,
I guess you could say that Paul manned up by the end.
I'm not sure what Adelle really had in mind putting Echo in solitary. I
don't doubt that she did want to pressure Ballard, who she's only ever
trusted so far as their interests can be assured to be aligned. But some of
their interaction felt more like using him as whipping boy as she released
her own pent up frustration. (One might say that Echo is messing with
Adelle to similar effect.) (Incidentally, Penikett's acting didn't much
bother me here, though I've never found a lot of subtlety in it. He's kind
of hyperactive, yes, but he's being messed around with by Adelle. It seems
kind of normal to the character to me.) In any case, Adelle's continued
exploration into what's going on with Echo once she's out of Boyd and
Ballard's earshot indicates there's more to her intentions.
I end up taking pretty much everything she says this episode at face value.
She recognizes that there has to be more to Echo's absence than she's been
told, but doesn't know exactly what. She's especially suspicious of
Ballard, who disappeared himself after all, but still doesn't know that he
has anything useful to offer. Jumping to the conclusion that Echo is in
cahoots with Alpha sounds weird and artificial from an audience's point of
view, but I think would make sense to Adelle. It conveniently fits the gap
in knowledge she has regarding Echo. I'm still not certain why putting Echo
in solitary is expected to be helpful. Maybe she's just stirring things up
where she can, hoping for something to pop up.
And, of course, she does eventually get her answer.
There's a lot of "I'm not sure" above, which for me works as intriguing. I
wasn't sure what was going on, but I found it interesting. It also flowed
through a series of moods and situations with the changing dynamics of
different conversational pairs. There were a lot of min-scenes in that
sequence. It also seemed to be ruled more by underlying tension than clever
lines.
> This "down, then up" thing continues all episode, so I'm going to gloss
> over most of the weaker stuff and focus on the moments when ALS abruptly
> shifts into sharp focus. The next of those clicking moments is Topher's
> entrance into the conspiracy. It seems like circumstances will force him
> onto this side, should it come down to that, but he still has a few
> questions about the whole thing. Having Echo surprise Topher by
> contributing to conversations never really gets old, and the demonstration
> when she takes a chance to show off is pretty cool.
When she shakes Topher's hand I'm again struck by how well balanced her Echo
persona is. It's like she's the only real adult in this world.
> I admit I'm still not quite sure what their plan was, other than to watch
> and wait.
I don't think there was a plan per se. It's just an engagement. I don't
believe we've been told what Echo's greater plan is, but we do know that it
involves insinuating her back into normal Dollhouse operations. Adelle may
be testing her here, but at core it would appear to be just another
engagement to be carried out as usual.
> Putting Echo in a position to be wiped and re-imprinted seems
> like a risk, given that each time everything gets submerged, if not
> erased. Thus far, it's always required an electrical glitch or a blow to
> the head or something to get her remembering again, so shouldn't they be
> worried that one trip to the chair will set them back?
They might be worried. They didn't talk about that, but they did talk in
the van about their discomfort with starting up the engagement gig again.
But Echo is very pointed about the alternative just ending up where they
already were - or really the attic this time. The risk is built into
whatever they have in mind for the Dollhouse. Of course Echo also
demonstrates how to reduce the risk by assuming the personality in question
without getting into the chair. Topher. Obsolete.
> Alpha's trail of destruction makes the episode feel a little "bigger" by
> nodding to the past. I wouldn't really call ALS "epic," but it
> momentarily suggests an epic scope when the show drags out a recurring
> character - one who goes back to the second _Dollhouse_ scene ever - and
> murders him on screen by blowing him into tiny bits.
Maybe it's just low budget epic. I could imagine the rampage of the actives
back at the Dollhouse being a much grander production, as well as the
show-down between Alpha and Echo. I'm OK with it this way though. It feels
a tad premature to pull out those kind of stops anyway.
> It turns out that
> the next and final apparent target is Joel Mynor, one of the only
> marginally sympathetic clients we've seen for a "romantic" engagement.
> "It's just that this morning I was engaged to a great girl, and now I'm
> hiding out with my dead wife. . ." Now that Joel is no longer a client,
> he's portrayed almost completely as a victim of circumstance this week -
> and it doesn't seem easy, especially in the amusing scene in which Topher
> fails to reassure. The ways in which he copes and doesn't cope with loss
> provide constant background, and although I'm not enthralled enough at the
> moment to go theme-seeking, I'd probably keep him in mind.
I suppose. I liked him a lot more the first time around. His parts in the
episode mostly seemed kind of dull to me.
> The
> protect-the-victim plot leads to the continuing mix of moments that are
> awkwardly filmed (everyone having conversations about actives and imprints
> in front of "Rebecca")
That bothered you? Why?
> and those that are pretty cool (Alpha suddenly
> turning the room full of tai chi student into mass of zombie fighters).
This is new too. Not his remote trigger, but the way he introduced a virus
into the system by simply having Sierra wiped after an engagement.
Something else for Topher to marvel at I suppose.
> The spottiness I was talking about earlier doesn't only apply to scenes.
> It applies to characters and interactions. One moment I'm thinking that
> the dynamic with Adelle and Paul playing mind games isn't particularly
> compelling, and then they have one good exchange (about "knowledge of the
> Dollhouse and an obsession with Echo.")
Again, those scenes just didn't bother me. Aside from squeezing Ballard for
any possible knowledge about what happened to Echo those 3 months, she's
generally trying to dominate Paul, show him who's the alpha ape around here.
(Well, until the real Alpha shows up anyway.) She doesn't realize yet how
much control she's lost to Echo. Or how ineffective she's become just
generally. Perhaps the point of putting Echo in solitary is simply to show
Adelle blindly flailing about.
> One moment I'm thinking that
> Alpha himself is honestly not that entertaining a screen presence, with
> his flamboyance and unpredictability dulling the menace rather than
> enhancing it.
I found him much more interesting and entertaining last time than now.
You'll note that he talks a lot about his multiple personalities, but he
doesn't demonstrate them like last time. There might be a story reason for
that. (See below) But it makes for a more two dimensional performance.
On the other hand, this visit of Alpha appears to be less about who he is
than what he does, so a simpler depiction might make sense.
I do think he gets a lot of earned laughs though. And there are a few
casual moments that work well, like referring to Echo in the plural.
> Then he gets a great entrance coming in through the
> bathroom window
The subsequent Beatle wisdom is that in the end, the love you take is equal
to the love you make. It would not appear that Alpha figured that out in
his search for the meaning of love.
> (before getting tedious again. I don't share some
> peoples' love for Alpha). I wasn't very interested in Adelle herself,
> overall, during the first half of the episode. I feel like she's a lot
> more fun when she's balancing on the edge of control and morality, whereas
> most of ALS finds her in pure self-preservation mode.
Until Alpha shows in her office I think it's delusions of control rather
than self-preservation. It's Alpha that tears her down again to baldly
demonstrate how weak she really is and how far she'll go to save her
precious skin. Until then she was still riding the high of her prideful
oath to never eat a turnip again. (-er- maybe that's another story.
Hopefully you know what I mean.)
> In theory, that's
> just not as compelling.
I think you're just looking for the wrong edge that she's balancing on.
This episode is about baring her delusions to herself. We don't know yet
how that will affect her, but she's been shown to herself this episode to be
essentially wrong about everything factual, to have controlled nothing, and
to have no courage or moral fiber. Pretty much worthless all around. It
seems pretty compelling to me.
Oh, and she gets to see Echo in pretty much total contrast too. Adelle has
got to be hurting at the end.
> Except that there were a few scenes towards the
> end where wondering "how is she going to get out of this one?" was pretty
> entertaining. I include the running from the zombie dolls, and also her
> situation at the end. She's been handed a folder full of informative
> vacation photos, one of the guys who's been undermining her is brain-dead,
> Echo ("and who are you, exactly?") in a very Caroline-esque incarnation
> has just taken charge and saved her life. . . for now all she has to do
> is glower at the world in general, and I'm curious in how she'll react.
I suppose she could return to glower mode, but I think the challenge is more
fundamental than another round of biding her time can overcome.
So, are you suggesting that it's more plot challenging for Ballard to die?
Perhaps in a way, but I don't see in those paragraphs above any recognition
of the uniquely Dollhouse element to the story. Ballard's imprint is
presumably still in the wedge that Alpha created - I don't think he had the
opportunity to destroy it. But that's not the real point. Ballard lives -
complete - within Alpha now.
I don't know what they'll do with this. There's a ton of possibilities, but
very little time available. But you've got the ultimate anti-Dollhouse
figure, the guy who doesn't quit, who relentlessly sought to bring down the
means for enslavement... and now he's just an imprint himself - inside the
worst thing the Dollhouse ever created. Hell, it sounds like something Joss
would write for X-Men.
The first implication is that no matter what happens to Paul's body, Paul is
still alive. So keeping his body ready is convenient with more story
options, but not especially important. Indeed, it would actually be kind of
neat if they end up extracting Paul from Alpha to load back into his body.
But in the meantime, I would expect that the story be what Paul does to
Alpha. Paul's a kind of virus now. Hell, maybe he'll actually teach Alpha
about love.
One more thing to note about Alpha. I mentioned earlier how he didn't jump
around between personalities this time. I don't know it that's part of the
story or not, but perhaps more importantly, he doesn't get headaches like
Echo does either. He may be a great nemesis, but in important and useful
ways, he's more advanced than Echo too. In some fashion I think he's
destined to be the cure.
> I'm surprised her reaction is so self possessed, after the initial
> emotional outburst. When saying goodbye to Joel, Echo seems less like
> she's learning by going through the same thing, and more like the voice of
> wisdom and reassurance. Dushku plays it so warmly that it's as if
> everything will be all right simply because she's talking. "I though I
> was past it." "You don't 'get past it.' It just becomes part of who you
> are." True.
Well, it is the Rebecca persona saying that, which may fit better by
personality.
But in this case I think it's safe to assume that Echo goes along with the
sentiment. Perhaps an illustration of the strength she can gain from her
components.
And then there's the becoming part of you line - a veritable truism in the
land of Dollhouse that can be taken to mean just about anything and
everything. Among the possibilities here is that maybe Echo is thinking
about Paul being part of Alpha now. Ten times the man Alpha is - and
Alpha's like 40 men.
> Well, everyone will need that kind of composure about them.
> There are only five episodes left, which usually means things are about to
> get really dark.
I'm predicting a hopeful ending, though probably not exactly happy.
> So.
>
> One sentence summary: Uneven; transiently impactful.
>
> AOQ rating: Decent
Some of the characters were a little dull this time, though that didn't
include Ballard and especially Adelle for me. The action was also tame
relative to the story. I believe I was a little more engaged with the first
hour of the evening. Still, this swept me up in its story too. Especially
in the sense of desperately wanting to see what happens next.
So it pulls off a middling Good rating in what seems now like an endless
stream of that rating level.
OBS
Arbitrar Of Quality
"Horace LaBadie" <hwlab...@nospam.highstream.net> wrote in message
news:hwlabadiejr-7A24...@news.isp.giganews.com...
> In article <xIqdnRcmDsj9T7jW...@supernews.com>,
> "One Bit Shy" <O...@nomail.sorry> wrote:
>
>> "Horace LaBadie" <hwlab...@nospam.highstream.net> wrote in message
>> news:hwlabadiejr-3FAB...@news.isp.giganews.com...
>> > In article <hg3s6a$j20$1...@news.eternal-september.org>,
>> > "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Echo ("and who are you, exactly?")
>> >> in a very Caroline-esque incarnation has just taken charge and saved
>> >> her
>> >> life. . .
>> >
>> > Echo breaks out of solitary in the midst of a chaotic Active rebellion,
>> > and who does she try to save first? DeWitt.
>> >
>> > There's a bond between DeWitt and Caroline/Echo. One can imagine the
>> > young DeWitt as very much like Caroline, and Echo seems to be
>> > channeling
>> > the "Ghost" imprint whenever she is near DeWitt. There's a mutual
>> > attraction of a strange sort between them.
>>
>> I like your thoughts about Echo and DeWitt... but isn't the event kind of
>> by
>> chance? I don't see anything indicating she was going for DeWitt
>> specifically. Anybody might have been hiding in that room.
>>
> Echo's rescue mission ended when she found DeWitt. It was fortuitous
> that she found DeWitt so quickly, but it appeared that DeWitt was the
> person she was looking for. Echo didn't even ask where Ballard was.
Does the rescue mission really end? If I'm remembering it right, they
continue moving through the building gathering main cast members and not
really stopping to talk about anyone's whereabouts.
-AOQ
Arbitrar Of Quality
news:7fudnZ8NJe7ZRLvW...@supernews.com...
> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote in message
> news:hg3s6a$j20$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>> (before getting tedious again. I don't share some
>> peoples' love for Alpha). I wasn't very interested in Adelle herself,
>> overall, during the first half of the episode. I feel like she's a lot
>> more fun when she's balancing on the edge of control and morality,
>> whereas
>> most of ALS finds her in pure self-preservation mode.
>
> Until Alpha shows in her office I think it's delusions of control rather
> than self-preservation. It's Alpha that tears her down again to baldly
> demonstrate how weak she really is and how far she'll go to save her
> precious skin. Until then she was still riding the high of her prideful
> oath to never eat a turnip again. (-er- maybe that's another story.
> Hopefully you know what I mean.)
Don't get the reference.
Overall, your take on what the episode does with Adelle is worth reading,
but I kinda agree that the best way to fully process that aspect of the
episode will be retrospectively.
>> Well, everyone will need that kind of composure about them.
>> There are only five episodes left, which usually means things are about
>> to
>> get really dark.
>
> I'm predicting a hopeful ending, though probably not exactly happy.
You do recall that the endpoint fo the sereis is the destruction of
civilization as we know it, right?
-AOQ
One Bit Shy
> "One Bit Shy" <O...@nomail.sorry> wrote in message
> news:7fudnZ8NJe7ZRLvW...@supernews.com...
>> "Arbitrar Of Quality" <tsm...@wildmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:hg3s6a$j20$1...@news.eternal-september.org...
>
>>> (before getting tedious again. I don't share some
>>> peoples' love for Alpha). I wasn't very interested in Adelle herself,
>>> overall, during the first half of the episode. I feel like she's a lot
>>> more fun when she's balancing on the edge of control and morality,
>>> whereas
>>> most of ALS finds her in pure self-preservation mode.
>>
>> Until Alpha shows in her office I think it's delusions of control rather
>> than self-preservation. It's Alpha that tears her down again to baldly
>> demonstrate how weak she really is and how far she'll go to save her
>> precious skin. Until then she was still riding the high of her prideful
>> oath to never eat a turnip again. (-er- maybe that's another story.
>> Hopefully you know what I mean.)
>
> Don't get the reference.
As God is my witness the cultural knowledge of our times has gone all to
hell.
It's a reference to Gone With the Wind, specifically when Scarlett swears
with extravagent drama to never go hungry again. (She's picking turnips to
stay alive.) It's the climax going into the film's intermission.
I was attempting to compare it to Adelle's declaration in MJD that she will
never again let anyone challenge her rule of the house.
> Overall, your take on what the episode does with Adelle is worth reading,
> but I kinda agree that the best way to fully process that aspect of the
> episode will be retrospectively.
Well, yeah, there are a lot of uncertainties. We have no idea how she'll
respond, for example. Or how Echo will for that matter. Her abilities are
no longer a secret from Adelle. Maybe there are even some hidden agendas of
Adelle's that really are disguised. We always have to see what comes.
But we're also passing through a moment as it happens in the series. I
don't think it's wrong to say that right now it sure looks like Adelle has
had the rug pulled out from under her at pretty much all levels of her
identity.
The only thing that gives me much pause now - not exactly part of this
episode - is that she's shown such a past fondness for Echo and Topher that
it's not easy to reconcile with her behavior towards both these last two
episodes.
>>> Well, everyone will need that kind of composure about them.
>>> There are only five episodes left, which usually means things are about
>>> to
>>> get really dark.
>>
>> I'm predicting a hopeful ending, though probably not exactly happy.
>
> You do recall that the endpoint fo the sereis is the destruction of
> civilization as we know it, right?
As we know it. Echo's notion of "we" may be a little different.
OBS