JillPole

I wasn't at all saying that quieter, less ass-kicking characters are less interesting. Kala and Lito are among the least overtly 'awesome' characters, but theirs were the stories I was most invested in because of how quietly believable their struggles were. So, no, a lack of butt-kicking is not at all the reason I had a hard time connecting with Nomi in the beginning. It's that Nomi's introductory scenes were simply not entertaining and didn't set up a story for her. When I say "doing things", I mean anything that feels like part of a story, no matter what kind of activity it is. Lito's movie-making scenes in the pilot were hilarious and showed him doing things relevant to his day-to-day life. And the whole bit with the nun actress made me in interested to find out what his deal was--why he was rejecting hot women in the most awkward way. His overarching storyline tackled a lot of social issue themes, but from the get-go it was done in a way that was a story. Staying sane when people are trying to shut out your voice is definitely a compelling theme, but it isn't a story on its own. Nomi's introduction did a lot of theme discussion, but it didn't tell me much about what she or her day-to-day life was like the way I got with everyone else, and it didn't launch a story. I think a lot of the themes that were introduced there with her were super important to the whole show (like the AIDS issues, and big pharma and drugs, and finding support and your place and your voice where you least expect it), and they're really great themes. But the exposition through her wasn't the best at first. Then it got great. And would have been great if done in any organic narrative way, even if she'd ended up being less overtly "I'm a super awesome computer hacker."

Her plotline in the first two episodes almost turned me off the show. It was a lecture, and not an entertaining one. Establishing characters through actions and decisions is how you get viewers invested. Capheus was an optimistic guy trying to get customers, Will was a good guy cop who saves kids, Lito was an actor in a terrible movie and obviously the comedy part of the show, Wolfgang was a daddy-issue ridden diamond thief, Sun was stressing about the files and trying to be heard in the company. I got a sense of what made these characters tick, and the scenes set up storylines that we would be watching for the rest of the season. But Nomi's scenes in the first episode were about her identity labels, not about who she was as a person, and certainly not about her storyline going forward. We got a whole thing about AIDS in the 80s for no reason. She and Amanita weren't characters. They were social issue mouthpieces in a poorly executed Very Special Episode. The second the plot kicked in (when she started chatting with Jonas, and Amanita was vowing to get her out of the creepy hospital), I started liking them. The second she got out and started hacking and being awesome (doing things!), I liked them even more, just as much as anyone else in the cast. The stuff about her identity was handled much more organically later on, and so much more effectively. Kala only got two short introductory scenes in the pilot and that was fine, because her stuff was meant to unfold a bit later. I wish they'd taken that approach with Nomi, and then begun to focus on her in the second episode.

Even though he's the character I became most invested in and protective of, the singing aspect of Wolfgang's storyline gave me inappropriate giggles. The time out to watch singing competitions, the flashback trauma, falling in love during karaoke... I got the feeling that he "just... wants... to sing!!" like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but was unfortunately born into some crazy Russian mafia family that didn't tolerate it. Poor Wolfgang, but also lol. I wonder if there will ever be something between Wolfgang and Riley's dad, who achieved that dream. And I definitely think the dad killed the mom or something terrible. I agree it doesn't have to be sexual abuse, but there has to be more behind the "You know why! You knew and you didn't do anything". Definitely agree with everything you said, though. Especially how he's so much more motivated by saving the people he cares about than by saving himself. He's got as much of a savior complex baby Will's shrink diagnosed, but because he's so dark, no one's ever called him out on it. I love how the dad's toxic idea of what matters in life (drinking, shitting, eating, fucking, fighting for more) contrasts with the kinder and gentler but still angry and violent ethos Sun listed to Kala at the end of episode 11 (rage, fear, desire, love; putting anger into fists and fighting for it). Without having ever interacted with her, Wolfgang embodies Sun's list, not his father's. Speaking of baby Will and the therapist, that whole scene made me think of Harry Potter, who was also accused of having a 'saving people thing' that the bad guy counted on to get at him, and also how the bad guy almost got him as a little kid, and their mental link, etc etc.

That's true. I hadn't thought of that. If that's true, then it means a sensate doesn't need to be "activated" in order to do the visiting thing that Jonas and Whispers do. That might mean the visiting thing is possible since birth, and it's only the sharing that Angelica's whatever gave our cluster. If that's the case, then that's a different, but still pretty huge, addition to the mythology, instead of my previous assumption that people can be in multiple clusters at once. I mean, if that's the case, then Whispers might not even belong to a cluster at all. Like, his might not have been "born" yet.

I think the cops are more pressing than any potential other gangsters. They will be investigating the multiple homicide in the middle of the street, and probably also the mass murder in his uncle's house. He needs to get out of town asap. He's wallowing in his manpain, so probably won't go to India, but he might go to Mexico. Or find Riley and Will to help them. Even if he doesn't know/care about them much yet as individuals and even if he's still blase about the larger sensate thing, a threat to them is a threat to Kala. I'm doing a rewatch and also noticed that Sun's embezzlement plot is tied to pharmaceutical stock devaluation. It really seems as though next season will have a lot resting on Kala's company. Between Sun's plot, the fake drugs, and probably she will be called on to help find good drugs for Will for awhile. I wonder if she'd marry Rajan to gain more power and access to help everyone (and also because he's really nice and her not-even-quite-real boyfriend dumped her). I haven't gotten to more of Jonas and Yrsa yet on my rewatch, but I'm wondering if eight isn't a requirement for every single cluster. I'll keep and ear out for if anyone says so specifically. I think it's pretty clear that Sara Patrell and Will were in a cluster together. Which means it's possible to be 'activated' twice. Someone who can be a member of many many clusters would be very powerful indeed. But whether it was just a cluster of Will and Sara, or if there were others in the cluster with them, we don't know.

I think both interpretations of romance are right, too, and I think it's wholly dependent on the two individuals involved and how they react to the bond. And that's what I like about this! They don't necessarily stop being individuals. As long as you hold onto your individuality, I don't think it would be narcissistic and dangerous. For example, even if Wolfgang opens up to the bond a bit more, I don't see him ever losing himself. And he and Kala are so wildly different that I don't see how what Yrsa said could be true for them. However, if two people who were more naturally similar fall in love, I do see how what she's saying could be true and the two people could lose themselves. I'm not sure the bond means people will have your back no matter what. It could go either way at this point, and I can't wait to see what the writers do with this discussion of morality. In this season, no one was hurt who wasn't established as the most cartoonishly evil had-it-coming-to-them moustache twirlers. Lito's delight at Wolfgang blowing people away could be explained by the bond giving him a bit of Wolfgang's coldness, but it could also be explained by the fact that he picked up how utterly awful Steiner & Co were, the kind of villains that even nice, normal people sometimes cheer at seeing killed. Will's help was similar. He might not condone what Wolfgang was doing, and might have wanted to have words with him later, but in the moment, he might have picked up that Wolfgang is not an amoral bastard, but these people are. Therefore saving his life and allowing him to massacre them is preferable to letting worse guys win and losing one of the cluster. But in a more complicated moral scenario, if Wolfgang had been doing something that was totally not okay, I could see Will's moral compass deciding that letting Wolfgang suffer his own consequences is the right thing to do, no matter how painful losing a member of the cluster would be.

I just binged this a couple of days ago, and I'm still reeling. This is the most beautiful show I've watched in years. It's so heartwarming, and I cheered every time someone helped someone else out. It took me awhile, but I finally figured out that the terrible dialogue was an intentional pastiche crossover exercise. Like, Kala would say ridiculous cliched Bollywood things to Wolfgang, and he would respond with cliched dialogue out of some heist or Schwarzenegger film. Once I got it, I just laughed every time, but simultaneously was warmed, because the characters truly meant the sentiments. I even rewatched the whole series and got that much more out of it, understanding about the dialogue. However, I still cannot figure out what genre Amanita is supposed to be from. She had the most ridiculous lines, but the Nomi plot appeared to be a typical psychological thriller (???), and Amanita was the supporting girlfriend? I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be seeing there. Whatever it was, Amanita was a delight. I do hope there is a season 2, with as much budget as this season had. I've rarely experienced such a beautiful, wild ride. Though I kind of want Tom Tykwer to direct everything. I'd never heard of him before, but he has now just risen to Richard Deakins (Skyfall's cinematographer) in terms of my favorites. Every single shot of his was so beautifully composed. I loved all the characters and all the connections. I desperately want to see all the ones we haven't gotten yet, especially Kala/Lito, Capheus/Lito, Wolfgang/Sun, Wolfgang/Capheus (Wolf needs a little sunshine in his life!). I want Kala to get good drugs to Capheus and to Will, who I assume will need them. I think my favorite duo had to be Wolfgang/Lito. It was so unexpected and lovely. Like, I was expecting Sun to show up, but it was so much better that it was Wolf. Joaquin was only one guy and Lito is perfectly jacked. He didn't need help beating people up. All he needed was a little steeliness, which Wolfgang has in spades. I really liked that quiet message, which was so much better than a larger-scale ass-kicking would have been. Both of the Lito/Wolfgang sequences were my very favorite (Sun's "Is that all?" is the only part that might rival it). I noticed that, other than Kala, Wolfgang only responded to people who had helped him out first. Lito came to him first and saved him, and that's why he saved Lito. Same with Will after the Kevlar thing. That seems true to character, with him being so contained and shut off, except for Felix and Kala. There's so much potential with him for next season. Does he shut himself off from them? There was the line about how he chose Felix over the arbitrary bonds of blood family. This sensate thing is just as arbitrary, really, and his reaction to Will in the Holocaust memorial backed that up a bit. Does he choose to dissociate from them in favor of Felix? Or does he go another murder spree to take care of Whispers and BPO because they are a threat to Kala? Either one would feel right for the character! (I think Wolfgang slowly became my favorite over the season. And Flashback Baby Felix made me care more about adult Felix and their relationship than I did with the adult actor.) I definitely caught onto the bit where Jonas is standing in the hospital hallway looking at Will. What was that? He had to have been inhabiting someone, right? And who was having the heart attack that brought the ambulance? I never saw where that went. And why did some people see Daryl Hannah rise from being dead and interact with them? Is she not dead? What was the business about her secretly not loving Jonas? Do we know for certain that all groups have exactly eight people? I just feel like Jonas is not the most reliable narrator. There's so much more to be explored there, even though what I really do care about are the relationships between the core eight. I wish I knew how to recommend this to people. I do think it starts off slowly, and the Nomi storyline does start off rather preachy before she lands in the hospital and The Plot kicks in. And it's hard to explain to people that the dialogue is terrible on purpose, that it's meant to be hilariously cliched. These are a lot of things to tell people to get through for a payoff. But that payoff is so lovely. I want every show to be this show.

That would be... really depressing, what with her whole feminist position.

As a Victor/Vanessa fan, this season has been an absolute dream for me. The shopping trip, the promise that she'd take him out drinking if he gets dumped. Yes. Then came this episode's settee scene and I just about died. They are so beautiful together. I know it's platonic, but I love that, too. I just love watching them be so sweet together. What they have is rather fraternal with a side of teasing on her part, but there's a little frisson because they aren't actually related, and they know it. I think he plays it that he has a kernel of a crush on her but knows it's not going to happen and is totally cool with just being her little bro and friend, and she plays it like she knows and thinks it's cute but it's also not happening. I'm sad Ethan is back in the city, because his country wardrobe was everything. His reaction of "Oh, for fuck's sake" when told that Vanessa had gone off on her own was amazing. I rewound three times. I wonder how many takes Reeve Carney had to do to get the "I've held balls, as you know," line out with a straight face. I laughed hysterically when the group split up into Victor & Lyle, and Ethan & Sembene. Haha, Victor and Lyle are the MOST useless, though adorable. I was half afraid Victor would accidentally shoot Lyle. I have no idea what's going on with Dorian. I have thought all season that he is Lucifer. I thought we found that out last week. I thought the picture was of Lucifer chained up. I thought Brona was his recruit as he builds an army of the dead. I thought it made sense that he is Lucifer, Ethan is the hound, and Vanessa is the bride, because the verbis diablo did say that the three of them would circle one another endlessly, and that's what we've got in a way, with Brona tied up in their chase, what with all of them having fucked. But now it seems like Brona is trying to recruit HIM. I didn't understand at all. I also wanted it a little more explicit when exactly her memory came back and for how long she has been playing dumb for Victor. That entire plotline is so confusing.

I'm not sure the chair will even exist in the end (it could be democracy in the end, or maybe it's all shown to be completely irrelevant), but I do think that Bran represents the side of the living more than anyone else, and that the main point is the battle between life and hope over death and despair. The power struggles and friendships and identity stories and personal loss/joy matter on a character basis, because they represent what life is really about (and that is superlatively important!), but they don't matter on a macro level. On a macro level, it seems to be a story about fire dragons vs. ice zombies. That's right in the title of the book series. But I think, because it is also a story about people and life, maybe it's not quite fire dragons vs. ice zombies. Maybe it's even more macro than that. Maybe it's a story about life vs. death, and the avatars for these forces are necromancers vs. whatever the living-controlling version of a necromancer is (ie., what Bran is). I see the dragons simply as an inevitable tool for the side of the living, not as a beings important in and of themselves. Which is why I don't really see Danaerys's plot as any more important than any of the stuff going on in King's Landing. She's got the dragons, and she's not in Westeros, but her day-to-day plot stuff has not so far been about the macro issues. Bran and Jon (and I supposed Melisandre, but she's got other agendas, too) are the only ones who are so far focused on what truly matters.

They’re the same god. When they met during the Gendry selling debacle, they made it clear that they are both priests of the same thing, from the same school. Melisandre seemed really amazed and (maybe?) a little jealous of the Brother’s powers and connection to the lord to be able to actually bring people back to life. If I remember correctly, he said his backstory was that he was a terrible priest who didn’t really believe and who drank too much, but then Beric died and he was so upset that it just… happened. Melisandre seemed really wowed by this. So I think she might not be nearly as powerful as she wants everyone to believe, but I do think the gods are the same and are for real. I thought it was so interesting that the Brotherhood priest’s power is so much greater because he was motivated by friendship for Beric. He can do great things because of that. Meanwhile, Melisandre doesn’t care about people and burns wee girls alive, and is jealous of the power the Brotherhood priest has. Speaking of motivations and religious fanatics, I’m hoping hoping hoping that is where we are going with the King’s Landing plot. I’m hoping that, at the end of the day, the High Sparrow decides that, even though homosexuality is ‘bad’, falling in love with someone (ie. Renly) isn’t the worst thing you can do. And even though perjury is bad, wanting to save the brother you love isn’t the worst thing. They are spoiled, ambitious brats, but they aren’t bad people. Meanwhile, most of the bad things Cersei has done have come from horrible, terrible motivations. I hope he makes that distinction. But given that the show ACTUALLY burned a little girl alive at the stake this week, I’m not holding my breath for anything good to happen ever. I watched it last night, too, and this is EXACTLY how I felt. To a tee. I was still destroyed, and the most feeling I could summon up about the whole sequence was, “What about Tyrion and Missandei & Co?” Ugh. Also, and this is wholly unfair because it’s all about my own preferences, and nothing to do with the show… But I’ve never really been that interested in the idea of Dany flying her dragons. I know they’re HER dragons, and it was her inevitable Targaryan destiny that we’ve been building to the entire time, but meh. I really like her, and root for her, and love her story, but for non-dragon-riding reasons. She has been playing the pretty princess image for too long for me to think of her like all the awesome histories Shireen and Arya love so much. I know it's a little random, but I am and have only ever been here for Bran flying the dragons. Ever since his paralysis + magic was diagnosed, I’ve been thinking it was even more his destiny than hers somehow. Where we left him last confirmed it. I know he’s offscreen right now training to be able to do it one day, but after the Shireen scene and after last week’s zombie attack, I really could have used a little of the hope that Bran represents. To me, he is the clear savior of the whole story, even though I’m the only one who loves his plot. Olly needs to stop going about glaring forebodingly. He is going to do something terrible to someone I love, I know it. Stop it, Olly. I love Doran. GRRM really loves his cripples, bastards and broken things. They seem to be the only ones with real plot armour, so I’m hoping(!!!) that he will survive at least a little while longer. Absolutely everything else about the entire Dorne plot can go, though. The Sand Snakes are really terrible, acting wise, writing wise, personality wise. I hate them. I think Ellyria would have made more sense if they'd built this aspect of her personality at all last season. I spent a whole season seeing her only as Oberyn's pretty lady, and all of a sudden she's all deadly and... it was like she got a personality lobotomy. I'm still adjusting, a whole season later. Myrcella's actions are and behaviors are totally reasonable, but something about her doesn't fit the show. She feels like she stepped out of Mean Girls and into Westeros. Jamie is just... there. Tristane is fine, but I need to see more. Bronn and Doran are the ones holding this together.

Jorah used to be my favorite. But walking around urban areas with the plague and not telling anyone is super not cool. I actually can't get invested in anything else going on with him because I'm so distracted and horrified by it. Brienne can kill a White Walker! Yay! I hated that the previouslies spoiled Jon's big moment. The second we got that random flashback to Papa Mormont giving him the sword and talking about Valyrian steel, I was like, "Guess Jon's gonna be killing a White Walker today." At least all that endless product placement in the first two seasons about the Valyrian fucking steel was leading to something, but I wish it hadn't been spoiled like that. I love Tormund, but whacking that guy to death was the most extreme instance of gay panic I've ever seen, and I had a raised eyebrow about it. It's fine if he had to kill him, but I would have preferred a different insult to instigate it, maybe? This was all very exciting and everything, but I'm most nervous about some of the absent plots from this week. Speaking of Brienne, I don't know what's going to happen. She wants to save Sansa. But I think Stannis has Sansa's best interests at heart, too. But Brienne hates Stannis. While he's definitely culpable in Renly's death, I really like him (his pedantic grammarian moment a couple of weeks ago made me sing) and I think Melisandre is the real problem. But Brienne has no way of knowing that! I'm MOST worried about my precious sweetpea Shireen. If Stannis sacrifices her, who will spread literacy throughout the land? I'm also worried about Marge and Loras. I love them. I'm hoping (please please please) that they will confess and the high sparrow will not be too harsh with them. Because at the end of the day, while homosexuality is not accepted, what Loras did was out of love. While lying is bad, a sister trying to save her brother is about love. However, what Cersei has done is all objectively terrible and coming from terrible motivations. I hope high sparrow will just make the Tyrells poor or whatever but relatively okay, but that Cersei will get the worst punishment ever. In plotlines I don't care about, yay for no Dorne. I like the prince and I like Bronn's singing, but everything else about that plotline is lackluster. Which is sad, because the awesomeness that was Oberyn made me think it must be the greatest place. Sexy Jaqen is the only thing keeping me from falling asleep in the Arya plot. I'm wondering if the ship gambler plot is going to intersect with Meryn Trant and Papa Tyrell, whom we last saw heading off to Braavos. Meryn is on her hit list for killing Syrio. I think this is a test where Jaqen wants to see if she has given up enough of herself to stay on task and NOT kill Meryn if she sees him? We know she hasn't because she didn't throw Needle away. I really need this plot to be going somewhere, and that's all I can think of. Yes! During the scene, I said out loud, "Fetch me... the comfy chair!"

I thought she quit. They asked her point blank if she was coming back and she said no, she was only there to pick up her stuff. I figured that's why Sousa chose that moment to ask her out. She was no longer a coworker, so it was appropriate in a way it hadn't been before. Peggy's launching into her own thing now. I assumed this is the first step to starting SHIELD with Howard. It's a shame that her decision to leave the SSR was overshadowed narratively by Thompson's douchery and Sousa's crush. Though I did like her telling both herself and Sousa that they don't need other people's validation. That was great. I hope Sousa's smart enough to refuse Howard's offer of help. If we've learned anything this season, it's that Howard's designs are dangerous to your health. I like him, but don't think that ship is going anywhere. If Jarvis really is married, I'd rather have them introduce someone new for Peggy. Atwell played her initial reaction to the date with such surprise and awkwardness. I read the scene as her not actually being interested, but liking Sousa too much as a person to want to let him down hard. And then her smile afterwards was the nice feeling you have that someone really cute and nice likes you, even if you don't feel that way back. It's flattering, that's all. A little too much Howard (even though I love him and the actor), but this was a good finale. I could have done with a teensy bit less of him and a teensy bit more of Peggy with Jarvis or Angie, but I don't really have any complaints. I also liked the return to form for Thompson. I think it's realistic that he would have a relapse into jerkiness. I still think he came a long way during the season, but a few weeks do not correct a lifetime of being a weak person. He has more room to grow in later (hopefully) seasons. D'Arcy and Atwell need to star in everything. They're perfect together. I dream of a PG Wodehouse adaptation with Hiddleston, D'Arcy and Atwell. But The Thin Man would also be perfect. I'll miss this show!

This is exactly how I feel. Sousa is very nice, very handsome, very well-meaning. Zzzzz. I simply cannot care about him. In the past couple of weeks I've really been enjoying his scenes with Thompson. The bit with them and Angie was great. Thompson encouraging Sousa in the elevator was great. I'm invested in their growing friendship. But his interactions with Peggy are pretty dull. I do like the contrast between the two agents who have both slowly come around to Peggy. Sousa is rather sweet on her and has her on a pedestal. Thompson was a simply sexist ass. Both were equally failing to see who she truly was, in different ways. But Jarvis? All the love. He and Peggy are hilarious together. Real friends. He's dorky and vulnerable and earnest. A little useless sometimes, but hey, he wasn't trained for this. I liked that Jarvis's past with forgery came back up.

The last survivor could have been so wounded during the overall mayhem that he only lasted a minute longer than the penultimate survivor.