Penman61

Aren't all circles flat?

My list of questions this finale darn well better answer: Who killed Annie K. and why? Did a slab avalanche really kill the scientists? How did Liz’s partner and child die? Why was Annie’s tongue found at the Tsalal facility? What did all the “She’s awake!” warnings mean? What happened to Raymond Clark and why was he having that seizure in Ep 1? Why the caribou mass suicide? Folded clothes? WTF with the rolling oranges?!?

Just imagining Maisie Williams being told by her agent about this new series about Dior and Chanel and post-war French fashion and couture: Maisie: "This show sounds great! Would be a relief to get away from all that torture and rape and violence in Game of Thrones..." [Reads first page of The New Look script.] Maisie, grumbling: "Seven hells..."

LOL I'm embarrassed to say that this didn't occur to me; I was careening ahead on a sled made of dudgeon. You might be right! :) I'd have to look at the scene again, but I guess I'd wonder why there wasn't any pushback, i.e., "Well, that's Anchorage's story, and we know it's bs" or whatever. Also, ISTR Liz accepting the avalanche explanation pretty convincingly? Need to rewatch...

That's fine, but slab avalanches don't happen IN FLAT AREAS, which is clearly where the scientists were found. Also, like other avalanches, there would have been plenty of obvious recent evidence that an AVALANCHE had just happened; they even have a geology teacher to help with that. Also, an avalanche would NOT have resulted in the corpsicle; the bodies would have been strewn AWAY from each other, not intertwined like they were playing Arctic Twister. Finally, did the victims have time to REMOVE AND CAREFULLY FOLD THEIR CLOTHES as the avalanche approached? I’m all-capping here because I'm getting frustrated with this show's writers not doing their one job: Make me suspend my disbelief. It's just lazy, and I guess they're counting on us not paying attention...to a crime mystery story. <sigh>

When I was growing up in Alaska decades ago, straight single women had a response when told that (very real) way-more-men-than-women ratio: Yes, the odds are good--but the goods are odd. Grateful this episode picked up the plot pacing, but I am disappointed that it looks like the scientists' death is going to be attributed to a "slab avalanche," which is apparently a loose translation of deus ex machina. I'm not Googling, and I've never heard of such a thing, but ok, fine. Yet another creepy, evocative setup with a fairly pedestrian/made-up payoff. Jodie Foster is just amazing in this. Kali Reis' part is equally if not more meaty, and though she is often competent, she is not up to this role's range and depth, which, admittedly, asks a lot of an actor. I wish she were, because her character is the core of this show.

There's a long TV history of "They're making a documentary of us!" episodes, going back to at least M*A*S*H. And I'm disposed to appreciate the attempt to give us a very different view of characters/situations we know. But this didn't work for me. First, they way overdid characters shouting "Are you filming this? Stop filming this!!" I mean, once, maybe twice, but multiple times in multiple ways? It's just lazy writing and strains credulity. Also: The line "the only thing unforgivable is deliberate cruelty" is Blanche from "A Streetcar Named Desire," by Tennessee Williams, so I don't know why this show is acting like Capote wrote/said it. Perhaps I missed a moment? Or did Williams steal it from Capote?

Google says you’re correct. I’ll fix my post. :) And to be clear, Max will STREAM ep5 early, this Friday. Cable Max shows ep5 at its regular Sunday night slot.

Lol this show is getting worse…AND now we’ll have to wait even longer to find out just how shitty it gets? Correction: Ep 5 streams early this Friday 2/9, not in 2 weeks.

I haven’t pinpointed the problems, but these last 2 eps are losing me, and I want to like this show. I feel like story/character beats are repeating already, that we’re going too deep and wide on the supernatural stuff, and that no satisfyingly plausible explanation for all this will be possible, esp with just 2 episodes left.

Yup, I thought that gesture was both maternally-intended AND inappropriate from a boss.

I think this is possible, and I really hope you're right, because if it was real, that is just outright demon possession shit that is beneath this show.

That last 10 minutes turned into True Detective: The Exorcist Blair Witch Project Heretic.

Seems like it should/will be a bigger deal that Pete found that the Tsalal research station is being funded by a company named…Tuttle. Season 1’s cult was headed by a man/company named…Tuttle. This, together with Travis Cohle being Rust Cohle’s dad, makes me think S1 and S4 will be materially connected (rather than merely connected at a more abstract level, e.g. spiral motif).

No. In Ep1 we saw Navarro walk up to Annie’s body next to the shipping containers as she described the condition of the body in voiceover. My guess is that what we saw in the trailer was a life-size effigy of Annie made by Clark after her death, for some mystical/grieving/voodoo purpose.