Paloma

I just started watching this show as a way to pass time on the treadmill, and it's kind of a guilty pleasure. Most of it is cheesy but it does get in some good points, like this one about the greater danger for women in any kind of lawless situation. If anyone is still looking at this thread, do we know why Cassandra was locked in a cage when they found her and how she got there? As far as I can remember, she was not anywhere near the cannibal headquarters.

It was funny but seemed like inconsistent writing because Felix and the gang boss didn't notice anything odd in Wolfgang's behavior. Apparently he was not IRL doing any of the movements that he was doing while making out with Lila at the table, but when Will was kissing Riley in his mind in previous episodes he had his arms "around her" and was making kissing movements with his lips IRL, which resulted in his partner seeing this and asking what he was doing. There have been other examples of the members of the cluster connecting mentally and others seeing and commenting on the resulting odd behavior (such as talking to someone who isn't there). So why didn't Felix and the gang boss see and hear Wolfgang's side of the makeout session? (There was one moment when Wolfgang was in a chair trying to hide his erection, I think, but that was the only time that the others noticed any unusual behavior.) Another question: Why do the BPO technical and/or medical crew wear biohazard suits when they are guarding or handling sensates? Since it is known that the ability is genetic, it presumably can't be passed by physical contact. At first I thought they wore suits to fool any unaware members of the public who saw them going in to get a body, but they wear them even when they are in BPO facilities.

I was confused about the locations because I thought that Will went to London to meet Croome and that he and Jonas were visiting in one of the London train stations. Was that actually the Amsterdam station? In a way it makes sense that Will would set the meeting with Croome in Amsterdam, since that's where he and Riley were living, but it's also risky because it let BPO know where they physically were.

Didn't Sun's lawyer in a the previous episode tell her that the father had given a confession and that she should be out of prison in about a week (not the exact wording, but I thought that was the gist)? So it seems that there would already be some record of the father confessing, which should put the brother under suspicion.

That was what I suspected, that Misaki set the trap or leaked info to let others set a trap. Regardless, I'm with those commenters who think the Zairon story is boring. Adrian did grow on me a little in this episode, but it's still not the same without the original crew (or at least with Six). I couldn't tell from the final scene whether the commander (general or whatever he was) was talking to Six or just watching him as he dictated his report/orders. I really don't see Six being a traitor or bad guy at this point, he seemed to be sincere in wanting to redeem himself by helping people.

The message seems both heavy-handed and confusing in this season. In earlier seasons, when they focused on fewer prisoners, the social commentary was more effective and made me sympathetic to most of the black and Hispanic inmates because they were shown as victims of poverty and the system, while most of the white inmates were there because of stupidity, intentional bad acts committed by privileged people, or "good" reasons such as social protest. I'm still sympathetic to those whose lives are shaped by poverty and unequal opportunity and get caught in the system because they see no other choice, but not every black and Hispanic person who ends up in prison had no other choice (for example, Cindy). I'm also not sympathetic to someone like Aleida who feels entitled to a job and curses out the employer in front of customers for not giving her the job based on nothing but Aleida having nice nails. If this is how she behaves with all potential employers, no wonder she can't get a job. I'm not sure if we are supposed to be sympathetic to her. This is part of the confusion in this season's message. I never liked the Judy King character, but having her treated like a martyr (Nazis forcing her to walk with a cross on her shoulders) and then a slave on a leash was just over the top. Similarly, having the inmates treat the imprisoned guards and warden (most of whom have not been shown to be evil) like animals may be understandable if you think of the Stanford experiment, but it has the effect of making those inmates unsympathetic. It wasn't until near the end of this episode that I remembered that Maria was the one who had her baby taken away, which made me more sympathetic again to her...until she left Caputo and the guard to suffer in the port-a-potties.

The baby's name was Luna Magnusdottir (Magnus' daughter). I think the baby was a few months old based on my quick look at the birth and death dates. But we still don't know how they died, right? Just that Riley felt that it was her fault. Good catch on that, I was just thinking he was a family friend. I should have figured it out when he started talking about Riley's father playing a song when they went to visit, and I think Sven said something about not seeing the point because "they" weren't there anymore. I really need to rewatch these episodes, because it is hard to keep track of the plot and characters after just one watch. Even though the story overall is somewhat fantastic and I understand that you have to suspend disbelief, it takes me out of the story a bit when the writers have people survive attacks that should have killed them. Based on the way the attacks were filmed, both Felix and Kala's future father-in-law should be dead. But then we wouldn't have the touching bedside scenes to advance the plot and connections between sensates.

Is Dr. Matheson (the one who came to Nita's mother's door with the police) the same one whose face was reflected in the mirror when the lobotomized patient killed himself in the last episode after killing Dr. Metzger? And is this Dr. Matheson also the same one who was talking menacingly to Daryl H.'s character in the first episode?

I agree with all this except "she genuinely cares for Lito and Hernando"--I know that is what the show is trying to make us feel now, but her behavior up til now has been mostly selfish, intruding in their personal lives and bed when (at least initially) they obviously did not want her there. And she took photos of them having sex (without their consent) and stored them on her phone, which could have been seen by others even if the phone was not stolen. I would have been more sympathetic to her if the emphasis in previous episodes had been on her hiding from Joaquin because she was terrified instead of her enjoying being their beard and being part of their sex life.

Guess I'm in the minority here, but I'm not a fan of the Lito-Hernando-beard story. Lito is fine as a character, and I liked the twist of him being gay, but I don't like the beard (sorry, I don't remember her name, probably because I don't like her) and get annoyed every time they pause the cluster connection plot to show her pushing herself into the apartment and bed of Lito and Hernando. I guess at this point we're supposed to think that Lito and Hernando are fine with this, but that seems unrealistic because at least initially they both seemed to want to get rid of her (or at least to keep her out of their real personal life). I feel like the relationship as now shown is just intended to please viewers who want more sex scenes. (Yes, I am a prude, and I was also uncomfortable with the orgy scene, although after seeing the comments here I understand the point.) What I'm hoping to get more of is an increasing number of mental connections between the members of the cluster and seeing how they can help each other and also unite to defeat the forces of evil (I'd also like to get a better idea of what those forces are and where Daryl's and Naveen's characters fit in). Aside from that, Will, Sun, and Riley are my favorite characters and I really enjoy seeing them connect with each other as well as with the others.

I kind of liked Alison's character in the previous season (can't remember if she's been in more than one before this), but her flashbacks now seem pointless and irrelevant to the current plot. At least with Frieda you can see a connection to current behavior, but so far I don't see anything in Alison's flashbacks that illuminates her current behavior--maybe because her current behavior isn't particularly unusual (aside from seeming more level-headed and intelligent than many others). Probably the flashbacks are eventually going to show how Alison ended up in prison, but in the context of the riot and so many other characters, it just doesn't seem that important. And I have a really hard time buying that such an intelligent and apparently feminist woman would urge her husband to get another wife (and be fine with it until the other wife made decisions about the child). The flashbacks for Caputo's girlfriend also were unnecessary. We already knew how superficial, selfish, and scheming she was--did we really need to see her sorority days to confirm that? Overall, there were too many flashbacks and ridiculous scenes (such as the talent show and Red and Blanca going through files while on amphetamines or whatever) going on too long. I'll probably watch to the end because my husband likes the show, but I'm mostly bored now.

I agree. Each time I described this show to anyone, I've started with "It takes about 3 episode to really gel (Smart Money is on the Skinny Bitch) and then every episode after the third I finished it saying 'This is my favorite episode.'" By the end of this episode I was in love with the show and all of the core characters. My husband and I started watching this series a few days ago. Found it interesting but not "must watch" until this episode--now I want to binge the season. It helps that "What's Going On" is one of my favorite songs ever (and that's saying a lot because I am old--came of musical age in the 1960s).

Sorry if someone already suggested this upthread, but isn't it possible that the CDC is using "Aleutian flu" as a code name for investigating their suspicions of a zombie epidemic? If they had those suspicions, they would of course keep them secret to avoid creating panic.

I guess I missed (or forgot with all the millions of plot elements) that Natalie was a call girl before she was turned. I was under the impression that Blaine made her become a call girl, but you are probably right.

All great questions and possible answers, but this one raised another possible inconsistency for me. If Natalie was basically a forced zombie call girl and later forced mistress of a zombie, why would they have needed to pay her anything? I can see them keeping her in nice surroundings (as much for the clients' benefit as for hers), but she was presumably being kept prisoner and a sex slave by her need for brains, which is why she wanted to kill herself originally. I just don't see them giving her enough money to save up and travel the world, even assuming she could escape.

Did anyone else notice that Kim showed much more physical affection to Jimmy in this episode than in most or even all previous episodes? We've seen them in bed together but mostly in a companionable, almost platonic way. In the past I've wondered about the lack of even mild physical affection and what it says about their relationship. Maybe Kim's close call with death made her appreciate Jimmy more, especially when she saw him trying to take care of her?

I also can't remember if Vivian mentioned Chase. Are we sure that he is her brother? Could he actually be some Big Bad zombie who blew up the helicopter so he could take claim to be her brother and take over the company? Even if he is her brother, he could still have blown up the helicopter to take over the company--but if he wasn't at the company picnic, when did he become a zombie? Your recap/elaboration makes total sense!

Actually, I think she was just shot with a tranquilizer dart in the neck (not with a gun). Hopefully they will treat her wounds now that they are in "we won't hurt a hair on a clone's head" mode.

I heard Five call her Sarah, and I thought she looked like Marcus's (dead?) love. But even if she is Sarah, I have no idea why she popped up there--maybe Five just briefly touched on Three's memories before getting to Four's and/or her own?

Maybe I imagined this (because there was so much confusing stuff going on), but Major seemed to be talking very differently from his usual manner--almost like he was still a zombie and had eaten the brains of a giddy teenage girl. I think I noticed this most when he was in bed talking to Ravi about the letters, but also at other times in the episode.

He did. We don't know if she's taken it, but we saw him offer her the syringe. Thanks for that reminder. My husband said it was Natalie, but I didn't remember the scene where he gave her the syringe.

Great observation! My high school days are really ancient (1960s) but your post reminded me that there were "good girls" and "sluts" even then (and probably going back to when high school was invented!). In those days the "sluts" were either girlfriends of the "hoods" (vaguely defined, but in general these girls and guys were not interested in school or sports) or girls who got pregnant. I didn't really know who was having sex and who wasn't (other than, obviously, the ones who got pregnant), but most people made assumptions and judgments. The irony is that at least some of the popular "good girls" (cheerleaders, majorettes, etc.) were probably having sex with their boyfriends, but no assumptions and judgments were made about them (to my knowledge). Not that having sex should have been a justification for anyone getting a bad reputation, but this was a pre-feminist time. I am also very sorry that this happened to you, and it makes me wonder if either of the pregnancies that were whispered about in my high school were the result of rape. That would have made the reputation destruction even worse.

No spoilers, but let's just say this is quite early in the tapes. My husband and I sort of felt the same for the first episode or two, but we were hooked by the 3rd or 4th episode.

Apparently (from what the baby delivery doctor said) Sarah clinically was dead for at least a few moments, but they saved her. I guess we are supposed to assume that she is now like the other people who came back from the grave, except that she didn't have to claw her way out of the grave (same as Vic). I don't remember seeing prescriptions for Sarah, but I do remember seeing a lot of meds in the doctor's office cabinet that were (I think) from the company that she was a part of. Elisha seemed to be giving Sarah prenatal care so it's possible she had given her prescriptions for vitamins or possibly other meds. For some reason I don't think that Sarah was meant to be part of the doctor's research, but who knows. A lot of the story doesn't make sense, but my husband and I were still fascinated by it and can't wait for a second season. I just hope they give some explanations. This was my theory but not sure it would explain why Vic and (apparently) Sarah quickly resurrected without being buried first.

I wasn't totally following that either, and it seemed that the resolution was kind of meh. I think the murderer had been looking through the dominatrix's window but not sure how that led to him having a motive to murder.