Ottis

Those bastards!

They will replace the 12 with another, and another? Isn’t he a founding member? How would Caroline know what would happen?

I didn’t know that was supposed to be Konstantine until he laughed. I guessed young Caroline right off. The 12 is becoming less impressive by the episode. And Eve is like a pretend assassin. The charm has worn off.

South Park is wonderful when it is at its best. And surprisingly insightful. The show is slowly rounding into form, now that Clown Jesus is dead.

Been binging all seasons. This ep was weird. Different tone, characters acting different. Really don’t like imaginary Jesus, not because religion but it’s just silly.

I was so confused by this. I kept thinking it had to be someone else’s phone.

Coming in years later… as I start season 3, what you describe seems to be the point of the show. We’re mostly waiting to seen if Eve breaks bad.

Given what's currently going on IRL in terms of conflict, it's hard to fault the show's perspective about war and humanity's long-term future. If I understand this ep correctly, the baddie corporations provoked a global war so that its vaults and vault experiments would be the only side to survive ... eventually. That's a colossal, horrible solution. And I'm not sure I understand it. if corporations are constructed to make money, how would they make money by destroying the world and then turning lose a relative handful of survivors? Corporations aren't about winning. They are about profit. There were scientists, sure, and part of the deal was mankind could perfect progress over long periods of time, but scientists don't run corporations. It feels like we are missing a piece, maybe a military with the philosophy that all other factions should die, who takes over a corporate vault project. Or causes it to move forward unexpectedly. Maximus is the dumbest character on the show. Frontally attacking someone in the knight armor, which you know inside and out? Maybe pull the fusion core? Pretty much all of his decisions in the show were poor ones, though he showed an ethical side. Still, he seems way older than a squire should be. Overall, I enjoyed the show even as it was continuously depressing. The production values were excellent. And the overarching message was starting to come together, though not quite there. Anyone know how the show is doing in terms of viewers? Not a lot of comments here, yet.

I wasn’t laughing the moment every skit started, like Gosling, so I found the constant breaking annoying after 2-3 skits. It was warranted in Beavis & Butt-Head, especially if the make up was a surprise. So that was Chris Stapleton? I thought it was Luke Combs. How many country clones are there? I skipped the music, because country. I almost skipped the “Get the Boy Back” film because country, but watched long enough to see the clever shoes-too-small line and was intrigued. It was actually pretty amusing but I wish they had used a different musical genre that was more verbally legible. It was definitely redneck night, with that, George and the divorced woman skit, Jane Ann and the aliens and the music. Caitlyn Clark did well. I don’t understand the humor of the guys speaking in exaggerated Latino accents, listing things that loosely go together. They have done that skit several times and it goes on and on.

Anyone here watching the show with no knowledge of the game(s)? Wondering whether the show appeals to those who aren’t enjoying the game(s) come to life. The show is certainly disturbing. I do wish we had more prewar scenes, to better understand society before “fallout.” It probably was just as bad, in less obvious ways. Lucy is very capable. Other vault people seem much less so. Was being capable her official role? Or is she Gomer Pyle-ing her way to success?

Wow, only 2 comments? This show is better than that. Yeah, agree that Coop being the inspiration for the logo was a nice connection. This show is beginning to resemble my issue with the game… it’s just depressing. Not as funny as Borderlands.

I thought the music was intrusive in ep 1, and it continues to be. Goggins is great in anything, and continues to be awesome here. So fun to see a little SOA and East Bound and Down and then Lost with the other guy. Does Lucy have a lip piercing or an injury? It’s distracting. I played Fallout years ago and all I remember is that it was so depressing I quit playing after a while. And swamps. Lots of swamps.

I only watch this show about every 18 months, but I saw that ep and thought, "Is this a repeat? Haven't we seen both of those things before?" I don't think it is character-specific. The show has been on a while, and we have seen about all the permutations we can see from this group of people.

Well, it was better than a political skit. The problem was they chose a topic whose point was no one cared about that topic, so it seemed meaningless both in meta and IRL. A younger person in our house pointed out that Raye had performed a different arrangement on SNL of her songs, and played for us the original. This made me doubly impressed with Raye, because the originals sounded like another Cardi B/Rihanna clone and the SNL performances were much more unique and gorgeous.

That was bad. Back to Michael being the snowflake hero with all the answers … except having a ship tracker on her when she needed it. Kind of used to this, but for a brief bit back in the Pike season it disappeared, and that season was so good. And Book is back. Meh. Lots of childish action scenes and space chases. Guess it became a kids’ show. Mrs. Ottis said it is now like Star Wars. That split screen was embarrassing. This is like watching Dune andPaul and the Baron have a pod race in the desert. Tonally very off for Star Trek and as embarrassing as the Chris Pine movie space cycle thing.. And with all that, still mostly boring. "Get the McGuffin! It matters - trust us!"

May I suggest that going down this path, and all the paths that demand this show adhere to scientific principles, is a waste of energy. I thought the same thing you did as they whisked Saul to a plane (and BTW, why were the security guys ringed around the plane facing inwards, not outwards?) ... and then the show made an effort by depicting military planes escorting the plane Saul was on. Does that fix everything? No. But it recognized the risk and made a token effort to address it, and the story continued. [BTW, did what happened to Rich Guy's plane actually happen, or was it just what the San-Ti wanted him to see?]. It's more fun, and less frustrating, to step back and enjoy the bigger picture. Which is, as I posted after the first or second ep, a sort of Ender's Game. Select people are being tested to see if they are humanity's champions. Are they? Not even they know. But let the tests begin! Then add some Foundation-style, long-term vision. BTW, a key point is that for most of this plot to work, we have to accept that the San-Ti, for whatever reason, are very, very, VERY freaked out by lying, and never do it themselves, hence their clear and obvious actions like trying to take out Saul as soon as he leaves the UN, which we bugs all saw coming as soon as he walked away from the auditorium. Heck yeah! That's the whackiness I'm beginning to enjoy. Jin's boyfriend is breathtakingly cynical. if he truly believes Will's brain is dead, then he must also believe the entire project is a waste of time and resources ... and yet he is part of it. He wants glory. if he thinks this is a waste of time, he wouldn't stick around to be part of failure. I can see why Jin is done with him. As a viewer, of course I want Will to still be Will in space. That's nutso, so yeah, let's see it. Let's see Will on a mechanical San-Ti body. If this is all a feint, bummer. Maybe the San-Ti are indeed closer and will yet find him. I still wonder if the aliens who create the interface are the same San-Ti who are on their way. Could be that card found in the RV should be taken as face value... the "one of us who survives" IS about that San-Ti. OR, it could be that they are fooling the woman and she is actually being sucked into a game by a different alien or perhaps San-Ti faction. And what's with all the news stories on cicadas? Are those bugs going to teach us bugs something? ADD: I wrote that before the final few minutes. Yeah, I guess the message is, bugs can thrive.

Well, maybe. Plenty of time for the video game to reappear. The pacing has changed on that while we focus on other stuff. As for the San-Ti ceasing stopping human science, that was explained. Twice, really. First, the San-Ti are so freaked out by the concept of lying, they decided it was safer to cut off all connections with humans than to continue to stay connected to hinder human science. In this ep, it looks like the San Ti might be tentatively regrouping with a smaller, focused effort. Second, it may be this is all part of the San-Ti’s plan, including allowing science to continue, because they are curious about what they will learn from the frozen head. At this point, I’m going with it because I want to see how weird it can get. Cancer Guy didn’t get a miracle cure offer from the San-Ti as I predicted, but he got the next best thing. I really didn’t get the “buy a star” thing. Aside from any practical use, why would any government or (alien) species recognize that? It had a fancy office and everything, so it wasn’t just an online scam.

They are putting a lot of weight, A LOT, on the fact the San-Ti won't arrive for 400 years. It is said 4-5 times an episode. I wonder if we discover they left 397 years ago. Bingo. I feel like I've been suckered, drawn in by an interesting story about science and aliens and the future - and left with "characters" and the boring old "how will people react to knowing about the end of the world?" Lost was like this. The first season set up a fascinating and mysterious world, and then before the second season the producers started talking about how it would "focus on characters." It was never as good, and ended badly. If it turns out this whole premise is a long con to bring the world together before we destroy ourselves ... barf. "I'm not designing a weapon?" How ignorant can you be of actual history?

I'm not convinced that the aliens on the way to Earth ("Our Lord") are the same aliens/party who made the video game interfaces. I may just be stupid. LOL. Yes, there had to be 20 different, simpler ways to get that data disk. I admire the show for wanting to give us that visual, which was awesome. But I was chuckling for a lot of it because it was such an over-the-top solution. I actually liked it, because it is part of the whole "who really are the good guys here?" theme. I sure as heck can't tell, yet. Maybe humans are indeed no longer capable of rising above our limitations. Or maybe the aliens suck. Or maybe the guys with the nanofiber are acting like good guys but are not ... maybe they just work for other aliens. I really don't know. It feels like the guy with cancer is going to be tempted by a miracle cure soon, to help one side or the other. And the money will be key. I'm really enjoying the visuals and way this show is shot overall. The scene on the beach, the canal, the video game, all really drew me in.

This is all sounding like an allegory to politics in the US, where the blinded fanatics are steering us toward catastrophe. They aren’t able to see the crash coming because they are too focused on their personal beliefs. We will all pay the price. Still, I’m not sure, yet, who to root for on the show. They all kind of suck. The Santi-fans don’t seem to have a problem with calling aliens a deity, which is incongruous with what they say about the role of science. At least they seem to have time to fight. Unless that was a lie. Ha, maybe the Santi do lie, and they ate almost at Earth. If there is a Santi.

Typical precocious logic … Auggie tells her pal she saw the numbers again after restarting her equipment, but doesn’t tell him she was threatened with deportation if she doesn’t. That leaves him to think she is nuts. Irritating. Thankfully someone in the game figured out they could skip through stable eras as well. Not sure how saving the planet and saving the people are two different things in the game. I assume the gravitational death also affected anything else on the planet that wasn’t tied down. I do get it is an analogy for the aliens. And it does seem to be aliens. Kind of a bummer. Would have preferred something human-based. Jack was kind of a jack ass at the end. Guess he learned. Now this is Ender’s Game combined with Squid Games, with a bit of Independence Day.

Yes, it definitely feels like we have factions who are either for or against aliens arriving, and the game is someone’s attempt to see if humans can solve a problem related to being able to stop it. A bit like Ender’s Game. Choosing to help aliens conquer your planet because you have had a bad life is so millennial. I didn’t know this was a book, but I can see how it would appeal to that audience. As would the silly Oxford chain smokers, who need to get their heads out of their asses. The suicides puzzle me. Are the scientists all similarly weak enough so that instead of trying to fight what they think is coming, they give up in despair? Very dramatic, and again, very millennial. A big departure from decades of sci-fi that focuses on the hero scientist trying to save the world. I hope there is some other reason for the suicides. Love the visuals in the video game world, and the parallels between it and real life on the show. And I like the investigating officer, who doesn’t give an F. He’s doing his job.

Part of the reason is, all the Western characters are annoyingly precocious and self-aware. Me, me, me, all the time. Except for the older people, who die. Maybe they, too, can’t stand the other characters. As a result, I don't care if all of them die in whatever the countdown is for. As for the overall mystery, it seems like antiintellectuals have found a way to make everyone else dumber. We face enough of that IRL. I’ll give it a couple of eps. An add after finishing this ep: Yhe storytelling got silly at the end. It would have been far better if only the two whiny scientists saw the winking and not the whole world. They could have gone to bed and watched the news the next morning. Also, an “enemy.” I hope it isn’t aliens, but instead is some sort of time traveling human source wanting to change human development. Aliens are boring within this science construct.

Not sure what a "strong chance" is, but I think moderates and independents will help Biden win myself. I don't mean that to be political. I always assumed SNL, like a lot of TV, was more left, but I don't know much about Lorne M ... is he right? Because I agree that in this ep, they then took some actual shots at Biden in WU that were far more cutting than the Trump skit. I did enjoy the coach/kitty litter skit, because it reminded me of the Rex Ryan and his wife's feet dust up a few years back. Plus, Keenan makes things funny they likely wouldn't be funny without him.

Around episode 11 I started losing interest. It has become a swirl of this faction and that faction, first wanting one thing and then wanting an opposite thing. Egor runs away, then he comes back, then he runs away. Safronov likes Arisa, then is mad at her, then likes her. They want to destroy Arisa, then they want her to do something, then they want to destroy her again. The fake cop kills a real cop, then is almost caught, then fools them again. "The Liquidators" do this heist and that heist but never accomplish much. I got tired of keeping track. I just wish the sorry would move forward and conclude. The one thing that had stood out to me, and it really shouldn't because I have traveled around the world but not to Russia, is how modern Russia seems in this. I expected a lot more traditional stuff, even in a sci-fi show.