WearyTraveler

Good read! The things that got my attention: This must be so nerve racking for an actor! I think this is an interesting take on the character. Not that I condone killing another human being, but it seems that for Doug, killing Rachel served two purposes: to eliminate the temptation of an addiction and to get back into Frank's inner circle. I got the second one quite easily from the show and Doug's arc in the three seasons that have aired, but the addiction thing wasn't so clear to me. Now that he verbalizes it, I see it. LOL! So much this! I enjoy watching the character and Michael Kelly's performance, but I wouldn't want a Doug Stamper anywhere near me. Who are these people?! This is scary and sad at the same time.

I liked TH's character telling Barb she used to scare him, but that she doesn't anymore. That felt like a subtle turning point for the character. Still not interested in the little princess whose life is so hard, boo-hoo. /end sarcasm. After tonight's revelations, she might actually be the character I dislike the most. Barb is awful, but I sort of see how she became that way. Russ was a drunk, he went to prison, they lost their house and she had to raise her children on her own. That could not have been easy. Then she loses her youngest to a horrific murder. She's a racist and a horrible person, but I can see how she became that way. Not that it is an excuse, but I see the progression of her life into what she is now. Not to mention she is grieving in a very unhealthy way, keeping it all inside, very controlled. Russ is an alcoholic, he started as a man completely defeated, but he is on an upward arc right now. He is working on staying sober, grieved his son, and even though he started as a beaten down, kind of gutless man, facing Barb in this episode felt like a turning point. Matt's wife parents are not too bad. They are obviously in pain and their actions seem driven by that. The mom wants to focus on her daughter and forget everything else, the dad feels useless and wants to understand. Both are very common coping mechanisms when faced with such adversities. I think the easier characters to understand are the Mexican American family. The dad wants to be American and doesn't want to be "lumped in" with the Mexican population that makes the news (illegal, gang members, etc.). He doesn't want his children to be discriminated and is a bit overzealous and protective. His children are typical teens: fragile, rebellious, proud, and risk averse. The junkies are another matter. According to the information in today's episode, they are not a product of their environment. The girl might have had it rough before she was fostered or adopted (they didn't specify which) by the rich family, but she is apparently loved by them, even though she takes extreme pains reminding her foster/adopted father that they are not her parents. She had everything and threw it away. Unless they give me a compelling reason for her being such a screw up, I can't sympathize with her character. Not even a little bit. Also, the way she vehemently affirmed that the boyfriend had nothing to do with the murder makes me suspect that she was the one that did it. If so, the fact that she's out on parole, and was basically just given a pat on the wrist might be the show's way to portray the inherent white bias in the American justice system. The boyfriend had a job and a stable life, and he also left all of that for drugs and a piece of tail. Talk about stupid. If he's also knowingly taking the rap for the girlfriend, well, he deserves everything he gets for being such a moron. I get not being happy with your life and making a change, but changing for the worse? Can't sympathize with that either. I find the psychological motivations of the characters interesting. And, yes, it's a bit dark and depressing, but I think sometimes life is that way for many, many people. I can deal with a dark show since there are other, much lighter, programs out there to balance it all out.

Don't judge me: Jack Shephard from Lost. I know a lot of people didn't like him, but I identified with many of the character's struggles because of things that were happening in my personal life at the time. So, that was it for me. No one has pulled me in like Jack.

I'm hoping it's roaches, tons and tons of roaches!

Well, I like Alan. Yes, he gets on a high horse sometimes, but he's a good guy trying to do the right thing, so I root for him. I like Kyle too (but that may be because I liked the actor a lot when I first saw him on a series called Jack & Bobby). I don't particularly like the women doctors (Julia and Sarah), and I think it's because I don't like some of the acting choices the performers pick for certain scenes. Mainly it's the way they move their mouths when they speak, there's something weird about it for me. All the new people from this season haven't been on long enough for me to make any connection to them. Amy is crazy, so is Anne, apparently. Soren is cute, but a bit too innocent (bordering on stupid for me), and Caleb is still a mystery, so, I don't know how to feel about him. But most of all, I kind of like the mindfuckery of it all. I do confess I have only felt a true emotional connection with only one fictional character in television and I watch a lot of television. Never before, and never after, but that show is done, so, now I watch TV to either be mindlessly entertained or as an intellectual exercise. The latter may include things like: let's see how much worse they can screw this show, or, in the case of Helix, let's see how much crazier this thing gets.

That's what I heard too. Maybe it was a typo from the OP?

True, but if they screwed anything up it was Soren's line of "we" because his health was a big deal in the first 4 episodes and his recovery was a major development. So, I don't think they would make him sick now. No. Amy said Michael had tried to grow other fetuses in that jar because he was trying to separate the women from their babies so that they wouldn't have any emotional attachment to their children. She also said the process always failed. Also, in this episode Sarah herself said to Julia that she (Sarah) would find a way to make her baby grow. So, if Amy had said the baby could grow in the jar Sarah wouldn't have to find a way, she'd already have it. Also, if Sarah, who has seen the size of the fetus in the jar, thought that the size was supposed to be smaller, she would have realized that the fetus had actually grown in the jar and, again, she wouldn't need to find a way to make the baby grow. I don't know either. Julia could be planning to kill Amy during surgery or pretend to do it when she doesn't. I don't even know how they would attempt implantation. That baby is so large that a regular implantation as they do in fertility clinics is out of the question. They would need to cut her open, and for that, she needs to be under (or at least heavily sedated). Maybe she's trying to buy some time until Balleseros comes back (she doesn't know that he followed Landry down the bell tower). Which begs the question, why hasn't Julia asked Amy where Balleseros is? Julia asked him to follow her and then told Sarah to give him time because he was good at his job. Now Amy is back and Balleseros is nowhere in sight, doesn't she wonder what happened to him? And given that Amy had been so paranoid about Sarah when they were doing the spinal transplant (with reason as Sarah was planning on doing something with that extra syringe she had ready to go with that plant substance she got from Michael's greenhouse), how is she planning to keep tabs on Julia during surgery? Will she hide Mother and only reveal its location when she's out of surgery? Will she have her loyal minion (Soren's mom) supervising the procedure? This show is great, flaws and all, I can't wait to see what crazy shit goes down next.

Unpopular opinion: I don't think Dempsey is hot (please don't shoot me!)

About the sap, Soren told Kyle: "We need it so we don't get more sick." But Soren continues to be the same innocent child he was at the Abby, and he doesn't seem to know all the facts, which are as follows: 1) Soren was completely cured before he was kicked out of the Abby. Peter, Kyle and Sarah confirmed that. They were desperately trying to find Soren because they though he would be key to finding a cure, since he was the only person who survived the virus. Sarah even tried to trick Soren's mother with a fake teddy bear, hoping that she would help her find him. 2) The mycotic woman who was part of the duo holding Kyle captive in the shack in the woods told Kyle that they don't eat their own. They ate Soren's eye, so Soren is not "their own", and they also threatened to eat more of him if he didn't help capture Kyle. The mycotics might have told Soren he needed the sap so he wouldn't get sick again, or Soren could think he's still sick because they kicked him out of the Abby, but Soren is not sick at all. _______________________________ In other news, there are now two possibilities for Immortaletus to come to term and actually be born to lately be on the island helping Julia: Being implanted in Amy's uterus (they'll say her mortal DNA is the cause of his growth, which is not how DNA works, but actual science has no place in science-fiction, he. he!). Sarah accepts Julia's offer of having her own lab with unlimited funding so she can find a way for making her baby grow, but she demands to stay on the island with Alan (which is why Julia was looking for clues left to her by Alan when she goes back to the island 30 years later). _______________________________ Questions: Does anybody here think that the baby Anne picks up in the basement of horrors is immortal? Could Michael have finally found what he wanted just before he was imprisoned in cement for 30 years? How ironic would it be that he was killed without knowing that all his "work" had finally paid off? Could this new baby and not Sarah's immortaletus be Caleb? _______________________________ Shenanigans: There's no way Sarah's fetus is that big if he became immortal when she did. She'd had sex with Alan only a few days before she got the immortal juice from Julia. The "baby" at that stage was nothing more than a ball of cells!

That seems to be the case, yes.

Yes, the presence of semen is not an indication of rape, it gets there by having regular intercourse too. I think the initial thought was rape because it was a murder scene, but after the autopsy, the coroner might have said he couldn't affirmed for sure she'd been raped since there was no internal bruising and other signs that point to rape. The fact she had several samples of DNA inside her without bruising/other damage would point to her having consensual sex with several people. Nevertheless, there's always the possibility she was subdued with a drug, in which case, signs of bruising could be avoided, but I guess the coroner found no evidence of that either.

I like Silverstorm's idea of hotlinking the chapter discussion at the top. I also support Holmbo's idea of doing away with the spoiler tags. The original idea was to do a re-read, so we can discuss the events in light of what we already know, so, having to spoiler tag that defeats the original purpose of the thread as a re-read, in my opinion. What does everyone else think? On the chapter, I loved the first few chapters when everyone was so innocent and things were, for the most part, clear-cut. There were rules and people followed them, and the good guys (i.e. Ned) were on top. Sniff!

Soren doesn't need the sap. He was the only one who recovered from the virus naturally. So he was completely healthy when Landry locked him out of the Abby. That's why the infected couple took his eye and ate it. He was healthy. If he had been infected the couple wouldn't have eaten any part of him. Kyle drank the honey so the couple wouldn't eat him because they revealed they don't eat infected people. Anne cut the umbilical cord, not the placenta.

Man, that was freakyyyy!

I would would say that none of the following are mandatory for a super hero: A mask (see Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Wonder Twins) Tights, spandex, Lycra (see Ironman, Professor X, Hulk, The Shadow) Clothes in primary colors (see Green Lantern, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spawn) A human alter ego (see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Thundercats, The New Gods, Silver Surfer) I think the two things that are absolutely required for a superhero are: A super power Context Stan Lee, who I think is probably one of the world's foremost authority on superheroes explains it much better here: On Super Powers: On Context: It's interesting that in the article he also mentions that a superhero doesn't really need a costume, but that they are more popular when they are wearing one. I think the biggest thing that was missing from the bottom looks this week was context. Neither Stephanie, nor Emily had really figured out the "world" of their characters, and so their stories were weak, landing them in the bottom. I like Emily and was sad to see her in bottom looks, but I've been thinking a lot about this and I don't think it was done solely because the judges wanted to give her a wake up call. Her wig and costume were not that good. Her make up was exquisite, but the rest of the costume wasn't. One could argue that other contestants deemed to be in the middle also had weak stories but their costumes, fabrications and prosthetics were pretty decent. Emily had a great make up, but her fabrication and costume were a green mess. So, based on the technical merits of the challenge, I do think she deserved to be in the bottom. In any case, I'm super glad she didn't go home, but I knew she was in no danger, given the horrible job Stephanie did. I wish this show would define the parameters of the challenge better for the audience. I suspect that they do something similar to Top Chef where more specific instructions are given to the participants behind cameras, with detailed briefs on what they can or can't do. Most of this gets cut out of the episode due to time constraints (they only have 40 something minutes per show and most people aren't really entertained by someone explaining a long list of rules). I say this because I don't know how to feel about the contestants that went the anti-hero route. In my mind, that's not a superhero, that's why they have a separate noun. Same thing with super villain. But those people landed in the middle this week, which makes me think that the rules were leaning more toward a "character that could hail from a superhero story" than a "superhero as defined by Stan Lee" (and most people, really). As Stan Lee notes in the article I linked, if you have a super power and use it for evil, then you are a super villain, not a superhero.

We have seen Lucious commit two murders: The one that sent Cookie to prison and Bunky. In these last two episodes, whenever the show had scenes with the Lyons before Cookie went to jail Lucious was wearing the doo rag and Cookie had blonde wigs. When they interrogated blonde haired Cookie, they asked her to point the finger at Lucious and she said no. In the present time they ask her again to point the finger at Lucious, this time for killing Bunky, and she says no again. Two different murders separated by 17 years (the time Cookie spent in prison), but she still won't rat him out.

Well, where's the party at?

Well, it's not unheard off. Tracing a GPS mobile phone is accurate as long as there are enough cell towers in the area to triangulate the signal. The way it works, at least three cell towers are required (hence the term triangulate) to give an accurate location. In rural areas, there might be two, and sometimes only one cell tower, it depends on how much coverage the carrier (the cell phone company) has in that area. If there are three towers, they can pinpoint your location within a few feet; the less towers, the more inaccurate the location will be. Generally, with two towers, you can pinpoint a location within 1,000 feet, with one tower, it's even worse. Mobile phones have GPS, but because you are with one company, the phone will not send signals to other towers in the area, only to the ones put there by your phone company. In the case of your device, the company that provides it probably has agreements with phone companies and they can use their towers, allowing the company to trace you from more towers than a regular phone would. They do this by putting their receivers in the existing towers of all the cell phone companies. Hope that makes sense.

I wouldn't say the power behind the throne, but Doug certainly was the man Frank went to for those really messy tasks he didn't / couldn't do himself. Like killing Rachel. We have seen Frank commit two murders, but in those occasions, in spite of being a high ranking government official, he didn't have a 24/7 security detail. Now that he is the president he can't simply sneak out, shake off the Secret Service, and push someone into an oncoming train. So, I guess he really does need Doug more than ever. Doug is also the man that gets the dirt on people. He had the time and the abilities to find the skeleton in the closets of all of Frank's rivals. This season, we haven't seen anybody on Frank's staff who could / would do that for him.

Bold and numbers are mine, so I can orderly address these points in your post without having to quote every sentence separately. (1) There are no serial killers on this show. You can say that Frank, Claire and Stamper are sociopaths, as they exhibit many of the traits of the condition, but no one on this show is a serial killer. According to the FBI a serial murder is "The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events.". Since Doug has only killed one person, the term serial does not apply to him. As for the stalking, I'd say it was more prominent last season than this season. (2) I think that when it comes to murder, this is an equal opportunity show. Frank killed Russo in season 1 and Russo was a white male in his early forties (maybe late thirties). I believe the point being made with these killings is different from the types of shows you mention because the goal is not to portray a serial killer, or show murders in every episode. The point is the lengths people will go to for power, which includes destroying people, manipulating people, lying, and in its most extreme form, murder. In this case Doug knew that unless he killed Rachel for good, he was never going to get into Frank's graces ever again. He was supposed to have dealt with that situation last season and he didn't. It almost cost him his life. As long as Rachel is somewhere out there, she can change her mind and destroy Frank. If Doug goes back to Frank without killing Rachel he has two options, he either tells Frank that Rachel is alive, which Frank will not approve; or he lies and says he killed her, which places Doug in a constant risk. The moment Rachel resurfaces again and Frank discovers the lie Doug is done. (3) Yes there are. Men and women, I suppose. (4) Yes. Doug is absolutely vile.

That final shot bit sounds interesting. I too hope it's true!

I don't think anyone puts significant weight on E! Online polls. Internet polls are inherently unreliable and not representative of the entire audience to begin with, and E! polls have been hacked more times than I can remember. That said, I'll go vote a few times (even though the concept of shipping really doesn't appeal to me at all, never has) just 'cause I like you guys and you're asking nicely :D

Ooops! I think you might be missing a word between "the" and "hours"! (although I guess we can deduce the general tone of the missing word ;-) )

I think that's exactly what she was implying. Then I read ScyFy's episode recap and it said: "Dream Doreen returns to ask him why he's got a wild hair about Kyle (and to imply Kyle is Alan's son), and then Winger brings him around." On a side note, the episode recaps on Syfy.com are a hoot. Also, they have some additional content in the Acces Granted link at the top where we can see Claire Wallenburg's emails and private documents/videos (she's the Ilaria lady that cooked coq au vine for Julia and old her about Mademoiselle Durant), including her chicken reipe. LOL! I can't see the videos because I'm outside the US, but if someone here is inclined to watch and let us now if there's anything interesting there, it'd be appreciated. They add more content to this section after the episode airs.

I think a thread by chapter might be too much. Perhaps we should try a thread per book. If we stick to one chapter a week, I think we might avoid discussion overlap. We can always ask whoever is posting to try to keep the discussion on the current chapter.