KDeFlane

Thank you, fellow theorists. I live for these discussions. Some of my many (conflicting) thoughts so far: - After the first ep, I was thinking people were being put into a coma before being brought to the town, which would account for those thinking it was still 1999. Then, because Kate has aged by a decade since Ethan last saw her, I surmised that Ethan himself was put in a coma for those years. His thinking that it is 2014 is also wrong, and this portion of the story is taking place in our *future*. - Meanwhile, back in the Seattle scenes, it is 2014 and Ethan has just disappeared. This would explain why the wife is not getting his messages, if he's in a coma "now". When he's awakened in 2025 and starts leaving messages, her phone has been redirected to a dead voicemail account. - I'm also entertaining all of the other theories about this being Ethan's unconcious mind keeping occupied while he's in a coma from a simple car accident. Vanilla Sky gets fairly trippy along the way. - Or, Ethan's mind has been uploaded to The Matrix. We have the Wayward Pines Hotel, Wayward Pines Sanitation (on the dumpster), etc., which feels very much like City Waste, City Phone, even "Heart o' the City" hotel from the movie. Virtual Reality could explain the lack of detail on tombstones. - How about implanted memories as in "Total Recall"? Rather nice fantasy to be a Secret Agent, er, Secret Service Man, with a dash of paranoia. (I'm not strongly in favor of this one.) - It's not Purgatory. Back in the days of LOST, we had a website devoted to uploaded freeze-frame screen grabs. That would be handy for shots of the map and to compare scenes. (I still swear that wall above the piano in the Biergarten changes. When Beverly is working there in the 2nd ep, the mirror is gone and it's back to having framed photographs.)

It was the same car. He had bashed out the rear side window -- always a good idea if you don't want to sit in broken glass in the driver seat -- and that same window was missing when the sheriff aimed the flashlight at the driver's window which then rolled down. (and now I have watched this episode four times, still finding fascinating details!) Did y'all notice the snowglobe on the sheriff's desk? I don't think it's a clue, just a cute way to wink at the audience, I say. Oh, and the "Biergarten" bar where Ethan meets Beverly? It had 6 framed photographs of mountain scenery on the wall above an upright piano that night, but when he returns (the next day?) and confronts the guy who works there, it is now a large mirror above the piano. Those kinds of details pass right by me even on a 2nd viewing. I LOVE this kind of show!

to be honest, I didn't catch the similarity myself, even on my 3rd viewing (altho i wasn't listening for that specifically). Things that intrigue me: * The bartender identified Ethan as subject # 10-16-28 (month-day-year??) * Beverly rattled off some dates implying next week is October 22nd * Kate's home mailbox name is Ballinger (misspelled on IMDB?) * A brief shot in town shows Ballinger's Toy store -- reminds me of the opening credits Things which bugged me: * He doesn't try to use the phone booth which is prominently located on the street? * Why is the camera so focused on the water on the floor in the hospital hallway? It's raining outside, she came in wearing a wet raincoat, so what? Are we to suspect she already walked down that hall? *shrug* Overall, I want this to be a show I *NEED* to watch multiple times, to pick up clues and/or Easter Eggs. I'm just not certain whether it was intended that way. For now, I'm tempted to keep a notebook handy. /me goes to check if 1st ep is still in the deleted files

I prefer to let the TV show unfold on its own terms, so I won't be reading the books (for now). Speculation is a tricky thing for me, in that I don't want to be spoiled by a theory that is better than what I've thought of on my own, especially if it turns out to be right. For now, I'm mulling over the little details I've seen, rather than the big picture. For example, in the promos: Why is someone cleaning the top of a marquis sign? (Do people do that in real life?)

I'm out of practice with these forum thingies. Should I save my rampant speculation for a dedicated thread? For now, let me just say that I think this show has some awesome potential -- to go either way. It has the creepy atmosphere without going too dark, but it also tried too hard in some characters to be over-the-top. (I'm looking at you, Nurse Mommy-Dearest.) It has the parallel story tracks, where clues might be sprinkled, but it could also run into problems with keeping those details consistent. I was never a fan of "Twin Peaks" altho I can understand its appeal. I was intrigued by the original of "The Prisoner" but really enjoyed the recent mini-series remake of it more. Those are the comparisons I've seen mentioned, and to that I might suggest this show has a bit in common with "Awake" as well, which was pretty good and ended too soon, and "Persons Unknown" which is less of a compliment. It's too soon for theories, but I'm on board to rewatch the first ep when it premieres, and I hope the second ep sets up a good structure for how the rest of the season will unfold.

I wondered if anyone has speculation (without spoilers) about that samurai sword. The Japanese writing on it was simply a date: 2015/08/15 or August 15th, 2015. When Julia asks him what it means, he simply says, "Densho". (Densho is a Japanese term meaning "to pass on to the next generation," or to leave a legacy. Thanks, Google.) I forget whether we know what the current month is within the show's timeline, or what this might foreshadow. I found a helpful screen capture of the sword: http://interdimensional-dave.blogspot.com/2015/02/helix-densho.html

To the common list of comparisons: Monty Python / Holy Grail / Spamalot Princess Bride Robin Hood: Men in Tights / When Things Were Rotten I hope people someday remember to add: Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire(well, it had no singing, but I liked it.)

I won't say i'm hate-watching this show; I call it pain-watching, as in tolerating the painful parts for the sake of the amusing parts (and for the sake of family members to seem to be enjoying it all more than I am). Someone elsewhere tweeted (and mentioned in another thread here) that this episode had buried references to both Buckaroo Banzai and The Middleman. I'm afraid I missed them both! Could anyone fill me in as to what those were and/or where they dropped, please?

"Thank you for nailing my blackmailer!" Don't you just love how that can be taken three different ways? * Thank you for pinning down who my blackmailer is. * Thank you for punishing my blackmailer. * Thank you for boning her, too. Now, which way do you suppose Lorne meant it, and which way did The King take it?