S01.E10: 15 Years

[AnimeMania]

Spoiler

 

After months of dead ends, the Evans family receives information that could finally lead them to Piper. While Jo and Brooks follow this new lead, Ed helps Mia as she tries to send Piper a message. Meanwhile, Alex and Chris stumble upon a mysterious shipment in the harbor.

 

 

Original air date: January 7, 2020

[ottoDbusdriver]

Oooooooooh !  Excellent return from the holiday break.

All 3 pairings worked well -- Jo/Agent Brooks, Ed/Mia, Chris/Alex.

And Jo finally finds Piper by the end of the episode, only for Piper not want to return with Jo since these other people (including Benny) "need" her help.

Piper's abilities also seem to have improved -- that disassembly of Jo's gun was pretty cool.

How many of these artificial beings are there ?  I guess one less now that Charlie is dead.
Is Piper v2.0, and that's why the rest of them need her help ?

And what was that metallic ball in the container on the boat, that was also highly magnetic ?

[shapeshifter]

2 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

And what was that metallic ball in the container on the boat, that was also highly magnetic ?

Looks like they resurrected some props from Threshold, IIRC. 

I may not be young, black, or male, but I'm pretty sure we should have at least had a line between the 2 young black men being a little worried about skulking around at night. I was worried for them in a motherly sort of way. 

But then they didn't even take a cell phone picture of the orb and send it immediately to Jo? *Sigh* I really should have been with them.

But then Acting Chief redeemed himself with Find My Phone. He's more like me after all, than all of my increasingly Luddite adult kids.

Anyway, I'd give it 3 out of 5 stars, whereas I'd give the return of Manifest 1 star.

[possibilities]

I figure Alex will be able to read the code that Piper sent through the ham radio.

Why did Piper contact them if she didn't want to be found?

Why couldn't any of them explain what was going on?

I'm starting to feel like they are being too mysterious, which is something they avoided in the past. I'm also worried they won't deliver a satisfying story with only 3 eps left.

I really enjoyed Mia. She's a great actress and character. And the guy at the harbor who called "Acting Chief" and then told him he was acting like Jo-- ha.

Grandpa's health is still worrying me. It's been a month since he found out he was dying.

[sempervivum]

44 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I may not be young, black, or male, but I'm pretty sure we should have at least had a line between the 2 young black men being a little worried about skulking around at night.

I believe the 2 bad guys who were manning the ship (who almost caught Chris and Alex) were also black, so...

[tennisgurl]

Great start to the second part of the season, although I was surprised to see that there are only two episodes left this season! So Jo finds Piper, but Piper seems rather off, and now wants to stay with the robot people. I feel like they might have done something to her (her programming?) or are threatening Jo and her family to keep her with them and that why she said to Jo that she wanted to stay, but was sending SOS signals out to the family on her own. On the plus side, her powers do seem to be really coming along! That gun dissolve was really cool. 

Chris as acting sheriff was fun, and he and Alex made for a good team. He even ended up doing a pretty good job, tracking the ship and everything with his phone. They had a lot of funny banter "I might have to take back some of the stuff I said about you" and its sweet how much faith Jo has in Chris. The little interaction he had with the guy with the boat, who apparently refuses to talk to the harbor master for some reason, was also funny. Thats something I always love about the show, the interactions between people, even minor characters, seem really real, no matter how fantastical things get. 

So Jo and Agent Brooks had a bit of a moment, huh? I guess that was inevitable, considering Benny isnt really a viable option right now, and Joe and Alex are still dealing with whatever made them split in the first place. I like Agent Brooks, and he and Jo have pretty good chemistry (plus I adore Enver Gjokaj) but after the stuff with Benny, I dont know if I trust him, even if he isnt a robot. 

Mia continues to be one of TVs best teens, and her and Ed on his old radio was sweet, and a nice way to incorporate more types of technology into the story. I am worried about Ed though, how is his health? I know its been a pretty short time jump, but cancer moves fast. 

So is someone actually building the robots, or are they a self sustaining species now? Piper was built apparently, but where did the rest come from that they can be wondering around living full lives for fifteen years?

[crimsongrl]

There's 3 episodes left. The promo did that annoying thing where they say 'Only 2 episodes left before the series finale'.

[Suzysite]

I think they said season finale, but I fear it could be the series finale, too.   I don't think ratings are great.   Hopefully they will resolve a lot.

[Paloma]

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

I feel like they might have done something to her (her programming?) or are threatening Jo and her family to keep her with them and that why she said to Jo that she wanted to stay, but was sending SOS signals out to the family on her own.

It could be both, though if they were going to change her programming I would have expected them to erase her memories of Jo and family. It's also possible that they've convinced Piper of the importance of what they are doing and that being around Jo and family will interfere with their important mission--though I suspect that whatever they told Piper is a lie, or only a partial truth. I would like to believe that robot/android Benny is still sympathetic to Jo and a potential ally, but the robot/android woman seems to be a remorseless killer and probably only held back with Jo because she didn't want to upset Piper.

7 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

So is someone actually building the robots, or are they a self sustaining species now? Piper was built apparently, but where did the rest come from that they can be wondering around living full lives for fifteen years?

I had the same questions and am very intrigued by the 15 years development. What would be the purpose of living these types of lives in society for that long? In Benny's case it might have something to do with his research into Kindred (if it really was research--maybe he actually knew about it from his own experience), but what purpose would living in a small town as a gas station owner serve (as Jo asked)? Maybe the anonymity of it just gave him cover for helping the others carry out whatever their plot is.

5 hours ago, crimsongrl said:

There's 3 episodes left. The promo did that annoying thing where they say 'Only 2 episodes left before the series finale'.

Did it say "before the series finale" or "before the season finale"? If they are going to cancel the series, I hope they give us the answers we need, though there is not much time to answer all the questions. If it's a season finale they will probably end on a cliffhanger and then cancel--though I hope I'm wrong. 

[blixie]

Quote

Is Piper v2.0, and that's why the rest of them need her help ?

She for sure is, the ice old lady with Benny told the guy who built Piper's "code" that he took something that didn't belong to him. I assume he learned whatever from these robot-aliens and sold it to Terry O'Quinn and his daughter then used it to make herself a daughter. 

This was a fun episode for giving us Chris/Alex, they should have taken a photo but I'm not sure how well that would have turned out and they kind of didn't have time, initially it freaked them out and then the two guys showed up. But it made it funnier that Mia had the savvy to video the binary code on the radio. 

I am pretty sure Jo's dad will be healed by the alien-robots/Piper so I'm not too worried about him. 

I think Agent Brooks-Enver has good chemistry with Jo, but I'm still all for her getting back together with Alex. They really haven't made it at all clear what caused the break up, and there seems to be zero animosity and a lot of still strong affection. 
 

[crimsongrl]

1 hour ago, Suzysite said:

I think they said season finale, but I fear it could be the series finale, too.   I don't think ratings are great.   Hopefully they will resolve a lot.

Oop, I think they did say season finale but I've been worried about getting a renewal so I typed series instead.

If stinky Manifest can get a season 2 we deserve one even more!

I hope Piper makes it home before the final episode. 

[AnimeMania]

I think Piper is playing the long con. Whatever she said to Jo was what her captors wanted her to say.  Whatever she coded to Mia was what Piper really wanted to say. Piper confirms that she got Mia's message, so Mia knows the response was from Piper. They now have a way to communicate freely and Piper can reveal the true objective. Perhaps the satellite uplink was the reason the "robots?" are congregated in that particular town. Now that Piper destroyed the satellite (probably at the "robots?" request) they will move on to their next objective. Piper  was able to sneak a coded message into the satellite before she destroyed it.

[Paloma]

30 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

I think Piper is playing the long con. Whatever she said to Jo was what her captors wanted her to say.  Whatever she coded to Mia was what Piper really wanted to say. Piper confirms that she got Mia's message, so Mia knows the response was from Piper. They now have a way to communicate freely and Piper can reveal the true objective.

I love this idea, and it makes sense given what they have shown us so far.

[djsurrey]

On 1/7/2020 at 8:33 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

And what was that metallic ball in the container on the boat, that was also highly magnetic ?

I'm guessing we will be finding out before the end. They talked about liquid metal. I think it is actually a container filled with ninites (as in nanotechnology). The strong magnetic field to me appears to be over reach in the writing.

[djsurrey]

On 1/7/2020 at 8:33 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Is Piper v2.0, and that's why the rest of them need her help ?

She seems to do things the others don't. My guess would be there are multiple versions already and Piper is the most recent and most advanced..

[Court]

I thought Piper's voice sounded different when she first started talking to Jo. Just me? 

[MisterGlass]

It was an interesting ep.  I'm glad they did at least see that Piper was okay in this episode.  And I liked that the put together that Benny was a cyborg once they saw the gas station attendant.

I don't remember Chris and Alex interacting much before this, and they spent some time pushing each others buttons. 

My guess is that it isn't really - or isn't only - a gas station.  It was probably a home base of some kind and he guarded it.

I'm curious what the binary message will say.

On 1/7/2020 at 11:46 PM, shapeshifter said:

On 1/7/2020 at 11:33 PM, ottoDbusdriver said:

And what was that metallic ball in the container on the boat, that was also highly magnetic ?

Looks like they resurrected some props from Threshold, IIRC. 

I think it's some gravitonium that floated over from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

[sharifa70]

8 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

I think it's some gravitonium that floated over from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Ha! I quit watching that a few seasons back, but for more Marvel connection: I spent last weekend re-watching the fantastic, wonderful, tragically cancelled-too-soon “Agent Carter” and it’s great to see Enver Gjokaj again. 

I am enjoying this show a lot more than I expected to. Such a great cast: their characters all feel lived-in. I thought they did a good job making the 4-week time jump believable, with small moments showing that Jo and Brooks have become friends (the way he walks quietly over to support her when she has to open the photo of the body, the way she cajoles him into investigating the power surge). The Alex/Chris moments were fun, too. Not enough Ed, but then again there’s never enough Clancy Brown.

[shapeshifter]

On 1/9/2020 at 12:33 AM, djsurrey said:

She seems to do things the others don't. My guess would be there are multiple versions already and Piper is the most recent and most advanced..

Maybe Piper is the first and only offspring of 2 cyborgs? 
Not sure how this theory would fit with the psycho scientist who said she made Piper.  

[kirkola]

4 hours ago, sharifa70 said:

Ha! I quit watching that a few seasons back, but for more Marvel connection: I spent last weekend re-watching the fantastic, wonderful, tragically cancelled-too-soon “Agent Carter” and it’s great to see Enver Gjokaj again. 

I am enjoying this show a lot more than I expected to. Such a great cast: their characters all feel lived-in. I thought they did a good job making the 4-week time jump believable, with small moments showing that Jo and Brooks have become friends (the way he walks quietly over to support her when she has to open the photo of the body, the way she cajoles him into investigating the power surge). The Alex/Chris moments were fun, too. Not enough Ed, but then again there’s never enough Clancy Brown.

Enver Gjokaj stole my heart with Dollhouse.  He's a much needed improvement over Owain Yeoman in the chemistry department with Allison Tolman though that lady seems to have chemistry with everyone.  I just wasn't feeling her with Owain/Benny.  Possibly because of how his character sorta swooped in and immediately she was leaning on him.  At least with Enver/Ryan, she's being more cautious. 

And yeah, there really is never enough Clancy Brown.  And speaking of, it would be nice to know if his cancer was "taken care of".  I mean, they did sorta trade Piper.

[Jacks-Son]

This was a roller coaster of a ride throughout.  The 1st act was sad and depressing as shit.  I literally felt sadness flowing from the family. All the actors did excellent jobs as family members suffering through a loss.   The power surge was like a lightning bolt that jolted the family out of their lethargy. The 2nd act was a total 180 degrees from the 1st. Allison Tolman was outstanding as an interrogator and a worried mom when she convinced Enver to investigate the power surge and later on with the owner of the gas station. At the Evans' home, I actually laughed out loud when Mia came in the room with her arms full of stuffed animals.  She was adorable. The 3rd act was seriously depressing again as Piper acknowledged Jo and claimed she was trying to help her abductors. Now what?  They can't stop trying to bring Piper back home, and Piper seems unable to let go of her family, so their reunion will occur somewhere along the way, but it will be torture to watch the show until that happens.

[djsurrey]

On 1/10/2020 at 5:49 AM, shapeshifter said:

Maybe Piper is the first and only offspring of 2 cyborgs? 
Not sure how this theory would fit with the psycho scientist who said she made Piper.

It seemed implausible that just a couple of scientists advanced technologies enough to create Piper. I'd guess they overstated their contributions.

Edited January 11, 2020 by djsurrey
correction gr