S02.E11: Unaccompanied Minors

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

As Zeke's condition worsens and the clock ticks towards his death date, he must confront his past while Saanvi tries to secure him a future; A pair of connected callings lead Ben and TJ to a surprising loved one.

Promo clip
 

 

[ams1001]

Did I hear correctly that the baby is four months old now?

[preeya]

What's up with Larry, Moe & Curley?

 

[shapeshifter]

37 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Did I hear correctly that the baby is four months old now?

Yep. 
I am imagining that Michaela is going to wake up with a puddle next to her instead of Zeke 

[willco]

I'm starting to think that it's actually God himself who is send the Callings. Hear me out. If you read the bible story of Joseph ( of the Coat of Many Colors, also one of Jacob's sons ) , he had dreams that were kind of symbolic, such as wheat shafts bowing down and stars bowing to the sun,etc. Same thing for the dreams of the men he was imprisoned with and later Potipar and Pharoh. In all the dreams ( much like the Calling on Manifest), God never just said in the dream, "Hey, do this and do this in this way." No, that would be too easy, I guess, it always had to be in code ! 

 

Ok, I've convinced myself ! So, now that we know it's God, everyone can just relax and let it flow, no questions asked, right ? Right ??

As for the episode, as has already  been posted, I heard Grace say 4 months for the baby, too. How can that be ? There is no way 4 months have past since the last episode, so either they messed up or they are just so dumb logic escapes them ( I mean the writers). Does that mean that Adrian has been in hiding for 4 months ? That's just what I an think of right now, I'm sure there other things wrong with that time line.

[crimsongrl]

So Jared and Michaela's partner are definitely going to hook up at some point right? As long as Zeke doesn't die I can live with it.

[mertensia]

They mentioned that it had been 3 or 4 months since Eden's birth.

I admit I did not see that the three shadows would be ordinary thugs coming.

what is up with Saanvi?

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, willco said:

There is no way 4 months have past since the last episode

Maybe there was originally supposed to be a split between the previous episode and this one? Either for spring sports, or holidays?

Was this the first time they bothered to give us clue regarding the passage of time? 
 

2 hours ago, mertensia said:

I admit I did not see that the three shadows would be ordinary thugs coming

Heh. I doubt the writers did either. 

Edited March 24, 2020 by shapeshifter

[ottoDbusdriver]

Michaela refers to it being "months ago" when the baby arrived.  Seriously ?

Zeke is running out of time -- and he looks like hell.  Frost-bitten ears, frost-bitten fingers, blotchy skin on his face.

Michaela is "praying" in the backyard while sitting on the swing set.  How cliché ?
Zeke is a good guy, please don't make me lose faith.  Oh, give me a break.

Michaela is so dumb for being a cop -- oh nooessss, the calling says to "let him go" but she should know by now that the callings are so vague that they could mean anything.
Did she ever think that the callings want her to go watch the movie 'Frozen' ?  #sarcasm.
Turns out the kid was stealing cold medicine to cook meth.   Michaela -- worst .... cop ... ever !!

Michaela's partner is a tad on the blunt side, blurting out loud that she thinks that Vasquez just wants to borrow Mick for the day in order to get back in her pants.

Ben gets a calling about a train in a tunnel.  That's not subtle at all -- paging Dr. Freud, the callings want you to get it on with Grace.  So what happened to the book by the guy that made the tarot card set ?  Has that all but been forgotten ?

The kid actor that plays Cal is just so terrible.  Cal and TJ go for smoothies, and TJ has a calling about a phoenix.  After combining their callings and realizing that the phoenix might be on a subway platform, that picture that TJ flagged on Cal's iPad as "the one" is not the same as the mosaic phoenix in his calling -- the picture on the iPad was of a painting, not a mosaic.

The baby has a 4 month checkup scheduled -- seriously ?  4 months have gone by.  So, what has Adrian been up to all this time.  Has Vance bothered to re-appear ?  What has the Major been up to ?  So many dropped plot threads.

Saanvi no longer has the crazy eyes, so I guess that's an improvement.  So is Saanvi still calling free ?

Zeke says that Michaela is his lobster, err, I mean soulmate.  Awwwww.

Oh come on -- the subway jumper is Zeke's dad.  Give me a break.  And Zeke gets to make amends with his daddy.

Michaela: "The callings made that really clear."  No, if anything the callings are so incredibly vague.  And then she ignores the calling yelling at her while arresting the drug dealer, who just happens to be yelling about some apocalyptic nonsense.

First a baby, and now a wedding.  FFS !!  The writers really have run out of ideas.

What the hell was that ?  The 3 shadows that Call has been seeing are the 3 dirtbags that Mick just arrested for cooking and selling meth.  Because that makes complete sense.

As for the timeline, this episode being 4 months after the previous episode (which actually took place about March 20-21) puts us around July 20-21.
But if you use the fact that baby Eden was born after 29 weeks after being conceived in the first episode which would have put the last episode somewhere in June 2019, 4 months later would put us in October 2019.  Which means that Zeke only has 2 months left.

They really did need the mice from the movie 'Babe' at the start of this episode to say "4 months later".

Edited March 25, 2020 by ottoDbusdriver

[basiltherat]

I swear, I believe that Mick's callings in this episode were in her own voice!  Have they always been thus?

[shapeshifter]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

They really did need the mice from the movie 'Babe' at the start of this episode to say "4 months later".

yes

[jabRI]

On another note, isn't Cal a tad old to still be 'tucked in'? I mean he's middle school at least, right?

[Dowel Jones]

One wonders how the high school kid was recruited if he never had contact with any of the bad guys.  A want ad on the dark web?  "Make money in your spare time! Work from home! Travel the city!  No Low risk.  Send resume' to...."

When Ben pulled out the music box and played it, I was thinking, what if Cal heard the calling "Let him go", and hadn't given it back to Zeke's dad, and the melody was decoded into fractals which somehow led to an address of an old warehouse where someone was storing a U-Boat with a treasure on board.  But there's a bunch of White Collar types looking for it too.  Who would think up something that crazy?

[jabRI]

As frustrating as LOST was, I felt at least they were telling a story.  Half these episodes like nothing happens to move the story along.  Zeke is dying/getting married/found his dad, Saanvi got fired for some reason? Dad is reading the bible?

[KaveDweller]

8 hours ago, basiltherat said:

I swear, I believe that Mick's callings in this episode were in her own voice!  Have they always been thus?

Yes, way back in the pilot they were her own voice, and have been for others too. I am not sure if every calling has been that way though.

3 hours ago, jabRI said:

On another note, isn't Cal a tad old to still be 'tucked in'? I mean he's middle school at least, right?

It's better than the 10-year-old kid on A Million Little Things that asks for "cuddles" every night.

1 hour ago, jabRI said:

As frustrating as LOST was, I felt at least they were telling a story.  Half these episodes like nothing happens to move the story along.  Zeke is dying/getting married/found his dad, Saanvi got fired for some reason? Dad is reading the bible?

Did I miss something about Saanvi and why she might be fired? I mean, testing on herself is probably grounds for that, but how would her bosses know? I assume someone got pressure from the general or the major or whoever it is.

[Jacks-Son]

20 hours ago, preeya said:

What's up with Larry, Moe & Curley?

I'd prefer them as amorphous shadows than unruly thugs selling meth. As far as the new direction,  this show has managed to do the impossible by making Jared & Grace sympathetic characters.  Although,  i would like to know how many more police officers are X-ers?   As far as Jared goes,  I must eat crow.   Tastes,  nasty.   Chewy.

 

Did someone order dinner? 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Jacks-Son

[macrone]

3 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

I assume someone got pressure from the general or the major or whoever it is.

The major? What major? And wasn't there some NSA guy or whatever holed up in ye olde abandoned warehouse? Or am I thinking of a different show called Manifest?

Edited March 25, 2020 by macrone

[Brian Cronin]

This is far (FAR) from the only show to do this, but man, I really hate "You owe it to your parent to give them a second chance" platitudes from TV shows. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

13 hours ago, macrone said:

The major? What major? And wasn't there some NSA guy or whatever holed up in ye olde abandoned warehouse? Or am I thinking of a different show called Manifest?

It's definitely this show they are referring to.

The Major was in charge of the secret testing labs in Season 1 that were experimenting on 829ers -- and the Major was posing as Saanvi's therapist.  Turns out she is a Major General in the US military.

The NSA guy is Vance -- he works works for the NSA but was "killed" in explosion at that underground lab in Season 1, but then revealed himself to still be alive to Ben Stone early on in Season 2. But Vance has up and disappeared like a fart in the wind for several episodes as of late.

[tennisgurl]

So it turns out the mysterious scary shadow monsters are...three random thugs dealing low grade meth. How...lame. I guess I am glad we got an answer quickly and it isn't dragged out, but the answer is pretty, well, lame. 

I like Zeke, but I feel like they cant decide what to do with him. He is freezing to death (and looks a mess) but he is also now dealing with romantic stuff? But then they showed us his father and made it a big deal that he should talk to him and get some of that mythical closure people talk about, but then we dont even see them talk? Really? This show has so many vague plot ideas and characters that it seems like a couple different shows that have all been cut together and Frankensteined into one show. 

I dont know if I think the Callings are evil, but they are a real pain in the ass. Yeah they help people, but wouldn't they help more people if they just said what they wanted from them? 

On 3/24/2020 at 8:09 AM, icemiser69 said:

Calamander?  What mom would nickname their kid Calamander?  

It sounds like something you would catch in a Pokeball. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

I like Zeke, but I feel like they cant decide what to do with him. He is freezing to death (and looks a mess) but he is also now dealing with romantic stuff? But then they showed us his father and made it a big deal that he should talk to him and get some of that mythical closure people talk about, but then we dont even see them talk? Really?

Oh, I'd wager a little money on Zeke being a gonner before the end of the season, because of the trope that when characters have life-changing injuries (he's going to lose at least parts fingers and parts of ears) it's a signal that their days on this earth are numbered. 
Yeah, I know, he could go on to live in another universe, but that's not really relevant, is it?

[Jacks-Son]

22 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Oh, I'd wager a little money on Zeke being a gonner before the end of the season, because of the trope that when characters have life-changing injuries (he's going to lose at least parts fingers and parts of ears) it's a signal that their days on this earth are numbered.

Don't forget the miracle that is Saanvi.  She has a lot more important role to play than a decreasing screen presence. She could easily be the show's Deux ex Machina and save Zeke from his Sell By date.

Oh, let it no longer be said: There was a Lourdes mention.  Must mean SHE'S ALIVE!!!!!!

Edited March 25, 2020 by Jacks-Son

[Bulldog]

I must admit I smiled each time TJ was mistaken for Ben's son.  He is so much more interesting that Ben's actual children. 

[macrone]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

So it turns out the mysterious scary shadow monsters are...three random thugs dealing low grade meth. How...lame. I guess I am glad we got an answer quickly and it isn't dragged out, but the answer is pretty, well, lame.

I doubt the dragging out is over. We got the reveal of their evilness, but it was an unfinished sentence. The Callings were telling Michaela to let them go; she didn't. I'm sure repurcussions (remember the lead Stooge's dire threat?) will follow.

[tennisgurl]

3 hours ago, Bulldog said:

I must admit I smiled each time TJ was mistaken for Ben's son.  He is so much more interesting that Ben's actual children. 

I love how the they didnt even correct the guy in the subway when he mistook them for father and son, and even when TJ said he wasnt Ben's son, it was like "well he isnt technically my dad, technically". I really am happy that TJ survived, as contrived as his survival was. He is really likable and interesting and I really like the surrogate father/son relationship he is developing with Ben.

[shapeshifter]

51 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I love how the they didnt even correct the guy in the subway when he mistook them for father and son, and even when TJ said he wasnt Ben's son, it was like "well he isnt technically my dad, technically". I really am happy that TJ survived, as contrived as his survival was. He is really likable and interesting and I really like the surrogate father/son relationship he is developing with Ben.

TJ has single-handedly totally redeemed Ben's fatherly rating.

[Jacks-Son]

4 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

TJ has single-handedly totally redeemed Ben's fatherly rating.

No father is perfect, but what issues did you have with Ben as a father?  I know he constantly berates himself with his less than stellar self-image of not having a good father/daughter relationship, but to me, that's kind of a tricky situation. Ben did have to compete with Danny as a surrogate father/husband figure. So, I'm curious, Ben, has his focus flaws but I've never thought his role as a father needed salvaging, what am I overlooking?

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Jacks-Son said:

Ben, has his focus flaws but I've never thought his role as a father needed salvaging, what am I overlooking?

I think not being there is probably the #1 father flaw. This season they did some redeeming for him by showing him at home and delivering the baby.

[Jacks-Son]

Okay, I can understand that his seeming lack of attention to each family member may have downgraded his dad credit rating. However, I have to think this clusterfuck of a return from the dead sitch is a distraction, that even the best father may have a slight difficulty in reconciling. If you're like Ben,  obsessed with solving puzzles as a math genius, this is a scientist's' ultimate challenge.

[CCTC]

Did you know everything is connected?  When I first saw TJ, I thought he looked like he could be Ben's son and was thinking that was going to be a reveal later.  I shifted away from that thought with the flirtation with Olive, but after this episode am not so sure.  I am trying to remember with their picnic date, did they just have a chaste kiss or did they make-out.  If it was the latter, it would not shock me if he was Ben's son.   Pure speculation on my part.  

[Scout Finch]

On 3/23/2020 at 8:39 PM, preeya said:

What's up with Larry, Moe & Curley?

 

To amuse myself, I'm gonna go with Jesse, Badger, and Skinny Pete.

[Camera One]

I've fallen behind on this show again.  

It seems the time jump meant a few things got skipped over.  So they told Saanvi about the dire warning in the captain's journal, but she doesn't care.  I guess no one else cares about her too much either.

And now Ben has jumped onto Adrian's hypothesis and now thinks The Callings may not be a good force, because Cal's visions are so dark.  Like literally dark looming figures.

Speaking of which, if Cal is getting nightmares, yes, let's just shut the door to his bedroom. 

The dialogue is ridiculously random.  Why was Cal talking about dim sum?  I'm liking the bonds that TJ is making with the family, though.  

"Let him go", so now The Callings is protecting drug dealers.  I really don't get it.  So originally, in Cal's drawing from Season 1, the shadowy figure was singular, and he was in the background of the family.  But then in his bedroom one night, one shadowy figure turned into three.  And now they just represent three drug dealers.  Ooooookay.  If The Callings was so adamant about the drug dealers being free to make meth, why have Michaela cross paths with them?  Shouldn't The Callings have persistently repeated the "Let him go" message throughout her entire investigation, so she would drop it?

Weirdly, this was probably the first episode I actually liked or was interested in Zeke as a character.  I actually wanted to see his conversation with his dad.  So of course, they just cut away.  Even one-off guest stars had more screentime with their family than Zeke did.