S01.E08: Stay Alive, Jessica Hyde

[Bort]

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In the season finale, as the world eagerly awaits Christie's vaccine, Jessica and the group must race to stop the Undoing.

Airdate: 25 September 2020

[Chicago Redshirt]

Liked most of the season, but this finale seemed a little contrived and lacking.

Too many face-heel turns - we have Stearns, Wilson and Homeland all taking steps toward the dark side. At least with Homeland, that seems plausible (though how she was partners with Mr. Rabbit from the beginning apparently isn't so much.) But it seems a stretch that Wilson would let his general misanthropy get over the fact that Mr. Rabbit not only killed his family members and numerous others but has numerous oher deaths planned, and involuntary sterilization is no picnic either.

BTW, why weren't people recording Mr. Rabbit from the jump? And why bother with the "Dr. Christie commits suicide after confession" thing? Given Jessica's attitude to casually killing whoever, it's kinda tough to think that she would even postpone killing someone who so richly deserves it. 

At the end of the first season, we don't have an answer (AFAIK) as to why the Harvest allowed Utopia to exist in the first place, how it and Dystopia got out, and lots of related questions like that. Like at some point, shouldn't the Harvest know that Dystopia was spreading secrets about them and squashed that comic book company? 

The plan to destroy the vaccine seems overly complicated. If we are taking Mr. Rabbit at his word, there is no emergency need to stop people from taking the vaccine in the first place. If it ships and gets distributed, the worst thing that will happen is that the early adopters will be sterilized. That's bad, but not so bad that it makes sense to go on a longshot attempt to break into a secure facility and risk death or arrest. Not when there's a way easier way to stop people from taking the vaccine.

Stearns singlehandedly could have prevented the use of the vaccine by calling up FDA bureaucrat, someone from the CDC and the media and telling them what he knew -- that the outbreak was spreading via petting zoo rather than organically, that the one case where the vaccine seemed to work was suspect and that there should be more analysis of the vaccine. Against the backdrop of real events, it's hard to believe that if Stearns was to criticize the vaccine that it people would buy into it still uncritically. I mean, we can't even get people to routinely wear masks in public.

But given that it had to happen, it still didn't really make sense on its own terms. What possible reason could there be that the security guards for Christie Labs could not access a secure Christie Labs facility without using a truck to try to break the door down? How is it that there were no people inside the warehouse trying to get the materials onto trucks for the shipping that was supposed to be happening that day?

It was an interesting concept and if it gets a second season, I'll probably tune in. But this episode left a bad taste in my mouth.

[ottoDbusdriver]

The time wasted in the vaccine destroying, forklift driving montage was just beyond stupid.

How could Stearns even begin to explain the pile of dead bodies in his backyard that was clearly visible to the neighbors.

And why did Stearns steal the prime egg exactly ?

Jessica Hyde's story resolution was just so anticlimactic.  And disappointing.

 

[Constantinople]

I was afraid Mr. Rabbit would turn out to be either John Cusack or Jessica's dad (or both), mostly since no other people seemed likely, but it was disappointing.

It's a problem when the villain has to give an exposition dump in the season finale, particularly when his adversaries are supposed to be so good at solving puzzles. I guess everyone needs Cliffs Notes from time to time.

The blonde, twin female assassins belong in an Austin Powers movie.

And Jessica Hyde is still a murderer who killed Sam unjustifiably.

 

 

[ICantDoThatDave]

On 9/27/2020 at 7:36 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Liked most of the season, but this finale seemed a little contrived and lacking.

Agreed.  That whole post [clipped for brevity, but agree with all of it] sums up my feelings, but... just to pile on:

There was one twist too many.  In the last episode I was expecting another "twist" - i.e. "this Good Guy is really a Bad Guy" - but the one that happened was just silly & over the top.  Made no logical sense.  I enjoyed the season as a whole but rolled my eyes multiple times during the last 20-40 minutes of the last episode.  Just a silly, convoluted way to set up another season, not  a logical conclusion to what could have been an excellent first season.

Also, agreed: Jessica just behaved how the plot needed her to behave.  She kills Sam out of the blue but not John Cusack?!?  Makes no sense.  They sacrificed plot continuity & character development to set up a Season 2 in the last episode.  The Network's Directive "Must Have A Season 2" > Logic was on full display in the last episode, & really diminished what was otherwise an awesome show up to that point.

EDIT: Constantinople said:

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And Jessica Hyde is still a murderer who killed Sam unjustifiably.

Exactly!  This.  I could never view her as a "hero" after that.

Edited October 6, 2020 by ICantDoThatDave

[ICantDoThatDave]

On 9/27/2020 at 7:36 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

Stearns singlehandedly could have prevented the use of the vaccine by calling up FDA bureaucrat, someone from the CDC and the media and telling them what he knew -- that the outbreak was spreading via petting zoo rather than organically, that the one case where the vaccine seemed to work was suspect and that there should be more analysis of the vaccine. Against the backdrop of real events, it's hard to believe that if Stearns was to criticize the vaccine that it people would buy into it still uncritically. I mean, we can't even get people to routinely wear masks in public.

This one part though: when he tried to do that, his "wife" knocked him out & implemented Operation "FUN".

[Chicago Redshirt]

42 minutes ago, ICantDoThatDave said:

This one part though: when he tried to do that, his "wife" knocked him out & implemented Operation "FUN".

True, but after Our Heroes had taken her out, there's nothing stopping Stearns from at that point trying to sound the alarm with the media rather than participate in a crusade that is almost certainly doomed to failure, but for Plot Armor.

Operation Fun doesn't make much sense anyway if you think about it if Stearns at all is willing to call the bluff.

Stearns goes to the media and says, "Hey the vaccine's not going to do anything against the actual flu. Somebody skewed the results and we need real testing!"

Someone with Christie leaks that Stearns is a pedophile with all sorts of pics as proof. Let's pretend that Stearns can't destroy the evidence on his computer or wherever.

The public is going to be like, uh, do I want to take a vaccine created by a pedophile? No, thanks.

And the FDA woman is going to still use the uncertainty to push for testing.

And can Christie be like, "Well, never mind that Stearns is a pedophile. His vaccine's still good!"?

Now that I sit and think about it, there's a big flaw in the premise. The first thing our heroes would/should have done on getting Utopia is scan that shiznit and upload it to reddit or the equivalent thereof so all the world's Dystopians(or whatever they're called?) could crack it and there wouldn't be any particular need/point to Harvest coming after them. Even if the collective Dystopian hivemind couldn't crack it, the information would be out there.

[ICantDoThatDave]

You're absolutely right.  For some odd reason I hadn't thought about that.  Which is, I guess, what they were counting on.  The whole plot, while entertaining, falls apart towards the end.

[Quickbeam]

Sasha Lane / Jessica Hyde reminds me so much of Martha Plimpton that I can’t unsee it.

[shrewd.buddha]

On 10/5/2020 at 10:48 PM, Chicago Redshirt said:

The first thing our heroes would/should have done on getting Utopia is scan that shiznit and upload it to reddit or the equivalent thereof ..

It's hard to ignore glaring inconsistences like that. Conspiracy theories live and breed online. Our heroes are constantly online. But they never bother to photograph or upload anything. (Seems like Jessica would know about burner phones.) 
The Utopia comic seemed to be of little use by the end.  Maybe the comic 's biggest benefit was that it helped flip RaisinBoy killer's loyalty by reading it.
Once RaisinBoy killer delivered Christie to Jessica, he just told them everything - - what was the point of the cryptic comic clues?
Dr. Mike Stearns came to the same conclusions as the Nerd Squad without benefit of the comic. 
Would knowing what the anti-pregnancy virus looks like make any difference? Cool visual, but another puzzle that didn't matter.

The worst part was having to endure Christie's endless monologue-ing.  Such a trope.  All the ruthless killing suddenly stops when it comes to the major characters.
So, during 20+ years, Christie never bothered to figure out what the Chinese tattoo on his torso represented? 

Wilson was a real disappointment - he could not even avenge the murder of his entire family and was easily seduced by Christie. 
During the season, Wilson would complain about how much waste there was in peoples' houses - but who was he to be outraged?  Both Wilson and his father were obsessive hoarders.

The ending was sort of a mess.  Jessica and RaisinBoy (siblings?) are both emotionally damaged lab rats and indiscriminate murderers.  Should I be invested in them as anti-heroes? No thanks.  I would be happy for both to end up in jail or dead ( I doubt either option would bother them much).  

A second season? Not exactly anxiously anticipating more of this. I suppose I am not as obsessed with "What Happens Next"  as Christie thinks.  also: Justice for Samantha!

Edited October 16, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[DrSpaceman73]

I found the whole plot contrived, needlessly complicated, convoluted and hard to follow

So basically this would be a prequel to The handmaids tale? 

Anyway the biggest problem with all this is if he wants to slow global population growth, sterilizing people in the US will not do much for that goal.  China, India and southeast asia make up over half the worlds population.  The US population is less than 5% the total global population.  So maybe he could spread the vaccine overseas after starting in the US, but that plan would not seem to make sense.  You should start in asia. 

its interesting but just hard to buy all this and follow it.  Not sure I will tune in for season two

[marcee]

I think the point of the comic was to lure Jessica Hyde back. Ms. Homeland/Home (mom?) couldn't find her. So she forced Dad to draw the comic, leaving clues to help Jessica remember things that would ultimately lead her back Home. I don't think Mr. Rabbit cared about Jessica - he got what he wanted and that's why he and Homeland had a 'disagreement'.

It seems like Ms. Homeland and Mr. Rabbit agreed on a plan initially - they were going to create a virus to "fix" humankind and save the world. But perhaps they diverged on how to accomplish that. Mr. Rabbit went for sterilization while Homeland wanted a virus to make humans more pliable? agreeable? Humans who "always do the right thing"? And obviously they've been experimenting on the kids and Jessica Hyde apparently holds the key. But once Dr. Rabbit landed on the sterilization thing, he gave up on Jessica Hyde and their original plan. Ms. Homeland didn't. And here comes season 2.

I agree with the ginormous plothole of simply uploading the entire comic online. That should've been their first stop. But ultimately, it wouldn't have really mattered much - as I believe they were using the comic as a means to find Jessica and/or as bait to bring her Home.

[supposebly]

Well, this could have been a lot better. Based on the trailer, I  expected something more along the lines of Dirk Gentley, especially we had a dirty feral murderer girl and Fiona Dourif, although she wasn't the dirty murderer girl here. So I feel a bit like I was sold a different show.

Many have pointed out the many inconsistencies and in a better show, that wouldn't matter so much.

Sam getting shot was the first part where I thought it's mostly senseless overblown violence without the entertainment factor of Dirk Gentley or the Umbrella Academy. And I didn't even like her. And then there were a lot of dead children which made it even worse. Eye torture and pulling off fingernails are my limits and there was both. 

I love John Cusack and he was great but that end monologue was boring since it was pretty clear from the get go that he would be Mr Rabbit. The turnaround of Homeland was stupid and I'm not clear what was going on there. Nor do I care all that much. 

I hear it's been cancelled and again, not caring. It's  too bad, I  hear there is an UK original that's better but I think I've had enough of children getting shot in this universe.

Funnily enough, they wouldn't catch all the anti vaxxers out there. 

Edited August 7, 2021 by supposebly