S06.E04: The Key

[nodorothyparker]

Airdate 2020.11.01

Quote

Settling in as one of Virginia's rangers, John investigates a death that is written off as an accident.

 

[nodorothyparker]

Goofy murder mystery of a character we never met and can't be expected to care about aside, I didn't hate this one. But that's usually true of John Dorie centric episodes. The actor just brings such a gravitas to the sometimes silly low-rent material that he always has me along for the ride. Even with all the cowboy cosplay.

I mean, sure, it would have been immediately obvious to my fifth-grader that Virginia wasn't particularly interested in how the guy died, but since you're not going to let go of it, John, I guess here's some obvious clues to lead you in the direction I obviously want you to go. There was a nice bit of character study work for a character who as John says tends to be a rules follower in a world where the rules don't really apply anymore and just wants it all to make sense. I could have done without the rotten tooth and ZA home dentistry, but it's a beat I actually do find realistic in a universe populated by ever replenishing gas and batteries and random inland submarines. And it's symbolic in that John got what he thought he wanted most in reuniting with June only to still be stuck in a bad situation where the rules aren't lining up for him.

The graveyard walkers and Janis's ending were bleakly satisfying bits. Strand is already more interesting than he's been in a long while, again being willing to lie and sacrifice one person for another he thinks benefits him more. I love that he's signifying his return to his OG status as a grayer character with a snazzy new fedora that just happens to have a gray hatband. 

[Madding crowd]

I’m really liking Fear this year and I’m more invested in the story than I have been the last two years. They have some good actors even if the material isn’t the best.

So, was the tooth pulling symbolic of him removing the nagging conscious that told him to do something? I guess there is a time and place for complacency.

I’m happy to see that Strand is still himself and will always view things in a gray area. Still don’t get people following Virginia, but I guess people will do a lot for imagined safety.

[Iguessnot]

10 hours ago, icemiser69 said:

So John now has June back in his life.   I thought Victor was the only one that had a price, and now it appears that John can be bought off as well.  Pretty sad.   John yanking out his bad tooth was some form of symbolism.

So was the key supposed to gain access to something on the submarine?   Perhaps nuclear weapons?  I believe that is what those two now dead assholes wanted the key for. 

Janis was dealt with before he implemented his escape plan so he wasn't a party to her execution. He didn't know June was coming so he didn't make a bargain for that, but her presence will be used to keep him in line. And he seems reconciled to have that bit a happiness, at least for now. Talk about bittersweet.

I'm really enjoying this season so far.

[raven]

31 minutes ago, Iguessnot said:

Janis was dealt with before he implemented his escape plan so he wasn't a party to her execution. He didn't know June was coming so he didn't make a bargain for that, but her presence will be used to keep him in line. And he seems reconciled to have that bit a happiness, at least for now. Talk about bittersweet.

Yes, he was going to continue fighting the good fight until Janis was killed.   He was pretty obviously disillusioned even to the point of being not as overjoyed as we would have expected when June returned.

I really liked this episode.  I was interested in the murder because John was and I like ambiguous Strand; ambiguous he may be but he's still trying to look out for his old team.   I was hoping to get a resolution to who killed the guy but I guess it was done on AnnoyingGinny's orders.  The ep was really about John anyway.

I was a wee bit confused because I thought Daniel was leaving with Morgan in ep a couple of weeks ago but I guess he was just acknowledging him.  I do wish the dog would be dropped off on a happy farm somewhere.  All I could think when Morgan shut the car door was that if Morgan died, so would the dog, inside a hot car and OMG I can't take it please no more animals on the show!

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

It amazes me how 2 walkers somehow?, consider the odds,lol,   just happened to fall in the grave John was in.  Why hasn't someone offed Virginia by now? 

[Lamima]

The car crash was odd. In the ZA, with so few cars on the road, you would think Morgan would see it coming.

[wrlord]

7 hours ago, Lamima said:

The car crash was odd. In the ZA, with so few cars on the road, you would think Morgan would see it coming.

Just takes a second's distraction.  He might not have seen it simply because it was so unlikely.

[Haleth]

13 hours ago, Lamima said:

The car crash was odd. In the ZA, with so few cars on the road, you would think Morgan would see it coming.

That made me jump a foot off the couch.  So unexpected.  

I love that dog!  Best part of the episode was Morgan talking to him and his talking back to Morgan.  (Don't hurt that dog, writers!)

[Red Bridey]

What is this submarine you all are referencing? I really miss a lot of dialogue because the closed captioning NEVER WORKS! 

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

On 10/12/2020 at 8:18 PM, One4Sorrow2TooBad said:

Isn't the key  used to unlock the launch program for the SBLMs?  

 

I think you are right about that icemiser69. 

[BasilSeal]

On 11/2/2020 at 12:56 PM, icemiser69 said:

So John now has June back in his life.   I thought Victor was the only one that had a price, and now it appears that John can be bought off as well.  Pretty sad.   John yanking out his bad tooth was some form of symbolism.

So was the key supposed to gain access to something on the submarine?   Perhaps nuclear weapons?  I believe that is what those two now dead assholes wanted the key for. 

Good point, it would  explain why the CRM are so cagey about their actual location, you wouldn't want people knowing where you were if you thought someone was going to launch a cruise missile at you.

 

On 11/4/2020 at 11:37 PM, Lamima said:

The car crash was odd. In the ZA, with so few cars on the road, you would think Morgan would see it coming.

My take was that they deliberately rammed Morgan because he was driving the bounty hunter's truck, and they were expecting the bounty hunter to obtain the key for them.

[DrNowsWeightScale]

On 11/4/2020 at 5:37 PM, Lamima said:

The car crash was odd. In the ZA, with so few cars on the road, you would think Morgan would see it coming.

Shades of Lori Grimes crashing her car on an empty road on the Mothership show, like season 2 or 3 or whatever that was. 

As someone mentioned above, I too was concerned about the dog. I think Morgan closed the door on the dog once Morgan got out? All I could think of was, if Morgan dies, the dog will likely remain stuck in the car and can die over over-heating, lack of food, etc.

The tooth-pulling scene... reminds me of the tooth-pulling scene from "Castaway," where Tom Hanks had to pull his tooth out on the island.

John remarked a few times in this episode that someone (Janis?) told him the town is rotten. I think his sore tooth was meant to represent that the longer you stay in Lawton, the more rotten you become, or the more rotten your life becomes, or the whole town is itself rotten - one of those.

John was willing to leave June to save Janis. He was planning on escaping with Janis to keep Janis safe. Which I guess is a nice, noble thing to do, but I'm still baffled that a guy who was so keen on finding June (in season 4) is willing to walk away from her.

[ByTor]

On 11/17/2020 at 11:16 AM, DrNowsWeightScale said:

As someone mentioned above, I too was concerned about the dog.

I just saw this yesterday. When I saw that scene, I said "just don't shut the *SLAM*...door..."  😞