S01.E02: You Are Not Alone

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

Bryan and Finola investigate Debris that is mysteriously dragging metal from an evacuated town for an unknown purpose.  Bryan is forced to keep his secret about Finola's father's survival. Maddox looks into a dangerous rogue faction.

 

[Paloma]

I was so pleased with myself for figuring out that the clones were fragments of Eric's personality before the investigators did! Though I was thinking id, ego, and superego.

Really don't need all the stuff about the investigators' family troubles and secrets. I'm here for the mysterious happenings and cool effects, but I won't stick around for long if they keep trying to shoehorn in personal issues.

[ottoDbusdriver]

How is Debris still falling on Earth after 6 months ?  Unless the Debris is following the Earth around in it's orbital path like a magnet, I just don't see that happening.

This Debris was odd as it was doing 2 different things -- cloning Eric all while building a ring of metal around the impact point.  When it cloned Brian that was freaky -- did Brian even touch the Debris ? Eric obviously touched it when it slammed into his house.

Could do without all the Finola family drama.

ETA: you beat me to the buzzer about the Finola family problems.

Edited March 9, 2021 by ottoDbusdriver

[Ms Blue Jay]

(To the tune of the McDonalds jingle).  Ba-da-ba-ba-bahhhhhh!  I'm still lovin' it.

[shapeshifter]

18 minutes ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

How is Debris still falling on Earth after 6 months ?  Unless the Debris is following the Earth around in it's orbital path like a magnet, I just don't see that happening.

I think you just answered your own question. Magnets. Hey, if it was good enough for Breaking Bad?

So if Bryan was "smart," when Finola finds out about the other Dad, he'll tell her he didn't want to get her hopes up if it was "just" a clone.

[AnimeMania]

Anybody else think the clone shot the real Brian? He took the picture out of the dead guy's pocket, does Brian have two pictures now, or just the one?

Did the Eric guy's relationship drama make sense. Wasn't the guy thinking about moving to San Francisco, then why did the lady leave town. She couldn't have had that much stuff if it fit in that VW Bug.

Good luck selling your busted ass house now Eric.

[possibilities]

Every Brit I've met pronounces "garage" as GARage. Finola pronounced it the American way: garAGE. I realize you can't really nitpick a show that's based on special effects and fake science, but it bothered me.

 

[Melina22]

I sort of like this but half the time I don't know what's going on. 

What happened to the two-headed clone? Did I miss it? 

How did Brian get himself and Eric out of the car? It looked like the metal was all squished down. Did someone show up with the Jaws of Life? 

I never did understand what Eric's whole deal was, not that I cared especially. 

Brian shooting himself was... weird. I don't know where it came from though, since Brian kept his hazmat suit on. 

Cool effects as always though. 

[Floatingbison]

This is the first network show I've watched in years, maybe even a decade.  After seeing the promo I was drawn to it . . . like a magnet   . . . strange doings. . . . 

[possibilities]

I don't always fully understand or follow it either, and I don't know if it's because I'm too stupid or if they are counting on viewers THINKING that we're stupid and blaming ourselves, so they don't have to write things that makes sense.

 

[Ms Blue Jay]

32 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

I sort of like this but half the time I don't know what's going on. 

Me too.   Somebody upthread mentioned 3 personalities?  What?  I didn't get that at all.

I like the actor who kept getting cloned though, "Eric".  He's been in a bunch of Hallmark romcoms.  I really liked him in this one.  (His name is David Alpay.)

Edited March 9, 2021 by Ms Blue Jay

[AnimeMania]

The show seems more invested in making you have feelings about the characters than they are about telling a coherent SciFi story.

[shapeshifter]

9 hours ago, Melina22 said:

I sort of like this but half the time I don't know what's going on. 

What happened to the two-headed clone? Did I miss it? 

How did Brian get himself and Eric out of the car? It looked like the metal was all squished down. Did someone show up with the Jaws of Life? 

I never did understand what Eric's whole deal was, not that I cared especially. 

Brian shooting himself was... weird. I don't know where it came from though, since Brian kept his hazmat suit on. 

Cool effects as always though. 

I assumed the 2-headed clone(s) didn't survive, but mostly this:

9 hours ago, possibilities said:

I don't always fully understand or follow it either, and I don't know if it's because I'm too stupid or if they are counting on viewers THINKING that we're stupid and blaming ourselves, so they don't have to write things that makes sense.

I almost turned it off when they showed up in the hazmat suits with the lights inside the hoods to show the actors' faces. Yeah, I know, BSG did that with the space suits and I didn't complain much, but this is 2021. It seems they could do more creative lighting.

Edited March 9, 2021 by shapeshifter

[Paloma]

6 hours ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Somebody upthread mentioned 3 personalities?  What?  I didn't get that at all.

Not 3 personalities, but personality fragments--the original "normal" and cohesive personality was split into different aspects in each clone. I originally thought these were Freud's 3 basic components of personality (id, ego, and superego--which roughly correspond to instinctive desires, dealing with reality, and moral conscience), but that wasn't right. It was more that each of the clones focused on one aspect of Eric's mind (such as the need for career success) and forgot about everything else. IIRC, one of the investigators compared what was happening to Eric it to being in life-threatening situation such as freezing, where the body preserves the core functions (for example, circulation to the heart) by letting some of the non-essential functions go (for example, circulation to the feet)--though it was not explained that clearly.

The original Eric (found in the car) had just one personality--his original one, which integrated the different aspects shown by the clones. But even that wasn't clear, because all they showed after they rescued him was that he focused on his lost lover.

[ROEHUNTER]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I almost turned it off when they showed up in the hazmat suits with the lights inside the hoods to show the actors' faces. Yeah, I know, BSG did that with the space suits and I didn't complain much, but this is 2021. It seems they could do more created lighting.

Geesh, I thought I was the only one. I cringe every a time a show does this! Do they think we are going to forget what the actors/actresses look like in the short time they have on the suits?!?!? We don't have to see every facial expression or mouth movement, come on writers, directors, producers, whoever decides this. 

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, ROEHUNTER said:

Geesh, I thought I was the only one. I cringe every a time a show does this! Do they think we are going to forget what the actors/actresses look like in the short time they have on the suits?!?!? We don't have to see every facial expression or mouth movement, come on writers, directors, producers, whoever decides this. 

It would look so much better --even artistically-- if they had a transom window letting light in that reflected just enough on the face in the suit. With CGI, they could enhance the contrast a bit so we could recognize the face. 

[Paloma]

8 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

The show seems more invested in making you have feelings about the characters than they are about telling a coherent SciFi story.

This is what is going to drive me away from the show if it continues. It's not that I object to showing feelings and relationships of main characters, but the way they are doing it is so forced...especially in this episode, when Finola was going on and on about her problems with her sister and her father. It's unprofessional and unrealistic that she would do this with a fairly new partner and in these crisis situations that demand close attention in order to figure out what's going on and how to deal with it. It's also unprofessional and unrealistic that she would push him to talk about his personal feelings. I don't know anything about the writers, but the script comes across like a sexist cliche: men (or at least the leading men) are silent tough guys, and women are all about expressing their feelings and being nurturing.

[sempervivum]

Good sci fi builds a 'world'; what this show is building seems more like a dream, and as such just isn't very compelling.

At what point is the show going to deal with the reaction of the world to these bizarre events? If the Feds evacuated a town, that would cause quite a stir-did I miss what fake reason the government gave? It reminds me of the scene in Close Encounters, where they evacuate a sparsely-populated ranching area, and the place is in an uproar. This situation (and really, all the places being investigated for debris events) just seems to be of no interest to the media? Are we supposed to think that everyone is just used to it after 6 months? It's either that, or the government has taken control of the media.  

And what about the phenomena here? That metal circle forming around the town would be visible from weather satellites, even if the news helicopters were somehow kept away. And what about the after effect of a town being surrounded by a compacted metal barrier- how does that get removed, or do they just abandon the town?

The worst part was that it all ended up being about 'feelings' (I guess?). The debris hit a guy who's in a crisis about his relationship, so it responds by...cloning him into separate personality fragments and building a protective wall around him? If this series is just going to be how a bunch of people come in contact with the debris and then it does weird things to try to fix the emotional problems of the various contactees, I will soon be out.

 

 

[AnimeMania]

40 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

Good sci fi builds a 'world'; what this show is building seems more like a dream, and as such just isn't very compelling.

At what point is the show going to deal with the reaction of the world to these bizarre events? If the Feds evacuated a town, that would cause quite a stir-did I miss what fake reason the government gave? It reminds me of the scene in Close Encounters, where they evacuate a sparsely-populated ranching area, and the place is in an uproar. This situation (and really, all the places being investigated for debris events) just seems to be of no interest to the media? Are we supposed to think that everyone is just used to it after 6 months? It's either that, or the government has taken control of the media.  

And what about the phenomena here? That metal circle forming around the town would be visible from weather satellites, even if the news helicopters were somehow kept away. And what about the after effect of a town being surrounded by a compacted metal barrier- how does that get removed, or do they just abandon the town?

The worst part was that it all ended up being about 'feelings' (I guess?). The debris hit a guy who's in a crisis about his relationship, so it responds by...cloning him into separate personality fragments and building a protective wall around him? If this series is just going to be how a bunch of people come in contact with the debris and then it does weird things to try to fix the emotional problems of the various contactees, I will soon be out.

 

 

You missed it, this was said.

Looks like this has already hit the local news.

What are we gonna go with this time, gas leak?

"The Russian Space Agency struggles to control experimental rocket."

Fantastic.

We're gonna blame the Russians.

 

I blame all this new touchy-feely nonsense on the popularity of "This Is Us", emotion over storytelling.

 

[sempervivum]

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

You missed it, this was said.

Looks like this has already hit the local news.

What are we gonna go with this time, gas leak?

"The Russian Space Agency struggles to control experimental rocket."

Fantastic.

We're gonna blame the Russians.

Oh, I remember this now that you quoted it. I guess it was such an unsatisfactory 'explanation' that I dismissed it!

The question remains, though, if it's 'hit the local news'- where are the reporters? Even if they weren't allowed into the town (or over it), that metal ring would have been visible from a considerable distance. And, as I said, how are  they feds going to get rid of the ring- that would take hundreds of workers, trucks, welders, etc to remove; are they going to kill all of them to keep the secret? It's just totally unrealistic, which is always the first sign of trouble for these things (waves to 'Wayward Pines).

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I blame all this new touchy-feely nonsense on the popularity of "This Is Us", emotion over storytelling.

This is what happened to 'Manifest', which started out strong and turned into nothing but a family drama/soap opera. I suspect the writers were not science majors, and when they can't come up with a halfway-believable sci-fi story line, they turn to 'feelings'. And hey, 'Manifest' is coming back for round 3, so sometimes it works.

[tennisgurl]

I get why they are focusing on tying these science fiction ideas into more emotional stories, although I really hope that the show can work to balance a real plot with narrative pay off with the feels. I think they want to use this strange alien tech as metaphors for various issues that people have, last week holding onto grief and this week feeling pulled in a number of different directions in your life, and that can be a good way to emotionally engage an audience in a high concept series. Make it connect more with people (especially a mainstream network audience) outside of techno babble and big syfy concepts. I like that idea, but they really need to explain more about what is actually going on here. I am still intrigued by this show and it has a lot of potential, but it has a lot to do to improve. All of the commercials for Manifest returning just makes me remember how much promise that show had before it went from an interesting science fiction mystery to a dull and melodramatic soap opera, I really hope we don't end up with that here. 

Honestly I am still not totally sure what was actually going on or what all happened. Did I miss what happened to the two headed clone? How did this actually happen and what did the magnet have to do with the clones? I also want to know more about this world and how people are reacting to all of these strange pieces of alien tech falling all over the place? People clearly know about it, so why are they saying this week that they want to cover it up and make it look like some downed Russian satellite? We are clearly heading towards some greater plot with these people stealing tech and the dad being alive, so maybe we will get more later? Emotions are great but I really need to know what is even happening to even feel the emotions that they want me to feel. They don't need to walk me through it baby step by baby step, but they have to give me something. 

I really do like the atmosphere in this show, its not at all what I expected from this show. Its a bit melancholy but not really overly sad or depressing, its more like...contemplative? Wistful? It might be because of the low key nature of the debris themselves, and the effects are really well done. I expected more of the feel of a typical procedural or an early to mid 00s Lost rip off, but this feels a lot different. The emotional ties don't always work, but it does create a mood that is somewhat unique at least.  

[shapeshifter]

23 minutes ago, sempervivum said:

This is what happened to 'Manifest', which started out strong and turned into nothing but a family drama/soap opera.

Oh Dog, I hope that doesn't happen on this show. Maybe with the pandemic fresh in everyone's minds they'll at least give science drama equal billing with family drama.

 

2 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

Looks like this has already hit the local news.

What are we gonna go with this time, gas leak?

"The Russian Space Agency struggles to control experimental rocket."

Fantastic.

We're gonna blame the Russians.

That was my favorite line in the episode.

[Paloma]

1 hour ago, tennisgurl said:

I get why they are focusing on tying these science fiction ideas into more emotional stories, although I really hope that the show can work to balance a real plot with narrative pay off with the feels. I think they want to use this strange alien tech as metaphors for various issues that people have, last week holding onto grief and this week feeling pulled in a number of different directions in your life, and that can be a good way to emotionally engage an audience in a high concept series. Make it connect more with people (especially a mainstream network audience) outside of techno babble and big syfy concepts. I like that idea, but they really need to explain more about what is actually going on here.

You may be giving the creators/writers too much credit, but I hope you are right about their intention and that they are capable of making it work.

[Dowel Jones]

Whew, that was close.  As soon as he said "They're building not just a ring, but a perfect circle, around the town", I thought, No, please God, no, not another dome...  And how did the Debris know which metal to take?  No copper or iron pipes ripped out of houses? No '73 Pinto taken from the corner auto lot?

I had to laugh when Finola hands off the potentially contaminated bio-suit to a guy in street clothes, with instructions to scrub it down.  I would take five steps back and say "Ees not my job."

Why doesn't anyone ever try turning on the room lights when they're searching around?

"George Jones is still alive."  I feel tears wellin' up deep inside like my heart's sprung a big break; and a stab of loneliness sharp and painful, that I may never shake... Hand me another drink, boy. Scotch.

If there's any show that can make this show look like an Emmy winner, it's Manifest.

[shapeshifter]

43 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

Whew, that was close.  As soon as he said "They're building not just a ring, but a perfect circle, around the town", I thought, No, please God, no, not another dome... 

Bite your tongue! 😨😱

🤣

[AnimeMania]

3 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

Whew, that was close.  As soon as he said "They're building not just a ring, but a perfect circle, around the town", I thought, No, please God, no,

Then the Alligators came, it started to rain and the alligators started to dig themselves a little home.

Now that is something worth watching!

[DaWezl]

On 3/9/2021 at 1:26 AM, Melina22 said:

I sort of like this but half the time I don't know what's going on. 

What happened to the two-headed clone? Did I miss it? 

How did Brian get himself and Eric out of the car? It looked like the metal was all squished down. Did someone show up with the Jaws of Life? 

I never did understand what Eric's whole deal was, not that I cared especially. 

Brian shooting himself was... weird. I don't know where it came from though, since Brian kept his hazmat suit on. 

Cool effects as always though. 

When they first came to town, Brian seemed to have a tiny amount of blood on him that was never explained (and also had bad continuity).  I was only half watching at the beginning, and I asked my husband what I’d missed about the blood, and he had no clue either despite paying attention.  So my guess is that the blood was the key to the clones, and that Fionola realized that him doing his job was the “least important” thing to him, which is why she quizzed him afterwards.

Overall, we like the moody, weird stuff with the debris, but we hate-watch the dialogue, lol.

[DaWezl]

3 hours ago, DaWezl said:

When they first came to town, Brian seemed to have a tiny amount of blood on him that was never explained (and also had bad continuity).  I was only half watching at the beginning, and I asked my husband what I’d missed about the blood, and he had no clue either despite paying attention.  So my guess is that the blood was the key to the clones, and that Fionola realized that him doing his job was the “least important” thing to him, which is why she quizzed him afterwards.

Overall, we like the moody, weird stuff with the debris, but we hate-watch the dialogue, lol.

Husband clarified that he was talking about Eric’s bloody hands, not Brian.  But when I looked up, it looked like Brian had a bloody nose or something, and then a shot or two later it was gone.  So I still think that was intended to be the explanation of why he was cloned but no one else was, even if it got cut for time.

[rove4]

On 3/9/2021 at 10:27 AM, Paloma said:

This is what is going to drive me away from the show if it continues. It's not that I object to showing feelings and relationships of main characters, but the way they are doing it is so forced...especially in this episode, when Finola was going on and on about her problems with her sister and her father. It's unprofessional and unrealistic that she would do this with a fairly new partner and in these crisis situations that demand close attention in order to figure out what's going on and how to deal with it. It's also unprofessional and unrealistic that she would push him to talk about his personal feelings. I don't know anything about the writers, but the script comes across like a sexist cliche: men (or at least the leading men) are silent tough guys, and women are all about expressing their feelings and being nurturing.

Hadn't they been working together for six weeks already by the time the pilot events were happening?  I may have misheard.

I don't mind the show mixing in some of the characters' personal lives as long as they strike a good balance. If there's no insight into the personal lives of these people, then they're just one note characters with no depth and I'm not going to care about what happens to them. And if I don't care about how the science fiction woo-woo of it all affects the characters who encounter it, study it, have to deal with it...then there's really no point. 

The show hasn't won me over just yet but I'll keep watching for now. 

[Paloma]

9 minutes ago, rove4 said:

Hadn't they been working together for six weeks already by the time the pilot events were happening?  I may have misheard.

I don't mind the show mixing in some of the characters' personal lives as long as they strike a good balance. If there's no insight into the personal lives of these people, then they're just one note characters with no depth and I'm not going to care about what happens to them. And if I don't care about how the science fiction woo-woo of it all affects the characters who encounter it, study it, have to deal with it...then there's really no point. 

The show hasn't won me over just yet but I'll keep watching for now. 

Yes, I think they had been working together already in the pilot, but it still seemed like they didn't have a long and comfortable colleague relationship. I agree that some insight into personal lives is needed to make the audience care about the rest of the plot, but my objection is to the way the personal stuff feels shoehorned in. Maybe it's just because new shows need a fair amount of exposition so that the audience will become familiar with the characters, but I think it could be done a bit more subtly and realistically.

[Dowel Jones]

While the interrogations were going on, I thought it would be an interesting move to put all three clones in the same room to see if the reactions would reveal any information.

[iMonrey]

Quote

If this series is just going to be how a bunch of people come in contact with the debris and then it does weird things to try to fix the emotional problems of the various contactees, I will soon be out.

I think that's exactly what it is. After only two episodes I see the formula. Weird shit happening somewhere because of the Debris, Scully and Mulder Finola and Bryan show up to investigate, blah blah blah. Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Deleted from series record.

[meep.meep]

On 3/9/2021 at 5:54 PM, Dowel Jones said:

 

"George Jones is still alive."  I feel tears wellin' up deep inside like my heart's sprung a big break; and a stab of loneliness sharp and painful, that I may never shake... Hand me another drink, boy. Scotch.

I know!  Somebody tells me "George Jones is still alive." and my reaction is going to be "the singer?"  The race is on!

[Tachi Rocinante]

The music and cinematography on this show are outstanding.  The storytelling?  Yeah, about that . . .

[Terrafamilia]

On 3/9/2021 at 7:28 AM, shapeshifter said:

I almost turned it off when they showed up in the hazmat suits with the lights inside the hoods to show the actors' faces. Yeah, I know, BSG did that with the space suits and I didn't complain much, but this is 2021. It seems they could do more creative lighting.

This has been going on from at least Outland.

[Melina22]

On 3/9/2021 at 9:54 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Why doesn't anyone ever try turning on the room lights when they're searching around?

Um, yes. 

On 3/12/2021 at 1:00 PM, meep.meep said:

know!  Somebody tells me "George Jones is still alive." and my reaction is going to be "the singer?"  The race is on!

My husband's exact response, before falling asleep. 

On 3/10/2021 at 9:57 AM, DaWezl said:

Overall, we like the moody, weird stuff with the debris, but we hate-watch the dialogue, lol.

Judging by the responses here, I may end up hate-watching Debris like I did The Dome - 99% for the humour of the thread.

Now I'm all nostalgic for the shows referenced here. BSG, Close Encounters - that's how you do science fiction. Last night I found myself, for no particular reason, mentally going over the highlights from BSG that still stick with me all these years later. So far I can't imagine I'll be doing this for Debris. 

[Enigma X]

I have been watching and really liked the first two episodes. I am kind of eh now. I am also confused on whether the main male lead's clone is the one who survived or not. I also am not sure I care.

[Melina22]

You know it's not the world's greatest show when they show you a two-headed clone right before the commercial, then it's never seen or referenced again. 

[Enigma X]

21 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

You know it's not the world's greatest show when they show you a two-headed clone right before the commercial, then it's never seen or referenced again. 

True but that creeped me out. I feel like a specist (if that is even a thing) because, even though I love sci-fi,  clones creep me the hell out. I also feel bad in saying that. 

[Syme]

On 3/9/2021 at 1:26 AM, Melina22 said:

 

What happened to the two-headed clone?

But no Pierson's Puppeteer??