S01.E06: Supernova

[ottoDbusdriver]

Episode Description:

When the team investigates a group of teenagers who are using Debris to kill the elderly, Bryan faces increasing pressure from Maddox to get answers out of Finola.

 

[Syme]

Here's a dilemma....

Rerun-TV as I call it, is showing  X-Files S1E1 tomorrow night at 10pm.

I think my mind is already made up.....

 

 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Syme

[patty1h]

This show is like watching paint dry and 90% of the dialogue is spoken in monotones, which is not good if a show expects to hold viewers interest.  The leads have no chemistry together (not talking about romantic), just two blank faces.  The scene where the dude told his partner (I've watched every episode and I'm guessing at their names... Brian.. Finola?) that her father is alive - nothing.

[shapeshifter]

At least I was awake for that part.

I did like the concept for this episode, especially what the young old man said about being okay with becoming old again and appreciating each day. My mom went through something similar in her last years, but couldn’t vocalize it at the end. 

[Paloma]

6 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

I did like the concept for this episode, especially what the young old man said about being okay with becoming old again and appreciating each day.

I liked the concept also, though for different reasons: (1) the mystery of the missing old people and the teenagers seen with them was intriguing (maybe I am dense, but the explanation did not occur to me until the reveal by the first teenager they caught that he was one of the missing old people); (2) the fear of getting old and being alone is powerful, especially for those of us in the senior generation, so I could empathize with the desperation of the "teenagers"; (3) for once the debris had an effect that clearly could be beneficial to humanity if it could be controlled by, for example, reversing aging just enough to reverse dementia and other debilitating illnesses but not going all the way back to teenage years; and (4) the implications of even a controlled degree of reverse aging are fascinating, including how this would affect relations between family members and how it would affect society as a whole. In fact, I'd be interested in watching an entire sci-fi series on that topic. Unfortunately, Debris is not that series, and the concept of reverse aging as well as the individuals affected by the debris this episode will never be mentioned again. Instead, the show will continue to show random weird effects of the debris and will focus on the characters we still care nothing about.  

[ottoDbusdriver]

And the point of the hula hoop was .... what exactly ?  To show that she was a young old person ?

Maddux discovered a piece of debris that can recreate the spinning top scene from 'Inception'.  And that's valuable because .... why exactly ?

This was a boring episode.  Even the Influx villain was so bored.  Where was the emotional component of this debris ?

I'm starting to think that the aliens were not the brightest bunch -- did someone turn on all this tech at the same time causing the ship to explode ?  Because a lot of these technological developments make absolutely no sense when you put them all together.

[AnimeMania]

Wow, I am salivating, I really need to get my hands on that alien tech. I run a sweatshop, imagine if everybody could work until they were 103 and they could never leave the building or they would die! The future can't get here fast enough.

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, Paloma said:

I liked the concept also, though for different reasons: (1) the mystery of the missing old people and the teenagers seen with them was intriguing (maybe I am dense, but the explanation did not occur to me until the reveal by the first teenager they caught that he was one of the missing old people)

I was very sleepy when this show came on (10 p.m.) and going forward should probably plan to watch it on Peacock in the morning, but I too fell for the initial misdirect of the teens --and I think we were supposed to --but maybe not as long as you and I did, heh.

This episode had a lot of Easter egg-type bits and hints of deeper meanings that I don't think there's an audience to catch or care about.
Maybe all the episodes did and I'm just now noticing? 
For example, the ability of the Debris to rejuvenate is similar to cloning, and now, perhaps Finola's father's resurrection --since she insisted at the end that both the father whose body she sat with and the father in the video file were her father and not clones.

2 hours ago, Paloma said:

(3) for once the debris had an effect that clearly could be beneficial to humanity

Yes, and this ties in with the captured INFLUX guy (Anson Ash/Scroobius Pip) responses to Maddox. During interrogation (I say "interrogation" because it looks like the Law & Order interrogation room) Maddox reads aloud in Ash's file that he "abandoned [his] military duty," to which Ash responds that, unlike Maddox, he --and Influx-- don't want to use the Debris for "geopolitical dominance...to control the world," but instead claims "this Debris is meant to free the world, not entrap it."

Maddox then asks if INFLUX "reanimated" George Jones' (Finola's father's) body. Okay. Clue.

But then, unfortunately, Maddox asks if Influx is torturing George Jones for info, at which point Ash takes a nap/deanimates/whatever and Maddox implies he's coming back later to do a little torturing himself --As my mom used to say: "the faults that we see in others are most often our own."

So. Either

1. Evil Maddox gets killed off before the show takes a more gratuitous turn towards violence
   Or:
2. Evil Maddox gets cloned/reprogrammed into a Kinder Gentler Maddox
   Or:
3. This was just a one-off mention of torture to back up Finola's observation that Maddox (and Ferris) are not trustworthy
   Or:
4. The torture happens mostly off-screen and has a story-telling purpose, for example, why our intrepid heroes start working for INFLUX or otherwise go rogue
   Or:
5. Something else (maybe like what @AnimeMania just described above^ 😉)
   And/Or:
6. I'm done. 

 

 

[Paloma]

1 hour ago, shapeshifter said:

I'm done. 

This is the answer we should probably all be giving at this point. If I continue watching, it will mostly be so I can enjoy the comments here.

[Diapason Untuned]

An interesting chance of pace this episode, seeing regular folks use the debris for their own ends. It's very in line with what Influx were saying. I hope the show leans into this more. I also like the show was willing to go back into making the morality of our leads suspect, after framing Influx as more villainous last episode.

 

4 hours ago, Paloma said:

 for once the debris had an effect that clearly could be beneficial to humanity if it could be controlled by, 

All of the debris have had effects that could be highly beneficial if controlled properly. This is simply the first time we're seeing someone actually succeed at using them that way.

 

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

I'm starting to think that the aliens were not the brightest bunch -- did someone turn on all this tech at the same time causing the ship to explode ?  Because a lot of these technological developments make absolutely no sense when you put them all together.

Except they actually do.

After what we've seen so far, it's safe to conclude that the alien vessel was a long range colonizing vessel. They have suspended animation, tech to reverse aging, tech to create clones, tech for long distance travel, tech for terraforming, Even the phasing tech from the pilot would have applications in mining.

[AnimeMania]

I think Maddox is covertly getting that alien tech so that he can talk to his son, since it is a communication device.

All the tech shown so far would be a great boon to long distance space travel and colonization.

[Paloma]

3 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I think Maddox is covertly getting that alien tech so that he can talk to his son, since it is a communication device.

I missed that it was a communication device--it just seemed to float or be suspended in air. I'm not saying you're wrong, but what made you think it was a communication device?

[AnimeMania]

1 hour ago, Paloma said:

I missed that it was a communication device--it just seemed to float or be suspended in air. I'm not saying you're wrong, but what made you think it was a communication device?

Lady: I happen to know you have stronger Debris that can access communication frequencies. Why would you want this one?

Maddox: Because it works.

Lady: Is that the only reason? 

The spinning top wasn't part of the alien debris, it was a way to prove that this was the real alien artifact. The alien artifact was under the spinning top.

[tennisgurl]

We return to the alien tech of the week again, but this one was actually being used by normal people instead of just messing things up. The idea was pretty interesting, you can see how this technology could be used to benefit people and cure all kinds of illnesses associated with aging and I felt bad for the people who were using it. The mystery was pretty good, it took me awhile to figure out what was up with the "teenagers" and what their plan was, and I felt sorry for them in the end. The last part was a nice ending after the couple ended on a downer, that the older guy can now appreciate life again no matter how little time he has left. 

So while the case of the week was solid and returned to the moody tragic atmosphere that I have enjoyed, everything else was still pretty boring. I am glad that they didn't drag Brian knowing about Finola's dad and Finola knowing that he knows and isn't telling her for very long for very long, but this whole plot is so boring. They need to give the leads more to do then look sad, it makes them as interesting as cardboard cut outs. At least Finola didn't spend the whole episode looking for a tissue box, but it was touch and go several times on the tear front. 

[Paloma]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

2 hours ago, Paloma said:

I missed that it was a communication device--it just seemed to float or be suspended in air. I'm not saying you're wrong, but what made you think it was a communication device?

Lady: I happen to know you have stronger Debris that can access communication frequencies. Why would you want this one?

Maddox: Because it works.

Lady: Is that the only reason? 

The spinning top wasn't part of the alien debris, it was a way to prove that this was the real alien artifact. The alien artifact was under the spinning top.

Thank you!

[MyArchangel]

So I figured out what was happening to the older people who touched/held the piece of debris. That’s was fairly easy. What had me baffled is what envelop was given to Bryan by a lab tech, to which Bryan says “why so early?” The lab tech responds “Maybe something came back in your bloodwork?” The tech leaves and Bryan opens the envelop, takes out the black case and then injects something into his arm. No notes, no test results, no directions yet Bryan instinctively knows where to inject whatever it is he’s injecting into his bloodstream. Now a few episodes back he was fully cloned and then half cloned. Is it because of that experience or does this have something to do with Maddox and how he got Bryan out of an Afghanistan prison. We still haven’t found out who the picture of the woman is he carries in his shirt pocket. 
 

Hopefully those answers start coming. 

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, MyArchangel said:

So I figured out what was happening to the older people who touched/held the piece of debris. That’s was fairly easy. What had me baffled is what envelop was given to Bryan by a lab tech, to which Bryan says “why so early?” The lab tech responds “Maybe something came back in your bloodwork?” The tech leaves and Bryan opens the envelop, takes out the black case and then injects something into his arm. No notes, no test results, no directions yet Bryan instinctively knows where to inject whatever it is he’s injecting into his bloodstream. Now a few episodes back he was fully cloned and then half cloned. Is it because of that experience or does this have something to do with Maddox and how he got Bryan out of an Afghanistan prison. We still haven’t found out who the picture of the woman is he carries in his shirt pocket. 
 

Hopefully those answers start coming. 

There really is too much crammed into these episodes, isn't there? 
Maybe Bryan is a clone and/or resurrected from death and hasn't completely developed empathy yet?
And maybe the "death" was in Afghanistan? 

[Paloma]

1 hour ago, icemiser69 said:

So they finally decided to trust each other, kinda, sorta.

Finola seemed to tell Bryan the whole truth (at least in regard to what her boss told her), but Bryan was still holding back some important information: namely, that his people were actually inside her apartment (not just "surveilling" it, which I would interpret as watching it from outside), searching for clues and trying to get access to her files, and that Bryan was supposed to try to get her password (which seems like a ridiculous order--I'm just an ordinary person, not an investigator who is supposed to keep secrets, but I would never give my passwords to anyone except my husband, and I would be suspicious if someone started asking questions that seemed to be trying to figure the passwords out). I assume that Bryan will not be trying to get the password now, but it's still a pretty big violation of trust to not tell Finola that his people are inside her apartment looking through her stuff.

[shapeshifter]

15 minutes ago, icemiser69 said:

Finola does not have a poker face.

LOL!

I suppose since they put the password demand in the script, it will come back to haunt in another episode.

[Diapason Untuned]

3 hours ago, Paloma said:

Finola seemed to tell Bryan the whole truth (at least in regard to what her boss told her), but Bryan was still holding back some important information: namely, that his people were actually inside her apartment (not just "surveilling" it, which I would interpret as watching it from outside), searching for clues and trying to get access to her files, I assume that Bryan will not be trying to get the password now, but it's still a pretty big violation of trust to not tell Finola that his people are inside her apartment looking through her stuff.

In terms of modern spycraft lingo, surveillance almost certainly means that someone entering her room to place listening devices, monitoring software like keyloggers, etc or inspect her electronics, especially since she isn't at home right now.

 

Quote

and that Bryan was supposed to try to get her password

Fair enough, though I suppose he thought it didn't matter.

 

Quote

(which seems like a ridiculous order--I'm just an ordinary person, not an investigator who is supposed to keep secrets, but I would never give my passwords to anyone except my husband, and I would be suspicious if someone started asking questions that seemed to be trying to figure the passwords out). 

Bryan thought so too, as you can see from his reaction.

[tvfanatic13]

Question from the "dense" section of the room- what was with the dead people in the cave at the beginning? People for whom the debris did not work/killed them?

[UnknownK]

23 minutes ago, tvfanatic13 said:

Question from the "dense" section of the room- what was with the dead people in the cave at the beginning? People for whom the debris did not work/killed them?

I figured that is how they found out about the distance thing. The original guy would not have left the device out of his sight and also would not have left his wife out of his sight either so both would be fine. Once he started transforming other people those people would not need to stick around and eventually you might find out they died.

So either it was an accident or an experiment to see how far they can go before the affect wears off. He did say he needed more people to make the distance between the device work farther away.

[mythoughtis]

5 hours ago, UnknownK said:

So either it was an accident or an experiment to see how far they can go before the affect wears off. He did say he needed more people to make the distance between the device work farther away.

I think it was an accident.  I think that’s when they realized you had to stay close. They probably went to the store for supplies and came back and the others were dead.  It was after that when they counted how steps  they could take away from the device without feeling ill.  

[momo]

Sorry if this is dumb, but they have to carry around tablets to show videos and webpages, then use a separate cell for phone calls??

[Diapason Untuned]

2 hours ago, momo said:

Sorry if this is dumb, but they have to carry around tablets to show videos and webpages, then use a separate cell for phone calls??

Not uncommon, some people just really don't like watching videos on a tiny cell phone screen. 

[shapeshifter]

6 minutes ago, Diapason Untuned said:

2 hours ago, momo said:

Sorry if this is dumb, but they have to carry around tablets to show videos and webpages, then use a separate cell for phone calls??

Not uncommon, some people just really don't like watching videos on a tiny cell phone screen. 

Yes, and it could also be security issues. But yeah, it was a directorial and set design choice, so maybe the tablet(s) will figure in as some plot device?

[Diapason Untuned]

3 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

Yes, and it could also be security issues. But yeah, it was a directorial and set design choice, so maybe the tablet(s) will figure in as some plot device?

From a real world perspective, they probably just wanted to make it easier for the viewers to see the video as well.

[shapeshifter]

BTW, is this another episode in which the title seems to have nothing to do with anything in particular? Or am I missing something?

[Diapason Untuned]

6 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

BTW, is this another episode in which the title seems to have nothing to do with anything in particular? Or am I missing something?

Supernovae are the last stage in a star's life cycle and this episode was about elderly people coping with being in the same stage.

All the episode titles have referred to the episode's content in some way.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Diapason Untuned

[AnimeMania]

9 hours ago, Diapason Untuned said:

9 hours ago, shapeshifter said:

BTW, is this another episode in which the title seems to have nothing to do with anything in particular? Or am I missing something?

Supernovae are the last stage in a star's life cycle and this episode was about elderly people coping with being in the same stage.

All the episode titles have referred to the episode's content in some way.

It about old folks going out with a bang, the old guy at the end had a renewed vigor about what little time he had left. No wonder STDs are on the rise in old folk homes, go out with a bang, Supernova Style.

[nokat]

I'm trying to not spoil myself so I scrolled to the end, but does anyone else find Jonathon Tucker weirdly attractive in this show?

[shapeshifter]

1 hour ago, nokat said:

I'm trying to not spoil myself so I scrolled to the end, but does anyone else find Jonathon Tucker weirdly attractive in this show?

I think the pilot episode thread had some posts about his hotness, but I mostly find him just weird rather than “weirdly attractive,” LOL.

[nokat]

46 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

I think the pilot episode thread had some posts about his hotness, but I mostly find him just weird rather than “weirdly attractive,” LOL.

Fair enough. He's just not what I would usually find hot but there is something happening here.

[MyArchangel]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:23 AM, icemiser69 said:

Is Bryan going to come clean about his illness, or is Finola going to have to find out about it the hard way when he has no choice but to tell her?  When his life is probably on the line, and she has to find a way to save him.  

You may be right that it’s an illness but I’m wondering if it’s an addiction and not an illness since it was mentioned that Maddox pulled him out of a prison in Afghanistan? The picture Bryan pulled from the clones pocket was of a woman who looked like she could have been from Afghanistan. Did she die as a result of something that Bryan did and he was charged and convicted in her death? Maybe the injection that Maddox sent is something close to suboxone to keep his addiction in check.

Also, has anyone noticed the small snippets when the credits for the episodes are shown at the end of each episode? It’s clearly coming from Orbital back to Earth. I can’t tell if its one long stream of info that was coming back to Earth from observations from the space station or some other outpost and they have broken the message down for each episode to give a little info at a time but it’s clearly there for a reason. 

[Nialla]

On 4/6/2021 at 5:51 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

And the point of the hula hoop was .... what exactly ?  To show that she was a young old person ?

I'm starting to think that the aliens were not the brightest bunch -- did someone turn on all this tech at the same time causing the ship to explode ?  Because a lot of these technological developments make absolutely no sense when you put them all together.

I think the hula hoop was an easy and safe way to quickly see when the distance began reverting her back to being old.

It's very likely that what the debris is doing on earth isn't what it was designed to do, especially things that affect biological processes which could be very different. The episode which changed people to breath a chlorine atmosphere could be a hint that the aliens do, and perhaps that debris was intended to be part of a terraforming process to make earth habitable by them. Or at least make someplace habitable by them.

Was the ship on the way to takeover earth, was it damaged in battle, how did we figure out as much about the debris as we have in six months? Lots of interesting questions, but I have a bad feeling we're stuck in a Mystery Box, with no real answers planned.

[shapeshifter]

2 hours ago, Nialla said:

I think the hula hoop was an easy and safe way to quickly see when the distance began reverting her back to being old.

It's very likely that what the debris is doing on earth isn't what it was designed to do, especially things that affect biological processes which could be very different. The episode which changed people to breath a chlorine atmosphere could be a hint that the aliens do, and perhaps that debris was intended to be part of a terraforming process to make earth habitable by them. Or at least make someplace habitable by them.

Was the ship on the way to takeover earth, was it damaged in battle, how did we figure out as much about the debris as we have in six months? Lots of interesting questions, but I have a bad feeling we're stuck in a Mystery Box, with no real answers planned.

Sounds like the ETs had all the technology they needed to go find a new home planet if/when their sun went supernova. De-aging would be really handy for repopulation. 

[alvajon]

On 4/7/2021 at 3:23 AM, icemiser69 said:

You know, the writing on this series makes Manifest almost watchable.

That is saying a lot... They are both convoluted. 

[AfterShare]

On 4/8/2021 at 11:39 PM, nokat said:

I'm trying to not spoil myself so I scrolled to the end, but does anyone else find Jonathon Tucker weirdly attractive in this show?

Tucker has always been attractive. I was so glad to recognize Tommy Donnelly from “The Black Donnellys” 2007 in Bryan. I loved that young man! I’ve since caught up on many things he’s done. I think he’s amazing. Watch his eyes. They are so expressive. And each one of his past roles are different and he is able to create a solid character. I am now very fond of Finola too. They both add so much.