S01.E08: Big Man

[Pallas]

Gus makes a big decision.

[marcee]

Really enjoyed this show - something different in a season of same. Strange, but interesting premise. I'm still confused about why/how Gus was created in the first place and how that had anything to do with the sickness. But I suppose, in the end, it doesn't really matter. He exists, others like him exist - they appear to have a potential treatment for the sick - and the ethical questions that arise from this are innumerable. Although the Last Men are obviously painted as the villains, one could make a reasonably convincing argument for their point of view. If the General weren't so mustache-twirly, it might've been an even more interesting debate.

[AimingforYoko]

Amazing how they managed to make the ending depressing and hopeful at the same time. This was surprisingly dark for a kids show. I liked it quite a bit and am looking forward to Season 2.

[Haleth]

Me too. I’m anxious to see what happens next.

For a show with a lot of children it surprised me how unannoying all of them were.  Love Gus. Love Wendy. Love Bear. 

[Paloma]

On 6/10/2021 at 5:03 PM, marcee said:

He exists, others like him exist - they appear to have a potential treatment for the sick - and the ethical questions that arise from this are innumerable. Although the Last Men are obviously painted as the villains, one could make a reasonably convincing argument for their point of view. If the General weren't so mustache-twirly, it might've been an even more interesting debate.

Agree--the ethical questions are similar to those raised by real-life use of animals in labs to find possible treatments for human problems, but the cruelty and brutality of the Last Men and the General make it impossible to see anything positive in their motives. It especially bothered me that Dr. Singh, who has been shown to be a thoughtful and compassionate person (including in Big Man's flashback at the hospital), was going to dissect the hybrids apparently without anesthetic. He was troubled by the idea of dissection, but if he had to do it, why couldn't he insist on anesthetic--even if he just used the argument that it would be too difficult without it, and that any lab results would be inaccurate because extreme stress and pain affect hormones and other bodily substances that they might need for a cure. 

[marcee]

On 6/26/2021 at 8:13 AM, Paloma said:

He was troubled by the idea of dissection, but if he had to do it, why couldn't he insist on anesthetic--even if he just used the argument that it would be too difficult without it, and that any lab results would be inaccurate because extreme stress and pain affect hormones and other bodily substances that they might need for a cure. 

I think they created a reason and mentioned why it wouldn't work.

[Black Knight]

On 6/10/2021 at 2:03 PM, marcee said:

Although the Last Men are obviously painted as the villains, one could make a reasonably convincing argument for their point of view. If the General weren't so mustache-twirly, it might've been an even more interesting debate.

Their argument doesn't work at all, because all babies born now are hybrid. So the human race as they know it is done - they really are the Last Men (and Women). That was Aimee's point. The only question for the future is whether part of humanity will live on in hybrids or if hybrids will go extinct too. So the Last Men are trafficking in sheer denial and mean-spiritedness, and at the same time, they're making things really horrible for the remaining younger humans alive, those who are or will be able to procreate. The adults of child-bearing age are being denied babies because the Last Men will kill them for being hybrids, any human children they had prior to the plague are being denied siblings, and those human children are also being denied a future where when they grow up they can have children of their own, because again, the Last Men will kill them for being hybrids. And at the end of all that, humanity is still extinct, but oh, at least the hybrids didn't get to live either and thus inherit the earth?

So it seems Birdie found an old and lethal virus frozen in Alaska and engineered a being immune to it in Gus. Thus two sides of the same coin. There's so much wrong scientifically with all this (for starters, how's the DNA for many different species getting into humans?) but clearly we're just supposed to hand-wave the science.

Aw, Bear's sister is alive. And I'm very relieved Jepp survived being shot. I'm looking forward to him and Aimee teaming up for their rescue mission. And finding out what Birdie is up to now. I really hope the show gets renewed.

[marcee]

On 6/28/2021 at 9:30 PM, Black Knight said:

Their argument doesn't work at all, because all babies born now are hybrid. So the human race as they know it is done - they really are the Last Men (and Women). That was Aimee's point. The only question for the future is whether part of humanity will live on in hybrids or if hybrids will go extinct too.

Unless I missed something, this isn't the case. They're actively trying to find a "cure".

[Black Knight]

23 minutes ago, marcee said:

Unless I missed something, this isn't the case. They're actively trying to find a "cure".

Good point!

[Hanahope]

I don't know why Dr. A keeps saying and apparently believing that his wife isn't contagious.  Doug contracted the sickness from someone and she was the only one that was shown in their area that had the sickness.

I know he's a kid and all, but Gus seems so much less mature than most 9 year olds I've experienced.  given his upbringing, you'd think he'd be a little more mature, not less, than his age.  Wendy even seems more mature than him, and she is at least a year younger than him.

Hard to believe the military (or whoever) just left a 6 year old girl to fend for herself, and it seems almost a miracle she did.

Jebb wasn't gone all that long that suddenly his wife and baby were taken from the hospital.  why the wife?  it looked like one of the kids from the preserve had black wool, will that end up being his son?

So don't even test-tube babies need a female uterus to actually grow?  so who was that?  and did they really inject a human embryo with something?  how could they justify that in the first place? and who donated the egg and sperm that constitute Gus' biological parents?   and i guess somehow this virus was so airborne that every single pregnant woman in a multi-state area (at least) started having hybrid babies? and how did so many different animal dna manifest? the set up just seems to have a lot of holes.

hopefully, the second season fills in these holes or is a bit better written.  I like Jebb, Bear and Aimee.  not as thrilled with the rest.

 

 

[CB-LXX]

On 9/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Hanahope said:

I don't know why Dr. A keeps saying and apparently believing that his wife isn't contagious.  Doug contracted the sickness from someone and she was the only one that was shown in their area that had the sickness.

I wonder if he had an immunity to her, so he just assumed she wasn't contagious? As cruel as the General is, he might have had the right idea to quarantine her.

 

On 9/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Hanahope said:

I know he's a kid and all, but Gus seems so much less mature than most 9 year olds I've experienced.  given his upbringing, you'd think he'd be a little more mature, not less, than his age.  Wendy even seems more mature than him, and she is at least a year younger than him.

I wonder if that had to do in the manner that they were each raised. Pubba only really taught him to stay hidden, not to leave the enclosure, etc. Didn't prepare him for the evability that something might happen to him (Pubba) and perhaps thought he'd have more time to teach him that later. I couldn't tell if Pubba taught Gus basic survival skills. On the other hand, Aimee also taught Wendy to stay hidden, but she also taught her how to cook, how to grow a garden and many other things, AND what to do if humans can't be avoided. Or, it could just be the difference in maturity rates between boys and girls, how girls tend to mature at an earlier age than boys.

On 9/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Hanahope said:

Hard to believe the military (or whoever) just left a 6 year old girl to fend for herself, and it seems almost a miracle she did.

That seemed odd too. I guess she was forgotten in all the confusion?

On 9/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Hanahope said:

Jebb wasn't gone all that long that suddenly his wife and baby were taken from the hospital.  why the wife?  it looked like one of the kids from the preserve had black wool, will that end up being his son?

Oh I didn't notice that! I wonder if all the wives/mothers faced the same fate as his? Or, if someone quickly got them out of there because they knew they would be in danger, especially since Jebb had taken off.

On 9/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Hanahope said:

guess somehow this virus was so airborne that every single pregnant woman in a multi-state area (at least) started having hybrid babies? and how did so many different animal dna manifest? the set up just seems to have a lot of holes.

I was wondering this myself. How did they go from a test tube baby to all women giving birth to hybrids?

[bybrandy]

The Hybrids are caused by some microbe, right so it make sense once that has breeched into the atmosphere everyody who comes in contact with the microbe has the issue... same as the virus... 

Not all parents abandoned their kids Bear's parents were raising Wendy unitil they got the sick and then somehow she got dropped at the refuge... how that happened is another question.   

I'd be surprised if there weren't pockets of people out there raising hybrid kids but they'd be doing it in secret because they wouldn't want to come across any Last Men.   

I'm not defending cruelty to the hybrids but if Dr. Bell didn't put them to sleep before she extracted whatever she did then Dr A doing it now would make it a different experiment.   It is for sure one he should try because YIKES but to ensure the same results Dr Bell got he'd want to do the same thing in the same way it could be he pain response that is the thing that works.   

I'm assuming Dr. A thinks she isn't contagious because he's never gotten sick but that's just a theory.  If I was literally anybody else and he was like, "No, she has this virus, and she has all the symptoms and she's spewing particles all over the place but she's not contagious" I swear I would be loathe to believe them.   

Even if he's right why would they believe him?
 

On 9/3/2021 at 9:08 AM, Hanahope said:

I know he's a kid and all, but Gus seems so much less mature than most 9 year olds I've experienced.  given his upbringing, you'd think he'd be a little more mature, not less, than his age.  Wendy even seems more mature than him, and she is at least a year younger than him.

It actually makes sense to me that Gus is a little less mature.   Pubba raised him in a bubble.  Yes he told him o be wear of humans and that there were bad people but also that inside their bubble that they were safe and that his job was to be happy.   Wendy on the other hand was ripped from one family, placed somewhere else where she was told that people were out to get kids like her and it was her job to keep them safe.   These kids have both been sheltered but in very, very, very different ways. with very, very, very different expectations.   

My guess is Jepp's kid, if he is somewhere, is somewhere else or will be by the time Jepp gets there.   If Jepp is reunited with his kid it changes the dynamic with Gus, so either the kid is gone or will be kept out of reach.   

Edited June 9, 2022 by bybrandy