S01.E03: Hurricane

[OtterMommy]

Air Date: December 16, 2021

Quote

With her business trip to Malaysia upended by the outbreak, Miranda Carroll reflects on her past relationships with Arthur and Dr. Eleven; an unexpected chance at survival sends Miranda on a dangerous journey outside the safety of her hotel.

 

[Melina22]

Wow, that was incredibly good, while not being even remotely what I was expecting. 

I'm guessing the man in the spacesuit was her tall colleague? Does he somehow have access to a space station? (Just remembering the scene in the first episode.) Why are they sealing themselves into hotel rooms without even a single shopping cart full of food? 

I read Station Eleven several years ago, and now I realize I cannot remember one thing about it. So this could all be stuff that's nowhere in the book and I wouldn't know. Actually, I'm thrilled I remember nothing, because I'm loving the wild random nature of these episodes. 

As well made as this series is so far, not in their wildest dreams could the producers have imagined the way this show would resonate with us. I sit here watching a fictional episode about a pandemic, while on every other channel, it's endless scary reports about Omicron. You can't make this stuff up. 

Edited December 18, 2021 by Melina22

[Hanahope]

I think the spacesuit guy is an hallucination?  I’m not sure.  But not sure what taping herself up in the hotel room is going to do.  
 

I missed why she missed the boat, or was she so upset over arthurs’s death she decided why bother.

yeah if we ever have a super fast pandemic like this show, we are doomed.

 

[SunnyBeBe]

I took it that she had no real reason to return to America with Arthur being dead. Living on a small boat for a year….that might be a slow death.  I get not wanting to leave that way. 

I wish that I liked Miranda and Arthur more.  Something about their characters didn’t appeal to me.  

Im not sure why Miranda taped up her room. I guess she was prepared to starve to death.  
 

 

[weightyghost]

1 hour ago, Hanahope said:

I missed why she missed the boat, or was she so upset over arthurs’s death she decided why bother.

When she slipped and fell, she dropped the boat keys off the dock into the water. 

I think the taping (which Jeevan and his brother also did in the first episode) was to block the air circulation since presumably the virus was airborne. 

And I agree - spaceman was a hallucination. He was also in the background when she was on the bus the first time. 

Edited December 19, 2021 by weightyghost

[chocolatine]

That was a really good episode. I thought Miranda was the most intriguing character in the book (albeit not the most relatable), and she's just as interesting to watch on the show, IMO.

I was also surprised why the hotel gave out those tape kits but no food, and only one measly 0.5 liter bottle of water. That won't last anyone more than a day.

I also thought the man in the spacesuit was a hallucination, one of the characters from her comic book.

[Cheyanne11]

The Spaceman was an hallucination from the story she’s been obsessed with writing for most of her adult life.  And, wow, this was my favorite episode so far.  The dawning fear on Miranda’s face as she realized what was happening was so well done.  

[iMonrey]

I think I'm done with this. First episode was just OK but kind of intriguing. The jump 20 years in episode 2 was just odd with the Shakespearean troupe. This episode felt entirely disconnected from the first two and hopped around timelines like it was either written by someone with ADD or just badly edited together. I was bored.

[aghst]

The jumping between the timelines, I hope it’s not overdone and it becomes a thing in itself, like on Westworld.

But they may have to do it if they’re going to keep telling Miranda’s and Kirsten’s stories and their plots don’t merge.

The contrast is interesting, in the future, Kirsten is the star of a Shakespeare troupe, performing for survivors.  Art seems as essential as anything else in that post-apocalyptic world and Kirsten wants to share the art.

Miranda has this desire to create art, though she may not call herself an artist, because she wants to express these feelings based on her experiences.  But she does not want to share, at least not when she’s married to Arthur.  She burns her work but later, after Arthur has a child with Elizabeth, she gives him a copy of her work.

Oh and Kirsten ends up with a copy of Station Eleven and remains obsessed with it 20 years later as a grown up.

They seem to be doing something with some of the names?  We have Miranda (The Tempest), Bodhisattva, Robespierre, Le Creuset.  These all have cultural resonances but not clear how they all fit.

[Inquisitionist]

I like this episode the best so far, but my husband (who has not read the book) was ready to throw in the towel until I explained a few things. 

Not sure where to post this, as there is no "general series discussion" thread, but I find the casting of Gael Garcia Bernal in the very Anglo-sounding role of Arthur Leander peculiar.  It's not like GGB is a name that will draw in more viewers, is it? 

[KarenX]

4 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

I find the casting of Gael Garcia Bernal in the very Anglo-sounding role of Arthur Leander peculiar.  It's not like GGB is a name that will draw in more viewers, is it? 

Speculation: Maybe we will get some scene about why that character picked that stage name.

It’s a very writerly Making A Thematic Point kind of name, in the way Shakespeare did: King Arthur, Le Ander (the man), not sure what it might build to in the context of the show.

 

[Macbeth]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:33 AM, chocolatine said:

That was a really good episode. I thought Miranda was the most intriguing character in the book (albeit not the most relatable), and she's just as interesting to watch on the show, IMO.

I was also surprised why the hotel gave out those tape kits but no food, and only one measly 0.5 liter bottle of water. That won't last anyone more than a day.

I also thought the man in the spacesuit was a hallucination, one of the characters from her comic book.

I am not a big fan of Arthur, but I adore Miranda and that is due to the phenomenal Danielle Deadwyler,  She is fantastic.  I just saw her in The Harder They Fall last month and she was phenomenal there too.

She has a great ability to play the difference that 20 years make on her character.  Very subtle but there.

It was a little slow at first for me.  Such a different tone from last week.  Also I don't like Arthur, book impression.  But I told myself to just wait.  You know the actress will deliver and boy did she.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Macbeth

[CarobCake]

I have a feeling that GGB is here because someone in casting watched Mozart in the Jungle and decided Arthur had a touch of Rodrigo to his personality. Otherwise, this makes no sense whatsoever.

The actress who played Miranda was phenomenal, I loved this episode to bits.

Anyone feeling the anxiety as the main characters don't think of putting on a mask or even tying a shirt on their faces, even in freaking Malaysia where everyone is already doing that due to a world-ending virus? Sure, let's duct tape our air vents and continue to walk around bare faced for no reason at all...

[SunnyBeBe]

I thought about the taping of the hotel doors with only 1 bottle of water the second time I watched it. I rewatched it in an attempt to figure some things out.  All I could gather is that this was an attempt to get people to focus on something. If secured in their rooms there would be less mayhem and less of an assault on the hotel staff.  I’d think the hotel staff just gave up and ran home, but maybe they still had not realized how severe things were.  By staying in their rooms unbothered, they could process their reality and meet their fate in privacy.  So, they weren’t really planning to survive like Jeevan was. I wasn’t sure how many people realized the severity of the situation, but it seemed Miranda, her colleague and those at the meeting did.  

[shrewd.buddha]

On 12/18/2021 at 10:17 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

I wish that I liked Miranda and Arthur more.  Something about their characters didn’t appeal to me.  

Miranda seemed pretty stoic in general, walled-off and distanced from Arthur, so her outburst during the sales pitch seemed a bit out-of-character (but the world was ending, she had a head injury, and maybe she was losing it).  It was funny when she calmly turned things over to her colleague after her rant.
Arthur seemed like the stereotypical celebrity: narcissistic/insecure/extroverted/worldly/etc.  They never really sold the idea of kismet between the two of them.

Having read the book , it is hard for me to determine how the show appeals to me:  For a large part, I am watching because I read the book - to see how it was adapted. If there was no book knowledge, I don't know if I would enjoy how the story is unfolding. 

Edited January 22, 2022 by shrewd.buddha

[SunnyBeBe]

I guess Miranda didn’t get into trouble for arson of the guest house.  It’s illegal to set fire to a building, even if it is your own property.   Lol 

I never saw much of a romance between her and Arthur…..maybe on a rewatch. From what I’m seeing, the book may have been better for me than the series.  

[KimberStormer]

Making my way through this show on my sister's recommendation and because I love Mackenzie Davis.  This episode solidified an impression I got from the first couple episodes: I would very likely hate the book.  I already hate the graphic novel from the bits we've seen; I can't explain exactly what makes me like a comic book or not, but I certainly don't like that type.  So because I dislike her art, I also dislike Miranda; but (here's where the I-would-hate-the-book part comes in) it's hard to imagine anyone liking a character who was born on a goddam boat and lost her father in a hurricane and looks off into the middle distance talking about it so we all know she's so super special and tragic because of her absurd special cute tragic backstory, and then goes into fucking logistics and sets fire to the house when she's mad and speaks fluent Chinese, Jesus Christ almighty.  You have got to be kidding me with this shit.  Experiencing an apocalypse is all you need, not this tottering pile of winsome quirks.

But a show is not a book and I like Jeevan and I like the costumes and set design in post-apocalypse time, so I press on.  I know this hope will be dashed but I would absolutely love it if this was the one and only episode with Miranda.

[chocolatine]

10 hours ago, KimberStormer said:

I would very likely hate the book.  I already hate the graphic novel from the bits we've seen; I can't explain exactly what makes me like a comic book or not, but I certainly don't like that type.  So because I dislike her art, I also dislike Miranda; but (here's where the I-would-hate-the-book part comes in) it's hard to imagine anyone liking a character who was born on a goddam boat and lost her father in a hurricane and looks off into the middle distance talking about it so we all know she's so super special and tragic because of her absurd special cute tragic backstory, and then goes into fucking logistics and sets fire to the house when she's mad and speaks fluent Chinese, Jesus Christ almighty.  You have got to be kidding me with this shit.  Experiencing an apocalypse is all you need, not this tottering pile of winsome quirks.

Spoiler

Miranda's story in the book is completely different. She is Canadian, no tragic backstory of losing her family, but she always feels awkward and out of place (even when she was married to Arthur) and making the graphic novel is her refuge.

 

[rejnel]

The Miranda material was the most boring part of the book, and this episode bored me to sleep, several times over--I kept waking up and rewinding and then dropping off again like I was drugged. I may fall asleep again just writing this. 
In the book, the Miranda stuff felt like an obligatory side trip to explain the existence of the graphic novel and its travels in the world.
Wish they had not chosen to waste a whole episode on it.

[paramitch]

I thought this was a pretty stunning episode of television, and a lovely reminder of how different media can illuminate different aspects.

I have not read the novel (yet), but this was so novelistic; we can see Miranda thinking and processing everything around her, and I found her absolutely fascinating (and gorgeously performed by DD). I loved the tension and watching her world crumble in two different ways -- first, in real time, as the flu took the world (so horrifying and quiet and ordinary, right, just like now, when 300+ people still die each week in the US and nobody talks about it or masks up anymore despite this), and secondly, in her relationship with Arthur, when she keeps so much in but I felt we really saw her emotional depth and ferocity, and she riveted me in every scene.

I don't get those who find GGB's casting weird -- he's a lovely actor, I had no difficulty believing him as a movie star or as someone who could play Lear, and I was just happy to see him again (I adored "Mozart in the Jungle," although of course he was a very different character there). Actors are capable of so much range, I'm always happy when someone says "play this" to someone known for playing something different.

On 12/18/2021 at 1:21 AM, Melina22 said:

As well made as this series is so far, not in their wildest dreams could the producers have imagined the way this show would resonate with us. I sit here watching a fictional episode about a pandemic, while on every other channel, it's endless scary reports about Omicron. You can't make this stuff up. 

So well said. I am watching this with so much sadness and conflicting emotion right now, for sure.

On 12/21/2021 at 10:58 PM, aghst said:

Miranda has this desire to create art, though she may not call herself an artist, because she wants to express these feelings based on her experiences.  But she does not want to share, at least not when she’s married to Arthur.  She burns her work but later, after Arthur has a child with Elizabeth, she gives him a copy of her work.

This seemed very obvious to me as a writer. Miranda is an artist in her soul, but did not want to share her work until she was done. It was a private work in progress, something very personal to her. The fact that Arthur violated her privacy, shared her work, and did so with the woman he was screwing (or about to screw) was grotesque. I totally got her reaction of quiet rage and hurt there. It didn't feel odd to me at all. Then later, she gave him the work because she still loved him (he was her great love, it's implied), and it was almost like a promise fulfilled (and it was nice to see him acknowledge that).

On 12/29/2021 at 11:50 AM, Inquisitionist said:

Not sure where to post this, as there is no "general series discussion" thread, but I find the casting of Gael Garcia Bernal in the very Anglo-sounding role of Arthur Leander peculiar.  It's not like GGB is a name that will draw in more viewers, is it? 

Why? He's a terrific actor. Sure, he has Latin roots, but what if he was adopted, for instance? Or (more likely) he took Arthur Leander as his stage name as more marketable?

On 12/30/2021 at 5:36 PM, Macbeth said:

I am not a big fan of Arthur, but I adore Miranda and that is due to the phenomenal Danielle Deadwyler,  She is fantastic. 

She had so many scenes in this episode that were just incredible. Her bark of laughter at the board meeting. Her impassioned pitch speech knowing Arthur was dead. I mean, oh my God, she's amazing. She needs to win all the awards (and I was so sad she was not nominated for an Oscar for "Till").

On 1/22/2022 at 7:15 AM, SunnyBeBe said:

I thought about the taping of the hotel doors with only 1 bottle of water the second time I watched it. I rewatched it in an attempt to figure some things out.  All I could gather is that this was an attempt to get people to focus on something. If secured in their rooms there would be less mayhem and less of an assault on the hotel staff.  I’d think the hotel staff just gave up and ran home, but maybe they still had not realized how severe things were.  By staying in their rooms unbothered, they could process their reality and meet their fate in privacy.  So, they weren’t really planning to survive like Jeevan was. I wasn’t sure how many people realized the severity of the situation, but it seemed Miranda, her colleague and those at the meeting did.  

I think this is a very smart reading of the situation and absolutely what I think was what we saw.

On 1/22/2022 at 7:27 AM, shrewd.buddha said:

Miranda seemed pretty stoic in general, walled-off and distanced from Arthur, so her outburst during the sales pitch seemed a bit out-of-character (but the world was ending, she had a head injury, and maybe she was losing it).  It was funny when she calmly turned things over to her colleague after her rant.
Arthur seemed like the stereotypical celebrity: narcissistic/insecure/extroverted/worldly/etc.  They never really sold the idea of kismet between the two of them.

I have to argue a little here -- Miranda may be quiet and contained, but that does not make her stoic. My impression was that she is an introvert who notes everything around her and who feels things deeply, if quietly. I did not see her as "walled-off" so much as cautious and quiet, but we did definitely see that she can also be passionate, funny, and open. I found her pitch speech absolutely devastating and moving, because it is only HERE that we see and hear how much Arthur truly meant to her. And it's too late.