S01.E06: Survival is Insufficient

[txhorns79]

Quote

While Kirsten leaves the Traveling Symphony behind to track down the Prophet, the Conductor accepts an invitation for the rest of the grieving troupe that breaks her heart

Streaming as of 12/30/21.

[chocolatine]

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the Kirsten-centric episodes really dragging?

[aghst]

It's really a wonder that the TS wasn't captured before.  Here they were split up and lured to the Museum of Civilization and Kirsten has no choice but to follow Tyler and let him lead her to the MoC.

Even though her first impulse is to finish the job she started, because why wouldn't he have his child soldiers attack again?

But even at full strength, TS aren't fighters.  How would they have survived an attack by those Red Bandanas?  Kirsten may defeat the attackers but she couldn't prevent several of the older TS members from being killed or seriously wounded.

Spoiler

Episode 7 hints at hostile survivors with the short wave radio and then actually shows hostilities.

OTOH, the Undersea are vulnerable too.  The stories he told the children may have made them happy but did Tyler teach him survival skills?  Before he left the airport, he downloaded a lot of useful and practical Wikis.  Does he use that information or impart it to those children?  Or do they spend their time making helmets out of wood to dress themselves like the characters in the Prophet's stories.

Or is their strategy to flee when there are hostilities?

Tyler said something about erasing something, which is what the suicide bombings were about.  He didn't elaborate more nor did Kirsten challenge him on his rationalization.

 

Ironic title, considering that there is a fight for survival in this episode.

[Melina22]

This episode was too creepy and depressing for me. All the scruffy orphans, like Lord of the Flies. 

I find it hard to believe Kiersten could singlehandedly fight off a bunch of men with a few knives. 

So the Museum of Civilization is the Severn Airport! I only picked up on it because of the notice next to the elevator. The musicians seemed very happy there. Could it be a good place? 

So did Sara (is that her name?) have a heart attack? I couldn't tell. 

I wonder when Kiersten will find out who David's father is, and when David will discover Kiersten has the book. I have to admit that the actor playing David is well cast. He plays charming and sincere as well as he plays deeply evil. 

[KarenX]

8 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

So did Sara (is that her name?) have a heart attack? I couldn't tell.

I got the impression it had something to do with wearing the wrong glasses. That was making her nauseous; was she having a seizure at the end?

I don’t know if the musicians seem happy there. Happy at the sight if the actors for sure! And from the novelty of luxury. I hope they are safe and want to see the airport as a happy place, but the scene was definitely staged to be ambiguous, to let the prophet get into the audience’s head like he’s getting into Kirsten’s.

I loved the scene with Kirsten looking for and finding the baby, and talking to David Cross. “So we finally have a name!” So much story hiding in one sentence.

[txhorns79]

28 minutes ago, Melina22 said:

 

So the Museum of Civilization is the Severn Airport! I only picked up on it because of the notice next to the elevator. The musicians seemed very happy there. Could it be a good place? 

Weren't the actors being taken their by force?  How good a place could it be if you need a gun to make people go there? 

[KarenX]

1 minute ago, txhorns79 said:

Weren't the actors being taken their by force?  How good a place could it be if you need a gun to make people go there? 

Well, the show is definitely making us wonder/worry. So, the guns were featured prominently. But you could see the big gun as for protection and the little gun being waved around by a nice guy with a scrambled brain and no sense. 

[waterytart]

1 hour ago, Melina22 said:

I wonder when Kiersten will find out who David's father is, and when David will discover Kiersten has the book. I have to admit that the actor playing David is well cast. He plays charming and sincere as well as he plays deeply evil. 

Which character is David?

[Melina22]

I didn't think he was using the gun to intimidate them at all. After all he'd invited them a couple of times before without intimidating them. I got the impression Sara was just sick of not feeling safe and wanted to join the musicians. 

2 minutes ago, waterytart said:

Which character is David?

I think David is the prophet. I could be wrong. So many characters at this point! 

[waterytart]

1 minute ago, Melina22 said:

I didn't think he was using the gun to intimidate them at all. After all he'd invited them a couple of times before without intimidating them. I got the impression Sara was just sick of not feeling safe and wanted to join the musicians. 

I think David is the prophet. I could be wrong. So many characters at this point! 

Ah, I was still referring to him as Tyler. I must have missed something where he changed names.

[Melina22]

Oh right. Yes, as a child he was Tyler but I thought I heard Kiersten ask the children where David was, meaning him. So at some point he must have changed his name. 

[overtherainbow]

Well, I'm finally caught up on this show. This was a creepy episode for sure. The dirty children were very reminiscent of Children of the Corn. The ending doesn't look good for Kiersten.

So the MoC seems to have electricity (at least enough to still operate security cameras) so is at least a small section of the world after the epidemic seeing advancement? I sense a war between the airport dwellers who want to remember civilization and the cult who don't.

[aghst]

They literally emerged out of the corn field and surrounded Kirsten.

 

Yeah I don't know why MoC want to add people.  They are even sending food down to them.

OK, they been there 20 years, they must be out of all the airport restaurant food a long time ago.

So how would they get food and why would they want to add more mouths to feed?

Unless this is like an episode out of TWD and the plate they're fixing up for guests is you know what.

I will just give them the benefit of the doubt that they found food warehouses which were still refrigerated and also trucks with fuel.  Because none of thees people look like farmers or know how to raise livestock.  Even if they did, they'd leave themselves vulnerable trying to defend farm lands and livestock.  It's not like they have castles they can run into when there are raiders.

 

[MrPissyPuppy]

The kids gave me a Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome vibe: 

And the scene where Kirsten kills those men looked like the White Walker pattern from Game of Thrones which isn't super shocking since Jeremy Podeswa is an Executive Producer on this show. 

[bilgistic]

On 12/31/2021 at 4:14 PM, overtherainbow said:

.So the MoC seems to have electricity (at least enough to still operate security cameras) so is at least a small section of the world after the epidemic seeing advancement? I sense a war between the airport dwellers who want to remember civilization and the cult who don't.

In episode five, one of the survivors (name?) at the airport was working on rigging up solar panels. The elevator was working in the airport, too.

Edited January 2, 2022 by bilgistic

[Hanahope]

I hope that Kirsten is hanging with the children of the corn only because David/Tyler knows where the airport is and that's where the TS is at.  I hope she remembers that it was still David who stole children from the country club people.  he's still not a good dude.  he sounds all reasonable and such (like a lot of con artists do), but he's not.  

I think the MOC is good, they really do want the entertainment (like anyone would).  I expect that like other places over the last 20 years, they've learned to survive, plant/harvest food (plus they may have advantages with the solar panels/electricity)

[SomeTameGazelle]

I feel like Galaxy Quest is making me think that Brian is more benign than he really is. When he was with Elizabeth at the airport he struck me as very sinister.  But did he say something about having lost his memories? And did he lose the foreign accent that he seemed to have?

[Hava]

This episode cemented for me why I dislike the storyline involving the Traveling Symphony--its members don't feel like real people. I don't know if it's the acting or the writing, but something about them seems off (more off than would be expected from people who survived an extinction event, I mean). They all seem overly spacey and detached from the world, if that makes sense. Especially in the scene where they "leave" for the Museum of Civilization. I genuinely could not tell in that scene if they were only going because there was a gun pointed at them or because they genuinely needed a new place to stay. It was so, so weird. I don't get them at all.