S01E01: Bad Things

[SomeTameGazelle]

The book is probably my favourite John Wyndham novel. I've read it several times but not recently. I was afraid that this adaptation might be too much like horror for me. So far it is not. 

I did find it a little stressful when Dr Zellaby was promising her patient that if she left a toy with her she would do her best to make sure nothing bad happened. 

I had been looking forward to seeing the various women discover their pregnancies normally at first and then gradually realize that something was off. I was ok with the young  married woman touching her abdomen immediately, but it didn't seem necessary or appropriate for several other characters to do the same, especially in the cases where it seemed like the character probably didn't have any reason to expect she could possibly be pregnant. 

[Shermie]

I didn’t read the book, but I thought the abdomen touching implied that many women suddenly felt something was different, and that they instinctively knew they were pregnant. None of them seemed upset about it; they all had a little half-smile. 

I really enjoyed this, it’s my kind of sci-fi. Regular people experiencing something supernatural. I’ve tried over and over to get into network versions of this concept and been repeatedly disappointed (Flash Forward, Jericho, Under the Dome, La Brea…). They always diverted to stupid gunfights and relationship spats, ugh.

Hopefully this doesn’t disappoint.

[SomeTameGazelle]

3 hours ago, Shermie said:

I thought the abdomen touching implied that many women suddenly felt something was different, and that they instinctively knew they were pregnant. None of them seemed upset about it; they all had a little half-smile. 

Yes, exactly. But from a storytelling perspective I didn't like the presentation that various women with different hopes and dreams and sex lives would all mystically "feel different" mere moments after a freakish and in some cases truly upsetting unusual event and therefore "know" that they were pregnant and smile beatifically. I was willing to accept it for the one who had been presented as happily married and wishing and hoping for a child, but the woman whose husband/boyfriend recently left her and whose pregnant sister just died? The schoolteacher or the shrink's troubled daughter, whose sex lives we know nothing about?

It's not that they shouldn't have felt something strange -- but they should not all have immediately appeared to be certain they were pregnant and appear pleased about it. Most of them should have thought "I feel funny, it must be because of whatever knocked me out for hours, better get that checked."

Spoiler

In the book every single woman of childbearing age gets pregnant, some of whom had not been having sex. I assume that will be the same here, but who knows.

[SomeTameGazelle]

I just discovered that the first broadcast of this episode on Showcase didn't air correctly -- they had repeated the second block (from Jane being asked to stay for night duty to the teenage girl at the stables on the phone about a party) and omitted the third (from the Clydes eating on the floor to the moment where everyone passes out). My PVR recorded the corrected version and it provided a little bit more detail that was mostly helpful but it made me wonder what the deal with George (the student who got out of bed) is.

[Shermie]

On 9/2/2022 at 12:54 PM, SomeTameGazelle said:

But from a storytelling perspective I didn't like the presentation that various women with different hopes and dreams and sex lives would all mystically "feel different" mere moments after a freakish and in some cases truly upsetting unusual event and therefore "know" that they were pregnant and smile beatifically.

Except maybe that’s the point? That this event not only magically impregnates all these women, but that they’re happy about it. I mean, if an alien or whatever can invade uteruses, surely it would also be able to make the host happy about it to ensure their survival. If you can accept the one impossible thing (magic pregnancies) as story canon, you could easily accept the rest (hosts are happy about it). 

[SomeTameGazelle]

8 hours ago, Shermie said:

Except maybe that’s the point? That this event not only magically impregnates all these women, but that they’re happy about it. I mean, if an alien or whatever can invade uteruses, surely it would also be able to make the host happy about it to ensure their survival. If you can accept the one impossible thing (magic pregnancies) as story canon, you could easily accept the rest (hosts are happy about it). 

That may be their choice. I'll have to see how it plays out in future episodes but so far that approach is not as interesting to me as the alternative.