S01.E05: The Calling

[AnimeMania]

Maura has terrible flashbacks and makes a shocking move. A sound leads some passengers to jump overboard. Maura makes a discovery about her father.

Premiere Date: November 17, 2022 

[wanderingstar]

Seeing all those people move in lockstep to throw themselves off the ship was chilling. Even more chilling? The wide shot of hundreds throwing themselves off ::shudder::

I continue to enjoy the growing bonds between Olek and Ling Yi and, of course, Eyk and Maura (come on, y'all just make out already!)

Iben continues to scare me more than anything on this show.

[krankydoodle]

That was a hefty exposition dump from Maura at the end, but I enjoy the scenes with her and Eyk so I'm not going to complain.

Anton Lesser is good at playing hissable characters, though it's probably too soon to write him off as a villain since it's still not clear what's actually happening.

[ferjy]

On 11/20/2022 at 9:42 AM, Gillian Rosh said:

Seeing all those people move in lockstep to throw themselves off the ship was chilling. Even more chilling? The wide shot of hundreds throwing themselves off ::shudder::

{{double shudder}} And the episode eerily named “The Calling”. Don’t listen, peeps!

On 11/20/2022 at 9:42 AM, Gillian Rosh said:

I continue to enjoy the growing bonds between Olek and Ling Yi and, of course, Eyk and Maura (come on, y'all just make out already!)

I was sure they were going to lock lips when she touched his hand. But no, just steamy looks. They’re really making us wait!

On 11/20/2022 at 9:42 AM, Gillian Rosh said:

Iben continues to scare me more than anything on this show.

lol She’s too stubborn to listen to “The Calling”. She’ll be safe and tormenting you to the last episode, I’m sure. 😁

Edited November 22, 2022 by ferjy

[silverstream]

Wow, that was heavy stuff. I was surprised how many people there were on the ship. Also, I did not expect Krester to go overboard! Though I do expect some of the people that have died (?? depends on what's really going on) to make a comeback, since I think it's unlikely this is the entire cast for the rest of the series (though possibly for most of the rest of this season? I have no idea at this point). It also seems that the people who died before were basically "turned off" by remote control. Though in this episode, the stranger said something along the lines of "I don't want to hurt you" before he was forced to fight the guy in the boiler room and turn him off , so whatever that thing is doing it's either not pleasant or not easy/possible to reverse.

I'm super intrigued about that talk between the stranger and the boy - so apparently this has happened before, several times. I wonder whether Maura used to be one of them (aka the group that are trying to stop whatever's going on) but got caught up in the collective illusion somehow. I'm wondering whether the "creator" the boy referred to was Maura's father/the shipping company's CEO (who seems to be in some sort of dystopian version of the 80s?) or somebody else entirely (Maura's father seems to be being built up as a bad guy at atm so they're probably not the same?).

At the moment, I'd say there's a good chance that all of the people on board have lived through this before (at the very least our main cast?), and if that's the case I can't wait to see them go futher down the rabbit hole and realise it! There's certainly something screwy happening to time, though at this point I think it's less likely to be about time itself and more likely to be because they're in some sort of simulation (maybe the remote thingy chucks people's minds out of the simulation, leaving behind their simulated bodies as husks?).

[Razzberry]

This just keeps getting crazier!  You got zombified passengers jumping overboard, coal furnaces going full-blast but they're not going anywhere, a Mexican stand-off on B Deck "Drop your weapons!"  "You drop yours first!"  At least they shouldn't run out of food.   Loving it!

[silverstream]

16 hours ago, Razzberry said:

At least they shouldn't run out of food.

Lol! (Also, I have to admit I too thought for a moment that - from the showrunners' perspective - they'd kill off a couple of people this way to make it plausible that they spent longer at sea, but then the passengers just kept on jumping...)

[Kirsty]

On 11/20/2022 at 2:42 PM, Gillian Rosh said:

Seeing all those people move in lockstep to throw themselves off the ship was chilling. Even more chilling? The wide shot of hundreds throwing themselves off ::shudder::

Agreed. It was a great creepy twist. Shit gets weirder every episode.

I found this episode quite satisfying. We got some answers. Maura shared her info with the Captain finally! The passengers are all aware that everything has gone to hell. And tying themselves up was a rational way to deal with what they were witnessing. Characters were talking to each other about the weird things that happened instead of individuals just silently witnessing the supernatural.

I didn't like the bit with the Bond villain at the end, but at this point I'm not sure I'll be happy with any explanation.

Edited to add that there was something off about Maura's explanation for why the letter was addressed to Henry. I didn't buy it! Why would the show give her her father's name? I think there's more to it.

Edited November 26, 2022 by Kirsty

[wanderingstar]

Continuing my rewatch.

This episode had some great visuals. Time stopping in the dining hall was eye popping. And the wide shot of people hurling themselves overboard still messes me up. 

Also - The Boy speaks! I figured he was going to stay silent till the end of the season. 

Ramiro running to find Ángel to make sure he wasn't among those walking to their deaths was heart pounding. And Ángel looks so broken; I loved Ramiro holding him until The Calling was over. I do wonder why Ángel - and most of the main cast - was not affected by the tick-tock sound.

The way Jérôme and Clémence look at each other, it's no wonder Lucien gets salty. Speaking of which...

Daniel always looks at Eyk like he wants to punch him. And that just makes me laugh.

Edited December 29, 2022 by Gillian Rosh

[tennisgurl]

I still have no idea where this is going, although I have theories, but I am loving the ride. It seems like we are making some progress as we get closer to the end of the season, which makes the mindscrew even better, things are certainly weird but its all clearly building to something. 

The passengers all jumping off the boat was chilling, I really didn't expect Krester to go overboard. Don't listen to the Calling! I guess that's why there are no bodies on the other boat? Or is this all just a repeat of what already happened and everyone here was on that boat as well?

I actually think my biggest gasp was Henry pulling out that modern looking flashlight. 

Edited January 3, 2023 by tennisgurl