S01.E08: Alice

[AnimeMania]

(Season Finale)

Dana finds herself in a dire situation; Kevin chases a runaway slave; Tom seeks to restate order on his plantation.

Premiere Date: December 13, 2022       FX on Hulu

[ursula]

So is Alice not herself? I'm confused who the little girl at the end of the episode was supposed to be.

[tearsandhysteria]

I really liked this series although I have some questions also. I was irritated in the same way I get watching the handmaid's tale on how June and Dana both seem to never take the danger as seriously as anyone else. They still talk too loud  or smart off. I get being upset at injustice but learn to hide it better and be cool in front of your enemies. Dana should have tried much harder to keep a lower profile. She shouldn't have gone around telling Rufus how she wasn't scared of his daddy and how the rules didn't apply to her. She was less scared  than Kevin the entire time which made no sense. They both talked too much and that kept getting them in trouble. 

Edited December 17, 2022 by tearsandhysteria

[Avaleigh]

3 hours ago, tearsandhysteria said:

I really liked this series although I have some questions also. I was irritated in the same way I get watching the handmaid's tale on how June and Dana both seem to never take the danger as seriously as anyone else. They still talk too loud  or smart off. I get being upset at injustice but learn to hide it better and be cool in front of your enemies. Dana should have tried much harder to keep a lower profile. She shouldn't have gone around telling Rufus how she wasn't scared of his daddy and how the rules didn't apply to her. She was less scared and than Kevin the entire time which made no sense. They both talked too much and that kept getting them in trouble. 

I felt this way about Kevin too. Like dude, just don't show Tom how bothered you are. Keep your feelings to yourself until it's safe. It isn't going to help him or Dana if he gets on the wrong side of Tom.

I really hope that Kevin doesn't change for the worst if he ends up being left behind for too long. If she doesn't go back right away, years may pass with him being stuck there. Who knows what he'll do while he's stuck in survival mode. 

I'm so glad that Olivia is back in the present. I hope she is able to get therapy and rest before she starts her new life. (I can't help but think of stuff like how she explains her long absence from the workforce on a resume lol.)

[charmed1]

On 12/13/2022 at 3:54 PM, ursula said:

So is Alice not herself? I'm confused who the little girl at the end of the episode was supposed to be.

She’s Alice. Time has advanced on the plantation since the minutes Dana has been back in the present. Notice Kevin’s graying temples.

[tearsandhysteria]

On 12/15/2022 at 6:19 PM, Avaleigh said:

I felt this way about Kevin too. Like dude, just don't show Tom how bothered you are. Keep your feelings to yourself until it's safe. It isn't going to help him or Dana if he gets on the wrong side of Tom.

I really hope that Kevin doesn't change for the worst if he ends up being left behind for too long. If she doesn't go back right away, years may pass with him being stuck there. Who knows what he'll do while he's stuck in survival mode. 

I'm so glad that Olivia is back in the present. I hope she is able to get therapy and rest before she starts her new life. (I can't help but think of stuff like how she explains her long absence from the workforce on a resume lol.)

I felt so bad for Kevin getting trapped there and losing his sobriety. Kevin was terrified of getting trapped there and Dana was so dismissive of his fear. He was scared and Dana was too stupid to be scared. She thought she had so much more power and freedom than the slaves. Like, you get transported to a plantation and now you just can't stop reading for anything. Stay out of that man's library! But I guess if all you have to do is get terrified and you're brought back to your house, it hits different for you. She doesn't deserve Kevin's help. She takes it for granted. She just didn't want to go alone but she didn't worry at all about his safety until it was too late. Every chance she got, she was running off without him knowing that if she got in any actual trouble, she'd be transported and he'd be left. That's why Kevin never wanted to leave her side but she was always telling him to stay for one reason or another. I know sometimes it was out of her control, but she initiated it plenty. 

[Avaleigh]

8 minutes ago, tearsandhysteria said:

She doesn't deserve Kevin's help. She takes it for granted. She just didn't want to go alone but she didn't worry at all about his safety until it was too late. Every chance she got, she was running off without him knowing that if she got in any actual trouble, she'd be transported and he'd be left. That's why Kevin never wanted to leave her side but she was always telling him to stay for one reason or another. I know sometimes it was out of her control, but she initiated it plenty. 

Dana definitely took Kevin's help for granted. I agree too that she didn't seem as concerned about his safety and understandable fear. I think because that world is safer for Kevin than Dana, she thinks he'll ultimately be okay. He isn't at risk in the way someone like Olivia is. That being said, he *is* at risk. Look how fast Tom pulled a gun on him. It's a dangerous world in general let alone for a time traveling fish out of water. 

I also felt how disappointed she was when he admitted that he didn't want to travel back there again. He explained that he didn't want to go back, he offered to be there for her in the present and be supportive in that way but I think she felt let down by his admission and I was hoping that she'd do a more convincing job of showing him that she genuinely understood why he didn't want to go back.

It would be different if they were a couple who'd been together for a long time. In that case I'd want him to stick by her but by having them be two people who just met, I feel like your average person would want to run far, far away from that situation. 

If he gets stuck there for years can she really blame him if he ends up being upset with her? It's especially bad if they're aging in real time in the past because that means he's rapidly aging in the present without being able to live his life there. 

[Spartan Girl]

I really hope this gets another season because as a fan of the book, I really want to get to the nitty-gritty stuff.

[Chicago Redshirt]

Liked the season well enough, but...

Didn't like almost everything that happened in 2016. Almost all the characters there were annoying and over the top: the cop uncle, the neighbors, sister Pen, and the cops who were investigating Kevin's disappearance all seemed unrealistic. Also, setting things  in 2016 means that Dana has access to the Internet, which means that she potentially has a lot of resources to help her while in the past that Book Dana didn't. If there's a second season, I hope it is mostly in the 1800s.

Didn't love Kevin being drawn into the past. It meant Dana wasn't as self-reliant as she could have been, and he wasn't too good at playing his role of being an 1800s white man. The clever Kevin who was flirting with Dana in 2016 turned into a bumbler. Having an alcohol problem, he couldn't come up with a better excuse for not drinking? He didn't couldn't figure out that saying that Weylin had romantic feelings for a slave was going to be perceived as deeply insulting, or once it was made obvious to him that it was, he didn't think to apologize and do damage control?

[Pike Ludwell]

This show has an excess of annoying/disturbing scenes. A prolonged mass vomiting scene.  A prolonged painful childbirth scene. A prolonged whipping scene of a beloved character. Characters that act rather smart in some places and really inconsistently stupid elsewhere. 2016 characters so annoying that you just want to smack them.

I didn't like the characters and only hung in there because I wanted to learn what the H was going on! But now I see they're gonna keep this thing going, with minimal reveals, sort of like Lost. 

 

[BetyBee]

Finally some comments and good ones too! A lot happened in this episode, but not much is clear yet. At least Dana's aunt finally believes her and she saved her from a bad modern day situation. I do wonder where they found Olivia. Is she by the accident site? I would have thought she'd be with Dana, since she was lying on top of her, trying to protect her. Is she alive in present time? Is she no older than the day she disappeared? I don't know if I'll even care by the time another season rolls around. I thought Tom was going to find Kevin's phone and that everyone would think Dana was a witch or something. I've probably seen too much Outlander! I thought that Alice might be the ancestor, since that little girl showed so much spunk when Kevin was with her at Olivia's cabin. I wonder too, if the nosy neighbor lady is tied in somehow? She mentioned someone from her past - a sister she hadn't heard from in years. It would be interesting if her ancestor was Margaret! 'll have to go back and watch that part and look to see Kevin's hair graying in his last scene. Missed that, though Alice looked older. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by BetyBee

[chaifan]

I wish this show had more traction on this forum.  It's a good show, interesting premise, lots of things to discuss.  However, I'm disappointed in the way the "season" wrapped up.  I think it's more my overall frustration with the trend of 8-episode seasons, sort of in the British fashion.  I hate it.  Episode 8 would have made a good mid-season cliffhanger.   (Remember when we had those, back in the day?)  But not even knowing if/when Season 2 will occur, it's just a frustrating, non-satisfying potential ending to an otherwise good show. 

I think this is the problem with creating a show and then dumping it all at once.  With traditional releases of new shows, the network can see in real time what the ratings are, and the show has a pretty good idea early on what's going to happen as far as renewal is concerned.  I know, renewals aren't announced until way later, but I figure showrunners have to be able to make decent predictions as to whether they'll be getting another season.  But with streaming, and dumping, I get why they only commit to 8 episodes.  (This was part of my complaint with 1899, too.)

Other general thoughts...

I liked Dana, but agree with posts above about her doing stupid things while in the past, given the situation she was in.  I also wish they played Kevin a little smarter, having the instinct to come up with stories on the fly, instead of making Dana do that all the time.   I liked that they were smart enough to pack a bag with supplies.  But I wish they were smart enough to grab things that were silver or gold, so they would have some sort of currency when they went back.  She had the cash - they could have gone to a pawn shop and bought a few wedding bands, or something of the sort.  Of course, that would interfere with the Kevin is broke and can't pay Tom part of the plot...

I think Tom and Margaret were well played.  Luke and Sarah were also great.  I loved the reveal that Sarah had been causing Margaret to miscarry, hoping Tom would send her away, and that Olivia ruined all that with helping her through Rufus' birth.   But I never really understood how Luke could behave as he did towards Jake and get away with it without punishment. 

Did we ever learn how Olivia convinced everyone she was free?  I don't remember it being discussed.  I can't imagine how she would have been able to do that on her own, and be able to have her own land and cabin. 

The family bible scene between Dana and Denise was just weird.  Dana was all, huh?  Family bible?  What's that?  And then goes directly to the box where a GIANT bible is packed.  Oh, come on.  How could she not have immediately said "OMG, the family bible!  You're right!  Let me grab it!"  (Also, Ancestry.com missed a major product placement opportunity in this show.) 

Was the neighbor named Hermione in the book?  If so, that's just a really weird name for someone to pick in the 70's.  If not, that's still a really weird name for someone to pick in 2022. 

 

 

 

 

[mrsbagnet]

When I heard that they're doing adaptation of Kindred, I thought it would be a movie. Then when I saw that it was a series I was thinking it would be a limited series, one season only. I still wish that were true. There's no reason to draw the story out this much. It's hard enough to watch as it is.

I agree with everyone about the poor choices Kevin and Dana made. Kevin was Captain Clueless way too many times. Sarah ended up being my favorite character. She did some horrible things, but she seemed to be the only character with a realistic view of what was going on around her. She's an evil genius.

[Quickbeam]

Cliff hanger! Ugh. I did love the opening 1989 scene in New York. It had a great mood to it and the actors sold it well. I had kind of hoped this would be a movie or a limited series but it looks like it will be stretched out to a second year. Like anyone with a pulse, I find the plantation scenes hard to watch and I feel bad for the actors who have to embody these roles. I mean it’s work but I get it when people of color don’t want to take parts as slaves. Peter Dinklage turned down roles as Christmas elves when he was starting out and I always understood that.

Dana at least has a continuity thread she’s holding on to. Kevin is just a lost soul. In the book they were married and I feel the relationship made more sense. 

[Anela]

I thought this was one season, and done. I hate that they ended on a cliffhanger. I wasn't expecting another season.

I have the comic book, as I mentioned in another thread, but now I'm wondering if that's just part of it, too. At least I can check it, to see if the rest is there, and if so, what happens.