S01.E12: Let Them Play

[rwlevin]

On 2/7/2023 at 9:56 PM, Cthulhudrew said:

Just doublechecked. I was half right; Al was replaced as hologram by Gooshie from the original project QL on a few occasions, but Gooshie was able to speak/interact with Sam without any problems.

No, you were all right. There were 3 other people in the imaging chamber besides Al. One was when Sam was in the asylum and she was another scientist helping out. She could be seen because Al was holding her hand but Sam couldn't hear her. One was the rape victim from the waiting room and they needed to revamp the imaging chamber so Sam could hear her so he could repeat her testimony.  but she still had to hold Al's hand to be seen. Finally there was Gushie when the serial killer escaped the waiting room and Al went to go track him down. The neural link wasn't good so Gushie came in choppy or as a disembodied voice. 

 

So I think I wouldn't have minded ian in the imaging chamber if they had held Addison's hand the whole time... but they didn't. 

Edited February 9, 2023 by rwlevin
Typing on the subway makes things hard

[QuantumMechanic]

I didn’t mind the “wokeness” (though I did think it came out too pat). What I did mind was the overweening anviliciousness at times — in particular the scene at trans group when that father is delivering his monologue and we have that series of 4th-wall-breaking zoomins on the kids staring straight into the camera.
 

The mark of very sub-par writers.

[StaceyNotStacie]

I didn’t mind this episode and was glad it made a statement without being too preachy. I enjoyed Ian’s perspective (along with the timeline changes) and I’m looking forward to how they are involved in the overall story. 
 

I wish that Ben didn’t leap so quickly. I would have liked to have known what happened to Gia in the future. 

[Starchild]

On 2/9/2023 at 5:35 PM, rwlevin said:

No, you were all right. There were 3 other people in the imaging chamber besides Al. One was when Sam was in the asylum and she was another scientist helping out. She could be seen because Al was holding her hand but Sam couldn't hear her. One was the rape victim from the waiting room and they needed to revamp the imaging chamber so Sam could hear her so he could repeat her testimony.  but she still had to hold Al's hand to be seen. Finally there was Gushie when the serial killer escaped the waiting room and Al went to go track him down. The neural link wasn't good so Gushie came in choppy or as a disembodied voice. 

 

So I think I wouldn't have minded ian in the imaging chamber if they had held Addison's hand the whole time... but they didn't. 

A lot of technological advances in 40 years! :P

[Chit Chat]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:32 PM, edhopper said:

That said, this felt a little too "Afterschool Special" to me.

Sorry for the late comment.  Just watched the episode.  This episode was too heavy-handed in this regard.  It's not that I don't care, I just don't need NBC hitting me over the head with it, but they're good about doing that.  I remember when a bunch of NBC shows had to do a green/environmental episode.  They need to just stick to comedy and drama without their agenda and let us form our opinions on such matters on our own time.  YMMV.

On 2/8/2023 at 10:25 AM, meet trouble said:

That was a sloppy line.

Speaking of a sloppy line, Addison told Ben that the cops misgendered Gia, so she wasn't identified (I believe that's one version she stated).  How could they misgender her?  Wouldn't they know that they're looking for a boy who transitioned to a girl?  And if they found the body and she had both female & male anatomy, wouldn't it be obvious that the body could be Gia's? And they'd surely have a picture of her face.  Of course, the body could've been badly decomposed at that point, but still, misgendered?  That doesn't sound right in this case. 

On 2/14/2023 at 9:21 PM, StaceyNotStacie said:

I didn’t mind this episode and was glad it made a statement without being too preachy.

I have the opposite opinion, and that's why we fast-forwarded most of it, just stopping to get key pieces of info for future shows.  

I wonder why we didn't see Ben's host body this time.  I wanted to see what he looked like.  

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, ChitChat said:

Speaking of a sloppy line, Addison told Ben that the cops misgendered Gia, so she wasn't identified (I believe that's one version she stated).  How could they misgender her?  Wouldn't they know that they're looking for a boy who transitioned to a girl?  And if they found the body and she had both female & male anatomy, wouldn't it be obvious that the body could be Gia's? And they'd surely have a picture of her face.  Of course, the body could've been badly decomposed at that point, but still, misgendered?  That doesn't sound right in this case. 

If she was found in another city months later or even a couple years after, they could have just listed her dead body as "male" and then if people looking for her by scanning police reports wouldn't have thought it a possible match.

Of course, if the cops misgendered Gia and she was never identified, how would Addison know that's what happened? 

[Chit Chat]

12 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

If she was found in another city months later or even a couple years after, they could have just listed her dead body as "male" and then if people looking for her by scanning police reports wouldn't have thought it a possible match.

She did have female breasts, so if she had mixed anatomy, that should've raised some eyebrows enough to investigate a little further.

12 hours ago, KaveDweller said:

Of course, if the cops misgendered Gia and she was never identified, how would Addison know that's what happened? 

It's NBC's way of hitting us over the head with the issue.  Again, no disrespect to anybody transitioning.  I just don't need an hour long 'very special' episode to inform me.  I can read about it on my own.  

[eleanorofaquitaine]

I liked the episode, I found it moving, and I like that they are tackling a subject that remains a contentious one today. I also liked that they clearly used trans actors in the roles.

One question re the drawings- I couldn't decide if Dottie's drawing were of Ian or of Janice. They looked a little like both individuals.

It does suggest that whoever it was, Ian or Janice, they might have leaped in the original timeline. Because clearly Ben met them during the period that the leaper was controlling Dottie's body. So that suggests Ben knew whoever it was. (Obviously this is just a sketchy theory, though).

[DoctorAtomic]

The glasses in the sketches seem to indicate Ian. 

I don't know at this point if we can say with any certainty whether Ben knew he was interacting with leaped-Ian or not. It would be curious as to why Ian leaped into that particular person to communicate with Ben. It would make sense to leap into someone outside the circle of the QL staff. Or, Ian may not have had control over the leap, only the time maybe.  

[Nerfect Drifty]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:32 PM, KaveDweller said:

Although it did seem like they are setting up that other people could be the hologram, since Ian could jump in the imaging chamber to watch the game.

In the original show, they could take whomever they want in the imaging chamber and that person could see and hear everything, but the leaper would not be able to see those others unless Al were making physical contact, and would normally not be able to hear anything either unless the technicians at QL did something special that consumed a lot of power and which they did once.

That was kind of a dumb part though.  Ian had talked about Addison filling some special role by "having skin in the game".  But dragging another person into the imaging chamber to watch the live version of a game which was already available in pre-recorded form didn't involve any risk or sacrifice by Addison, and didn't give anything particularly special to Ian.  I guess it would provide a cool semi-interactive holographic 3-D perspective which would be kinda cool.