S01.E02: Chapter 2: The Silver Doe

[jenrising]

Quote

Darby believes the death she witnessed may, in fact, be murder, but no one believes her; the grief and shock of the events thrust her into remembering her own buried past.

Available Nov 14

[Kareny]

Beautiful and haunting so far. 

I know there's probably no direct connection to Brit and Zal's The OA, but the "O A" graphics during the film linking Darby to Lee had to be deliberate.

Zoomer is almost 6... and it's been 6 years since the events of The Silver Doe?

The title seems to give it away that the death was a murder, but something tells me there's a lot more at play here. Glad we've got a few weeks to work through it - very much looking forward to the rest of this journey. 

[Snazzy Daisy]

Andy claims Bill OD’ed. Why nobody makes any effort to give Narcan to Bill on that fateful night? 🤔

The flashbacks are STILL the most interesting part of the second episode.  Am not (yet) invested in the current mystery. Need more thrills, twists and turns.

Lee Anderson should be played by a more capable actress. Brit Marling cannot act, it’s cringey! She should stick to being the show’s creator/writer/director and let someone else brings that character to life.

After 2 episodes, the show is watchable but overall, will it be a “style over substance” type of storytelling? Will continue to watch this for Emma Corrin.

[violet and green]

I enjoyed the first episode more than the second. Britt Marling plays the same character in everything I have seen her in: a dull woman with a flat affect. If I see her name attached to a project, I usually avoid it. The trailer for this was so good, I risked watching. Same inability to act.

The other thing that bothered me majorly was Darby's hair. It seemed absurd - unless it features in the plot somehow later - that she would pack a hair colour and apply it in the retreat. But from that point on, I could not help noticing the lack of hair continuity. One scene it is still a deep pink, the next it is washed out and almost back to her normal hair colour, and then the following it is denser in pink tones and then again the pink is almost gone... Also when parted to the side, after freshly applying the dye and apparently blowdrying her hair, there was a good inch or two of dark roots, which in all later scenes vanishes when it is combed forward. I spent the second episode, more or less obsessed with her hair.

So sad the handsome fellow was the murder victim, but at least we'll have flashbacks. All that palaver about it being on the wrong side to inject drugs.... He obviously didn't inject himself as the injection marks were nowhere near a decent vein.

[Quilt Fairy]

23 hours ago, violet and green said:

The other thing that bothered me majorly was Darby's hair. It seemed absurd - unless it features in the plot somehow later - that she would pack a hair colour and apply it in the retreat. But from that point on, I could not help noticing the lack of hair continuity. One scene it is still a deep pink, the next it is washed out and almost back to her normal hair colour, and then the following it is denser in pink tones and then again the pink is almost gone... Also when parted to the side, after freshly applying the dye and apparently blowdrying her hair, there was a good inch or two of dark roots, which in all later scenes vanishes when it is combed forward. I spent the second episode, more or less obsessed with her hair.

You are not alone, I was going to comment on this back in Ep 1.  It changes from blonde to pink and then back to blonde again.  At one point in looked bright violet.  It's exceedingly distracting, but it's more interesting than most of what I'm watching on screen. 

[Frost]

They certainly seem to be going for mood and atmosphere instead of plot or character development.

I am curious about some things.  Are they red herrings or will they become meaningful?

• Books - both on the plane and at the hotel.  Who builds a library in a plane?
• The retreat had been planned for two years, but Darby was only invited 2 weeks before.  Was she a last minute addition?
• The hotel manager - first, he bumps into Darby in the hallway , close to Bill's room, then later he throws her out of the room saying "This is a private matter!"  He seems to be reacting to things in an odd way.
• Fang - Why on earth did Bill pick Fang as his artist name?
• When the first body is dug up in the flashback, Darby holds up the earrings and specifically looks at one of the cops and ask, "Have you seen these?"  And then later Darby and Bill mention they aren't going to the police with their evidence because they won't go against "one of their own."

[BlackberryJam]

I’m going to make a few guesses here since there is no speculation topic.

1.

Spoiler

Clive Owen is either the killer or he has arranged this all for Darby.

2. 

Spoiler

This is all an elaborate hoax being pulled on Darby for some reason. Bill isn’t dead. They are all actors except Ronson and Lee, but everyone is in on it. Why? Some stupid reason like Ronson loves mysteries and he wanted to see if she could solve it. This also explains why all of these characters as dull as fuck and they seem so purposefully artificial. 

Maybe Ronson had the AI try to create an unsolvable murder and he set it up to see if Darby could beat the AI. 

3. 

Spoiler

Everything we are seeing at the retreat is out of order and that explains the every changing hair. 

4. 

Spoiler

Bill committed suicide back in the day. This is Darby’s psychotic break. 

5.

Spoiler

It’s all a big AI computer game and Darby will be seen wearing VR glasses at the end. 

My non-speculative thoughts…I’m gonna watch it all because I want to know if I’ve picked anything correctly. However, wow, what a bunch of dull characters. I don’t care if any of them die. Why is Bill’s hair so stupid? 

[Snazzy Daisy]

1 hour ago, BlackberryJam said:

Why is Bill’s hair so stupid? 

Even little Zoomer has a much better hairstyle. 😆

[Frost]

I sure hope it isn't #5, Blackberry Jam!  

[Snazzy Daisy]

Some additional thoughts and observations after a rewatch:

The Silver Doe book is found under a chair in Bill’s room. It’s bloodied.

Andy claims Bill OD’ed after midnight, implying that he took his own life. Remember during dinner, Dr. Zoomer said his heart was beating faster. Could he have been drugged before the dinner? He showed up late. Or was he just anxious about meeting Darby again?

Bill was injected on his right arm, his dominant hand. Obviously it isn’t suicide.

There was a needle with no fingerprint on it. Was it planted there to support the OD narrative?

There was a creepy masked figure outside Bill’s room on the night he died. Is the mask real or is it some kind of app overlay/filter?

Andy makes it clear that Bill was Lee’s friend, not his.

Lee sneaks into Bill’s room, goes through his personal things and she wears glove. Darby confronts her about this but she won’t admit that she’s looking for something specific.

Lee encourages Darby to hack into the hotel’s system. Is she setting Darby up? Is Darby only seeing things that Lee wants her to see?

Why Rohan reacts so strongly about Bill’s death? And why he wants to see the body?

Why only some guests have their phones been taken away? Darby still has her laptop with WiFi connection. What’s with the ‘No Phone’ policy?

 

Edited November 21, 2023 by Snazzy Daisy

[Affogato]

On 11/17/2023 at 1:22 PM, Frost said:

They certainly seem to be going for mood and atmosphere instead of plot or character development.

I am curious about some things.  Are they red herrings or will they become meaningful?

• Books - both on the plane and at the hotel.  Who builds a library in a plane?
• The retreat had been planned for two years, but Darby was only invited 2 weeks before.  Was she a last minute addition?
• The hotel manager - first, he bumps into Darby in the hallway , close to Bill's room, then later he throws her out of the room saying "This is a private matter!"  He seems to be reacting to things in an odd way.
• Fang - Why on earth did Bill pick Fang as his artist name?
• When the first body is dug up in the flashback, Darby holds up the earrings and specifically looks at one of the cops and ask, "Have you seen these?"  And then later Darby and Bill mention they aren't going to the police with their evidence because they won't go against "one of their own."

Books are durable. A paper book, made with good paper, will last centuries. We don't have anything that lasts better. Also, the plane is probably a survival capsule away from the main survival capsule.

I suppose Bill wanted his artwork to have 'bite'.

[HerkyJerky]

On 11/14/2023 at 7:40 PM, Snazzy Daisy said:

Brit Marling cannot act, it’s cringey! She should stick to being the show’s creator/writer/director and let someone else brings that character to life.

ITA!

[Zaffy]

First of all I really giggled with all those libraries everywhere, to me is really obvious they are just "cool"  decoration and nothing else. 

Second, I gave up the series after this episode. It makes no sense but has a lot of style, a combination I despise. 

It was sad that Bill died before explaining to us why such a gifted artist like him had such a horrible hairstyle.. Now we will never know...

But there is something I do not get and I would like your feedback: How on earth an ME was allowed to bring his kid in crime scenes let alone let it see the dead bodies? How old was she in that scene? 10? 11? 12? WTF? 
I mean, apart from screwing up your kid for life, how reliable/acceptable in court are any of the ME's reports with his unauthorized daughter being present in the scenes or in the morgue?