X Company - General Discussion

[dargosmydaddy]

Having discovered this show a little over a month ago, I did a "slow binge" of all three seasons, and watched the final two episodes last night. I have to say, I think season two was the best, and season three was a little disappointing. I liked the finale, but didn't love it, and it seemed a little rushed at times.

The Good:

-Faber's arc over the whole series was great, and I did like his ending and his final scene with Aurora.

-All the callbacks to the series premiere were cool, from Aurora in a yellow dress to plans going awry to Neil and Tom/ Alfred killing and replacing guards to suicide-attack explosions to Alfred mirroring Sinclair at Camp X. 

-The ease with which Aurora disarmed Schmidt after Alfred pulled the gun on him was pretty awesome.

-I liked that we saw Zosia again, and that they didn’t show a Neil/ Zosia romance, which I thought they might have been leading up to. I liked Zosia, even if she was just a more mature version of Miri, and I even liked her with Neil, but it was too soon and I’m glad they didn’t do it.

The mixed:

-I'm thrilled Neil didn't die, but I wasn't in love with how he got out. (I did love the previous episode and what Sinclair did, and the scene they ended 3.9 on was heartbreaking.) I appreciated that Edsel was trying to be like Faber (his hero-worship of Faber was very nicely done throughout the series) and that Neil was using his words and his wits (which he certainly has in abundance), but it seemed too easy. (Also his minimal injuries from his torture bothered me just as much as Alfred's did in season two...) And I was kind of looking forward to Edsel proving his loyalty to Faber in a more face-to-face way, so it was a little disappointing that that never happened.

-I didn't hate the voiceover, vaguely flash-forwardy ending, but... I didn't love it, either? I don't know. I appreciate that they didn't try to wrap up everything neatly, and I'm having trouble vocalizing what exactly I would have done differently, but I think it could have used a little more of something.

The bad:

-Alfred was one of my favorite characters throughout the first two seasons, and while he had a few nice scenes in season three (his early flirting with Aurora before she breaks things off with him, doing magic tricks for Ania, the ending), overall the writing for his character this season was pretty awful and Jack Laskey frequently seemed "off." As for the romance, I actually thought he and Aurora had nice chemistry going all the way back to season one and even up until the point she breaks things off with him in season three, but after that it was seriously lacking and I blame the writing. Romances on this show could be kind of hit-or-miss, and most of them came off way too soapy as opposed to the rest of the plots;  sadly this one suffered from that the most.

-I also found it disappointing that Aurora’s character arc was the least developed. She’s a great character and Brochu is super talented, but I feel like they could have done more with her. Faber and Neil had great arcs. Sabine’s was a little inconsistent at times, but decent. A lot more could have been done with Alfred in season three, but he still got to grow enormously as a character, and the final scenes did a great job of showing that. Maybe that was my issue with the ending… we get a glimpse of Aurora still doing what she does best, which is great, but does she still get to lead a team? Is Alfred her boss now? Where is she, emotionally? She’s the star of the show, and yet she was the most stagnant character among the leads.

Random observations:

-Somehow it didn’t register with me that Ulli was named after his grandfather until Aurora was calling Schmidt “Ulli” at the party.

-I really hope William has some kind of extended family to go home to. And that Neil and/or Krystina befriend him in the long run.

[Dowel Jones]

I finally watched this and, yeah, I got a good chuckle over Neil's reaction when he rolled the paper over.  Oh boy, what now?  Excellent recovery and stirring words, too.

Faber showed that he is not just a pawn, either. Sinclair may have to trade off his own son.  Faber made reference to "the Pacific POW camps".  I have forgotten, was Sinclair Jr. captured by the Japanese?

[Dowel Jones]

I hope that resistance camp is well hidden, because I would expect the Germans to launch a strong search in the area for the escapees from the train.  Several soldiers have been killed and they would likely be enraged, and the escapees could not have run too far into the woods. 

So what are these pioneer women doing?  That was a big hint that Heidi dropped on Aurora.

[Dowel Jones]

I find it hard to believe that the Polish resistance took Faber at his word and are still at that camp, especially after the fiasco at the warehouse. Yeah, I know he lied to his superior about not knowing the location, but that's not going to hold water.

Speaking of ambushes, how dumb could the Germans be to agree to that meeting place, and think the resistance would accept some camouflaged soldiers as their hostages?

I think we have a couple of genuine redshirts enroute to Poland. The crew is way out on a limb here.  They have precious few opportunities for  escape if the deal goes down.  Germany is in the way of returning to France, and Russia is not likely to welcome them either.

[dkb]

On 9/8/2018 at 6:58 PM, Dowel Jones said:

I have forgotten, was Sinclair Jr. captured by the Japanese?

 

I believe he was considered to have died in the Pacific no? Or was that another son of Sinclair's.

Yeah, I don't remember the previous seasons so well anymore.

[dkb]

I really want to see Krystina out in the field with the rest of the gang, but also terrified that she would be a casualty. 

[dkb]

Wow. Finding out the Sinclair knowingly sent Peter and David out there, was gutting. The last thing they knew was that the betrayed what they thought was crucial information to the enemy. Horrible.

Thanks for the link @secnarf. Interesting reading.

[dkb]

On 9/8/2018 at 12:08 PM, dargosmydaddy said:

-I didn't hate the voiceover, vaguely flash-forwardy ending, but... I didn't love it, either? I don't know. I appreciate that they didn't try to wrap up everything neatly, and I'm having trouble vocalizing what exactly I would have done differently, but I think it could have used a little more of something.

 

Totally agree; something was missing about the finale, but I really can't say what it was. 

 

Overall though, this was a great series with fantastic actors. I also agree @dargosmydaddy that Season 2 was the best. Still can't get over Tom's death and the final episode of season 2, it was so well done.

[Dowel Jones]

I have to say I thought of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (the book, not the movie) as soon as those two agents were sent out to the field.

ETA:  Although Faber's knowledge of the two agents is a given, how did the Germans know about the mole in the resettlement office? That info wouldn't come from Sinclair.

Edited October 2, 2018 by Dowel Jones

[dargosmydaddy]

14 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

ETA:  Although Faber's knowledge of the two agents is a given, how did the Germans know about the mole in the resettlement office?

If I'm remembering correctly, the Polish resistance guy (the one who Faber killed by snapping his neck) who Edsel captured and interrogated (against Faber's orders) told Edsel about both the two spies and the mole; Edsel then told Faber and Schmidt.

Edited October 2, 2018 by dargosmydaddy

[Dowel Jones]

I was harboring a forlorn notion that Heidi  was a deep plant all this time, talking the talk, but this week buried that idea.  The way she smiled when the General ordered the hapless Jewish man to start running just made me sick.  She is unrepentant evil.  So what was she doing in Faber's study when Aurora burst in? She would have no legitimate reason for being there that late at night.

I like to hope the remainder of the village somehow manages to safely migrate to a larger town and disappear.  If they stay there, it's just a postponement of the inevitable.

"The German.  Duty before pleasure."  Heh.

[Catherinewriter]

Though I've read a lot about the holocaust, I was stunned last night by Schmidt's description of Ulli and others. Then I realized that reading something and hearing it stated are really two different experiences. It was just so, well, Nazi. He's doing a terrific job, the actor, as is his son in law. Please let them all make it though alive, that is, the ones who are still alive.