Spoilers And Spoilered Speculation: Recovered Memories

[Meredith Quill]

Your Spoilers & Spoilers Spec Topic!

[Crim]

Sneak peek for ep 2: http://www.spoilertv.com/2015/06/dark-matter-episode-102-sneak-peek.html

 

Convenient that their records were not only recovered with absolutely perfect timing, i.e. just as they were acting on their decision, but also was the only data to be recovered. Of course, they have no way to verify this. Or anything else. They didn't even get on the planet by accident; it was due to the Android recovering just enough data at the right time to steer them in this direction, and they have no way to verify that the Android is not acting on some protocol either.

 

In the sneak peek we see them resisting identification - One explicitly saying that he will do what he thinks is right, no matter what the data says, and Two not accepting the name: "no computer file will tell me who I am". This sounds like a theme for the show to me.

[DEM]

This seems the most appropriate thread to ask this: Going into the season finale, who do you think did the memory wipe and why?  My ranked guesses are:

 

1. Five because she wants everyone to love her and for everyone to get along.

 

2. One because he realised most/all of the crew were poor, misunderstood woobies who needed a second chance.

 

3. Two because the crew found out her secret and threatened to mutiny and/or she had a spiritual awakening and wanted to rebirth them all.

 

4. All of them; i.e., it was a group decision.

 

5. Three because he was paid to do it.

 

Two things seem important, but I don't know how.  1) That the crew were all in appropriate stasis pod attire (unlike Sarah who wore regular clothing), so it doesn't look like they were just thrown in there, willy-nilly. 2) That Android went into attack mode immediately upon awakening. Did the saboteur program/command her to put down anyone who awakened early?

[call me ishmael]

On your first point i think thry deliberately went into the pods so they should have been dressed that way. 5 either did it or more likely was found by whoever was deleting the memories and thrown into a pod.

[MissLucas]

1. Five because she wants everyone to love her and for everyone to get along.

She probably has the knowledge but I don't see the emotional neediness.

 

2. One because he realised most/all of the crew were poor, misunderstood woobies who needed a second chance.

He! That sounds plausible but I don't see him being able to convince the others to go take a nap in the stasis pods (or the brute force).

 

3. Two because the crew found out her secret and threatened to mutiny and/or she had a spiritual awakening and wanted to rebirth them all.

I like the idea but she does not strike me as a candiate for spiritual awakening.

4. All of them; i.e., it was a group decision.

Wasn't there a ST episode with a similar plot? They had done something horrible and the only way to cope was a memory wipe but nobody had thought of adding some sort of fail-safe to warn them to not go looking for the missing memories?

 

5. Three because he was paid to do it.

That'd be a real let-down.

 

My money is still on the Android though I have no idea why.

[DEM]

I like the idea but she does not strike me as a candiate for spiritual awakening.

 

I tacked on the spiritual awakening idea somewhat cheekily, partly in an attempt to reconcile Two's warmth toward Five. To me nothing in her scant history suggests that Two would be that warm and protective from the moment they woke up.  Six I can understand because he started out as a freedom fighter (who I suppose became jaded after the insurrection plot); i.e., he has a concern for people underneath it all. But Two...? So, the idea is that she started to feel fondly toward the stowaway, so how bad the life was, and went about solving the problem in her bioengineered-agent way. Those warm feelings survived the memory wipe similar to how Four remembered the puzzle box.

 

I've been re-watching episodes and listening to podcasts, and my suspicion of Two has increased.  She has a lot of knowledge about ship's systems and jury rigging said systems.  Then again we never saw Three wake up, and he was conveniently armed.  In the final analysis, only Four and Six would surprise me.

 

ETA: Yes, there was a ST:TNG episode! The solution involved hacking Data.

Edited August 26, 2015 by DEM

[call me ishmael]

I think the star trek show was not about them doing something horrible but rather they had passes through the spade of a more powerful alien species and the only way to keep them from destroying the enterprise was to wipe the memories. But it kept failing.

[MissLucas]

Hmm, this bugged me enough to delve into Memory Alpha. Closest candidate to the episode you're all describing Clues.

But the story I thought of was far more sinister - and therefore probably not even ST at all. Let's just enjoy the irony in not remembering specifics about a story dealing with a memory wipe.

[DEM]

Joe Mallozzi (the showrunner) is running a contest on his blog for an annotated copy of the Episode 13 script. I'm putting this here because the poll questions themselves might be considered somewhat spoilery.

 

1. In the season finale, who makes known their intention to go their own way?
2. Who wiped the crew's memories?
3. Who should the crew fear in the season finale?
4. Which crew member will NOT survive the shocking season one finale?

Edited August 28, 2015 by DEM

[krimimimi]

Thanks for the link, DEM. Worth mentioning for those that don't click through: all the questions offer either a "no one" or "someone else" answer as a cop way out. I'm betting no one dies, for example. Unless Android, and then they've got a spare in the vault. (I'm hoping One, of course, but that's not going to get me anywhere.)

Spotted a link there to this post on setups and payoffs that I also found interesting. Many of those payoffs have already happened, but a few should be coming in the finale. Note: no answers provided to the questions raised, but the asking thereof might be considered telling.

I was relieved to hear they had a plan for this. I've been hoping the overall story is better (richer, better plotted and far more deliberate) than a lot of people here seem to feel it is, but unfortunately isn't playing out quite as well as the show runners think for all of us viewers watching and not in on their end game. Getting to actually present your end game in television is down to how engaging the road there is. The destination matters, but only if you actually get to show it. How well mapped and satisfying the resolution is just determines whether viewers are willing to give you another chance in the future. Or watch the reruns/buy the DVDs. (I will not watch any future shows by JJ Abrams or the folks behind "How I Met Your Mother." But I gather I'm not alone in this.)

Given the trust issues the Raza's crew should have (I have no idea who the hell I am, but I think I'm a decent person surrounded by what would seem to be a bunch of murderers, one of whom wiped my memory. Best be careful... Otoh, I'm wanted and low on resources, need allies and answers, so getting along probably makes sense.), a lot of the interesting stuff is basically (hopefully) taking place in the heads of a bunch of ciphers. Here's betting a book form could have felt more rewarding. As it is, it feels like we're left to guess what they're thinking, and what that and their actions might tell us about their personalities, leading to some inconsistencies and a fair bit of unevenness in what we're shown. I suspect asking us to trust that will all have meaning (and isn't bad: acting/direction/plotting, or the result of different script authors' visions) might be an ask too far for an audience already burned by the likes of "Lost."

Otoh, anyone who thinks the CEO of a major corp is best described as a "goof" deserves at least a brow furrow, so who knows?

[crowswork]

I think Six is an undercover agent with a false ID as a terrorist to infiltrate the ship - when his memory was wiped he thought he really was a mass murderer. His innate personality made him turn in the group. Maybe One will return to his company and be endangered by who-ever killed his wife. just guessing.  

  

Or watch the reruns/buy the DVDs. (I will not watch any future shows by JJ Abrams or the folks behind "How I Met Your Mother." But I gather I'm not alone in this.)

 

I'm not that radical - want to see the new Star Wars.

 

I do wish some one had spoiled Wayward Pines so I wouldn't have wasted  10 hrs.

Edited August 29, 2015 by crowswork

[krimimimi]

I'm not that radical - want to see the new Star Wars.

 

I do wish some one had spoiled Wayward Pines so I wouldn't have wasted  10 hrs.

I know your pain.

 

I'm not so radical either as to skip Star Trek or anything, but I am fairly confident that Abrams had bugger all to do with the plot. That much assurance I need. He can touch the thing, but has to have next to no influence on the story or I'm out. /OT

 

I had similar thoughts about Six over in the episode thread...