S01.E07: Episode 7

[editorgrrl]

George quoted Nietzsche to Niska (does anyone remember what he said exactly?)

George said, "The pain you feel isn't because of what you are—it's the life you've had. But life can change. You can become better." But was he talking to Niska or Karen?

Edited to add I never noticed how much "Niska" sounds like "Nietzsche" (NEE-cheh). Is Fred named after him, too?

Edited August 11, 2015 by editorgrrl

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV post on the episode!

 

Does Humans's Joe Really Deserve To Have Anyone As A Champion, Never Mind Mia? / And more not-quite-burning questions about the season's penultimate episode.

[Clanstarling]

I wonder what's wrong with Fred -- with his timeout in the backyard, and losing control of his fingers it looks like there is some lasting damage from his encounter with Hobb.

Earlier in the episode someone (Karen?) said they had a plan on how to find the other synths. When Fred started glitching, what I suspected is that Hobb had installed some kind of tracking device/software in him, and that was the "plan." 

 

I enjoyed this episode, and was sorry to see George die. That was a sweet scene with Odi. Also, Leo was nicer to Mattie than he had been, but still strikes me as a little boy in a grown body (particularly the way Karen/Beatrice was able to get him to come to her).

 

Also liked that despite being sympathetic to the synths, the moment she saw Niska's rampage on the tv, Laura went into protective mode for her family.

[MiseryIndex]

Our father didn't hint bodies were important

...As long ad we are skinny with strikingly good looks

[SlovakPrincess]

George! :( And now poor Odi is done for - I nearly wept when he said "George ... you've died." Heck, I even felt bad for old Vera in the end.

Max! :( how are they going to fix him now with them all being captured?!

Fucking Karen. Grrrrrr. Although I do find her somewhat fascinating now that we have her backstory.

And, really, nice going, David Elster! He not only created all these different synth people, but he apparently gave some of them (and his son) serious emotional problems.

Poor Leo - seeing his mom robot really messed him up, and now bad things are happening all over again to his family. The guy has just been in complete turmoil this whole season!

And I really liked Leo explaining to Mattie how painful it is to remember everything and not be able to forget, that he's still part human and can't handle it.

Edited August 13, 2015 by SlovakPrincess

[Mabinogia]

Fucking Karen. Grrrrrr. Although I do find her somewhat fascinating now that we have her backstory.

 

She is quite tragically fascinating. She wants to commit suicide, but can't which is tragic enough, but she also wants to basically exterminate her race which yikes! David Elster really was a piece of work.

 

I do like how their experiences have molded each of the Synths. Max who seemed pretty protected is very innocent, NIska who lived probably the hardest life of the "kids" is hard and vengeful. Mia who was born to be a mother and then was placed in this dysfunctional family is understanding and patient. Don't know much about Fred but I'd say he's the protector. And poor Karen. Created in the image of a dead woman then rejected by the person she was created for, then forced to hide who she is and live amongst the breathers then rejected by the first person (I'm guess here) she revealed herself to. No wonder she has a death wish.

[meep.meep]

Unless I missed something, I don't understand how both George and Hobb, upon first meeting Karen/Beatrice, were like, "oh, hello, cop lady I've never met before", but upon second meetings/closer examination were like, "BEATRICE?!? David's dead wife?!?"

 

Like, the ONLY thing different is her hair. Are these dudes both so face-blind/oblivious that they didn't recognize her right away as Beatrice?!

 

Oh, the power of wigs!

If only they'd employed the classic TV disguise and had her wear glasses.

[Yolapukka]

 

 

Unless I missed something, I don't understand how both George and Hobb, upon first meeting Karen/Beatrice, were like, "oh, hello, cop lady I've never met before", but upon second meetings/closer examination were like, "BEATRICE?!? David's dead wife?!?"

Like, the ONLY thing different is her hair. Are these dudes both so face-blind/oblivious that they didn't recognize her right away as Beatrice?!

Oh, the power of wigs!

 

If only they'd employed the classic TV disguise and had her wear glasses.

 

 

I can buy it. I've known identical twins who would never be mistaken for each other due to wildly different demeanours as well as differences in grooming and fitness. They are people you would think look like each other and could quite possibly be related but not so closely. Karen has not aged and probably appears younger than Beatrice would have at the time of death due to being a synth who hasn't actually lived through the life experiences Beatrice experienced. Beatrice seems to have been high-strung, depressive and emotional whereas Karen is controlled and has that removed quality that the synths, even the sentient ones (with the possible exception of Niska) display. She probably moves differently. It's often possible to recognize someone from their walk or gestures when they have their backs to us. It would be more logical to assume that the person you are speaking to resembles someone you used to know (and perhaps can't quite put your finger on) than leap to the conclusion that they are the incarnation of someone you know to be dead, especially if she is unlike that person in many ways. On top of which, George, at least, had a severely compromised, unreliable memory.

 

I tend to think that unlike Leo who is the same person with enhancements that kept him alive, it's debatable whether Karen could be the same person as Beatrice. Even if she contains all the same memories and the same consciousness that Beatrice had, she was reborn a synth, has had experiences specific to that and it changes aspects of who she is.  It's not clear if she has any of Beatrice actually in her. Even if she does, perhaps Elster was selective in what he used. Maybe he merely programmed Karen to believe that she was essentially Beatrice, mother to Leo, maybe not even that. 

Edited August 15, 2015 by yuggapukka

[Noneofyourbusiness]

"But I don't understand what I'm supposed to make of the fact that the one trying to convince Laura to forgive Joe is Mia. To Laura, Mia says she doesn't want to be the reason the Hawkins's marriage fails, and urges her to tell Joe about Tom and about her bad relationship with their mother."

Mia tells Laura that she thinks she should tell Joe the truth whatever she decides, though, i.e. whether she takes him back or not.

"Presumably she's made a deal with Hobb that if she collaborates with him he'll destroy her as Niska wouldn't, not knowing what Hobb did when he was directly ordered to destroy Fred."

Yes, we saw her ask him to do that in the car.

"Just in time for Niska to discover how to have fun with Sophie, the story of her Smash Club massacre hits the news."

She didn't kill anyone there, so it wasn't a massacre, but the news item did mention the fact she was the same synth who killed someone in a synth brothel.

[fauntleroy]

The 'copies of the code' bit, where they wave various drives around going I've got it! No you've only got part of it, the rest of it is here...is an anachronism. If there was such code, they would upload it to dozens of servers, put it on dozens of flash drives and post them to dozens of... There should be no chasey chasey after 'the' copy.

 

I didn't get a plausible motivation for the mustache-twirling of the villain. A great cast but I think the premise of the show is getting weaker as is often the case with these kind of stories. I agree that killing off William Hurt was a mistake. Chasing, tracking, ducking into crowds, finding, nearly terminating, releasing, chasing, finding again, just passes episode time with little to show for it. Either they get away or they don't. Keeping consciousness away from synths worldwide is the most interesting aspect but seems increasingly unlikely with each episode. For budgetary reasons and the need to keep the story small they'll have to stick with the adventures of the five/six synths and ignore the cool larger ramifications.

 

Another example is Children of Men, which devolved from a cool really scary premise into a generic chase story. Quick let's duck in here! Yawn.

Edited August 17, 2015 by fauntleroy

[exsexbot]

I would guess that Beatrice was the last synth/hubot made by David Elster, and was more refined and most human-like of all.

Perhaps when George indicated he disagreed with the direction David was heading, perhaps that was to make something that could not be distinguished from human without a very close inspection.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Awww, I loved how sweet Mia was with Laura, giving her a much needed hug. And I love that now that Laura knows Mia is sentient, she has given Mia clothes to wear.

Oh, poor sweet George. Such an unnecessary death. It was sweet to see Odi comforting him in his last moments.

It was nice to see Fred so determined to find Max, and it was really great to see everyone working together to save Max. Even Joe helped! Of course, I was half convinced that Joe was going to call the police again the first chance he got.

Sophie and Niska playing Arabella and dinosaur was hilarious. I liked that as soon as Niska saw that Laura and Joe were watching footage of her attacking people at the fight club, she removed her hands from Sophie to show them that she had no intention of hurting her. All of the synths have been shaped by their experiences and from what little we know of Niska's life, she has lots of reasons not to trust humans, yet she let her guard down with Sophie (which I'm assuming is mostly due to the fact that she realized Sophie was not a threat and had no intentions beyond curiosity and wanting someone to play with her).

Man, Karen is one self-loathing synth. I do feel bad for her though - made in the image of Leo's mother, immediately rejected, and then abandoned - but damn, that is some cold betrayal. The look on Leo's face when he saw her was just heartbreaking. On an intellectual level, he knew she wasn't his mother but the child who lost his mother wanted to believe that she was.

I had to laugh when everyone found out that Joe had called the police on Leo and Max the night before. I also loved when everyone was crowded around the dinner table but only the human half was eating.

As much as I fear for what will happen to the synths now that Hobb has found them, I really fear for Leo who I imagine they will want to study at great length since he's part human.

Edited September 25, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo