S02.E11: Zugzwang

[HalcyonDays]

Episode synopsis: Molly, Ethan, and JD look for John's former colleague -- who may have information that could stop the Humanich threat; Julie asks Charlie to determine where Lucy's orders are coming from.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Julie asks Charlie to determine where Lucy's orders are coming from.

 

At least we know that Charlie is still alive -- since he was missing all of last episode, I just assumed the humanichs killed him when they took Lucy and reassembled her (off-screen, of course).

[ottoDbusdriver]

To paraphrase Professor Frink from the Simpsons: "I think I got my zugzwang caught in my flavin."  

 

So that happened -- TAALR is the one calling the shots for total global domination by the Humanichs.    Yawn.  And big surprise, no sign of the aliens at all -- sure they were briefly mentioned but that's all.  I would expect more since they are such a big threat.  Whatever.

 

SecHomeland seems to be led along by TAALR -- gee, no one thought that maybe you shouldn't trust the AI let alone give it access to weapons control like the drone that killed Toby.  And I guess Toby really is dead.

 

Molly has the amulet now -- funny thing is Calderon mentioned that instructions were inside the bag he gave to Molly, but I didn't see anything.  Watch Molly go to use the amulet to kill TAALR and press the wrong button because she didn't RTFM.

 

Otherwise it all just felt like a lot of filler -- Charlie getting it on with Julia, Molly getting it on with J.D., Charlie on a date with Lucy.

 

And I wish Molly would quit freaking out about her stupid vision -- enough with that already.

Edited September 3, 2015 by ottoDbusdriver

[Rhetorica]

Ethan is the most humane being on this show.

[thuganomics85]

So.... Calderon was just another fake-out, and it was TAALAR that killed John and is basically calling the shots for the Humanichs.  Why not?  We already have alien hybrids and killer robots: the only thing that had really been missing was an evil A.I.  Although, since it's telling the Humanichs what to do, I wonder if its more Skynet to the Humanichs' Terminators?  Either way, this season really liked to borrow from various sci-fi shows.

 

At least Calderon ended up helping them out, even if he did get captured.  If that's it for him, that's a waste of Keith David.  Of course, it turns out that the device is that amulet that Molly has saw in her dreams were she might have killed JD, so she is freaking the fuck out.  Especially did they just had sex!  Bad things tend to happen to characters after they finally get it on!

 

Julie and Charlie try to figure out what Lucy's up too, but thanks to TAALOR, she knows the score, so she's trapped Julie in some kind of container, and it's up to Charlie to somehow find her.  Good luck, buddy!

 

Two hour finale next week!  I wonder what twists will they have in store next week!

[Big Mother]

awww. I was at a wedding tonight so I missed the show and will have to wait until it;s up on CBS tomorrow to watch. I'm sad that Toby is dead; it was a red herring to me that he was credited on the IMDB episode for this week. There was no mention of Calderon on the IMDB page, so I guess they don't always get it right. (tonight they updated it correctly I see.)

 

The description for next week definitely lists his as dead. awww. It was not a fitting ending for such a big character. Oh well.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Big Mother

[HalcyonDays]

Keith David is SO familiar to me (especially the voice and smile) and I was racking my brain trying to remember where I've seen him before!!. He has a lengthy lengthy resume, but I specifically remember him from a movie long ago called Men at Work!! He was awesome in that!!

 

But Calderone, my friend...I don't think ripping out the throat circuitry of Ethan is the best way to go make friends or gain some trust. Maybe John could have brought you some spare parts. Your large forcefield maybe made to be smaller to hide you, or maybe your wife (humanich friend) could go out and get the parts for you herself. Otherwise, that was messed up.

 

JD, god I love you, you sexy thing, but you're pick-up line was flat and not the most creative and romantic in the world. Where is the passion between those two?

 

Poor Julie. I do feel really bad for her and horrifed about her being in that cargo coffin. My worst nightmare. And damn Lucy, don't mess with her ever. However this goes down, I predict TAALR will be "defeated" and Lucy becomes the big bad season 3. Ethan vs. Lucy.

 

And I do not like Madam Secretary or whoever she is. I'm questioning her sanity and pure decision making abilities. And duh that none of those employees walked out. SOP.

 

Charlie is okay! Yes. He is the most moral of the bunch (besides Ethan) and just a really good guy. Make sure he is okay. But he and Julie are really underestimating Humanichs and the computer networks abilities. The computers will always be one step ahead...no wait, make that millions of calculations a second ahead.

 

Oh, and Molly - really? You are an astronaut who is alone in outerspace for 13 months but you doesn't know binary?? Yeah...no. And that long "phone number" / coordinates were NOT obtained by those 11 or 12 chess board square light flashes. Each number would consist of 8 zeros and ones (eight bits making a byte which represents one number). That's 8 characters x the 20 or more numbers for the code. It should have been Star Trek Data rapid speed light flashes for a long time. But hey, I'm nitpicking a show that is very nitpickable. Still, I enjoyed the episode overall and looking forward to next week.

[Twilight Man]

Keith David is SO familiar to me (especially the voice and smile) and I was racking my brain trying to remember where I've seen him before!!. He has a lengthy lengthy resume, but I specifically remember him from a movie long ago called Men at Work!! He was awesome in that!!

 

Yes, Keith is famous for some of his live-action stuff (which I do remember), but when I hear that voice, I keep thinking "It's Goliath!!!  That bad-ass gargoyle is going to take you down!!"

He also was the voice of Spawn on Todd McFarlane's HBO animated series.

 

Hey Extant.  I don't care how smart you try and act; you are still a far cry away from much more better fall shows like "Criminal Minds", so don't even try and pretend to be clever, OK.

[Such A Flirt]

Oh Charlie. You overdid it, love. Pretty darn brave of you to even agree to that "date", though.

 

Speaking of... Die, Lucy, die! For real, this time!

 

That "love scene" between Molly and JD was extra-cheesy. I just had to look away, I was too embarrassed for the actors.

[Shelby]

Ew, was Calderone's Humanich his "wife?" Super creepy.

I can't stand the Julie character or actress, and am not looking forward to her being saved next week. Charlie has romantic feelings for her all of a sudden? *hurls*

Hasn't Lucy displayed her mind reading/lie detecting skills in a previous episode? I guess that function didn't work tonight. That jumpsuit they had her in tonight didn't fit well at all. It was gaping and puckering all around her crotch area. The butt was saggy. The arms were too big. They should have made her a jumper that fit properly, out of a stretchy material.

Loved Ethan helping the other robot out. Ethan is about the only character I enjoyed tonight.

[Andromeda]

So.... Calderon was just another fake-out, and it was TAALAR that killed John and is basically calling the shots for the Humanichs.  Why not?  We already have alien hybrids and killer robots: the only thing that had really been missing was an evil A.I.  Although, since it's telling the Humanichs what to do, I wonder if its more Skynet to the Humanichs' Terminators?  Either way, this season really liked to borrow from various sci-fi shows.

Not to mention movies, like the lip-reading sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey. And every time I hear them talk about TAALR, I think of Taylor from Planet of the Apes, but that's probably just me.

 

Last night, thinking about a different show, I suddenly had the revelation that Julie is the lizard girl from American Horror Story: Freak Show. Then I remembered she's Meryl Streep's daughter. It took me this long to put that together, LOL.

 

That "love scene" between Molly and JD was extra-cheesy. I just had to look away, I was too embarrassed for the actors.

Seriously. I never fast forward during shows (I feel committed to watch all the scenes so I know what's going on) but that one really had me tempted. Urgh. And I did look away.

Lucy might as well be twirling a mustache, she's that cheesy and eeeeevil. I prefer the androids over on Humans (well, the housekeeping ones), who aren't quite as human and clearly robotic.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Andromeda

[wayne67]

Julie still irritates me.

 

The Humanichs do seem like a bigger threat than a thousand or so Hybrids. Humanichs can probably manufacture faster than Hybrids can reproduce.

 

All the Humanichs are probably under the problematic control of Taylor. Only some of the Hybrids want to attack humans to ensure their safety.

 

I do wonder if the Hybrids are going to help Molly take out Taylor or whether that's Ethan's role.

[Enero]

Charlie has romantic feelings for her all of a sudden? *hurls*

 

Charlie has always had romantic feelings for Julie. I remember last season him being very jealous of the revolving door of boyfriends/FWBs that Julie had.  And seems like they even had a one night stand last season? But I could be wrong. Anyway, that's one thing that wasn't retconned from Season One, Charlie's romantic interest in Julie.

 

How about I was rolling my eyes when Molly and JD decided to leave Ethan alone in the house with Calderon while they went to scratch an itch in the tent. The dialogue was pretty bad too and like others I was cringing at the sex. They'd just met this guy and even though they believed his story within minutes, which I questioned why they would do this as well, leaving Ethan alone in a house with strangers was mind-boggling. For all Molly's claims about Ethan being her son and loving and seeing him as human, sometimes she doesn't act like it. She will leave him or toss him to the side just as quickly as JD did his daughter. Speaking of which where is she? Did he ever go and visit her after he was released from jail? Or has he been running after Molly all this time? What about her pregnancy? I guess that was irrelevant after all. 

 

Molly and Julie burying the hatchet was a bit much for me. I'm not saying they should continue to be at each other's throats, but it was not believable that after all the betrayals Molly would give her a hug and tell her you will always be apart of my life and Ethan's. What?! Maybe I missed a scene, but did Julie ever apologize to Molly (while she was conscious) for what she'd done? If not, I cannot see their reconciliation being believable at all.

 

Lastly, I liked how Julie and Charlie played Lucy in the beginning. I would've liked to have seen that go a little bit longer. Unfortunately they were discovered. Like others, I like the actress that plays Lucy but I'm tired of the character. Let's put her out to pasture i.e. cyber heaven/hell and be done with her. 

 

Party of one, I kind of missed the Governa/Toby this episode. LOL

Edited September 3, 2015 by Enero

[Rhetorica]

I can't stand the Julie character or actress, and am not looking forward to her being saved next week. Charlie has romantic feelings for her all of a sudden? *hurls*

He had feelings for her last season but she rejected him.

I suddenly had the revelation

that Julie is the lizard girl from American Horror Story: Freak Show. Then I remembered she's Meryl Streep's daughter. It took me this long to put that together, LOL.

I kept reading "Meryl Streep's daughter" but thought she must have two, so I didn't recognize her either!

[Big Mother]

I love this show and am invested in it, but every scene leaves me with so many questions, and there's so much suspension of disbelief that I have to employ to stay invested in the show. Sigh.

 

I don't understand why Calderone would agree to come out of hiding after 7 years, and all of his security measures, and give himself up that easily. That also meant leaving his hybrid 'wife' alone? After he finally restored her speech?

 

How were JD/Molly/Ethan not afraid to be IN PLAIN SIGHT three feet away from Calderone being arrested? why didn't they all just hightail it out of there?

 

Why didn't we see how Lucy managed to get Julie into the box?

 

Wait. So the 'worm' WAS the actual amulet? And Molly was willing to sacrifice everything, just to save JD? They may all get killed anyway, and the world will be exterminated because she didn't take action.

 

So I assume JD dies in the finale. Maybe that's because JD Morgan didn't want to commit to more than a season?

Edited September 3, 2015 by Big Mother

[Mecca]

This show has lost a lot of momentum for me in the last two or three episodes.  I'm finding that I am caring less and less about Molly and this "war" going on.  I was all in at the beginning, but the plot is starting to drag on a bit too much.  I think the writers started to run out of ideas towards the end and are now just biding their time until the finale.

 

Who knew sex could create anti-chemistry?  I'm disappointed that Molly and J.D. fizzled so quickly.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Mecca

[Happytobehere]

Hated the computer is behind it all, thus absolving all the human baddies.

Loved Keith David. He's one of those actors like Tony Todd, who doesn't get cast nearly enough.

I'm glad Ethan has escaped his Julie induced pod self and become likable again.

Dare I hope that Julie doesn't make it out of the container. ,I don't like the character or the actress who plays her. She has inherited her mom's looks, but not her talent.

I really like JD and Molly as a couple and hope they work out. Would Jeffrey Dean Morgan's casting on The Good Wife preclude his return if there is a Season 3? Speaking of which, any word on whether there will be a Season 3?

[shrewd.buddha]

And I wish Molly would quit freaking out about her stupid vision ...

It felt as if they played the scene of Molly's vision twenty or more times.. Okay, we get it. Are you just trying to avoid filming more scenes? 

 

And it feels as if it is pretty late in the game to be making TAALR such a major player. Wasn't the evil A.I. only introduced a few episodes back?  Now TAALR is the Big Bad of the entire series. 

 

It will be interesting to see how Molly manages to Forrest Gump her way of this season's situation(s) ... 

Edited September 3, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[Kitla]

I try not to think too much while watching this show.

[Big Mother]

In the technical sense, how has TAALR managed to hook itself into the programming of all these Humanichs? Wasn't TAALR created years and years before - if Calderone was a fugitive for 7 whole years, Ethan isnt that old - did John program TAALR to have a hook into the programming of all the humanichs? Then how is he not accessing Ethan or Frankie?

 

This show makes my head hurt.

[LoveIsJoy]

My post from episode 9:

My first thought was that the potential enemy could be the Artificial Intelligence-in-charge that Toby went (was summoned?) to see in a prior episode. Maybe the AI was concerned that John's program was going to be a threat to its own existence; i.e., Humanichs surpassing his AI level and making his function obsolete in the future.  This is pure speculation because I barely remember what happens in previous episodes, but I continue to watch for some reason.  And yeah, I was drifting in and out of the episode wondering what kind of quarantine allows everybody and their mama to come in and out of the room like a revolving door.  

 

I still can't believe I was right about the enemy being TAALR.  I didn't even remember its name and was just half-heartedly throwing out a guess. So not a very interesting revelation.

 

I actually laughed out loud when Molly, JD, and Ethan came back to the safe house and found the hybrid girl Terra missing.  Mostly because Molly's only reaction was, "oh, she's gone...I knew we shouldn't have left her behind."  And then nothing else was said about her (wondering where she'd gone, were they in imminent danger, was she still alive?, etc.)  for the rest of the episode.  

 

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who didn't think much of the JD/Molly love scene.  To me it looked completely unsexy, especially since I was anxious that they left Ethan alone in a house with strangers.  Even knowing that most love scenes are choreographed, the viewer isn't usually aware of that fact if it's done well.  The movements were so obvious here that it took me out of the scene.  Which was actually okay with me.

[HalcyonDays]

Who knew sex could create anti-chemistry?  I'm disappointed that Molly and J.D. fizzled so quickly.

 

Especially since JDM sizzles..... *grin*

 

I don't understand why Calderone would agree to come out of hiding after 7 years, and all of his security measures, and give himself up that easily. That also meant leaving his hybrid 'wife' alone? After he finally restored her speech?

 

That's exactly what I thought...So you have been hiding from the authorities for years, yet you decided to tear the throat out of a litltle humanich boy to give your wife speech after many years without, but gave yourself up mere hours after?? Made no sense.

 

In the technical sense, how has TAALR managed to hook itself into the programming of all these Humanichs? Wasn't TAALR created years and years before - if Calderone was a fugitive for 7 whole years, Ethan isnt that old - did John program TAALR to have a hook into the programming of all the humanichs? Then how is he not accessing Ethan or Frankie?

 

I think...based on my own little musings, that maybe it went like this. John Woods developed the Humanichs. Remember, he wanted them to learn like a normal human would. Molly goes to space (as did her colleagues before her) and got infected with the aliens. Molly herself is infected, comes back to Earth and the threat of alien invasion is now known. The military - along with TAALR - are now made privy to this, and start to devise plans (both cooperatively and independently) to defeat this enemy.

 

At this point (in mid season 1), is when TAALR decided to do it's thing. Only in the last few months/year did the computer take over. Before that, it didn't care.

[jhlipton]

And that long "phone number" / coordinates were NOT obtained by those 11 or 12 chess board square light flashes. Each number would consist of 8 zeros and ones (eight bits making a byte which represents one number). That's 8 characters x the 20 or more numbers for the code. It should have been Star Trek Data rapid speed light flashes for a long time. But hey, I'm nitpicking a show that is very nitpickable. Still, I enjoyed the episode overall and looking forward to next week.

 

 

Even if you know that's transmitting numbers and go by pure binary, the highest number you can get will have 4 digits,  If you use a 6-bit code (the smallest for all caps and numbers), you'd get 2 characters.  At 8 bits, you get upper and lower case, as well as "special characters" like @, $, %, etc, but only one and a half of them.  So,yeah, way too short.

 

She has inherited her mom's looks, but not her talent.

 

Is that a "burn"?

[Happytobehere]

The part about the talent was.

[shapeshifter]

Dare I hope that Julie doesn't make it out of the container. ,I don't like the character or the actress who plays her. She has inherited her mom's looks, but not her talent.

Something about the shot of her face from above while she was laying down in the coffin/container made her look exactly like her mother. As far as not inheriting the talent goes: MS is one of a kind. Tough act for anyone to follow.

Anyway, I doubt they'll kill her off, but it would be a bold move given how much screen time she's had this season.

Who knew sex could create anti-chemistry?  I'm disappointed that Molly and J.D. fizzled so quickly.

Well, IRL that does happen, but HB/Molly's reactions to JD putting the romantic moves on her remind me of HB's reaction to Adrien Brody sweeping her into a back bending kiss when she handed him his Oscar for The Pianist. IDK, maybe she's shy about PDAs. I am, but then I'm not a Hollywood (or any kind of) actress either.

[kirinan]

Heh, maybe Hilarie Burton was on set that day (although we haven't seen Anna in a while, have we?) and she was glaring at Halle and JDM so they felt self-conscious being sexy in front of his girlfriend/baby mama. That's all I got, because honestly, I've rarely seen either one of them NOT have romantic chemistry with someone they're acting with.

[Latverian Diplomat]

So, in my version, Calderon is just the latest alias of Elroy Patashnik, and Danny Pudi's Abed will show up next week to defeat TAALR Star Trek style, with a logical paradox. ("TAALR: highest priority--assess the threat of the last digit of pi"). :-)

[SlackerInc]

He had feelings for her last season but she rejected him.

 

 

True, but earlier this season they had sex!

 

It felt as if they played the scene of Molly's vision twenty or more times.. Okay, we get it. Are you just trying to avoid filming more scenes? 

 

And it feels as if it is pretty late in the game to be making TAALR such a major player. Wasn't the evil A.I. only introduced a few episodes back?  Now TAALR is the Big Bad of the entire series. 

 

I agree that they played the vision way too many times.

 

But to be fair, they did subtly introduce TAALR as the force manipulating Lucy several episodes ago, although we didn't know it at the time.  (Remember when she was reading Machiavelli and talked to someone seemingly invisible?)

 

My post from episode 9:

 

I still can't believe I was right about the enemy being TAALR.  I didn't even remember its name and was just half-heartedly throwing out a guess. So not a very interesting revelation.

 

I actually laughed out loud when Molly, JD, and Ethan came back to the safe house and found the hybrid girl Terra missing.  Mostly because Molly's only reaction was, "oh, she's gone...I knew we shouldn't have left her behind."  And then nothing else was said about her (wondering where she'd gone, were they in imminent danger, was she still alive?, etc.)  for the rest of the episode.  

 

Glad to see I wasn't the only one who didn't think much of the JD/Molly love scene.  To me it looked completely unsexy, especially since I was anxious that they left Ethan alone in a house with strangers.  Even knowing that most love scenes are choreographed, the viewer isn't usually aware of that fact if it's done well.  The movements were so obvious here that it took me out of the scene.  Which was actually okay with me.

 

Nice prediction on TAALR.

 

I forgot about Terra, but now that you mention it, you are right: that makes no sense that they'd completely stop talking about her after that.  D'oh.

 

And yeah: just like their kiss an episode or two back, this was amazingly unsexy for two characters that seemed to have serious chemistry earlier.  But then I remember a RL case where I had this crackling, palpable energy with someone, and it was mutual, but we were both in other relationships.  Then months later, when we finally did get together, it turned out to be remarkably awkward--just not a fit at all.