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S01.E04: Wake Up Grassroots: The Nine Virtues of Participatory Democracy, and How We Can Keep America Great by Encouraging an Informed Electorate

formerlyfreedom

By formerlyfreedom
in BrainDead [V]

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formerlyfreedom

formerlyfreedom

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Laurel and Rochelle try to persuade Laurel’s friend Abby to get an MRI so they can uncover the real cause of the strange behavior taking over Washington, D.C. Also, Luke attempts to reopen the government through a secret deal with the Republicans

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Free

Free

10 hours ago, SillyOldClothCat said:

Are we ever going to see this next episode??  I love this show, but it looks like CBS now has American Gothic ("nobody is at the door" version) in it's Monday 10pm timeslot.  I will be SO MAD if they let BrainDead go. :(

It's on tonight, it had a break last week because of 4th of July.

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

1 minute ago, RogerDodger said:

...Fairly certain the last scene with Anthony was a fakeout and he probably lost some hearing during his time in Iraq.  I just can't see them having too many regulars get infected too soon....

That didn't occur to me, and I'm not sure if I want it to be true. I like that the show doesn't have a bunch of red herrings. I guess it depends upon how it's handled.

  • Love 2
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mjc570

mjc570

I think this is a very cute, amusing show.  Unfortunately, I think the US is so polarized politically that it just can't be satirized.  I laugh, but also think how realistic most of the political stuff is, and how much grosser it is than alien bugs and exploding heads.  While I liked the episode as a whole (especially the strident NEA defense), I especially liked the intro. 

  • Love 7
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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

9 minutes ago, lucindabelle said:

Poor kitty.

I'm still hoping that, like some other postsers mentioned in an earlier thread, Gustav's kitty doesn't have much to lose in terms of memory--like my daughter's cat, who looks quite similar and is also an indoor-only cat who doesn't have any feral tendencies left.

  • Love 2
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thuganomics85

thuganomics85

(edited)

I definitely think Anthony is going to be a fake-out.  I suspect one of the main characters will end up infected by the end of this season at least, but I think it is too early one.  Plus, I can see this being used towards Laurel probably being suspicious of him and put a damper on whatever relationship they have now, in order to keep whatever she and Gareth have going, relevant.  In other words, a classic love triangle!  Only with brain-eating alien ants!

My knowledge of politics still can use some work, so I have no idea if whatever Luke and the Republican Senator/Wayne Duvall's character did would actually happen in real life, but I did like them finally getting on over Red/the aliens.  Doubt it will be a win for long, since I totally think Alien Red is serious about bringing them down, but still a fun moment none the less.

Gareth's now seeing that Not Megan Kelly character played by Megan Hitly.  Hey, I'm just glad she can apparently leave the studio.  I thought she and the Not Rachel Maddow, were not allowed to.

It's sadly true that this really doesn't feel all that much like a caricature of politics anymore.  I might have even heard crazier things from real life people, media, and even actual politicians.  In particular, the whole thing about how Red and Gareth set-up the "grassroots" movement, feels like that is something that happens quite a bit.

Aww, poor Gustav's cat.  Between him and Caramel on American Gothic, CBS shows seem to have it out for cats.

Still enjoying the show enough, although a lot of it is still probably because I think Mary Elizabeth Winstead is really likable as Laurel, and it's just nice to have a lead character I enjoy watching. 

Edited by thuganomics85
  • Love 4
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tessaray

tessaray

1 hour ago, mjc570 said:

I think this is a very cute, amusing show.  Unfortunately, I think the US is so polarized politically that it just can't be satirized.  I laugh, but also think how realistic most of the political stuff is, and how much grosser it is than alien bugs and exploding heads.  While I liked the episode as a whole (especially the strident NEA defense), I especially liked the intro. 

I think alien ants and exploding heads would be an improvement on our current political situation.  (I started to put a smiley here and then realized that they really would be.)  

  • Love 6
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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

7 hours ago, lucindabelle said:

Im just hoping that the wonder that is cat will protect kitty somehow. She is still meowing. But of course the people are still talking. The real test would be the cars song...

Now I'm picturing the old Meow Mix commercial cat dance. 

  • Love 1
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sjohnson

sjohnson

On another board, some poor slob was convinced that HBO was the creative and risky network. Selling tits doesn't seem notably creative and definitely isn't high risk. But this show? This show may end up being a flaming failure rivaling the Hindenburg but it's already a hell of a ride. 

It is true that it's hard to satirize politics. 

  • Love 5
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meep.meep

meep.meep

Was  that Aaron Tveit singing the previouslies?  It's nice that Gareth and Laurel both drink Old Fashions.

You guys are much smarter than me - I thought Laurel had seen ant activity in Anthony's ear.  But, of course, I couldn't see it.

This show is what summer TV should be.  You don't have to think too much.

  • Love 2
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kathara

kathara

My two cats are like Pinky and the Brain, so the consequences of aliants infesting them would range somewhere between no one noticing and potential worldwide catastrophe.

And as a Dane, should I be worried that angry aliant Democrat wants the US to resemble Denmark more? 

  • Love 4
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SillyOldClothCat

SillyOldClothCat

18 hours ago, Free said:

It's on tonight, it had a break last week because of 4th of July.

Thank goodness it's just the very terrible listings served up by my local cbs affiliate causing me angst!  But now I'll need to wait until Friday to watch the episode on Amazon because I refuse to be strong-armed into paying for cbs 'all access'.

  • Love 1
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Bobbin

Bobbin

Apparently whether you're a radical conservative or a radical liberal depends on which half of your brain the aliants ate. That makes sense.

Am I the only one expecting / hoping the hyper NEA advocate's head would explode?

Smooshed or not, wouldn’t that woman's aliants still show up in a CAT-scan or an autopsy?

The aliants poured out of a meteorite extracted from the sea, so, yes, they're from space somewhere. Maybe they're tiny versions of Kanamits, here to improve our lives. And fatten us up. If the State of the Union speech is captioned "To Serve Man", RUN! 

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shapeshifter

shapeshifter

1 hour ago, Bobbin said:

...Smooshed or not, wouldn’t that woman's aliants still show up in a CAT-scan or an autopsy?...

I love this show, but that plot point gave me pause. I hope they revisit it and do find aliant remains.

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atomationage

atomationage

19 hours ago, tessaray said:

I think alien ants and exploding heads would be an improvement on our current political situation.

I completely agree.  I can't listen to the regular news anymore, and I used to have it on a lot.   Now I've got classical music on instead, so I'm very pro NEA, and I loved Grantchester.  I get some news from Sky News Live and France 24 Live on Youtube.  Shows like this make politics more bearable.  Tony Shaloub is doing a great job.  "He leans to the right when he walks."   After Shaloub, I like Gustav the second best.  I can't remember the names of most of the other characters.  I find the show funny. 

  • Love 2
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redpencil

redpencil

The reactions of the uninfected remains my favorite part of this show (though I like pretty much everything). This episode, it was Gareth's reactions in that meeting with the One-Wayers about the website they were creating. "Why do we need links to bomb-making sites?" "For the people who don't know how to make them." Said completely matter-of-factly.

I also find the One-Wayers vs. No-Wayers stuff hilarious.

This was also the most I've liked Luke so far. Loved the machinations of him and the majority leader, especially the motion to vote thing or whatever that was with just the three of them (with the wheel-chair bound senior senator, haha).

  • Love 2
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lucindabelle

lucindabelle

4 hours ago, atomationage said:

I completely agree.  I can't listen to the regular news anymore, and I used to have it on a lot.   Now I've got classical music on instead, so I'm very pro NEA, and I loved Grantchester.  I get some news from Sky News Live and France 24 Live on Youtube.  Shows like this make politics more bearable.  Tony Shaloub is doing a great job.  "He leans to the right when he walks."   After Shaloub, I like Gustav the second best.  I can't remember the names of most of the other characters.  I find the show funny. 

Just reminded me of the hilarity of the guy shouting all the reasons not to kill the NEA. NPR! All things considered! Grantchester!

 

now, these are all radio- TV and as arts girl want to give shout out to live theater and museums too but that was hilarious.

 

so ants can affect both sides? Did I understand that right?

 

Shalhoub is a terrific actor. So like able. I'm a couple of degrees away from him never met him myself but I understand he's very nice. And the lopsided running was hysterical.

  • Love 4
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SoothingDave

SoothingDave

(edited)
20 hours ago, Bobbin said:

Apparently whether you're a radical conservative or a radical liberal depends on which half of your brain the aliants ate. That makes sense.

Actually, I think the aliants just intensify whatever political leanings you already have.  Or whatever whatever you have.  I think it is just making these people crazy about politics because these are political people.  The aliants would make people that are crazy about ketchup on hot dogs even more crazy about ketchup on hot dogs.  

Edited by SoothingDave
  • Love 5
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atomationage

atomationage

9 hours ago, TheRabbi said:

And the previouslies are just perfect.

I agree.  It's great to start the show off that way.   I had no idea who Aaron Tveit was, but I saw that Grease Live and was disappointed.  This show has a collection of actors from shows that I haven't watched, so most of them are new to me. 

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Perfect Xero

Perfect Xero

9 hours ago, SoothingDave said:

Actually, I think the aliants just intensify whatever political leanings you already have.  Or whatever whatever you have.  I think it is just making these people crazy about politics because these are political people.  The aliants would make people that are crazy about ketchup on hot dogs even more crazy about ketchup on hot dogs.  

I think it's more than that. We've seen the "infected" working together to keep the ants secret and attempting to help the ants infect others. There's some level of control/influence beyond just intensifying what the people already believed.

My theory: The Ants themselves already have their own "right/left" political divide and they're infecting humans to continue playing it out, they're either targeting already political people or are specifically drawing out their political leanings and not other traits. When a head explodes it's because crazy right ants tried to infect a left leaning person (or visa versa) and they're not compatible.

  • Love 2
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