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Celebrating 25 Years Of The West Wing

S02.E05: Series 2 Episode 5

Cranberry

By Cranberry
in Humans [V]

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Cranberry

Cranberry

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When Mia risks falling into the hands of a mysterious organisation, she is forced to take drastic action. Odi struggles to find meaning, while Sophie is awestruck by Renie's 'Synthie' lifestyle. As Pete recovers from his assault, Karen makes an admission that rocks their relationship. Hester and Leo stake out the Silo and track down the sniper who killed Ten. Hester agrees to deal with her peacefully, but can she be trusted? Mattie leaves home to reconnect with Leo.

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NorthstarATL

NorthstarATL

Niska was awesome! "This was your chance, Niska!" "No. It was theirs." I thought Mia acquitted herself well, but did she leave herself as Anita again? In the end, those guys were creeps. So, will Maddy meet Athena eventually, because it seems that they would really work well together? And those were Synth kids at the end, right? Other than the obvious sentimental value (a parent loses a child, and wants a replacement, which, of  course, brings with it all sorts of problems), I can't think of any reason for them. I guess we'll find out.

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kieyra

kieyra

13 minutes ago, Fabricationary said:

You mean the Tyra Banks hair circa 2005?

Sorry, my pop culture refs aren't strong enough to picture that. :) In any case I was just being snarky about the synth with pink-ish hair in the opening teaser. 

(I'm not usually all that shallow, but the hair drives me to distraction on this show for some reason. WHY is it a thing that the female synths have weird blunt haircuts? And I guess the female "synthie"'s wig is supposed to look like a synth's hair, which seems to further the idea that female (but not male) synths are required to have terrible haircuts, like a scarlet letter. Yes I've thought about this too much.)

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John Potts

John Potts

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 1:36 AM, NorthstarATL said:

Niska was awesome! "This was your chance, Niska!" "No. It was theirs." I thought Mia acquitted herself well, but did she leave herself as Anita again? In the end, those guys were creeps. So, will Maddy meet Athena eventually, because it seems that they would really work well together?

Niska's escape was pretty badass, although the guards were a bit pathetic (ever heard of "leading the target"? She ran in a dead straight line!). Glad they're "muddying the waters" somewhat over morality - while we still have plenty of "Humans Are Bastards" moments, we're getting a few "Synths can be Bastards too".

The Hawkins family stuff got more interesting too, if a little unbelievable. I guess I should be happy that we get a teenager boy who has twice turned down sex with a willing girl since that's pretty rare on TV while Mattie has managed to do in her spare time what must have taken David Elster years to perfect (obviously, she  was building on his work, but it's still damn impressive!)

On ‎28‎/‎11‎/‎2016 at 1:36 AM, NorthstarATL said:

I thought Mia acquitted herself well, but did she leave herself as Anita again?

Pretty sure Mia is fine, but was just being careful, I don't think she's been reset. Surprised the government/Qualia inspector couldn't tell she was faking, though. Also don't really see the big deal over Synth children, since I would have thought they'd be an obvious product line - what parent doesn't want an obedient child?

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NorthstarATL

NorthstarATL

But it still gets creepy when they do not grow. Most parents really want to see that growth, even if it is bittersweet. Plus, children can't DO very much. If you want chores done, etc., obviously the adult size is preferable. (Which also brings up the point that there really should not be a LOT of female Synths. Your best models would probably be heavily utilitarian.

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wayne67

wayne67

On 11/30/2016 at 5:29 AM, NorthstarATL said:

But it still gets creepy when they do not grow. Most parents really want to see that growth, even if it is bittersweet. Plus, children can't DO very much. If you want chores done, etc., obviously the adult size is preferable. (Which also brings up the point that there really should not be a LOT of female Synths. Your best models would probably be heavily utilitarian.

I'm sorry but historically that's totally inaccurate. There's lots of tasks that small humans are great at with their small frames and tiny little hands. Stitching, vent maintenance, picking up litter (as they have less distance to crouch/bend over to grab stuff off the floor), cleaning, industrial labor and unlike small human children, they are far more durable and stronger than their fleshier counterparts. They could replace the children in actual sweat shops stitching the high end label clothing. 

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henripootel

henripootel

On 11/29/2016 at 0:17 PM, John Potts said:

Niska's escape was pretty badass, although the guards were a bit pathetic (ever heard of "leading the target"?

They were storm-trooper-bad shots.  I can't imagine why Niska wasn't in restraints, given that synths are stronger than humans.  

Was seriously expecting the judge guy to open the proceedings by saying 'Before we begin, I'd like to consult the rules governing synths.  Ah - says here Synths are not humans and have no rights.  Break for lunch, everyone'.  I mean seriously, what do they expect to accomplish by having such a trial?  Is the question of synth self-awareness really one for lawyers?  Is there plenty of case law for them to discuss what self-awareness means and who it applies to?  Kudos to Niska for realizing where this was going, but then why did she agree to such a procedure in the first place?  If it was in hopes of a public trial, would not her purposes be better served by simply going public?

On 11/29/2016 at 0:17 PM, John Potts said:

Pretty sure Mia is fine, but was just being careful, I don't think she's been reset. Surprised the government/Qualia inspector couldn't tell she was faking, though.

I'm surprised that the first thing self-aware synths didn't do was make themselves undetectable to the scanners.  I mean I don't know how the scanners actually work but I'll bet the synths do, probably better than the folks trying to use them in the field.  

On 11/29/2016 at 1:29 PM, NorthstarATL said:

But it still gets creepy when they do not grow. Most parents really want to see that growth, even if it is bittersweet.

First thing that came to my mind is that parents may not care.  A bit of bittersweetness for you - read somewhere once that age-progression software was more popular than you might imagine.  I mean who's the market for it, cops looking for kidnapped children, so they'd recognize them if they found them years later, right?  How many of those could there be?  Well apparently a big part of the market are parents who's children died, and who want to see what they would have looked like as adults.  Heartbreaking, but they pay good money for this, and it seems unlikely that it's because they're looking for closure.  They just feel the need to know.  My first thought on seeing the synth kids is that they'll be custom-made to look like the kid you lost, who'll now be a kid forever.  I simply can't imagine the sense of loss from losing a child, but I can kinda imagine there being a market for this.

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John Potts

John Potts

I imagine getting a Synth kid would be more like getting a pet - you don't like them, you can always dump them. And if you want to see them grow - well there's the upgraded model you can get next year. As far as replacement children goes its a bit lacking, but I can see some folks might like it that way (I can easily imagine Paris Hilton getting a "cute little baby Synth" that she has one of her flunkies actually deal with).

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Which Tyler

Which Tyler

5 hours ago, John Potts said:

I imagine getting a Synth kid would be more like getting a pet - you don't like them, you can always dump them. And if you want to see them grow - well there's the upgraded model you can get next year.

You've... obviously never had pets

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Noneofyourbusiness

Noneofyourbusiness

Unfortunately true. My mother and I delivered a cat to the SPCA a month or two ago that apparently had been abandoned by his owner in the woods by our street. They told us his owner no longer lived at the address given on his microchip, and later we saw him up for adoption on the SPCA's website.

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thuganomics85

thuganomics85

Ah, so it looks like for the American audience, AMC is just going to air two episodes going forward.  I guess they want to finish off to get ready for Better Call Saul!

Anyway, I was a bit surprised that Mia got out of her little jam, by doing something erase her memory (?), and make herself become Amita again, pretty much screwing over Ed, who seem like he really was just trying to sell her, in order to help his mom.  I guess he at least look a little regretful over what he did at the end, but it is kind of too late, buddy. 

Niska realizes the obvious that the judge is never going to actually give her a chance, so she just makes a little bomb with a watch, and gets the hell out of there.  Pretty badass, but admittedly, the security guards couldn't shoot for shit.  They clearly hired the B squad for this little party.

Mattie figures out how to perfect Niska's code, and now has the ability to make all Synths self-aware at once.  Talk about wielding a lot of power!

So, Milo's grand plan is create child Synths, so parents can upload their kids memories into them.  And Pete has already stumbled upon one of them.  Hmm...

Karen is starting to doubt her existence and her relationship with Pete, I see.

Leo ends up having sex with Hester, unknowingly right after she killed someone.  Probably a bad idea, but considering how lonely he probably is and he happens to be stuck with a Synth who looks like Sonya Cassidy, I guess it isn't too surprising.

Onto the next episode.

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MrPissyPuppy

MrPissyPuppy

On 12/2/2016 at 2:44 AM, henripootel said:

 My first thought on seeing the synth kids is that they'll be custom-made to look like the kid you lost, who'll now be a kid forever.  I simply can't imagine the sense of loss from losing a child, but I can kinda imagine there being a market for this.

They already have "Reborn Baby" dolls which can be designed to look however one wants.   And the market isn't children.  It's both sad and creepy to me.   I can easily see people buying a synth child.  

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henripootel

henripootel

4 minutes ago, MrPissyPuppy said:

They already have "Reborn Baby" dolls which can be designed to look however one wants.   And the market isn't children.  It's both sad and creepy to me.   I can easily see people buying a synth child.  

Upon reflection, so can I.  It can't be any more creepy than the victorian fad of photographing dead children.  Back in the days when childhood mortality was high and photography new, people took family photos with newly departed children, propped up as if they were still alive.  Strange, but you can sorta see how people really don't want to let go.  That's one human experience I'll gladly do without. 

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Clanstarling

Clanstarling

(edited)
On 11/27/2016 at 5:36 PM, NorthstarATL said:

Niska was awesome! "This was your chance, Niska!" "No. It was theirs."

A most chilling statement, from the most chilling sentient synth (the new one isn't in her league).

I guess I turned the show off too soon (don't have the time to watch both shows at once). Was a little over eager to get to the forums. Oh well. It'll still be interesting.

Edited by Clanstarling
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ElectricBoogaloo

ElectricBoogaloo

When Gil called to say that Ginny had died, part of me thought it was a lie he made up and that he had taken her off whatever kind of life support they had her on.

I liked that Pete said he wanted all of Karen/Beatrice, but then he lost me when he insisted that she can't keep pretending to be human. It's not your place to force her to reveal herself, dude. If people knew she was a conscious synth, they would take her away to examine her and poke and prod her. Why does Pete not realize that?

I'm glad that Flash got away from her family. Those kids sucked. She seems like a good match for Max since they both seem very sunny.

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