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S01.E21: Kill Switch


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When the Tomorrow People learn the truth about the serum they were injected with, Stephen and Cara attempt to buy time for Jedikiah while he tries to create a possible antidote. Growing impatient, Russell and the other rogue Tomorrow People make a rash decision to sacrifice Roger to Ultra for their own safety. Meanwhile, John is having a hard time figuring out his new role and the only one he can turn to for advice is Astrid.

 

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Ugh. This show is so frustrating! I kept yelling at the blonde girl and Russell "you did this to yourselves you idiots!" 

 

I still don't understand how the founder is alive. I mean a bomb exploded in front of him!

 

I had to turn the channel during the show because I was so annoyed at these stupid characters!

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I didn't turn it off, but it was not fun to watch.

The Christ-like imagery of Stephen's dad in the machine was somewhat mitigated by it being even more reminiscent of Peter on Fringe.

Couldn't Stephen and Cara have used a couple of burner phones to let them know they succeeded?

It was fun to see Jedikiah parting traffic like the Red Sea. So, is he Moses now?

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I wish the writers would decide what to do with Russell. His characterization is so inconsistent. Competent one week, bumbling idiot the next. Leaves to be a superhero, doesn't. He's the Counselor Troi of the series without the crazy clothes and hair.

I thought Jed's scene was reminiscent of Magneto's in the X-Men movies.

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I kept yelling at the blonde girl and Russell "you did this to yourselves you idiots!"

 

 

Apparently the ongoing existence of Roger caused all the morons to troop into the slaughterhouse and volunteer to have something random injected into them. And then they all started celebrating when they handed him over because... yay mass murder?? What happened to Russell wanting to help people?

 

I did like the moments between John and Astrid but that's about all.

This show really just hasn't worked. It's a shame.

Edited by AudienceofOne
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While I can see all the faults and flaws I will continue to watch for Luke Mitchell and Mark Pellegrino.  They raise the bar in every scene in which they appear.

 

I have to laugh at how easy it is for everyone to move on from Cara.  One kiss from Astrid and John is all Cara who?  Stephen jumped into bed with Hillary and was all Cara who?  Too funny.  I also have to laugh at where John finds Astrid.  Where else would you look for a high schooler except her favorite bar?  Do you think he went to her house first and Dad directed John to the bar?

Edited by gibasi
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I keep thinking that Levin Ramblin's character (Obnoxious Blonde, don't know her name) is a plant sent by the Founder to destabilize the sewer TPs.

 

Kind of hope Stephen's dad is gone, the actor never impressed me, especially when compared to the charisma of Mark Pellegrino.

 

The Founder is unkillable. How did he survive that blast? We didn't see him teleport in or out, or even dive under a desk FFS.

 

I like the John/Astrid stuff, but it's like a different (better written) show.

 

Where is this show going? (Other than the cancellation heap).

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I keep thinking that Levin Ramblin's character (Obnoxious Blonde, don't know her name) is a plant sent by the Founder to destabilize the sewer TPs

 

 

I spent the episode hoping she was an agent provocateur because otherwise she's the most annoying person in history.  

 

where else would you look for a high schooler except her favorite bar?

 

 

I know I spent most of my highschool years hanging around in bars, handling automatic weapons and going undercover as a 28 year old. In a CW world of unrealistic highschool students, this show is possibly the worst.

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This episode is one of the very rare times that I actually liked Cara. Liked how she was with John, trying to keep him involved. She came across as really caring about him. Wish that would have been the case earlier in the season. 

 

Won't comment on the whole TPs with the tracers stuff, because blah. Don't really care. I only watch this show for John/Luke Mitchell and Jedikiah/Mark Pellegrino, although ... 

 

Actually didn't care too much for Jedikiah in this one. At least the Crazy Jed at the beginning and Jed with powers at the end. Did enjoy him working with Irene though. 

 

As for John and Astrid, for the most part I liked their scenes. It's about time someone told him he's brave and courageous. The subway trip back to the Lair was just kind of odd, but whatever. It wasn't as annoying as the truly horrible stuff that goes on in this show, so I can let it pass. 

 

One last thing that bothers me is that apparently Roger and Jedikiah completely forgot about John. Couldn't there have been at least a line that let us know what they know about him or if they still cared? 

 

It's much easier to enjoy this show if you just focus on what you like and ignore the rest. 

Edited by JuneSEA
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Since the network was down, Flounder wasn't able to turn off the kill switches--so they're still on, right? Hopefully Mean Blond Girl will do some new stupid thing and get herself shut off, but preferable not before Russell tells her to shut up.

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Cross-posted from TWoP, but: I don't think it's like Julian where it was on a timer. They had to take some action to activate the switch. The system for activating that switch is now destroyed, so Bathory (Hugh?) can't use it to kill them.

 

Russell, Russell, Russell. I think the first time when I started to realize that he was a total moron was back when they were trying to read Jed's mind and he was literally incapable of not touching anything in Jed's house. To his credit he actually looks like a shell of a man when they're waltzing down the sidewalk, like the puppet of Lady Natabeth that he is. She pulled him in to kiss him, put his arm around her shoulder, practically dragged him down the street. He actually looks far from happy with himself when they're initially walking, it's the other turncoats cheering and laughing in the background.

 

To be honest, I think they (the writers) let the metaphor run away from them, which is why it came across so jarringly. In the context of the show we've been watching, it seems ridiculous that these guys would be so impatient and lacking in self-reflection, but if Roger--as well as Stephen--is a Christ-archetype (they even crucified him!) then you can see what they're trying to do. Hillary didn't commit suicide because she was remorseful or because she was a woman or any reason other than the fact that her "role" is that of Judas. They didn't really think it through beyond "hey, cool allegory" and it shows.

 

This doesn't exactly fill me with lots of confidence about Luca's future position, mind. If Stephen is the new Roger, wouldn't that make Luca the new Jed?

 

Speaking of the crucifixion, that montage was well filmed and rather sweet. They didn't do absolutely everything wrong. And John/Astrid is somehow more bearable than Cara/Stephen. Maybe it's because they're both moving on from nonsensical nonsense and actually work well opposite each other, while Stephen is easily at his best as far away from Cara as possible.

 

EDIT: Although, watching it over, I remember being intensely irritated about everyone's reactions to things that happened. John and Astrid were rather resigned to their deaths, and Marla, the woman who can stop a billion bullets from hitting anyone like her name is freaking Neo, was stopped from dissecting Natalie...how? She has two hands, right?

 

Also, I found it funny how even without his powers the fight looked like it could have gone in Roger's direction if there had been maybe one or two fewer people attacking him. Way to suck, TPs.

 

EDIT 2: About Irene figuring out what Jed hadn't after he'd dedicated his life to it, I think it was the new information they got from the tracker in Jody's brain. The tracker automatically (presumably accidentally) bonded to the specific information he needed to do the rest. I assume that the information he got from the tracker was the last thing he didn't know and that he already had something set up.

 

And lastly (maybe), this episode had a later-in-series feel to it, if that makes sense. The destruction of the ULTRA office set, the re-capture of the father/mentor figure, giving powers to a SAP (hopefully paving the way for John to regain his powers)...these are all things that I've seen in later seasons of similar shows. Maybe it's a sign that they aren't kidding themselves as to this show's staying power.

Edited by DigitalCount
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The system for activating that switch is now destroyed, so Bathory (Hugh?) can't use it to kill them.

Yes, but the devices could probably be reached via another network. No?

 

To be honest, I think they (the writers) let the metaphor run away from them, which is why it came across so jarringly.

...if Roger--as well as Stephen--is a Christ-archetype (they even crucified him!) then you can see what they're trying to do. Hillary didn't commit suicide because she was remorseful or because she was a woman or any reason other than the fact that her "role" is that of Judas. They didn't really think it through beyond "hey, cool allegory" and it shows.

 

This doesn't exactly fill me with lots of confidence about Luca's future position, mind. If Stephen is the new Roger, wouldn't that make Luca the new Jed?

Well, if they continue the Christ allegory, Lucas would be James. But then, maybe he's Luke, who is referred to as a doctor, which would be more like Jedikiah.
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Welp, the only real threat to humanity's survival remains humanity itself, because this pack of fools aren't  going to take us down. "Sure, inject stuff into us, it'll be cool!" "What? That stuff you inected us with will kill us?!" "Let's give our leader to the Founder, so he can kill all  the humans, and then we can go into the woods and grow our own food and make our clothes out of animal skins!" Jedikiah, you've spent your whole life wishing you were like them, but did you really think it through? Sure, you get cool new super powers, but I'm pretty sure you have to lose about 50 IQ points in the process.

 

Still, John and Astrid were great. I loved Cara standing there watching unable to say anything because even though she ended her physical relationship with Stephen, she spent the whole freaking season pining, and lusting, and jealous over him, all the while expecting John just to stand there and take it. Turn about's fair play, sweetie.

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Am I the only one thinking that Jedikiah didn't necessarily take Irene's powers? At least not in the sense that she is powerless now. Well, if nothing else, I think it could go either way. 

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Am I the only one thinking that Jedikiah didn't necessarily take Irene's powers? At least not in the sense that she is powerless now. Well, if nothing else, I think it could go either way. 

I was wondering about that. They didn't really tell us.  Besides, how are they going to repower John if they have to take somebody's powers? I can't see him being down with that.

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I think it was an assumption pretty much everyone was making ... that for a human to get powers, they had to remove them from a TP. That was the theory Jedikiah was working with that failed (the TP dies in pain). 

 

But, with Irene's discovery, I think it's a matter of just mixing the TP DNA with human DNA ... somehow. 

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(edited)

I think it was an assumption pretty much everyone was making ... that for a human to get powers, they had to remove them from a TP. That was the theory Jedikiah was working with that failed (the TP dies in pain).

But, with Irene's discovery, I think it's a matter of just mixing the TP DNA with human DNA ... somehow.

Right. I thought the electron microscope (or whatever they use these days) view of the TP DNA with the tracker bonded to it simply revealed to Jedekiah which chromosomes made the TP different from humans, which enabled Jedekiah to alter his own DNA, and he merely knocked out Irene so she wouldn't bug him about other stuff, like, ya know, stopping Flounder's kill switch in the TPs who were stupid enough to get the trackers in the first place.

DNA is in every cell of a person, so I don't see how Jedekiah could take away Irene's powers even if he did use some of her DNA to alter his own.

Edited by shapeshifter
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Welp, the only real threat to humanity's survival remains humanity itself, because this pack of fools aren't  going to take us down. "Sure, inject stuff into us, it'll be cool!" "What? That stuff you inected us with will kill us?!" "Let's give our leader to the Founder, so he can kill all  the humans, and then we can go into the woods and grow our own food and make our clothes out of animal skins!" Jedikiah, you've spent your whole life wishing you were like them, but did you really think it through? Sure, you get cool new super powers, but I'm pretty sure you have to lose about 50 IQ points in the process.

 

Still, John and Astrid were great. I loved Cara standing there watching unable to say anything because even though she ended her physical relationship with Stephen, she spent the whole freaking season pining, and lusting, and jealous over him, all the while expecting John just to stand there and take it. Turn about's fair play, sweetie.

Ha! I love all of this. So much word! The Tomorrow People have the IQ of a bag of rocks not living up to their potential. They are infinitely stupid. Too stupid to live I'd say, I wish he'd pulled the kill switch on all of those injected morons. I am sorry about Russell though, it was a bad call making him a traitor, I'm not convinced Phil knows the difference between writing for plot and character driven story. Most of TP's disasters stem from plot driven crap that I'm guessing Phil thought would look really cool or something. He really needs to watch Writing With Jane on youtube, 'cause damn,

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Just read an interview with Klemmer and apparently Irene did lose her powers, which doesn't make sense. Whatever. I'm not watching the show for that. 

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Right. I thought the electron microscope (or whatever they use these days) view of the TP DNA with the tracker bonded to it simply revealed to Jedekiah which chromosomes made the TP different from humans, which enabled Jedekiah to alter his own DNA, and he merely knocked out Irene so she wouldn't bug him about other stuff, like, ya know, stopping Flounder's kill switch in the TPs who were stupid enough to get the trackers in the first place.

DNA is in every cell of a person, so I don't see how Jedekiah could take away Irene's powers even if he did use some of her DNA to alter his own.

Right. 

Even so, I still think it could go either way with this show. lol

And so it did. Oy.

The Tomorrow People: Taking the Science Out of Science Fiction One Episode at a Time.

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