Mr. Mercedes - General Discussion

[Robodude]

DOES ANYONE KNOW..... if they plan on wrapping the series up in the next couple of episodes or are they going to go the "Dome" route and keep adding seasons even though the story ends up not being ANYTHING like the book?   What they did to the Dome was absolutely despicable. 

So far, no mention of anything related to a Boy Band or their big circus themed concert where all the shit eventually goes down....which worries me that they'll either ignore it and end the series in the next couple weeks.....or that they'll extend it to next year.  Both of these are terrible.

[AnimeMania]

On 9/25/2017 at 9:29 AM, RedMal said:

This show is so well made, but why the hell does it feel so stale? I've started to lose interest and I don't even know why.

I think it is because they telegraph everything that is about to happen. The only time I as truly surprised was when Brady opened up the file cabinet and there was C4 in there. I wonder if anything will come from Brady switching Bill's phone.

[Jeanne222]

OMG last night.  The mother ate the poison meat and now Brady has her in her bed and laying next to her as she decomposes.  Stephen King...wow.

Hodges, Jerome and Holly and next door neighbor all in danger from this mad man.  Will Brady end up killing his boss and the boss's boss?  A  mad man for sure. 

Only two more episodes to go.  a thriller right down to the end.

I had to ff some of the scenes with Mom propped up against the frig dying.  It was just too much for me to take in.  Wow.

[Soobs]

4 hours ago, Jeanne222 said:

OMG last night.  The mother ate the poison meat and now Brady has her in her bed and laying next to her as she decomposes.  Stephen King...wow.

Hodges, Jerome and Holly and next door neighbor all in danger from this mad man.  Will Brady end up killing his boss and the boss's boss?  A  mad man for sure. 

Only two more episodes to go.  a thriller right down to the end.

I had to ff some of the scenes with Mom propped up against the frig dying.  It was just too much for me to take in.  Wow.

I fast forwarded a bit too. It was a little too vivid for me.

[Robodude]

It looks like they might actually try to wrap this whole thing up in the next 2 episodes.....thankfully they're not going to try and stretch the story into another season.

However....they did mention a new arena/center on the TV...but if they're going to try and tie the boy band concert to it, they're going to have to hurry.

If they decide not to go the concert route, then we lose Thing 2, the shaved head...the wheelchair...staying at the motel the night before....the other kids he sees at the show including Jerome's little sister....the whole "being searched" on his way in.....Hodges heart attack....Holly's use of the happy slapper

Kind of like having them re-do the original Star wars but leave out the death star.....

[Robodude]

Can we go back 2 weeks...to the scene where the electronics store "executive" (for lack of better term) chews out the staff before firing the lesbian? 

If that's not the perfect video to have HR dept's show their new leaders under the heading of "how not to run a meeting".....

Where I work, he'd have been fired for at least a dozen different things he said or did in those few minutes. 

It was absolutely hilarious in an 'over-the-top' way.

[MisterBluxom]

I didn't know where to post this. But I'd like to tell you that your master list of all forums or all shows, you list "Mister Belvedere" as well as several shows in which you abbreviate "Mister" as "Mr.".

Specifically, Mr. Robot, Mr. Mercedes, etc.

I know this is an extremely minor point and major nitpicking. But there are several other similar kinds of names and it  makes it difficult to find the shows we want to find when we must try different spellings and there is no real clue as to which spelling will be used for any specific show.

One of the most common problems I find are shows that start with the word "The". Sometimes that word is included at the beginning of the name and other times it is not included. Many times I have searched for a show but have been unable to find it because I wasn't sure how to spell the name when there were several available options.

Believe it or not, I'm really sorry to bother you with such a minor nitpick.  But if you were to standardize the way in which you store the names of shows, it sure would help us to find shows and forums.

[MisterBluxom]

What a great show! I love it! Love it!

It is extremely exciting and although it's also very violent, it is a joy to watch. I just wish it could be converted into a show that would run of multiple seasons. But I can't see it lasting more than just a single season.

Too bad! Really very sad!

[Thrifty]

In ambiguous situations like this, I search on the less common word.  You should be able to do a text search of the page with Ctrl + F.

[jenrising]

15 hours ago, MissBluxom said:

What a great show! I love it! Love it!

It is extremely exciting and although it's also very violent, it is a joy to watch. I just wish it could be converted into a show that would run of multiple seasons. But I can't see it lasting more than just a single season.

Too bad! Really very sad!

Well there are two more books worth of material, but I don't think they'll use them. And I don't think they should use them. 

[Thrifty]

Well, tried to sign up for the Direct TV streaming free trial.  They were offering only the latest episde to stream.

 

Well.... I have a date with a bit torrent site I guess.

[Jeanne222]

Just watched this weeks episode!  Wow.  Had to do a lot of fast forwarding on the bedroom scenes.  Whoa!

That was not Brady that died next to his mother.  Please tell me it's not the Harvard bound young man!  Nooooo

[oftentimes]

I thought it was his boss.

Edited October 6, 2017 by oftentimes

[Accidental Martyr]

18 minutes ago, oftentimes said:

I thought it was his boss.

That was also my thought.

[Thrifty]

I'm watching Episode #7.  Wow.... that meeting was nuts.  That can't be legal.

 

I'm loving Holly.  The actress if fantastic.  In the book, her character's quirkiness was mentioned but hard to envision.  She really breathes a lot of life into it.

[Thrifty]

I'm getting tired of the character of Lou.  Every scene is like "Hey she's a lesbian!  And people don't like her because of that!  And she's a lesbian.  And people really hate how overt she is about showing what a lesbian she is!  She keeps lesbianing around all day and it's so obvious how much of a lesbian she is!  Everyone is annoyed at how much she keeps flaunting her lesbianness, that's why we keep bringing it up!  Because she keeps making it so obvious!"

 

I don't have anything against gay people/characters, but I do have something against one-dimensional characters.  Her sexual orientation is like the ONLY THING about her character.

[MisterBluxom]

On 10/6/2017 at 11:15 AM, Thrifty said:

I'm getting tired of the character of Lou.  Every scene is like "Hey she's a lesbian!  And people don't like her because of that!  And she's a lesbian.  And people really hate how overt she is about showing what a lesbian she is!  She keeps lesbianing around all day and it's so obvious how much of a lesbian she is!  Everyone is annoyed at how much she keeps flaunting her lesbianness, that's why we keep bringing it up!  Because she keeps making it so obvious!"

 

I don't have anything against gay people/characters, but I do have something against one-dimensional characters.  Her sexual orientation is like the ONLY THING about her character.

I don't really know. But my guess is the author knows very little about the lives of lesbians and is just clutching at straws to write something about her. But, why would he write about a lesbian if he had no clue what to say? I'm thinking maybe he was pressured by his publisher or some other person or organization?

Like I said. I really don't know. But it sure seems kind of bizarre to me.

[Thrifty]

4 hours ago, MissBluxom said:

I don't really know. But my guess is the author knows very little about the lives of lesbians and is just clutching at straws to write something about her. But, why would he write about a lesbian if he had no clue what to say? I'm thinking maybe he was pressured by his publisher or some other person or organization?

Like I said. I really don't know. But it sure seems kind of bizarre to me.

Stephen King is too big to be pressured like that.  Whatever reasons he had for making the character gay, were all his, as meaningless as those reasons are.

[Soobs]

He's always had a hard time writing authentic female characters. He's gotten better with time but the male characters are usually more realistic. I was just listening to The Stand and the women spend a lot of time thinking about how their breasts look and what their breasts are doing. It made me laugh at how clueless it was.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Soobs

[Thrifty]

It looks like they did a hybrid.  They changed Brady's final stunt to a low key meeting at an arts center.  I would guess this was partially for budgetary reasons: it's a lot cheaper to create what they did instead of a huge concert.  They kept certain elements: the bomb in the wheelchair, the shaved head, the heart attack.  Got rid of the Happy Slapper and instead Holly bludgeoned him with a different object.  I liked that.  When she initially took Hodges' bulldog statue, I didn't think much of it and didn't expect it to come back.

 

The police had heavier involvement in the show.  In the book, they were too busy with another case that broke at the same time, so it was Bill, Holly, and Jerome handling it alone.  And Brady didn't try to fake his own death either.

[Iwassterlingarcher]

Ok...so they're going to try and cover the Hodges Trilogy? 

Ambitious for sure!

[Iwassterlingarcher]

Given the ending....so far...it looks like they're going to try and cover the Hodges Trilogy. 

Quite ambitious! 

I guess the whole boy band angle and jeromes sister were too much to fit in?

My biggest dissapointment? Not getting to see what the Happy Slapper looked like!

[Cafespresso]

On 10/10/2017 at 11:15 AM, MissBluxom said:

I don't really know. But my guess is the author knows very little about the lives of lesbians and is just clutching at straws to write something about her. But, why would he write about a lesbian if he had no clue what to say? I'm thinking maybe he was pressured by his publisher or some other person or organization?

Like I said. I really don't know. But it sure seems kind of bizarre to me.

He has a lesbian daughter,  who also happens to be a Unitarian minister. 

[candall]

Saw the last episode.

I'm a little confused about what happened to the daughter.  I thought, when she left the facility, she would soften up and go to the hospital to see her dad, but apparently she just hopped in a cab and drove out of the storyline.

Similarly, I have no idea what papers Janey's awkward niece was signing.  I thought she might be leasing her own apartment and waited for the "realtor" to hand her the keys, but I didn't see that happen.  So what was going on there?

Not much reason to have beefed up the lesbian co-worker role and invented a next-door neighbor, but I liked both of them, so that's fine.  No sign the neighbor had been pulling any long shifts at the hospital, either, though.

I guess maybe the point was that everyone was moving on with their lives, juxtaposed with Bill, who was clearly dedicated to not moving on from his Mr. Mercedes obsession.  (Oh, I thought it was nice that he got recognition for being right all along from the police captain at his old workplace.  That seldom happens.)

[Arcey]

Just finished watching the last episode. I really, really liked this series. I'm surprised there were so few comments about this show on here. I had the same questions about his daughter not visiting, and what was Holly doing with those papers. I like the idea of her getting her own place. That makes a lot of sense.

What did Holly hit him with anyway??? What could she have had in her bag that would have rendered him brain dead?

Until the last moment when the screen turned black, I was so waiting for Brady to open his eye for the final shot. Glad they didn't go there, but that's all I could think of for that last 15-30 seconds. I was on the edge of my seat!

On IMDB, they show a season 2 in 2018, with zero info added. Wonder what that means.

Edited October 23, 2017 by Arcey

[Thrifty]

5 hours ago, Arcey said:

Just finished watching the last episode. I really, really liked this series. I'm surprised there were so few comments about this show on here. I had the same questions about his daughter not visiting, and what was Holly doing with those papers. I like the idea of her getting her own place. That makes a lot of sense.

What did Holly hit him with anyway??? What could she have had in her bag that would have rendered him brain dead?

Until the last moment when the screen turned black, I was so waiting for Brady to open his eye for the final shot. Glad they didn't go there, but that's all I could think of for that last 15-30 seconds. I was on the edge of my seat!

On IMDB, they show a season 2 in 2018, with zero info added. Wonder what that means.

Holly hit him with a bulldog statue she had taken from Hodges in an earlier episode.  I can't remember why she took it, but Hodges found out and didn't care.  He just let her keep it.

 

Spoiler

In the book, Janey had inherited money from Olivia Trelawney after her suicide.  Then after Janey died, some of that money passed to Holly. 

 

That could have been what Holly was signing.

 

I'm not sure if they renewed it for another season, but there are two more books in the series that could be adapted.

[Arcey]

Thanks for the explanations, Thrifty. That bulldog statue was given to him by his daughter, if I remember correctly. So we did circle back to his daughter in a small, but major way. Now my question is, why the heck was Holly schlepping that heavy thing around wit her? :)

So if they come back for another seazon, it will be a whole new story with a whole new cast? Or maybe the present cast would show up as brand new characters, like what's happened with some other shows (e.g. American Crime on ABC).

[Thrifty]

14 minutes ago, Arcey said:

So if they come back for another seazon, it will be a whole new story with a whole new cast? Or maybe the present cast would show up as brand new characters, like what's happened with some other shows (e.g. American Crime on ABC).

It's a new story, mostly new cast.  Bill, Holly, and Jerome are still around.  The antagonist is different.  The second book centers around the unsolved murder of a reclusive author and some journals containing 2 unpublished books of his.  The third  has some crazy supernatural stuff which bothered me, but I won't spoil that here.

[Boilergal]

On 10/3/2017 at 6:28 PM, Robodude said:

Can we go back 2 weeks...to the scene where the electronics store "executive" (for lack of better term) chews out the staff before firing the lesbian? 

If that's not the perfect video to have HR dept's show their new leaders under the heading of "how not to run a meeting".....

Where I work, he'd have been fired for at least a dozen different things he said or did in those few minutes. 

It was absolutely hilarious in an 'over-the-top' way.

Sadly I worked for a VP of IT who  had a meeting like that - we all sat there shocked as he said pretty much all the same things this guy did.

 

On 9/6/2017 at 0:57 PM, Thrifty said:

I can comprehend somebody assuming a person is gay based on his or her appearance, sure.  I can't, however, see them getting angry enough to complain that the person is flaunting it.

It doesn't happen often, but on occasion when my wife and I are out grocery shopping we will get some REALLY dirty looks from people.   We have friends that have had some pretty hateful things said to them.  

[AnimeMania]

Mr. Mercedes Season 2   AUGUST 22    DirecTV/AT&T    10pm

[Pippin]

Just a quick question. The song that is played at the beginning of each episode sounds familiar, or at least the artist does. Is it the same song/ artist that was featured in True Detective? Does anyone know? Thanks in advance.

[jenrising]

The first episode of season 2 airs tonight.

[AnimeMania]

Do we need a new Season 2 topic or should we just post Season 2 stuff in this one?

[AnimeMania]

Spoiler

I couldn't stand Brady Hartsfield and his other worldly hacker skills from Season 1. I know I am going to hate him even more now that he seems to have supernatural psychic powers.

Edited August 24, 2018 by AnimeMania
spoilers

[AnimeMania]

Boy is this show boring, I can already see that Brady is going to jump into all those cheap tablets at school and there were a few on the library cart at the hospital.

[HollyG]

S2 E2

How on earth is Brady able to control the nurse? I hope there is a reasonable explanation and that the series doesn't go supernatural. 

Does anyone know?

[AnimeMania]

I am sure it is all supernatural jibberish or even worst a fever dream of a man in a coma.

[motroro]

My wife and I had such high hopes for this....  While they went slightly off script in the 1st season v. the book, this 2nd go round seems to be a 100% completely new story that has nothing to do with the trilogy.

The 2nd book (Finders Keepers) is a great yarn about a robbery/murder of a nationally know reclusive author done 30+ years ago and the connection to a teenager and his family "today".  There's about 4 pages dedicated to Brady and his post slapper condition.

They "Dome"d me again!  Got me pulled in to see a series about a great book....then they completely go off the reservation and create a new story that has nothing to do with the book.

Oh well....got me good.

[crowsworks]

On 9/4/2018 at 2:33 PM, motroro said:

My wife and I had such high hopes for this....  While they went slightly off script in the 1st season v. the book, this 2nd go round seems to be a 100% completely new story that has nothing to do with the trilogy.

The 2nd book (Finders Keepers) is a great yarn about a robbery/murder of a nationally know reclusive author done 30+ years ago and the connection to a teenager and his family "today".  There's about 4 pages dedicated to Brady and his post slapper condition.

They "Dome"d me again!  Got me pulled in to see a series about a great book....then they completely go off the reservation and create a new story that has nothing to do with the book.

Oh well....got me good.

Problem with the second book - Bill and Holly aren't in it much. The third was a bit Sci-fi. Brady was given an experimental massive dose of a brain drug, secretly. It makes parts of your brain 'wake up'. Doctor didn't know what it would do and did it anyway - big mistake. Huge.

[Arcey]

I'm surprised there's so little posted to this thread. I really liked season 1 a lot, and I'm liking S2 too. I wish more people felt the same way and would come here and post. :(

[AnimeMania]

Post anyway. Tell us what we are missing out on. I say the whole thing is in Brady's mind.

[Arcey]

Well, it's not so much that I want to post necessarily, it's that I like to see what others think about the show, and how they interpret what's going on. I always learn so much from the threads, and it often clears up some things I didn't understand. Or I see a second viewpoint that's different than mine.

I just really liked the first season a lot, and the second is also good, though not quite as much. I do have a feeling of dread whenever I watch though, since this show has already killed off or harmed protagonists before, and there's lots of creepiness and suspense in this season so far.

ETA: 

Quote

I say the whole thing is in Brady's mind.

I think he's really able to control people with his brain, due to the weird medical "experiment" that's taking place. Not sure what it is exactly, but I hope the doctor's wife gets her just desserts (and the doctor too, even though he seems just a tad less evil and corrupt than his wife). Maybe their spawn will turn out to be Rosemary's Baby. :)

Edited September 24, 2018 by Arcey

[ferjy]

14 hours ago, Arcey said:

Well, it's not so much that I want to post necessarily, it's that I like to see what others think about the show, and how they interpret what's going on. I always learn so much from the threads, and it often clears up some things I didn't understand. Or I see a second viewpoint that's different than mine.

I just really liked the first season a lot, and the second is also good, though not quite as much. I do have a feeling of dread whenever I watch though, since this show has already killed off or harmed protagonists before, and there's lots of creepiness and suspense in this season so far.

ETA: 

I think he's really able to control people with his brain, due to the weird medical "experiment" that's taking place. Not sure what it is exactly, but I hope the doctor's wife gets her just desserts (and the doctor too, even though he seems just a tad less evil and corrupt than his wife). Maybe their spawn will turn out to be Rosemary's Baby. :)

I think it’s because it’s not being aired on popular channels. Even in Canada it’s only on Fuse Superchannel (a pay channel, and not in a cheap package). 

I loved the first season and I’m still enjoying it, though the first season was better. Brendan Gleeson is making the show for me. He’s always been an excellent actor. Even when the lines aren’t exceptional, his delivery makes them stand out. But the writing and acting is so good in general. Harry Treadaway, who I’ve only seen in British shows before, is another great actor (as is his twin brother Luke) but everyone is good in this. Great characterization too (of course that’s to be expected with Stephen King, something he’s always paid attention to), you really get invested in the characters. 

The experiment reminds me of Firestarter. You just know it’s going to go awry at some point. Now that Bill has confirmed Brady is active in there, it should get interesting. A confrontation is likely on the way.

[Earmuffs Mom]

I've only read the first two books and am about 100 pages into the third book.  I thought the second season would get into the second book, which would buy me more time to read the third book, which is clearly not happening.  So I'm recording the episodes and won't watch them until I finish the book.

[ferjy]

1 hour ago, Earmuffs Mom said:

I've only read the first two books and am about 100 pages into the third book.  I thought the second season would get into the second book, which would buy me more time to read the third book, which is clearly not happening.  So I'm recording the episodes and won't watch them until I finish the book.

I've always done it the other way around (unless I've already read the book). I find a TV show or movie can be good if you don't have the book to compare it to, then later the book is still good because novels can generally cover more than a screen adaption can. The adaptions are almost always a disappointment if you've read the book.

[Accidental Martyr]

The actor playing Montez seems to be really overdoing it, to me. 

[crowsworks]

I hope they aren't following Brady down a rabbit hole.

Spoiler

in the book he never wakes up but takes over the doctor. I suspect they love Harry too much and want another season BUT - Sorry, Brady would never garner public sympathy (Baby pudding much?) much less be believed (instantly) over the man who saved thousands of people. Show is getting stupid.

2

[yourdreamer]

So based on the ending tonight, will there be a season 3? Watching Bill paint isn’t too exciting, although I do love seeing Fred. I didn’t see Lou killing Brady, figured she was going to snap and have to be committed or something. 

[Lakebum]

On 10/27/2018 at 11:53 PM, yourdreamer said:

So based on the ending tonight, will there be a season 3? Watching Bill paint isn’t too exciting, although I do love seeing Fred. I didn’t see Lou killing Brady, figured she was going to snap and have to be committed or something. 

I would be shocked if there was a Season 3, UNLESS a third season is somehow related to what was the second book of the trilogy. (In fact, that would be an excellent way of turning Mr. Mercedes into a series... though the title "Mr. Mercedes" will have no relevance whatsoever.)

[Madam Captain]

I loved the Bill Hodges Trilogy. Finders Keepers was definitely my favorite book of the trilogy. Its a pity that season 2 of Mr Mercedes follows the third book, End of Watch instead of Finders Keepers, it would have made a fantastic season 2. In saying that though, seasons 1 and 2 of Mr Mercedes were great!