S01.E03: The Ladder

[Captanne]

So, two changes on my Amazon Prime feed — this episode is now called The Ladder. Which  is interesting because I was wondering why it was called the Silver Swan. Also subtitles! I suddenly have subtitles. Now onto watch the next episode… 

[Earlwoode]

16 hours ago, Captanne said:

So, two changes on my Amazon Prime feed — this episode is now called The Ladder. Which  is interesting because I was wondering why it was called the Silver Swan. Also subtitles! I suddenly have subtitles. Now onto watch the next episode… 

On my TV is was always called The Ladder.  I wondered where the Silver Swan came from (as the title of this thread).

[MaryMatts]

17 hours ago, Crone said:

I fell in love with Jared Harris on Mad Men. Did you know Richard Harris (Camelot and lots more) is his father?

Really? I didn't know that.  Richard Harris was one of my favourite actors in days gone by.  Funnily enough, I have a family member who is friends with Annabel Wallis who is RH's niece so she must be JH's first cousin although she is much younger.  Acting obviously runs in the family!

[peach]

The creature actually has a name, Tuunbaq.  In the opening of the very first episode, the Inuit guy told a search party that "Inblooka" (Francis) and the remnant of their crew told them that Tuunbaq was ever following them, and not to send anyone after them into the south, that they were dead and gone.  The Inuit said Tuunbaq was made of muscles and spells.

Then, later, when the old man got shot and taken to the ship, that's what the daughter was talking about, when she said she couldn't take on the task or whatever.  "Tuunbaq won't obey me," she said.  So, I agree with the poster that said they must have been sort of "with" the creature.   And she wanted those totems, but they got buried at sea with her father.  Now we see it seemingly targeting who it kills, and also bringing her food.

[SoSueMe]

On 4/11/2018 at 11:46 AM, Earlwoode said:

On my TV is was always called The Ladder.  I wondered where the Silver Swan came from (as the title of this thread).

One of the crew sang a song at Franklin's "wake" about a swan, that might have been the name of the song. 

[LittleIggy]

On 4/10/2018 at 6:34 PM, Crone said:

I fell in love with Jared Harris on Mad Men. Did you know Richard Harris (Camelot and lots more) is his father?

I fell in love with him on “Fringe.” And that Masterpiece Theater series he did with Benedict Cumberbatch and Sam Neill. He played a British naval captain in that one too.

[AZChristian]

10 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I fell in love with him on “Fringe.” And that Masterpiece Theater series he did with Benedict Cumberbatch and Sam Neill. He played a British naval captain in that one too.

"To the Ends of the Earth" . . . just binge-watched it over the weekend.

[Crone]

10 hours ago, AZChristian said:

"To the Ends of the Earth" . . . just binge-watched it over the weekend.

Adding that to my watch list....

[Christi]

On 4/11/2018 at 8:50 AM, MaryMatts said:

Really? I didn't know that.  Richard Harris was one of my favourite actors in days gone by.  Funnily enough, I have a family member who is friends with Annabel Wallis who is RH's niece so she must be JH's first cousin although she is much younger.  Acting obviously runs in the family!

I totally see it now!!! Love them both!

On 4/14/2018 at 3:39 PM, peach said:

The creature actually has a name, Tuunbaq.  In the opening of the very first episode, the Inuit guy told a search party that "Inblooka" (Francis) and the remnant of their crew told them that Tuunbaq was ever following them, and not to send anyone after them into the south, that they were dead and gone.  The Inuit said Tuunbaq was made of muscles and spells.

Then, later, when the old man got shot and taken to the ship, that's what the daughter was talking about, when she said she couldn't take on the task or whatever.  "Tuunbaq won't obey me," she said.  So, I agree with the poster that said they must have been sort of "with" the creature.   And she wanted those totems, but they got buried at sea with her father.  Now we see it seemingly targeting who it kills, and also bringing her food.

Glad its not a bear...really dont want to watch a mini series on hunting a bear...we already have to be nervous for the dog and the monkey?

[nodorothyparker]

Just getting around to getting caught up on this.  This was an amazingly well done episode, from Sir John's severe dressing down of Crozier for having the audacity nearly a year in to realize that they're probably fucked and should maybe be considering some kind of rescue/escape plan and also for apparently daring to want to rise above his station to the entire trippy death sequence.  One review described it as an onscreen imagining of the disorientation of death and that's probably the closest anyone could possibly come to explaining it.  There's a bit of symmetry there from how the crew chucked the old Inuit man's body down the hole to whatever it is that's stalking the camp to doing the same to the captain.  Loved the absurdity of wasting that fancy coffin on one leg, which I get is about maintaining their British standards of civility as much as anything else, although I did wonder where exactly these guys thought they were going to be able to bury it considering that they're stuck on ice and haven't managed to chisel out more than the hole of death.  Despite Sir John's insistence during the wonderfully high tensioned scene with the camera and the hunting blind before everything went so horribly horribly wrong, I don't think whatever this is cares anything about maintaining standards of the British empire.

Yeah, don't think watercolors or vigorous climbing exercises or singing are going to cure anyone of their gay impulses, although there too we know that the British Navy long took an extremely dim and punitive view of homosexuality so the advice was probably at least partially well meant.  All I could think in Hickey's retribution, as I sometimes do when watching shows like this, how bad this entire ship probably smells at this point and that somebody's going to have to wash those sheets.

[Hybiscus]

Icemiser69:

Quote

I  will always  be hoping that the monkey, dog, and cat, survive this thing.  I just don't want to see them be part of the food supply.

Heh.  Good luck with that.  (I believe Captanne and SoSueMe already something similar--animals are always part of the food chain.  Incidentally, the dog is named Neptune, the cat Fagin, and the monkey Jocko.. or Jacko?

Spoiler

In one of the previews I watched (I'm only up to ep 3 as of this posting) the monkey is seen running from the monster—and I think he (she?) gets his (her?) leg pulled off, just like Sir John.).

On 4/3/2018 at 4:40 PM, SoSueMe said:

I think I recognized an actor from Downton Abbey in the first episode, he maybe had one line. Michael Gregson, Edith's baby daddy on DA. I could be wrong (of course).

I noticed him right away in ep 1.  Charles Edwards.  He'd been in a lot of things, including a great show with Martin Clunes as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle involved in a real mystery, Arthur & George.  He played Doyle's stalwart secretary.

On 4/6/2018 at 7:41 AM, CinematicGuy said:

IFranklin’s death scene was well done.

And I have a bit of a man crush on Crozier. Or maybe just Jared Harris. I really don’t know right now.

That is all. 

2

Oh my God, the music during the death scene was amazing!  I need to find the who scores this show.

Also, the crush is for Crozier.  At least mine is.  Didn't really care for Jared Harris on Mad Men, but then I stopped watching shortly after he arrived on the scene.  Personally (as a former US Navy officer), he's the one who shows the best Captain tendencies—always care for the sailors, prepare for/assume the worst, etc.  At least he's being portrayed competent and sympathetically here.

And at some point, I thought I saw a post asking about who's named who (but now can't find it to quote it).  Here's a rundown:

• Tall gay guy:  Mr. Goodwin (don't know his rate/rank), played by Edward Ashley
• Short gay guy:  Cornelius HIckey (petty officer), played by Adam Nagatis
• Surgeon:  Mr. Goodsir, played by Paul Ready
• (sorry, don't have the name of the homophobe officer yet)

Ready and Nagatis are listed in the main titles, along with Jared Harris and Tobias Menzies, so their roles are pretty major.

Edited May 1, 2018 by Hybiscus

[Kel Varnsen]

On 4/6/2018 at 12:42 AM, renatae said:

You are probably right, but the claws on her father's arms took up his entire upper arm area - just the claws! I wouldn't be surprised if the creature was trying to save him, and I do think he was accidentally shot by one of the marines. But I did see claws!

I managed to pause last episode when the beast grabbed Lt Gore and it was pretty clearly fingers grabbing him (creepy looking ones at that) and not bear paws.

This show has done a great job showing a sense of dread. Pretty much every scene I am just kind of on edge waiting for something bad to happen. I am kind of disappointed they skipped over winter though. Seeing all that dread and round the clock no sunlight would have been interesting.

[paramitch]

The Captain's death sequence was one of the most upsetting, harrowing and terrifying things I have ever seen. It put us inside this poor man's mind as he is experiencing violent attack and death, beginning to end, and I was not okay. What made it worse was the almost dreamlike quality -- you could see he simply could not process what was happening to him. Incredibly difficult to watch but stunning, and Hinds was superb.

On 4/10/2018 at 3:34 PM, Crone said:

I fell in love with Jared Harris on Mad Men. 

I have adored him forever, and first noticed him in some early TV stuff, but especially "The Shadow in the North." Then "Fringe," then loved him on "Mad Men"... until Weiner yanked the rug away and did unforgivable things to my darling Lane Pryce. Gah. He was also a fantastic Moriarty in the second Downey Holmes movie, and of course was superb in a ton of other stuff including "Chernobyl."

On 4/14/2018 at 3:39 PM, peach said:

The creature actually has a name, Tuunbaq.  In the opening of the very first episode, the Inuit guy told a search party that "Inblooka" (Francis) and the remnant of their crew told them that Tuunbaq was ever following them, and not to send anyone after them into the south, that they were dead and gone.  The Inuit said Tuunbaq was made of muscles and spells.

Then, later, when the old man got shot and taken to the ship, that's what the daughter was talking about, when she said she couldn't take on the task or whatever.  "Tuunbaq won't obey me," she said.  So, I agree with the poster that said they must have been sort of "with" the creature.   And she wanted those totems, but they got buried at sea with her father.  Now we see it seemingly targeting who it kills, and also bringing her food.

This. It's really important information and you recapped it perfectly here.

On 4/30/2018 at 10:30 AM, nodorothyparker said:

One review described it as an onscreen imagining of the disorientation of death and that's probably the closest anyone could possibly come to explaining it.  There's a bit of symmetry there from how the crew chucked the old Inuit man's body down the hole to whatever it is that's stalking the camp to doing the same to the captain. 

I didn't think this was an accident -- dumping the captain down the same hole where the sailors dumped the shaman (without respect or ceremony) felt to me like a deliberate act.

On 5/1/2018 at 8:53 AM, Hybiscus said:

Oh my God, the music during the death scene was amazing!  I need to find the who scores this show.

Also, the crush is for Crozier.  At least mine is.  Didn't really care for Jared Harris on Mad Men, but then I stopped watching shortly after he arrived on the scene.  Personally (as a former US Navy officer), he's the one who shows the best Captain tendencies—always care for the sailors, prepare for/assume the worst, etc.  At least he's being portrayed competent and sympathetically here.

And at some point, I thought I saw a post asking about who's named who (but now can't find it to quote it).  Here's a rundown:

• Tall gay guy:  Mr. Goodwin (don't know his rate/rank), played by Edward Ashley
• Short gay guy:  Cornelius HIckey (petty officer), played by Adam Nagatis
• Surgeon:  Mr. Goodsir, played by Paul Ready
• (sorry, don't have the name of the homophobe officer yet)

 

The music for this show is AMAZING, and was composed by the incredibly talented Marcus Fjellström, who died unexpectedly while the show was still in production. He had completed his score, and it is a fantastic legacy, but it breaks my heart. Gone far too soon.

On 4/2/2018 at 8:11 PM, thuganomics85 said:

And on a less serious note: I did chuckle when James was all torn up over John's death, because I just remembered Rome and was like "Don't fret, Tobias Menzies!  At least this time you weren't the one actually responsible for Ciaran's exit!"

LOL! As someone who LOVED "Rome," and loved Menzies and Hinds on the show, I was way too excited to see this show (plus Jared Harris!).

On 4/5/2018 at 9:42 PM, renatae said:

You are probably right, but the claws on her father's arms took up his entire upper arm area - just the claws! I wouldn't be surprised if the creature was trying to save him, and I do think he was accidentally shot by one of the marines. But I did see claws!

Silence's father wasn't clawed by the creature. The marks were made from the TERROR sailors dragging/carrying him back to the ship.

Edited January 3, 2021 by paramitch
typo