The Rewatch

[Captanne]

I’m rewatching from the beginning — with subtitles.  My God, now having done so much external reading, and being able to understand the script and performances because of the subtitles — this is even more amazing.  So much richer. 

The CGI and ice -sets are still crap, though.  Lol

Anyone care to join me in a rewatch?  Or is before this show is even over too soon?

I couldn’t wait. 

[slothgirl]

I started a rewatch about 2 weeks ago and got too busy to keep going. I might start upagain though

[Sighed I]

Sure, I'm game. It's good to have a thread to discuss the story as a whole, and since we've already seen all the episodes at least once, it won't spoil it for others by referring to future events when talking about earlier episodes.

[Captanne]

Plus, I’ve done a bunch of external reading so I’m up on the current science and discovery. I’ve read Cookman’s Ice Blink (2000) and am reading Beattie’s Frozen in Time (1987) and the biography of Crozier by Michel Smith (no publishing date on the Kindle version, but I’ll know when Smith starts talking about the expedition because you can pretty clearly date when these things were written by the awareness of their forensic discoveries.)

I also read The Terror (2007] just a few years ago.  

 

Right now I’m through episodes one and two. The amount of setup and foreshadowing is prodigious. I see why it was easy to miss the whole story — forest for the trees sort of thing. 

Especially in my case because I’m clinically deaf and didn’t have subtitles for the first time around with episodes one through three. 

Lets make a pact to not worry about spoilers.  Because of work, I watch the episodes the night after they air — so it’s probable someone will have seen the finale before I do.  I certainly don’t mind, as long as the comments involve the Rewatch — like piecing the puzzle together from beginning to end or something. Worse comes to worst, if spoilers do bother you, just avoid here until you see the finale.  It’s only one day away.  (“You” is the collective you, I’m not singling anyone out.)

Edited May 20, 2018 by Captanne

[jnymph]

I’m joining in. I want to rewatch all episodes prior to the finale.

i don’t think I’m ready to say Good bye to our men as soon as tomorrow night..... may have to rewatch to streeeeeech this out as long as possible, :/

Just finished 1-3 today...... catching so many things!  Really enjoyed the intensity of Collins dive so much more 2nd time round

[Captanne]

I’m watching episode three. Sir John just died. My God this is good. They are singing below decks. I had forgotten that Crozier was going to go by himself with a team. Did you notice one of Sir John’s fleeting memories was of Crozier and Sophia holding hands?  For some reason that surprised me. Also, Ross warning Franklin about having a backup plan. 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Captanne

[jnymph]

29 minutes ago, Captanne said:

I had forgotten that Crozier was going to go by himself with a team. Did you notice one of Sir John’s fleeting memories was of Crozier and Sophia holding hands?  

I forgot Crozier planned on bugging out too ! 

And yes, Sir John had weird last life thoughts. Why think of Crozier & Sophia? Guilt over not encouraging their relationship?

[Sighed I]

3 hours ago, jnymph said:

I’m joining in. I want to rewatch all episodes prior to the finale.

i don’t think I’m ready to say Good bye to our men as soon as tomorrow night..... may have to rewatch to streeeeeech this out as long as possible, :/

Just finished 1-3 today...... catching so many things!  Really enjoyed the intensity of Collins dive so much more 2nd time round

I'm glad there are others here who aren't quite ready to say goodbye to our crew. This show has touched me in a way like no other has in a long time. I've also found the discussions each week very rewarding. Speaking of which, @Captanne, your post in another thread when you said, "Blah, over-educated, blah" cracked me up. LOL!

It's really nice to be able to delve deeply into some of the philosophical questions without feeling like you're looking too much into it or whatever. More than most, I feel this show invites you to examine the story from many angles, including existential ones. That shit's right up my alley. ;)

I looove that whole sequence with Collins' dive intercut with Goodsir's autopsy of David Young. It's so haunting and still one of my all-time favorite scenes. The music is spot-on too.

2 hours ago, Captanne said:

Did you notice one of Sir John’s fleeting memories was of Crozier and Sophia holding hands?  For some reason that surprised me.

 

1 hour ago, jnymph said:

And yes, Sir John had weird last life thoughts. Why think of Crozier & Sophia? Guilt over not encouraging their relationship?

Fitzjames said Sir John was burdened by what happened with Crozier and Sofia, so it's conceivable he did feel guilty, and significantly so for it to be one of the last things he thinks of in his death throes. At the very least it must have been something he'd been ruminating about recently. I suspect, however, it was more for dramatic reasons and a little bit of a "Hah, hah" /Nelson Muntz irony kind of thing on the part of the writers.

2 hours ago, Captanne said:

Also, Ross warning Franklin about having a backup plan. 

This sequence is one of my favorite parts of episode three. It tells us so much about Franklin's character. He knows he screwed up big time. Given his response when Crozier requests to send out the rescue party, though, it's clear he's still deeply in denial, and/or too arrogant to admit it. Although containing elements of truth, his dress down of Crozier is 95% projection.

One of the things I most enjoy about rewatching the show is following the storylines of minor or secondary characters. I have a soft spot for Tom Hartnell, for example. He's actually involved in a lot of major events throughout the story. He's a decent man, representing the grunt contingent, who would presumably be in the background as opposed to the officers, and a good counterpart to Hickey.

[Captanne]

Will get to the finale tonight, barring unforeseen circumstances.  Hope to add one more to the rewatch as well.  (Ep. 4)

 

IIRC, IRL, Tom Hartnell was the brother to the Hartnell who was buried on Beechey Island early on.  He's one of the mummies found by Beattie in the 1980s.  ((I think -- I might be conflating two separate burials but I do know that Hartnell's brother died early.  In the show, Crozier tells him he's been a good man (as he's dying) and to go join his brother.  I teared up.  Because....Crozier.))

Edited May 22, 2018 by Captanne

[Captanne]

I was right, Tom Hartnell's brother was one of the first to die and was buried by Franklin during their layover on Beechey Island.

Watched the finale last night and thought it was masterful.  Perhaps the best, bleakest, richest episode of the series.  Sadly, I was/am not a fan of the Tuunbaq (as hard as the graphic design team worked on her) so the showdown left me a bit cold.  Except, I was captivated by the way the crewmen responded to her.  The monster was a bit of a letdown given how amazing the rest of the show was.

Enough about letdown, the show itself was WAY out of its league in these mini-series that are popping up all over CableLand.  So far and above anything else in writing, acting, and crew (set, wardrobe, makeup, editing, musical score, etc.)

I was beat and didn't get a chance to watch episode 4 but probably will get to it tonight.

[Sighed I]

I'm watching episode one as I write. After seeing the scene in the finale of Ross and the interpreter with the Netsilik leader in the finale, I wanted to rewatch the scene which started it all. Naturally I got sucked in, so here I am again. LOL

This time through I'm going to pay special attention to the theme song. Someone mentioned in the episode thread that the showrunners said there were variations to the theme throughout. I personally only remember it sounding different twice--in the 6th or 7th episode (I think) and in the final one--but with as much care as they've put into just about every other aspect of the show, it wouldn't surprise me if there were subtle differences I missed.

I feel like such a fangirl sometimes gushing over the show, but I just can't help myself. It's one of those series that's even better when you watch it again; honestly, I think you could watch it ten times and pick up something new every single time. Knowing something about the real expedition ratchets it up another notch. It's Oscar caliber, if TV shows were eligible for such awards. I really, really hope it gets the recognition it so richly deserves.

[Captanne]

In the rewatch, I saw episode one before I saw the finale as it aired.  Did we see Crozier's legs outside the tent as he eavesdropped on the conversation?  We did in the finale.  

I am now officially on vacation for over a week (such luxury!) and can really watch the show again.

Just finished the biography of Crozier by Smith.  He was an amazing but very moody man.  Prone to depression.  His friendship with young Ross spanned decades but was forged in a 4 year trip on Erebus and Terror to the Antarctic.  While those two were rambling around the southern seas, they met up with Franklin as governor of Tasmania.  They had a wonderful time.  (It's where he fell in love with Franklin's niece, Sophy.  She, by the way, was a flirt but not with Crozier.  She rebuffed him.  Also, for what it's worth, she died having never married or even left Lady Franklin's side.)  When Crozier went out to find the Northwest Passage with Franklin, though, his opinion of him plummeted.  All of this is in his letters home. He criticizes his leadership qualities, calls his ship a mess, and complains that he can't keep order and discipline -- that Franklin was better suited to being in the diplomatic service than the Discovery Service.  

Edited May 24, 2018 by Captanne

[jnymph]

Last night I rewatched “A Mercy” and GAH! It was even more traumatic to watch the second time.

I didn’t recall the conversation Collins had with Dr Stanley the first time!  I like how bizzarely the actor portrayed Stanley ( sorry too lazy to google)Poor Collins was initially looking to speak with Goodsir and had to settle with Dr Creepy. I know he eventually caught up & confessed to Goodsir.

The wonderfully bone chilling moments:

Dr Creepy walking towards everyone on fire.

Someone in the corner talking/drinking (?) with  comatose brain split open guy who was propped upright (Seriously WTF?)

Goodsir & Jacko :( ughhhh

Fitzjames putting the mask on his face & looking in the mirror.

 

So then I had a weird nightmare about Fitzjames & Sir John.  Something about Sir John killing a bird with fire & it ended with Fitzjames sobbing over the bird. Wtf? 

[paramitch]

Quote

Right now I’m through episodes one and two. The amount of setup and foreshadowing is prodigious. I see why it was easy to miss the whole story — forest for the trees sort of thing. 

@Captanne, this.

I decided to do an almost instant rewatch to see what I'd missed, and it's been immensely rewarding.

Quote

 

@Sighed I

I feel like such a fangirl sometimes gushing over the show, but I just can't help myself. It's one of those series that's even better when you watch it again; honestly, I think you could watch it ten times and pick up something new every single time. Knowing something about the real expedition ratchets it up another notch. It's Oscar caliber, if TV shows were eligible for such awards. I really, really hope it gets the recognition it so richly deserves.

 

I felt exactly the same way. I was gushing to friends about it all weekend and just telling everyone "Watch 'The Terror,' it's incredible." And knowing they probably wouldn't! Aghgh.

Meanwhile, the rewatch. Just wow. I've caught so much. And that early sight by Collins of the dead sailor underwater -- and that feeling of lonely dread! Just incredible foreshadowing.

As are all of the conversations around the Captain's table. Loved the tiny detail of Captain Franklin pulling out a piece of lead from his meal in an early episode (I think after they've been stalled 8 months or so), and setting it by his plate!

And most importantly, as of Episode 3, Hickey has ALWAYS been a manipulator, an agitator and a psycho. I really missed so much of it the first time:

• Hickey's first scene is a master class of subtly sowing dissent and potential mutiny. He talks about the unfairness of their situation, that the dog is well-treated and how it's a waste of food and attention, and that it's unfair that a dog "that can walk the quarterdeck" (i.e., the officers' station) is higher positioned than they are. Again, this means something different when we look back -- at first, I just thought he was a scrappy guy envying officers. He's not. He's an evil man already manipulating people to his will.
   
• Hickey's next big scene is him stealing the ring from Young's dead body. I remember thinking he was a good guy here on first watch, but WATCH CLOSELY! He's not. The coffin lid shifts, and he looks down and sees the sparkle of the ring on Young's finger, right-hand-side of the open coffin. It glitters in the sun. The other men joke about moving the lid. Quoting piety, Hickey then goes down to "shift the lid," then we see him slip something (the ring) into a pocket, then smile, and disquietingly, the smile includes him sticking out his tongue in a kind of weird enjoyment. All while pretending to be a martyr to cover the corpse "as his father would have wanted."
   
• When Hickey is 'caught' in a compromising position with his lover Gibson belowdecks by Irving, Gibson comes out and simply looks a bit abashed. Hickey takes many seconds longer, then walks out from hiding, and THEN openly adjusts his fly, blatantly showing what they'd been up to and making Irving (and Gibson) complicit. He could have adjusted his fly before exiting, but he does so deliberately here.
  
  I remember when I first saw this I was on Hickey's (and Gibson's) sides, feeling for them having to hide their relationship. But here it is plain that it's just another machination of Hickey's -- he wanted Irving to see, in order to manipulate people into loyalty to him, and he gains two powerful holds here over both men.
   
• ALSO -- I thought (and I think most people thought) that Hickey shit in Gibson's bed for his blaming Hickey unfairly to Irving as a 'seducer.' But if you look back, Hickey is shitting in the officer IRVING'S bed -- the officer. He even tries on Irving's white glove and looks lovingly at his hand in the glove. Then shits on the bed, caressing the glove on his hand (which he is still wearing). Again, he is envying a status he doesn't have.
   
• Then, while the crew and marines are paying tribute to the loss of Captain Franklin, Hickey is down below and rifling through Crozier's papers (and of course discovering Crozier's original plan to strike out for help with a party on his own, even against Franklin's orders, and even though it would mean the end of his Navy career).

So, just in the first 3 episodes I rewatched, for me it is plain that Hickey is a bad, manipulative man from moment one, and one who is subtly gathering threads of loyalty to himself for future manipulation. He does not care about shame or theft or death. He is already turning this survival situation into his own private game.

Also, last but not least (I'm finishing E3), I'd forgotten that Blanky forgot the words to the captain's funeral hymn (and it is a line about death, "Oh, death, come close mine eyes," which I'm sure is a deliberate thing -- for me it continues the subtext that this entire show is about the confrontation with and acceptance of death).

Further, it's touching to see how wildly upset Fitzjames is over the captain's death. He runs out bravely after his attack with a rifle, and is later absolutely destroyed and tearful as Crozier takes command. He's respectful, though, so it's touching to see his relationship with Crozier already begin to edge toward understanding.

Edited January 4, 2021 by paramitch