S01.E11: 17 Years

[formerlyfreedom]

Miles is shocked and angered when the God Account sends him the name of the drunk driver who killed his mother 17 years earlier, leading Cara and Rakesh to help him face the worst moment of his life in order to move forward. Also, Miles and Rakesh learn revealing information about Falken, the mysterious hacker who they believe is tied to the God Account.

Airing Sunday, 12/16/2018.

[mommalib]

I love this show more and more. This was a rough one for Miles because forgiveness is not easy. At first I was little annoyed with how Cara was pushing Miles but at the end of the day her and Arthur were both right. Miles needed to let go so he could move.  This was just as much about helping Miles than it was Charles Cole maybe even more so. I loves the chemistry between  Miles and Cara at the end, it looked like they were going to kiss but i'm glad they didn't because it's not time yet.

[stonehaven]

Oh man..this episode....so much on forgiveness..Cara's talk about how letting go of the anger was scarier than living with it..as she's right..it becomes a part of who you are....and the scene at the grave with Miles saying how lucky was to have his Mom for a short time...that made me bawl....such a great show...and I loved the silent touch at Miles lighting up when Cara said "He's not the one"...

I know the show is coming back in January but I hope it comes back next season. It's been a long time since I loved a show this much.

One of the great benefits of this show is that my Mom and I will chat for awhile on the phone about the theme of the show..and she thought the timing of this episode was perfect..as if just ONE person sees the ramifications for drunk driving, they may make a better choice.

[tennisgurl]

I dont know where that dust always come from when I watch this show...so dusty in here...

That was a rough one for poor Miles. In a lot of ways, its easier to get involved in the personal drama of a stranger than with someone your personally connected to, like when he got his uncles name, or even more so here. Forgiveness is easy to talk about, but its another thing to practice, especially when its someone who did something that this. Really, this was almost more for Miles and his peace of mind than Charles Cole. 

I am fine with a slow burn for Miles and Cara, but when his face lit up when she said "He wasn't the one..." I might have squeed. Alright, there was actually squee. 

I really have come to love this show. Its such a sweet throw back to those inspirational Good Deed of the Week style shows, but with more of a modern take on faith and humanism in the modern day. Even with its silly name. 

[Yeah No]

I hope Charles Cole becomes a fireman now.  This is the first time I ever saw any kind of compassion for a drunk driver on a TV show, and an acknowledgment of the pain and suffering they might go through.  I thought the show handled it really well.  I do understand how hard it must be for someone to forgive in that kind of situation, though.

The intersection where Miles' mother was killed is actually on 162nd St. in Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan.  My husband grew up in that neighborhood and we recognized it right away.

Ella's tombstone showed her birth date as April 2, 1958.  That's the year I was born.  She died in the year my own mother died, when I was the same age she would have been when she died, 43.  2001 was a tough year for any New Yorker to lose someone as we also had September 11th to deal with, and as we grieved our own personal loss we also witnessed the collective mourning of the entire world.  My husband also lost his mother that year.  It would have to be even tougher to be only 8 and deal with that kind of loss.

[formerlyfreedom]

My Sunday night allergies were acting up again. Dagnabit.

I think part of what makes this show work so well is that it done through a lens of empathy - Miles has every right to be angry at the drunk driver whose poor choice ended up taking his mother's life. I do not think he was wrong in any way to not want to help Charles.

But there's always another side to every story - and what the show is teaching the viewer is, 'step back, take a look at the bigger picture.' And Miles got a big opportunity to do that with this story.

[Yeah No]

Why do I think the article writer is not Falken but her curiosity led her to the apartment after Miles and Cara approached her?  The truth may be that either Chase is dead or disappeared.  She may have been more involved with him than she initially wanted to admit, but will come clean about that.  I still think Chase made this program according to Fibonacci principles and it's working itself out without any assistance, although the truth may be that it's still achieving things it could not possibly do on its own.  If he's alive, they'll think it's him and continue to search for him.  If he's dead, that's freaky but it may be enough to make them continue to search for someone else that might have taken over controlling it.  Meanwhile, I think they'll leave it open ended so it could still be God.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Was that the first time it rained during an ep?  First time it rained at the beginning of an ep?  Contrast that with the angelic Cara in shiny white clothes, flooded with exceedingly white light, as she sat in Miles' sill during the penultimate scene.  

I m not understanding the timeline of the Rev's "helping" Cole.  He said something about 7 years ago, which was 11 years after the murder.  Yet, in the telling of how he had come around, it was said to be within a very few (couple?) of years.   Was there more to it and they ran out of time for exposition?

What an awesome moment when Neela! (Pria) walked into the apartment at the end.  

How smart the story editor was to have Rakesh be the device to interrupt Mira (Cales?).  What are we calling it?  Fun moment.

Excellent choice of scripture for Mrs. Finer's headstone.

I watched BMH closely as profound awarenesses were entering Miles' brain.  I just didn't see a reaction that matched the enormity of those truths hitting the character.   The lad has charisma for days and I am basically OK with his acting.  Yet...there have been very few times where his eyes betrayed anything but wonder or joy.  There was some anger in this ep.  But, his eyes never got "soft."  I never got a sense he was  being taken away to a higher plane.  This was especially true for me when the actual moment of decision to forgive Cole struck him.   

Kudos to TPTB for generally walking a good line between the practical and the mystical.  I'll miss the show quite a lot.

[mommalib]

9 minutes ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Was that the first time it rained during an ep?  First time it rained at the beginning of an ep?  Contrast that with the angelic Cara in shiny white clothes, flooded with exceedingly white light, as she sat in Miles' sill during the penultimate scene.  

I m not understanding the timeline of the Rev's "helping" Cole.  He said something about 7 years ago, which was 11 years after the murder.  Yet, in the telling of how he had come around, it was said to be within a very few (couple?) of years.   Was there more to it and they ran out of time for exposition?

What an awesome moment when Neela! (Pria) walked into the apartment at the end.  

How smart the story editor was to have Rakesh be the device to interrupt Mira (Cales?).  What are we calling it?  Fun moment.

Excellent choice of scripture for Mrs. Finer's headstone.

I watched BMH closely as profound awarenesses were entering Miles' brain.  I just didn't see a reaction that matched the enormity of those truths hitting the character.   The lad has charisma for days and I am basically OK with his acting.  Yet...there have been very few times where his eyes betrayed anything but wonder or joy.  There was some anger in this ep.  But, his eyes never got "soft."  I never got a sense he was  being taken away to a higher plane.  This was especially true for me when the actual moment of decision to forgive Cole struck him.   

Kudos to TPTB for generally walking a good line between the practical and the mystical.  I'll miss the show quite a lot.

Brandon has proven to be good enough to be the lead and yes he has charisma but most importantly he's extremely easy to like. That's key for a character like this and a show like this. He's gonna continue to learn from someone like Joe Morton.

[bros402]

2 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I hope Charles Cole becomes a fireman now.  This is the first time I ever saw any kind of compassion for a drunk driver on a TV show, and an acknowledgment of the pain and suffering they might go through.  I thought the show handled it really well.  I do understand how hard it must be for someone to forgive in that kind of situation, though.

The intersection where Miles' mother was killed is actually on 162nd St. in Washington Heights, in upper Manhattan.  My husband grew up in that neighborhood and we recognized it right away.

Ella's tombstone showed her birth date as April 2, 1958.  That's the year I was born.  She died in the year my own mother died, when I was the same age she would have been when she died, 43.  2001 was a tough year for any New Yorker to lose someone as we also had September 11th to deal with, and as we grieved our own personal loss we also witnessed the collective mourning of the entire world.  My husband also lost his mother that year.  It would have to be even tougher to be only 8 and deal with that kind of loss.

I think the date of the tombstone was November 12, 2001 - wasn't that the day a plane leaving JFK crashed, killed like 300?

[Raja]

6 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Was that the first time it rained during an ep?  First time it rained at the beginning of an ep?  Contrast that with the angelic Cara in shiny white clothes, flooded with exceedingly white light, as she sat in Miles' sill during the penultimate scene.  

 

I thought the rain looked like a Hallmark Christmas movie snow scene. It seemed like not a drop of rain got around the umbrellas carried by the cast.

[Yeah No]

9 hours ago, bros402 said:

I think the date of the tombstone was November 12, 2001 - wasn't that the day a plane leaving JFK crashed, killed like 300?

I just looked it up, you're right.  I thought that date seemed familiar.  I remember we all feared it might be terrorism.  2001 was a horrible year for many reasons, in my own life and the world too.

 

10 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

I watched BMH closely as profound awarenesses were entering Miles' brain.  I just didn't see a reaction that matched the enormity of those truths hitting the character.   The lad has charisma for days and I am basically OK with his acting.  Yet...there have been very few times where his eyes betrayed anything but wonder or joy.  There was some anger in this ep.  But, his eyes never got "soft."  I never got a sense he was  being taken away to a higher plane.  This was especially true for me when the actual moment of decision to forgive Cole struck him. 

I think that might have been intentional.  I think Miles was forcing himself to forgive Cole before he was emotionally ready, just as his father had helped Cole before he was emotionally ready too.  Dad said he did it because that's what his wife would have done or wanted him to do.  I have a feeling the true feeling will come later for Miles.  I had a sense that the other shoe wasn't dropped with Cole yet and that he might appear in a later episode.  The bit about him getting back into the fire academy wasn't tied up.

[Empress1]

I totally cried. I cried during Arthur and Miles' confrontation and I cried when the family was at the grave. When the sister showed up and she was beaming, I was done for.

7 hours ago, saoirse said:

I think part of what makes this show work so well is that it done through a lens of empathy - Miles has every right to be angry at the drunk driver whose poor choice ended up taking his mother's life. I do not think he was wrong in any way to not want to help Charles.

But there's always another side to every story - and what the show is teaching the viewer is, 'step back, take a look at the bigger picture.' And Miles got a big opportunity to do that with this story.

I agree. Like I said last episode, there are no villains. It's really refreshing. There's no "so and so did this - I MUST DESTROY THEM" or, like, some tech startup trying to beat the mystery of the God account for evil capitalist reasons. Even the people who have done bad things aren't Bad People. 

Cole's fiancee didn't Google him when they were dating?

I knew we'd see Parminder Nagra again - she's too famous to be a one-off. 

[Boofish]

Can someone remind me who Priya is again? I don't remember her

I hope like the detective, we get to see Charles again and he continues to make amends for what he did. Also is the legal drinking age in NY 18? Because whomever served him should have been in trouble as well.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

4 hours ago, Boofish said:

Can someone remind me who Priya is again? I don't remember her

 

The character is a former journalist and a college classmate of the person Rakesh is convinced is "Falken."  She wrote the article in college which the team pounced upon when their research revealed its existence, only to discover the relevant page(s) had been torn out of the copy in the NYC library they were utilizing.  She admitted to being a distant acquaintance of this dude.

The actress, Parminder Nagra, is an English actress who became famous as a lead in the movie Bend It LIke Beckham, and for portraying nurse Neela Rosgotra on the mega TV hit, ER.  I was utterly smitten by her.  :)

Edited December 17, 2018 by Lonesome Rhodes

[12catcrazy]

Parminder Nagra also spent a season on The Blacklist where they killed her off much to the lament of her fans.  

And another good episode of God Friended Me.  I like how there is no black and white.  An 18 year old gets into a car, drives drunk and kills a good person.   He goes to prison, pays his debt to society, and is not an evil person.  And he took a life and he saved a life.  And Miles learns forgiveness.    I will be looking forward to this show coming back - at this point, my only must see tv is God Friended Me and Dateline.    And we know that Dateline isn't going anywhere...

[Aliconehead]

1 hour ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

The character is a former journalist and a college classmate of the person Rakesh is convinced is "Falken."  She wrote the article in college which the team pounced upon when their research revealed its existence, only to discover the relevant page(s) had been torn out of the copy in the NYC library they were utilizing.  She admitted to being a distant acquaintance of this dude.

The actress, Parminder Nagra, is an English actress who became famous as a lead in the movie Bend It LIke Beckham, and for portraying nurse Neela Rosgotra on the mega TV hit, ER.  I was utterly smitten by her.  :)

Not to nitpick, Neela was a inter/resident/doctor. Not a nurse. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

4 hours ago, Aliconehead said:

Not to nitpick, Neela was a inter/resident/doctor. Not a nurse. 

Omigosh!  You are soooo correct!!!!

Here I loved Neela! and I just diminished her in this forum, very much as the character was often diminished on ER.    The irony is dripping and I am all wet.

Thank you, @Aliconehead!

[bros402]

18 hours ago, Yeah No said:

I just looked it up, you're right.  I thought that date seemed familiar.  I remember we all feared it might be terrorism.  2001 was a horrible year for many reasons, in my own life and the world too.

Yeah, that date was bugging me too, I didn't feel like looking it up at like 2 AM though :P

Everyone was jumpy after 9/11 - I was 11 then and my dad worked in the city (and he worked right across from the port authority bus terminal), so that was a scary year

[SnarkySheep]

On 12/10/2018 at 9:30 PM, cleo said:

Either she is too young or I am too old, but she seems too young to be this amazing journalist getting senior roles, and walking around dispensing life advice or something.

This times about a thousand! As a former journalist, this always irks me. Unless you're the child of somebody rich or famous, you start off writing about elementary school science fairs and Town Council, not getting your own column where you get to write about whatever pops into your head. 

However, on TV they always make journalists be this way, just like they are currently doing on Chicago Fire (small-town reporter wrote an investigative piece that was immediately picked up by the NY Times Magazine, even before she had completed it, LOL)

[SnarkySheep]

This episode made me wonder how much Miles is getting paid that he can live in NYC without a roommate in such a huge apartment...

[Yeah No]

3 hours ago, SnarkySheep said:

This episode made me wonder how much Miles is getting paid that he can live in NYC without a roommate in such a huge apartment...

You were reading my mind.  I was just coming back here to post that my husband and I were talking about this very subject today.  It's even true of the people the team helps.  Most of these people would have to be trust fund babies to be able to afford to live in the neighborhoods and apartments shown on the show.  People's heads would explode if they knew how much those places would cost to rent or buy.  I recently found the Bed. Stuy Brooklyn building my grandparents lived in when they first got married online.  The apartments are humble but recently renovated.  A 700 square foot apartment is going for $650,000.  Rents would be well in excess of $2,000 per month.  Now that's in Bed. Stuy, not in Park Slope or Carroll Gardens, which would fetch astronomically more money.  And forget about Manhattan.  Even rich people can't live there anymore.  My husband's parents' old apartment is now going for over $700,000 in Washington Heights.  Too bad they moved out when it was still only worth $49,000.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Yeah No
Grammar, ugh.

[shapeshifter]

14 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

3 hours ago, SnarkySheep said:

This episode made me wonder how much Miles is getting paid that he can live in NYC without a roommate in such a huge apartment...

You were reading my mind.  I was just coming back here to post that my husband and I were talking about this very subject today.  It's even true of the people the team helps.  Most of these people would have to be trust fund babies to be able to afford to live in the neighborhoods and apartments shown on the show. . . .

Or any show ever set in NYC starting at least as far back as Friends and Seinfeld. I get that it's all about camera blocking and scene settings, but it seems in this digital age that they should be able to shoot tight spaces that work.

And then there's FTL travel between cities and neighborhoods. I don't recall. Have this show's characters yet strolled from the Village to Harlem and back before lunch?

[Yeah No]

1 minute ago, shapeshifter said:

And then there's FTL travel between cities and neighborhoods. I don't recall. Have this show's characters yet strolled from the Village to Harlem and back before lunch?

Oh, I know, I keep posting that they would need a helicopter to flit around the city in the record time they accomplish on the show.  I'll have to keep track in the future of how many times they go from the Village to Harlem in one episode.  My husband is always going on about this as he's a limo. driver that's often in the city and knows just how long it would take to take a cab to these places, and the subway is often not much faster - in fact it can be slower depending on different factors.

[MoreCoffeePlease]

Joe Morton showed off his acting chops and experience in that powerful scene with Miles.

Heaven forbid (pun sort of intended) that a reverend actually mention Jesus when talking about forgiveness on network TV. It is easy to love your loved ones ... not so easy to love and forgive your enemies.

Cara, do not forgo a promotion!  Take the promotion and then do what you want to do, or if you can't do it at work, help people in your spare time!

[12catcrazy]

Yeah, Cara giving up her promotion bugged me.  The other thing that bugs me is that this show has all these young people in jobs that don't pay all that well, living in apartments that look like they're out of Pottery Barn catalogs and would rent for about $4000 a month.    To me, THAT is more unbelievable than God friending somebody on FB! 

[MissLucas]

This was a tad too predictable - I expected an interesting twist somewhere down the line. Still props for the acting and emotional continuity (giving us more insight into Miles' atheism and how it came about).

[Nozycat]

On 12/18/2018 at 12:14 PM, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Omigosh!  You are soooo correct!!!!

Here I loved Neela! and I just diminished her in this forum, very much as the character was often diminished on ER.    The irony is dripping and I am all wet.

Thank you, @Aliconehead!

I don't think calling someone a nurse instead of a doctor is diminishing them, just a mistake.  Nurses are just as valuable as doctors.  Nurses rock.

Edited December 26, 2018 by Nozycat

[jhlipton]

6 hours ago, MoreCoffeePlease said:

It is easy to love your loved ones ... not so easy to love and forgive your enemies.

Replying in Small Talk -- please join me!

[Yeah No]

11 hours ago, 12catcrazy said:

Yeah, Cara giving up her promotion bugged me.  The other thing that bugs me is that this show has all these young people in jobs that don't pay all that well, living in apartments that look like they're out of Pottery Barn catalogs and would rent for about $4000 a month.    To me, THAT is more unbelievable than God friending somebody on FB! 

Oh I know, we were talking about this in the thread from a couple of episodes ago.  I mentioned that it's impossible now even for professionals like doctors and lawyers to live in those neighborhoods and apartments.  The young people on this show would have to room with multiple people to afford to live in those places or be trust fund babies.  The show has never portrayed Miles as having any roommates and I don't remember ever seeing where Cara lives.  And given their occupations (or lack thereof), some of the other one episode people would also never ever be able to live like they are shown to live in NYC.  As a native that moved out because it got too expensive, this especially bothers me.

[Trini]

Finally catching up...

I continue to love the fashion and the 'feel good-ness' of this show! Although -like many TV wardrobes- it's highly unlikely that Miles has that many different jackets.

Well, you got me, show. I wasn't really interested in Falken and thought it was just a distraction (maybe it still will be?), but it looks like this subplot might actually go somewhere. Also it was nice to have Cara and Rakesh paired up.

I guess I appreciate the low-drama breakup with Eli; but why was he here in the first place if they weren't going to have his return have a more meaningful impact on Cara?

TV pet peeve: when Other Characters have to literally tell Character X how they feel about Character Y. It happened several times here. I get sometimes there needs to be exposition, but just have the character with the feelings express the feelings!

The main plot: Yes! I'm glad we got more into the Miles/Arthur fracture. As well as them understanding each other and repairing their relationship. Nice how they did it through the Friend Suggestion. And even though they disagreed through a lot of it, it was nice to see them both working on a God account case together. (Although, I don't want it to be a regular thing.) The Cyclone ride was great, and made me smile!

----

I appreciate the commentary here, and i hope this forum doesn't get condensed. Can we petition?

[mojito]

Quote

This was a tad too predictable 

Just a tad? They arrive at the scene of Miles' mother's accident and the friend request was for the driver of the car. Check. Miles being hard-headed about the drunk driver. Check. Cara giving up her promotion. Check. An interruption as the protagonists stare into each other's eyes. Check. The drunk driver saving someone from a burning building. Check. Bystanders not willing to go inside the smoky building. Check. Miles showing up at the cemetery. Check. The only thing that wasn't predictable was actress Nagra's scene.

It's a shame that a feel-good show has to be so trite. Maybe with a little more creativity they could come up with not-so-obvious plot twists (I guess, they're not even "twists", are they?).

[Ghost Bear]

Right before that reveal with Paraminder, I commented to my wife how cool it would be if in the apartment was Harold Finch....

Let the Person of Interest crossover begin. 😊

Seriously though, we so much adore this show and its cast.

[TWOPrefugee]

On 12/23/2018 at 7:12 AM, Ghost Bear said:

Right before that reveal with Paraminder, I commented to my wife how cool it would be if in the apartment was Harold Finch....

Let the Person of Interest crossover begin. 😊

Seriously though, we so much adore this show and its cast.

Well the name they are chasing is Falken or "Falcon".

Edited December 24, 2018 by TWOPrefugee

[Trini]

I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said; I'm still enjoying the show and the characters.

Shallow note: I swear the costume designer for has a jacket fetish! That's not a complaint.

Great scenes with Miles and his father. I don't think they necessarily needed to do it this soon into the show, but I am still glad that we got some resolution between Miles and Arthur, and Miles and Charles. The whole family at the gravesite warmed my heart.

Did NOT like that Cara turned down the promotion. Besides the fact that she could still help out with the friend requests, etc. with the new job, this ended up being another arc for her that ended up amounting to nothing. Not that I really expect the show to be realistic about this, but I hope that Cara was able leverage that offer into a raise, or to shape her current position into something that she really wants.

Oh, I see you with the kiss tease, show! I kinda wanted them to kiss, but I also didn't want them to at the same time. Agreed that it would have been too soon if they did.

Not really invested in the Falken mystery - because I'm sure they're not revealing the workings of the God account so soon - but nice that Pria will be a bigger player.