S01.E03: Chapter 3

[Bort]

Myfanwy discovers a disturbing clue to her past, Farrier searches for a scapegoat for the bankside murders, and Monica goes undercover to attend an EVA auction.

Airdate: Sunday, July 14, 2019

[showme]

"disturbing clue"? Not sure she found anything.

This is episode is kind of boring. Nothing much really happened.

I can't imagine how four people with different sex organs experience a sexual experience as one? must be very weird.

[Mikay]

Wasn’t the clue we discovered that Myfanwy had something to do with the destruction of their old boarding school? The same mirror like rock found at the bridge where she murdered the Lugat people hunting her was also buried in the dirt near the decrepit playground. Perhaps she killed other students by accident as a kid and that’s why she’s terrified of her powers?

I think I’m liking the story so far? There’s a compelling fragility and desperation to almost everyone from Conrad to Gestalt to Myfanwy to Ingrid. They all seems so alone and seeking some sort of connection, release or control(or maybe all three). The line between good and evil seems pretty blurred. Even the good guys are people that were ripped away from their families and forcibly molded(or broken) into a shape for the State and are  policed even as adults in their behavior. Conrad is number 2 at the Chequy but even he must report any relationships he has to vetting officers. Our villains are more capitalist in their selling of EVAs to the highest bidder and letting that person mold the EVA to their liking, but there is similar dispiriting treating people as tools or products. 

It really does remind me of an Orphan Black(particularly some characters) and Jason Bourne mashup. 

Totally different from the book but not a bad different for me.

[GaT]

14 hours ago, showme said:

This is episode is kind of boring. Nothing much really happened.

This should have been a show I look forward to all week, instead it's background TV. How did they make such an interesting story so boring?

[TV Anonymous]

Since her Shameless days, I just wish that Emma Greenwell would close her mouth in her normal expression.

[slaterain]

I have to admit, I turned it on and then switched to something else within a couple of minutes. I'm just not that interested even though I typically love these types of shows. It just hasn't snagged me yet. Will wait and check in here to see how it is progressing and decide if it is worth giving it another try. 

[Ms Lark]

My takeaway was they went a whole hour without saying "Miffany!"

I like Gina McKee, so that was a plus. It's not grabbing me either, so not sure how long I'll hang. Just a whole lotta nothing burger. I wish it was better.

[Jodithgrace]

So apparently they just threw away the books and wrote an entire story out of whole cloth. I keep watching, looking for any resemblance between the books, which I really like and this thing. It's just awful. 

[Latverian Diplomat]

I guess I'm weird, but I thought this was the best episode so far. A few things actually happened.

I thought the chase with Gestalt running interference and the auction, though both familiar types of scenes, were well done. Using an art auction as the cover story for an EVA auction is clever, I think.

The discovery of the memorial park at the end was effectively creepy to me. 

Progress is still slow, but at least some progress, I think. They really need to let Myfanwy find out some significant stuff from her past in the next episode though. The amnesia stuff is already played out.

[Rambler]

I would have to agree with the others who think this show has been a big snoozefest so far. A big problem for me is that the powers that these Rooks have, while they might sound intriguing on paper, turn out to be completely boring when translated to the screen.

First we have this dude who can change the composition of the air in people's lungs, which sounds totally badass, until you get to the part where he manifests his power, which just consists of him staring intently at his target until they choke and fall over.

Then you have Hive Mind over there whose only power seems to be finishing each other's sentences and acting like robots when they are around each other.

You would think that Myfanwy's power would be cool to see, but the only time she has used it, they just showed a shot of the lights flickering and then the bad guys fell over dead.

And then they capture a leader of the bad guys and bring him to HQ. OMG what awesome power must he have that he needs to be isolated and chained up like Hannibal Lector? It is soon revealed that he can… wait for it… put himself into a state of suspended animation and then wake himself up! Oooh so scary!

It's almost as if, when they were creating this show, the head honcho at the network said: "I want a superhero show like the ones on Netflix, but since we don't have the budget of Netflix, let's just give them powers that don't require a lot of costly special effects."

Another thing I don't like is that the overall tone of this show is just too bleak and clinical. There is no warmth or sense of humor. I don't remember anybody on this show even so much as cracking a smile. The only emotions on display are Myfanwy's near constant state of fear and confusion. Everybody else just seems to be exposition spouting robots. I don't care about what happens to any character on this show. Well maybe I care the teeniest bit about the girl in the wheelchair, but that's probably because she is only on for about two minutes each episode and hasn't had time to grate on me yet.

All of this is to say that if Starz cancelled Counterpart to make way for this show, I think they made a big mistake. Counterpart was much better than this show.

[ferjy]

3 hours ago, Rambler said:

but since we don't have the budget of Netflix, let's just give them powers that don't require a lot of costly special effects."

Their meager budget is certainly limiting them. I’m waiting for the EVA who can eat 10 pies in under 5 seconds. Sure shoo-in at the county fair pie-eating contest. Though they may not be able to afford all the pies.

[meep.meep]

Maybe all the good talent EVAs are the ones who have been captured and are being auctioned off?  Our EVAs are the lesser ones.  Kind of like the Mystery Men.  If someone shows up with a shovel, it'll prove my point.

[tennisgurl]

There are a lot of aspects of this show that I like and find interesting, but its just so...clinical now. No one ever seems happy or even amused by anything, its all set pieces and exposition. That being said, I did like some bits, like the creepy old videos of the super powered kids in the labs, especially the hive mind crew and how they taught them to try and at least seem like different people so they can work better in the field, and the human trafficking auction disguised as an art auction was decently clever. Maybe its because I never read the books so I have nothing to compare it to, so I am least interested enough, even though its not really Must Watch for me. 

I get that this show wants to be dramatic and tense, but can we get some levity or some human connections every once in awhile?!

The thing that I am most interested in is probably how the government essentially takes these kids away from their families, and then raises them to work for them later on, and continues to monitor and control them as agents, even if they get some autonomy at least. As they try to break up this human trafficking ring, figuring out if what they are doing is just a "nicer" way of doing the same thing is a decently interesting idea to explore. Do they find and train the kids for their own benefits, or is there some actual altruism in that they are helping kids control their powers so that they cant hurt themselves or others accidentally, or is it some combination?