shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2018-06-22 07:44 pm
shallowness) wrote2018-06-22 07:44 pm
Entry tags:
Peace and love and...yeah, no
Humans 3.6
When this episode was good, it was very good – revelations and twists, brilliantly timed ad breaks. But there were what I’ll call other moments. Stanley’s weapon of choice being a Stanley knife nearly broke the episode for me. Some of Agnes’s characterisation made no sense – and that wasn’t the only time characters were sometimes bent for plot or theme, like what Niska did after using the rock and then getting captured. I was unconvinced by what they were going for the two times they dropped the sound (on Max closing the gate and Laura walking out in the street), which perhaps says something about what I am primed to expect to happen when you do that, and obviously it didn’t. But I don’t think the programme makers wanted me to feel deflated then. Although I am relieved that Max didn’t get shot or Laura get run down which is what I thought would happen.
ANYway, it made more sense for Stanley’s 2 o’clock to be at the Dryden Commission than at the Hawkins’, which is what I’d assumed.
Mattie’s pregnancy deserves about half-a-dozen exclamation marks. Oh, kids (because she’s still at uni, and Leo is still being linked to the child he was, and their relationship is still so new)! It added more bite to her speech about Leo looking to the future and being what he wants to be, and for Mattie, who feels responsible for so many deaths to be carrying life around with her... But this was after Leo saw how poisonous his biological legacy was. Also, Mattie’s ‘friend’ must be competent enough at coding to put two and two together.
Stanley giving himself away was brilliant, as was the ensuing terror for Laura. I queried how come Sam hadn’t heard her screaming her head off, but he was too busy being adorable on a trampoline. I’ll note that Laura was terrorised all day. I LOVED Mia picking up on this and the two of them working together on the sales pitch for synths, which mainly affected Stanley.
It might have affected others, but…bomb.
For of course Anatole had something else planned. It was a bit dismaying to see angry!Agnes become such a pawn, and the irony that she and Stanley were little soldiers, repeating the line Anatole had forced on them in his cult leader identity, instead of working things out for themselves as conscious beings was played to the hilt. Agnes the suicide bomber makes sense, but I didn’t understand why she told the girl who had called her ‘dolly’ to run. And there was that poised moment, possibly a moment of hesitation, as she saw that everyone was watching her.
So this action was on the anniversary of Day Zero, or did I misunderstand?
At Max’s address to Elster’s shrine, he had a healthy emotional outburst and came to more dubious conclusions. Of course, Anatole’s betrayal and the dousing of his hope hurt. Watching Anatole and Stanley turn out not to be who we and other characters thought they were was involving and rewarding. But Maxie, the lesson was, don’t just chuck any synth into a prison without some sort of due process; you just make them easier prey for radicalisation.
Niska continued to be hacked. The Irishman had a touch of the mystic about him, but I think I saw the trap looming around her before she did. And yet still she trusts, but she was miles away from the Hawkinses. How this ‘sleeping synth’ (PLEASE BE FRED) mystic element plays out with the belief system the newly conscious synths are coming up with, which we know is flawed, is intriguing. Also, I hope the symbol has something to do with a lovespoon.
But we’ve got to end on the show breaking Laura, via Anatole. Laura’s choice was killing adorable little Sam vs random old guy (although the fact Anatole mentioned his wife and the fact that he had all these other henchsynths confirms what Stanley said about them watching him). Was I the only one who thought that the one who should be killed was Anatole himself? But it’s not that kind of show/point in the series. So interesting that the choice wasn’t between Sophie and Sam, which might have lessened Laura’s culpability.
And so Laura fell into Anatole’s trap, making herself look awful to Stanley (and poor Sam!) She betrayed her beliefs when it came to it, letting Sophie (and Toby, who closed the door on her) down. We don’t know how Joe reacted, which feels like a cop-out, because it would have been good to test out his strength of feeling for Sweet Sam and the wife who drifted away from him because she claimed to want synth rights/equality. I will note that until then, I thought there was more hope for Laura/Joe – of course, she shut out Neil because of the Stanley threat more than anything. But Laura had to live with her choice.
And now a betrayed Sam has been passed on to someone new, oh and he’s pretty much a terrorist. I hope Stanley and Sam bond. That’s about the best-case scenario I can come up with.
Plus there’s Leotilda’s news. And Mia’s in prison and the government are going to implement Basewood…and whatever it is, it ain’t good.
When this episode was good, it was very good – revelations and twists, brilliantly timed ad breaks. But there were what I’ll call other moments. Stanley’s weapon of choice being a Stanley knife nearly broke the episode for me. Some of Agnes’s characterisation made no sense – and that wasn’t the only time characters were sometimes bent for plot or theme, like what Niska did after using the rock and then getting captured. I was unconvinced by what they were going for the two times they dropped the sound (on Max closing the gate and Laura walking out in the street), which perhaps says something about what I am primed to expect to happen when you do that, and obviously it didn’t. But I don’t think the programme makers wanted me to feel deflated then. Although I am relieved that Max didn’t get shot or Laura get run down which is what I thought would happen.
ANYway, it made more sense for Stanley’s 2 o’clock to be at the Dryden Commission than at the Hawkins’, which is what I’d assumed.
Mattie’s pregnancy deserves about half-a-dozen exclamation marks. Oh, kids (because she’s still at uni, and Leo is still being linked to the child he was, and their relationship is still so new)! It added more bite to her speech about Leo looking to the future and being what he wants to be, and for Mattie, who feels responsible for so many deaths to be carrying life around with her... But this was after Leo saw how poisonous his biological legacy was. Also, Mattie’s ‘friend’ must be competent enough at coding to put two and two together.
Stanley giving himself away was brilliant, as was the ensuing terror for Laura. I queried how come Sam hadn’t heard her screaming her head off, but he was too busy being adorable on a trampoline. I’ll note that Laura was terrorised all day. I LOVED Mia picking up on this and the two of them working together on the sales pitch for synths, which mainly affected Stanley.
It might have affected others, but…bomb.
For of course Anatole had something else planned. It was a bit dismaying to see angry!Agnes become such a pawn, and the irony that she and Stanley were little soldiers, repeating the line Anatole had forced on them in his cult leader identity, instead of working things out for themselves as conscious beings was played to the hilt. Agnes the suicide bomber makes sense, but I didn’t understand why she told the girl who had called her ‘dolly’ to run. And there was that poised moment, possibly a moment of hesitation, as she saw that everyone was watching her.
So this action was on the anniversary of Day Zero, or did I misunderstand?
At Max’s address to Elster’s shrine, he had a healthy emotional outburst and came to more dubious conclusions. Of course, Anatole’s betrayal and the dousing of his hope hurt. Watching Anatole and Stanley turn out not to be who we and other characters thought they were was involving and rewarding. But Maxie, the lesson was, don’t just chuck any synth into a prison without some sort of due process; you just make them easier prey for radicalisation.
Niska continued to be hacked. The Irishman had a touch of the mystic about him, but I think I saw the trap looming around her before she did. And yet still she trusts, but she was miles away from the Hawkinses. How this ‘sleeping synth’ (PLEASE BE FRED) mystic element plays out with the belief system the newly conscious synths are coming up with, which we know is flawed, is intriguing. Also, I hope the symbol has something to do with a lovespoon.
But we’ve got to end on the show breaking Laura, via Anatole. Laura’s choice was killing adorable little Sam vs random old guy (although the fact Anatole mentioned his wife and the fact that he had all these other henchsynths confirms what Stanley said about them watching him). Was I the only one who thought that the one who should be killed was Anatole himself? But it’s not that kind of show/point in the series. So interesting that the choice wasn’t between Sophie and Sam, which might have lessened Laura’s culpability.
And so Laura fell into Anatole’s trap, making herself look awful to Stanley (and poor Sam!) She betrayed her beliefs when it came to it, letting Sophie (and Toby, who closed the door on her) down. We don’t know how Joe reacted, which feels like a cop-out, because it would have been good to test out his strength of feeling for Sweet Sam and the wife who drifted away from him because she claimed to want synth rights/equality. I will note that until then, I thought there was more hope for Laura/Joe – of course, she shut out Neil because of the Stanley threat more than anything. But Laura had to live with her choice.
And now a betrayed Sam has been passed on to someone new, oh and he’s pretty much a terrorist. I hope Stanley and Sam bond. That’s about the best-case scenario I can come up with.
Plus there’s Leotilda’s news. And Mia’s in prison and the government are going to implement Basewood…and whatever it is, it ain’t good.