12 Monkeys S04E07: Daughters
Mar. 14th, 2023 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereAlright, a return to character-driven material and dizzying twists that made my brain implode. Consequently I had to do some memory jogging for this one.
Nearing the grand finale, the show is dialing itself to operatic heights and in this case leaning heavily on some of the worst stylings of Jeremiah, with prose poem conjoined voiceovers holding our hands to make sure we understand that Hannah and Emma are mirrors for each other. Since I adore that concept anyway, I was willing to overlook the leadfooted narration, and the ensuing plot was entertaining.
The speed chess being played between Titan and Raritan was oh so exhilarating, and I enjoyed the reprise of Katarina and Olivia engaged in their battle of wills. Deacon and Katarina working together inside the belly of the beast was an amazing culmination to a fraught relationship and Adler is like a bloody rock, he just keeps working on the problems as they arise.
Along with the time travel, this is really what 12 Monkeys does best for me. Even when some characters get neglected, I can't think of any of them who don't pull appropriate narrative weight where it counts (except for the redshirt army of Daughters, who get decimated in every conflict and then respawn - which I guess explains why they don't need men). The core ensemble and the ancillaries are all people I genuinely like, and who feel dynamic no matter how little screen time they are given. The three scientists are a perfect example. Adler, Lasky and Eckland could have been interchangeable providers of exposition, technobabble sounding boards, and yes, technically that is their chief narrative function, but care was taken to flesh each of them out and make them matter as people. There are so few shows where I really love the entire ensemble down to the minor players, and it has been so enjoyable getting to know all of these characters.
However, if I were to do a ranking of my favorite speculative shows based purely on their villain ensembles, 12 Monkeys would almost certainly be at the bottom of the list, and that's a shame. It's especially frustrating because back in season one (and quite recently with Zalman Shaw) this show had a very good sense of what made a cult function, what it offers to those it recruits. Now Olivia is so cold and vile that the frightening effect is actually lost, as it is plain as day in their first scene together that Emma is going to rebel. She has literally no reason not to. Even when putting Olivia back in the same room with Katarina, that almost mythic battle of goddesses which was hinted at last season is no longer there. Oh well, everything else works.
What else? The return of elderly Jennifer was something I didn't see coming. "You've all got that 'I forgot it's 2043' look on your face." :D
Meanwhile, in the B plot there's Hannah spending an entire year hanging around in the pre-apocalypse. She must have acquired a job and appears to have at least one friend - how the hell did she adjust? No idea, it's skipped over.
Bryan was so super nice to post-adjustment Hannah that when they were alone in the bar I thought he'd turn out to be a plant. Then I thought the two drunks were Olivia's goons. The truth was they were all normal people, and Hannah turned into a hellcat for no good reason in a very shocking scene. Well done play on expectations.
Of course, when she met Emma it was very much a "two Slayers bonding" moment (at least as I interpreted it) with Hannah no longer needing to hide her true self. Also, Emma in the blonde wig was reminiscent of Mulholland Dr., which was very much devoted to issues of reinvention and mirror imagery and I would have been more excited by all this at the time I watched it if I hadn't been reeling over the whole Marion Woods thing - about which I have an "it made sense at two in the morning" theory, and I'll get to that when I write up 'Demons.'
Nearing the grand finale, the show is dialing itself to operatic heights and in this case leaning heavily on some of the worst stylings of Jeremiah, with prose poem conjoined voiceovers holding our hands to make sure we understand that Hannah and Emma are mirrors for each other. Since I adore that concept anyway, I was willing to overlook the leadfooted narration, and the ensuing plot was entertaining.
The speed chess being played between Titan and Raritan was oh so exhilarating, and I enjoyed the reprise of Katarina and Olivia engaged in their battle of wills. Deacon and Katarina working together inside the belly of the beast was an amazing culmination to a fraught relationship and Adler is like a bloody rock, he just keeps working on the problems as they arise.
Along with the time travel, this is really what 12 Monkeys does best for me. Even when some characters get neglected, I can't think of any of them who don't pull appropriate narrative weight where it counts (except for the redshirt army of Daughters, who get decimated in every conflict and then respawn - which I guess explains why they don't need men). The core ensemble and the ancillaries are all people I genuinely like, and who feel dynamic no matter how little screen time they are given. The three scientists are a perfect example. Adler, Lasky and Eckland could have been interchangeable providers of exposition, technobabble sounding boards, and yes, technically that is their chief narrative function, but care was taken to flesh each of them out and make them matter as people. There are so few shows where I really love the entire ensemble down to the minor players, and it has been so enjoyable getting to know all of these characters.
However, if I were to do a ranking of my favorite speculative shows based purely on their villain ensembles, 12 Monkeys would almost certainly be at the bottom of the list, and that's a shame. It's especially frustrating because back in season one (and quite recently with Zalman Shaw) this show had a very good sense of what made a cult function, what it offers to those it recruits. Now Olivia is so cold and vile that the frightening effect is actually lost, as it is plain as day in their first scene together that Emma is going to rebel. She has literally no reason not to. Even when putting Olivia back in the same room with Katarina, that almost mythic battle of goddesses which was hinted at last season is no longer there. Oh well, everything else works.
What else? The return of elderly Jennifer was something I didn't see coming. "You've all got that 'I forgot it's 2043' look on your face." :D
Meanwhile, in the B plot there's Hannah spending an entire year hanging around in the pre-apocalypse. She must have acquired a job and appears to have at least one friend - how the hell did she adjust? No idea, it's skipped over.
Bryan was so super nice to post-adjustment Hannah that when they were alone in the bar I thought he'd turn out to be a plant. Then I thought the two drunks were Olivia's goons. The truth was they were all normal people, and Hannah turned into a hellcat for no good reason in a very shocking scene. Well done play on expectations.
Of course, when she met Emma it was very much a "two Slayers bonding" moment (at least as I interpreted it) with Hannah no longer needing to hide her true self. Also, Emma in the blonde wig was reminiscent of Mulholland Dr., which was very much devoted to issues of reinvention and mirror imagery and I would have been more excited by all this at the time I watched it if I hadn't been reeling over the whole Marion Woods thing - about which I have an "it made sense at two in the morning" theory, and I'll get to that when I write up 'Demons.'
