12 Monkeys, S02E03 One Hundred Years
Dec. 19th, 2022 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereOkay, alright. There's stuff I love, and stuff I hate, and stuff that is upsetting but necessary (the big fight between Cole and Cassie). I found the second half of this episode really, really stressful. It took me a while to get my thoughts in some kind of order.
So, going back to my season one doubts that the virus was really the end of the world? Well, it looks like whatever happens at the end of this episode REALLY IS THE END OF THE WORLD. Early conversation includes casual reference to the "structure of space-time collapsing somehow." This is not reassuring, nor is Katarina's disinterested reaction.
Positive stuff arrives early on. First and foremost, what is now vying as one of my favorite jail cell scenes ever. Cole and Deacon brawling while a restrained Ramse watches and yells encouragement (I am reminded of Jeremiah cheering on Kurdy when the latter abandons pacifism for his sake). There have been some decently brutal fight scenes on this show, and this one is played a little more lightly, which I think means we're not supposed to interpret it as a serious 'I'm gonna kill you' attempt and more as some type of pecking order upset between three guys with history.
Even so, Cassie comes in to bust it up and then Deacon threatens to chew Cole's face off (like you do) and then things get even more weird as Cassie and Cole start in on each other's taste in partners, with Cole finally doing the protective male 'what does she see in him?' thing and Deacon playing the disappointed mentor card. Next thing, Ramse (busy getting ignored) voluntarily coughs up a bunch of useful information despite his deliberately unhelpful stance. This is one of the most twisted quartets (at least where I actually like all four characters) I have ever had the fortune to see on my screen. I want a road story, although it would probably be full of violence, attempted murder, weird lifesaving and possibly hatesex, because I can't see much else being in character at this junction.
Absolutely loved Cassie's arrival in 1944 coinciding with the street going dark in an air raid. Super dramatic but it completely worked for me.
"How long have you been here?" "Two months." Is there a single episode of this show that doesn't have a perfect fanfic opportunity built in?
"You like it here." This is a very convincing detail, actually. The 40s are equally alien to Cole as the 2010s, but since "paranoid and archaic" isn't that far flung from Cole's reality, it makes sense that it would be much easier on him. Plus, he's well situated with money and a hotel staff, and is less feral than he was in the 2010s, so yes. Excellent characterization, and his enthusiasm for whiskey sours is adorable. He's like a little kid and I'm always happy when Cole is happy.
Cassie being passive-aggressive I am less fond of. Cassie and Cole being perpetually too late, ditto, especially as one reason they're too late to save Crawford junior is because Cassie starts upbraiding Cole for personal reasons right in the middle of her "all about the mission" stance. It's human, granted, but it throws her badass credentials under the bus when she's only had them for one episode. Hopefully she does something awesome to make up for it soon.
The reference to Aaron was appreciated, although there is a key difference between Aaron setting Cole on fire and Ramse standing in rapt stillness which Cassie (understandably) isn't into discussing.
Speaking of Ramse, there's a lovely callback with him finally getting to play go with his son. There's also a cruel and shortsighted bit from Katarina, stepping aside to let Deacon kill Ramse (which would undoubtedly result in Cole trying to kill Deacon, which wouldn't make Cassie happy, which might upset the whole house of cards). She hasn't learned the lesson the Daughters tried to impart about fates being intertwined.
Ritual killings, red forest, etc, and then, finally, after spoiling me with so many tropes I adore, I guess it's only fair that the writers finally pick up one which I absolutely and completely loathe: Armed protagonists letting themselves be disarmed by an identical number of villains (or fewer when a loved one is threatened). Hate it, always have. Instead of a fifty-fifty chance of getting killed in that hallway, they go to a one hundred percent certainty unless plot intervenes. Which it always does. Give me Wesley and his father any day of the week.
I think what bothers me about this material is that it doesn't feel genuine to the characters. Until now, all the plot-fuelling mistakes they've made have felt accurate to character arcs or lived experience (except for the Cole/Ramse starvation flashback), but this sequence feels like the writers are making Cole and Cassie fail so they can achieve the paradox murder. Because of that sense of contrivance, it jarred me out of the show.
Once Cassie realizes the cult wants to create a paradoxical murder, I am deeply sorry, but she should have shot the kid right then and there, with a normal 1944 bullet. Problem solved. Better yet, she should have shot him during the hostage exchange (I would have cherished the look on female messenger's face, and it would have been a great demonstration of Cassie's new cold-blooded capabilities). Seriously, they know this woman is about to murder the kid, and they let her take him hostage? He's already dead, you idiots, just take the shot, maybe that way you'll wing him and he'll live. Oh, too late, door's closed, and things take a turn for the nightmarish and macabre.
There is one last bit of delight in the midst of what follows, with all hell breaking loose in 2044. Ramse grabs Deacon's hand and they take off running for their lives. Never mind that Deacon was about to execute Ramse, and even made him dig the hole first. Never mind that Ramse was about to shoot Deacon with his own rifle. After a quick demonstration of what a bad way to go...whatever that skeletal shifting was...Ramse decides to make sure Deacon gets away alongside him. My attempted murder/weird lifesaving prediction came true in a hurry! This ended the episode on a high note.
So, going back to my season one doubts that the virus was really the end of the world? Well, it looks like whatever happens at the end of this episode REALLY IS THE END OF THE WORLD. Early conversation includes casual reference to the "structure of space-time collapsing somehow." This is not reassuring, nor is Katarina's disinterested reaction.
Positive stuff arrives early on. First and foremost, what is now vying as one of my favorite jail cell scenes ever. Cole and Deacon brawling while a restrained Ramse watches and yells encouragement (I am reminded of Jeremiah cheering on Kurdy when the latter abandons pacifism for his sake). There have been some decently brutal fight scenes on this show, and this one is played a little more lightly, which I think means we're not supposed to interpret it as a serious 'I'm gonna kill you' attempt and more as some type of pecking order upset between three guys with history.
Even so, Cassie comes in to bust it up and then Deacon threatens to chew Cole's face off (like you do) and then things get even more weird as Cassie and Cole start in on each other's taste in partners, with Cole finally doing the protective male 'what does she see in him?' thing and Deacon playing the disappointed mentor card. Next thing, Ramse (busy getting ignored) voluntarily coughs up a bunch of useful information despite his deliberately unhelpful stance. This is one of the most twisted quartets (at least where I actually like all four characters) I have ever had the fortune to see on my screen. I want a road story, although it would probably be full of violence, attempted murder, weird lifesaving and possibly hatesex, because I can't see much else being in character at this junction.
Absolutely loved Cassie's arrival in 1944 coinciding with the street going dark in an air raid. Super dramatic but it completely worked for me.
"How long have you been here?" "Two months." Is there a single episode of this show that doesn't have a perfect fanfic opportunity built in?
"You like it here." This is a very convincing detail, actually. The 40s are equally alien to Cole as the 2010s, but since "paranoid and archaic" isn't that far flung from Cole's reality, it makes sense that it would be much easier on him. Plus, he's well situated with money and a hotel staff, and is less feral than he was in the 2010s, so yes. Excellent characterization, and his enthusiasm for whiskey sours is adorable. He's like a little kid and I'm always happy when Cole is happy.
Cassie being passive-aggressive I am less fond of. Cassie and Cole being perpetually too late, ditto, especially as one reason they're too late to save Crawford junior is because Cassie starts upbraiding Cole for personal reasons right in the middle of her "all about the mission" stance. It's human, granted, but it throws her badass credentials under the bus when she's only had them for one episode. Hopefully she does something awesome to make up for it soon.
The reference to Aaron was appreciated, although there is a key difference between Aaron setting Cole on fire and Ramse standing in rapt stillness which Cassie (understandably) isn't into discussing.
Speaking of Ramse, there's a lovely callback with him finally getting to play go with his son. There's also a cruel and shortsighted bit from Katarina, stepping aside to let Deacon kill Ramse (which would undoubtedly result in Cole trying to kill Deacon, which wouldn't make Cassie happy, which might upset the whole house of cards). She hasn't learned the lesson the Daughters tried to impart about fates being intertwined.
Ritual killings, red forest, etc, and then, finally, after spoiling me with so many tropes I adore, I guess it's only fair that the writers finally pick up one which I absolutely and completely loathe: Armed protagonists letting themselves be disarmed by an identical number of villains (or fewer when a loved one is threatened). Hate it, always have. Instead of a fifty-fifty chance of getting killed in that hallway, they go to a one hundred percent certainty unless plot intervenes. Which it always does. Give me Wesley and his father any day of the week.
I think what bothers me about this material is that it doesn't feel genuine to the characters. Until now, all the plot-fuelling mistakes they've made have felt accurate to character arcs or lived experience (except for the Cole/Ramse starvation flashback), but this sequence feels like the writers are making Cole and Cassie fail so they can achieve the paradox murder. Because of that sense of contrivance, it jarred me out of the show.
Once Cassie realizes the cult wants to create a paradoxical murder, I am deeply sorry, but she should have shot the kid right then and there, with a normal 1944 bullet. Problem solved. Better yet, she should have shot him during the hostage exchange (I would have cherished the look on female messenger's face, and it would have been a great demonstration of Cassie's new cold-blooded capabilities). Seriously, they know this woman is about to murder the kid, and they let her take him hostage? He's already dead, you idiots, just take the shot, maybe that way you'll wing him and he'll live. Oh, too late, door's closed, and things take a turn for the nightmarish and macabre.
There is one last bit of delight in the midst of what follows, with all hell breaking loose in 2044. Ramse grabs Deacon's hand and they take off running for their lives. Never mind that Deacon was about to execute Ramse, and even made him dig the hole first. Never mind that Ramse was about to shoot Deacon with his own rifle. After a quick demonstration of what a bad way to go...whatever that skeletal shifting was...Ramse decides to make sure Deacon gets away alongside him. My attempted murder/weird lifesaving prediction came true in a hurry! This ended the episode on a high note.
