12 Monkeys, S02E10: Fatherland
Jan. 4th, 2023 09:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annavereSo much material to sift. Origin stories, betrayals, the death of an ancillary and the death of a pairing that suddenly never was. It's a lot. Here goes.
The creepy kid walking into the Red... (am I supposed to call that city hellscape a forest, or is the forest only where the Witness' house is?) Storm made me wonder if there's some kind of compulsion at work, if people might decide it's better to be with their loved ones in hell than to be alone in the remainder of reality. The way the Monkeys and the Witness describe their plan, it's utopian, and it would be even more sinister if that were actually the case, but the visuals don't back up their statements.
As the team lose their faith in Katarina's plan, I honestly can't blame them. Her plans have never fulfilled the promises she makes, and her getting Hannah back probably isn't helping anyone feel more charitable. Everything has consequences, good and bad. Adler has been a background character since the beginning, and his restrained fury towards Ramse (who insured the plague that would kill his son) and his willingness to turn on Kat are both long overdue. These are all such excellent characters, even when they have small roles. I only wish there was more space for them all to interact.
It makes this very tense to watch, because major levels of infighting when they've got less than a week to live is probably not the wisest use of their time.
Meanwhile, Deacon had a crush on Cassie when he was a kid and she was the final celebrity in the world. I love that detail because the concept of celebrity is something that never gets brought up in end of the world storytelling, but it's a human trait and people do latch on to things like that. This also possibly explains his willingness to square her survival with his immune uber alles belief system (which we haven't heard hide nor hair of since season one, so maybe the writers were hoping everyone would forget that part?).
This doe eyed attempt at connection on Deacon's part is followed by a painful little exchange in which Cassie shoots him down with "It was just one night." So apparently I was only imagining that they came across as close? They spent eight months together and it was a one-sided hangup all along, panic attack notwithstanding? So I'm supposed to believe he never meant anything to her and she just jumped his bones the one time because she thought she was about to die anyway, and another of my pairings goes down in flames thanks to one lousy line of dialogue jettisoning it from the canon and-
Okay, deep breaths. Moving along.
Meanwhile, my love for Cassie/Ramse continues merrily along (I suspect into a brick wall, but Cole/Ramse already hit one and somehow came out the other side intact, so all bets are off). Ramse, talking about their revenge quest, actually lays a hand on her shoulder and she lets him. And poor Cole, betrayed by the two people who matter most to him just when he thought things were getting to be okay. :(
Sidebar: So Cole and Ramse drank rotgut prune liquor and something that "wasn't coffee" in the old days while Katarina had access to a million cigarettes and I await that explanation eagerly, even though this still has no bearing on anything.
1961! Cole calls in the FBI guy, Gale. Gale is not doing so well with the weight of apocalypse bearing down on him, and infers that he's had other adventures with Cole. Cole being concerned over his errant friends is sweet and I'm hoping Gale's "sometimes you got to go it alone" is not foreshadowing.
Further Ramse/Cassie moments, first when even their Mossad interrogator thinks they're a couple, and then when Ramse vows to kill the bastard if he hurts her, having entirely forgotten his murder-suicide plan. Apropos of nothing, Ramse also looks stunning in a newsboy cap.
Cole rescues and tries so hard to reason with them. There's an excellent double twist as they created their own clue, but it still leads in the right direction. To genetic engineering (thankfully Nazis are somewhat incidental rather than the main course here). Gale's science fiction references remain delightful, mostly because they're so antiquated even I would make them.
Crossing the border action movie cliche and damn, they kill Gale in a tragic shootout. Instead of downplaying the death because of the future time travel meetings implied earlier, it is emphasized when Ramse tries to extend an olive branch. Cole is furious. He seems to be entirely cured of his disassociative disorder.
More infighting while time is running out. The imagery of the little girl in a box is dreamlike and eerie, and an excellent origin story for Olivia (who appears to have lost faith in the Witness). Then the shootout coinciding with each individual splinter sequence creates a well structured crescendo. Again, Cole tries to get them on the same page, tries one last time to ask for help when he needs it and Ramse can't see anything outside of his thirst for vengeance.
Then they arrive back at base and Cole demands them locked up. The group is thoroughly broken. Meanwhile Deacon is up on the roof, in a fantastic shot of staring down the red storm, bottle in hand. I'm looking forward to finding fanvids after all this is over, because there have to be some stunning ones.
The creepy kid walking into the Red... (am I supposed to call that city hellscape a forest, or is the forest only where the Witness' house is?) Storm made me wonder if there's some kind of compulsion at work, if people might decide it's better to be with their loved ones in hell than to be alone in the remainder of reality. The way the Monkeys and the Witness describe their plan, it's utopian, and it would be even more sinister if that were actually the case, but the visuals don't back up their statements.
As the team lose their faith in Katarina's plan, I honestly can't blame them. Her plans have never fulfilled the promises she makes, and her getting Hannah back probably isn't helping anyone feel more charitable. Everything has consequences, good and bad. Adler has been a background character since the beginning, and his restrained fury towards Ramse (who insured the plague that would kill his son) and his willingness to turn on Kat are both long overdue. These are all such excellent characters, even when they have small roles. I only wish there was more space for them all to interact.
It makes this very tense to watch, because major levels of infighting when they've got less than a week to live is probably not the wisest use of their time.
Meanwhile, Deacon had a crush on Cassie when he was a kid and she was the final celebrity in the world. I love that detail because the concept of celebrity is something that never gets brought up in end of the world storytelling, but it's a human trait and people do latch on to things like that. This also possibly explains his willingness to square her survival with his immune uber alles belief system (which we haven't heard hide nor hair of since season one, so maybe the writers were hoping everyone would forget that part?).
This doe eyed attempt at connection on Deacon's part is followed by a painful little exchange in which Cassie shoots him down with "It was just one night." So apparently I was only imagining that they came across as close? They spent eight months together and it was a one-sided hangup all along, panic attack notwithstanding? So I'm supposed to believe he never meant anything to her and she just jumped his bones the one time because she thought she was about to die anyway, and another of my pairings goes down in flames thanks to one lousy line of dialogue jettisoning it from the canon and-
Okay, deep breaths. Moving along.
Meanwhile, my love for Cassie/Ramse continues merrily along (I suspect into a brick wall, but Cole/Ramse already hit one and somehow came out the other side intact, so all bets are off). Ramse, talking about their revenge quest, actually lays a hand on her shoulder and she lets him. And poor Cole, betrayed by the two people who matter most to him just when he thought things were getting to be okay. :(
Sidebar: So Cole and Ramse drank rotgut prune liquor and something that "wasn't coffee" in the old days while Katarina had access to a million cigarettes and I await that explanation eagerly, even though this still has no bearing on anything.
1961! Cole calls in the FBI guy, Gale. Gale is not doing so well with the weight of apocalypse bearing down on him, and infers that he's had other adventures with Cole. Cole being concerned over his errant friends is sweet and I'm hoping Gale's "sometimes you got to go it alone" is not foreshadowing.
Further Ramse/Cassie moments, first when even their Mossad interrogator thinks they're a couple, and then when Ramse vows to kill the bastard if he hurts her, having entirely forgotten his murder-suicide plan. Apropos of nothing, Ramse also looks stunning in a newsboy cap.
Cole rescues and tries so hard to reason with them. There's an excellent double twist as they created their own clue, but it still leads in the right direction. To genetic engineering (thankfully Nazis are somewhat incidental rather than the main course here). Gale's science fiction references remain delightful, mostly because they're so antiquated even I would make them.
Crossing the border action movie cliche and damn, they kill Gale in a tragic shootout. Instead of downplaying the death because of the future time travel meetings implied earlier, it is emphasized when Ramse tries to extend an olive branch. Cole is furious. He seems to be entirely cured of his disassociative disorder.
More infighting while time is running out. The imagery of the little girl in a box is dreamlike and eerie, and an excellent origin story for Olivia (who appears to have lost faith in the Witness). Then the shootout coinciding with each individual splinter sequence creates a well structured crescendo. Again, Cole tries to get them on the same page, tries one last time to ask for help when he needs it and Ramse can't see anything outside of his thirst for vengeance.
Then they arrive back at base and Cole demands them locked up. The group is thoroughly broken. Meanwhile Deacon is up on the roof, in a fantastic shot of staring down the red storm, bottle in hand. I'm looking forward to finding fanvids after all this is over, because there have to be some stunning ones.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-07 03:38 pm (UTC)You are correct! I think this happened during the previous episode, specifically because of the clues Jennifer gave them about Time, and because of the scene where he used a whole loop to check in with Katarina on her philosophical perspective. After Lullaby, he's significantly changed for the rest of the series, IMO.
no subject
Date: 2023-01-09 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-01-09 05:33 pm (UTC)