2 Comments

1. 

   ELYSE on May 19, 2021 at 5:49 pm

   Every time I read the title of “A Message from Ground Control,” I always think of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ and Major Tom. Not sure what ground control references in this episode, or the message – unless it’s what Bryan relays – but I’ve decided to unofficially give the title of ‘Major Tom’ to Agent Tom. ?

   Various tidbits:

   If you’re an Orbital agent, and your name begins with “Ke”, you’re toast. Kelvin got turned inside out and Kelso got a hole blown through his skull. And then there was poor Zimmer. That wide-eyed deer-in-headlights look.

   So glad Lester Chin survived, so he can reappear in another episode down the road.

   In fact, the secondary or background players were wonderful. That lady holding the grocery bag with a totally stunned look was great, and Ash was so polite when he stole her car. Wonder if he let her keep her groceries?

   The set decorators did a great job retrofitting the ‘antannae array’ site with vintage glass indicator lights that blink on and off for no apparent reason (these kinds of lights were extremely prevalent in 1960’s Irwin Allen sci-fi shows like Lost in Space). And when they find poor dead Kelso on the floor, you can see the flashlight beam shine through what’s left of his head. Neat VFX effect!

   The scene where the ball of light came out of the building and everybody looked up in awe had that ‘Close Encounters of the Close Kind’ feel, which it really should, instead of the ‘kill it!’ mentality you see in some sci-fi movies. Plus whenever people do that the orb/whatever retaliates by incinerating everybody on the spot.

   They either need to fire some staff at the Orbital prison lockup, or there was some bizarre plot to let Anson Ash escape so they could find out what he’s been doing. Maybe they put a tracker in him during his interrogation session. And it seems the multiple CPR paddles to body does not leave one with nasty facial scars like poor Loeb. Could Ash stick his finger in a light socket and get the same result? Not sure who Otto is – no doubt another Influx minion – but he’s been tracking George, so maybe George has a tracker in him. It was funny hearing Ash saying he needed anything with fats, meats and oils. Sometimes wonder if Bryan’s sugar addiction might be Debris related. Or maybe he’s just addicted to junk food. Meanwhile, it looks like every piece of ‘nacho’ that Ash consumes stays in his body, as he’s riddled with ‘em. I wonder if Debris can be removed or if they absorb into the body, like alien microplastics.

   The field that sucked the Debris out of the cases and then spat the remains out– All I could think of was ‘Thank you for flying Debris Airways, where we take care of your luggage as if it were our own. You can collect your luggage at Baggage Claim.’ Bet each of those specially made Debris-proof cases cost at least four figures a piece.

   George finally remembers what the mystery piece is all about- it can create a map of all Debris, like a Google Earth of each piece. That would be pretty catastrophic if one person/group got a hold of it. George has his own agenda, perhaps in his own mad scientist way. He’s definitely not telling Finola and Bryan everything. Love his constant aluminum foil attire and I’d say he found a survival blanket but would metalized polyethylene work the same as aluminum foil? Otherwise he was taping together a LOT of aloo-min-eeum foil. The heavy duty version, too. And yeah, well, some people are immune to their own, ahem, odiferous scent, hence Finola bringing a bag of clothing for George. He’s been in the same outfit since they found him! Also, when he started up the array, he paused to look in the distance, as though the noise was unusual or he sensed something. It was hard to tell if there was a shimmer of a Debris in the distance.

   Maddox is one step closer to getting that final piece and fixing Dario, which is what I assume his key objective to be. Unsure if it’s to have him stand, which I think could be in doubt as I believe that the actor who plays Dario is himself handicapped. Perhaps it’s to heal the TBI so that Dario can speak, think, interact like a normal human being. I waffle a lot on Maddox, because sometimes he seems good, other times, not so good. What he told Finola about the gov’t weaponizing the Debris makes sense as that’s the way governments operate. I don’t think Finola’s in any danger by her verbal attack on Maddox because if Finola pressed Ferris on the situation, Ferris would probably acknowledge that yes, the Brits are doing it. And anyway, there’s always threatening Finola’s sister should the need arise.

   The sphere, the ball of light, call it what you want, it’s a classic symbol throughout the ages. It represents a lot but here I’d like to think it represents life. By not blocking the building process, the Debris pieces combined to create the ‘ball of light’. I don’t think it’s biological life but an extremely sophisticated AI as 1) in the voiceover, Bryan mentioned telesphere, which is probably the ball of light, and 2) it was capable of phasing through the Orbital building to go outside, get its bearings and then flit off on its merry way. Whether it’s going to send a message off to its masters to say ‘stay away from Earth, they eat Tide pods here!’ or just gather information is anybody’s guess. Maybe it’ll just hang around the Ikea lighting section where it’ll be at home next to the FADO sphere lamp. Get purchased, taken home, makes friends with Alexa, study people in their natural habitat. ?

   As usual for me, the best part is discovering more about Bryan. The setup was classic horror movie motif … Asalah there one second, gone the next. Flickering lights, flashlight goes out but then pops back on his face, startling him. The sorta creepy realization he’s not alone. But it’s not a ghoul, just an empty chair, signifying to him he’s back in that pseudo-Afghanistan reality. And I think this demonstrates the connectivity/hive mentality of the Debris, as the piece that absorbed into Mariel was gone, she was dead, but that knowledge probably spread to other Debris and when Bryan showed up, they sought him out.

   Last week, I was nooo! when the ECT broke the connection just as Bryan and Mariel were about to touch hands in the ‘virtual reality’. This time though, it was real, and I was like “nooo! don’t touch her!”. She was a manifestation just like Kieran was in the pilot and we all know what that did to Finola. But Bryan was like a moth to a flame. His desire to know ‘why’ overrode his common sense, but I think he was definitely under the influence of Mariel. He seemed in almost in a trance-like state when he reached out to touch Mariel’s hand.

   Finola was all about optimism and faith in the pilot, which has eroded somewhat since discovering that both Ferris and Maddox can’t be trusted. Bryan was euphoric about his contact with the Debris, which should make him compromised in the Orbital handbook. Although I can understand his feelings, that he believes again, has hope again, realistically the Debris is manipulating him in order for the process (aka the Seam) to finish. Sounds cynical but like Finola said, they don’t know what the Debris is building. I gotta wonder how the report will be written up. Only Finola and Bryan know about Mariel’s manifestation, the other techs don’t. If Maddox found out, geez, would he triple the dose of those injections? Despite all those little quibbles, I loved the scene, the intensity of emotion on both their parts. And it was great to see Bryan that happy, although I think he’ll ‘come down’ after a while but he won’t see the world in such a cynical manner now.

   I wonder if the Debris has stalked anyone else. Did it choose Bryan because of his Afghanistan experience? Garcia was at Debris Field 56 as well so I wonder if he’s had any Debris experiences that he may not bother to tell Orbital about. And then average people may encounter Debris and think they’re losing their minds or are possessed. The Debris seem to lack comprehension of the complexity of human emotions, so it doesn’t understand the hell they may put Bryan and probably others through humans.

   The episode was fun, and while the scenes inside the building could have been boring, I really loved seeing the cases sucked into the field, sucked dry of contents and the cases tossed aside. If this process could be refined, could make a pretty penny creating a device that de-pits cherries, which is a tedious and messy task. Hey, Maddox wants to weaponize the Debris, I want the Debris to do housework! ?

   Things I want covered in the finale of season 1. What do the injections do? That’s it. Just one thing on the wish list!

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2. 

   Leo on May 20, 2021 at 12:16 pm

   Just heard you will be interviewing Tyrone Benskin! Please, please, please ask him about a little show he did called “Charlie Jade.” That show dealt with a multiverse. It was Fringe before Fringe!! Charlie Jade only had one season, aired in the US in 2005 on the Sci-Fi channel. Sci-Fi gave it no promotion and a terrible time slot. But the show was awesome. You can stream it on Amazon Prime and for free on the FilmRise app. You can also find it on YouTube.

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