This week, Looking Glass falls for a clever scheme and learns the truth about the giant squid and then makes a tough decision. Elsewhere, Ozy gets catapulted. My name is Kent, and I ask 5 weekly questions and then people answer them. Any comments in BOLD are written by me. I hope you enjoy and if you or someone you know may want to do this blog, contact me, leave a comment, etc.
1. Renee totally played Wade. That seemed out of character. Then he foolishly went through the truck, took a gun and went into the building alone and thought that he was going to control 6 or so members of the 7K with just one gun. Do we just write it off as part of his obsession with extradimensional stuff or his pursuit of justice or something else?
Jim: Looking Glass has been the most careful character in the series, to the point of paranoia. this seems at odds with “running into the warehouse no mask no backup”…. this just didn’t make sense to me. I know he ran in the building because he wanted to know how he got worked over…. like he did so many times in the past…. you really feel bad for him as a character seeing everything he’s gone through. How bad is it to get tricked into having your clothes taken off, to then walk out and see the apocalypse!!
Chris: He seems like he’s very careful at all times. When he saw the lettuce I think he was just thinking about getting justice for his fellow officer. It did seem strange to me that he would go in alone knowing how careful he is. I could see the interest in all the extraterrestrial stuff, but he didn’t really know of that til he went in.
Kent: This is my first negative comment that I have about this show, and it’s more of a nitpick than anything. This didn’t fall in line with the character that we have known throughout this show. If he simply fell for Renee for his reasons, I would get it. If he had somehow come across the truck and felt the need to try to get some justice, I would get it. The whole gun thing and trying to assert himself while giving himself away, I just don’t get it. I don’t like it. Maybe this was the best way to get to the scenes that they needed to hit. I will say that there is a reason why I never give a film higher than a 9.2. Nothing is ever perfect, there will always be minor flaws, and I accept this. I just hope that it isn’t a recurring thing in this great show.
2. Were they trying to suggest something regarding Wade’s sexual preferences? He had a wife, he was attracted to Renee, he liked the girl at Hoboken, and he was watching Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis having sex on TV. I am not sure what to infer from all of this, but it was clearly part of his story. If you don’t want to answer this, please tell if “Reflectatine” actually serves a purpose.
Jim: I think the AHS episode was an outlier, really just reflecting his sad existence of him eating cold beans (like Rorschach used to) in front of a tv alone….I don’t think the content mattered directly (except furthering Hooded Justice’s impact on the meta-plot) as much as just him sitting alone…. the rest of the women showed that as careful/scared as he is with the rest of the world, he has a blind spot for women, and it always costs him in the end. The Reflectatine feels like a placebo effect, simply to make him feel like he is in control of something in his life, like the alarms and the drills, bomb shelter, and the photos of the squids, are all ways for him to try and take some control of his fears. (Jim, you confused me by using the term AHS, but now you have given me a theory, so thanks.)
Chris: I don’t think the video he was watching meant much. He didn’t seem to be enjoying it. He clearly likes women, and the women in his life cause him to lose his focus. I’m guessing the Reflectatine wouldn’t actually help, but he has convinced himself it will so he can have some control of his fears. (Women are definitely his weakness, along with paranoia, but mostly women. And that is incredibly relatable to a lot of fans, I imagine. He really is the most relatable character on the show, in my opinion.)
Kent: I was gonna come at this with some wacky theory, but Jim’s response made things super clear to me. Okay, hear me out on this. While this show has an AHS, in our reality, we also have an AHS, American Horror Story. At first, I simply dismissed that they may have done a spin-off of that show or even American Crime Story. Here’s the thing, this was most definitely a subtle reference to our AHS. In American Horror Story, I think that every season has a homosexual character. Ryan Murphy has really been trying to find sexy gay dudes to show their asses on the show. Hell, my longtime joke is that FX’s promo phrase should be changed to “FX has the man ass” in large part to AHS and Sons of Anarchy. I firmly believe that this was an allusion to American Horror Story, not mocking, more of a nod of recognition, which is kinda funny in its own way. Subtle and smart. Good job!
Also, I wish they had done more to mock Jehova’s Witnesses. I have a personal vendetta against them I do not mind saying that.
3. We know that the government knows what Veidt did in preventing the Cold War. He seemed to envision trying to make a utopia. We know that he is now someplace (more on that in question 4). Who or what placed him in his current location and why?
Jim: I know from some of the Peteypedia stuff, that Redford changed campaign finance to try to distance from him, but being that he is in a secret dimension encapsulated off of Jupiter (Europa the moon I read) that can only be Manhattan…. whether he acted alone, or at the guidance of Redford, Trieu, or someone else remains to be seen. The fact that Veidt told Redford, further pushes the narrative that the President wanted to distance himself, and I could see the fear of him being so great the only conclusion being to get him isolated off the planet. (I swear, I am really going to start reading Peteypedia. I do take great umbrage with one thing you said though. I have developed a pet peeve with the term “narrative” and I put in the same class as “literally” and “epic”. These are terms that get so overused that people can’t help but use them because it gets stuck in our minds. I watch a lot of sports-related content, and they have overkilled the term in 2019. I hate 2019. Worst damn year of my life.)
Chris: Dr. Manhattan seems like the only one capable of doing it. I’m guessing he did it at the request of the president or Lady Trieu. I think it would be more interesting if Ozy requested it himself as some sort of exile. (I would guess Redford, as it makes the most sense, but Trieu is lurking in the wings waiting to do something huge and I am guessing that she was most definitely involved. That’s my gut reaction, and my gut is bigger than everyone else’s in this blog.)
Kent: It seems 99% certain that Dr. Manhattan was involved, but my mind immediately goes to, “what if he wasn’t?”. Where could they take this story? What technology does Trieu have access to? Would Dr. Manhattan have gone along with this? As Chris said, it would be interesting is it was a form of self-exile, perhaps with the help of Trieu. I can afford to get a lot of things wrong, but I am going with Trieu being involved more than Manhattan.
4. Based on the ongoing conversation in our group, Ozymandias has been a popular subject with many theories surrounding him. Based on what you know and what you think you know, here are three questions. A) Where is Ozy? B) What time frame is this that we are seeing him? C) Any new thoughts or ideas on the Warden character?
Jim: Based on interviews with Lindoff, I can say that every episode with Ozymandias, is one year later then the last, which should come to present when he gets a chance to return to earth (soon I hope). Lindoff did say he was on Europa, which is a moon off of Jupiter. My update to the Warden, is I no longer believe he is self-created, rather he was in fact put there to monitor and keep Ozy in check. Based off of the terms that were spoken of in the previous episode, it strengthens my belief that he was put there by the government (with or without Manhattan’s help). (My first response to this was “Who the hell is Lindoff?” I looked it up, and he is the creator of the show, for anybody else who may not be aware. I think you guys do far more research into this than I do. I really shouldn’t be the one asking questions. Do you think that they will ever find a way to tell us or show us that each time is another year?)
Chris: He’s on Europa, a moon of Jupiter (at least I was right that he was in space!). I think we are seeing him in the past. Each scene is counting down to the present. I still think that crash in the beginning of the last episode was him. I’m not so sure on the Warden. He is some kind of safeguard that’s been put in place. (Everybody, take a moment to marvel at Chris patting himself on the back. That is something I take a chance to do on the rare chance that I get something right. I like the crash idea. I think I said I liked it last week, as well.)
Kent: These guys know way more than I do. It appears that we already have the correct answers. Had I not had this info, my guesses would have gone like this. A) On some cool island with some force field, or like a planet. For reference, in the 7th episode of the first season of The Twilight Zone, the episode was titled “The Lonely”. In that story, deserted planets were used as prisons, so that was where my mind was going. B) The 60’s, once again, probably more because of Twilight Zone than anything else. C) Here’s the thing with the Warden. As the guys have said, it doesn’t seem like a creation of Ozy’s anymore. So it would seem that the Warden is exactly that. But then I have to ask, how the hell long has he been there? Does he work with other Wardens? Does he get any vacation? Why did he get this job? I’m super interested to find this info out. Does he have a huge vendetta with Ozy?
5. Did Wade do the right thing by agreeing to get Angela to confess?
Jim: I don’t know…. I’m not sure he knows what to believe after having his whole psyche flipped on his head. I’m not sure if he did it to try and follow it down the rabbit hole, or if he is clinging to the new reality he was just given, and is trying to support it and get behind it however he can. We know that Keene seems to have double crossed him, but let’s see what happens as they walk through the door…. if the prepper who is always ready is ready for them, they are in a world of hurt. (I guess a bigger question would be if he did to continue down the rabbit hole or if he did it more to save Angela’s family. The thing is, I think it is more for the rabbit hole. He seems like a fairly obsessive guy.)
Chris: In the immediate aftermath, yes. By turning her in, he saved her family’s lives. But he had to have known they wouldn’t just let him go after. I’m hoping he didn’t get killed, and it looked bad at the end. (I don’t think that they can kill him after that episode. They just made his character far more dynamic, with many paths to follow. I don’t think that I am overthinking this, but mayhaps.)
Kent: Yes, of course, he did. He can tell himself that he did it to save Angela’s family while still being a little self-serving. The big thing is how this showdown goes at his house. I feel like there’s no way that his house won’t be in need of some serious repair after whatever happens finishes up.
Final Thoughts – Do you think that there is a deeper story of why Will killed Judd aside from his affiliation with the 7th Kavalry? Was it something personal between him and Judd, or just a general disdain for the 7K? Bonus question: did anybody else dislike the second version of Careless Whisper in this episode as much as I did?
Jim: Bonus first: I have loved every single note and music decision this entire series, and I fully believe Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross deserve and will win emmys for this. As far as the deeper story, I have said many times that I think he was digging too deeply into 7th Kavalry and needed to be killed to move forward with their plans. As much as Keene said Judd was running the 7k with him, he must have not been doing what was expected, and needed to get killed to keep everything moving forward…. (Judd may have even been a lynchpin at some point, but at some point, his death served a bigger purpose than him to continue living.)
Kent: I truly loathed the second version of Careless Whisper. I should point out that I have 5 different versions of this song saved on my computer. I have George Michael, Brian McKnight & Kenny G, Seether, Dave Koz & Montell Jordan, and Tamia. The only version that I don’t absolutely love is Tamia. I would rather hear Tamia’s version any day over Nataly Dawn’s version. I just think it was a bad rendition. I would have preferred that they used the Kenny G version for the second time.
To answer the first part, I will float this idea out there. Will knows about Keene and may have known him for a long time. Maybe this was a warning shot, of sorts.
I know that I sound grumpy in this blog. I am grumpy. That’s just me. I do have something positive to say. These guys are great at responding to these questions. It’s really nice to have some people with relatively deep knowledge involved in this. We also have a new logo for this blog. I wasn’t going to get one, but I have become such a fan of this show and this group of guys that I wanted this to stand out, so I got this made by a talented lady named Sidra. She’s one of two artists that I use at 9Deuce. I just wanted to make sure to thank everybody for their efforts.