I appreciated the pregnancy storyline, that frames the scene for me +20 yrs on. People are procreating, and there's still that human urge to sit tight and raise a family despite external dangers. It gave me a sense of stability in these aftertimes that otherwise feel heavy with despair, despite the bonfire guitar playing, etc.
Feb 8, 2022·edited Feb 8, 2022Liked by Tim Goodman
I didn’t think of this until I listened to Tim’s message above just now, but I really like how “I’m safe / I’m with a family” seems both true and untrue for Kirsten in year 0 with Jeevan and Frank and in year 20 with the Traveling Symphony. She’s with a family. She’s relatively safe at the moment. But the pandemic has made that safety incredibly fragile, and we start the episode with hints of exactly how fragile it is and how horrible it must have been to learn that.
Some other random thoughts:
- As a former midwesterner, I can confirm that the Mackinac Island pronounciation would be a tell. I pointed that out to my wife just after creepy dude said it, and it was neat to see that pay off.
- How many words did it take for everyone to recognize the Independence Day speech? ‘Cause it was embarrassingly few over here. Like maybe three or four. Are cord-cutting and on-demand libraries pushing us towards the end of the time when tons of people know movies almost verbatim because they were on TNT incessantly?
It's early days, but so far I am finding the Year 0 scenes much more compelling than the Year 20 scenes. Of course it's easier to be compelling when you're telling the story of the end of the world as compared to the life of a traveling theatrical troupe. That said, after two solid episodes of good acting and good writing, I trust the show enough that I'm still looking forward to what happens next in both timelines.
Feb 6, 2022·edited Feb 6, 2022Liked by Tim Goodman
The episode starts with a bloody Kirsten, festooned in red ribbons, sleeping against a wall. Kirsten is obviously alone. In the distance we hear music. We meet Sarah and the Traveling Symphony. According to Sarah, “We travel for a reason.” So I will take her word for it. The music in the background of the initial meeting is slow and calming as Sarah calms down the wild child. (The music in a show really has an impact on me, which is partly why I love this show.)
Showing the traumatic text from Kirsten’s Dad’s phone during her performance as Hamlet in a play about the loss of a father was heartbreaking, and so well played by Mackenzie Davis. We see again the PTSD first exhibited by young Kirsten in the beginning of the episode as she meets Sarah. Young Kirsten looks feral, and I immediately wanted to know where in the hell Jeevan was. Matilda Lawler’s performance in this episode was again, wonderful.
We are introduced to a stranger named David. Kirsten is immediately on alert, and I don’t blame her. The guy is creepy. He makes obvious references to the graphic novel, Station Eleven, which is confusing to Kirsten as she believes she has the only copy.
You’ve all seen the episode. It raises more questions than it answers. I want to know the answers!
Tim, I believe the pregnant lady is totally important, but will not say why yet. (I did not read the book.) You see the person in the tent again, but I think he is there to show a lifestyle, not a relationship. The strangers name also turns up again later in the series. Also, on my third watching I saw something obvious, that I should have noticed on my second viewing. LOL.
Wow. I found the episode to retain a superb amount of narrative bafflement (precisely what happened back then) that invites the viewer (me) to bask in every moment of the story. The Traveling Symphony and Kirsten’s starring role and the growing realisation (for me) that Kirsten invests EVERYTHING in the stability of the rolling seasons, etc. … all this sang to me. I like that none of the characters are over-egged or over-explained, that we have to invest ourselves intellectually and emotionally to partake in the story. So far, for me, there’s been nothing dumb or out of sync. If this were a book, I’d say something like “the director/writer has a sure grip on the pacing and the narrative.
And yes, the creepy guy is superb. Again, not overdone at all, which makes it even more freighted with dread.
The ultra short glimpses into the book she had, the “Station Eleven,” with its quotes, are superb, and hearing them from the mouth of the creepy guy makes me want to binge the next episode right now.
Anyway, enough from me. I’m the kind of viewer/reader who is all about “judging” and “rating” and at the moment, I’d rate Episodes 1 and 2 as 8/10 (or 4 stars if you like): an excellent start but let’s see if you end up as 9/10 or just 6/10.
Random thoughts - Lori Petty perfect for this; her fuck you, freedom-based brand of acting informs the narrative and vice versa. Mostly I felt scared, anxious and sad ... so that was accomplished. Kirsten's 'weird text' was eviscerating, and the whole flashback part of the episode my worst nightmare. That meant that the experience of 'Hamlet,' in a magical, medieval iteration that might be not unlike young William Shakespeare's experience of traveling players to Stratford, was comforting and grounding. So, as I suspected, art is the only constant. Kirsten is a worthy hero. I remain freaked out but will continue, nevertheless.
I really enjoyed reading everyone else's comments and LOVE Steven Rubio's "Feral Road Warrior Kid Comparison"...
This episode was my least favorite of Station Eleven in the same way that Season 5 of "The Wire" was my least favorite season: Still brilliant, but there was so much quality around it being simply brilliant is STILL not enough...
I noticed a distinctly green color palette anytime there was an establishing shot in the 20 years later timeline...
I thought it was pretty funny that they went out of their way to make sure that the logos for Coca Cola, Nabisco, Reebok, and Speedo were clearly in the frame but did everything they could to cover up The logos for Ford and Apple...
Still can't over the fact that "Sarah" was Keanu's love interest in "Point Break"...
Any show that has Mathesar from "Galaxy Quest" in a semi-stand off with Keanu's surf instructor from "Point Break" deserves our undivided attention...
I thought the anonymous bureaucratic text message to Kirsten letting her know her Mom was dead was eerily plausible and that entire scene was incredibly well done especially with the cross cutting to her on stage performance...
I feel very strongly that if you're gonna stab a creepy guy that is overtly threatening everyone you care about at the edge of a post apocalyptic campground you are obligated to make sure he bleeds out and is actually dead...
I agree with your assessment/critique of the pregnant woman HOWEVER there was a mention of the doctors and midwives from the "birthing center" which is of some significance...
(Not a word more of course)
For a moment they filmed Creepy guy from the same P.O.V. as the assassin from "Collateral"...
I enjoyed this episode but somehow it made me even more anxious than the previous one. Some random thoughts:
1) It seems like the theme of family was hit hard over snd over again. Between Kirsten’s text to her mom, to The Traveling Symphony being described as a family, to the one couple starting their own family with the baby. It was as if the producers thought we wouldn’t pick up the theme on our own if they didn’t spell it out.
2) The creepy guy was creepy and clearly full of shit from the beginning. Still it was shocking when he started threatening her friends and I noticeably gasped when she stabbed him. And yet I found myself wishing she had killed him and then wondered what that said about me.
3). I love that feral Kirsten still had enough of a sense of self to identify as a Shakespearean actor. Good for her. Lori Petty’s response when she heard who Kirsten studied under was priceless.
4) I have been paying attention to the camera placement since Tim talked about it as part of the guidelines for the Box Set and it has made things stand out that I don’t think I would have noticed otherwise. Specifically I liked how the audition was shot from a little lower as if we were watching with the others. The material for the audition was also a nice touch.
5) When Enrico Colantoni showed up with the invitation to perform for his hidden community, I felt like he was doing a version of his Galaxy Quest character (which would be no problem since I love that movie). Even now I can’t tell if that was a legitimate offer or a “let’s invite them and kill them all” offer.
Looking forward to some answers about Jheevan and Frank hopefully soon.
Tim, as someone who was already watching Station Eleven slowly and had gotten to ep 7 or 8, I just want to confirm how incredible it is to be able to rewatch a show like this. There are SO many details that escape notice on first viewing. But also, in a show like this where information is being spooled out only very slowly and partially, it's very cool to rewatch an episode like this one and know what will be coming in later episodes, particularly WRT the Jeevan and Frank period.
I hope it's not a spoiler to say this: I love Frank so much. Everyone talks about the Jeevan-Kirsten relationship but Frank has better parenting instincts.
Feb 5, 2022·edited Feb 5, 2022Liked by Tim Goodman
Saying goodbye is a theme that I am noticing even more on rewatch. When Kirsten meets Sarah her reality is very much in flux with references to Dr. Eleven and fixing the ship and saying goodbye to Arthur, Jeevan and her little brother Frank. I didn’t connect the dots to her “new family” in both the theater and the brothers who take her in and her entanglement with the graphic novel.
I take the storyline with the pregnant woman as another chance to view Kirsten dealing with losing someone who has been with her since year three. It would be great to know more but I understand putting the time in so that we feel some of the loss too.
I wonder in the future what Kirsten’s grip on reality is. She is remembering and seeing the past along with us at different points in the episode, most dramatically during the scenes with Hamlet. And there are times where past dialogue is shown under present day scenes and vice versa.
I love that the show gives us credit as the viewer to know that the fact that it is only Jeevan and Kristen leaving the apartment that something has happened that we are unaware of. On first watch the small snippets don’t make sense without the context but it does well to pique interest in what is to come.
I also think it is clever how we get comments that fill in some of the narrative gaps. “I thought my first 100 was hard but you walked across Lake Michigan” Let’s us start to put the puzzle together.
I hope someday this substack discussion ends up in the “Museum of Civilization” where people can read what it it like for us to watch a show about a pandemic while in the midst of a pandemic. Or they can simply ignore it and say “F$@!$ the Past”
Feb 5, 2022·edited Feb 5, 2022Liked by Tim Goodman
The second episode for me stands on four fundamental interconnected words: humanity, loss, art, and the past.
The new creepy character says "to the monsters, we are the monsters." Kirsten asks him "where did you hear that line?" It was like she was asking me, because I remembered hearing that phrase elsewhere recently. Then it occurred to me: in the movie "the Humans" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10023286/), where one of the characters (whose actor was in the cast of The Walking Dead) says that when he was a kid there was a comic book that he was obsessed with where space creatures that were half-aliens and half-demons told each other scary stories about us, the humans. I don't remember if the same phrase mentioned here as a prophecy is pronounced (and I have no way of checking), but the meaning was undoubtedly the same. The monsters are us. This gave me very much a sci-fi feeling (also the mention of a certain Dr. Eleven at the beginning of the episode, and linking it to the image of the man in space from the previous episode), but at the same time it gave me the feeling of questioning what makes us human. I couldn't help but notice how wild Kirsten was when she first meets Sarah, who invites her to join the Travelling Symphony. It's not just surviving that makes us human, it's more.
The juxtapositions of Kirsten finding out her parents are dead (or at least one of them) and her acting in Hamlet and the scene regarding the cell phone (then and now) were very powerful. The sense of the past and what it means in the present was strong. The loss is self-evident. Someone here commented at the end of the first episode that they had been reminded of The Leftovers and I hadn't been. But in this episode, I myself was reminded of it, and the feeling was very intense (also the bronze statue, the echoes of the Guilty Remnans with “I remember damage”, the city of Miracle with the whole crowd). Knowing from listening and reading here that the pregnant woman isn't coming back leaves me indifferent. I didn't expect her to return (or possibly in a second season, in case). To me she represents one of the many people who unexpectedly disappear from Kirsten's life, something which she struggles with, from what we are told. And a pregnant woman with a baby represents the future, Kirsten still represents the past, she is anchored to the past, a past that is lost. The final dirge gives the sense of grieving, but even at the beginning when the caravan passes by and is greeted with joy, I got the sense of loss. I had a quick flash of the funeral processions in "Treme," with the second line, and despite the cheerful tone, I got the feeling of celebration of something that is truly gone, of a past that you want to honor. It’s something that you cherish, but that just passes. Again, this feeling came back when the Museum of Civilization representative showed up (nice to see Colantoni). Arthur’s memory, someone we saw dying, is very present.
Here, as in the rest of the episode, art is civilization, art is what allows us to make sense of the world (and again I'm thinking especially of Kirsten finding out about her parents' death and about her acting), it gives meaning. Given that in Shakespeare's time it was men who played the female roles, I found it fitting that it was the new hire who played Gertrude. I was stimulated to hear "it's not about you" referred to acting.
It was a shock - despite the fact that she had previously said that the tattoos on her arm indicated the people she had killed - to see her stab someone. Again, an act that speaks about humanity (or the lack of it) by someone who, as a Shakespearean actor, probably has done that on the stage many times. The world is a stage to Shakespeare, isn’t it? Sorry, thoughts chase each other and overlap. And the tattoos, that symbol is familiar to me as well, but I just think that it reminds me of the one in "Heroes", which I think is supposed to symbolize DNA… I guess (wink to the creepy guy).
The second episode is where I tapped out the first time around. The tension in it caused a lot of anxious feelings for me. The jumping back and forth starts to fill in some of the gaps, making us think about the characters that are shown and those who are missing.
I loved the Independence Day monologue audition, along with the imagined intercom sounds and musical score.
I'm interested in seeing the scenes that directly preceded the start of this episode. How did Kirsten end up in a heap next to the wall? Whose blood is that?
I also get distracted by and focus on the weirdest things. Like why did Kirsten leave the theater still wearing her costume? Also, she's wearing an L.L. Bean jacket and backpack.
Yeah that makes sense. I’m just thinking in a post-pandemic world with no electricity etc wouldn’t people migrate to a mild climate where survival is easier.
I do love the show & the book tho
& like you said about collateral, it’s a short series (and a relatively short book too) so I’m not trying to get caught up in the intricacies of world-building; it’s not GoT where every detail is explained
Feb 5, 2022·edited Feb 5, 2022Liked by Tim Goodman
Interesting that the episode starts with Kirsten covered in blood and with bloody handprints on the wall - it makes you wonder if she had to kill (people? animals?) as a 9/10-yr old in that time on her own before she joined the Traveling Symphony. And of course she's quite deft at stabbing the stranger.
The traveling symphony scenes are so interesting cuz they feel like the Renaissance Faires I used to go to as a teenager (lol). It's like they're cosplaying the Middle Ages, but they're not cosplaying because technology really has regressed! That scene where Kirsten is explaining Uber to Alex!! Must be so weird to live a forced-back-to-the-land life.
This is my second watch, and I must admit that I have wondered where they get their food and drink from. Are they just foraging and/or making it all from scratch? Are they bartering with the small communities where they stop and perform - so like we perform for you and you feed us?
I confess that when I first watched this episode, I was completely confused, so much so that I was ready to give up on the series. Then my wife explained things, and I decided to give it another chance, and I'm glad I did.
As this is a new online community, and we are all mostly new to each other, I should add that I regularly get lost in plots that are more complicated than See Spot Run, so my confusion is likely just because I was dropped on my head when I was a kid.
Young Kirsten with Knife reminded me of the Feral Kid in Road Warrior.
I appreciated the pregnancy storyline, that frames the scene for me +20 yrs on. People are procreating, and there's still that human urge to sit tight and raise a family despite external dangers. It gave me a sense of stability in these aftertimes that otherwise feel heavy with despair, despite the bonfire guitar playing, etc.
I didn’t think of this until I listened to Tim’s message above just now, but I really like how “I’m safe / I’m with a family” seems both true and untrue for Kirsten in year 0 with Jeevan and Frank and in year 20 with the Traveling Symphony. She’s with a family. She’s relatively safe at the moment. But the pandemic has made that safety incredibly fragile, and we start the episode with hints of exactly how fragile it is and how horrible it must have been to learn that.
Some other random thoughts:
- As a former midwesterner, I can confirm that the Mackinac Island pronounciation would be a tell. I pointed that out to my wife just after creepy dude said it, and it was neat to see that pay off.
- How many words did it take for everyone to recognize the Independence Day speech? ‘Cause it was embarrassingly few over here. Like maybe three or four. Are cord-cutting and on-demand libraries pushing us towards the end of the time when tons of people know movies almost verbatim because they were on TNT incessantly?
It's early days, but so far I am finding the Year 0 scenes much more compelling than the Year 20 scenes. Of course it's easier to be compelling when you're telling the story of the end of the world as compared to the life of a traveling theatrical troupe. That said, after two solid episodes of good acting and good writing, I trust the show enough that I'm still looking forward to what happens next in both timelines.
The episode starts with a bloody Kirsten, festooned in red ribbons, sleeping against a wall. Kirsten is obviously alone. In the distance we hear music. We meet Sarah and the Traveling Symphony. According to Sarah, “We travel for a reason.” So I will take her word for it. The music in the background of the initial meeting is slow and calming as Sarah calms down the wild child. (The music in a show really has an impact on me, which is partly why I love this show.)
Showing the traumatic text from Kirsten’s Dad’s phone during her performance as Hamlet in a play about the loss of a father was heartbreaking, and so well played by Mackenzie Davis. We see again the PTSD first exhibited by young Kirsten in the beginning of the episode as she meets Sarah. Young Kirsten looks feral, and I immediately wanted to know where in the hell Jeevan was. Matilda Lawler’s performance in this episode was again, wonderful.
We are introduced to a stranger named David. Kirsten is immediately on alert, and I don’t blame her. The guy is creepy. He makes obvious references to the graphic novel, Station Eleven, which is confusing to Kirsten as she believes she has the only copy.
You’ve all seen the episode. It raises more questions than it answers. I want to know the answers!
Tim, I believe the pregnant lady is totally important, but will not say why yet. (I did not read the book.) You see the person in the tent again, but I think he is there to show a lifestyle, not a relationship. The strangers name also turns up again later in the series. Also, on my third watching I saw something obvious, that I should have noticed on my second viewing. LOL.
Can I just comment in emojis? 🤷♂️😴🔪🔪🔪
Wow. I found the episode to retain a superb amount of narrative bafflement (precisely what happened back then) that invites the viewer (me) to bask in every moment of the story. The Traveling Symphony and Kirsten’s starring role and the growing realisation (for me) that Kirsten invests EVERYTHING in the stability of the rolling seasons, etc. … all this sang to me. I like that none of the characters are over-egged or over-explained, that we have to invest ourselves intellectually and emotionally to partake in the story. So far, for me, there’s been nothing dumb or out of sync. If this were a book, I’d say something like “the director/writer has a sure grip on the pacing and the narrative.
And yes, the creepy guy is superb. Again, not overdone at all, which makes it even more freighted with dread.
The ultra short glimpses into the book she had, the “Station Eleven,” with its quotes, are superb, and hearing them from the mouth of the creepy guy makes me want to binge the next episode right now.
Anyway, enough from me. I’m the kind of viewer/reader who is all about “judging” and “rating” and at the moment, I’d rate Episodes 1 and 2 as 8/10 (or 4 stars if you like): an excellent start but let’s see if you end up as 9/10 or just 6/10.
Random thoughts - Lori Petty perfect for this; her fuck you, freedom-based brand of acting informs the narrative and vice versa. Mostly I felt scared, anxious and sad ... so that was accomplished. Kirsten's 'weird text' was eviscerating, and the whole flashback part of the episode my worst nightmare. That meant that the experience of 'Hamlet,' in a magical, medieval iteration that might be not unlike young William Shakespeare's experience of traveling players to Stratford, was comforting and grounding. So, as I suspected, art is the only constant. Kirsten is a worthy hero. I remain freaked out but will continue, nevertheless.
(Note: I've seen all 10 episodes)
I really enjoyed reading everyone else's comments and LOVE Steven Rubio's "Feral Road Warrior Kid Comparison"...
This episode was my least favorite of Station Eleven in the same way that Season 5 of "The Wire" was my least favorite season: Still brilliant, but there was so much quality around it being simply brilliant is STILL not enough...
I noticed a distinctly green color palette anytime there was an establishing shot in the 20 years later timeline...
I thought it was pretty funny that they went out of their way to make sure that the logos for Coca Cola, Nabisco, Reebok, and Speedo were clearly in the frame but did everything they could to cover up The logos for Ford and Apple...
Still can't over the fact that "Sarah" was Keanu's love interest in "Point Break"...
Any show that has Mathesar from "Galaxy Quest" in a semi-stand off with Keanu's surf instructor from "Point Break" deserves our undivided attention...
I thought the anonymous bureaucratic text message to Kirsten letting her know her Mom was dead was eerily plausible and that entire scene was incredibly well done especially with the cross cutting to her on stage performance...
I feel very strongly that if you're gonna stab a creepy guy that is overtly threatening everyone you care about at the edge of a post apocalyptic campground you are obligated to make sure he bleeds out and is actually dead...
I agree with your assessment/critique of the pregnant woman HOWEVER there was a mention of the doctors and midwives from the "birthing center" which is of some significance...
(Not a word more of course)
For a moment they filmed Creepy guy from the same P.O.V. as the assassin from "Collateral"...
I enjoyed this episode but somehow it made me even more anxious than the previous one. Some random thoughts:
1) It seems like the theme of family was hit hard over snd over again. Between Kirsten’s text to her mom, to The Traveling Symphony being described as a family, to the one couple starting their own family with the baby. It was as if the producers thought we wouldn’t pick up the theme on our own if they didn’t spell it out.
2) The creepy guy was creepy and clearly full of shit from the beginning. Still it was shocking when he started threatening her friends and I noticeably gasped when she stabbed him. And yet I found myself wishing she had killed him and then wondered what that said about me.
3). I love that feral Kirsten still had enough of a sense of self to identify as a Shakespearean actor. Good for her. Lori Petty’s response when she heard who Kirsten studied under was priceless.
4) I have been paying attention to the camera placement since Tim talked about it as part of the guidelines for the Box Set and it has made things stand out that I don’t think I would have noticed otherwise. Specifically I liked how the audition was shot from a little lower as if we were watching with the others. The material for the audition was also a nice touch.
5) When Enrico Colantoni showed up with the invitation to perform for his hidden community, I felt like he was doing a version of his Galaxy Quest character (which would be no problem since I love that movie). Even now I can’t tell if that was a legitimate offer or a “let’s invite them and kill them all” offer.
Looking forward to some answers about Jheevan and Frank hopefully soon.
Tim, as someone who was already watching Station Eleven slowly and had gotten to ep 7 or 8, I just want to confirm how incredible it is to be able to rewatch a show like this. There are SO many details that escape notice on first viewing. But also, in a show like this where information is being spooled out only very slowly and partially, it's very cool to rewatch an episode like this one and know what will be coming in later episodes, particularly WRT the Jeevan and Frank period.
I hope it's not a spoiler to say this: I love Frank so much. Everyone talks about the Jeevan-Kirsten relationship but Frank has better parenting instincts.
Saying goodbye is a theme that I am noticing even more on rewatch. When Kirsten meets Sarah her reality is very much in flux with references to Dr. Eleven and fixing the ship and saying goodbye to Arthur, Jeevan and her little brother Frank. I didn’t connect the dots to her “new family” in both the theater and the brothers who take her in and her entanglement with the graphic novel.
I take the storyline with the pregnant woman as another chance to view Kirsten dealing with losing someone who has been with her since year three. It would be great to know more but I understand putting the time in so that we feel some of the loss too.
I wonder in the future what Kirsten’s grip on reality is. She is remembering and seeing the past along with us at different points in the episode, most dramatically during the scenes with Hamlet. And there are times where past dialogue is shown under present day scenes and vice versa.
I love that the show gives us credit as the viewer to know that the fact that it is only Jeevan and Kristen leaving the apartment that something has happened that we are unaware of. On first watch the small snippets don’t make sense without the context but it does well to pique interest in what is to come.
I also think it is clever how we get comments that fill in some of the narrative gaps. “I thought my first 100 was hard but you walked across Lake Michigan” Let’s us start to put the puzzle together.
I hope someday this substack discussion ends up in the “Museum of Civilization” where people can read what it it like for us to watch a show about a pandemic while in the midst of a pandemic. Or they can simply ignore it and say “F$@!$ the Past”
The second episode for me stands on four fundamental interconnected words: humanity, loss, art, and the past.
The new creepy character says "to the monsters, we are the monsters." Kirsten asks him "where did you hear that line?" It was like she was asking me, because I remembered hearing that phrase elsewhere recently. Then it occurred to me: in the movie "the Humans" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10023286/), where one of the characters (whose actor was in the cast of The Walking Dead) says that when he was a kid there was a comic book that he was obsessed with where space creatures that were half-aliens and half-demons told each other scary stories about us, the humans. I don't remember if the same phrase mentioned here as a prophecy is pronounced (and I have no way of checking), but the meaning was undoubtedly the same. The monsters are us. This gave me very much a sci-fi feeling (also the mention of a certain Dr. Eleven at the beginning of the episode, and linking it to the image of the man in space from the previous episode), but at the same time it gave me the feeling of questioning what makes us human. I couldn't help but notice how wild Kirsten was when she first meets Sarah, who invites her to join the Travelling Symphony. It's not just surviving that makes us human, it's more.
The juxtapositions of Kirsten finding out her parents are dead (or at least one of them) and her acting in Hamlet and the scene regarding the cell phone (then and now) were very powerful. The sense of the past and what it means in the present was strong. The loss is self-evident. Someone here commented at the end of the first episode that they had been reminded of The Leftovers and I hadn't been. But in this episode, I myself was reminded of it, and the feeling was very intense (also the bronze statue, the echoes of the Guilty Remnans with “I remember damage”, the city of Miracle with the whole crowd). Knowing from listening and reading here that the pregnant woman isn't coming back leaves me indifferent. I didn't expect her to return (or possibly in a second season, in case). To me she represents one of the many people who unexpectedly disappear from Kirsten's life, something which she struggles with, from what we are told. And a pregnant woman with a baby represents the future, Kirsten still represents the past, she is anchored to the past, a past that is lost. The final dirge gives the sense of grieving, but even at the beginning when the caravan passes by and is greeted with joy, I got the sense of loss. I had a quick flash of the funeral processions in "Treme," with the second line, and despite the cheerful tone, I got the feeling of celebration of something that is truly gone, of a past that you want to honor. It’s something that you cherish, but that just passes. Again, this feeling came back when the Museum of Civilization representative showed up (nice to see Colantoni). Arthur’s memory, someone we saw dying, is very present.
Here, as in the rest of the episode, art is civilization, art is what allows us to make sense of the world (and again I'm thinking especially of Kirsten finding out about her parents' death and about her acting), it gives meaning. Given that in Shakespeare's time it was men who played the female roles, I found it fitting that it was the new hire who played Gertrude. I was stimulated to hear "it's not about you" referred to acting.
It was a shock - despite the fact that she had previously said that the tattoos on her arm indicated the people she had killed - to see her stab someone. Again, an act that speaks about humanity (or the lack of it) by someone who, as a Shakespearean actor, probably has done that on the stage many times. The world is a stage to Shakespeare, isn’t it? Sorry, thoughts chase each other and overlap. And the tattoos, that symbol is familiar to me as well, but I just think that it reminds me of the one in "Heroes", which I think is supposed to symbolize DNA… I guess (wink to the creepy guy).
The second episode is where I tapped out the first time around. The tension in it caused a lot of anxious feelings for me. The jumping back and forth starts to fill in some of the gaps, making us think about the characters that are shown and those who are missing.
I loved the Independence Day monologue audition, along with the imagined intercom sounds and musical score.
I'm interested in seeing the scenes that directly preceded the start of this episode. How did Kirsten end up in a heap next to the wall? Whose blood is that?
I also get distracted by and focus on the weirdest things. Like why did Kirsten leave the theater still wearing her costume? Also, she's wearing an L.L. Bean jacket and backpack.
Yeah that makes sense. I’m just thinking in a post-pandemic world with no electricity etc wouldn’t people migrate to a mild climate where survival is easier.
I do love the show & the book tho
& like you said about collateral, it’s a short series (and a relatively short book too) so I’m not trying to get caught up in the intricacies of world-building; it’s not GoT where every detail is explained
Interesting that the episode starts with Kirsten covered in blood and with bloody handprints on the wall - it makes you wonder if she had to kill (people? animals?) as a 9/10-yr old in that time on her own before she joined the Traveling Symphony. And of course she's quite deft at stabbing the stranger.
The traveling symphony scenes are so interesting cuz they feel like the Renaissance Faires I used to go to as a teenager (lol). It's like they're cosplaying the Middle Ages, but they're not cosplaying because technology really has regressed! That scene where Kirsten is explaining Uber to Alex!! Must be so weird to live a forced-back-to-the-land life.
This is my second watch, and I must admit that I have wondered where they get their food and drink from. Are they just foraging and/or making it all from scratch? Are they bartering with the small communities where they stop and perform - so like we perform for you and you feed us?
I confess that when I first watched this episode, I was completely confused, so much so that I was ready to give up on the series. Then my wife explained things, and I decided to give it another chance, and I'm glad I did.
As this is a new online community, and we are all mostly new to each other, I should add that I regularly get lost in plots that are more complicated than See Spot Run, so my confusion is likely just because I was dropped on my head when I was a kid.
Young Kirsten with Knife reminded me of the Feral Kid in Road Warrior.