There is no before. We aren’t doing solo episodes anymore on the Box Set. We did, but there is no before. So we’re not. There’s only the now. The first rule of The Box Set TV Club is to not…mention old rules.
OK, you get it. I think we switched to the two-episode format at just the right time, yes? As I mentioned in the podcast preamble, we were already coming off a stellar episode three (“Hurricane,”) and now, with “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Aren’t Dead,” and “The Severn City Airport” we get another two strong, story-important episodes where we got a little bit of everything and every one.
Key here is probably The Prophet, who is set up with that moniker in Ep. 4, the reveal being “hey, we know what that weird guy’s name is who Kirsten stabbed.” One episode later, we are shown, in dramatic fashion, that The Prophet is the grown up Tyler, son of Arthur and Elizabeth. Tyler also has Uncle Clark in his past, but boy does that go sideways — not altogether convincingly, as I mention in the podcast notes. But we’ll get to that.
To watch Young Kirsten come out of the woods in the snow and morph into Kirsten as we know her now, it’s a nice little effect, and it continues with a few other characters, including a brief appearance by the spaceperson, who this time is seen, in a twist, by Young Kirsten. Jeevan is there (and then, ominously, he’s not). Hell, we even get to meet the Traveling Symphony’s flamboyant and intriguing former director, played wonderfully by David Cross.
Watch out for the mines. We moved them. Indeed.
The evolution of Tyler to The Prophet will be interesting to witness, and he was quite a different iteration in the novel, I’m told. But since we’re only concerned with what’s happening on the small screen, I would say that my lone real disappointment is the devious rise of Clark — he’s finally got his lead role — to something I’m not entirely sure we saw come to life as Day 100 dawns in the airport. His angry tirade about Arthur, Elizabeth and Tyler seems a little out of place or forced, and saying that Tyler is a destructive force? Well, we haven’t really seen that. He’s an odd kid, sure. But his dad died of a heart attack and the world is ending, so he’s got his reasons to be sullen.
And, if anything, it was Tyler’s empathy, saying that the lone survivor on the plane had to be flu resistant, which means more people are likely alive and out there, which appears to be his defining trait. Destroyer? Yeah, I’m not seeing that. Granted, he looks to be pretty devious as a grown up, but Clark’s painting of him (and Elizabeth) seems a bit much. (That said, Clark has always had that put-upon underachiever status about him and we’ve seen that he doesn’t think it’s fair and he won’t let it go. So, sure, there’s a progression to his current status, but it seems like we skipped a few key steps in what we actually saw.
But that’s minor. I’ve really loved four of the five episodes so far and that’s a pretty great winning percentage at the halfway point. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
The Box Set: "Station Eleven."