For me it's Smith's wife. I know it seems strange, but she is so much like the mother figures from 1950s American movies and TV shows....except she's a Nazi. The juxtaposition is creepy for me.
shareYea, the layer of constant forced cheerfulness makes them creepy.
Smith used to really bother me, too, but then I started to like him and THAT freaked me out worse.
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Wow. I was thinking The Sheriff... or maybe Himmler, Heydrich, or Goebbels. Maybe even Adolf Hitler.
But you choose Helen Smith?
I guess that speaks well for Chelah Horsdal, because she plays the part so well.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Of course those guys are going to be creepy. But it's different with her because she reminds me of supposedly benign figures, yet she is kind of rotten at the core.
shareThe SD guy, because he appeared so unthreatening at first, and it was a while before he showed his hand. I was very glad to see him tossed over the falls by akido Juliana
Helen Smith reminds me of a Facebook friend who is a Christian, zaftig, wife and mother who recognized how evil Donald Trump -- there I've said it -- is, and made fun of him at first, but, when it became clear that he would be the repub nom, she went all in for him.
Her transformation from decent Christian who was aghast that Trump didn't know how correctly to name the title of a Biblical book (second Corinthians) to someone who was deathlessly loyal to Trump has been hideous to watch, worse than watching Jeff Goldblum morph into a fly.
http://www.amazon.com/Save-Send-Delete-Danusha-Goska/dp/1846949866
Exactly.
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Yeah, I got a little worried when Juliana mentioned that she wasn't sure about bringing a child into that world and Helen's ears perked up. "Danger, danger!"
Brevity is the soul of wit.
That DJ guy with the humungous nose always creeps me out ... I hate that guy, and he is all over the place. He is like Opey from The Andy Griffiths show ... mutated by radiation or something ... yeeks!!!
shareYou're not too far from wrong actually. DJ Qualls had Hodgkin Lymphoma as a child and may well have been treated with radiation. Not a mutant, though.
shareDid anyone here see the last episode of season 2? The creepiest character is obviously Thomas Smith. Much creepier than his mother. At least with her, it is forced, with Thomas he really lives and breathes Nazi values. Talk about brainwashed...
shareYeah, definitely brainwashed. I don't know about creepy, but he's the epitome of a perfect Ranger Reich citizen.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
I don't find Thomas creepy as a person, but what he represents is creepy. And he is exactly the person his parents wanted him to be, molded him to be. Which is why it is that much more horrifying in a way when he sacrifices himself for "their cause" because he is "defective." UGH.
That whole situation is, in a way, the most horrifying on the show. I find it hard to feel that sorry for John and Helen, though yes, I do feel for them. But I feel for the KID who has been taught never too feel for himself, if that makes sense.
I can't feel sorry for John because I don't believe John.
I totally believe Juliana, Helen, and Thomas. I believe Joe more or less, Frank, Ed, Childan...
I can't believe John. I've read too much about real Nazis, watched film footage of them -- they weren't handsome, healthy, articulate, functional, loving fathers and husbands.
They were sick specimens.
http://www.amazon.com/Save-Send-Delete-Danusha-Goska/dp/1846949866
>> They were sick specimens.
That is a really good point.
There is something about TV/Movies/Video that these pictures pass through
our conscious minds, unless we are trained to be very critical of the stuff we
watch, and even then sometimes.
That is why German propaganda was so powerful at the time. No one had
immunity to it. Before that it was books ... before we learned not to judge
a book by its cover.
There is a new mindset that must be taught all citizens of the world these
days or it is just too easy to isolate and brainwash some group and get them
to perform violence or enslave themselves to ridiculous ideas.
You are aware are you not that in 1945 there were 8.5 million members of the Nazi Party. I find it difficult to believe that none of those 8.5 million cared about their families.
The notion that someone who is a monster in public life can't care about his family is the kind of cardboard comic book characterization of a villain that makes it hard for people to recognize the _real_ villains of the world.
I thought his character was unrealistic because he didn't seem to have any of the usual trappings of adolescence. I have yet to meet someone his age who so completely lacks any attributes of being a teenager.
But I also think that the writers tried just too hard to make the Smiths' life a Nazi-flavored version of Leave it to Beaver. I think the Smiths probably would have lived in a more secure compound, not on a typical middle class street.
Thomas would have probably enjoyed a lot more prestige and perks due to his dad's position -- not that his dad would have pulled strings for him (which he might have done) but simply because others would have been interested in currying favor with him. Dictatorships almost always have a kind of nepotism and corrupt aristocracy surrounding them, which I think they portrayed very well when Joe went to Germany.
It's the Smiths in general. They seem so much like a 1960s suburban family. It's like Father Knows Best, except that Father's a Nazi. Instead of coming home in a business suit he comes home clad in a Nazi uniform. They have regular American conversations at the dinner table with a full on Nazi there.
Mrs Smith probably freaks me out the most. You get to see enough of John doing his stuff that that takes over his story largely. But she's just like an All American Nazi Mom. It's just such a weird juxtaposition, the viewer never really accepts it (in a good not accepting it way). It's just not RIGHT. and that's why it's great.
Eaxactly! I swear their house even reminds me of my own house growing up, except we didn't have that super-high-tech weird stove or fridge. The exterior and yard are similar to some in my hometown. That time in S1 when they invited Joe over for "VA" day, I think they called it? It was like the 4th of July, with a picnic and fireworks and family. Except instead of celebrating American independence and democracy they were celebrating the triumph of Fascism. Ugh.
You're right, that's what makes it great.
The ultimate "Uncanny Valley" family, eh?
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It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing .
The Smith's son creeps me out the most.
All of the other characters followed life experiences and life choices that got them to where they are at. Even for Hitler there was once upon a time when he was just a normal boy and not a Nazi.
The Smith's son was a Nazi from the day he was born and he fully, absolutely, completely believes in the Nazi cause. That's the kind of person that has the potential to become even worse than Hitler.
He's also the perfect son, and in many ways a perfect person. Which is a perfect representation of the "banality of evil" idea.
Perversion of motherhood is a powerful trigger for repulsion. In Helen's defense she was aghast when she found out that John had killed Dr. Adler and she purposefully didn't tell him that Juliana knew about Thomas's condition. She also seems to be about to pay a heavy price for her Nazism, when the son she raised has himself put to death for the good of the Reich.
Martin Huesmann's vision of forever putting an end to war by merely killing 20 million people gets my vote.
True, but in an earlier episode she was looking at old photos with John, including one of his brother who was disabled. She said how hard it must have been for John's father to see him that way and how really it would have been better just to end his life. I imagine she feels differently now it's happening to her. Then she yelled at John for "carrying a defect." Like it's his fault. I mean, I get that's she under horrible stress but John proved he was willing to do anything to save Thomas. I don't know what more he could do.
shareShe's definitely no humanitarian. It will be interesting to see how Helen's character develops next season. I hope they don't cut her out too much now that Juliana's storyline has, presumably, moved back west.
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