Season 2
Season 2 begins Sunday, December 9!
shareThis is already shaping up to be a fascinating season. We have two marriages, Howard’s and Peter’s, each with a spook for a spouse and each with spouses from both sides. My goodness, imagine either couple going into marriage counseling! They’d have to murder the counselor! What moved me was the dynamic between hard-hearted Howard genuinely trying to help kind Howard’s wife in her struggle with memory loss and recalling her pre-accident life. Emily has strong instincts. At some level she knows that he is not the man she married, but she blames her lack of trust and empathy on her condition. My heart can’t help but go out to her—and also to hard Howard, for trying to do his very best by her and by his counterpart.
Olivia Williams, as Emily, blew me away tonight. When I worked in retail, a very elegant older lady came into my store. She was class from head to toe; not ostentatious in the least, but wearing a top-quality topcoat, lovely and understated scarf, minimal makeup, an executive’s hairstyle and tasteful and costly necklace, wristwatch and wedding band. She carried herself with dignity and grace, and had a charming smile. I asked how I could help her, and quickly recognized that her vocabulary was limited. She explained that she did not know the name of what she wanted, and then shyly handed me a beautifully-printed business card. On the card was printed: “I have had a stroke. Please be patient with me.” I was on commission, but I instantly decided that I was not doing one more thing until we got her what she wanted. The look on her face as we communicated, and at last found her the remote control that she had lost, was spot-on, real-McCoy, on-the-money, nail-on-the-head IDENTICAL to the expressions on Emily’s face as she struggled to recognize words and objects and her world and her husband. Bravo and Huzzah!! I will never forget either of these ladies. PS My customer was SO HAPPY, and called her husband with the news. To hell with commission.
Right, I'm expecting trouble with the married couples, either between each other or especially with others as Peter's wife or "Howard" wind up taking hostile actions. Peter's wife already has recently and she seems a lot more dangerous than Peter. Then the interaction as Emily figures out that it isn't her husband, and she will figure it out being familiar with both sides. I was surprised that "Howard" was actually somewhat attentive given his adverse nature with his own family on the other side.
shareI think Clare could eat Peter for a snack. Notice how she is already visiting with an afflicted Emily. Clare is a master of the game. The truly picqint point in her marriage to Peter is their daughter. I believe that they both truly love her. I agree that Emily will recover and probably be able to diagram the dynamics of the situation better than anyone else—and also be outraged by the attempt on her life and her true husband being stranded on the other side! You and I both noticed that hard-hearted Howard is noticeably more nurturing and empathetic this season. I truly believe that both Howards are learning from each other, each of them becoming a more fully-realized man. It’s entirely possible that hard-hearted Howard MUST develop his feminine side if he is going to keep his Emily, who is becoming infatuated with kind-hearted Howard, as is his daughter. All the variations on these relationships smell delicious to me.
Let’s not forget: we only saw “our” side this ep. We haven’t seen the doings on the other side, yet, and we haven’t seen Baldwin yet. Baldwin fascinates me. I think she is the Ace of Spades in this deck. For some reason, to me she evokes the character Paladin in the TV series, Have Gun, Will Travel, often described as “the thinking [person’s] Western”: lethal as all get-out, and yet also good as all get-out, with scruples and heart. Her counterpart was a brilliant concert violinist. Baldwin is a weapon with a soul. I can hardly wait to see more of her story.
R_Kane, I agree with you about Clare. She's one tough individual with little qualms about killing to further goals and plans. We've seen a lot of that from her. But I think she has to worry about the other Howard who is working with Peter, at least to some extent, and he's another one to not cross up. I'm wondering how Peter and Clare will get along as time goes by this season. Will events give them reason to keep neutral towards each other? Or will events force them to fight it out?
Baldwin also intrigues me. She has a lot of emotion like you say yet she's a tough minded person as a trained assassin. It will be interesting to see where her story goes this season and how she works things being cut off from her side. Maybe even change sides if circumstances and survival force her to do so.