Tag: recaps

The Man in the High Castle Season 3 Episode 1: Now More Than Ever, We Care About You Recap

~ Metacrone

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It’s been almost 2 years since we last visited with the residents of the Greater Nazi Reich, the Japanese Pacific States and the Neutral Zone, and things have changed both in the real and fictional worlds. The Man in the High Castle has undergone huge behind the scenes changes, including a new showrunner. So has Amazon’s television division. There has been turnover in the cast as well, and last season brought the end of the first “book” in the series.

This season starts a new long-term story arc. Let’s see if it’s worth the wait.

At the end of season 2, Juliana is in the Neutral Zone and reunited with her sister from another reality, Trudy, as the Man in the High Castle, Hawthorne Abendon, looks on. Frank and Sarah appear to be lost in the explosion they set in the San Francisco Kempeitai building to assassinate General Onoda. Kido and Tagomi survive the explosion. Kido gives Smith one of the movies that Tagomi brought back from an alternate Earth, as proof that Japan also has the bomb, in order to avoid nuclear war. Ed and Childan have left San Francisco on a bus bound for the Neutral Zone.

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Manifest Season 1 Episode 4: Unclaimed Baggage Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 1 Comment

This week’s episode of Manifest, Unclaimed Baggage, drew together Saanvi, Michaela and Flight Attendant Bethany to solve the mystery/case of the week: What happened to Bethany’s stowaway friend after the plane landed? They were an effective and appealing dream team, who I hope we get to see continue working together. Ben’s role in this case was to act as skeptic and briefly as driver.

What’s up with him being left out of the callings since the first episode?

Instead, Ben carried the family drama again, which this week centered around Olive’s adventures with shoplifting. Olive drew Danny back into the family mix, precipitating the overdue meeting between him and Ben. Or maybe it was just overdue that we met Danny. You can’t cast Daniel Sunjata, then keep him off my screen. At any rate, Grace is now officially a sketchy Femme Fatale in my book, and the Stones have gone from being a typical suburban family in the opening of the pilot to being a truly messed up suburban family.

Why is Grace a Femme Fatale? Not just because of the unexplained, secret strife that’s drawn her, Danny and Olive close enough together that they act like they’ve been through a war together. The other Stone family thread this week concerned Ben’s life insurance pay out of $500k, which the insurance company wants back, since he’s actually alive and all. Grace goes through a vague set of circumstances, most of them expected, and somehow comes up with having spent the entire half a million dollars already, in 5 years, on her and Olive. Plus all of the equity in their house.

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Maniac Season 1 Episode 10: Option C Recap

~ Metacrone

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With Option C, we reach the end the beginning of the road. That is to say, we come full circle. The drug trial ends, and the subjects are paid off and sent back to their day-to-day lives. Owen and Annie attempt to make changes in their lives, following up on what they experienced in their reflections.

The doctors are forced to change their lives, after the unexpected way the trial ended. They are sent out into the real world, no longer able to use their careers as an excuse to hide behind their computers in windowless rooms. All of the main characters spend the episode building toward striking out on new adventures, but we’ll have to wait to see if Maniac stays a “limited” one season series, or if it gets a season 2, before we find out if we get to follow the next stage of their development.

Option C begins with the subjects waking up from their “C” pill experience. They are dazed, overheated, and dehydrated. Owen asks Annie if she’s okay, but she just tells him, “Not now.” As the subjects stumble from the experiment room, James and Greta stand outside the door and say helpful things like, “You’re alive!” and, “You woke up!” They get it together after a minute and act as though they’re in a receiving line, congratulating the subjects and asking Owen if he feels pure, unaffected joy.

Owen tells Greta that he’s a huge fan and has read all of her books. That explains why he was able to understand Gertie, and she liked him so much. I wonder if Greta is Owen’s fantasy mother, when he dreams of replacing his own.

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Manifest Season 1 Episode 3: Turbulence Recap

~ Metacrone

 

Turbulence settles into what will likely be the episode pattern for most of the season. Like episode 2, we have a case/passenger of the week, with Ben and Michaela at the forefront of an unsanctioned investigation. The digging necessary to help that person also provides information about both the larger mystery and what the government might be up to.

The Stone family drama also moves forward. Sadly, so far it seems as though the other passengers and characters are only there to service the mystery of the plane’s disappearance or to take part in the main family’s drama. Hopefully, with time, the stories will branch out further.

Devotion, faith, and owning your truth are themes this week. Michaela learns that she needs to be honest with herself and others about what happened with Evie, and is rewarded with the breaking down of her mental barriers. The twins work through more of the issues that make them feel separated, in an attempt to regain their Twin Power. Lourdes is nowhere in sight, while Jared adopts Michaela as his work wife.

Saanvi has a strong drive to know the truth, and faith that she can find it, no matter what barriers stand in her way.  It’s no coincidence that she created a cure for blood cancer while in her twenties. She has a search engine and a medical lab, and she knows how to use them. Vance had better watch out.

Ben and Grace are still struggling to figure out the truth of their marriage, while the entire family, other than Cal, struggles with honesty. Cal is the little truth teller of the family, and possibly of Flight 828. Perhaps “He is risen” means Cal now sees the truth of all situations, and he won’t accept anything less. He’s risen above everything else.

The Stones love and are devoted to each other, but that isn’t always enough. Grace still has that strange demeanor about her, like she’s forcing herself to be with Ben because she’s had a religious calling to do so, not because it’s what she’d choose if she met Danny and Ben today. But that’s what her decision needs to come down to: Which one would she choose today?

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Maniac Season 1 Episode 9: Utangatta Recap

~ Metacrone

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In episode 9, the “C” pill brings the subjects to confront the core of their fears. If Owen becomes the sweet, unguarded, lovable person that he was meant to be, but that person is a huge screw up, will he be worthy of protection and love? Porter was willing to sacrifice Owen in order to save Jed, but Owen now understands that there’s nothing he can do to inspire that kind of loyalty from his family. Nor should he aspire to. But can he inspire it in someone? Can he matter to someone, even if he’s a failure?

Annie needs to say goodbye to Ellie, but what’s really holding her back is her fear that she’ll never find anyone else, or, even if she does, she’ll lose them, too. Can she put aside her fear, anger and self-loathing, and use her strength, boldness and courage to trust, protect and love someone again? Can she believe in herself enough to be the hero who saves someone?

We’re about to go all super-spy to find out. Owen is Snorri Agnarsson, a blonde Icelandic diplomat who discovered and befriended a blue alien named Ernie. Ernie was sent to help mankind, and had made some progress. Snorri was scheduled to introduce him to the world, when Snorri’s careless mistake with a vodka gimlet killed Ernie. Now the world debates how to punish Snorri and to defend against Ernie’s people. Annie appears as a stone cold assassin, sent by the US government to save Snorri and awaken him to his true identity and purpose.

Owen and vodka gimlets just shouldn’t mix.

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Maniac Season 1 Episode 8: The Lake of the Clouds Recap

~ Metacrone

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The Lake of the Clouds continues the “C” pill stories that were begun in episode 7. Owen is still his father’s #2 in their mob family business and working for the police as a snitch. Annie is still a half elf who’s showing her elven princess sister to a magical lake that they hope will lift a fatal curse from her. Gertie/Queen Gertrude is still working with Greta and threatening Annie. James and Azumi are still tense.

The episode picks up with Annia and Ellia back in their cave, arguing about the nature of reality. Annia has tried to explain the truth of the situation to Ellia, but she’s not buying it.

Ellia: So you’re telling me you believe that this is not the real world. That some other world, your world, is the true world. And that I’m confused who I am, as is every other elf, human, orc, dwarf, hobgoblin… The entire world is mad but you’re not? Is that what you think?

Annie: Yes.

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Maniac Season 1 Episode 7: Ceci N’est Pas Une Drill Recap

~ Metacrone

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Despite their vow to protect each other, Annie and Owen are split into separate reflections this time around. They each have a straight up, hard core experience with their families, using the exploration of “what if” scenarios to confront ways their lives could have been different, this time changing their relationships with their siblings.

Owen belongs to a mob family straight out of a Martin Scorsese movie, let’s say GoodFellas. But he has Jed’s role in the family business instead of his own, while Jed has been exiled. Annie gives in to one of Ellie’s final desires, and plays out the high fantasy story that Ellie laid out in their hotel room the night before she died. It’s Lord of the Rings with extra mead.

The story opens on Owen and his father, Porter, meeting in their dark basement lair. Porter tells Owen about his lost older brother, who was such a disappointment to Porter, with his disloyalty, crying and lying, that Porter put him up for adoption at 4 months old. Porter congratulates himself on catching the baby’s flaws early.

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Maniac Season 1 Episode 5: Exactly Like You Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 2 Comments

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Maniac episode 5, titled “Exactly Like You”, relates another of Owen and Annie’s dreams/reflections while under the influence of the “B” pill. It’s Owen’s turn to create the setting, with Annie following along. Gertie also inserts herself into the story, and some other characters from previous episodes make cameos in the dream.

In this dream, Owen is a high-end con artist, named Sir Ollie Hightower, who’s on his way to a sĂ©ance at an upper class mansion, where he plans to pull off a heist. Annie is his estranged wife, Arlie, who also has an invitation to the event. What they both really want is to steal a valuable antique manuscript from the hostess, Lady Neberdine.

Partnership is always on Ollie’s mind. He wants a partner desperately, but has been burned so many times in the past that he’s now determined to work alone, with only minimal help from his driver. This is one, or maybe two, of Owen’s defense mechanisms. He’s lonely, and so overwhelmed by his loneliness that he can’t find a way out of it. He’s given up on trying to find anyone.

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Manifest Season 1 Episode 2: Reentry Recap

~ Metacrone ~ 7 Comments

In episode 2, Reentry, the passengers continue to settle in at home after their 5 year absence, and begin to make connections with each other. Connections with the people they left behind are further tested and explored, sometimes with supernatural help. Potential enemies begin to reveal themselves, with deadly consequences.

The episode opens on reporters describing the destruction of the plane that carried Flight 828 home from Jamaica. The plane’s sudden explosion ended episode 1, with 20 passengers having felt an inner call to witness the incident, and Cal jolting awake in bed at the moment of the explosion.

The reporters stand in front of what’s barely even a smoldering shell of an aircraft. The explosion and subsequent fires burned up everything but a few pieces of the plane’s exterior, and those are charred beyond recognition. Whatever someone was trying to hide, mission accomplished.

We also learned that it’s been 4 days since the plane’s return, the plane exploded shortly after midnight, and the 20 passengers were recorded on surveillance cameras.

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Maniac Season 1 Episode 4: Furs by Sebastian Recap

~ Metacrone

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Episode 4, Furs by Sebastian, is entirely comprised of one of Annie and Owen’s immersive “B” pill experiences. This one is driven by Annie, with Owen as a loyal sidekick, though his issues do bleed into the scenario as well. They begin as a seemingly normal, working class couple, but that doesn’t last long. Neither of the subjects really has “normal” coded into their genes. They couldn’t make “normal” work if they tried.

Normal is overrated anyway.

We begin with Bruce Marino (Owen’s alias in this reality), who’s waiting in his car outside of the Department of Motor Vehicles and reading a marriage advice book by Dr Greta Mantleray titled See Her, See You, See We. He’s worried that his marriage is failing and hopes that Dr Greta can help him fix it. He underlines a passage in the book: “She’s often telling you what she needs. Your job as her husband is to hear it.”

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