![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flowrs4ophelia
I'm getting pretty slow about posting about episodes when I want to, aren't I? This is mostly just some general meta about how the Joseph-Tamara and Daniel-Zoe stories have been developed up to this point with a few more specific reactions to this episode.
Initially this episode didn't exactly amaze me like other recent ones, but the more I think about it the more it's staying with me. Above all this show is starting to get deeply saddening to me (not that this is any surprise). The whole story of Joseph's journey to find his daughter has so much imminent tragedy. At first it reminded me a little of the myth of Orpheus, but I've seen some very insightful meta pointing out parallels between Tamara and Persephone that are much stronger, especially because of the flowers motif that's become connected to her. I love this kind of stuff. Compared to the other more morally gray characters in this show who nearly all have showed some pretty ugly sides, Tammy seems so innocent and vulnerable though not weak, and it's easy to care about her even though she's only had any real development in one episode so far. But it seems like that innocence is inevitably going to be lost, and I think by the time Joseph finally sees her she isn't even going to be quite the same person his daughter was anymore.
Though I'm definitely hoping like many others that she'll eventually become a more central character, I think I can be patient about it, and I find it pretty effective that they waited a while before introducing her storyline and are now holding off on returning to her. It kind of reinforces the feeling of loss and unattainability on Joseph's side of the story, and anyway the show has enough major threads to take care of as it is. And it'll probably be more interesting and shocking in the end to not have seen step-by-step how being in New Cap City has changed her during all this time. I'm a little terrified to see that and find out what exactly she's been through, which I'm sure is pretty much the intended reaction.
Meanwhile, what's going on between Zoe and her father is really hard to watch in a whole other way. Daniel's desperation makes me sympathetic toward him while his methods of trying to force her out are despicable and unjustified. At the same time, I'm kind of conflicted about whether Zoe is justified in completely shutting him out. It's so hard to have a good idea of what Daniel and Amanda were like as parents and if Zoe has any understandable reasons for hating them, besides her disapproval of her dad's work and what he did to steal her avatar. I can imagine that they were a little distant and negligent as easily as I can imagine that Zoe was just smart enough to keep a lot of secrets about how she was spending her time.
From the beginning Zoe has been a tough character to pin down, and I'm starting to think this is at least partially intentional. We don't feel like we completely know her because her parents feel like they didn't completely know her. As much as her turning to monotheism out of defiance of her parents rings true to the way many teenagers are influenced, in the end it's a stretch to try to identify with a girl who could easily run away from her family to a completely different planet, not on a whim or in the heat of anger but with thorough premeditation. Her friendship with Lacy consists of her constantly guilt-tripping and demanding things of her. I wasn't even very surprised when she was willing to shoot the dog. The only time I can think of when she's actually showed some compassion and selflessness is when she and Lacy found Tamara and she was insistent about not leaving her on her own despite the risk of staying there too long. What's interesting is she knew Tamara must be pure avatar like she is, so I have to wonder if it made a difference to her that she wasn't human.
All things considered, Zoe is actually a profoundly intelligent person and in many ways not such an ordinary teenager, and I do find that interesting. (Whenever I remember that she on her own was able to develop the technology that her father's and Vergis's corporations were both trying to get right for years, I think, You know, that really is pretty badass.) If I ever heard somebody say that the girl who allegedly blew up a train had "principles" then I'd seriously question their definition of principles, but the funny thing is Philomon doesn't even know the whole truth but had a point when he said that about Zoe. It was very harmful that she was trying to be an independent adult and do too much too soon, but it's still kind of admirable and unusual for someone her age to be so decisively committed to trying to make some kind of difference in the world instead of rebelling by just sneaking out to go to parties on school nights. And the more we see of the world of New Cap City, the easier it is to see where STO is coming from at least in thinking the completely unreserved use of this technology is making people lose touch with what's important. But right now Zoe is just too extreme for it to be easy to root for her. And she needs to get off her high horse.
A few more brief thoughts about this episode...
- I'd been saying to my friends I watch this with that it's too bad Joseph can't just tell Sam about what's happened to Tamara, because then he could just bring his gangster brother into V-world with him to cover his ass easily. So I got some particular enjoyment out of it when he was actually vaguely asking for Sam's advice about how to survive there, haha. That was a great scene.
- The relationship between Amanda and Clarice continues to be a strong and engaging one to watch play out, but I totally don't know what to think of all these scenes dealing with Amanda seeing her dead brother. It makes some sense and it's not handled badly, but it's also not involving me very much so that I completely forget about it as soon as each scene is over and later I'm like Oh right, I guess that happened in this episode, too. I can't get past the impression that this has only been brought up for the sake of having more material involving Amanda.
- I love Joseph and his dorkiness, LOL. Maybe he seems to be acting like a total wimp and in some ways he is, but it's not like being able to shoot someone in a virtual reality makes you a badass anyway. Even his reaction of genuine sorrow after he got Heracles "killed" in the previous episode was interestingly telling. Heracles doesn't have nearly as much to lose by dying in the game and was overreacting, but as Joseph's daughter now exists as something no more real than this program he seems able to appreciate that it's actually dying in a sense and he can't just take it lightly.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-26 02:53 am (UTC)I've been so wanting Sam to go into v-world and kick some New Cap City ass; Joseph is sometimes so embarrassingly bad at being a gangster I have to look away. LOL
I can't wait for tomorrow. It's going to be good...I just know it. And then the wait....grrrr.
Cheers!
Nik
no subject
Date: 2010-03-26 03:10 am (UTC)I just know waiting to get off work so I can watch the next episode tomorrow night is going to be torture. It looks so good.