4x01 "Bulletproof"

[miminnehaha]

I'm slightly worried about how Luke seemed to be an anti-Chaz.

Both of them have violent fathers.

Where Chaz's mom saves him and gets away from his father, Luke's is unable to.

Luke is unable to do abstract thinking, Chaz has it for a superpower.

Luke`s external manifestation is invulnerability, Chaz`s is invisible.

Both of them struggle to fit in, but Chaz finds a place and Luke doesn`t.

Chaz uses his powers for good, Luke - well, it`s not *evil* as we know it - but it`s certainly not good.

Chaz jumped off tall buildings (bridges at least) and survived.

I might be inferring something that TPTB are not implying. If there`s is something to it, I find the thematic implications troubling.

It is probably worth mentioning at this point in the speculation that Chaz was the only member of the "away team" who didn't have any POV in "Bulletproof."

I can always count on my fandom to think of something much more alarming than would ever occur to me.

And yet, why do I find this alarming? If Chaz is the inverse of Luke, this is all to the good, isn't it? Luke ultimately accomplished nothing but an unintentional death and the end of his own suffering (with death). I would not be averse to Chaz obtaining the inverse.* or am I being obtuse?**

*vanquish the bug, all-on-purpose-like.

_{**so, what am I missing?}

And here's this anti-summary: Luke seemed unaware of the influence of the anomaly and ended up dying (perhaps as a direct result of said influence). ((there's the whole maximum-pain-through-media thing, although I'm still leaning toward beta myself.))  Chaz's hyper-awareness of the influence of the anomaly serves somehow to enable his ultimate victory over it!

[NobleHunter]

I was worried on a thematic level 'cause if we've gotten an anti-Chaz, we can get an anti-Hafs. Or anti-Reyes.

Or anti-Sol. 

You have a point that it might portend good things for Chaz, but I think the TPTB might be setting up a new vector to inflict misery on us. Sweet, delicious, ecstatic misery, but misery all the same.

[Clarentine]

Luke ... ended up dying (perhaps as a direct result of said influence).

That was definitely my interpretation.  Whether he was unaware of the anomaly, however, I am not sure we can tell, given his cognitive differences.

[miminnehaha]

Luke ... ended up dying (perhaps as a direct result of said influence).

That was definitely my interpretation.  Whether he was unaware of the anomaly, however, I am not sure we can tell, given his cognitive differences.

I know you're probably right. I just like to hypothesize. My theory track record is zero out of... well, however many! That's the fun of the PTB: they're unpredictable in such unpredictable ways!

[DavidG]

it might portend good things for Chaz

Portents? PTB? Muahahahaha!

[DavidG]

What nice timing for a banker as villain!

But also what a tragedy.

The gamma-of-the-week (and I'm uncomfortable with that term because it undervalues the writing) isn't a villain so much as a victim, which we've seen before, but he breaks through to take on a real villain, he just does it in the wrong, possibly Bug-Influenced, way.

Nor is it clear if he's a Gamma, a Hafs-type Beta, a Hope-type Beta, or something new, a one-off because of the brain-damage. If he can't do abstraction, then can he do the paranoid/obsessive ideation that's how Bug manifests? And if he can't do that, can we call him a Gamma or Beta? The appetite from birth suggests Hope-type Beta, but I'd like to see the genetics on this one!

For a gamma he's very task-oriented (why yes, I am watching a lot of CM re-runs at the moment ) , more so than most of the gammas we see. It's rare to find one with a plan that stretches beyond the next manifestation/atrocity. Hope springs to mind (though she was a Beta, of course), and beyond that we have the puppeteer(s), but other than that I'm coming up largely blank. Felicity Tabor had a goal, but not the first idea of a plan. Erik, on the other hand, is staging manifestations as an arrow shot straight at his father's powerbase, there's a purpose to everything he does that we rarely see.

'Bulletproof', of course, had us all scared for Nikki, and she's clearly still fragile, but she's also clearly still Wonderwoman, dropping her gun into Reyes' hands to hug the gamma into submission - it makes some of Reyes' more crazy bring-em-back-alive moves seem positively pedestrian! And there at the end she finds the approbation she's been looking for from her father, everything she wanted from him when he was alive, denied to her until he was gone. Tragedy again, though with a seed of hope buried with it.

No hope for Erik, though, physics one, gamma nil, but maybe that was what he wanted. That final assault on his father's building, and his testament, bear every sign of being a suicide run, stepping off the roof may be just more of the same, suicide by cop for the man who can't be shot. Difficult to see this one as anything more than just plain tragedy.

[tylik]

I don't think Erik was incapable of any abstractions - he was unable to do certain types of abstractions. (Even in my drug addled state, this is tickling my memory such that I suspect Erik was based on at least one case study.)

[jimsmyth]

I don't think Erik was incapable of any abstractions - he was unable to do certain types of abstractions. (Even in my drug addled state, this is tickling my memory such that I suspect Erik was based on at least one case study.)

I wouldn't put it past our PTB.  They are wonderfully sneaky at times.  (Like when they're awake...)

[glinda_w]

I wouldn't put it past our PTB.  They are wonderfully sneaky at times.  (Like when they're awake...)

Only while they're awake? I suspect their subconscious/dreaming state is also veryveryvery sneaky.

[DavidG]

I don't think Erik was incapable of any abstractions - he was unable to do certain types of abstractions.

They're fairly explicit on that,

Make a list of the jobs you can get without doing math, and without visual abstraction.

They did tests and told me I'd already adapted a little to the damage. Neuroplasticity--as a baby, I'd been so desperate to learn to understand and talk that my brain had found ways around the messed-up parts. That was why I could manage abstraction in language.

But none of those are quite the kind of abstraction involved in paranoid ideation (at least as I understand it) - which involves projecting distinct mental states onto others (is sense of self an abstraction?). Language and thought aren't identical, and even if Luke (just noticed I was calling him Erik) did find some different pathways to do language that doesn't necessarily mean he can use them for anything else. I think we have to say we don't have the information to draw definite conclusions.

[miminnehaha]

is sense of self an abstraction?

I'm pretty sure projecting sense of self is abstraction, yes. Is sense of self, itself, abstraction? The Cogito, no?

[Andre Guirard]

"Don't you get it? You're a superhero. We've got a secret team of people like you, doing important things. We're not here to arrest you, we're here to recruit you. Here, let me show you our Invisible Man. Come with us and we'll give you some real work. Lawn service, huh!"

And then once you've got him in the van, you shoot him full of sedative.

[metropolis22786]

But the Force Field would prevent all sorts of shots. (!)

I wonder if it would keep him safe from a chloroformed rag?

[Andre Guirard]

But the Force Field would prevent all sorts of shots. (!)

I wonder if it would keep him safe from a chloroformed rag?

It only helps him if he knows to turn it on. If you sneak up with a syringe, or a sock full of sand, or anything that's quick, no help. Not much use against restraints either, if properly designed. Really kind of a lame power when you come right down to it.

[eschatonic]

No, no. You show him the needle. You tell him it's a nutritional booster to compensate for the strain his abilities put on his body. To prove that you're not up to something nefarious, Chaz holds out his hand expectantly and somebody sticks him with an identical looking needle. Seeing Chaz get his injection with no ill effects, our new captive feels trusting and allows himself to be shot up too.

Except Chaz's needle is full of saline, or glucose if he prefers.