Maybe I'm missing something...

[Andre Guirard]

(and I want to say first, because it's going to seem like I'm complaining, that this is excellent writing you've been doing, even without adding the proviso "compared to everything else on TV")

...and I have to admit I haven't read all the stuff in these forums, but I have been searching around and not finding my issues addressed.

It seems to me we've been going along for a while now and not getting significantly more information about the Anomaly, apart from an indication that it might run in families (since Chaz and his dad had it -- what are the odds?). Even that could be from mere contact rather than genetics (or other family-based connection). There's some implication that the folks at Idlewild are learning things, but none of it seems to affect the team's approach to finding and dealing with the monsters.  They've got a system and they're using it, but as far as prevention, they've got nothing. They spend all their time fighting fires.

And here they've got on the team not one but two betas whose talents involve taking loads of information and discerning the patterns. In every spare minute they're not out hunting wabbits, shouldn't they be poring over every known fact about every known anomaloid, applying techniques from epidemiology, trying to figure out whether they ever had contact with other ones, or an unusual number went to Catholic schools, or like artichokes, or had family stories about weird great-Uncle Al who could turn a squirrel inside-out with a glance, or whatever? Looking for historical examples? Tracking the trends? Shouldn't the folks at Idlewild be experimenting with any of the gammas not too dangerous to f*** with, to see whether there's a blood test for detecting gammas, or a drug that suppresses their abilities, or anything else that might be of use to the team? Maybe they're doing that, but it's all offstage and we don't see any effects from it.

Because, see, there's a cause for all this, and there are ways to figure this stuff out.  They can't just go on and on learning nothing.  These are smart people, and they're not acting smart about this.  It seems out of character.

The result is that while there's been lots of movement and growth in the character relationships, not much is happening in terms of the story arc of the main conflict -- them vs. the Anomaly. Assuming you intended there to be such an arc, and not just have it as a static background for the character stories (which, frankly, would make me lose interest).  Chaz is having his struggle with it -- his personal situation viz the Anomaly has changed -- but we haven't learned much from that.

So anyway, basically, I'm starting to get annoyed by their lack of progress and the lack of any visible attempts to make progress against the larger issues.  It detracts from my enjoyment of what otherwise is a fine series.  It may just be me; I know there's a reason other people like CSI and similar programs while I'm bored stiff by them, so I may just be a freak.  But I suggest you consider these points.

[Elizabeth Bear]

...and here I thought we were doing a pretty good job talking about the general problem of tracking the anomaly to its lair, given that we are just about a quarter of the way through a five-season arc.

Ooops. My bad, there. (Well, one of my editors delights in telling me that I do not have a transparent head*.)

At the very least, I can assure you it has been discussed, and various theories have been aired, and evidence assessed, and theories discussed and modified. Both in episodes and DVD extras, and perhaps more extensively in the character journals.

And there is, of course, more to follow. *g*


*Just as well, or you all would already know how everybody dies.**

**Ooops. Was that my outside voice?***

***Well, I guess it's not too much of a shocker. After all, well. Everybody dies.

[glinda_w]

...and here I thought we were doing a pretty good job talking about the general problem of tracking the anomaly to its lair, given that we are just about a quarter of the way through a five-season arc.

Ditto. After all, this is focused on the ACTF, not on Idlewood and Frost's findings and and and... I think of the team, and the episodes and DVD extras, as being akin to other profilers, the ones who go after serial killers - they are, basically, fighting fires, and don't get much slack time for prevention.

Also, there's the occasional mention of them digging through old casefiles, and there's the time between episodes, and there's no way they're not doing *something* - it's just that whatever that something is hasn't been disclosed yet. We've got 3 and a fraction seasons to go...
[/quote]

*Just as well, or you all would already know how everybody dies.*

Friend-brain: *wails* oh NOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Reader-brain: but in which order, and how?
Silly-brain: You mean it's an opera?+

**Ooops. Was that my outside voice?***

*giggle*

***Well, I guess it's not too much of a shocker. After all, well. Everybody dies.+

+"What did you expect, a happy ending?"

[Elizabeth Bear]

Also, there's the occasional mention of them digging through old casefiles, and there's the time between episodes, and there's no way they're not doing *something* - it's just that whatever that something is hasn't been disclosed yet. We've got 3 and a fraction seasons to go...

Aww, and after all that Monster Zoo stuff we brought you this season, too...

+"What did you expect, a happy ending?"

Well. Sort of.

And don't forget the Inevitable Reunion Movie.

[glinda_w]

+"What did you expect, a happy ending?"

Well. Sort of.

And don't forget the Inevitable Reunion Movie.

Which, if everybody dies, will be a zombie flick...

[Edmund Schweppe]

*Just as well, or you all would already know how everybody dies.**

As long as it's not of the "Rocks Fall, Everybody Dies!" variety.

Me, I'm hoping for the "peacefully dying in bed of old age surrounded by loved ones" outcome for all of Our Heroes, unlikely as old age would seem for Chaz and Hafidha, and unlikely as that level of niceness seems for our beloved and tricksy PTB.

[John Campbell]

Which, if everybody dies, will be a zombie flick...

Well, Lau's got the makeup for it already.


On the original subject, I'm the kind of person who, when presented with a system, immediately starts trying to figure out where the limits of the system are and how it breaks. I've put a fair bit of thought into trying to figure out what the rules that govern the Anomaly's behaviour are. In speculating along those lines, I've noticed that the gammas that I think it would be really useful to be able to experiment with... are dead. I have a creeping suspicion that the PTB are deliberately killing the potentially informative ones just to keep us, and the team, in the dark.

On the other hand, the team's record for bringing them in alive hasn't been all that great overall, and there may be a correlation between "interesting experimental subject" and "too dangerous to let live". (e.g., I've mentioned several times that I'd really like to know what the actual bounds on Morgan Creirwy's power were... but there was no way the team could've taken her alive.)

[Edmund Schweppe]

(and I want to say first, because it's going to seem like I'm complaining, that this is excellent writing you've been doing, even without adding the proviso "compared to everything else on TV")

Welcome to the boards, Andre! (Hopefully you're no relation to Andre Kent ...)

...and I have to admit I haven't read all the stuff in these forums, but I have been searching around and not finding my issues addressed.

If you haven't found the Wiki yet, there's a lot of stuff in there, some of which might address your concerns. (http://wiki.shadowunit.org)

It seems to me we've been going along for a while now and not getting significantly more information about the Anomaly, apart from an indication that it might run in families (since Chaz and his dad had it -- what are the odds?). Even that could be from mere contact rather than genetics (or other family-based connection). There's some implication that the folks at Idlewild are learning things, but none of it seems to affect the team's approach to finding and dealing with the monsters.  They've got a system and they're using it, but as far as prevention, they've got nothing. They spend all their time fighting fires.

Between the Quantico Gamma, Refining Fire and the Notaboy's "accidental" death in a hit-and-run, we've got at least two and presumably three attacks by the Anomaly on the folks hunting it. We've also started to see the the infrastructure backing up Our Heroes, as well as the politics associated with that infrastructure. That politics is at least part of the reason the team is stuck in a reactive mode, as Celentano told Reyes in "Tactics".

And here they've got on the team not one but two betas whose talents involve taking loads of information and discerning the patterns. In every spare minute they're not out hunting wabbits, shouldn't they be poring over every known fact about every known anomaloid, applying techniques from epidemiology, trying to figure out whether they ever had contact with other ones, or an unusual number went to Catholic schools, or like artichokes, or had family stories about weird great-Uncle Al who could turn a squirrel inside-out with a glance, or whatever? Looking for historical examples? Tracking the trends? Shouldn't the folks at Idlewild be experimenting with any of the gammas not too dangerous to f*** with, to see whether there's a blood test for detecting gammas, or a drug that suppresses their abilities, or anything else that might be of use to the team? Maybe they're doing that, but it's all offstage and we don't see any effects from it.

Most of that has been off-stage, but there have been hints in the episodes and extras and larger hints in the LiveJournals. Frustratingly (for me, at least), there hasn't been that much of it spelled out in "As you know, Bob"-isms. We the readers have to piece this stuff together from LiveJournal hints and reading between the lines of the episodes and extras. The Wiki helps somewhat to keep track of things, but the PTB haven't come close to playing all their cards yet. Which makes sense for being only a season and a half into a five season arc.

Don't forget, our PTB are not members of the Narrativelumpenproletariat; they'll give us bits and pieces, but only when said bits and pieces make sense for the particular episode being told. If someone like David Weber was writing this, we'd already have had any number of episodes come to a flying stop while one or more characters read aloud from the Show Bible. Bull, Bear and the rest don't do that.

From one standpoint, it's frustrating. From another, it keeps me coming back for more. [1]

So anyway, basically, I'm starting to get annoyed by their lack of progress and the lack of any visible attempts to make progress against the larger issues.

I think the team is annoyed by their lack of progress. As for attempts to make progress, Reyes for one is pushing as hard as he can, and probably harder than he should, to do just that. Remember "Tactics?" The very first thing Reyes does after getting his job back is to push his boss for more outreach, specifically so they can find gammas and proto-gammas before they start killing people.

The team is learning stuff. They just haven't learned enough, yet, to make a huge difference. And, frankly, I'm not sure they could actually find a cure in a mere five seasons, given the security clampdown and the paucity of hard data. Not without a big chunk of Handwavium, that is.

[1] For many reasons, including the fact that it's fascinating as a reader and a wannabe-writer to see how they do it. Narrative lumps are much easier to write than the seamless blending of story and background.

[jennygadget]

Between the Quantico Gamma, Refining Fire and the Notaboy's "accidental" death in a hit-and-run, we've got at least two and presumably three attacks by the Anomaly on the folks hunting it.

Am I the only one that doesn't see it this way?  It's not that I will be terribly surprised if this does end up being the case, I just get all itchy when people talk about the anommly as if we're already certain it's sentient.*  (I keep hearing Reyes chastizing himself in the Monster Zoo extra, actually.)

That just seems like a terribly convenient assumption, imo.  It would be very nice if we could pin all the bad stuff on evil doing evil things - or at least an enemy making war on us - but life just seems messier and more complicated than that to me.  Even the idea that the anomaly "feeds" off of trauma - well, there is a reason one is more likely to get sick when one is otherwise stressed.

Me? I'm leaning towards the idea of an adaptation/infection/virus/not necessarily particularly sentient parasite that isn't always terribly well-adapted yet.

*especially in terms of Notaboy and Refining Fire.  Our heroes being subject to random acts of violence and tragedy =/= coincidence, it's just random crap.  And for the events in Refining Fire to be considered an attack on the team by the anomaly itself rather than just what it appears to be, the anomaly has got to be really great at intelligence gathering.  The Relative was looking for Adeline and had no idea that Chaz even existed, much less that he is ongoingly engaged in hunting down people like him.  For the Relative's actions to be the work of the anomaly through him, the anomaly would not only have to be able to influence it's hosts behaviour without the host knowing** but also have a way of knowing things completely beyond what the host is even capable of knowing, given the host's experiences***.  That last bit seems very unlikely, imo.  (but, then, I've been very wrong before....)

**which does seem very plausable, actually.  In fact, one could argue that's the one thing we are very certain that it can do, so long as one leaves intent out of the equation.

***hive mind?

[tylik]

I'm with you.

I mean, I wouldn't rule out that there's some sentience behind it all, but it doesn't strike me (yet) as the likeliest explanation.

(Of course, I was also really against the projective empath theory around Tim Miner... and I'm not sure if I was more right or more wrong on that one. I really like the major PMS contact high thing, though...)

[txanne]

I've begun to wonder whether the Anomaly is more like toxoplasmosis--a virus (therefore nonsentient) that nonetheless changes the host's behavior, so the virus has a better chance of survival.

PS: Welcome, Andre!

[jennygadget]

I've begun to wonder whether the Anomaly is more like toxoplasmosis--a virus (therefore nonsentient) that nonetheless changes the host's behavior, so the virus has a better chance of survival.

I mostly seems act that way so far.  Even the whole trauma causing one to crack and therefore infected persons attemtping to create maximum damage - a lot of viruses do that.  "Watch me not only eat your insides but also cause your insides to leak out so that I can spread more!"  But the most well adapted viruses do not kill the host - which is why I added in the bit about the anomaly not being well-adapted yet.  If it is virus-like, it may simply be in its early stages and not only adapting in ways that maximize it being spread quickly, but also still adapting in ways that make it more likely to survive.  (see: Betas.  Who seem to have a slightly lower mortality rate than Gammas.)

...of course, now you have me thinking of descolada....

Of course, I was also really against the projective empath theory around Tim Miner...

raises hand:  me too, which one of the many reasons why I pointed out that I am far from infallible.

[Andre Guirard]

I have to admit I haven't been reading the wikis or following the LJs.  Of course, I don't follow LJs of live people either. The internet is a serious time sink if you let it be.

I guess one of the things I see as a gap is, a lot of the gammas the team's encountered are not locked up in Idlewild being studied. A lot of them are dead. You can interview a live 'patient.' How do you get information about the background of a dead gamma, or check up on what a live one tells you? Someone would be interviewing the family and friends of these people. You can do that without telling everybody exactly why you want to know.  "We've chosen your case for a special background review as part of a project to refine our profiling techniques.  If you would just speak into the recorder, please, ma'am."

I'm not asking for undigested expository lumps. Just suggesting it would be nice to have a few more glimpses in the episodes of what's going on in the labs, maybe see some little change in the team's procedures arising from something they learned.  It would be especially interesting to hear whether anything about the Anomaly has changed recently, perhaps as a reaction to its being pursued.  I understand we're not near the end yet, but 1/4 of the story seems to me a long time for this to be essentially stalled out.

[DavidG]

I'm perfectly happy with the pace of progression (and it isn't unprecedented in any way, look at Bab-5 and how long it took to figure out the Vorlons were the bad guys just as much as the Shadows, and it took long enough to reveal the Shadows), but one thing Andre mentioned touches on some thoughts I've been having -- Gammas tends to litter the streets with little clusters of corpses with atypical causes of death, that seems like precisely the kind of stuff that should be pinging the attention of the epidemiology gurus at CDC even if they don't know what they're looking at.

[MadGastronomer]

Gammas tends to litter the streets with little clusters of corpses with atypical causes of death, that seems like precisely the kind of stuff that should be pinging the attention of the epidemiology gurus at CDC even if they don't know what they're looking at.

Why?  These are crimes, and the FBI says they're taken care of.  Or else, like the victims in Lucky Day, they're so spread out as to not make a pattern.