1x07, "Overkill"

[Elizabeth Bear]

Written by Elizabeth Bear

[Elizabeth Bear]

Projected Airdate: Monday, May 12, 2008

[postholedigger]

Weeee!

[MadGastronomer]

What, nothin' here yet?  Wow.
First:  OMG SQUEE!  I think I have to reread it before I say anything more.  But that was quite the rollercoaster.  Bear, you are evil.  And I mean that in the best possible way.

Second:  Um:

Most of the neighbors had gone back inside to get ready for work or school; only a few, immune to boredom, lingered on the sidewalks waiting for the bodies to be carried out.

School?  On Black Friday?

[Elizabeth Bear]

Many places still have it, yes. *g* (I don't know if San Diego is one of them, but I bet Lau doesn't, off the top of her head, either.)

(Also, thank you. *g*)

Hmm. I'm not sure I feel confident about all this must-reread-to-comment.....

[glinda_w]

Hmm. I'm not sure I feel confident about all this must-reread-to-comment.....

Heh. Means we're so blown away by it we're not able to find words to describe our reactions. A bit of time, a re-read, and maybe those reactions will become something less... inexpressible? (See what I mean? Words. Gone. )

[Elizabeth Bear]

Well, you said you wanted a Chaz episode! And we always listen to our fans.

Especially when what they want is what we were planning anyway....

[elyse]

It's a little spooky reading episodes we've already had parts of in the LJs.

I need to re-read the episode and the LJs...

and maybe sort out the various bits of the saga of Pleco

[mocknot]

Wow. That was...intense, and painful. And and and, impressive words and stuff. :flails around some more and gives up: Coherent responses are overrated, right?

This made my evening .

[txanne]

It's beautiful.

And the meta, from beginning to end. And look at all those Easter eggs! (And lo, we have the actors talking at last.)

I am fascinated by the differences between Chaz-on-LJ and Chaz-POV. (Furthermore, GO CHAZ!!!)

Brady, Chaz, and Lau are tied for first place in the Who Is Going to Break TexAnne's Heart First? sweepstakes. But Reyes is gaining on them. Nobody is that stoic without a lot of really big reasons.

[Elizabeth Bear]

Thank you!

Hee. *g* What do you think are the differences between Chaz-on-LJ and Chaz-POV?

[txanne]

Chaz-on-LJ wears a smoother mask.

[Elizabeth Bear]

Oh, lovely.

[MadGastronomer]

Hmm. I'm not sure I feel confident about all this must-reread-to-comment.....

What the others already said about this phenomenon.
If I could coherently discuss something like this on the first read-through, or at least without some serious digestion time first, then you would not have achieved the emotional impact I assume you were going for.  Since you did achieve it, I can't.  Almost all of my impressions are just sort of a spatter of strong emotions at this point.  I can't be coherent until I've digested the whole thing, and then gone back and read at least a few bits.

Yes, Chaz-on-LJ wears a smoother mask.  I think Chaz-on-LJ is generally Chaz-as-he-wishes-to-be-seen, rather than Chaz-as-others-see-him.  He's more together, more confident, cooler.  I'm very much enjoying Chaz-POV and Chaz-from-others'-POV.
I'm also absolutely terrified for him in the season finale.

[Malthus25]

Good episode!  Great opening scenes, strong build-up, and big punchy climax.

A couple of thoughts:  I liked Sol's foreshadowing/synchonicity comment "Believe what you like. It's the Midwest. People can fail to see just about anything if you give them half a chance to ignore it."  Also, I thought "going to see the elephant" usually referred to warzones, but here Chaz and Sol seem to be using it to refer to the police station (unless they're talking obliquely about the crime scene photos?).

...OMG.  The gamma was in the conference room with them in Act II? Six-person office, with attached conference room (presumably also holds six people).  Lau and Todd stand, Reyes, Falkner, Chaz, Daphne, and Brady sit.  So there's an unoccupied chair.  Or is there? (Dun-DUN-dun.)  Also, we never see Chaz or Daphne finish their sandwiches.  On the other hand, if he was there, he knows that they have an idea of what he is -- and he might have heard Lau setting up the trap with Reyes.

I'm wondering what's going on with Chaz's leg itching.  Is that some sort of guilty conscience thing?

Finally, I think that the next episode's preview is one time where the existence of the LJs is actually working against you.  I mean, there were several times in this episode where you're pretty obviously setting us up for the next episode's suspicion that Chaz has gone bad -- the multiple times Chaz thinks about having to behave better than normal people, his conflicted feelings towards the victims and empathy for the gamma, the way he had to use his abilities full-bore, and the way his over-virtuous behavior just doesn't pay off for him at the end.  However, the LJs sort of shoot down the possibility that Chaz is the bad guy next episode.


Random questions:  Is Guinness-and-black good?  I like Guinness, but a full pint straight is usually a bit much.  Also, can you order that in any bar that serves Guinness, or is it an Irish-pub-specific thing?

And was the last line of the Pleco easter egg some sort of pun I'm not getting?


Those of you who haven't looked up Amaryllis on Wikipedia yet, do so