The Passage - TV spoilers but please spoiler tag book discussion

[red snow]

8 hours ago, Isis said:

Aww, I really liked that episode! All the cool mind-reading stuff works really well on the screen. I either don't recall the book properly or it wasn't used the same way.

I have thought about re-reading the book but I have a feeling that I dumped the book in a hotel after I finished reading it on holiday in the states. So the question is, do I want to buy another copy of it? A: not really.

The mind stuff is more prevalent as the books continue but the show has been wise to incorporate it early on. In the first book it's a bit more "off screen" in the sense it's characters hearing voices in their heads or behaving oddly. Although it's a long time since I read the first book too.

Only managed half this week's episode (busy job hunting) but I found the Doctor-sans-accent-frontiers sudden about turn a bit of a surprise (maybe the rest of the episode reveals it's Amy or Carter using mind mojo on her?). I mean testing a vampire virus on a kid for medical research/stop bird flu is absolutely justified but any whiff of the same research being used for military purposes is a step too far. I think she's already well over the moral line in the sand. Yet weirdly this kind of stuff adds a bit of charm to the TV series that the ever-so-serious book was devoid of.

[Isis]

11 hours ago, red snow said:

Only managed half this week's episode (busy job hunting) but I found the Doctor-sans-accent-frontiers sudden about turn a bit of a surprise (maybe the rest of the episode reveals it's Amy or Carter using mind mojo on her?). I mean testing a vampire virus on a kid for medical research/stop bird flu is absolutely justified but any whiff of the same research being used for military purposes is a step too far. I think she's already well over the moral line in the sand. Yet weirdly this kind of stuff adds a bit of charm to the TV series that the ever-so-serious book was devoid of.

Nah, I reckon it'll turn out to be just her own actions. She is clearly feeling like she's on the moral high ground.

Couple of other things - the 'let's do some lab tests on this subject' bit was brilliant and hilarious and almost, of itself, a parody of poor experimental practice. No way should you be that laissez faire with dangerous subjects in terms of safety. And drilling holes in someone's head - did that go through an ethics board?

And creating a breed of terrifying creatures/who might be the secret to tissue regeneration is not really an acceptable response to an infectious disease. That would seem more like a solution to degenerative CNS disease, e.g. Alzeimher's but not really as a response to disease. The best thing for that would be a vaccine. Again, this is just some basic science shit that I wish someone had given a minute's thought to.

[red snow]

1 hour ago, Isis said:

Nah, I reckon it'll turn out to be just her own actions. She is clearly feeling like she's on the moral high ground.

Couple of other things - the 'let's do some lab tests on this subject' bit was brilliant and hilarious and almost, of itself, a parody of poor experimental practice. No way should you be that laissez faire with dangerous subjects in terms of safety. And drilling holes in someone's head - did that go through an ethics board?

And creating a breed of terrifying creatures/who might be the secret to tissue regeneration is not really an acceptable response to an infectious disease. That would seem more like a solution to degenerative CNS disease, e.g. Alzeimher's but not really as a response to disease. The best thing for that would be a vaccine. Again, this is just some basic science shit that I wish someone had given a minute's thought to.

The "I'm a genuis" line was hilarious. No controls or safety put in place eg you could let him have one free hand while every other appendage was secured. It was brilliant although i don't think it was intentionally funny.

The whole approach is pretty stupid. It's up there with creating superintelligent giant sharks so you can get more neurotransmitter to cure Alzheimer's instead of just breeding more normal sharks and harvesting the neurotransmitter (or trying to synthesise). 

I'm pretty sure the book was doing the work to combat cancer and weaponise which makes more sense if tissue regeneration/error correct is key. 

Fighting a virus with a worse virus is a very odd gambit or some weird misunderstanding of how a vaccine works. I guess it's an American show so crazy vampire solution is much more preferable than risking imagined autism via a vaccine

[Teng Ai Hui]

Anyone else still watching this? Episodes 9 & 10 are both tonight. Is that the season finale?

It seems that the virals are finally going to escape. I’m anxious to see what the tv series does with the second act of Cronin’s book.

[dbunting]

I'm watching but not very invested, if it went away I don't think I would even notice.

[JJ Lannister]

I liked that they fleshed out some characters but they stayed at Project Noah 2 episodes to long. My wife who hasn't read the books asked if they ever get out of there because the show has been the same for the last 3 episodes. She was right. I hope they get a season 2. I want to see what they do with First Colony. That was always my favorite part of the books. 

 

[Martini Sigil]

I enjoyed it, and i hope it gets a second season... if not, S1 wrapped up nicely....  Although I've sworn off broadcast TV --it invariably lets me down-- a few Shows on Fox and the CW are fun enough insofar as you dont really need to lean in and pay attention like something you watch on pay cable... so i can surf the net, or make a pizza while I'm watching, and not feel like I'm missing anything... 

Plus, the kid was terrific... and I normally can't stand shows based around child actors... 

[Isis]

Just watched the last three episodes. 

Aside from some bad science I think this show had a lot of positives. Since I'm typing on a phone I'll do a list for now.

-fantastic child actor

-great chemistry between child actor and other lead actor

-character backstories (multiple) handled well across multiple episodes

-female characters as well written as the male ones

-all of the mind-reading/mind to mind communications stuff worked really well for me

-ethical questions were posed and characters struggled with those decisions

-vampires

 

[red snow]

Finally watched the last few episodes (nowtv has a bizarre limited time factor dictating my viewing order). I thought the last two episodes were pretty strong and had minimal goofiness (which plagues the show throughout the season). 

They set several characters up in interesting ways for an additional season (seems to be at least 4 "anti-virals") and i liked how Babcock doesn't appear so far to be outright evil. Similarly, i thought they did a good job with her "familiar" Richards who transformed from a fairly generic antagonist to quite interesting and more conflicted/heroic by the end. The actor seemed to mske the most of having more to do.

Fanning works well as a pathetic villain. It was only Carter who seemed to fare badly in the last few episodes to what felt like an extra.

The highlight of the show by far for me was the chemistry/relationship between Amy and Wolghast. For me the show hung off that and they really nailed it with the casting as I still think it could have so easily come off as creepy. Thankfully it felt genuine throughout. They'd be wise to keep those two characters paired up if they get a second season. I hope they get a second season as i felt the show was growing in confidence towards the end. Although they probably spent 2-3 episodes more than they should have with the lab side of things. Hopefully the second season would avoid this mistake particularly given there were several storylines to follow rather than everything being at the lab eg

Amy

Wolghast

Wolghast's wife

Babcock and Richards

Desmond from Lost

Assuming all the "antivirals" have extended lifespans. That should help them from spinning wheels regarding plot.

[RedEyedGhost]

Well, it's been cancelled.  Quite a shame as it was definitely one of the better new shows of the past season.

[red snow]

7 hours ago, RedEyedGhost said:

Well, it's been cancelled.  Quite a shame as it was definitely one of the better new shows of the past season.

Not really a surprise and i do blame the structure of the show. I still maintain it would have worked far better with a "lost" format following the "present" (what we saw) and the "future" (which was actually the majority of the book in terms if characters). Very strange to have a first season where you don't meet most of the cast. 

Anyone who enjoyed the shot but haven't read the books should definitely give it a go

[Teng Ai Hui]

There is a bit of a silver lining here in that the show still has a shelf life. Someone else could make season two at any time. The only character that absolutely has to remain on the program is Amy, and in the book she ages physically about 10 years during the time jump. So, another actress could play her. 

[red snow]

On 5/21/2019 at 3:07 PM, Teng Ai Hui said:

There is a bit of a silver lining here in that the show still has a shelf life. Someone else could make season two at any time. The only character that absolutely has to remain on the program is Amy, and in the book she ages physically about 10 years during the time jump. So, another actress could play her. 

I think I'd rather have someone else completely remake it in a few years. It does need to lose the campness/generic broadcast tv vibe thst i felt was holding the show back. It's frustrating as someone must have intentionally thought that generic vibe would result in more viewers

[Isis]

On 5/19/2019 at 4:46 AM, RedEyedGhost said:

Well, it's been cancelled.  Quite a shame as it was definitely one of the better new shows of the past season.

Ah, that's a shame. But what we got was good, in many ways. 

 

[red snow]

1 hour ago, Isis said:

Ah, that's a shame. But what we got was good, in many ways. 

 

Worth it if only for the "I'm a genius!" Scene.

The chemistry between the leads was pitch perfect too. I think they'll struggle to get that balance again.

[Calibandar]

On 6/8/2019 at 9:46 PM, Isis said:

Ah, that's a shame. But what we got was good, in many ways. 

 

Having now seen it, I have to agree.

I was expecting this to be shit from the comments but I actually found this show really easy to watch, tense. I would have really liked a second season to see how the plague has spread, I miss shows that do a good job of that sort of thing. Shame.