Colony: Brave New World
January 24, 2017 7:51 AM - Season 1, Episode 2 - Subscribe

Will begins his new job, hunting for the bomber. Katie begins preparing to re-open her bar, the Yonk, and starts feeding intelligence on Will's investigation to the Resistance.
posted by nubs (7 comments total)
 
Most interesting things about this episode for me was seeing Carlos go to the factory; they gave it a definite "gas chamber" vibe, but then take it in a different direction when it becomes clear that these people are being decontaminated for some unclear purpose.

Also really liked seeing Will get taken down a peg or two by Carol from Episodes. Also, I guess investigations get to move much faster without pesky things like warrants or due process...

Completely uncertain what the show is doing with the sister(?) Maddy (?) who also appears to live at the house. So, she works in catering? And she had a fling? I'm supposed to care?

The language choices are interesting. Why is where they live referred to as a Colony? Why are the (presumably) alien overlords referred to as Hosts? These seem like words that the occupiers would use, not the occupied.

Hoping the show has some satisfying answers ahead; not in the mood to go down Lost rabbit holes.
posted by nubs at 8:02 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


They are also called (informally, maybe derogatorily) the Raps. Which is plausibly short for Raptors, and combined with the angry bird in the new Homeland Security logo, suggests to some that the aliens are somehow avian. It's a genius decision to make them never seen, both from a special-effects-budget standpoint and from a foregrounding man's inhumanity to man standpoint.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:21 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


Actually, now that I think about it (and this is blue-sky speculation based on nothing that comes later in the season), what if there ARE NO ALIENS. There is obviously alien technology, but maybe it was obtained by a small group of humans (astronauts?) who are now using it to control their fellow humans.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:24 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


Thanks for the Raps thing; I kept hearing it but I wasn't sure exactly what the word was.

I also think the refusal to show the aliens at this point is brilliant; it makes it possible that the aliens aren't real or that they could be anything, including some of the other cast members at this point. And they fold that larger mystery of what the Raps are alongside the fact that we don't know what they want, and then give us the small scale stakes of the growing tensions between Will and Katie working in opposite directions (but with the same large goal) while showing us the scale of impact that the Arrival has had, for everyone.

It's a fascinating show for the times we live in.
posted by nubs at 9:33 AM on January 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


Also, I guess investigations get to move much faster without pesky things like warrants or due process...

Most TV shows act like those things don't exist anyway, so it's weirdly refreshing to see a show set in a world where they literally don't.
posted by tobascodagama at 10:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


The premise and the set design in the pilot was interesting enough to get me to the second episode.

In particular, the day-after-tomorrow look is done very compellingly - future tech as carefully controlled and dolled out in drabs as required, and there's probably heavier stuff that most people don't even know about. (*edit: outside of, you know, the big flashy stuff)

I felt that the "gas chamber vibe" was both hammed up yet phoned in - that may actually have been a real cleanroom airlock (air bath) location they hired out. Yes, some could very plausibly have UV decontamination (which would be utterly ineffective, or fry the [naked] people going through and still be largely ineffective; apparently there's an additional future tech that causes your ears to ring and your vision to go like you're being incinerated).

The THERE ARE NO ALIENS! idea is certainly attractive. But antigravity (the floating drones) is an excellent argument that there was an outside infusion of tech; that kind of stuff in physics hasn't seen saltatory evolution. Sure, revolutionary stuff like lasers and GPS and the internet advanced quickly - but not at first. There has usually been a long ramp-up, then sometimes an exponential increase after a breakthrough. Antigrav drones (by humans) right now would probably be at least 20 years away from the discovery of the mechanics of antigravity.

However, the fascist subjugation thing is a huge bummer especially right now. I could see it (subjugated resistance) being attractive to some progressives like how preppering/zombies* is attractive to others. Sarah Wayne Callies (Katie) is very effective but Josh Holloway (Will) is either an actor par excellence or he just manages pisses me off by the way he merely looks.

*Don't get me wrong, I LURVS me zombies, but not as a reason to go prepping
posted by porpoise at 8:34 PM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


Yeah, I think for the IT WAS HUMANS ALL ALONG theory to be true (and again, it is complete fanwankery) there has to be some infusion of alien tech, even if the aliens themselves are not a factor. Maybe an alien ship crash landed with no survivors, but the tech was somehow retrievable and reverse-engineerable.

I could see it (subjugated resistance) being attractive to some progressives like how preppering/zombies* is attractive to others.

It actually is kind of reassuring to me these days in that it lets me feel like I am vicariously resisting our current "occupation". That's probably not the best thing, politically or mental-health-wise, but I'll take my comfort where I can get it at this point.
posted by Rock Steady at 5:44 AM on January 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


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