Dispatches from Elsewhere: Janice

March 9, 2020 8:41 PM - Season 1, Episode 3

While searching for Fredwynn at the Shareholders meeting, the gang has their first encounter with Octavio; Janice explores her past.
posted by oh yeah! (3 comments total)

EW recap:"Janice’s episode brings into focus a theme that’s been building throughout the show: people brought into the Jejune and Elsewhere world are all battling some type of loneliness. With Peter, it’s loneliness borne of personality — he’s a wallflower who doesn’t know how to live vivaciously. Simone’s loneliness stems from her insecurity over being herself in a world where her identity is often not accepted by others. With Janice, it’s a loneliness borne from losing the life she already lost herself to — she’s been too long devoted to an existence outside her own individuality to know how to be comfortable alone."
posted by oh yeah! at 4:52 AM on March 10, 2020

As an old who grew-up watching a young Sally Field on tv, the scene of Janice talking with Janice was pretty cool. And the dark turn it took was unexpected and somewhat upsetting, especially if you took a step back and realized this was a product intended to be unleashed on the public.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:51 AM on March 10, 2020

This was an interesting episode to watch, in that its the first time we've really seen something (using photorealistic VR to have a conflict/conversation with a past self) that couldn't really be a thing, at least today. While this sort of closes down the 'is it real' question, there is still something delightfully optimistic about the feel of this show that has me excited to watch the rest. On the strength of these 3 episodes alone I kindof want to shake Mr Segal's hand and say "Nice job."
posted by Sparx at 3:53 PM on June 13, 2021