Alice Isn't Dead: Part 2, Chapter 2: Mouth of the Water

April 18, 2017 6:43 AM

A mystery at the mouth of a river.

The new nemesis is nowhere to be seen as Keisha gazes out at the water, flirts a little, sees a boat, and witnesses an ending (?).

posted by Etrigan (6 comments total)

I liked this little weird-slice-of-Keisha's-life tale, reminded me of The Factory by the Sea from Season 1 , in that it set a mood and tone, but didn't move the over-arching story forward. Which is fine.

Was the black boat moored in time, drawing in people and trapping them? Was it only visible from the Cape, and not seen by the transport ship?

I actually thought the transport ship would disappear like the kayak did, but then that would almost force the narration to explore it more. I like how it was a mystery, and then it was gone. and so is Keisha - on to her next encounter.
posted by jazon at 12:21 PM on April 18, 2017 [2 favorites]

I realized this morning, as I was listening to the latest podcast from the Black Tapes / Tanis team, that Alice has succeeded in a very particular way that those other ones haven't: the "monster of the week" eps vs. "mythology" eps. I have no idea whether the black boat will never appear again or turn out to be deeply intertwined with the Thistle Men or Roberta Colindrez's character, and I'm 100 percent okay with either of those things being the case.
posted by Etrigan at 7:06 AM on April 19, 2017 [3 favorites]

I dropped out of Tanis and the Black Tapes after their first seasons ended because I felt like they were aimless. Did they ever go anywhere interesting?
posted by Tevin at 1:44 PM on April 19, 2017 [1 favorite]

I gave up on TBT after S2 and Tanis after S1 also. I'm giving Rabbits a try because I'm some kind of masochist I guess.
posted by Etrigan at 4:46 PM on April 19, 2017

Despite not moving the overall story forward I feel like this episode was important both for the tone of the show and for Keisha's development. There were a few "horror scenario of the week" episodes early in the first season, including her drive through Charlatan and the Factory By The Sea delivery, but once the plot really kicked into gear those stories fell away (as you'd expect). Now that they've established Keisha is working against a Sweeping Government Conspiracy™, I like that they took a moment to establish where that fits into the overall weirdness of the world, and to have Keisha consciously acknowledge that framework.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 10:27 AM on April 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

I think about The Factory By The Sea a lot. This episode probably didn't leave the same kind of impression, but I'm glad that it was a part of the story, even if we never hear about the black ship ever again.

Also, I feel like we got a pretty deep glimpse into Joseph Fink's psyche during this episode. I'm not sure if it's deliberate, but I get the impression that the narration of this season is more philosophical than the first (and sometimes pointedly so).
posted by schmod at 4:02 PM on May 14, 2017