The entire world now knows that the San-Ti are on their way to stamp out the human race. What do people, especially our heroes, do?
The episode opens with people around the world reacting to the close at the last bit, showing us a myriad of reactions to the news that in 400 years Earth is to be invaded and humanity stamped out. There’s a run on liquor and drugs and lots of suicides – or maybe murders? – with people hanging from lampposts. Cults start, and others just go around their business, because 400 years from now, everyone now alive can expect to be dead, so what difference does it make?
Well, to most it makes a difference. We get some emotional satisfaction in the scene with Jin and Wenjie (Wenjie being held by the authorities). Jin is furious for personal losses, losses that should also mean a lot to Wenjie – Vera! Jack! – not to mention inviting aliens who want to treat us like bugs.
Not all of the episode is about being dismissed as bugs. There’s also the reactions to the destruction of the aged tanker Judgment Day. Auggie, whose nanofibers cut through the people and the ship, is beside herself with horror and grief. She challenges Jin to talk to Raj and to discover what happened.
Others with stronger stomachs and/or weaker consciences – Wade, Clarence and Raj – have no qualms about continuing the fight. Jin struggles and quarrels with Raj – and of course she was not in Panama, so, unlike Auggie, she did not see the kids’ corpses – but she accepts her role. Not only does she want to fight, she is tempted by the really cool problems being presented to her, as well as the funding to turn theory into reality.
I love the out-of-the-box science in this show, such as how to distract the Sophons, and how to accelerate a rocket to 1% of the speed of light.
In the meantime, Will inherits 50% of Jack’s fortune – it’s kind of amazing that Jack had, not just the foresight, but the time to change his will, but he was a man of action, well, not physically, but certainly in business – which Saul rightly says was to make Will healthy if possible. That is, however, not possible. There are things that money cannot buy, such the ability to live long enough for more whiskey to come in.
Will loves Jin, and has for years, but has never told her. Why has she not noticed? But there is a closeness, which can be seen in her gifts to him – a book of fairy tales and a goldfish – and how she makes a pair of paper boats and puts them into the sea.
I love how they support each other. Jin visits Will. Saul is a rock for both Will and Auggie. He convinces Will to go to London to tell Jin he loves her (Will makes the trip but sees Jin and Raj embracing and so departs without making a declaration). Saul holds Auggie as she throws up from whatever she’s drinking or drugging herself with to dull the pain of watching the horror of Judgment Day. Then Will supports Jin by telling Auggie that she needs to go help Jin and that she should trust Jin to do the right thing.
The episode belongs to Jin. Her heart and her brain are guiding what remains of the group though this really difficult time. Others have scenes, but many of them are concerned with Jin, even when she is not in them.
The young women have more chutzpah than the guys (except for Jack who is dead, so maybe male brashness can go too far). Jin and Auggie both really impress Wade. Raj – and he’s military, so accustomed to following orders – takes two weeks to volunteer. Apparently he will be going to the moon, which sounds cool.
One of the prison scenes between Clarence and Wenjie takes us back to the first episode, when Wenjie was being tortured in a Chinese prison, as the way the characters are placed is so similar. There she was being asked about her father; in this case she is being asked about her daughter. Of course, this time Wenjie does not get tortured, although that may be because Wade and Clarence believe Wenjie (a) has told them all she knows and (b) is no longer a real threat. Still, when Clarence lets her go he has her followed. Wenjie’s message to the San-Ti at the end – that humanity might win, or there might be no war – is intriguing. What does she have in mind?
Title musings. “The Stars Our Destination” is the title of the episode, and it's a play on The Stars My Destination, a sci-fi novel by Alfred Bester. In our episode, “The Stars Our Destination” is also the name of an organization that is raising money for the war effort (a bake sale for billionaires). Of course, in the series, others are heading to the stars, including the staircase project (Wade wants to send a human) and Raj may be going to our moon. It’s a reasonable title, although creating an organization with the same name is a bit contrived.
Bits and pieces
They sure use the F word a lot. Well, everyone is tense, so it makes sense, but I would appreciate a more diverse vocabulary.
I wonder what Wenjie would have done if Communist China had not been so horrible to her. Well, I guess we would not have a story.
The San-Ti are so revolted by liars that they abandoned their own followers on Earth. But they have been deceiving Earthlings for a while by fiddling with experimental results and by making the stars blink. Perhaps those things don’t count because they were not in communication, unlike with their followers.
I must say, this is a great use of nuclear weapons.
Quotes
Jin: Vera always said you were a great physicist. But that’s not how you’ll be remembered. You’re a traitor.
Wenjie: How will you be remembered?
Jin: As someone who fought back.
Wade: I’m launching a reconnaissance probe to intercept the San-Ti. The engineers I have are the most accomplished in the world, but they’re all fixated on feasibility. “Everything is limited. Nothing is possible.” Here’s my challenge to you. Find me a way to get a probe to 1% light speed or faster, utilizing existing technology.
Will: You know what? Every now and then, my body actually feels pretty good. Then I can just concentrate on the sheer fucking terror of it all.
Wade: How long have you known about it?
Raj: Two weeks.
Wade: Then you’re two weeks late coming to me.
Raj: I didn’t want to overstep.
Wade: If you’re afraid of overstepping, you shouldn’t be here.
Auggie: The English really suck at beaches.
Jin: Treaties can be amended. Our job is to come up with a solution to a scientific problem. It’s someone else’s job to come up with the money, and there’s no version of this that doesn’t require a lot of money.
Reporter: Meanwhile, an ambitious, new initiative, “The Stars Our Destination,” is attracting the attention of the world’s wealthiest individuals. For donations in the reported eight-to nine-figure range, the richest men and women have acquired ownership rights over stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
Jin: You know, you could have told me.
Will: I didn’t wanna worry you. What could you have done?
Jin: I’d have been fucking furious if you’d just... If you... If you’d gone and just... [crying] ...not told me.
Saul: I’ve never seen anyone love someone like you love her, and you’re just gonna take that to the grave?
Jin: How could you not be bothered when 1,000 people were killed?
Raj: The people on that ship murdered scientists. They crippled our research so the San-Ti can murder the rest of us more easily. These are the people who murdered Jack. If you had the chance, what would you have done?
Raj: Some of us have to do the ugly stuff so you can keep your hands clean.
Will: You know, that mortifying trek to London wasn’t a total waste. I realized something. Wrong person went to go and see Jin. She doesn’t need me to go and spill my guts to her. She’s got a man.
Auggie: Will, you’re twice the man that he is. I don’t care what you say.
Will: What she needs and what she came all the way down here for... is you. If I had your knowledge or an ounce of your talent, I would give it to her on the spot. But I don’t, so I can’t.
Auggie: You don’t know the man she’s working for. He’s a monster.
Will: I know that she wouldn’t do anything if it wasn’t right. It’s for the greater good, isn’t it?
Wenjie: You have learned that we are liars. You no longer trust us, so now you are coming to stamp us out. All because of me, the first liar you met. I’m an old woman whose old beliefs have led us down this terrible path. But I still have an idea or two left in me. And centuries from now, there may well be a fair fight. Or no fight at all.
Overall rating
Like Billie Doux, have not read the book and I will not until all the seasons are done. I am judging this work on its own merits. And maybe I am biased, or going upwards because the other shows I have been watching were so inferior. Four out of four paper boats.
Victoria Grossack loves math, birds, Greek mythology, Jane Austen and great storytelling in many forms.
Victoria, thanks so much for taking on these final episodes. I just ran out of steam, which has been happening too often these days. Your review reminded me of how frustrating I found Will in this one. I completely understood how he felt and his actions made sense, but I wanted him to do something for *himself* here and he didn't.
ReplyDeleteThe 400 year gap is really fascinating. What do you do with solving a problem that far in the future, so far out of reach?
Saul's put-down of Auggie's "Speed 3 -worthy beauty" when she offered him a free insult was TOO damn funny and was above the kind of writing for this show that I've come to comfortably tolerate XD
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