Is Sizemore Real?

Published April 25, 2018 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hello gents,

Long time. Hope life’s been treating you well. It’s good to have you back, and I might just sub to the other podcasts as well.

Solid start to the season. I re-watched the first season a couple weeks back, to get back in the mood, and my word, this show really is off the charts. Although, as you all pointed it out last time ’round, some episodes and scenes only work because of Hopkins’ performance.

Time to earn my tinfoil hat label. I felt very weird during the scenes with Sizemore (ironic name/haha, dick joke/a++ writing) and Maeve. The camera never follows him (as it did with Felix), it never reacts to his movements. The camera only ever follows Maeve’s eyes. We see Maeve turning her head towards him, and then the camera cuts to showing what/who’s she looking at.

When Maeve is surprised by the SWAT team while comforting the dying whore, they don’t react, slow down or lower their guns when Sizemore yells “I’m human! I’m human!” They only respond to Maeve. After Sizemore says “Could some of them maybe dress like humans?”, the guard barely reacts. His eyes shift, but his expression virtually doesn’t. When the sheriff walks in, you immediately see his expression change. The only, very subtle indication that he heard Sizemore outing Maeve, is that his eyes shift from what we would assume is one person to another.

But if you’re a trained security professional, you come across a bunch of what you assume are friendlies, in the middle of a world-ending event, would you not react with full force if somebody goes “mate, she’s one of them”? I’m not saying he should shoot her, but he doesn’t react at all.

When Maeve tells the sheriff “I’m not the one you ought to be shooting”, the sheriff only turns his head to look at what Maeve is looking at. We don’t get an indication that he sees anything. Sizemore’s presence only gets addressed directly at one single point: the bar scene with Mr Hector “Army Slayer” SwissCheese. Hector asks “What about him?”

Sizemore also acts very oddly. He is completely unphased by the bodies all over the place. He has no problem tagging along with a rogue host, yet he gets scared to death by a buffalo. He doesn’t open a single door, touch a single thing in his office, he barely moves a tray of items and clothes. Hector doesn’t even interact with him directly. It’s almost as though Hector doesn’t hear the conversation between Sizemore and Maeve when she forces him to dress up.

But here’s the real kicker: Maeve and Sizemore have a discussion about “what is real?” It is written in such a way to not give away too much, but would be a real “OMG how did I miss this” upon second viewing, just like Bernard/Theresa “so is that what you’re doing now? Practising?”

M: She’s still there
S: Who?
M: My daughter. How can I get to her?
S: You’re looking for your old kid? How can you even access-
M: Are you going to help me or not?
S: I am, I absolutely am. I could write the directions for you. M: How very kind of you.
S: But… And I say this because you seem really distraught, and, well… awake? Your daughter… she’s just a story. Something we programmed. She’s not real. M: Not real? But what about me? My dreams? My thoughts? My body? Are they not real? And what if I took these unreal fingers and used them to decorate the walls with your outsized personality? Would that be real? And fuck your directions; you’re going to take me to my daughter.

Maeve doesn’t say she’ll splatter his brains. She doesn’t threaten his physical well being. She threatens to end his “personality”.

There’s something weird going on with Sizemore.

Take care, gents.

Sebastian Lauwers

Subscribe Now