Que Sera Sera

August 17, 2022

Shat hosts

Long time listener here, but first-time writing in.

(Find the beauty in the episode first) I was glad to see that even in 2060 (or so) they still have fossil fueled classic pick up trucks.

The season Finale was such a letdown. As a show that strives to be smarter than it needs to be – thinking of last weeks telegraph when Gene said something to the effect that this show doesnt need to do something so obvious in response to a fan email – would it hurt to do one thing obvious, like see Bernard place the gun when he and Maeve were at the hoover dam? But that is just an annoyance. More to why I am most likely in that camp of viewers that have dropped off with each subsequent season:

1) Dead is not dead. In the penultimate episode and the finale, not one death of our favorite characters elicited any emotion whatsoever. Why? Cuz they always come back. And with season 5 being basically Delores going back to Sweetwater to see if her game will change the outcome, I am sure we will see all our favorites again. After all, she brought back Teddy in her metaverse, so why not everyone else in her simulation?

2) I didnt even give a fuck about Frankie and Calebs farewell. I get that Caleb didnt want his daughter to see him die as his body rejected his pearl or whatever was glitching, I was just too annoyed to care. They took their sweet time getting to the boat MIB made it to the hoover dam on a horse faster than they made it out of the city. But here again, taking the car they walked past in the alley would have been too obvious a solution. Instead, they take their time and get Stubbs killed in the process. I guess they needed some way to give Clementine something to do this season beyond fan service, but ho hum. Yes, her fight with Caleb was nicely choreographed, but her bad-assery was all for naught.

3) I understand the drone hosts vs. the sentient hosts, but have we seen hosts bodies that still work after their pearl is removed? Im sure there must have been some precedent that I just dont remember, but confused how Charlores can crush her own pearl after it was removed. And if doable, did she then just “Shut down”? or can she wander as a zombie host?

4) Speaking of Charlores, I guess she is like Darth Vader despite killing perhaps thousands (or millions) of people just because they ultimately saved one person (the latter his son Luke, the former, Delores Abernathy), I’m supposed to feel she’s redeemed? No, sorry I didnt dig seeing an angelic Anakin and so not with Charlores either. Her sacrifice wasnt the least bit emotional nor bittersweet to me.

5) Having said that, a little obvious would have worked maybe a flashback to when she was doing the fidelity tests with Caleb and wanted to know why he was specialHis only instinct was to save his daughter, kinda like what she ended up doing with Delores. Is that why she took Bernards words to heart and realized that she needed to stop what she created? Newspapers are written for basic language skills, so a little connecting the dots wouldnt be a bad thing to retain viewers. If that played no role in her change of heart, then they wasted a helluva lot of time on the Fidelity episode.

6) And what was so special about The Weapon? Or was it not Maeve and something else?

7) Agree with yall that this episode was really rushed, despite many episodes this season moving slowly. Cue yet another scene of Delores waking up in bedgood lord

I know, lots of little nits but they all add up. I am torn on the value of a season 5 that will mostly just be a Delores-created simulation with just scanned humans? What hosts only those in the sublime? To what end? I mean, if none of it is real, how can the results of her simulation be validated (thinking of peer review vs. biased testing)? Will someone be magically waiting on the other side to fire up the old milk bath to bring them all back once her game is complete, like maybe the host drones will go into hibernation like R2D2 until needed? Maybe a Shat Poll to see how many of the listeners care for a season 5? I know Im in the minority on this one, but curious how small of a minority. OK, fuck it. If there is a season 5, I know I will end up watching iteven if I loathe every minute of it.

Thanks for yet another great job you all did this season, especially with the material the show gave you ??. The thrice-weekly mental masturbation was a nice diversion none-the-less, and will be mandatory of a season 5..

Al M

Texas

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