Threshold: 1x01 & 1x02 review + picspam + quotes
My reviews are a sort of weird livebloggy thing where I do a mixture of: picspamming; typing up my reactions as I watch; typing up random quotes that I like; typing up random tidbits of information as reference (because when I'm writing fic I can never remember what episode they mentioned whose job title in, that sort of thing, and thank goodness for ctrl+f in word docs). Might be totally incoherent to anyone not me, sorry!
Here's what I'm wondering: How does a person even become a contingency analyst, like what sort of certifications go into that?
Monster! Ugh, his little faaace.
Cavennaugh identifies himself as a "federal agent" when he introduces himself to Molly.
"You've just become the most important person on the planet." No pressure. *g*
Baylock: Deputy National Security Advisor.
Hahaha, does Baylock not like Monster or all dogs in general?
Baylock: You wrote this, three years ago. Do you need a few minutes to refresh yourself before we throw you to the wolves?
Caffrey: No, I'm good to go.
I love how even three years later Molly totally doesn't need a refresher. Here's the thing about a contingency plan like that, though -- in three years, wouldn't she have needed to update it to reflect more current security/technology/etc.? I would think so.
Baylock: "From what I've heard, the Oval Office seems to think you're some kind of genius."
Caffrey: "Oh, I don't know about that. But I have advised them on a few occasions."
Hmmm, interesting.
Who's been brought in: Defense, Homeland Security, Langley, NASA.
Oh, Andrea's (didn't quite catch her last name, Andrea Adam?) the National Security Advisor. I could never remember who she was.
Executive Order 221-C. Captured by the Cheyenne Mountain Facility, haha, Stargate crossover bunny ahoy!
Caffrey: a senior analyst at the Blackwood thinktank (located in Richmond, Virginia).
- confirm the presence of extraterrestrial life, intelligent or otherwise
- attempt to communicate with it
- to determine its intent, whether it poses any possible threat
Ahaha, the expression on his face in this second one is priceless.
Fenway: microbiologist, an M.D. with a background in pathology, former 60s radical.
Lucas: astronautical engineer, jet propulsion laboratories, Pasadena, helped design the Jupiter probe. Also one of the all-time high Jeopardy winners. (AND APPARENTLY A LOVER OF JUICE BOXES.)
Arthur: expert in linguistics and applied mathematics.
Cavennaugh: Well, here's your Red Team. Not exactly's Charlie's Angels, are they?
Can I just say? Nigel looks so pretty here it's actually a little criminal.
Fenway: Let me get this straight. We could be witness to the greatest moment in human history and you people want to keep it a secret?
Baylock: Damn right. What if some kind of technology could be reverse engineered from what we encounter? Do we want it falling into the hands of other countries?
Fenway: God forbid the government would give the rest of the world the benefit of the doubt.
Pegg: Here's a thought. [fidgeting] What if they're hostile? I mean, even if they're benign, their presence alone could incite worldwide panic.
Caffrey: Look, gentlemen, we don't know what we're dealing with. And until we do, whatever we discover stays in this room.
Ramsey: [raises index fingers to lips] Shh. Finder's keepers. Hey, [knocks on table], while we're on the subject of aliens, I don't appreciate being abducted. How long is this little field trip gonna last?
Baylock: Indefinitely.
Ramsey: So, what, I'm a prisoner? That's not gonna fly.
Cavennaugh: [leans over Ramsey's shoulder] Hey, can I talk to you in private for a minute?
Cavennaugh: Door number one or door number two?
Ramsey: Uh. [looks at bathroom stalls] I -- I don't. What, what are you talking about?
Cavennaugh: Door number one, you bring on the slide rule(?) and a smile and you do what you're asked. Door number two, you disappear into an eight by ten cell for the rest of your life playing solitaire courtesy of the federal government.
Ramsey: You can't do that. That's illegal. [starts to walk away]
Cavennaugh: [grabs Ramsey's jacket, stopping him] So is subverting the national security, my friend. We're in dark waters here, okay? So I'm gonna ask you again. Door number one, or two?
UGH, YOU ARE BOTH SO PREEEETTY.
Fenway: What is this, war of the worlds? [In background: Cavennaugh to Navy SEALS: You ladies good to go?]
Caffrey: Probably not, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Pegg: Have we considered how this might look? What if they've come bearing gifts?
Caffrey: Believe me, Lucas. I hope they have. [walks off]
Ramsey: Ten minutes ago, you were worried about global panic.
Pegg: [straightens jacket] I like to worry about things from all angles.
Giant Madascan Hissing Cockroaches! I have one of those as a pet.
Ramsey: What's that?
Pegg: Uh, it's. New Testament. First Corinthians.
Ramsey: How're they gonna work aliens into their Sunday sermon?
Pegg: You making fun of me?
Ramsey: I'm just saying. I don't remember reading "and on the eighth day, the Lord created Klingons."
Pegg: That's funny. That's very funny.
Ramsey: [to Fenway, who's staring at them] What's your problem?
Fenway: [wry] Where do I begin?
Cavennaugh: Is that your father's watch?
Caffrey: What makes you ask that?
Cavennaugh: Tag Heuer Monaco(?), Steve McQueen wore one. If you were a guy back in the '70s that was a must-have item.
Caffrey: My dad thought so, too.
Cavennaugh: Still around?
Caffrey: I don't know.
Cavennaugh: Heads up, gentlemen, one crew member down.
Wow, Molly seems so happy when they confirm extraterrestrial intelligence, despite the signal-induced bloody nose. I wonder how long she's been waiting to say something like THAT.
Andrea: We do our jobs right, they'll never know how close we came.
Baylock gets reassigned to Threshold. He comments that he thought he was on-track for Andrea's job.
Wow, a really high percentage of that crew died, if you think about it. I wonder what the general rate is of signal failure? Because if at least five people died out of a thirteen person crew, phew. Multiply that by a few million.
Hahaha, the Captain's "this is my creepy alien dream" voice cracks me up.
The people who were sick were trying to kill each other and themselves. Hmm, thinking about it, that doesn't get explored too much later, does it? The focus shifts a lot to how infectees just try to spread the signal. I guess the failed signal conversion stories wouldn't be as interesting, and/or they were mostly to add to the atmosphere of the pilot.
Cavennaugh: Take it easy, buddy. Take it easy.
[Pegg is sitting in front of a crate. It is filled with crumpled papers. Caffrey approaches.]
Caffrey: You okay?
Pegg: [nervous] Yeah. No. Actually, I'm not okay. I'm completely freaked out.
Caffrey: I'd be worried if you weren't. Any thoughts on our mystery object? [looks at his rough sketches]
Pegg: You mean the Christmas ornament, there? Look, designing space crafts is what I do. And theoretically there are only so many ways you can get from one star to another. Laser-assisted solar sailors, fusion engines, interstellar ram(?) jets, anti-matter drives and I gotta tell you, this thing? Definitely doesn't use any of those.
Caffrey: So what does it do? Do you think it was carrying passengers?
Pegg: You saw what it was doing. Folding in on itself. Where would they be?
Caffrey: An unmanned probe, then.
Pegg: Possibly. Or a weapon.
Caffrey: [softly] Right.
[SEALs are cutting down a crewmember who hanged himself.]
Ramsey: Takes real commitment to hang yourself. My boy here was motivated. Something must've really scared the crap out of him.
Caffrey: You wanted to see me?
Ramsey: Yeah, I got a little bit of alien voodoo I wanna run past you, here. Now, this interference pattern, it appears on every bit of equipment on this ship.
Caffrey: What's causing it?
Ramsey: We really should go out sometime. [Caffrey just looks at him.] What? You don't date guys, [beat], smarter than you?
Caffrey: I don't know. [smiles and clicks photo] Never met one.
Ramsey: Now, as to what's causing this pattern, remember the bomb they dropped over Hiroshima? The explosion was so hardcore it permanently burned shadows of people onto the walls and sidewalks. I think we have the electromagnetic equivalent here.
Caffrey: What about the shape itself?
Ramsey: I've got some ideas but I need to do a Foyer(?) analysis before I really narrow it down.
Caffrey: [to SEALs] Hold on, guys, I wanna get some shots before you bag him. [walks over to body]
Ramsey: Meticulous.
Caffrey: Details matter.
Ramsey: I think I saw that embroidered on a pillow, once. You know, Caffrey, you didn't have to concoct this whole alien conspiracy theory just to get the two of us alone together.
Caffrey: You're boring me, Ramsey. You get that or you need me to embroider it on a pillow for you?
Ramsey: [laughs] I have to amuse myself, somehow. You know, thanks to you, this might be my last job. Ever. You ever consider that? I mean, did you think about that when you picked our names out of a hat? I mean, I was having a perfectly deviant lifestyle --
[Body opens eyes and starts moving, they all jump back.]
Fenway: It's not all that unusual. Post-mortem muscle contractions, neuro-electrical discharges.
Ramsey: Discharge? No. This guy was doing the macarena.
Caffrey: Look, all I know is that his eyes were focused. There was consciousness. So, maybe our definiton of dead just changed.
Cavennaugh: ...Where the hell did it go?
Caffrey: Nervous?
Cavennaugh: You really thrive on this crisis stuff, don't you?
Caffrey: [laughs] Is it that obvious?
Cavennaugh: Worst-case scenarios. What kind of person picks that for a job description?
Caffrey: Kinda person who lived through one.
Pegg: You know what, doc, I've been thinking.
Fenway: Uh-oh.
Pegg: I don't know if that object was even a spacecraft, the way it was built. It could never carry passengers. [makes noises at the rats] It must have been sent here for another purpose.
Fenway: Huh.
Pegg: [notices hand in bag of ice] Whoa. Hey, there's a wedding ring on this hand. They ever find the guy this belonged to?
Fenway: Nope.
Pegg: [sighs, crossing arms] Doesn't that bother you?
Fenway: [sighs, leaning back from microscope and pinching bridge of nose] What bothers me is that we're working our butts off here and nobody's said bo-diddly about whether we're being paid for this or not.
Pegg: I'm not worried about that. I think we got bigger fish to fry.
Fenway: Yeah, well, you're not carrying three ex-wives on your back, are you?
Pegg: You know, doc, this, this is about the science, this about the sense of discovery.
Fenway: Are you kidding me? You think people give a flying fart about science? The day the Mars rover landed, what was the top story in the news?
Pegg: I don't know.
Fenway: Britney Spears, Married in Vegas. Given the state of the world today, a little alien intervention might be just what the doctor ordered.
Pegg: So you're bitter, is what you're saying.
Cavennaugh: So have you figured out what we're looking at?
Ramsey: Uh, if I give you the wrong answer are you gonna make me choose a door again? [Ramsey just looks at him.] It's a fractal pattern. Fractional geometry, a type of mathematics that crops up in chaos theory.
Cavennaugh: What does this have to do with our UFO?
Ramsey: Could be some form of communication. Math is a language, and like any language it speaks to us. This pattern is speaking to me.
Cavennaugh: What's it saying?
Ramsey: It's a graphic representation of an equation that describes a DNA molecule. Here, now, [sets laptop on control panel], our DNA, the DNA of every life form on earth, is in the shape of a --
Cavennaugh: Double helix.
Ramsey: Double helix. So, you actually took more than Phys Ed?
Cavennaugh: Keep going, Ramsey.
Ramsey: Now, if I translate into mathematics what this pattern is describing, things get a little bit bizarre.
Cavennaugh: Triple helix.
Ramsey: I can't even imagine what life based on a triple helix would look like.
Fenway: Something evoked frighteningly rapid cellular change in every living thing on this boat.
Pegg: Okay, hold on, though. We don't know they're trying to colonize. This could be their way off... saying hello.
Ramsey: Listen, my ridiculously optimistic little friend, I know how to say hello in over two hundred dialects and this most certainly is not a hello.
I really enjoy this little round table session of theirs. Okay, barring the fact that the science seems very handwavey and they jump to conclusions REALLY quickly, I love the way they play off each other and hash out ideas together. This cast just has such great chemistry.
Caffrey: Are you blowing up the ship?
Ahahahaha, a few more episodes in and she would not even bother with that particular question.
Phase 2 of the Threshold Protocols: Containment and Crisis Management.
Y HALO THAR SEAN.
Sean has a scar on his chest.
Fenway: Whoever stitched you up should be making shoes for a living.
Unusual activity in their mid-to-lower frontal lobes. They're generating far more than the average cognitive model.
Waaaait. If Molly lives close enough to Threshold to drive home, why did they chopper her in? I mean, she can't live that far away, right, otherwise she'd just move closer to the Threshold building. Ah, well, added dramatic tension, I guess that's as good a reason as any.
Hmm, Cavennaugh switches to calling her "Molly" pretty quickly.
Eeeek, I have a really hard time watching Gunneson throw Molly around. :( But I do love how she does the open cellar + shovel thing. Quicker thinking than I would likely manage in a similar situation. Then aaaagain, it's entirely possible Molly has whole lists of ways to deal with attackers already in her head. I can picture her pondering the layout of her house and figuring out the best possible ways to use her superior knowledge of her surroundings to turn a situation around.
Aww, Baylock bringing the coffee for everyone. He is so the father figure of this show, I love it.
Ha, Cavennaugh "bigfooting" the local police by telling them they're FBI. Seriously, I want to keep a list of all the different agencies they hijack to control situations. Alphabet soup ahoy!
It's interesting that Gunneson hones in on Molly. If it hadn't been her, would it have been Lucas or Sean? Did Gunneson track her down because of the theta wave thing and, if so, can all infectees do the same thing?
Eeeee, Nigel's glasses hanging out of his mouth. UGH, IT STILL GETS ME.
Fenway: Spend most of my day in a lab chatting with test tubes and cell cultures. Glamorous life of a pathologist.
I totally think he means that literally. I like to imagine Nigel in his lab talking to all his equipment.
Baylock: You old enough to drink coffee?
Oh, man, Lucas is so obviously lying about the dreams, even before we find out later for sure. He really doesn't seem like the kind of guy who does well with keeping secrets or telling lies. Deception so isn't in his nature. Makes me wonder how he manages with Rachel, what with his ENTIRE JOB being the biggest secret you could EVER keep from another person, because he's literally out there working in what he believes is the most important fight for the survival of humankind as a whole. I mean, how stressful would it be knowing that your wife is out there in the world, constantly facing the threat of being infected, and all you can do is hope that she won't be? What's sad is the *only* way he could tell her (almost) everything would be if she were infected. I just honestly can't imagine a marriage holding up under that kind of strain.
Also makes me wonder if he would try to hide more signs of his continuing alienification process from Nigel, not so much directly as indirectly, ie continuing to avoid check-ups and/or just happening not to mention certain weird physiological things going on with him because he's trying sooo hard to pretend they're not happening.
Baylock: You sure about that, my friend?
Aww, Lucas looks like he's going to crack like a neurotic little egg beneath JT's probing gaze!
Caffrey: Is that my underwear in your hands?
Ramsey: Yes.
AHAHA, THE EXPRESSION ON RAMSEY'S FACE. He's so cheerful about it.
Gunneson: expressive aphasia, common in stroke victims.
Seven potential alien infectees: Captain Manning, Lieutenant Novak, Crewman Sanford Sonntag, Park & Peña.
Lucas' wedding date set six weeks from pilot.
Aww, I like that Nigel is tactful when he pulls Molly aside to tell her about the blood splatter. It can be easy to focus on his harsh side, but he's got his softer, nicer side, too.
Fenway: Are you mugging me? Because I'm a little busy right now.
Nigel's brother is in Boston.
A vintage honer harmonica 542 golden melody, with its original case.
Ramsey: Great. At least now we know he didn't walk on water.
Steel-toed boot made by Redwing, huh, I have a pair of those!
Lucas: That's disgusting.
Nigel: Isn't it?
Lucas: So the big guy in there used to be one of the roaches on the ship?
Nigel: Mm-hm. Been watching him mutate for the last forty-eight hours. Check out what he does next. [Skeletor!Roach starts walking in circles.] He'll keep doing that all night long, over and over again.
Lucas: The fractal pattern?
Nigel: Part of it, anyway.
Lucas: You really think we're okay, doc? Me and Dr. Caffrey and Cavennaugh?
Nigel: Well, medically, yeah. I mean, I haven't found anything to cause me worry, a few spikes in your theta waves. Weird stuff, yeah, but not worry kind of stuff.
Lucas: That theta wave business, that's not something I can pass on to my to me fiancée, right?
Nigel: Honestly, I have no idea. Why don't you just keep your mitts off her until we know what we're doing here?
Random thought: I wonder what Molly has a doctorate in.
And, yeah, this is the bit of dialogue that made it my personal canon that Lucas is waiting until marriage to have sex. It really just seems like something he would do to me. It's less and less common nowadays, no doubt, but I could see it being plausible for him (especially if the character of Lucas is a bit younger than Rob Benedict, which I think he is. They seem to be going for a pretty young character, here).
Dude, Nigel, I am with you. I wouldn't be watching that tape, even without sound, no matter how safe someone told me it was. Because they always *think* it's safe until, whooops, you're an alien! Our bad.
Lucas: Exactly. Might even tell us how our average joe cockroach managed to hulk out into Skeletor roach over there.
OH, LUCAS, YOU'RE INTO COMIC BOOKS, AREN'T YOU? AREN'T YOU?
Nigel: Give yourself a gold star, Mr. Pegg.
Hmm, I wonder what the hulked out infectee rats look like? Scary, I bet. o_O
Ramsey: Novokovich? That little math bitch. He's all smoke and mirrors. Isomorphic group therapy, monotonic null sequences, quadratic reciprocity, bleh bleh blabity blah. Come up with something new, please.
Man, do I love this whole conversation they have. I love the Sean-Arthur dynamic, how Sean goes from this real antangonism with Arthur to then then later in the same episode approaching him a completely different way, and actually listening to what's going on with Arthur instead of just telling him to get over it and suck it up.
Oh, man, Molly fixating and looking like she's about to hyperventilate :( God, the trauma that must come along with her job description.
Andrea: You knew this would happen, sooner or later.
Molly: What, aliens?
Andrea: Your contingency plans. Viral outbreaks, international monetary collapse and, uh, wait a minute, what was the one you wrote in '97?
Molly: A cataclysmic shift in the polar ice caps.
But then Andrea makes her smile and she looks like an angel. ♥
Hahaha, Nigel's face.
JT fishes peacock bass.
Ramsey: Hm. I always wondered what doctors carry in their little black bag.
NIGEL'S EXPRESSION. <3
Arthur: So, I heard you're getting hitched.
Lucas: That was the plan, anyway.
Nigel: Well, if you're having second thoughts, you've got the perfect excuse.
Lucas: Which is what?
Arthur: Alien invasion, jackass.
Lucas: Why're you even still here? Aren't you supposed to be making your, uh, big getaway?
Nigel: Oh, he chickened out, he couldn't stand the thought of Novokovich stealing his thunder.
Sean: So you really don't know where your father is? Whether he's dead or alive?
Molly: [shakes head]
Sean: So what happened, what's the story?
Molly: You didn't read my file?
Sean: Skimmed it.
Molly: He disappeared when I was younger.
Sean: Want me to try find him? Bet I could.
Molly: If you'd asked me that two days ago I might've said yes. Now, I don't know. All the things I thought mattered to me.
Sean: Well maybe they matter more.
Huh, yeah, that's interesting, because if I were Molly I think I'd actually be more interested in reuniting with my father. Hmm, then again, it would be pretty tough to go through something that deeply emotional while also trying to do her ridiculously hard job.
Lucas: So, three times, huh?
Nigel: Down the aisle? Yup.
Lucas: How'd you keep working up the nerve? Weren't you worried each one was gonna end up like the last one?
Nigel: Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me.
Lucas: Would you ever do it again?
Nigel: Given our present circumstances, I suppose anything's possible.
Lucas: I was worried you were gonna talk me out of it.
Nigel: No, don't worry, Lucas, because I really don't care.
Lucas: You know a cynic is an idealist with a broken heart.
Nigel: Thank you, Dr. Phil.
Hahaha, Ramsey, you're clearly so sorry to interrupt their poignant moment.
Oh, man, the way Lucas says "I'm great." He sounds so tiny and broken, I just want to pet him. And then Gunneson just drags him like a sack of potatoes! Poor baby.
Wow, Sean's looks are *really* growing on me this re-watch.
Nigel: I guess you just weren't feeling the part about capturing a live specimen.
Sean: He's alive.
Nigel: Ish.
I can't totally make sense of why Gunneson was drawn there. I mean, the way he was talking, it almost sounds like he chose to come when he heard the signal (and/or noticed their theta wave presence, whichever). What was his purpose? Was he trying to nab Molly? Or Lucas, is that why he was dragging him off? I wonder where they were going to go with the Gunneson plotline. Maybe they just dropped it because the actor didn't want to stick around, heh.
Ugh, Sean banging that guy's head on the car = really icky.
The 106 people came from within a five kilometer radius.
Caffrey: And Gunneson said what?
Lucas: That they were re-creating us in their image.
Deleted scenes:
Ahahaha, Cal, man, I'm sorry. That pick-up line is neither clever nor interesting. And, Molly, wow. A "detatched fondness." I love her and the way her mind works. I wonder if she's speaking from personal experience or is she's just generalizing from the larger societal model. I have a hard time imagining Molly engaging in casual dating.
She was eight, in the park with her father, feeding ducks. He said he had to run to the car, gave her his watch and showed her on the minute hand that he'd be back in five. She never saw him again. And of course she wants to prepare for the contingency that she's wrong! I like this scene for giving us a bit more canon on the father thing, but I prefer the final cut that leaves a bit more ambiguity in her backstory -- living through a "worst case scenario" could mean so many things.
Aaand now the library's closing so I guess once again my review for the next set of two will be late, ha.
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Here's what I'm wondering: How does a person even become a contingency analyst, like what sort of certifications go into that?
Monster! Ugh, his little faaace.
Cavennaugh identifies himself as a "federal agent" when he introduces himself to Molly.
"You've just become the most important person on the planet." No pressure. *g*
Baylock: Deputy National Security Advisor.
Hahaha, does Baylock not like Monster or all dogs in general?
Baylock: You wrote this, three years ago. Do you need a few minutes to refresh yourself before we throw you to the wolves?
Caffrey: No, I'm good to go.
I love how even three years later Molly totally doesn't need a refresher. Here's the thing about a contingency plan like that, though -- in three years, wouldn't she have needed to update it to reflect more current security/technology/etc.? I would think so.
Baylock: "From what I've heard, the Oval Office seems to think you're some kind of genius."
Caffrey: "Oh, I don't know about that. But I have advised them on a few occasions."
Hmmm, interesting.
Who's been brought in: Defense, Homeland Security, Langley, NASA.
Oh, Andrea's (didn't quite catch her last name, Andrea Adam?) the National Security Advisor. I could never remember who she was.
Executive Order 221-C. Captured by the Cheyenne Mountain Facility, haha, Stargate crossover bunny ahoy!
Caffrey: a senior analyst at the Blackwood thinktank (located in Richmond, Virginia).
- confirm the presence of extraterrestrial life, intelligent or otherwise
- attempt to communicate with it
- to determine its intent, whether it poses any possible threat
Ahaha, the expression on his face in this second one is priceless.
Fenway: microbiologist, an M.D. with a background in pathology, former 60s radical.
Lucas: astronautical engineer, jet propulsion laboratories, Pasadena, helped design the Jupiter probe. Also one of the all-time high Jeopardy winners. (AND APPARENTLY A LOVER OF JUICE BOXES.)
Arthur: expert in linguistics and applied mathematics.
Cavennaugh: Well, here's your Red Team. Not exactly's Charlie's Angels, are they?
Can I just say? Nigel looks so pretty here it's actually a little criminal.
Fenway: Let me get this straight. We could be witness to the greatest moment in human history and you people want to keep it a secret?
Baylock: Damn right. What if some kind of technology could be reverse engineered from what we encounter? Do we want it falling into the hands of other countries?
Fenway: God forbid the government would give the rest of the world the benefit of the doubt.
Pegg: Here's a thought. [fidgeting] What if they're hostile? I mean, even if they're benign, their presence alone could incite worldwide panic.
Caffrey: Look, gentlemen, we don't know what we're dealing with. And until we do, whatever we discover stays in this room.
Ramsey: [raises index fingers to lips] Shh. Finder's keepers. Hey, [knocks on table], while we're on the subject of aliens, I don't appreciate being abducted. How long is this little field trip gonna last?
Baylock: Indefinitely.
Ramsey: So, what, I'm a prisoner? That's not gonna fly.
Cavennaugh: [leans over Ramsey's shoulder] Hey, can I talk to you in private for a minute?
Cavennaugh: Door number one or door number two?
Ramsey: Uh. [looks at bathroom stalls] I -- I don't. What, what are you talking about?
Cavennaugh: Door number one, you bring on the slide rule(?) and a smile and you do what you're asked. Door number two, you disappear into an eight by ten cell for the rest of your life playing solitaire courtesy of the federal government.
Ramsey: You can't do that. That's illegal. [starts to walk away]
Cavennaugh: [grabs Ramsey's jacket, stopping him] So is subverting the national security, my friend. We're in dark waters here, okay? So I'm gonna ask you again. Door number one, or two?
UGH, YOU ARE BOTH SO PREEEETTY.
Fenway: What is this, war of the worlds? [In background: Cavennaugh to Navy SEALS: You ladies good to go?]
Caffrey: Probably not, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.
Pegg: Have we considered how this might look? What if they've come bearing gifts?
Caffrey: Believe me, Lucas. I hope they have. [walks off]
Ramsey: Ten minutes ago, you were worried about global panic.
Pegg: [straightens jacket] I like to worry about things from all angles.
Giant Madascan Hissing Cockroaches! I have one of those as a pet.
Ramsey: What's that?
Pegg: Uh, it's. New Testament. First Corinthians.
Ramsey: How're they gonna work aliens into their Sunday sermon?
Pegg: You making fun of me?
Ramsey: I'm just saying. I don't remember reading "and on the eighth day, the Lord created Klingons."
Pegg: That's funny. That's very funny.
Ramsey: [to Fenway, who's staring at them] What's your problem?
Fenway: [wry] Where do I begin?
Cavennaugh: Is that your father's watch?
Caffrey: What makes you ask that?
Cavennaugh: Tag Heuer Monaco(?), Steve McQueen wore one. If you were a guy back in the '70s that was a must-have item.
Caffrey: My dad thought so, too.
Cavennaugh: Still around?
Caffrey: I don't know.
Cavennaugh: Heads up, gentlemen, one crew member down.
Wow, Molly seems so happy when they confirm extraterrestrial intelligence, despite the signal-induced bloody nose. I wonder how long she's been waiting to say something like THAT.
Andrea: We do our jobs right, they'll never know how close we came.
Baylock gets reassigned to Threshold. He comments that he thought he was on-track for Andrea's job.
Wow, a really high percentage of that crew died, if you think about it. I wonder what the general rate is of signal failure? Because if at least five people died out of a thirteen person crew, phew. Multiply that by a few million.
Hahaha, the Captain's "this is my creepy alien dream" voice cracks me up.
The people who were sick were trying to kill each other and themselves. Hmm, thinking about it, that doesn't get explored too much later, does it? The focus shifts a lot to how infectees just try to spread the signal. I guess the failed signal conversion stories wouldn't be as interesting, and/or they were mostly to add to the atmosphere of the pilot.
Cavennaugh: Take it easy, buddy. Take it easy.
[Pegg is sitting in front of a crate. It is filled with crumpled papers. Caffrey approaches.]
Caffrey: You okay?
Pegg: [nervous] Yeah. No. Actually, I'm not okay. I'm completely freaked out.
Caffrey: I'd be worried if you weren't. Any thoughts on our mystery object? [looks at his rough sketches]
Pegg: You mean the Christmas ornament, there? Look, designing space crafts is what I do. And theoretically there are only so many ways you can get from one star to another. Laser-assisted solar sailors, fusion engines, interstellar ram(?) jets, anti-matter drives and I gotta tell you, this thing? Definitely doesn't use any of those.
Caffrey: So what does it do? Do you think it was carrying passengers?
Pegg: You saw what it was doing. Folding in on itself. Where would they be?
Caffrey: An unmanned probe, then.
Pegg: Possibly. Or a weapon.
Caffrey: [softly] Right.
[SEALs are cutting down a crewmember who hanged himself.]
Ramsey: Takes real commitment to hang yourself. My boy here was motivated. Something must've really scared the crap out of him.
Caffrey: You wanted to see me?
Ramsey: Yeah, I got a little bit of alien voodoo I wanna run past you, here. Now, this interference pattern, it appears on every bit of equipment on this ship.
Caffrey: What's causing it?
Ramsey: We really should go out sometime. [Caffrey just looks at him.] What? You don't date guys, [beat], smarter than you?
Caffrey: I don't know. [smiles and clicks photo] Never met one.
Ramsey: Now, as to what's causing this pattern, remember the bomb they dropped over Hiroshima? The explosion was so hardcore it permanently burned shadows of people onto the walls and sidewalks. I think we have the electromagnetic equivalent here.
Caffrey: What about the shape itself?
Ramsey: I've got some ideas but I need to do a Foyer(?) analysis before I really narrow it down.
Caffrey: [to SEALs] Hold on, guys, I wanna get some shots before you bag him. [walks over to body]
Ramsey: Meticulous.
Caffrey: Details matter.
Ramsey: I think I saw that embroidered on a pillow, once. You know, Caffrey, you didn't have to concoct this whole alien conspiracy theory just to get the two of us alone together.
Caffrey: You're boring me, Ramsey. You get that or you need me to embroider it on a pillow for you?
Ramsey: [laughs] I have to amuse myself, somehow. You know, thanks to you, this might be my last job. Ever. You ever consider that? I mean, did you think about that when you picked our names out of a hat? I mean, I was having a perfectly deviant lifestyle --
[Body opens eyes and starts moving, they all jump back.]
Fenway: It's not all that unusual. Post-mortem muscle contractions, neuro-electrical discharges.
Ramsey: Discharge? No. This guy was doing the macarena.
Caffrey: Look, all I know is that his eyes were focused. There was consciousness. So, maybe our definiton of dead just changed.
Cavennaugh: ...Where the hell did it go?
Caffrey: Nervous?
Cavennaugh: You really thrive on this crisis stuff, don't you?
Caffrey: [laughs] Is it that obvious?
Cavennaugh: Worst-case scenarios. What kind of person picks that for a job description?
Caffrey: Kinda person who lived through one.
Pegg: You know what, doc, I've been thinking.
Fenway: Uh-oh.
Pegg: I don't know if that object was even a spacecraft, the way it was built. It could never carry passengers. [makes noises at the rats] It must have been sent here for another purpose.
Fenway: Huh.
Pegg: [notices hand in bag of ice] Whoa. Hey, there's a wedding ring on this hand. They ever find the guy this belonged to?
Fenway: Nope.
Pegg: [sighs, crossing arms] Doesn't that bother you?
Fenway: [sighs, leaning back from microscope and pinching bridge of nose] What bothers me is that we're working our butts off here and nobody's said bo-diddly about whether we're being paid for this or not.
Pegg: I'm not worried about that. I think we got bigger fish to fry.
Fenway: Yeah, well, you're not carrying three ex-wives on your back, are you?
Pegg: You know, doc, this, this is about the science, this about the sense of discovery.
Fenway: Are you kidding me? You think people give a flying fart about science? The day the Mars rover landed, what was the top story in the news?
Pegg: I don't know.
Fenway: Britney Spears, Married in Vegas. Given the state of the world today, a little alien intervention might be just what the doctor ordered.
Pegg: So you're bitter, is what you're saying.
Cavennaugh: So have you figured out what we're looking at?
Ramsey: Uh, if I give you the wrong answer are you gonna make me choose a door again? [Ramsey just looks at him.] It's a fractal pattern. Fractional geometry, a type of mathematics that crops up in chaos theory.
Cavennaugh: What does this have to do with our UFO?
Ramsey: Could be some form of communication. Math is a language, and like any language it speaks to us. This pattern is speaking to me.
Cavennaugh: What's it saying?
Ramsey: It's a graphic representation of an equation that describes a DNA molecule. Here, now, [sets laptop on control panel], our DNA, the DNA of every life form on earth, is in the shape of a --
Cavennaugh: Double helix.
Ramsey: Double helix. So, you actually took more than Phys Ed?
Cavennaugh: Keep going, Ramsey.
Ramsey: Now, if I translate into mathematics what this pattern is describing, things get a little bit bizarre.
Cavennaugh: Triple helix.
Ramsey: I can't even imagine what life based on a triple helix would look like.
Fenway: Something evoked frighteningly rapid cellular change in every living thing on this boat.
Pegg: Okay, hold on, though. We don't know they're trying to colonize. This could be their way off... saying hello.
Ramsey: Listen, my ridiculously optimistic little friend, I know how to say hello in over two hundred dialects and this most certainly is not a hello.
I really enjoy this little round table session of theirs. Okay, barring the fact that the science seems very handwavey and they jump to conclusions REALLY quickly, I love the way they play off each other and hash out ideas together. This cast just has such great chemistry.
Caffrey: Are you blowing up the ship?
Ahahahaha, a few more episodes in and she would not even bother with that particular question.
Phase 2 of the Threshold Protocols: Containment and Crisis Management.
Y HALO THAR SEAN.
Sean has a scar on his chest.
Fenway: Whoever stitched you up should be making shoes for a living.
Unusual activity in their mid-to-lower frontal lobes. They're generating far more than the average cognitive model.
Waaaait. If Molly lives close enough to Threshold to drive home, why did they chopper her in? I mean, she can't live that far away, right, otherwise she'd just move closer to the Threshold building. Ah, well, added dramatic tension, I guess that's as good a reason as any.
Hmm, Cavennaugh switches to calling her "Molly" pretty quickly.
Eeeek, I have a really hard time watching Gunneson throw Molly around. :( But I do love how she does the open cellar + shovel thing. Quicker thinking than I would likely manage in a similar situation. Then aaaagain, it's entirely possible Molly has whole lists of ways to deal with attackers already in her head. I can picture her pondering the layout of her house and figuring out the best possible ways to use her superior knowledge of her surroundings to turn a situation around.
Aww, Baylock bringing the coffee for everyone. He is so the father figure of this show, I love it.
Ha, Cavennaugh "bigfooting" the local police by telling them they're FBI. Seriously, I want to keep a list of all the different agencies they hijack to control situations. Alphabet soup ahoy!
It's interesting that Gunneson hones in on Molly. If it hadn't been her, would it have been Lucas or Sean? Did Gunneson track her down because of the theta wave thing and, if so, can all infectees do the same thing?
Eeeee, Nigel's glasses hanging out of his mouth. UGH, IT STILL GETS ME.
Fenway: Spend most of my day in a lab chatting with test tubes and cell cultures. Glamorous life of a pathologist.
I totally think he means that literally. I like to imagine Nigel in his lab talking to all his equipment.
Baylock: You old enough to drink coffee?
Oh, man, Lucas is so obviously lying about the dreams, even before we find out later for sure. He really doesn't seem like the kind of guy who does well with keeping secrets or telling lies. Deception so isn't in his nature. Makes me wonder how he manages with Rachel, what with his ENTIRE JOB being the biggest secret you could EVER keep from another person, because he's literally out there working in what he believes is the most important fight for the survival of humankind as a whole. I mean, how stressful would it be knowing that your wife is out there in the world, constantly facing the threat of being infected, and all you can do is hope that she won't be? What's sad is the *only* way he could tell her (almost) everything would be if she were infected. I just honestly can't imagine a marriage holding up under that kind of strain.
Also makes me wonder if he would try to hide more signs of his continuing alienification process from Nigel, not so much directly as indirectly, ie continuing to avoid check-ups and/or just happening not to mention certain weird physiological things going on with him because he's trying sooo hard to pretend they're not happening.
Baylock: You sure about that, my friend?
Aww, Lucas looks like he's going to crack like a neurotic little egg beneath JT's probing gaze!
Caffrey: Is that my underwear in your hands?
Ramsey: Yes.
AHAHA, THE EXPRESSION ON RAMSEY'S FACE. He's so cheerful about it.
Gunneson: expressive aphasia, common in stroke victims.
Seven potential alien infectees: Captain Manning, Lieutenant Novak, Crewman Sanford Sonntag, Park & Peña.
Lucas' wedding date set six weeks from pilot.
Aww, I like that Nigel is tactful when he pulls Molly aside to tell her about the blood splatter. It can be easy to focus on his harsh side, but he's got his softer, nicer side, too.
Fenway: Are you mugging me? Because I'm a little busy right now.
Nigel's brother is in Boston.
A vintage honer harmonica 542 golden melody, with its original case.
Ramsey: Great. At least now we know he didn't walk on water.
Steel-toed boot made by Redwing, huh, I have a pair of those!
Lucas: That's disgusting.
Nigel: Isn't it?
Lucas: So the big guy in there used to be one of the roaches on the ship?
Nigel: Mm-hm. Been watching him mutate for the last forty-eight hours. Check out what he does next. [Skeletor!Roach starts walking in circles.] He'll keep doing that all night long, over and over again.
Lucas: The fractal pattern?
Nigel: Part of it, anyway.
Lucas: You really think we're okay, doc? Me and Dr. Caffrey and Cavennaugh?
Nigel: Well, medically, yeah. I mean, I haven't found anything to cause me worry, a few spikes in your theta waves. Weird stuff, yeah, but not worry kind of stuff.
Lucas: That theta wave business, that's not something I can pass on to my to me fiancée, right?
Nigel: Honestly, I have no idea. Why don't you just keep your mitts off her until we know what we're doing here?
Random thought: I wonder what Molly has a doctorate in.
And, yeah, this is the bit of dialogue that made it my personal canon that Lucas is waiting until marriage to have sex. It really just seems like something he would do to me. It's less and less common nowadays, no doubt, but I could see it being plausible for him (especially if the character of Lucas is a bit younger than Rob Benedict, which I think he is. They seem to be going for a pretty young character, here).
Dude, Nigel, I am with you. I wouldn't be watching that tape, even without sound, no matter how safe someone told me it was. Because they always *think* it's safe until, whooops, you're an alien! Our bad.
Lucas: Exactly. Might even tell us how our average joe cockroach managed to hulk out into Skeletor roach over there.
OH, LUCAS, YOU'RE INTO COMIC BOOKS, AREN'T YOU? AREN'T YOU?
Nigel: Give yourself a gold star, Mr. Pegg.
Hmm, I wonder what the hulked out infectee rats look like? Scary, I bet. o_O
Ramsey: Novokovich? That little math bitch. He's all smoke and mirrors. Isomorphic group therapy, monotonic null sequences, quadratic reciprocity, bleh bleh blabity blah. Come up with something new, please.
Man, do I love this whole conversation they have. I love the Sean-Arthur dynamic, how Sean goes from this real antangonism with Arthur to then then later in the same episode approaching him a completely different way, and actually listening to what's going on with Arthur instead of just telling him to get over it and suck it up.
Oh, man, Molly fixating and looking like she's about to hyperventilate :( God, the trauma that must come along with her job description.
Andrea: You knew this would happen, sooner or later.
Molly: What, aliens?
Andrea: Your contingency plans. Viral outbreaks, international monetary collapse and, uh, wait a minute, what was the one you wrote in '97?
Molly: A cataclysmic shift in the polar ice caps.
But then Andrea makes her smile and she looks like an angel. ♥
Hahaha, Nigel's face.
JT fishes peacock bass.
Ramsey: Hm. I always wondered what doctors carry in their little black bag.
NIGEL'S EXPRESSION. <3
Arthur: So, I heard you're getting hitched.
Lucas: That was the plan, anyway.
Nigel: Well, if you're having second thoughts, you've got the perfect excuse.
Lucas: Which is what?
Arthur: Alien invasion, jackass.
Lucas: Why're you even still here? Aren't you supposed to be making your, uh, big getaway?
Nigel: Oh, he chickened out, he couldn't stand the thought of Novokovich stealing his thunder.
Sean: So you really don't know where your father is? Whether he's dead or alive?
Molly: [shakes head]
Sean: So what happened, what's the story?
Molly: You didn't read my file?
Sean: Skimmed it.
Molly: He disappeared when I was younger.
Sean: Want me to try find him? Bet I could.
Molly: If you'd asked me that two days ago I might've said yes. Now, I don't know. All the things I thought mattered to me.
Sean: Well maybe they matter more.
Huh, yeah, that's interesting, because if I were Molly I think I'd actually be more interested in reuniting with my father. Hmm, then again, it would be pretty tough to go through something that deeply emotional while also trying to do her ridiculously hard job.
Lucas: So, three times, huh?
Nigel: Down the aisle? Yup.
Lucas: How'd you keep working up the nerve? Weren't you worried each one was gonna end up like the last one?
Nigel: Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me.
Lucas: Would you ever do it again?
Nigel: Given our present circumstances, I suppose anything's possible.
Lucas: I was worried you were gonna talk me out of it.
Nigel: No, don't worry, Lucas, because I really don't care.
Lucas: You know a cynic is an idealist with a broken heart.
Nigel: Thank you, Dr. Phil.
Hahaha, Ramsey, you're clearly so sorry to interrupt their poignant moment.
Oh, man, the way Lucas says "I'm great." He sounds so tiny and broken, I just want to pet him. And then Gunneson just drags him like a sack of potatoes! Poor baby.
Wow, Sean's looks are *really* growing on me this re-watch.
Nigel: I guess you just weren't feeling the part about capturing a live specimen.
Sean: He's alive.
Nigel: Ish.
I can't totally make sense of why Gunneson was drawn there. I mean, the way he was talking, it almost sounds like he chose to come when he heard the signal (and/or noticed their theta wave presence, whichever). What was his purpose? Was he trying to nab Molly? Or Lucas, is that why he was dragging him off? I wonder where they were going to go with the Gunneson plotline. Maybe they just dropped it because the actor didn't want to stick around, heh.
Ugh, Sean banging that guy's head on the car = really icky.
The 106 people came from within a five kilometer radius.
Caffrey: And Gunneson said what?
Lucas: That they were re-creating us in their image.
Deleted scenes:
Ahahaha, Cal, man, I'm sorry. That pick-up line is neither clever nor interesting. And, Molly, wow. A "detatched fondness." I love her and the way her mind works. I wonder if she's speaking from personal experience or is she's just generalizing from the larger societal model. I have a hard time imagining Molly engaging in casual dating.
She was eight, in the park with her father, feeding ducks. He said he had to run to the car, gave her his watch and showed her on the minute hand that he'd be back in five. She never saw him again. And of course she wants to prepare for the contingency that she's wrong! I like this scene for giving us a bit more canon on the father thing, but I prefer the final cut that leaves a bit more ambiguity in her backstory -- living through a "worst case scenario" could mean so many things.
Aaand now the library's closing so I guess once again my review for the next set of two will be late, ha.
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