Hunted Thoughts
Mar. 29th, 2021 10:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaIt was okay.
It was pretty slow going and I wasn't very invested in the characters or the plot but there was so much left open at the end that I really wanted to know the answers to. I think it would have worked well enough as a mini-series. Some questions:
- Why was Sam kidnapped as a child instead of killed with her mother, how did she escape and why was she allowed to grow up? What happened that made Stokes decide a year ago that she needed to die? What the hell did she know that was so important? If Stokes kept her alive and prisoner at his estate it can't be whatever she saw there (the meeting at the table) but I'm sure that would have been important too.
- Who the hell is fake!Goebel aka the Blank Face Man and what is his interest in Sam? He was actively searching for her after her disappearance a year ago which makes me curious about how long he's been watching her. All her life? He watches her, he protects her. He saves her life multiple times. In the end he makes an offer to trade for her. Why?
- What is Aiden's real identity and why would it matter to Sam? I got the feel that who Aiden really is would have some meaning to Sam but I can't think of how. If they weren't lovers/had a child I'd have assumed long lost family. This is especially annoying since she got the key in episode 7 and then never uses it!
- There's also all that Hourglass stuff but honestly I don't really care about that.
+ I liked that the show began and ended with Sam getting fake killed (by Deacon). I like the implication that between the two options given Deacon chose neither and picked Sam instead. Did Sam know going into the bridge meeting? She had to have right?
+ Another reason to regret not getting a second season: Deacon as head of Byzantium and seeing how differently he might lead the company. The show made it obvious that he wants to be a better, more moral, person and that he makes terrible choice because of orders but they have begun to weigh heavily on him. Would Byzantium change to being a force for good? Could Sam convince him to go after Hourglass with her?
+ I think one of the biggest weaknesses with the show was that the agents of Byzantium only ever felt like co-workers. I'm used to people in these situations creating tight bonds! At least some of them. But the only tight bond was Aiden->Sam. Otherwise - co-workers. Boo. I wanted friendships. Deacon+Sam, Zoe+Deacon, Zoe+Sam - we got maybe hints occasionally but otherwise no. There wasn't even any relationship advancement with Ian. He ends the series in the same place he started it as far as the team goes.
+ I hated all the gratuitous female nudity. I hated the way it kept introducing female characters with them having sex. All of it was completely unnecessary. Keel's meetings with the always naked prostitute the most needless of all.
+ I loved that Sam saved herself from Jack instead of Aiden and Stephen running in and doing it for her.
+ I wish we'd gotten more closure between Stephen and Sam. She slept with him and she tricked him into letting her into his and his son's lives. In the end this all worked out for the best - he is finally free of his father, free of the violence and able to move on with his son, and he can insure that Eddie is forever free of that life. But it still probably deserves a conversation. That said I did like their relationship and how that played out.
+ I liked Sam bonding with Eddie and her protectiveness of him.
+ I loved the reveal that this whole dam plan was the endgame of 20 years of work on Jack Turner's part in order to destroy Polyhedrus. Because they ordered the murder and dismemberment of his oldest son Jack Jr. If he wasn't such a complete asshole I'd be on his side here. I like this kind of single minded focus.
+ The last minute reveals that Tyrone was Jack's son and that Jack had Stephen's wife murdered because she was going to take Eddie and Stephen and move away both worked for me.
+ I liked how they tied in the girl from across the street. We kept seeing her watching and I was wondering where that was going. I got the implication that she was harming herself because she saw the murder and didn't say anything. I loved that she managed to overcome her fear and told Stephen the truth. Hopefully that was enough to let her move on.
+ I was surprised that Sam didn't try and facilitate a meeting between Fatima Zahir and the girl who's village was murdered.
+ I have liked MG’s acting in other things but the pursed lips thing she was doing during her entire confrontation with Aiden in her apartment during the first episode was so distracting.
It was pretty slow going and I wasn't very invested in the characters or the plot but there was so much left open at the end that I really wanted to know the answers to. I think it would have worked well enough as a mini-series. Some questions:
- Why was Sam kidnapped as a child instead of killed with her mother, how did she escape and why was she allowed to grow up? What happened that made Stokes decide a year ago that she needed to die? What the hell did she know that was so important? If Stokes kept her alive and prisoner at his estate it can't be whatever she saw there (the meeting at the table) but I'm sure that would have been important too.
- Who the hell is fake!Goebel aka the Blank Face Man and what is his interest in Sam? He was actively searching for her after her disappearance a year ago which makes me curious about how long he's been watching her. All her life? He watches her, he protects her. He saves her life multiple times. In the end he makes an offer to trade for her. Why?
- What is Aiden's real identity and why would it matter to Sam? I got the feel that who Aiden really is would have some meaning to Sam but I can't think of how. If they weren't lovers/had a child I'd have assumed long lost family. This is especially annoying since she got the key in episode 7 and then never uses it!
- There's also all that Hourglass stuff but honestly I don't really care about that.
+ I liked that the show began and ended with Sam getting fake killed (by Deacon). I like the implication that between the two options given Deacon chose neither and picked Sam instead. Did Sam know going into the bridge meeting? She had to have right?
+ Another reason to regret not getting a second season: Deacon as head of Byzantium and seeing how differently he might lead the company. The show made it obvious that he wants to be a better, more moral, person and that he makes terrible choice because of orders but they have begun to weigh heavily on him. Would Byzantium change to being a force for good? Could Sam convince him to go after Hourglass with her?
+ I think one of the biggest weaknesses with the show was that the agents of Byzantium only ever felt like co-workers. I'm used to people in these situations creating tight bonds! At least some of them. But the only tight bond was Aiden->Sam. Otherwise - co-workers. Boo. I wanted friendships. Deacon+Sam, Zoe+Deacon, Zoe+Sam - we got maybe hints occasionally but otherwise no. There wasn't even any relationship advancement with Ian. He ends the series in the same place he started it as far as the team goes.
+ I hated all the gratuitous female nudity. I hated the way it kept introducing female characters with them having sex. All of it was completely unnecessary. Keel's meetings with the always naked prostitute the most needless of all.
+ I loved that Sam saved herself from Jack instead of Aiden and Stephen running in and doing it for her.
+ I wish we'd gotten more closure between Stephen and Sam. She slept with him and she tricked him into letting her into his and his son's lives. In the end this all worked out for the best - he is finally free of his father, free of the violence and able to move on with his son, and he can insure that Eddie is forever free of that life. But it still probably deserves a conversation. That said I did like their relationship and how that played out.
+ I liked Sam bonding with Eddie and her protectiveness of him.
+ I loved the reveal that this whole dam plan was the endgame of 20 years of work on Jack Turner's part in order to destroy Polyhedrus. Because they ordered the murder and dismemberment of his oldest son Jack Jr. If he wasn't such a complete asshole I'd be on his side here. I like this kind of single minded focus.
+ The last minute reveals that Tyrone was Jack's son and that Jack had Stephen's wife murdered because she was going to take Eddie and Stephen and move away both worked for me.
+ I liked how they tied in the girl from across the street. We kept seeing her watching and I was wondering where that was going. I got the implication that she was harming herself because she saw the murder and didn't say anything. I loved that she managed to overcome her fear and told Stephen the truth. Hopefully that was enough to let her move on.
+ I was surprised that Sam didn't try and facilitate a meeting between Fatima Zahir and the girl who's village was murdered.
+ I have liked MG’s acting in other things but the pursed lips thing she was doing during her entire confrontation with Aiden in her apartment during the first episode was so distracting.
