Help!

[Guest LadyBlack]

OK, I watched "Darwin's eye" this morning. I am completely confused. I read your synopsis, and you say that Cassie definitely killed Joe. I thought that she didn't? I know it depends on whether she was really being hunted by a consipracy or not, but I just don't understand why she would have killed him. He didn't rape her (as far as we know) so do we just assume that is now 'programmed' to kill any man she sleeps witih? Where did all the blood go? What did she use to severe his head?

I've been out of loop for a while, but I've been reading "The God Delusion" so I now get the problem with Darwin's eye, the disprover for the theory of evolution, and I was wondering if she had 'proof' that the eye could not have evolved naturally, and was therefore able to prove the existance of God. But that didn't get covered at all. Do further episodes explain "Darwin's Eye"?

[Guest Laurent.]

My personal interpretation of the episode:

There wasn't any conspiracy and she just felt compelled to kill anyone who saw her naked or had slept/raped her. There isn't much explanation given to her behavior other than she's acting out on past abuses. What I like with this episode, it's that it tries to bring you down another road, to make you believe that there is something much bigger at work here when really there isn't. It's all about her and only her (that's what the huge mural represents, you think there is something incredible happening, multiple events, people and organization seemed linked... but when you take a step back, you catch the truth..). That's the link with the opening monologue... somethings aren't a result of a long chain of events (evolution) some accidents just happen, some mind just snaps.

Where did all the blood go? What did she use to severe his head?

I Dunno.

[Guest LadyBlack]

Oh, OK, that makes sense up to a point. I still don't know how she made such a good job of killing Joe. Thanks for the reply. I think I need to watch it again without so many distractions. Although why does Hollis' father appear to have a link with what's going on after the episode is basically over? It's like "So there wasn't any connection" and then "Oh, there WAS a connection" and then "Maybe there wasn't after all".

Edited August 7, 2008 by LadyBlack

[Guest Laurent.]

Although why does Hollis' father appear to have a link with what's going on after the episode is basically over? It's like "So there wasn't any connection" and then "Oh, there WAS a connection" and then "Maybe there wasn't after all".

You're talking about the palms symbol right? That's a good question.. I don't think it's an hint to a greater story (conspiracy or anything) but simply a symbol. I'm not well versed in symbolism, but I can still say that the only two characters for which the palms had some importance were crazy to some extent.

From wikipedia:

Early Christians used the palm branch to symbolize the victory of the faithful over enemies of the soul, as in the Palm Sunday festival celebrating the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

In Christian art, martyrs were usually shown holding palms representing the victory of spirit over flesh, and it was widely believed that a picture of a palm on a tomb meant that a martyr was buried there.[18] Origen calls the palm "the symbol of victory in that war waged by the spirit against the flesh. In this sense it was especially applicable to martyrs, the victors par excellence over the spiritual foes of mankind; hence the frequent occurrence in the Acts of the martyrs of such expressions as "he received the palm of martyrdom."

I guess other members might have a better answer... I'm probably as much confused as you are.

[Guest SouthernCelt]

I always assumed the palm symbol had no real meaning to Cassie but did to her father from his military days and to Hollis' father as well. I took it to be a convoluted and totally unexplained implication that the MM Group had been at work via the military in some black op type of research or project which none of them could later afford for the sake of their safety to reveal. I thought as well that the Group had a dual reason to "help" Hollis' father with his senility/Alzheimer's that being to bring Hollis into their camp to repay the debt and to "help" Hollis' father forget all those things that were now welling up in his mind. I also wondered if the Group had artificially brought on the Alzheimer's condition in hopes of causing those memories to be lost and failed because it brought them out again but in a way that Hollis' father could no longer explain. Maybe I just like to see conspiracy behind every tree but considering the way the Group was heading in S3, it seemed to fit the kind of behind the scenes scheming they were becoming adept at.

[ethsnafu]

This is a great little thread though I have to parade my mystification before you all in admitting to having no insight into the symbol of the palms. It in inferred in the narrative that they are a random motif plucked from the psychotic mind of Cass and the rapidly degenerating psyche of James Hollis. It is interesting to note that both display the palm along with motifs of the eye which, whilst being a conceptual aspect of Cass' narrative, forms part of the mural she daubs upon her wall. It was Mellisa Hollis' eyes that James chose to form into palms which again links the two stories via similarities. I have never fully understood the reason for this nor the reason why eyes feature so prominently throughout the whole Season. In addition to the episodes mentioned above the eye is used as the symbol of Project Grillflame in Innocents/Exegesis, it is seen daubed upon a wall in Skull and Bones and is used in the most cryptic way in Saturn Dreaming of Mercury. So prominent is the eye is that it was chosen as the cover to the DVD release of Season Three. All these things cause us to assume there is some greater significance to events and though I confess to never having understood them. Here's hoping someone with a greater mind than I can give an answer to the puzzle.

Best wishes,

Eth

[Guest LadyBlack]

Yep, I am referring to the palm trees significantly (or not) being destroyed. Of course, it could have been a co-incidence, particulary as this epsiode was about concepts of chaos vs a planned course. Were the palms not significant to Cassie because she had hidden her father's head at the Palm Trees Motel, or did she choose the motel because it *was* the Palm Trees motel? Perhaps her father took her there for a night - that would cause it to have a profound effect on her.

I think we can either read a great deal into the eye motif, or not a great deal :-). I saw it as a symbol of people being watched, of future events being seen which can then be controlled. And eyes are meant to be the windows of the soul, I don't know if that has any bearing.

Also, the eye is almost round, almost a circle.

I thought that Hollis' dad had been given Alzheimer's (or something which mimicked it) which is why 'they' were able to offer a complete cure - not to make him forget or anything. I wouldn't put anything past 'them' :-).