In Arcadia Ego

[Guest paranoid eyes]

Is there a special name for this type of episodes? The optimistic ones in an otherwise dark show, which give the characters a happy ending in between hair-raising experience.

I was really happy for Frank in this episode especially when he confirmed he does believe in miracles. It is such progress for his character from his " I don't know, isn't everything controlled by science" attitude in Gehenna. It shouldn't be a surprise; he had plenty of contact with the supernatural but it was always some manifestation of evil. Here he finally gets to witness a miracle. Lance and Terry did an excellent job with their characters, showing that those conservative family men fell uncomfortable with this case but will do everything to handle it in a professional, objective way. This is pretty much the only positive thing I managed to extract from this episode (trust me, I really tried).

Could it be even more clichéd?!. When I saw that it starts in a female prison I instantly though about guards peeking on the women, having sex with them, lesbian relationships between the prisoners, characters who were arrested after killing an abusive father or husband. The plot was rip-off of the deeply underrated The Innocent and the Wild with white trash characters risking their freedom and life for their child.

O.K. the whole "God's baby" idea was something new but that's because it was bizarre and kind of gross. Maybe it's the Christian in me but I don't have a problem with Anamnesis which was superior in dialogue, plot, characters and acting (even without Lance). In Arcadia Ego seemed to be heretic for heretic's sake. It was obvious that the baby won't have a bigger part in the storyline (that is of course, unless the writers were planning an episode in which 20 later it becomes the Anti-Antichrist, who will fight Yaponchic).

Plus the acting of the female guest-stars was terrible.

I gave it 2 out of 5.

[Guest Black's Babe]

I'm renaming this the "Men Are Pigs" episodes.

with the exception of Frank, Peter Watts and the Young Man who ends up adopting the baby.

Along with his wife.

[Guest Black's Babe]

Did anyone notice the strange overhead shot of Sonny's body after suicide by cop?

Like some type of spirit/entity left her physical form, it reminded me of the film Fallen.

Very Odd...

[ethsnafu]

I was just ambling around looking for a "Siren" topic which we touched upon last night in the Skype chat and I saw BB's post above. I have never noticed the shot she mentioned and now I'm dying to know if it's something that was implied or a personal interpretation of her own. I really hope it's the former as I'm excited about the possibility of discovering something new about this episode after all that time.

I shall look forward to viewing this later.

Eth

[Earthnut]

Hey, I don't remember seeing anything either and sooooooooooooooo look forward to seeing the episode again for that reason. I may even put it in the machine ASAP and go to the end because my curiosity is taking over big time.

Thanks Libby ! !

[IHaveGoodInstincts]

Chip Johannessen again! He is amazing! Like in Burdo Thodol, if you dig, you find literary treasure!

Initially, this episode turned me off, but after the dig, it made sense, and oh, that emotional ending!

While I was watching for the overhead shot, I saw Frank flinch at the first gunshot. With all of Frank's insights, expertise, and visions, for him to still flinch says more than words ever could. Even the scenes with Peter in the car, almost knowing the bleak outcome before it happens. They distinctly make a point of showing that Sonny did not have the gun, which maybe was an implication that she had changed and grown in a way. While I'm on the spiritual piece, maybe similar to Jesus, she knew that leaving the train car meant going to her death. I was trying to make a connection between her semi-upright death position and a crucufixion death, but maybe I am reaching a bit here. Hey, they did it in "The Omega Man," why not here? The guards/police do have that "Roman Soldier" feel.

This episode always made me think about what Jesus would be like if he did today what was done 2000 years ago. Who would be the Samarians in our time?

After dozens of watches and listens, the ending still packs a strong emotional punch. It just does not go away!

Now if they could have used a fraction of the ending energy from this episode and put it towards Collateral Damage...

[ethsnafu]

I really enjoyed reading your thoughts on this episode. Maybe the reason why the ending of this episode is somewhat more successful than that of "Collateral Damage" is down to the performances of Missy Crider and Mary-Pat Green. I thought both of them were superb throughout this episode and the relationship they realised was very believable which is amazing when you consider that they had only met each other for the first time hours before they went in front of the camera to perform.

It is a great episode and one which, for some reason, doesn't always elicit a lot of discussion but the ending does stay with you for a very long time. I absolutely agree with you that Sonny leaves the boxcar to go to her death and Peter certainly knows what the end outcome of this will be.

I always like to imagine that Follow The Path was an offshoot of The Millennium Group (possibly the same faction that took Danielle Barbakow and a young Lilly Unser) as precedent was set that The Millennium Group certainly took an interest in gifted children. I doubt they would have a let the product of a virgin birth out of their hands easily.

Eth

[Earthnut]

Speaking of Missy Crider, do you know why she also uses Melissa Crider in the credits? I just watched a move with her in it and noticed that in the credits. Wouldn't this make her harder for the viewers to remember?

[ethsnafu]

It's similar to the Lance Henriksen/Henricksen/Hendricksen discussion we had recently isn't it and no one seemed to know why actors are credited differently in some projects than others. I wonder if it's simply a whim?

That said, she is a very fine actress and if you enjoyed her work on "Millennium" it's very worthwhile checking out "The Others" which was written by Morgan Wong. She has a great role in that show and it's a shame it didn't last longer than it did.

Eth

[Earthnut]

Yes Missy is a fantastic actor.

I'm wondering, could they have multiple contracts under each name for legal protection?

Am I correct in assuming that "The Others" is a TV show and not associated with the movie starring Nicole Kidman? Guess I could research it myself. Here I go.

I found the TV series at Wikipedia and they even mention her different name in the credits.

Missy Crider as Ellen "Satori" Pawlowski (credited as 'Melissa Crider')

I also found a site where it said that "The whole purpose of this change is so actors only appear once in the database and all variant spellings are linked."

Found out, "Terry Quinn became Terry O'Quinn because there was already a Terrance Quinn registered with the actors' guild."

Here's the LINK to the site with a list of a ton of celebrity name changes.