"anamnesis" (2nd Season)

[IHaveGoodInstincts]

In "celebration" of revisiting this thread, i re-listened to the Back to Frank Black Eth/Anamnesis podcast on the way home from work last night. Reading your points more throughly on this thread helped enlighten me a bit, though your points were clearer here due to the limited "air-time" on the podcast. Your voice was not as loud as the others, so I just turned you up!

[Guest Luki]

While I enjoyed the episode there´s one aspect I always wondered about. When they try to baptize the girls and the Mary Magdalen appears in front of everyone... does Catherine see it or not? Because when it happens there´s only one wide shot of her looking quite perplexed but when everyone´s leaving the church she acts like nothing happened and doesn´t even mention it.

[Guest RodimusBen]

I got the impression she did NOT see it, and her look was a reaction to seeing the girls interact with something she herself could not see.

Welcome to TIWWA by the way.

[ethsnafu]

Hi Luki, as Ben has answered your question in exactly the same way I would have allow me to take this opportunity to welcome you to TIWWA and I hope you enjoy your time here and make many new friends in the process.

Please browse around and ask as many questions as you like. We may not always know the answer but we sure love to talk about the show.

Eth

[Guest Luki]

Thank you. I´ve been a lurker around here for a long time but decided to join only recently. English is not my native language so please excuse my limited vocabulary and mistakes.

I think 2nd season could´ve used more Catherine and Lara Means... they were both quite underused. Catherine was pretty much non-existent during most of the season (Her part in "Luminary" was excellent though) and it almost seems like they decided to give her an episode to make up for it. I think it was too little too late... her death didn´t do anything for me which is weird since Catherine was propably my favourite character aside from Frank. They managed to fix it in "Sound of Snow".

Back to Anamnesis... when I first saw this episode I didn´t really like it much. Have to say though that it was like this with majority of the 2nd season. When I saw all the episodes for the second time (and knew what to expect) I enjoyed it much more. There´s a lot of great writing in this season.

Edited June 24, 2010 by Luki

[Guest arcanamundi]

The church has it's place by keeping a lot of people off the streets, but so many churches and religions have become nothing more then storybook tellers. I am glad to see some are into the meat of the word.

Yes, I agree, this episode was far more interesting the the Di Vinci Code.

Earthnut

Ooh - 'the meat of the word.' I like that.

[ethsnafu]

I saw this episode again as part of my regular 'Anamnesis' celebrations and it still captivates me and yet I have never, ever understood what Clare means when she talks about Catherine being a chronicler like herself. In a literal interpretation of what she says she could very well be implying that she was tested by the Polaroid Man himself. Certainly, Catherine has a flashback to her own experiences immediately after Clare has finished talking but I don't it's that at all. Maybe she is talking spiritually and implying that both have been tested by Legion or some other entity that may well have been in control of the Polaroid man. Maybe she is talking from the Magdalene's perspective and is referring to some event in biblical accounts of her or even Gnostic accounts. Does anyone have any insight, spiritual or other, as to what Clare's words imply?

Eth

[Earthnut]

Thank you Ralph, I appreciate the compliment. We must have a talk some day.

Lukas, I agree, Catherine is so under-rated. She absolutely helped to strengthen the show and received little credit for it. On the contrary, many people hate her and call her names. That's seeing through material eyes and not spiritual.

I believe Clare was seeing Catherine's spirit. Being religious and being spiritual are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Religion since the beginning of time has brought death, but spirituality brings life. In an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger starring Chuck Norris, the bad guy (indestructable to everyone else but Ranger Walker), played by Gary Busy, made a statement, so powerful, so profound, that I had to hear it again so I could write it down exactly as it was spoken. To me it sums it all up and honestly, I don't believe it could be written any better and be so influential. This is why I say I am spiritual.

"Organized religion is built for people who are afraid of hell; Spirituality is for people who've been there."

Catherine, being a professional, weighs the sides and honestly doesn't judge, but looks at the practical answer instead, which is hard for some people to understand, especially those who want to judge. Being practical brings the material thinking and the spiritual thinking together. Her family traveled a lot, and after graduating from college she became a clinical social worker. This requires as compassionate and caring heart, and also being very open minded, yet at the same time, always looking for the best answers and direction for her patients.

If anyone totally understood Frank it was Catherine. Even Lara didn't completely understand him. She know how he felt, but that was all, because she struggled understanding her own vision of her angel. Catherine also made it very clear right at the beginning that she can handle imposition, but what she can't handle is secrecy, and that's what separated them, along with their two worlds colliding after she was abducted, Franks being violent and hers being intimate. She needed time and space, not because of Frank, but because of herself. She wanted the kidnapper dead, and that was contrary to what she believes and has always stood for, a loving, practical, and peaceful solution. Catherine kept Frank balanced.

Clare saw Catherine's spirit, not her mind or emotions, and saw that she is someone who would document everything, not judge, and then seek a spiritual, Godly, solution, answer, or reply to any situation.

P S - My favorite episode, as you can see off to the left.

[Guest arcanamundi]

Many thanks for the kudos, it is a rarity that my bizarre ramblings are agreed upon and I thank you earnestly for doing so. I am aware that there is a contingent of fans who appreciate realism in their viewing and I accept that the richness of stories such as Anamnesis jarred with their appreciation of fact and science, but this episode has such a subtle beauty I implore all to suspend their requirements for under and hour and jump in. A writers ability to embrace such profound a postulation as Gnosticism and weave it into the narrative should be acknowledged. What endears me to this episode is the delicate censure of the Merovigian conspiracy and the glorification of such a complex wonder as Gnostic theology. I can not imagine that it is easy to present such a lofty premise to viewers yet Anamnesis dribbles such wonderful clues throughout that those with an interest in such matters are richly rewarded and those that aren't are tanalised. Few shows before, or since, took concepts that befuddled scholars and dared to give them a narrative. There are numerous personalities who frequent this community, each with audible demands of what tickles their fancy but for those of us who soul-search and muse this episode is a shinning example of why Season Two gets it right with gusto.

Anamnesis is a work of art, one that is enriched by study and supported by knowledge. Brave and truly wonderful.

Anamnesis is one of my favorite episodes too; and your posts on this topic are truly sterling, Eth. When the episode first aired, it blew my mind. As you put it, 'Brave and truly wonderful.' I didn't know very much about Gnosticism, but by then I'd read The Gnostic Gospels and Holy Blood, Holy Grail. And because I was reading Philip K. Dick I was exposed to gnostic thought through him. To find this subject matter as the substance of tv drama - well, I just fell more & more in love with this show. Recently, my researches have brought me back to the philosophical and mythological territory of Gnosticism, so I thought I'd revisit this topic for fresh insight and inspiration. I have to watch this episode again, as well as Midnight of the Century, for 'tis the season.

[ethsnafu]

'Tis the season indeed. Anamnesis blew my mind as well and there are still facets of it that remain unclear to me. I have learnt over the years that there are instances of perplexing mysteries in the episodes that don't really have an explanation or intention. I know Patrick Harbison spoke of adding certain things to Darwin's Eye 'just because'. Now, Kay and Erin do not strike me as that sort of writing team. Everything seems to be in their episodes with intent. They don't squander a line or a scene or piece of dialogue. It makes me think there are answers in the episode that I haven't failed to find but I do keep looking.

I think what sold if for me as my favourite episode is Lara's line to Catherine after she had observed Clare McKenna experience a vision and she turns and says "I felt her go back". Just how enigmatic and suggestive is that line? Love it.

Eth