Matryoshka

[Guest SeanDubh]

I can't really contribute anything to this discussion, at least nothing as eloquently and knowingly stated as the above. I just wanted to share an anecdote about the episode. My father is in his early sixties. He likes Millenium. However, when Emma made the comment about whoever being Hoover's boyfriend, he got angry and left the room. I guess my father in law, who my dad worked for, was the head of the democratic party in Omaha during the fifties and sixties and a good friend of Hoover. We have an autographed picture of him displayed in my house, which is very weird. Ditto for Lyndon Johnson. Anyway, yeah, anytime anyone brings up anything about him being gay or crossdressing, or any of the stuff the FBI did to Martin Luther King, my dad gets really upset, denies it, and leaves. So yeah, he never saw the episode. Thanks a lot, Emma.

[Guest Black's Babe]

great performance by Dean Winters, but I didn't care much for this episode.

1st off how is it that Lanyard wasn't affected by the radiation, he was in THE ROOM with Dr. Alexander.

B000000000000000000000GUS!

Plus BABY G-Man's constant snarky remarks didn't help matters either.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Black's Babe

[Guest quentin compson]

I liked the episode.

To me, it had a very X-Fileish vibe, probably because it was so much concerned with the FBI. Hell, even J. Edgar himself had a cameo (well, alright, an actor portraying him), which somehow reminded me of the great X-Files episode "Musings of a CSM" (if I recall the title correctly), where the guy who loves his smoke is revealed to be responsible (among countless other things) for the JFK-assassination.

Does anyone know the great 50ies film noir "Kiss Me Deadly" by Robert Aldrich? Well, somehow this episode made me think of it with this whole nuclear thing (excuse me, nucular, of course ) and the implications of evil that go with it (in "Kiss Me Deadly", the Los Alamos project was compared to Pandora's Box, if I remember correctly). Another good scene in "Matryoshka" was Frank and Peter meeting in this sports stadium. Sorry to put forth yet another movie reference, but there was a very good similar scene in Oliver Stone's JFK.

I agree with Southern Cult that scientifically, this episode was, well, a little bit ridiculous. I didn't even bother to really try and understand what that whole thing about Alexander and Kroll and this conflation of science and psychology was all about, because I don't think it was that important. What stood out to me, however, was the connection between Alexander and his daughter on the one hand and Frank and Jordan on the other hand. Both daughters are deeply influenced by their fathers and the similarities between father and daughter, and both daughters are maybe even doomed to live their lives in a similar way to the one their fathers did. Strangely enough, Frank didn't seem to notice this, but Peter surely did.

As far as the discussion of Hoover possibly being a very important figure in the history and shaping of the MG, I tend to agree that this episode seems to contradict the notion that the MG has been around for almost 2000 years. But I haven't finished Millennium yet, so maybe there are other developments and revelations concerning the history and marrow of the MG that are still waiting for me.

Edited September 5, 2009 by quentin compson

[IHaveGoodInstincts]

Oh well, I guess I'm about 2 years late on this thread. I like the "moral victory" ending made possible by one of the rare season 3 episodes with a three-dimensional Peter Watts! It leaves the option open for wondering if Watts will come around.

Interesting radiation comments. The only lame reason I can think of is that somehow Dr Alexander was able to absorb the radiation so it would not effect Agent Lanyard. I know I am reaching here!

It was a little vague and bizarre with Hoover in the Group. If he was just revitalizing the group, the episode makes a little more sense, but the statement about a new stmbol for our new group kind of muddies that. After all, the dead guy from the tenth century in St Sebastian had the "new symbol" ouroborous tatooed on his back.

This one is not one of my favorites, but has some good stuff in it.