12 Monkeys - Emergence
No time left for you
On my way to better things
No time left for you
I'll find myself some wings
No time left for you
Distant roads are calling me
No time left for you
No time for a gentle rain
No time for my watch and chain
No time for revolving doors
No time for the killing floor
No time for the killing floor
There's no time left for you
No time left for you
On my way to better things
No time left for you
I'll find myself some wings
No time left for you
Distant roads are calling me
No time left for you
No time for a gentle rain
No time for my watch and chain
No time for revolving doors
No time for the killing floor
No time for the killing floor
There's no time left for you
No time left for you
-- The Guess Who
As the sands of time move inexorably through time and space and across the TV universe that is 12 Monkeys, we learn a little more with each passage. Three of our favorite ladies gave voice to what is going on in the larger mythos of 12 Monkeys and while they answered key questions, they made sure to leave room for more.
Vivian Rutledge
Did I just call Vivian Rutledge one of our favorite ladies? Well I liked her. Despite her orthodoxy, she was a bad assed lady and fought tooth and nail for what she believed in. The last we left her she was lying in a be-petaled bed waiting for the end to come.
There's irony there so let's get into it.
Thank God for newspapers. Without them, Cole would not have discovered Vivian in a nearby hospital and Ramse would not have been able to communicate with the future. Who says the print media is a dying breed?
Viv looks to be in pretty tough shape after her experience with the paradox. Fortunately for her "The Father" made her up of pretty stern stuff.
"The Father?" Who are we talking about? The old guy with the long beard and sickle, Father Time? Doubtful, if I had to guess, I would say she is talking about The Witness. What is his role in making her? Is she a clone? Is she forged in fire (metaphorically speaking) and that is what the "Ash" reference is about when the Messengers were being sent back in time?
When confronted by Cole and Agent Gale she spoke of "unlocking the infinite" and "Stop[ing] time's cruel destruction." Strange words. But taken in context with some of the other things we were to learn later in the episode, they make sense.
Later, as she lay dying, she told her son to trust in the Witness. Even in death she defended her faith. The irony is, she grew to love her time period and wished to have children. Hardly the words of someone who looked to unlock the infinite. We learn she wanted to help end time yet she grew to embrace the "cruel destruction" that comes with living life as time dictates.
Oddly, she wouldn't have had a son to hand down her legacy to either. But despite all that Time has given her, she still passes on her apocalyptic mission to her offspring. It didn't take much to guess who her son came to be. The hat was a dead give away. (It was even easier than guessing who Dracula was on Penny Dreadful.)
Too bad she didn't get to see what he was eventually was to become. She would have been proud. This also flies in the face of her philosophy of stopping evolution, unlocking the infinite and Time's cruel destruction. If she had accepted those values she wouldn't have been able to give birth to the Pallid Man. Her "Father" created her somehow but she still did it the old fashioned way!
It begs the question of, who is the father?
Jennifer Goines
Most of the visuals for Jennifer's exposition belong to Dr. Jones. But it is Jennifer that provides the narration and the deepest insight into what The Witness and the Army of the 12 Monkeys have planned.
Fittingly, Jennifer is the Mad Hatter to this little tea party. Katarina imbibes the red tea and is granted a vision into what the future might hold should the Army of the 12 Monkeys ultimately achieve their goal.
To wit.
"No past". "No present."
"An infinite now of death and life together."
"All of humanity unborn and destroyed."
To punctuate these points a spectral image of The Witness crosses the screen.
So now we know what The Witness' vision of the future is. Although it would be a misnomer to characterize this vision as a "future" because his (or her) plan is to have an existence set outside of time.
Part of what we heard from Jennifer is contradictory also. How can we have death and life together if humanity is destroyed? Whose life are we speaking of if not of human kind? Just the Witness alone?
It makes you wonder how traumatized this Witness was in, let's say, some previous life where "he" would want to remake existence in some sort of bubble where the Witness may constitute the population of one.
Also, we haven't heard the Druze angle in a while. Why would some ancient sect embrace an existence without people? How apocalyptic is that? Is there system of belief anti-evolutionary? How does one remake humanity in reverse? (If that is their goal.) And speaking of bubbles, does this pocket of anti-time constitute just the area of Earth of does it expand across the galaxy or even the universe?
Nature abhors a vacuum so it would hard to believe this bubble would be allowed to exist in the universe as we know it.
Unless, of course, it only exists in the theater of the mind.
Dr. Jones
Katarina Jones arrived at this conclusion almost as nearly as Cole appeared with the same information. But what was to follow was even more chilling.
Vivian talks to her son who turns out to be the Pallid Man. So who's the father? Don't say Cole! He's already The Remains and The Witness!
Team!
So if Cole and Ramse are Starsky and Hutch what does it make them if Cassie joins the group? Hmm, Jones is the boss, sooo,
The Mod Squad!
Let's go out on a couple of musical notes. First the spot on, "Guess Who" when it come to this episode.
Vivian Rutledge
Did I just call Vivian Rutledge one of our favorite ladies? Well I liked her. Despite her orthodoxy, she was a bad assed lady and fought tooth and nail for what she believed in. The last we left her she was lying in a be-petaled bed waiting for the end to come.
There's irony there so let's get into it.
Thank God for newspapers. Without them, Cole would not have discovered Vivian in a nearby hospital and Ramse would not have been able to communicate with the future. Who says the print media is a dying breed?
Viv looks to be in pretty tough shape after her experience with the paradox. Fortunately for her "The Father" made her up of pretty stern stuff.
"The Father?" Who are we talking about? The old guy with the long beard and sickle, Father Time? Doubtful, if I had to guess, I would say she is talking about The Witness. What is his role in making her? Is she a clone? Is she forged in fire (metaphorically speaking) and that is what the "Ash" reference is about when the Messengers were being sent back in time?
When confronted by Cole and Agent Gale she spoke of "unlocking the infinite" and "Stop[ing] time's cruel destruction." Strange words. But taken in context with some of the other things we were to learn later in the episode, they make sense.
Later, as she lay dying, she told her son to trust in the Witness. Even in death she defended her faith. The irony is, she grew to love her time period and wished to have children. Hardly the words of someone who looked to unlock the infinite. We learn she wanted to help end time yet she grew to embrace the "cruel destruction" that comes with living life as time dictates.
Oddly, she wouldn't have had a son to hand down her legacy to either. But despite all that Time has given her, she still passes on her apocalyptic mission to her offspring. It didn't take much to guess who her son came to be. The hat was a dead give away. (It was even easier than guessing who Dracula was on Penny Dreadful.)
Too bad she didn't get to see what he was eventually was to become. She would have been proud. This also flies in the face of her philosophy of stopping evolution, unlocking the infinite and Time's cruel destruction. If she had accepted those values she wouldn't have been able to give birth to the Pallid Man. Her "Father" created her somehow but she still did it the old fashioned way!
It begs the question of, who is the father?
Jennifer Goines
Most of the visuals for Jennifer's exposition belong to Dr. Jones. But it is Jennifer that provides the narration and the deepest insight into what The Witness and the Army of the 12 Monkeys have planned.
Fittingly, Jennifer is the Mad Hatter to this little tea party. Katarina imbibes the red tea and is granted a vision into what the future might hold should the Army of the 12 Monkeys ultimately achieve their goal.
To wit.
"No past". "No present."
"An infinite now of death and life together."
"All of humanity unborn and destroyed."
To punctuate these points a spectral image of The Witness crosses the screen.
So now we know what The Witness' vision of the future is. Although it would be a misnomer to characterize this vision as a "future" because his (or her) plan is to have an existence set outside of time.
Part of what we heard from Jennifer is contradictory also. How can we have death and life together if humanity is destroyed? Whose life are we speaking of if not of human kind? Just the Witness alone?
It makes you wonder how traumatized this Witness was in, let's say, some previous life where "he" would want to remake existence in some sort of bubble where the Witness may constitute the population of one.
Also, we haven't heard the Druze angle in a while. Why would some ancient sect embrace an existence without people? How apocalyptic is that? Is there system of belief anti-evolutionary? How does one remake humanity in reverse? (If that is their goal.) And speaking of bubbles, does this pocket of anti-time constitute just the area of Earth of does it expand across the galaxy or even the universe?
Nature abhors a vacuum so it would hard to believe this bubble would be allowed to exist in the universe as we know it.
Unless, of course, it only exists in the theater of the mind.
Dr. Jones
"They are trying to destroy time!"
Katarina Jones arrived at this conclusion almost as nearly as Cole appeared with the same information. But what was to follow was even more chilling.
"The Red Forest is a temporal Hell on Earth."
So, if we can take these words at face value then perhaps the bubble (As I call it) is contained solely on Earth and does not spread across the galaxy and the universe beyond. "Hell on Earth" seems to say the Witness' scope is just contained to our small scale of existence.
Why?
To what end?
Why create a temporal bubble just for the Witness to live in? Why create a religion surrounding this and convince followers this is the right thing to do?
Is there really such a thing as reverse evolution? Is the ultimate plan to recreate humanity in its utmost state of perfection? In other words, why go through the nearly endless process of centuries of evolution when you can merely stop things where they are and start anew.
Perfection.
Is that the end game? (Or the beginning?)
Odds and Ends
Pretty awesome Jennifer had a tortoise by her side when she first met with Jones. It tells you which side she is on. When it comes to time, slow and steady wins the race!
Was anyone else struck by the Simian like stature of Jones examining the corpse? I know the name of the show is 12 Monkeys but you don't have to act like one!
Classic Kirk Acevedo. I mean, classic. Ramse gets caught by Rutledge and this is the look he flashes at her. I froze.
Speaking of looks. Easy with the bedroom eyes Dr. Eckland.
Closing the loop.
It was Gale that left the picture behind of Cole and Cassie together replet with pertinent information on the back.
Closing the loop II.
Team!
So if Cole and Ramse are Starsky and Hutch what does it make them if Cassie joins the group? Hmm, Jones is the boss, sooo,
The Mod Squad!
Let's go out on a couple of musical notes. First the spot on, "Guess Who" when it come to this episode.
And, of course, The Mod Squad intro!
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