Dispatches From Elsewhere is all about the love, as the story enters its final chapter
TV Reviews Recap
We’re close to the end of this narrative, but Dispatches From Elsewhere still wants to throw in some more twists. About a year has passed since the death of Janice’s husband and Peter and Simone’s disastrous date, but Peter has used the time to really commit to self-improvement—and his newfound daring has put him into a new realm of danger.
Fredwynn plays the role of narrator tonight, because, as we learn in this episode, the continued mystery surrounding Clara has led to a new level of obsession for him. That said, the first half of the episode is largely devoted to Peter and Simone, as their nascent relationship gets the opportunity to bloom after Peter demonstrates a real effort to prove his interest in growing. While his attempt at putting on a magic show is a total bust—never a good sign when your escape act gets interrupted by a pick-ax—it still wins over Simone’s heart, and the two of them eventually manage to reconnect.
As any fan of romance stories knows, after all, a major setback like last week’s breakup between Peter and Simone (referred to by Fredwynn’s voiceover as the worst day of Peter’s life) only happens to set the stage for a heartfelt reconciliation. Peter and Simone literally fall into bed together in a sequence touched with just the right level of surreality to make it feel special.
While officially, they have different levels of experience in the bedroom—Peter says it’s been a long time, while Simone says it’s her first time—both seem brand new to the experience of loving another person in this way, and it’s beautiful to witness. Peter’s so-very-earnest soul comes out in such a profound way that when later, Simone presents him with the mural featuring himself at his most wondrous, it’s no wonder she can’t help but kiss him.
However, this is not just a show about them, and Janice is there to offer a reminder of this, especially after they realize how long it’s been since anyone’s heard from Fredwynn. And thus we discover that he’s been locked into a sleepless fugue state for quite some time.
Life has moved on for everyone—Janice has been studying psychology, specifically the theories of Jean Piaget when it comes to mental development; her younger self is there to push her forward. But in Fredwynn’s case, his determination to figure out what’s going on with Clara after discovering her false urn has become all-consuming.
The thing about the game, as presented by this show, is that it’s all about the artificial creation of a beautiful escape; the world, unfortunately, isn’t quite as beautiful as the opportunities offered by Lee and her experience. This is something Dispatches faces in this episode, even as the arrival of someone hinted at before as The Boy enters, offering up more answers than previously made available.
Janice, Peter and Simone are able to drag Fredwynn back from his fugue state—AKA “Elsewhere”—to the world of the living, even thought it’s a place that disinterests him. But what propels him to do so is to bring the team back to Clara’s house, otherwise known as Lee’s house. And the titular creator is able to explain how the game she created was meant as a panacea for this brutal world.
Clara’s frustration over having to incorporate advertising into her programs is very understandable, but what’s less clear is how all of this corresponds with the arrival of The Boy at Lee’s doorfront—a boy that Peter feels compelled to follow. It’s clear setup for the finale, an episode which should bring all of these random aspects into focus.
“We are, as we always have been, in the middle of our story,” is what Fredwynn says. But while stories might be manipulations, they also tend to have endings. The belief that we’re in the middle of our story is a luxury not all can claim these days. Life, and what comes after, is always lurking. This is no longer a game. And this episode, while a bit disjointed, feels very very conscious of that.
Stray observations
- Why is Simone’s dance class happening on a balcony? Who knows. But it does look like a really fun time.
- Wearing five pound VR goggles does, in fact, not sound like a good time. That does deserve consideration.
- The editing of Fredwynn’s “did I mention I wasn’t sleeping anymore?” montage deserves special consideration here, as it really does a brilliant job of capturing the disintegration of a man’s sanity.
- “I was surprised to find out how much I liked hats, but how much I disliked wearing hats.” This is a train of thought that actually makes a lot of sense—to me, anyway.
- Clara’s big idea—“We need to engage with the world, not retreat from it”—is haunting in this moment. Oh, how nice it would be, to live in that world fully.
- Why does the video seem to short out, as the episode ends? “Life is weird,” as Fredwynn observes. “Anything is possible. We’re Team Blue, and our story is our own.”
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The quirky beauty of this all-encompassing world grafted onto reality has finished, yet life goes on. In a way everything we love is only temporary. I’m a little surprised this isn’t the final episode.
HappyInParaguay is you if you have found yourself entranced by a real life “game” of sorts, only to dearly miss it — and that era of your life — once it’s over. Years later you still reminisce about those days, watch a television series based on it, and post comments on AV Club as you so desperately cling to the past.
Potential nod to the original game: The IDEA is a modernized version of The Algorithm, something Eva’s (aka Clara’s) father invented… but was stolen and corrupted by The Jejune Institute.
There are also parallels between Lee and her real-life counterpart Jeff, the “Willy Wonka” behind the game. Both made a fortune yet became frustrated by their society breaking down, and then set out on their own to try making a difference.
Where Fredwynn ends up temporarily is basically the mythology behind where Eva ended up. (Though the documentary muddies the waters a bit there, I think.)Not a nod to the original game, but a fun reference anyway: Peter getting into magic is a reference to Jason Segel’s childhood fascination with magic which had its own slightly unfortunate ending.
If anyone else is like me & was interested in this show but had difficulty viewing it due to cord cutting – it can all be watched for free using SlingTV’s “Happy Hour” promotion which allows you to use the APP between 7pm & Midnight just by making an account (no credit card info required). Can’t wait for the finale.
The song that played when Peter and Simone finally hooked up (eeeee!!!!) was Song for Zula, by Phosphorescent. I really like the music choices in this show.
The music choices have been spot on. Eclectic and wholly appropriate.
That’s their song – they play it every time Peter and Simone have a moment. The music in this show is pretty great, and the score is fantastic too.
It’s such a beautiful song, but some of the lyrics are actually so metaphorically violent I’m not sure it fits for the two of them. But the sound of it is spot on.
I don’t want this show to end.I don’t know how many are watching it though. I did get two of my posts on twitter liked by two cast members, so, really, it’s all downhill from here.
It’s getting about 200k each week. Lodge 49, by comparison, got in the 100-150k range in its 2nd season, but they’re doing basically similar numbers, which makes sense as both shows are quirky and big-hearted and not the usual “dark” TV fare. I know that next week’s episode is being touted as the season finale and people on Twitter latched on to that but I’m not sure that means anything. I think this will be one and done, though I suppose they could do another season with different characters and a different game in a different city; I’d watch it, but the reason this show works so well is because of these characters / actors. And I’m on Twitter posting about this show all the time! I’ve interacted with a couple of the cast members loads of times. I “live tweeted” with the show last night (I’ve got nothing better to do and I watch this show alone, so why not).
I did think that was weird, yet potentially hopeful, when you consider Fredwyn specifically talks about us having experience with limited run series in one of his narrations.
This is definitely my Lodge 49 replacement. It amazes me no one picked it up, it seems like it’d be a great Hulu series to me.
I looked up the ratings and less than 300k people watch it, but that’s more than watch McMafia on AMC and they renewed that. It is a little less than watched Season 1 of Lodge 49.
Congrats on the cast likes.
I’ll take anything I can get during this whole COVID deal….
It has been stated it was designed as a one-and-done from the start.My favorite unremarked upon bit in this episode is that Peter’s graduation trick from a program clearly designed for 8 year olds doing card and ring tricks is a version of Houdini’s Water Torture Tank.
Yeah, I wasn’t clear there. I know it’s a one and done, I just don’t want it to end 🙂
So I’m going to read into this a bit too much but I’ve been thinking about who The Creator is. Each episode has obviously been named after the character(s) it focuses the most on. (With the exception of “Cave…” which I guess the character in that one was the location, or it was just everyone there. And “Clara” was a slight misdirect since it turned out Lee was Clara.) We already had Lee’s episode; I’m thinking The Creator being referred to isn’t her. My theory has been that the show will end in some sort of meta way and what we’ve been seeing is the mind-to-memory stuff playing out for our benefit; so maybe The Creator is us? Really enjoyed this episode, and I liked how it balanced the personal with the mythological. The ending was wild and I can’t wait to see what’s next. (The preview for next week is both super basic and also kind of huge.)
In the scene with Peter & Simone, the way the bed sort of rose up to meet them reminded me very much of a moment in the show Sherlock.The way they got sorted out and back together was wonderful and worked really well and felt earned. And I think it’s cool that the show had a sex scene involving a trans character and it was beautiful and normal. Some shows pat themselves on the back when they do something like that; I think the word “trans” has been used a total of two times in this show, both by Simone (well, one by the painting Simone was having an imaginary convo with). I am really hoping next week doesn’t totally break my heard with regards to their romance. (Also, the scene where Simone shows Peter the mural of him she made – which, how in the hell did she manage that?! – was really well done; the actors in this show are all top notch; Jason Segel played so many emotions all at once on Peter’s face at the same time. And Eve Lindley is incredible at that stuff too – hopefully she lands soeme great stuff after this.
KIDS IN THE HALL BRAIN CANDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Apart from that and the really unfortunate little Fellini boy, this was a nice episode. I feel like if they did Philly for the next season with different people there are still plenty of places they haven’t really explored, but it would be nice if they picked an off-the-beaten-path city (again). I would almost want to see one where everything has to be done either over the computer or not physically together because for some reason nobody can be in contact with each other and they have to find other ways to connect, but where would that idea come from. They can tour museums together virtually to find clues.
The dance class took place on the balcony at the Kimmel Center, where the Philadelphia Orchestra plays. They hold events there – I could picture a pop-up dance class.
https://philadelphia.garcesevents.com/venues/show/the-lounge
I started watching this show because it was filmed in my neighborhood. I get such a kick from picking out the locations.
This show is Just Too Beautiful. Congrats, Clara, I think this show accomplished your vision!* Why do“Team Blue”’s paddles look so white? (I think I thought this the night the team formed up also, but may have gotten lost in everything else that was happening)* What did Peter give Simone? When she said “It’s my rats”, I thought it was going to be a DVD of “The Secret of N.I.M.H.”. But it was a book (the book that the movie is based on? I’m not really familiar w/ either).* Loved the segway, in their love-making, of being underwater (calling back to Peter’s unfortunate escape act, w/ FAR better results!). [Psst, Jason! Work on your lats, buddy.]* Would have loved even more of Fredwynn’s narration. He’s just a delight.
* Were those earth-tone M&Ms that Fredwynn was making (incredible!) mandala-type art with? Per always, the ART DIRECTION on this show!* But speaking of art: damn, I hate letting my realistic POV intrude, but did Simone find another (and well-paying) job? That mural on the building (was a giant poster? Don’t think FastSigns could do that, could they?) couldn’t have been cheap. [For that matter, for all Peter’s dissatisfaction w/ his previous job, what’s he doing now? Don’t give up your day job for a role as magician/escape artist, “Petri Dish”]* And the thing w/ “Law&Order: SVU” continues! [Noticed the DVDs on Peter’s bookshelf. Seriously, does ANYONE watch L&O:SVU off of DVDs??]* Peter’s Dislikes: Nosebleeds, Duh. Was the second Beef Tartar? A bit hard to read (not having hi-def anyway).* Nice to see Janice&YoungJanice getting along!* The concept of Blue-ness: if you noticed, not only was Fredwynn’s narration background blue (unlike Octavio’s orange . . . hey, this BETTER not be a baseball reference. Go Giants), but the show’s actual opening credits logo change to blue (from an industrial marble green color, I think?) also. To go w/ the blue of F’s “fugue state” (nice description, Liz. Took me a second viewing to figure out what was going on here).
* I have Absitively Posilutely NO IDEA where this show is going (seasonally finalizing) next week. Seeing The Boy in a 1920’s get-up…w/ a bear behind him? [Is vaudeville back?] Was getting a Buster Keaton vibe (plus the tragiclown thing).
Simone, whatever Team Blue discovers next week, please know you are “real” to me. [I sincerely hope a boatload of Emmy nominations are thrown the way of Dispatches. Whether or not a ceremony can be held in September.]
I’ve been in the background freaking out about that little clown boy this whole time. When I watched this episode and realized how it seemed to be less in touch with reality than the prior episodes, I’m wondering if he symbolizes death and/or rebirth of some kind. He was peering in Janice’s window when we first saw him, then later her husband died. When she stopped having to be his caretaker, she was able to reconnect with her younger self and go back to school, reclaiming parts of her she had lost.Fredwyn saw him in the museum and now Fredwyn experienced some kind of a psycholgical breakdown – perhaps the death of his obsessiveness. He definitely seemed different after Janice pulled him back.When Peter left with the clown boy and the group seemed hesitant to follow, Janice said they could help him on his way. It made me think of all the times in books and movies where characters are marching towards certain death but their friends still follow along. In Peter’s case, I am not sure what his “death” or rebirth will be specifically, but I feel like he has one more revelation about himself yet to come based on the preview. Perhaps the death of his fear of others and his true self? The stack of TVs have always been a symbol of the characters seeing truths that they had been blind to or denying. I’m super curious to see where we’re headed.
Let me get this straight – there was never a Clara, it’s just been Lee, Bailey Quarters-ing? Is that correct?
I think it was always just a part of Lee (kind of like young Janice) but have no idea what you mean with your WKRP reference.
Turning part of her experiences into a fictitious character to make her story more appealing. Though BQ did it to simplify her story and Lee seems to be doing it to make hers more complicated. (I suppose that was a pretty deep cut, but it’s what came to mind.)
You clearly remember the show a lot better than I do.Jan Smithers 🙂
It’s Lee before adulthood, job responsibilities, and compromises.
Agree. I care a lot about the characters and don’t want the show to end. But I watched the behind-the-scenes episode and I think at one point — it was either Jason Segel or Andre Benjamin I believe — said the term “limited series.” Now, as for the episode, I need a little help. 1. Is Lee … Clara? Or was the “actress Clara” disappearing in the room simply symbolic?2. Why does Peter all of a sudden act like it’s some requirement or destiny to go off with clown boy? It certainly seems like the distorted screen suggests this isn’t actually real or happening? Why would clown boy all of a sudden be of such relevance?
1. Yes. As currently presented, Clara has been Lee the whole time. 2. Tune in next week to find out (Hopefully. They better explain that!). I suspect it’s got something to do with Peter’s past and why he’s so disconnected from his own feelings.
My two cents – The creator did create a virtual world but the viewers and our team of players don’t realize yet that the world they are in IS the VR world. All the people within it are A.I. Our intelligent team has looked outside the veil of the game, evolved, and could possibly transcend out of VR into the real world.
Simone’s dance class happens at the Kimmel Center. They do a bunch of oddball programming like that. It’s basically in the heart of the downtown area.