Poor Mary. As we’ve gotten to learn more about the Touched, their turns fall into roughly two camps. As Mrs. True says to Bonfire Annie, there are the “formidable” turns, like her ability to control fire, or Mrs. True’s own ripplings (and I swear there is something else going on with her, there has to be), or Lucy’s destructive ability. Those threatening undercurrents have benefits, especially in this new world in which the Turned are being hunted. Then there are the beneficial turns, like Horatio’s healing ability, Désireé’s truth-telling, and Penance’s manipulation of electrical currents.
There are outliers, of course—Primrose’s fantastic size plagues her, but if she wanted to, a 10-foot-tall person could probably wage a certain amount of damage. But the only person whose turn seemed truly pure was Mary. What harm can a song do? Theoretically, none. Magnifying it, though, and using it as some kind of clarion call to the other Touched, when there are so many villains out there trying to get to them? I don’t think it’s unfair to say that Mrs. True knowingly put Mary in danger, and then did nothing to protect her. No perimeter around the park where Mary was to perform, although Mrs. True had just fought off one of those human/cyborg hybrid things, and the Beggar King’s henchman Nicolas Perbal. No coordination with Mundi beforehand, so that he could have some other police officers there.
Of course, I’m not trying to blame Mrs. True for whatever enemy let Maladie’s machine-gun henchman out of jail, gave him his gun-arm back, and told him that Mary would be at the park. (Lavinia is our strongest guess, right? Mrs. True had just told her where Mary would be, and Lavinia clearly has influence and cash enough to pay off a jail guard or two and get the henchman released.) But I think it’s perhaps a sign of Mrs. True’s narrow thinking, or even compartmentalization, of whatever her mission is that she could have that earlier conversation with Mary in which Mary admitted hesitancy toward singing her song; go out and see proof that the Touched’s enemies are circling closer by fighting off two of them; and then not put the pieces together and realize that Mary could be a target. (Also: That murder was brutal, and I understand Mundi’s pained, furious reaction. But could the Touched have learned something from Maladie’s henchman that they now never will because Mundi killed him?)
Mrs. True seems so focused on the “bringing together” part of her mission that I’m not sure she’s paid enough attention to what comes after that, and under those circumstances, I worry that the final shot of Bonfire Annie and all those women and children waiting at the orphanage to be let in isn’t exactly the hopeful image we might immediately assume. (Strong “All the activated Slayers coming to Buffy,” vibe, though.) There’s no bringing Mary back, and I think that will weigh on Mrs. True for a long time.
Before the tragedy at the park, this third episode “Ignition” devotes an appreciable amount of time to understanding what makes Mrs. True tick. That confrontation with Maladie has left her self-reflective, and perhaps a little self-pitying; the hazy high of huffing in all that opium with Penance doesn’t linger. Instead, we see Mrs. True assessing her face in the mirror (cut to me pointing like Leo in response), arguing with Horatio about the affair they were having that he cut off (the little catch in her voice at the end of “I’m sorry I can’t be more generous about being your mistake” was good stuff from Laura Donnelly), and being received with what seems like a little friction and fear from the orphanage’s residents when she walks into the kitchen during Mary’s gleeful performance of “The Band Played On.” For the most part, we’ve seen Mrs. True with Penance, who adores her, or with Lucy, who respects her. But Mary seems to hit a nerve when she tells Mrs. True later that day that the other people living at St. Romaulda’s “all have different answers” regarding “what this place is, and what we’re meant to be doing.” What is the mission “beyond keeping people safe” that Mrs. True is tasked with—and what happens to it when she can’t even do the former?
While Mary struggles with whether she even wants to sing into Penance’s amplifier, Mrs. True handles attacks from two fronts. The first is from whoever is putting up the fliers all around London with that sketch of her face on them. We know the perpetrators to be Lavinia and Dr. Hague once we see that portrait of Ms. Cossini in the albums Mrs. True takes from the warehouse, but Mrs. True isn’t aware of that. Instead, her trust in Lavinia ends up being a major mistake, possibly resulting in Mary’s death. (And the woman who was helping them in their scheme and assisting those human/cyborg kidnappers after drowning her own pregnant Touched daughter? Monster.) And the second comes from the Beggar King, whose men are seen fleeing the episode’s opening-scene altercation between Mrs. True and Penance on one side and Bonfire Annie on the other. The Beggar King has a certain burly reputation to maintain, and Mrs. True is making it increasingly difficult. He isn’t a real ally to the Turned, but transforming from whatever hired help he is now to an outright enemy isn’t exactly great, either.
Speaking of men who can’t handle threats from women, let’s discuss what Hugo Swann is up to! Strange to me that an aristocrat’s greatest desire would be to run a sex club, but money issues are no joke, and clearly there’s a cash-flow problem somewhere given how much trickery Hugo is using to get Augie to sign onto the club as an investor. And, maybe I’m getting too paranoid here, but is Hugo using the sex club as a front for something? He’s paying Mundi (a former lover!) for information about Mrs. True, and I don’t think his suspicions of her are just focused on whether her discreditation or disappearance could turn more members of the Turned to sex work. Lord Massen and Hugo hate each other, but I wonder if they’re not more aligned than they realize in their desires to use the Touched for their own ends. Because Lord Massen is also working on a nefarious plan of his own, which we see him discuss with those other ruling men. (Are the “new players in motion” perhaps people these men have enlisted to fight the Turned for them?) And, do those other white ruling guys know what Massen is hiding in the basement of his manor? I’m guessing it’s not just dogs!
“Can I not be made the villain of this piece?” Mrs. True had asked her wards at the orphanage, but she should have remembered what she told Bonfire Annie in that initial failed enlistment attempt: The Turned have enemies they don’t know about yet, and they’re everywhere. Lavinia and Dr. Hague, Maladie, Massen, Hugo Swann, the Beggar King. Every one of them is putting a target on Mrs. True’s back, and Mary’s murder seems like just the beginning.
Stray observations
- I thought Maladie and Mrs. True knew each other as children, but Mrs. True mentions in that conversation with Mary that she was declared insane three years ago, after developing her turn and beginning to experience ripplings. Was she at the same asylum that housed Maladie, and where it seems that they both met Horatio? And if so, how did Mrs. True get out—was that bankrolled by Lavinia, too?
- This show is still swimming in exposition dumps, but at least this one was delivered thoughtfully by Donnelly, who manages to elevate every potentially corny element of Mrs. True’s character: “I also drink when I shouldn’t, fight when I needn’t, and fuck men whose names I do not learn. I get nervous in crowds. I see things that aren’t there. When I meet someone, the first thing I think of is how to kill them.”
- All the sex-club nudity in this episode felt very early-season Game of Thrones: not strictly necessary, but a real, “Hey, you’re watching HBO!” reminder.
- Bonfire Annie is delightful, and I sympathize with this very much: “You can speak your peace, but I will burn us all to death if I have to hear you bicker!”
- The fire extinguisher prototype works! Good job, Penance!
- Mrs. Adair’s green-and-black striped skirt was very Beetlejuice, and I covet it.
- “Every woman keeps secrets. Every touched woman keeps a great deal more.” Again, I wish this show had dared to make women the exclusive recipients of turns!
- Amy Mandon’s Maladie is still coming off like Drusilla by way of evil Emma Stone, and that carriage scene with Horatio only deepened my impression. The flirty twist she put on “Promise?” in response to his “This is going to hurt” felt like I was watching the Cruella trailer all over again.
- Lucy’s backstory is harrowing—crushing her 6-month-old son to death when her turn activated. Not trying to rank trauma here, but that one is pretty awful.
- Do we understand what “The Nevers” means this episode? Midway through this first half of the first season … we do not.
40 Comments
The Nevers comes from Maladie’s onstage rant in the first episode. We’ve covered this.
Apparently the reviewer was failing to pay attention to the show at the time. Which is entirely the job of the reviewer…
I get why these reviewers might not read the comments, but they keep asking this question, and every damn week, someone in the comments points out what they missed in the first episode. Geez.
Mrs. True’s own ripplings (and I swear there is something else going on with her, there has to be)
As much as this show is a straight X-men ripoff, I think there may be more than a little ‘The 4400′ in here. I think the spaceship may have been a time machine. And Mrs. True’s turn is also mixed up with the memories of its pilot.The ‘would you like a song? None that you would know’ exchange and especially ‘Penance, did you just invent the amplifier?’ Pretty strongly hint that her knowledge of the future isn’t just limited to her ripplings.
Dang, you’re right!
Lord Massen’s daughter’s gotta be in the basement…yeah?
100%, he drove past her “gravesite” right before that scence. Whatever her turn is, it’s not something he wants the world to know about.
Has anybody else made an association with Wildcards?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Wild_Cards_books_and_short_stories
I think that Ms. True’s turn is being connected to the human gestalt, the river of all human conciousness.
When she died, she was returning to the gestalt. The turning brought her
back, but left her connected to the gestalt. That’s why she can see
the future, she’s simply reacting to something further upstream in the gestalt. The downside is that she has trouble keeping a hold
of herself. That’s why she drinks, has nameless sex, and enjoys
fighting. It allows her to set her mind aside and be in the moment. Be
completely herself.
The three wheeled car should have a name …like “Justina Thackery”and appear in the end credits with the other cast members:“Justina Thackery as Herself”
So far, I’ve enjoyed each episode more than the last. The show has its flaws, but it’s engaging enough that I’ve come to look forward to watching it each week. That fight scene on/under the water was particularly impressive in this episode.Killing off a major character like Mary (played by a relatively well known actress) also made me sit up and take notice.
Killing off a secondary character early on has long been one of Joss’ favorite tricks.
I’m honestly blanking on when he’s used it–aside from Jenny on Buffy (not super early but…) and Doyle on Angel, but your statement that it’s a common Whedon trope rings true, so I’m probably forgetting something
Thought this was by far the best episode of the show so far, main reason being that it felt like only here it really allowed that character focus and dialogue that built them up as characters and gave them depth. I don’t it is a coincidence that that required them to move away from the main two charaters, but the world-building here was strong.
And those final moments were by far the most powerful and surprising the show has been for me so far. Mary’s death was such a genuine shock, yet still felt like it fit with the story. Mundi’s character work here was also brilliant as, again for the first time for this show, you didn’t need to be told why he wanted to feel the song even without being told, after all it did affect those who were different weren’t they. Hell, even Massey’s secret was efficiently built by small scenes here and before without having to spell things out to us. I’m genuinely interested in seeing what being Touched did to his daughter as I don’t think he would hide her away like that just because of some ideological fervor.I’m going around and around here, but what I’m trying to get at is that I finally felt interested in some characters in the show.
As a sidenote, I was really taken by to realize that the season has six episodes as that this insane amount of story to try to cram in to that short of a run. I think that is also hurting the show somewhat is tha there is no way in character, no one who is learning of the world along with the viewer. Instead all of the focal characters already know each other and everything, which causes more burden on the show as it requires those very unnatural feeling exposition dumps out of nowhere.
It was supposed to be 10-12 but Covid cut things short. So we are getting half now and half whenever they can film again. Hopefully it’s a satisfying end
Right and that split also happened with the change in showrunner it seems–which does make me wonder if the second half will go in a different direction or not (I’m thinking that it won’t particularly, but…)
This is a personal opinion, but to me Donnelly’s Mrs True is the biggest weakness of the show and a really weird choice to be the primary character. It’s that she’s a bad character, even if I myself find her extremely dull, but that she rather would work a secondary character. Here, she’s a mysterious character in a world that is mysterious trying to deal with new mysterious threats. The show lacks that foundational point where you at least know what is going with this situation instead of having to wait for more mysteries.What makes her even worse as the main character is that she completely no-sells every threat. Just in this episode, they face the cyborg creature that was taken out with no problem and not speaken of again, then has that pretty neat fight with Beggar King’s main enforcer which ends up with him dead, because the show is committed to not have anyone feel like a genuine threat, and True is just casually strolling around instantly after that epic fight. Because, and it cannot stressed enough, nothing matters in this show when she’s involved.By the way, bonus complaint, it is neat that no one has issues with Annie willingly participating in a mass murder at the Opera two episodes ago and showed no qualms about it afterwards. Due to, and this needs to be repeated, this show hates choices and events mattering.
I agree with this. Donelly is a strong performer and the character is well-crafted, but the star power isn’t there. I like Penance better but she’s not a protagonist either. Mary would have been a better central figure.
I found myself thinking on it more and I don’t think it’s even the star power question. To use a very old example, think of Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in MiB. If True had a Smith like character to bounce off, I feel she would work so much better, but while Penance is naturally a lighter character, she is similarly unreactive to pretty much anything. And that I think is the weird narrative choice at the heart of this show as it is this world of wonders told through the eyes of two character who are utterly unimpressed by everything.Another issue is that we are half-way through the first part of season one and I really couldn’t explain any character arc in this show. Like I know characters have natural end points for their journey, but none of their stories feel like arcs. I mean, with the exception of Mary, but they made sure to end that the moment it happened.
It’s a weaker version of how Buffy started. The show began with her already knowing she was the slayer, so we jumped straight into the action. It may even be aiming for something in line with the Lost premiere, which might be the best “in media res” storytelling of all time. This show just isn’t balancing the dour lead well, somehow.
But Buffy is a really bad comparison here for multiple reasons. While she already knew she was a Slayer, Buffy was constantly running into new threats and expressing confusion about things. Also the show had Xander and Willow to be those entryways to the world. So Buffy, as a show, got those very basic aspects this show is failing at with its chocie of primary characters.
I literally said it was a weak attempt at the Buffy setup.
I read that. My point was literally that it isn’t the Buffy setup. The reason it matters is that if it was just a weak attempt at that, at least I would get what they were going for and it was just a failure. They’re not even clearing that hurdle here.
Really? I love Donnelly in this. She’s understated and subtle, sure, but she’s got such nuance to her. Every line seems to have 3 meanings, and she conveys more with a look than many do with a monologue.
“By the way, bonus complaint, it is neat that no one has issues with
Annie willingly participating in a mass murder at the Opera two episodes
ago and showed no qualms about it afterwards.”
Well, to be fair Mary sure did and seemed rightfully upset (or at least confused) that True was trying to recruit Annie without telling her, so there was that, I guess….
Ok whoever came up with the idea of the Odium fight scene deserves a lot of credit and kudos to the VFX team for making it work so well. It definitely stood out.
I’m reading your comment a month late as I am just getting around to watching this show. If it wasn’t there before, there is now a featurette tacked on to the end of Ep 3 on HBOMax that goes in depth on the stunt work and VFX for that scene.
No mention of the water fight with Odium? They did a whole BTS about it. Amazing.I really like this show but I’m ashamed to say I have to turn on the CC to understand some of the accents. Too American I guess.
Me too! I thought it was so strange that I was missing so many lines of dialogue. I don’t think it’s the accents, I think it’s the sound editing. I swear there are some lines that just sound like someone mumbling into a sock. I had to replay them two or three times before finally just turning on the cc.
Yeah–I spent a year living in London and Dublin and never had much trouble with accents–so unless I’m just giving myself an excuse, I thought it was an issue of the sound mix here as well. There was one line between the two leads that I replayed three times before I just tried it again with the CC on…
Laura Donnelly is really good
First thing that sprang to my mind regarding the “dogs” in the basement is that it’s Massen’s “dead” wife and daughter behind the door. To me, the lingering look at the gravestones felt more like foreshadowing than just explaining his disinterest in remarriage.
I think just the daughter. The wife’s death on her gravestone was the same year as the birth date of the daughter, so I’m pretty sure the implication is she died in childbirth.
Ah, I couldn’t catch the dates fast enough, and didn’t want to pause or rewind. Thanks!
Ok so couple of things…I love the banter and friendship between Penance and Mrs. True. That beginning scene with the opium was cute. So is Lucy like strong? Is that her ‘turn?’ That above water/underwater fight scene was the best! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that kind of SFX before used. Very neat to watch. And damn! Mrs. True can sure hold her breath for a long time. The scene of Mary getting shot was so unexpected and sad. I gasped at that first shot and gasped some more at the other shots she took. Also, how’s that gunman able to hit Mary so far away and just get a nick on Mundi as he was getting closer to get a shot? I am very curious as to what is going on with Mrs. True. I’m wondering if she has some ulterior motives with the Turned.
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Both the idea and execution of the water fight scene was amazing. Despite the fact that not everything is clicking 100%, I’m really enjoying the show thanks to bursts of imaginative brillance such as that scene.
““Every woman keeps secrets. Every touched woman keeps a great deal
more.” Again, I wish this show had dared to make women the exclusive
recipients of turns!”
This has come up in every review here, and I still would love for the comment to be unpacked. I know to some people I may simply seem dense, but why should they have “dared” to make the touched exclusively female? After several works about female teams or groups of superpowered people (even Whedon with his Slayers, who are mentioned here, though I’ll grant that wasn’t handled particularly well) it doesn’t feel particularly daring to me to do so. And if the reasoning is because it allows for a genre take on exploring stories where women continue to be repressed by the patriarchy even when (or especially when) they have attributes that should be to their advantage, it seems like this is still what they are doing with the show. The fact that apparently it’s very uncommon for men to be “afflicted” just, I suspect, adds more easy narrative options—including about oppression (how *are* the men who are afflected seen by the general population compared to the women—indeed this is something that hasn’t really come up yet at all… Are they given more advantages—well aside from being hired as henchmen for villains?)