Forget the shit show that is our present.
This is a scene from the shit show that is our future.
Give me ten minutes, because the Table brings a particularly poignant political sensibility to the backstory. It will be instantly familiar; no explanation is necessary at all.
It's three hundred years from now. A hundred and fifty years ago, a Martian dude named Epstein invented a drive that let humanity colonize the outer system.
And Humanity, bless us, is exactly the same shit show it ever was, except we've spread out to about Saturn.
The U.N. runs Mother Earth. (Duh).
And the U.N. is sending its most ruthless insider, Chrisjen Avasarala, to discover the motives of a terrorist fugitive: James Holden.
We zoom in on Chrisjen approaching the separatist compound of the one person who can explain James: his mother, Alice Holden – a distant grand-niece of Lady Red!!!
[Yeah. I made that part up. But just give me ten minutes and tell me if this doesn't work.]
Pretty sure one of my distant cousins will be the douchebag flying the hover-jet.
ReplyDeleteThere's a subtle homage to Star Wars in his brisk, obsequious cadence - the same as an Imperial storm trooper. I approve of the frame.
Interesting scene, Lewy, although a reminder of why I read, rather than watch. Two strong women who happen to be on opposite sides of an issue, but that does not overshadow their similarity to each other.
DeleteDances, check out Chrisjen giving the whole nine yards to the U.B. Deputy CuckBro.
DeleteWeirdly, it's Fay that she brings to mind.
[Yeah you better explain that one, lewy.] Right.
Charming, witty, feminine, warm, personable...
...and at the same time flawlessly polite, poised, professional, dignified, with an acute sensibility for decorum and protocol.
And then that talent for slamming the severed horses head on the table when circumstances demand. Boom.
That's what I mean.
"Weirdly, it's Fay that she brings to mind.
DeleteCharming, witty, feminine, warm, personable...
...and at the same time flawlessly polite, poised, professional, dignified, with an acute sensibility for decorum and protocol.
And then that talent for slamming the severed horses head on the table when circumstances demand. Boom.
That's what I mean."
Oh lewy, you flatterer, you.
One of the three is common, two of the three is rare, all three is exceptional.
DeleteOne and two is me for sure (let's not forget modest LOL). Three, hmmm, not so much. That I know of.
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ReplyDeleteCheers Fay! 🍸
DeleteI hear you – but I wouldn't call it doom, exactly...
There is a furious dignity in both of these women, who have nothing left except to think the unthinkable, to cooperate, because it's the only play.
The way they make that clear to each other is just incredibly beautiful.
There will be those of us who choose to remain who we are, and those who will move on and become something else.
The Expanse shows that kind of future pretty clearly.
Of the remnant who choose to remain people like Alice Holden, people who would be recognizable to us? Hard to guess.
Sorry lewy, I shouldn't have made that comment.
DeleteFay, no worries - I took it the way you mean it, as an appropriately sharp challenge to a particularly bleak vision.
DeleteAnd I challenge myself on that score everyday.
In finance it's called "left tail risk" - the odds of that bad crash happening.
Baseline scenario: everything muddles through. It usually does.
And as lady red eloquently reminds us below, revivals happen.
All the same: I'm packing for Mars.
At least evenings and weekends.
I heart you lewy.
Delete"All the same: I'm packing for Mars.
At least evenings and weekends."
Bwahaha :)
Alice is feisty enough to be one of my distant kin! :))
ReplyDeleteAfter observing the response of Texans and the quiet determination of the MEN of the south who calmly dropped everything, hooked up their boats, packed a lunch and headed toward Houston, my heart is full of optimism. Harvey has directed the spotlight on what REAL Americans are all about.
Who knows lewy, the future could grow from those rednecks; strong as an oak, God-fearing family men who strive every day to make the world a better place.
lady red - glad you saw the family resemblance!
DeleteWe, all of us who have not met in real life that is, must have some interesting mental archetypes for each other... glad my model of you had some fidelity!
I added one more – the story of the Epstein Drive.
ReplyDelete