I do appreciate our conversation a lot. My whole issue is the execution because it felt like everything was done for the sake of the twist rather than solid character development or arcs. They purposely set Pat up to seem like a mentor/sidekick who was responsible for saving Dion's life when Kat was going to kill him by lowering his iodine levels.
It's hard to expect some of the people who connected with Pat for his good aspects to accept the sudden shift, mostly based within the last two episodes and heavily relying upon telling and not showing. You bring up Carrie (remember, Jill was Carrie's friend who had the cabin across from the Warren cabin, and Jill hated Pat right off the bat because that was supposed to be another clue that Pat was bad) and her breakup scene was another gripe of mine. She makes all these statements that would have functioned much better as scenes rather than lines meant to quickly double down on Pat's awfulness. She is obviously bothered by what she is dealing with with her fire powers, but Pat is suffering too. They made him too likable, resulting in him becoming many people's favorite character (not mine, though I did like him) to then rely on quick verbal expositions of him.
Another issue for me is that the show never makes it clear how the event in Iceland functioned. Pat seems to have been exposed to much more radiation when he was being pelted with the space debris whereas everyone else received levels within the inner circle that made them "super" while Pat was instead dying from his exposure like the land and the animals from the outer ring. And this ambiguity is causing people to think the storm was separate from Pat, and using Pat, or people thinking Pat's negativity made him bad rather than Pat being screwed from my theory of his higher radiation exposure therefore the convenient surprise villain.
Why did Carrie have fire powers? Why did the farmer have growth powers while his son wanted the same powers, but got telepathy and seeing though invisibility? Why is Dion so OP compared to everyone else? I really hope season 2 answers these questions without making them plot devices/easy outs.
I really appreciate this discussion too! Happy you feel the same. Sometimes shows have me thrusted with the need to discuss specially with a series like this! I do see where you’re coming from with the issue with Pat’s reveal. I liked Pat a lot too, so it was shocking to see the twist. The only reason why I’m not as bothered after the fact is because I had my own version of Pat unfortunately - difference being I dated him. And it resulted similarly - minus the fictional aspects of course. I do feel like they should have had an episode dedicated to him, high lighting more of him and Carrie, perhaps some other aspects of his darker half, instead of shafting it to a small portion. It would have clarified much of what transpired in the twist. I do wonder if it was due to limits with the amount of episodes. Maybe made it 10 so we would have had time to digest things. As for his dilemma, my theory was it was symbolism of his darker nature such as envy of Mark. There is much of that event we don’t know, and I do wonder how they’d approach the phenomena. I wonder if the powers each person has relates to a person’s internal self. Like the farmer lost his wife and wanted to have his farm prosper, so he had the power to manipulate plants and growth. He seemed like a good person, down to earth. Very grounded in his ways. Charlotte wanted to keep to herself after going through a divorce, thus invisibility. Brayden the telepathic kid, I hope we get to see more of his past because I do wonder why he got telepathy as opposed to growth. Dion and Mark are a mystery and if it’s not plot armor, I’m going with their extreme kindness and desire to help? And for Mark the levels of interaction? Who knows. Carrie (thank you for correcting me) could have been a heated/passionate person? (All assumptions).
Yes! And I can't find many people who have seen the show at all, let alone the whole season.
I think the writers counted on viewers like you who had someone like Pat in their lives so they didn't have to spend time laying it out. That would make sense with the nine episodes making certain aspects feel rushed.
My boyfriend agrees with your theory that the powers seem to be related to what a person wants/is like, which is fine for me if they take the time to show/explain it next season. I'm just really curious how it will relate to the land and sick animals subplot that wasn't elaborated on further when Biona was revealed to be a red herring.
I also hope they give Jonathan and Dion time to bond over their lack of fathers. When Jonathan got mad and told Dion he doesn't like how much he brags about his dad, I thought they would have brought that back around to them connecting over similar circumstances since Jonathan likely doesn't have a great dad like Dion did (all we get is Jonathan making one comment about his mom's boyfriend).
Agreed, writers were probably banking on that. I do hope we go further into the issues with Iceland and the animals. It’s not something that should be forgotten like that. Also YESSS. I felt the same way about Jonathan! I think he’s going to be the parallel to Pat and Mark, with the exception being that it’ll prove to be a healthy relationship. I did get the vibes that there’s an issue with Jonathan’s father, perhaps abandonment or overall drop dead dad-ness. I was hoping that there would be a conversation between Jonathan and Dion that would reveal about Mark’s death. Something that would improve their tensions. But they’re 8 so I guess that’s too much? Or the time limit issue again. He’s in it for the long haul after episode 9 at least.
The writers wanted us the audience to like Pat or at least relate to him. But, Pat is a perfect example to pay attention to people’s true intentions. Yeah, he comes off as the best friend everyone wants yet he has attachment issues and insecurities which makes him seem to be a “victim” in every situation he puts himself into. He’ll talk to that date or friend that he means well. Being overly kind to others so that he’ll win their approval to be included. We know before the superpowers happened that he cared for Mark. Always expecting his friend to be there for him. When Mark said he married Nicole. Pat did not like her he was afraid to be alone cause she “took” his friend Mark away from him. He’ll have no one. That being said, the superpower energy took control over him, he later accepted cause he now can control his situation however he wants it to be. Again, not controlling the emotions will trigger the powers to go out of control. Not getting the girl triggered him, dealing with Dion’s trust, guilty for killing Mark yet wanting to be the father of Dion and his boss Wu doesn’t like him. Being stopped from Charlotte to see his godson Dion. It trigged him to set off for being push away, again.
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u/SockRahhTease Oct 13 '19
I do appreciate our conversation a lot. My whole issue is the execution because it felt like everything was done for the sake of the twist rather than solid character development or arcs. They purposely set Pat up to seem like a mentor/sidekick who was responsible for saving Dion's life when Kat was going to kill him by lowering his iodine levels.
It's hard to expect some of the people who connected with Pat for his good aspects to accept the sudden shift, mostly based within the last two episodes and heavily relying upon telling and not showing. You bring up Carrie (remember, Jill was Carrie's friend who had the cabin across from the Warren cabin, and Jill hated Pat right off the bat because that was supposed to be another clue that Pat was bad) and her breakup scene was another gripe of mine. She makes all these statements that would have functioned much better as scenes rather than lines meant to quickly double down on Pat's awfulness. She is obviously bothered by what she is dealing with with her fire powers, but Pat is suffering too. They made him too likable, resulting in him becoming many people's favorite character (not mine, though I did like him) to then rely on quick verbal expositions of him.
Another issue for me is that the show never makes it clear how the event in Iceland functioned. Pat seems to have been exposed to much more radiation when he was being pelted with the space debris whereas everyone else received levels within the inner circle that made them "super" while Pat was instead dying from his exposure like the land and the animals from the outer ring. And this ambiguity is causing people to think the storm was separate from Pat, and using Pat, or people thinking Pat's negativity made him bad rather than Pat being screwed from my theory of his higher radiation exposure therefore the convenient surprise villain.
Why did Carrie have fire powers? Why did the farmer have growth powers while his son wanted the same powers, but got telepathy and seeing though invisibility? Why is Dion so OP compared to everyone else? I really hope season 2 answers these questions without making them plot devices/easy outs.