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EP. REVIEW: Double Decker! Doug & Kirill


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mysteriousdbzgt



Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 8:21 am Reply with quote
Brack wrote:
After the earlier Big O reference in episode 6, we got Brian Cooper this week, a man with Roger Smith's eyebrows and a mysterious prayer on his mind... Not sure if homage, coincidence, foreshadowing or something grander?


There was a Big O reference in episode 6? I must have missed that, where was it?
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Brack



Joined: 15 Oct 2005
Posts: 281
Location: UK
PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:04 pm Reply with quote
mysteriousdbzgt wrote:
Brack wrote:
After the earlier Big O reference in episode 6, we got Brian Cooper this week, a man with Roger Smith's eyebrows and a mysterious prayer on his mind... Not sure if homage, coincidence, foreshadowing or something grander?


There was a Big O reference in episode 6? I must have missed that, where was it?


I will spoiler it, as it is a huge spoiler for Big O. spoiler[The drunk man's story.]
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Zof





PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:23 pm Reply with quote
Brack wrote:
mysteriousdbzgt wrote:
Brack wrote:
After the earlier Big O reference in episode 6, we got Brian Cooper this week, a man with Roger Smith's eyebrows and a mysterious prayer on his mind... Not sure if homage, coincidence, foreshadowing or something grander?


There was a Big O reference in episode 6? I must have missed that, where was it?


I will spoiler it, as it is a huge spoiler for Big O. spoiler[The drunk man's story.]


That episode was like, a gift to anybody that has been a bartender. Listening to delusions for a few years will make you hate drinking.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2018 11:13 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Doug's mantra as he's being tortured for information is “I've finally found a way forward”, marking a notable lesson learned from the previous episodes about angsty detectives being too beholden to their pasts.

Really? Huh, I thought he was just telling Seven-O to look at the parking lot diagram. Smile

I'm surprised there wasn't a peep about the military guy recognizing Kirill's (tortured Engrish) mantra. I expect that will eventually tie into why Valery needed to take on a female persona.

Denys Lalande wrote:
Go back through the episodes so far, and read the headlines of the stories in the newspapers. Notice a couple of themes developing?

I did, and I don't. I saw were some random stories about giant fish, bad weather causing wheat flour prices to spike, tax opposition, Eastern hot springs, Metropass fare increases, and income disparity. The latter and related economic stories have been duly noted several times as a major theme, but otherwise, I don't see anything, unless it's an environmental issue vaguely hinted at. What am I supposed to be noticing that's important?
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1752
PostPosted: Wed Nov 21, 2018 2:37 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Quote:
Doug's mantra as he's being tortured for information is “I've finally found a way forward”, marking a notable lesson learned from the previous episodes about angsty detectives being too beholden to their pasts.

Really? Huh, I thought he was just telling Seven-O to look at the parking lot diagram. Smile

Yeah, I'm not even going to touch on these (mis)interpretations anymore...

I'll give it to the reviewer though, that was a really weird and contrived way to translate "now that I finally found a way out" (what Doug was actually saying). Generally the translation in this show can be pretty strange - one that still weirds me out is the choice to call Doug an asshole (sure him teasing Kirill is a bit dickish of him but it's nowhere near an "asshole" level, or so I would think). But even in this latest episode there was the above mentioned "way forward", or him telling Kirill that in a similar situation he wouldn't have saved Kirill, when in Japanese he was saying that he respected Kirill going to save him when he didn't go save Kirill when Kirill was kidnapped. (This is a case where the meaning is similar but the nuances mean a lot, especially considering the differences between the two kidnappings - this was presumably a real one, Kirill on the other hand was safe all along.)

There was also the weird choice to have characters refer to Pat as "they" even when they were completely aware of her gender, just to preserve a twist - except the twist's emphasis was on her age and not her gender, so it not only came off as weird and unnatural, but also pointless.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 3:34 am Reply with quote
Episode 10:
Talk about tonal shifts! Brat propositions every female (or female resembling) character he sees, turns out he's a sad almost orphan, and we feel bad for him, also drugs are bad and doctors who want to investigate medical uses for illegal drugs have ulterior motives. Also, Kirill is a genius! (That was my favorite part! And he's so modest, too!)

Was this episode somehow inspired by a knee-jerk anti-drug reaction to Michael Pollan's new book about research into medical uses for LSD and other psychodelics How to Change Your Mind, or the legalization of marijuana in some (very few) places or something? They really went frustratingly black-and-white on whether illegal drugs should be researched/used in medical settings, where it would have been much more interesting if they had taken a grayer approach---but to give them credit, they probably needed to finish this plot in one episode and just didn't have time to flesh out these ideas.

One last note:
Kirill looked gorgeous in that dress! Very Happy
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SHD



Joined: 05 Apr 2015
Posts: 1752
PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
Also, Kirill is a genius! (That was my favorite part! And he's so modest, too!)

I don't think he's modest as such, more like he probably genuinely doesn't see what the big deal is. As far as he's concerned he needed scholarship money so he made an effort and wrote a paper based on some neat idea he found in a comic book.

Agent355 wrote:
Was this episode somehow inspired by a knee-jerk anti-drug reaction to Michael Pollan's new book about research into medical uses for LSD and other psychodelics How to Change Your Mind, or the legalization of marijuana in some (very few) places or something? They really went frustratingly black-and-white on whether illegal drugs should be researched/used in medical settings, where it would have been much more interesting if they had taken a grayer approach---but to give them credit, they probably needed to finish this plot in one episode and just didn't have time to flesh out these ideas.

I think it's important to consider that this is something coming from Japan, a country that is a lot less liberal when it comes to drugs than the US, and where drugs are in general still associated with criminal activity. That said, I don't think this show has an anti-drug agenda as such. They probably didn't even think that far (and why would they? even in my country a story heavily involving drugs would have an anti-drug stance by default, without trying to make it into an agenda). Anthem is just an easy plot device - easier to handle in this more-or-less realistic setting setting than say, viruses or magic.
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Zof





PostPosted: Mon Nov 26, 2018 5:04 pm Reply with quote
Dare I say Kirill is best girl. I'm completely in love with his character. It's like he's so determined to do the right thing he doesn't make the same mistake twice, and every time somebody looks down on him, he ends up being right like some Fox Mulder. I love his character. I want to believe a sweet person with a heart can be that kind of hero.

I'm just loving this show. It's one of my favourites this season. It reminds me a lot of a tamer Concrete Revolutio, but with better relationship dynamics, and I loved that show.
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Denys Lalande



Joined: 28 Jan 2018
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 1:04 am Reply with quote
While watching Ep. 10, I kept thinking of John Bell Hood, a general for the Confederacy in the American Civil War. He had an arm crippled at the battle of Gettysburg (July 1863), and a leg amputated at Chickamuaga (Sept. '63); and spent the rest of the War so filled with laudanum (main ingredient: Opium), he could barely think straight. This resulted in him developing a paranoid belief that "my troops are afraid to attack", and resulted in him smashing his forces into superior numbers of Union troops at both Atlanta, and Nashville (1864). To quote another well-known drug addict: "The parallel is exact!" :)
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 1:47 am Reply with quote
If I'm not mistaken, the four former patients from the hospital who all died are the Ghostbusters.
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 2:22 am Reply with quote
SHD wrote:
Agent355 wrote:
Also, Kirill is a genius! (That was my favorite part! And he's so modest, too!)

I don't think he's modest as such, more like he probably genuinely doesn't see what the big deal is. As far as he's concerned he needed scholarship money so he made an effort and wrote a paper based on some neat idea he found in a comic book.

Not realizing what the big deal is is what makes him modest! And charming, I completely agree, Zof (compare to Apple, who's constantly bragging about his smart innovations).
SHD wrote:


I think it's important to consider that this is something coming from Japan, a country that is a lot less liberal when it comes to drugs than the US, and where drugs are in general still associated with criminal activity. That said, I don't think this show has an anti-drug agenda as such. They probably didn't even think that far (and why would they? even in my country a story heavily involving drugs would have an anti-drug stance by default, without trying to make it into an agenda). Anthem is just an easy plot device - easier to handle in this more-or-less realistic setting setting than say, viruses or magic.

I hear you (and America criminalizes drugs and drug users---even people who got addicted to legal prescriptions---plenty). But the show itself brought up that people determine whether a drug is a cure or a poison, then had the doctor, trying to use the drug as a cure, connected to Esperanza, who deal it like poison. Then again, this show hasn't been subtle about anything.
Yttrbio wrote:
If I'm not mistaken, the four former patients from the hospital who all died are the Ghostbusters.

Awesome! I knew I should have paused that scene! (Anyone have a screenshot?)
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 3:03 am Reply with quote

I guess it's half-character/half-actor.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 3:56 am Reply with quote
Agent355 wrote:
Not realizing what the big deal is is what makes him modest!

Nah, modest is when you know you're talented, good-looking, whatever, but don't brag or rub people's noses in it. Kirill is just baffled, like you would be if someone were awed that you could eat with a spoon. Smile
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Zof





PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 5:54 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Agent355 wrote:
Not realizing what the big deal is is what makes him modest!

Nah, modest is when you know you're talented, good-looking, whatever, but don't brag or rub people's noses in it. Kirill is just baffled, like you would be if someone were awed that you could eat with a spoon. Smile



"Come on, you know, when you just remember everything you saw, then apply supernatural abstract and mechanical reasoning skills to divine a working hypothesis. Geez guyz. Like everyone can do that right?"
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Merida



Joined: 21 Feb 2012
Posts: 1945
PostPosted: Tue Nov 27, 2018 10:53 am Reply with quote
Kirill is an adorable genius and makes a very beautiful bride!<3

Looks like the plot is about to thicken with the military guy wanting to recruit Kiriil, i hope we're going to learn more about grandpa and the reason why Valery had to leave.
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