Thom V. Young">
Psycho Drive-In logo
Search
  • PDI Press
    Featured
    • ON SALE NOW! NOIRLATHOTEP 2: MORE TALES OF LOVECRAFTIAN CRIME!!

      Thom V. Young
      December 31, 2018
      News, PDI Press, PDI Press Catalog
    Recent
    • ON SALE NOW! NOIRLATHOTEP 2: MORE TALES OF LOVECRAFTIAN CRIME!!

      psychodr
      December 31, 2018
    • VOICES FROM THE NIGHT: The Living Dead Tell Their Stories

      John E. Meredith
      October 31, 2018
    • American Carnage: Tales of Trumpian Dystopia

      psychodr
      March 24, 2018
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    Featured
    • Psycho Goreman (2021)

      Thom V. Young
      February 12, 2021
      Movies, Reviews
    Recent
    • Psycho Goreman (2021)

      Nate Zoebl
      February 12, 2021
    • Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)

      Paul Brian McCoy
      February 9, 2021
    • Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

      Nate Zoebl
      February 2, 2021
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
    Featured
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      Thom V. Young
      July 13, 2018
      Interviews
    Recent
    • Interview with Indie Horror Master, Chris Bickel

      The Final Girl
      July 13, 2018
    • David Black: Carnies, Carnage, and the Creative Chaos of Darkness Visible

      Dan Lee
      March 7, 2017
    • Jaiden Kaine joins the Marvel Universe as new Luke Cage baddie, Zip

      Andre Lamar
      September 29, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Batman: The Killing Joke

      Jason Sacks
      July 28, 2016
    • SDCC 2016 Interviews: The Cast and Creators of Syfy’s Van Helsing

      Dave Hearn, Paul Brian McCoy
      July 27, 2016
    • Wondercon Interview: The Cast of Damien

      Gary Richardson, Laura Akers
      April 16, 2016
  • News
    Featured
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      Thom V. Young
      July 30, 2019
      DVD/Blu-ray, News
    Recent
    • John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum arrives on Digital 8/23 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand 9/10

      psychodr
      July 30, 2019
    • X-Men: Dark Phoenix arrives on Digital 9/3 and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD 9/17

      Paul Brian McCoy
      July 16, 2019
    • Avengers: Endgame arrives on Digital 7/30 and Blu-ray 8/13

      psychodr
      July 16, 2019
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Breaking
  • Psycho Goreman (2021)
  • Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)
  • Shadow in the Cloud (2020)
  • Promising Young Woman (2020)
  • Possessor: Uncut (2020)
  • Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
  • RSS
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Tumblr
  • Who We Be
  • Contact
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
Home
Reviews

12 Monkeys 2.06 “Immortal”

Thom V. Young
May 30, 2016
Reviews, TV

Previously on 12 Monkeys . . .

Last week Crazy Jennifer Goines (Primary) and Sexy Cassie Railly (physician) became BFFs in 2016 after Cassie traveled back from 2044 to find out what younger Jennifer knows in 2016 that older Jennifer in 2044 has forgotten / had forgotten / will forget—or at least has chosen / had chosen / will choose not to reveal . . . because she wanted / had wanted / will want Cassie to travel back to 2016 so they could become / had become / will become BFFs.

What 2016 Jennifer knew (after Cassie had her stop taking her schizophrenia meds) was that a Primary named Kyle Slade died in 1975, so this week Scruffy James Cole (constantly in need of a shave with a beard that never grows beyond two-day stubble) and Suave José Ramse (always dapper with a shave, a shower, and a haircut—and sometimes sporting a stylish woolen flat cap) travel from 2044 to 1975 to prevent Slade from being “paradoxed” (i.e. murdered with a weapon fashioned from his own future corpse).

Miami Vice 1975

Paradoxing a Primary (murdering a temporal-visioned schizophrenic with a weapon fashioned from his or her own corpse) is bad because it will cause time to collapse in on itself so that reality will be an “eternal now” in which everything and everyone that exists, did exist, and will exist will now simultaneously exist in the eternal and death-free now—at least that is how the Witness explained the destruction-of-time-situation to Cassie in a vision she experienced in this episode.

Last week we learned in one of Cassie’s temporal-red-leaf-induced visions that the Witness (the Mustapha Mond of the destruction-of-time plot) is actually Cassie’s thought-to-have-been-dead fiancé Aaron Marker. This week, Aaron shows up at the Emerson Hotel in 2016 to convince Cassie to stop trying to prevent the paradoxing of Primaries so the Eternal Now will become a Utopian reality in which everyone who has ever existed and who will ever exist can live in peace and harmony with their loved ones.

There Is Only One Enemy in this World

He nearly convinces Cassie that the destruction of time is a consummation devoutly to be wished. However, just as she’s about to accept the idea that the destruction of time is the path to paradise, Aaron’s eyes suddenly go completely black (like the eyes of demons on Supernatural). Those demonic eyes cause Cassie to rapidly realize she isn’t talking to Aaron at all; she’s talking to the Witness.

It’s not clear why she immediately rejected the idea of Aaron and the Witness being the same person. However, for whatever reason, Cassie concluded that the Witness had merely taken on Aaron’s appearance—albeit with facial scars. He then changes into Cole and tells her (paraphrasing here) that this form must be the one she desires—as in, Cassie doesn’t love her dead fiancé Aaron, she loves Cole.

Well, duh!

How is it that the nearly omniscient Witness didn’t already know Cassie loves Cole? Everyone else figured out that relationship early in the first season!

The Witness’s ignorance is even more startling when we consider a later revelation in the episode.

Meanwhile (does meanwhile have meaning in a non-chronological time travel narrative?), Cole and Ramse track the “next” Primary, Slade, in 1975. He is actually a serial killer, and Cole and Ramse know his final victim was (or will be) a woman named Victoria Mason. Thus, they stalk Victoria and wait for Slade to show up to kill her.

Of course, to not alter history, Cole reminds Ramse (who flirts with Victoria in the diner where she works) that they must allow Victoria to be murdered before they prevent the Messengers from paradoxing Slade.

Yes, let’s make sure to not alter the timeline by preventing a murder. After all, the entire point of Cole’s original mission was to alter the timeline in order to prevent an orchestrated global pandemic that killed billions of people.

Another New Mask for the Witness

Yet, when Slade attacks Victoria in an alley, it’s Cole who runs to her rescue—and it is Ramse who now believes they should allow her to be murdered. After learning that Victoria uses drugs (it’s unclear whether it was marijuana or cocaine she bought from her dealer), Ramse thinks Victoria’s murder will ensure her young son won’t be raised by a mother who uses drugs.

Understand, there is no indication that Victoria is an addict—just that she bought something from a dealer and is looking forward to using it.

However, when one of the Messengers abducts Victoria in Ramse’s hotel room and ties her up, it is Ramse who rescues her.

Of course, the obvious question is: Why did the Messenger tie up Victoria? After all, her plight doesn’t make any sense in terms of the plot.

Victoria Mason Bound and Gagged 2

Your guess is as good as mine—and my guess is that the show’s producers wanted to present the beautiful actress Diana Bentley in a bondage scene. It’s not like the Messenger was going to use her as bait to draw Slade out of hiding—nor was her bondage required as a way of subduing Ramse or Cole.

Overall, this season of 12 Monkeys has not been scripted as well as the first season. There have been numerous nonsensical plot elements, and the “twists” are more predictable than they are startling—such as Cole originally believing his mission was to prevent Slade from being murdered by the Messengers who have been sent back to kill him.

It was obvious from the moment he was given the assignment that the mission of “prevent Slade from being paradoxed” is not the same as “prevent Slade from being murdered.” I immediately knew the best way to prevent a Primary from being paradoxed is to murder the Primary yourself before the Messengers can kill him with blades fashioned from the bones of the Primary’s future corpse. Katarina even implied as much just before she sent Cole and Ramse back to 1975.

Just Sitting Here Watching the Wheels Go Round and Round

It turns out that Slade is a serial killer for that very reason; he’s been murdering other Primaries so they can’t be paradoxed by the Messengers—and he killed (or was going to kill) Victoria as his version of “the Bat-Signal” in that her death would be the only one that Cole could immediately track back to Slade.

Wait a minute! Slade’s been serial murdering Primaries? Just how many Primaries are running around in 1975?

I was going to make a sarcastic remark about disco music leading to a proliferation of Primaries—perhaps due to the magical properties of Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra—but then I remembered that when Cole and Ramse appeared in 1975, it was the rhythmic beat of Foghat’s “Slow Ride” that introduced them to the era (even though “Slow Ride” wasn’t released until December of 1975, and it didn’t seem like the episode took place in the winter.

I guess a lot of people giving and getting slow rides in the decade following World War II led to a proliferation of Primaries in 1975. It’s those damn Baby Boomers!

Fortunately, due to Slade’s mass murdering of his fellow Primaries and Slade then escaping “death by paradox,” time did not collapse in on itself in 1975—which made the red lightning storm in 2044 decrease a bit.

Yay! A small victory for “our side”—but is our side the “right side”?

Last week, after it seemed that Cassie’s fiancé, Aaron, was the Witness, I mentioned that I had thought that perhaps either a future version of Cole or a future version of Cassie might actually be the Witness. As it turns out, the closing image of this episode seems to indicate that I may have been correct—or perhaps SyFy’s 12 Monkeys is crossing over with the CW’s Supernatural and Cassie has been possessed by a demon.

The Witness Is in Cassie

In a nice bit of synchronicity, it was announced this week that scientists have determined the reason time moves in one direction (instead of the two directions in which the three spatial dimensions move) is due to the influence of the dark energy in the universe.

Of course, the episode was written and produced before the connection between the flow of time and dark energy had been presented, but it is fun to speculate that Cassie (the Witness) has dark energy in her eyeballs—which is significantly different from the “transparent eyeballs” I was going on about in my review of the previous episode.

Finally, I leave you with this note: Cassie (Amanda Schull) sure is a striking woman when she doesn’t have demonic dark energy flowing through her eyeballs!

Wishing to Be in Cassie

(Visited 251 times, 1 visits today)

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

12 MonkeysAaron StanfordAmanda SchullKirk AcevedoSyfyThom V. Young

POPCORN CINEMA 25: REEFER MADNESS
X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

About The Author

monsterid
Thom V. Young
Spontaneous Quixote
Google+

Thom V. Young has lived all over the country—Idaho, Oregon, Ohio, California, Kansas, back to Idaho, Louisiana, and South Carolina—but he eventually ended up in Maryland. Over the course of his travels, he has had an array of odd jobs—including short order cook, fast food restaurant manager, construction worker, frozen food warehouseman, alternative health publications editor, and college professor. He has also published several poems and short stories in a variety of super-secret small-press publications.

FACEBOOK

FACEBOOK

Daily Top Ten

  • Supergirl 1.13 “For the Girl Who Has Everything”Supergirl 1.13 “For the Girl Who Has Everything” by Jessica Sowards
  • Psycho Essentials - The '80s! An American Werewolf in LondonPsycho Essentials – The ’80s! An… by Raul Reyes
  • Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Lost in Translation 232: Remaking Danger!! Death RayLost in Translation 232: Remaking Danger!! Death Ray by Scott Delahunt
  • The Xeno File: Blade of the Immortal (2018)The Xeno File: Blade of the Immortal (2018) by Serdar Yegulalp

PDI Press Bestsellers

Entertainment Earth

Weekly Top Ten

  • Everybody Dies: Hamlet at Elsinore (1964)Everybody Dies: Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) by Rick Shingler
  • Sick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)Sick Flix: Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) by Corin Totin
  • Advance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-rayAdvance Review: The Legend of Tarzan (2016) Blu-ray by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Unnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012)Unnatural Selections: Two-Headed Shark Attack (2012) by Brooke Brewer
  • The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)The Final Girl: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • The Searchers: A Quaint and Polite Film about Racism, Rape, and RemorseThe Searchers: A Quaint and Polite Film about… by Thom V. Young
  • The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006)The Hills Have Eyes (1977) vs The Hills Have Eyes (2006) by Corin Totin
  • Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010) by The Final Girl
  • Drive-In Saturday: The Big Bird Cage (1972)Drive-In Saturday: The Big Bird Cage (1972) by Paul Brian McCoy
  • Page to Screen: The Boys Season OnePage to Screen: The Boys Season One by Paul Brian McCoy
Entertainment Earth

Latest Reviews

  • Psycho Goreman (2021)

    Nate Zoebl
    February 12, 2021
  • Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)

    Paul Brian McCoy
    February 9, 2021
  • Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

    Nate Zoebl
    February 2, 2021

Latest Columns

  • Everybody Dies: Hamlet at Elsinore (1964)

    Rick Shingler
    February 19, 2021
  • Anything Joes: S01E11 – G.I. Joe #3 / The Trojan Gambit

    Greg Engle
    February 17, 2021
  • Sundance Film Festival 2021: Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

    Peterson Hill
    February 4, 2021

INSTAGRAM

psychodrivein

Today at http://psychodrivein.com Everybody Dies: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Everybody Dies: Hamlet at Elsinore (1964)

The fact that Hamlet at Elsinore was filmed at the ACTUAL Elsinore castle creates a striking verisimilitude.
---
Read more of Rick's article at the link in our profile!

#ShakespeareOnFilm #Shakespeare #WilliamShakespeare #Hamlet #HamletAtElsinore #ChristopherPlummer #MichaelCaine #DonaldSutherland #RobertShaw
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E11 - G.I. Joe #3 / The Trojan Gambit

Greg and Jaren discuss the giant robot invading The PIT, and explore how science fiction fits into the G.I. Joe universe.
---
Listen to the guys discuss this comic at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #MarvelComics @anythingjoespod
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Psycho Goreman Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Psycho Goreman (2021)

Psycho Goreman is like a gloriously inappropriate Power Rangers episode for adults.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#PsychoGoreman #StevenKostanski #OwenMyre #MatthewNinaber #NitaJoseeHanna #AdamBrooks
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Advance Review: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Advance Review: Bad Girls (2021)

Bad Girls is a kaleidoscopic fever dream of rapid-fire cuts, over-the-top violence, psychedelic drug orgies, raging punk metal screams, and dashes of existential angst.
---
Read more of Paul's review at the link in our profile!

#BadGirls #TheThetaGirl #ChristopherBickel #MorganShaleyRenew #SenethiaDresch #ShelbyLoisGuinn
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Sundance Film F Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Sundance Film Festival 2021: Judas and the Black Messiah

The standout performance in Judas and the Black Messiah is Kaluuya as Fred Hampton.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#Sundance #Sundance2021 #SundanceFilmFestival #SundanceFilmFestival #JudasAndTheBlackMessiah #ShakaKing #DanielKaluuya #LaKeithStanfield #JessePlemons
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Adroit Theory G.I. Joe Glass Set Unboxing

Greg takes a quick look at the recently released Adroit Theory 7 piece glassware set.
---
Watch Greg's unboxing video at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #AdroitTheoryBrewing #Beer #Glassware #GIJoe @anythingjoespod
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Sundance Film F Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Sundance Film Festival 2021: Ailey (2021)

Ailey might not break any narrative and cinematic ground as a documentary, but it is a gorgeous evocation of artistry.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#Ailey #SundanceFilmFestival #SundanceFilmFestival2021 #Sundance2021 #JamilaWignot #AlvinAiley
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: Top 10 G.I. Joe Classified Figures of 2020!

Greg & Jaren share their thoughts on the top 10 best releases from the G.I. Joe Classified line last year.
---
Watch Greg and Jaren count them down at the link in our profile!

#GIJoe #GIJoeClassified #AnythingJoes @anythingjoespod
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Shadow in the C Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Shadow in the Cloud (2020)

Shadow in the Cloud would have been better with a little more pruning, a little less Max Landis, and some tonal consistency.
---
Read more of Nate's review at the link in our profile!

#ShadowInTheCloud #ChloeGraceMoretz #RoseanneLiang #MaxLandis
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Sundance Film F Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Sundance Film Festival 2021: Jockey (2021)

Clint Bentley’s sophomore effort, Jockey, is a handsome and elegant character study that finds an aging horse jockey towards the end of his career.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#Sundance2021 #Sundance #SundanceFilmFestival #SundanceFilmFestival2021 #Jockey #CliftonCollinsJr #ClintBentley #MoisesArias #MollyParker #AdolphoLevoso
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Sundance Film F Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Sundance Film Festival 2021: Passing (2021)

Passing is an extraordinary directorial debut.
---
Read more of Peterson's review at the link in our profile!

#Sundance2021 #SundanceFilmFestival #SundanceFilmFestival2021 #Sundance #Passing #RebeccaHall #RuthNegga #TessaThompson #AndreHolland
Today at http://psychodrivein.com Anything Joes: Today at http://psychodrivein.com

Anything Joes: S01E10 - Winterfest

Greg and Jaren recount their time at the first G.I. Joe Convention of 2021, Winterfest.
---
Listen to @anythingjoespod at the link in our profile!

#AnythingJoes #GIJoe #Winterfest
Load More... Follow on Instagram

TWITTER

My Tweets

Look Who's Talking

Amari Wolfe
Amari Wolfe - 12/11/2020
Popcorn Cinema: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Don't know why, but the mention of Whammo Air Blasters made me laugh until it hurt. Very nicely...
mega leo
mega leo - 12/5/2020
Women in Horror: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)
To torture someone takes a cold kind of sadism. One that exceeds rage or revenge. One that shows a...
Dignan
Dignan - 10/29/2020
Nosferatu (1979)
Thanks for that, I can never seem to nail down that movie!
RSSTwitterFacebookinstagramtumblr

Archives

Large_rectangle_336X280
All work on this site is Copyright © each individual writer.
  • PDI Press
    • PDI Press Catalog
    • PDI Press Writers
      • Fiction
  • Columns A-D
    • A Fistful of Dollar Comics
    • ABCs of Horror
    • All Binge… No Purge
    • Anything Joes
    • Beautiful Creatures
    • Big Eyes Smart Mouth
    • Big Sleeps and Long Goodbyes
    • Cahiers du Horror
    • Dispatches From the Field
    • Drive-In Saturday
    • Dungeons & D-Listers
  • Columns F-P
    • The Final Girl
    • First Looks… Second Thoughts
    • The Flesh is Weak
    • Innocence and Experience
    • Lost in Translation
    • Page to Screen
    • Popcorn Cinema
    • Psycho Essentials: The ’80s!
  • Columns S-Z
    • Schlock & Awe
    • Shakespeare on Film
    • Shot for Shot
    • Sick Flix
    • Unnatural Selections
    • Versus
    • Video Word Made Flesh
    • We Got Lists
    • Women in Horror
    • The Xeno File
    • Zombies 101
  • Reviews
    • Books
    • DVD/Blu-ray
    • Movies
    • TV
    • Series
  • Interviews
  • News
    • Trailers
  • Psychos
  • Merchandise
%d bloggers like this: