# Debris (NBC) Season Thread *spoilers*



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

*Debris*, new Sci-Fi show on NBC. Premiered last night, March 1, 2021. From J.H. Wyman, showrunner of _Fringe_, and creator of _Almost Human_.

_The series follows the lives of "two agents ... from two different continents, and two different mindsets, who must work together to investigate when wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft has mysterious effects on humankind."_

Not bad for a premiere. Typical of most SciFi pilots, lots of mystery, enough hooks to draw you in. We'll see if they can keep it up, always a challenge with network TV SciFi (strong pilot, then the writing falls off). I like the premise, so I hope it does. No big name leads, although I recognized the male lead from_ City on a Hill._

I'll start this season thread. If the show warrants, we can always create episode threads in the future.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

ok, that sounds good enough for me to give it a try. Will they reair the pilot (yeah, I can always get it on Peacock)?


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## rharmelink (Dec 1, 2015)

jlb said:


> Will they reair the pilot


Looks like Saturday evening...


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

Yeah...just saw that in my OP. Thanks!


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Just watched. Same tired old formula. Male CIA agent, Female MI6 agent join forces to investigate “debris” from a destroyed Alien spacecraft. “Truth” kept from citizens. Hidden government agendas, etc, etc. Another SciFi show trying to recreate the X-Files... 
...but l’ll watch it (for a few more episodes)


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Thanks for the heads up. One Pass set.


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## justen_m (Jan 15, 2004)

I set a 1P because the commercials looked interesting. So I've got last night's episode, but haven't watched it yet. It does have skip available, so that's a plus.


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## Hcour (Dec 24, 2007)

Cool. Another of those network scifi-mystery shows that gets you interested... and then they cancel it. I've been burned many, many times. And yet, I'll probably give this one a go. Some folks, like moi, never learn.


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## rpj22 (Mar 27, 2016)

Tony_T said:


> Just watched. Same tired old formula. Male CIA agent, Female MI6 agent join forces to investigate "debris" from a destroyed Alien spacecraft. "Truth" kept from citizens. Hidden government agendas, etc, etc. Another SciFi show trying to recreate the X-Files...
> ...but l'll watch it (for a few more episodes)


One difference I like is that instead of the usual alien technology, this uses the "Roadside Picnic" premise of technology so advanced and alien that we can barely figure out what it is supposed to do, much less how it works. As per Clarke's law, much of it looks like magic.


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

OK, a pilot with some cool special effects to draw people in but the special effects will soon disappear for budget reasons and I don't think I have the patience for another NBC drama with a central mystery (e.g. Manifest, Blacklist) that will get drawn out forever and never revealed.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

rpj22 said:


> One difference I like is that instead of the usual alien technology, this uses the "Roadside Picnic" premise of technology so advanced and alien that we can barely figure out what it is supposed to do, much less how it works. As per Clarke's law, much of it looks like magic.


Which saves the writers a lot of work!


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

The thing I found most unbelievable about the pilot was not the alien tech or its effects, but that they were plausibly covering all this stuff up and trying to keep the general public in the dark. Based on the opening credits, these pieces of debris have been clearly visible to everyone as they fell through the atmosphere, and dozens of people see the things that happen. Yet this shadowy government agency, Orbital, is somehow able to conjure fake stories to explain everything away and the general public is none the wiser?


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Yeah, there's this weird trope on TV (and really, always has been) that governments and people in general A) love keeping things secret, and B) are really good at it.

When in fact people love talking about weird stuff, and when they try to keep secrets they usually suck at it.

But ya gotta keep the drama flowing, and withholding information (characters from each other, and writers from the audience) is a classic and easy, if clichéd, way of doing it.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

How many episodes until the CIA agent and the MI6 agent end up in bed?

I say......5


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

I'd like to see them have sex in the body tornado. That would keep me watching for at least a couple more episodes.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Howie said:


> I'd like to see them have sex in the body tornado. That would keep me watching for at least a couple more episodes.


Maybe that's what the people in the body tornado were doing...

Having alien sex.


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## Howie (May 3, 2004)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Maybe that's what the people in the body tornado were doing...
> 
> Having alien sex.


Ah! Kinky.


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## DavidTigerFan (Aug 18, 2001)

I liked it


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> (...) When in fact people love talking about weird stuff, and when they try to keep secrets they usually suck at it.


Actually, we have no way of knowing how well governments keep big secrets. If they're good at it, then the public never finds out...


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> Just watched. Same tired old formula. Male CIA agent, Female MI6 agent join forces to investigate "debris" from a destroyed Alien spacecraft. "Truth" kept from citizens. Hidden government agendas, etc, etc. Another SciFi show trying to recreate the X-Files...
> ...but l'll watch it (for a few more episodes)


I watched last night and I agree. It seems very formulaic, like so many of these types of shows. Not THAT much different than Manifest actually (which I thought was cancelled but apparently not...coming back in April). But yeah, I'm watching. It's at least something different than the endless reality shows, and the usual network dramas.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Amnesia said:


> Actually, we have no way of knowing how well governments keep big secrets. If they're good at it, then the public never finds out...


But government is comprised of people, and people in general tend to suck at keeping secrets. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Three people can keep a secret, if two of them are dead."

As evidenced by all the government secrets that have come to light over the years...

I mean, I'm sure there's stuff we don't know. Probably lots of stuff. But I doubt it's the really big stuff.


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## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

I watched it last night and I'm in. Though I get the same kind of SF mystery trope that Flashforward, Manifest, the show a season or so back with the little girl who was a robot taken in by the Cop, etc... etc...

I'm hoping there's a plan to this show and they're not just making it up as they go along.

So many of these shows try to do the same thing and all of them fail. I don't know why I keep watching them, guess I'm a sucker for SF.


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

I just hope they don't turn it into a "victim of the week" show, the way _Manifest_ was for a while


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Craigbob said:


> the show a season or so back with the little girl who was a robot taken in by the Cop,


*Emergence*.

I liked that one, it (IMHO) actually kept moving the story forward, and stayed interesting, without going wacky (eg, Manifest). All the leads were pretty good.

I was sorry to see it cancelled.


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## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

astrohip said:


> *Emergence*.
> 
> I liked that one, it (IMHO) actually kept moving the story forward, and stayed interesting, without going wacky (eg, Manifest). All the leads were pretty good.
> 
> I was sorry to see it cancelled.


That's it!. Geeze even the titles start to sound the same. I liked that one too and was sad to see it go.


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

I seem to remember reading that someone...Peacock?...is going to bring back _The 4400_---which again is kind of similar...


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## Allanon (Nov 2, 2005)

Amnesia said:


> I seem to remember reading that someone...Peacock?...is going to bring back _The 4400_---which again is kind of similar...


I think the network bringing it back is CW.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I liked The 4400 but the last season, if I remember (it's been what, at LEAST 10 years) the last season was really lame.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

My take is "Another SF mystery series that's trying to capture the Lost lightning".

I don't think they succeeded and the pitfalls of this type of show have been previously pointed out so I'm not going to repeat them.

It's interesting but I'll refrain from getting emotionally invested in this.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

Tony_T said:


> Just watched. Same tired old formula. Male CIA agent, Female MI6 agent join forces to investigate "debris" from a destroyed Alien spacecraft. "Truth" kept from citizens. Hidden government agendas, etc, etc. Another SciFi show trying to recreate the X-Files...
> ...but l'll watch it (for a few more episodes)


The spacecraft was kinda still in one piece in a shot I saw. This could lead to aliens and not just alien debris. Hey, its halfway decent sci fi on tv. Gotta take what they offer...and hope it stays watchable.


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## series5orpremier (Jul 6, 2013)

It was a quick shot at the end which I interpreted as the government was reassembling the spacecraft in a hangar from the debris, or the debris was finding it's way there.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

series5orpremier said:


> It was a quick shot at the end which I interpreted as the government was reassembling the spacecraft in a hangar from the debris, or the debris was finding it's way there.


Yeah, I thought it looked like they were reassembling all the pieces they recovered.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

Tony_T said:


> ...Another SciFi show trying to recreate the X-Files...


I'm also getting an "X-Files" vibe from it, but not really trying to recreate it. Seems a bit more original.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Bierboy said:


> I'm getting an "X-Files" vibe from it, but not really trying to recreate it.


Yeah, it feels like X-Files in a lot of ways, but it's not a ripoff (except maybe in the sense that The Mentalist is a ripoff of Psych, which is true only to the extent that Law and Order is a ripoff of Miami Vice).


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Yeah, it feels like X-Files in a lot of ways, but it's not a ripoff (except maybe in the sense that The Mentalist is a ripoff of Psych, which is true only to the extent that Law and Order is a ripoff of Miami Vice).


There's very few interesting new ideas out there. Most TV takes something from an existing genre. Hence all the CBS shows which on the surface look "new" and in the end are pretty much the same thing with a new twist. So while this show borrows from the X-Files, with the government involved in trying to figure out what's happening, it also looks like there might be a different story each week, where the debris affects a person or people in a different way.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

JYoung said:


> My take is "Another SF mystery series that's trying to capture the Lost lightning".
> 
> I don't think they succeeded and the pitfalls of this type of show have been previously pointed out so I'm not going to repeat them.
> 
> It's interesting but I'll refrain from getting emotionally invested in this.


I can't make that determination after one episode, that probably was more setup than anything. But again, if the show is good or even entertaining, does it matter? Again, the self fulfilling prophecy of not watching guarantees the show's failure and when we never give shows like this a fighting change, we wind up with the same old same old, tried and true reality shows and procedurals. Guaranteed, tried and true stuff that at this point is boring. I'll watch anything a bit new and different and even if it disappoints me at the end, by either going off the rails or leaving me with a cliffhanger, I'll have still enjoyed the journey to get there.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> I can't make that determination after one episode, that probably was more setup than anything. But again, if the show is good or even entertaining, does it matter? Again, the self fulfilling prophecy of not watching guarantees the show's failure and when we never give shows like this a fighting change, we wind up with the same old same old, tried and true reality shows and procedurals. Guaranteed, tried and true stuff that at this point is boring. I'll watch anything a bit new and different and even if it disappoints me at the end, by either going off the rails or leaving me with a cliffhanger, I'll have still enjoyed the journey to get there.


I didn't say that I wouldn't watch it or enjoy it.
But there's still a big difference between "interesting" and "Lost, oh my God, wow!".

All I'm saying right now is, "We'll see."


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

They had me at aliens.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I liked it. I missed recording the debut episode but was surprised to find it on Hulu.

You'd think the female lead would have learned by now not to touch alien debris affected items with her bare hands. Also, with the number of debris related references implied in the episode, the number of witnesses and the size of the investigating teams, there's no way governments can keep this a secret. They may keep the whole truth from going public but things would leak.

If the two leads become romantically involved then I'm out. This show doesn't need that drama and angst-y personal relationships.


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## Hcour (Dec 24, 2007)

I made it about 2/3 of the way, turned it off. It's The X-Files. It's Lost. And it wastes no time getting bizarre and implausible.

I predict here's what will happen with this series: It will keep on with all these far-out occurrences, without any real explanations or reasoning behind what's really happening and without tying them together in any meaningful way, except that they are related to the space-ship debris and then, then, then... It will be cancelled.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Hcour said:


> I made it about 2/3 of the way, turned it off. It's The X-Files. It's Lost. And it wastes no time getting bizarre and implausible.
> 
> I predict here's what will happen with this series: It will keep on with all these far-out occurrences, without any real explanations or reasoning behind what's really happening and without tying them together in any meaningful way, except that they are related to the space-ship debris and then, then, then... It will be cancelled.


Pretty much any show on broadcast TV is a copy of some other successful show. It's just how it is. NBC has been cloning L&O for years. CBS has a half dozen police procedural that are the same formula with different names and slight twists. ABC has had a bunch of Shondaland wannabees. So why should the Sci-Fi / paranormal shows be any different? The hope is that the story remains plausible as long as it possibly can. I tend to like these types of shows and I'll stick with it, at least for awhile.


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## JohnS-MI (Jan 25, 2014)

Watched second episode; canceled season pass.


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Are we supposed to wonder whether the main guy shot his clone or the clone shot the original? The way he pulled the picture out of the pocket of the dead version and looked at it made me wonder if the version left living didn't have that same picture in its pocket. Also, he acted a little off the rest of the episode.


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> Are we supposed to wonder whether the main guy shot his clone or the clone shot the original?


I didn't get that impression, although I was half-expecting his partner to enter and see "him" on the ground with a bullet in him. It could have been just so it could be stuck in an episode trailer.

But hey, another "victim of the week" had their life fixed by the main characters...


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Very disappointed in the 2nd episode. At a time when they should be drawing us in, with top-notch writing and a compelling hook, I thought this episode was 90% wasted. I didn't care about the clones, I have no idea how it relates to the "debris", I don't care about the guy they saved, and I have no idea where they are taking us with each debris "story of the week". I found the behind-the-scenes at each sides HQ more interesting than the field work, which ain't saying much.

They really need to feed us something about the debris, to draw us in, to let us know why we care. Just showing us some shiny stuff, and every week it does something different doesn't do much for me.

Next week is critical to me. Either hook me, or I'm gone.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

The problem with the alien debris is that they can make it do totally different "monster of the week" things every episode and by the time they start tying everything together a large part of their audience will have abandoned the show. I guess I'm supposed to be drawn into the mystery of Dollar Store Matthew McConaughey's mysterious backstory but I'm not yet.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

I'll still watch the show, but I'd be surprised if it lasts more than one season, assuming it doesn't get cancelled before then. I don't really see it getting cancelled midstream, mainly because the networks don't have a lot of new programming available due to production slowdowns so we're probably stuck with it until it just runs out. I'll give it a chance to work things out and see if they can come up with some sort of explanation as to why space junk from an alien spacecraft can just do weird stuff. I think the writers of this show have taken one too many trips to the Medical Dispensary.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

The obvious hook, is going to be the female agent's dad and his involvement with the alien crash / debris or whatever. It appears he faked his death or something like that (or, well, he's a clone). But they need to get there sooner or later. Having random stories about people being affected by the debris but knowing next to nothing about the debris isn't going to work until we understand at least SOMETHING about the debris. It's fine to have a story like this but it needs to be at least half the episode about the debris, while this is happening. So far, it's not. Unfortunately they are losing me quickly, and I usually stick with these types of shows. Not ready to bail yet though.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

My guess is that The Dr/Dad killed his clone and that's what's in the grave when they dig it up.


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## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> *But they need to get there sooner* or later. Having random stories about people being affected by the debris but knowing next to nothing about the debris isn't going to work until we understand at least SOMETHING about the debris.


This. They really need to pick up the pace. A long drawn out mystery only works when the writing is top-notch (eg, 1st season of LOST). Otherwise, viewers get bored, and lost.

I think E3 is the tipping point (IMHO). Either the story starts to come together, we get a solid glimpse of what's happening, or they just tease us for another hour.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

astrohip said:


> This. They really need to pick up the pace. A long drawn out mystery only works when the writing is top-notch (eg, 1st season of LOST). Otherwise, viewers get bored, and lost.
> 
> I think E3 is the tipping point (IMHO). Either the story starts to come together, we get a solid glimpse of what's happening, or they just tease us for another hour.


The "story of the week" only works once the parameters are set for this kind of show. I mean we know almost nothing about the debris, except it's there, and what they told us in the little bumper at the beginning. That's the interesting first part. Why it's there, what is it doing and what they are doing to find this out. Instead we get a story about a guy who clones himself taking up the majority of the story line.


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## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Steveknj said:


> The "story of the week" only works once the parameters are set for this kind of show. I mean we know almost nothing about the debris, except it's there, and what they told us in the little bumper at the beginning. That's the interesting first part. Why it's there, what is it doing and what they are doing to find this out. Instead we get a story about a guy who clones himself taking up the majority of the story line.


...although X-Files was almost the opposite. It started out as (mostly) monster-of-the-week, thriving on the chemistry of the leads and the irreverence of the writers, but as the mythology started to take over, the show kinda went off the rails (especially as it became increasingly clear that Chris Carter had no clue where he was going with any of it).


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> ...although X-Files was almost the opposite. It started out as (mostly) monster-of-the-week, thriving on the chemistry of the leads and the irreverence of the writers, but as the mythology started to take over, the show kinda went off the rails (especially as it became increasingly clear that Chris Carter had no clue where he was going with any of it).


Agreed, but there really wasn't a common thread connecting those stories (at least at first) the way the Debris is supposed to here. Each of those "story of the week" episodes were unrelated to anything else.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> Agreed, but there really wasn't a common thread connecting those stories (at least at first) the way the Debris is supposed to here. Each of those "story of the week" episodes were unrelated to anything else.


Well, there's only been two so far but you have a valid point.
If they plan to do a longer arc on this, they needs to be a more unifying theme here.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

astrohip said:


> Next week is critical to me. Either hook me, or I'm gone.


3 is the magic number for me. If it is not worth keeping by then, I'll stop watching. And this one is not likely to make it, unless it gets a lot better.


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## rharmelink (Dec 1, 2015)

The whole clone thing is an issue for me. Once they introduce that as a power of the debris, how can ANY character be relied on to not be a clone?


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

eddyj said:


> 3 is the magic number for me. If it is not worth keeping by then, I'll stop watching. And this one is not likely to make it, unless it gets a lot better.


That's where I am with most shows that I think might have potential. I've been known to give up after a few minutes if I can quickly realize a show is not for me or it's just that horrible. But 3 episodes should be enough. Like you, I'm on the fence with this one, but to be honest, I have very little that I'm watching right now, so I might give this one an extra episode or two because of the genre and the hope that the networks keep trying something different.


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## jr461 (Jul 9, 2004)

eddyj said:


> 3 is the magic number for me. If it is not worth keeping by then, I'll stop watching. And this one is not likely to make it, unless it gets a lot better.


I also usually try to go 3 episodes of something new before judging but I am out on this after one. I find I have much less tolerance for network shows lately as too often they start off promising and then degrade fairly quickly as time goes on.

With this, it doesn't even seem promising. Nothing drew me in, I don't care about any of the characters and I feel like this will be typical network drivel, dragging things on interminably until it's either canceled or just unwatchable. I decided on the latter to cut my losses.

This was going to be one that I watch on my own as it's not my wife's thing. So it's back to Resident Alien, Eureka and Schitt's Creek to keep me busy while she's unavailable for TV.


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

The problem with this episode is it was booooooorrrrinnggg. They had enough plot for maybe a 30m episode. "Let's walk over here and look at stuff being dragged down the street. Let's walk over there and look at stuff being dragged down the street." Repeat ad nauseum.

Then at the end they magically know that THAT particular car is the guys car? How did they know that? And why is the debris crushing the barrier it just spent all that time building? What's the goal of that?

Yeesh. This is on the bubble for sure.


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## panictivo (Mar 3, 2001)

madscientist said:


> The problem with this episode is it was booooooorrrrinnggg. They had enough plot for maybe a 30m episode. "Let's walk over here and look at stuff being dragged down the street. Let's walk over there and look at stuff being dragged down the street." Repeat ad nauseum.
> 
> Yeesh. This is on the bubble for sure.


That was my reaction exactly. I liked the first episode. I fell asleep the first two times I tried to watch the second episode. When I finally made it through the whole episode, it felt like nothing interesting happened. Metal junk was repeatedly dragged down streets with hidden wires. They chased down THREE identical psychotic clones. It is like they ran out of ideas, time, and money to make an hour long second episode.

I want to know what they do with three psychotic clones. Do defective, alien created clones have the same rights as humans or could they be euthanized?


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## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

panictivo said:


> That was my reaction exactly. I liked the first episode. I fell asleep the first two times I tried to watch the second episode. When I finally made it through the whole episode, it felt like nothing interesting happened. Metal junk was repeatedly dragged down streets with hidden wires. They chased down THREE identical psychotic clones. It is like they ran out of ideas, time, and money to make an hour long second episode.
> 
> I want to know what they do with three psychotic clones. Do defective, alien created clones have the same rights as humans or could they be euthanized?


And if you kill your clone is it murder or suicide? Or because it was an alien created clone doe it not count as either?


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

e3, 30 min in, and not looking good....


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I've decided to stick with this show until the season ending episode. It's not great but I want to support sci-fi, even mediocre sci-fi. As has been previously stated, the "Debris of the week" plotlines are going to get old real quick if they don't start spending more time on the back story.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

cheesesteak said:


> I've decided to stick with this show until the season ending episode. It's not great but I want to support sci-fi, even mediocre sci-fi. As has been previously stated, the "Debris of the week" plotlines are going to get old real quick if they don't start spending more time on the back story.


Yeah, this is where I am now. It's not great, and I'm not even sure it's all that good, but I want to support anything "different" and it's not really unwatchable. I just want them to move the story along so we have some idea of the what/who/how of the debris is.


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Becoming too much like The X-Files. 
_"Who are you guys"
"We work for a division of the government that investigates this type of events"_​


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> Becoming too much like The X-Files.
> _"Who are you guys"
> "We work for a division of the government that investigates this type of events"_​


You say that like it's a bad thing  I liked the X-Files!


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

Watched episode 3 last night. Each episode has been quality work, but something is missing here...


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## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Steveknj said:


> You say that like it's a bad thing  I liked the X-Files!


So do I, I'm currently re-watching (up to s6).


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## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> Watched episode 3 last night. Each episode has been quality work, but something is missing here...


I know what you mean. It has the bones to be a good series, but it's spinning it's wheels a bit. We need a bit more backstory besides the blurb at the beginning of the episode.


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Craigbob said:


> I know what you mean. It has the bones to be a good series, but it's spinning it's wheels a bit. We need a bit more backstory besides the blurb at the beginning of the episode.


This is a story that would have benefited from a first episode where they showed the alien spacecraft that appeared 3 years ago, for some of it, then revisit when the debris began to fall, and then when they first started seriously looking into it, with the father. Instead they put us in the middle of the story and show us traces of the origin.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

Craigbob said:


> I know what you mean. It has the bones to be a good series, but it's spinning it's wheels a bit. We need a bit more backstory besides the blurb at the beginning of the episode.


Agreed. And I say that blurb is a cop-out. A shortcut for the writers. (Sorry, Star Wars, but it's true.)


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## That Don Guy (Mar 13, 2003)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> Agreed. And I say that blurb is a cop-out. A shortcut for the writers. (Sorry, Star Wars, but it's true.)


Glancing over the events that lead into the series didn't seem to hurt Falling Skies any. (The quick version: the entire story of the alien invasion was told by little kids drawing pictures, apparently as some sort of school assignment.)


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

That Don Guy said:


> Glancing over the events that lead into the series didn't seem to hurt Falling Skies any. (The quick version: the entire story of the alien invasion was told by little kids drawing pictures, apparently as some sort of school assignment.)


That was still good creative storytelling. Heck, even the old TV shows' opening theme songs were better than this. For episodic television they do need to summarize the situation for viewers just joining the series, but in my opinion a couple screens of text like we see at the beginning of _Debris _is just lazy writing.

I don't expect the highest level of writing every time, in which we learn what we need to know only from the characters' actions and dialog (and not the kind of dialog where they basically just read out a background summary either), as after all there often isn't time for that. But in this case they didn't try to offer a good opening.


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## smbaker (May 24, 2003)

I searched for "deb" on my FireTV and the #3 search result was something ... inappropriate.

Fortunately the #2 result was the right one, and it looks like I can get caught up for free.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

smbaker said:


> I searched for "deb" on my FireTV and the #3 search result was something ... inappropriate.
> 
> Fortunately the #2 result was the right one, and it looks like I can get caught up for free.


Heh. I _knew_ #3 would have something to do with Dallas...


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

For me, this is just a random fantasy series, with each episode being completely separate and a Deus ex Machina (or Deus ex Debris) explanation for whatever weirdness is happening. The overall arc is just an afterthought. Might watch it if there is nothing else, but it is dropping fast.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

We need a non debris-centric episode that delves into the US and British agencies that Finola and Whatshisname work for and the group the bad guys are from.


----------



## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

"bad guys"? I can't remember---have they done anything bad?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

They’re Russian, so “bad guys”


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I assumed that if you teleport into a cement post and the supposed "good guy" government forces don't appear sorry for you then you're a bad guy.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

cheesesteak said:


> I assumed that if you teleport into a cement post and the supposed "good guy" government forces don't appear sorry for you then you're a bad guy.


Or the government is evil.

I think I've heard that said from time to time...


----------



## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

The government doesn't know anything about this group, except that they're trying to acquire alien tech. That doesn't make them bad guys---after all, the government is trying to do the same thing...


----------



## markp99 (Mar 21, 2002)

Not really enjoying this series. As noted already, there is no real story arc, just a loose collection of MOW (mystery of the week) episodes.

I think I'm out.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

This week was good enough to keep me watching. It wasn't a bad story line, better than the mystery circle of string-pulled metal objects and clones. But barely. And still a MOW oriented plot.

And it's still on probation.


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

What annoys me is that this debris seemingly can do anything that is convenient for the plot. There has been zero effort to show why it would have any of these properties. It is basically a magic wand.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

What I found silly in that last episode was that the "missing" Professor had a map (that his daughter didn't know about, but the FBI CIA agent conveniently found) that explained how the missing persons traveled from one end of the country (but not the world) to where the debris was.

Instead of the mystery of the week format, it would be better it some of these _weekly_ mysteries weren't solved until later episodes (or not solved at all)


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> Instead of the mystery of the week format, it would be better it some of these _weekly_ mysteries weren't solved until later episodes (or not solved at all)


This made me think of the What On Earth? show where sometimes they investigate strange satellite images and end up baffled.


----------



## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

eddyj said:


> What annoys me is that this debris seemingly can do anything that is convenient for the plot. There has been zero effort to show why it would have any of these properties. It is basically a magic wand.


Exactly what I've been thinking. "What would the use be for _this_ thing if it was reassembled into a spaceship?"

Maybe they're going to claim that the spaceship was a "research vessel" that was carrying a lot of experimental technology.


----------



## rpj22 (Mar 27, 2016)

trainman said:


> Exactly what I've been thinking. "What would the use be for _this_ thing if it was reassembled into a spaceship?"


My theory:

-There are materials/technologies needed for both local and inter-dimensional travel.
-There is some sort of "replicator" technology so sophisticated that it can actually replicate a living being.
-There is some sort of mind-reading technology used for interaction with the ship's systems.
-There is some sort of A.I.

Much of the technology for these things seems to be distributed throughout the ship's physical structure. Since the ship is in hundreds of pieces, we are seeing crippled, brain-damaged attempts to grant wishes, repair/protect the ship, etc. When you have a piece of the ship, don't think of yourself as having a piece of some particular tool or device. You have a piece of the whole, and what it will do is based on the on-board A.I.'s assessment of that piece's capabilities and what it ought to be doing in its current circumstances.

I think someone needs to get near that big wish-granting piece and wish real hard for an instruction manual.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I kinda hope that the alien spaceship was basically a trash truck that contained a lot of failed inventions that did weird things but not what was intended.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

To me, this has to be one of two things (because these types of shows always are):

1) There's no alien space ship and it was all a government experiment gone wrong, the government is trying to cover it up but, weird stuff started happening, so they are having trouble containing it now....and we are seeing the weird stuff now

2) It was an alien space ship, the government captured it three years ago, but they didn't get all of it, and thus, the debris is causing havoc. But the government is trying to "cover it up". And the same as scenario 1 is happening.

I hope it's neither, but isn't this the way this type of thing always goes with these network shows?


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

I doubt it's #1, since the omniscient narrator of the text that begins each episode would know better. If it were a coverup, they would have the info dump be from a potentially unreliable source.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> I doubt it's #1, since the omniscient narrator of the text that begins each episode would know better. If it were a coverup, they would have the info dump be from a potentially unreliable source.


Perhaps that's so that we don't know it right off. It's a deep fake


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Meh, another week, another "Look what the Debris did this time!". AKA DotW.

My issue is there isn't an overarching story related to the debris. If there was some thread tying all the debris events together, they could make this an interesting series. As it is, we get this "drama" with the CIA & MI6, and their agents, and whatever that rogue group is called that's also collecting debris. But no Debris drama (other than DotW).

I'll keep watching for now, it's not terrible. But when it gets canceled, I won't miss it. Because there's nothing to miss.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> To me, this has to be one of two things (because these types of shows always are):
> 
> 1) There's no alien space ship and it was all a government experiment gone wrong, the government is trying to cover it up but, weird stuff started happening, so they are having trouble containing it now....and we are seeing the weird stuff now
> 
> ...


Seems like there's no way either of those things are possible. The whole premise of the show is based on the disabled alien ship being spotted with telescopes (so presumably seen by many astronomers all around the world) several years ago, and then the wreckage of that ship entered earth's atmosphere and pieces have been raining down for months. So there's definitely an alien ship and there was no capture of the ship by any government.

I don't understand why the writers of the show think it's OK to seed just a few lines each episode about the overarching mystery of the show. It seems like they'd be much more keen to get the audience invested by getting more details of that mystery out there. Instead, they just mention Influx once or twice an episode, and the British agent's dad being alive made a brief cameo in the latest episode, but nobody seems to be doing anything about any of these nefarious threats that the show occasionally mentions.


----------



## trainman (Jan 29, 2001)

trainman said:


> Exactly what I've been thinking. "What would the use be for _this_ thing if it was reassembled into a spaceship?"


Finally, I could see a use for this week's debris (modifying explorers to handle the atmosphere on other planets)!


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

trainman said:


> Finally, I could see a use for this week's debris (modifying explorers to handle the atmosphere on other planets)!


Of course, it would have to be a very specific type of planet...


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Did a piece of debris fall that causes the “action” to be drawn out to a crawl?


----------



## Allanon (Nov 2, 2005)

trainman said:


> Finally, I could see a use for this week's debris (modifying explorers to handle the atmosphere on other planets)!


I think the alien explorers breath chlorine and it terraforms the planet so they can breath on it. The biological change is so the plants and animals on the planet survive.


----------



## ADG (Aug 20, 2003)

You know, I really was looking forward to this series. But after watching four episodes I can honestly say this is a really bad show.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

ADG said:


> You know, I really was looking forward to this series. But after watching four episodes I can honestly say this is a really bad show.


I kinda wish it was. Or a really good show.

I find it a thoroughly mediocre show. Not good enough to make me want to watch it, and not bad enough to make me want to drop it.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> Did a piece of debris fall that causes the "action" to be drawn out to a crawl?


Yeah, there were a lot of pregnant pauses in the dialogue this week.


----------



## DavidTigerFan (Aug 18, 2001)

the scoring is absolutely horrible as well. The intense music reminds me of a Christopher Nolan film, but 10x more annoying. It's like the are trying to force suspense into you.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> I find it a thoroughly mediocre show. Not good enough to make me want to watch it, and not bad enough to make me want to drop it.


That's exactly it, as I alluded to above. Not nearly good enough to have hooked me, and not so bad as to delete the SP.


----------



## Hcour (Dec 24, 2007)

astrohip said:


> That's exactly it, as I alluded to above. Not nearly good enough to have hooked me, and not so bad as to delete the SP.


I gave up on it partway through the first episode, so it's bad enough for some of us.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I really didn't like the way this most recent episode was directed, with lots of shots of characters with soaring music as if we're supposed to feel something for them. I really dislike when directors use that tactic.


----------



## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

Okay... This show has now become one I'll let accumulate on my DVR for times when there's nothing else to watch. This last episode was just bad. 

Fromm the plot, the acting, the direction, everything. I hate the trope of people not imparting critical information to each other to heighten the "Drama". This show has that in spades. And now we have to deal with the possibility that one side character's wife is having an affair, or is involved in another portion of the conspiracy? Give me a break.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

One thing that really bugs me about TV/movies is when they're not internally consistent and those problems could be easily fixed with a quick script update, or even some ADR in post production if the editing changes the substance of the plot. In this most recent episode, they had the first incident with the bus and they said the people in New Jersey heard the whining noise for a three block radius before the incident. Then they went to NYC and they heard the whining noise and they said people were hearing it for a five block radius. The main guy then says something like, "Whoa, this one is going to be way bigger, because the people in New Jersey could only hear it from one block away, max!" 

How do ridiculous inconsistencies like that end up in the finished product of a high-budget production?


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Another week, another magical effect and no movement on the main arc. Not to mention all the stupidity and inconsistencies. I think I'm out.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

I'm having a difficult time trying to stay interested in this show. It just boggles my mind that chunks of scrap alien metal can do all of the weird crap they claim. Makes me wonder what it was like to be on that ship when it was intact. I love Sci-Fi shows as long as they maintain some level of intelligence and believability unless it's obvious that it's mainly just a spoof. This one just strives to insult ours.


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

mr.unnatural said:


> I love Sci-Fi shows as long as they maintain some level of intelligence and believability unless it's obvious that it's mainly just a spoof. This one just strives to insult ours.


This show makes Scorpion seem scientifically rigorous.


----------



## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

Amnesia said:


> Actually, we have no way of knowing how well governments keep big secrets. If they're good at it, then the public never finds out...


That was always true, but I think we now know it's unlikely there are any of those sci-fi-type secrets the government has been keeping from us; they would have been blurted out. Well, assuming the "government", like, _knew_.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

eddyj said:


> This show makes Scorpion seem scientifically rigorous.


Nah. This show may be bad, but it's no Scorpion!


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

mr.unnatural said:


> I'm having a difficult time trying to stay interested in this show. It just boggles my mind that chunks of scrap alien metal can do all of the weird crap they claim. Makes me wonder what it was like to be on that ship when it was intact. I love Sci-Fi shows as long as they maintain some level of intelligence and believability unless it's obvious that it's mainly just a spoof. This one just strives to insult ours.


The thing about this type of Sci Fi, is it expects you to suspend belief. After all do we have any idea what would happen if anything "alien" landed on this planet? So that aspect I don't mind (it's definitely not a spoof, I don't mind spoofs at all. Spaceballs was a spoof. The thing that makes this show not great is more around the story not giving us enough insight of the story behind the debris. Why is it there? Who's looking for a reason? That sort of thing. All we know except for the opening graphic is that it crashed on earth and weird things happen around it, but there's no real "story", it's the weird thing of the week.

I wonder if they are doing this type of thing because we hear so many stories of people dropping off (or never starting) because they are afraid that they will get deep into a plot line and the series gets cancelled. So instead, the debris is just "there" and we have a different story every week, with an underlying thread behind it. Sort of like a standard police show where you have the crime of the week.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> The thing about this type of Sci Fi, is it expects you to suspend belief.


Sure, but you can still be internally consistent with whatever rules you set. Just going "debris can do ANYTHING" is nothing more than lazy writing.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

eddyj said:


> Sure, but you can still be internally consistent with whatever rules you set. Just going "debris can do ANYTHING" is nothing more than lazy writing.


We just don't know those rules yet, which is part of the problem. Once (If?) those rules are set, then I'd totally agree.


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Steveknj said:


> We just don't know those rules yet, which is part of the problem. Once (If?) those rules are set, then I'd totally agree.


The rules are clear. The debris can do anything. Teleportation, cloning, doors to other dimensions, you name it.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

It's all just magic space junk. I think what bothers me the most not so much that it's alien technology, but just chunks of crap that fell from the sky that are just random bits and pieces from an alien spacecraft. If there were actually functioning devices instead of scrap metal I might find the plot somewhat plausible. I can only assume that there's going to be some kind of plot twist that reveals how the space junk was imbued with certain properties, kind of like how the Inhumans on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. all were given different abilities when exposed to the Terrigen mist. Everyone exposed to it reacted differently so maybe this is where they're heading with this. Perhaps something happened with the spaceship power source when the ship was destroyed that caused the junk to morph into something else. Just give us a freaking clue.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Lets see, so far...

1 "Pilot" 
the debris' influence, which manifests as the deceased son of a grieving mother; the debris sensed her pain and is now trying to sustain itself by feeding on the life energy of various men and women which it believes are its "parents". 
2 "You Are Not Alone"
The debris begins cloning Bryan
3 "Solar Winds"
a portal to another dimension; 
4 "In Universe"
A piece of debris begins to terraform the area around a Midwestern farm, causing a group of migrant farmers to mutate so that they breathe chlorine instead of oxygen
5 "Earthshine"
the disappearance of a bus via wormhole


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

DevdogAZ said:


> Are we supposed to wonder whether the main guy shot his clone or the clone shot the original? The way he pulled the picture out of the pocket of the dead version and looked at it made me wonder if the version left living didn't have that same picture in its pocket. Also, he acted a little off the rest of the episode.


Latest episode mentions that the clones "don't last long"


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## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

Yeah, I hadn't heard them mention that before. So the girl's father isn't a clone, unless he's some special kind of clone that has lived longer????


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## danterner (Mar 4, 2005)

I want to like this series more than I do. It should be right up my alley, in theory. But the writing just seems lazy. Each piece of debris is a McGuffin - fine. But in last week’s episode, the plot involved problems caused by one McGuffin (chlorine terraforming) and was solved by a different McGuffin (the generated stasis field) by the end of the episode. It would have been marginally better had there been a stasis field McGuffin episode earlier in the season. Since there wasn’t, the resolution came out of left field (literally) and just felt cheap.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

stellie93 said:


> Yeah, I hadn't heard them mention that before. So the girl's father isn't a clone, unless he's some special kind of clone that has lived longer????


I assume the dead body she saw was the clone...


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> I assume the dead body she saw was the clone...


Actually, the body she saw and the body that was later stored in the freezer and I assume buried was not the same body. At one point they had a bit about that. So the "dead" body she sat with maybe was just "mostly dead".


----------



## bobfrank (Mar 17, 2005)

Tony_T said:


> Latest episode mentions that the clones "don't last long"


At this rate 4he show won't outlive the clones.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

What purpose could wormholing a large portion of Manhattan possibly have? Future blackmail?


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

cheesesteak said:


> What purpose could wormholing a large portion of Manhattan possibly have? Future blackmail?


Proof of concept? If they want to sell the technology to terrorists/governments...

Alternately, it could have been part of the R&D process...


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

What did I miss? If I found a smallish portable device that made me young, and the only problem was that it needed to be near me and my wife, well then I would keep it near me and not try to "fix" it so that it didn't need to be near me. Was there some _other_ reason he needed to add strangers to his group?


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> What did I miss? If I found a smallish portable device that made me young, and the only problem was that it needed to be near me and my wife, well then I would keep it near me and not try to "fix" it so that it didn't need to be near me. Was there some _other_ reason he needed to add strangers to his group?


I don't think he NEEDED to add strangers. But he didn't want to be selfish and keep the miracle solely for himself and his wife. And when he shared the miracle with others, he made the inadvertent discovery that this allowed him to move a little farther away from the device. So then it became a quest to figure out how many people it would take to allow all of them to move an infinite distance from the device so they would be able to truly enjoy their newfound youth rather than needing to always be in close proximity with each other and with the device.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Good point, you’re right (I would have been selfish )


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

The entire premise was ridiculous, just another Debris of the Week. If there was some overall arc that tied these powers together, and we were part of the journey, it might work. But it's just DotW, with no rhyme or reason as to why. Sadly, the mystery surrounding the missing dad is more interesting than the Debris.

One piece makes you larger
And one piece makes you small,
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all.


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Deleted the season pass. So have fun, those hanging in!


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

eddyj said:


> Deleted the season pass. So have fun, those hanging in!


Just keep reading our posts... it's more fun than hate-watching!


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

I thought that the premise was a very interesting idea and that's why I tuned.
But the actual presentation is an absolute bore.

I'm not sure who the showrunner is here but they took something that could be really intriguing and turned it into a snooze fest.

And the personal drama is boring as well.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

How did the debris determine what age to return the old folks to? Why mid-20s instead teenagers or middle aged? Just askin'. And who decided that the girl should have a hula hoop?

I'm still going to watch until the end but the DoTW concept has gotten old, fast. The episodes could be made more interesting by reducing the weekly debris subplot by half and increasing the time allocated to the people and agencies involved in tracking and collecting the debris with that time.

The fact that the debris fragments all seem to look alike but have vastly different effects seems odd.


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

astrohip said:


> Just keep reading our posts... it's more fun than hate-watching!


Maybe. But I unsubscribed from the thread so I would not be tempted!


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## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I still have my pass set, but I'm not really sure how much longer I can go. I find myself not paying attention a few minutes in. That's a bad sign.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I'm going to stick with it until it gets canceled but I'm at the point where I don't care about the weekly debris silliness. It's like somebody made up a list of weird, random phenomena, put them in a hat and pulls one out each week. The better elements of the show's ideas get relegated to the B story.

They have instruments that can detect the debris but somehow those instruments couldn't detect the small mountain of debris the kid hid in the barn. Then the writers have the kid murder her uncle and everybody treats that like it was nothing.


----------



## DavidTigerFan (Aug 18, 2001)

Right, and I at least liked it when you could kinda guess what the debris was used for on the ship. The stasis thing for long travel, the wormhole for travel, the terraforming things. What purpose could a bunch of scales that let you mind control people serve?


----------



## Johncv (Jun 11, 2002)

What I would like to know is what cause the ship to fall apart? How far away is it from the earth? Was it in a war with another ship?


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

DavidTigerFan said:


> What purpose could a bunch of scales that let you mind control people serve?


Used by an Invasion force to enslave the local populace?

(Although it could be some type of communications system that our primitive minds can't handle.)


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Johncv said:


> What I would like to know is what cause the ship to fall apart? How far away is it from the earth? Was it in a war with another ship?


That's in S12E23. Patience, Grasshopper.


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

DavidTigerFan said:


> Right, and I at least liked it when you could kinda guess what the debris was used for on the ship. The stasis thing for long travel, the wormhole for travel, the terraforming things. What purpose could a bunch of scales that let you mind control people serve?


Enforcing ship's discipline. Eliminating resistance when invading a planet. Resistance training in case they come across natural mind control natives. Treating severe cases of space psychosis. It seems to me it would be one of the most useful tools yet depicted on the show.

It could also be something being misused which has a completely unknown purpose, like a gearshift handle being used as a bludgeon.

But don't get me wrong, I agree with everyone who is saying the show is pointless and stupid! I'm only watching it because my wife likes it.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

ej42137 said:


> But don't get me wrong, I agree with everyone who is saying the show is pointless and stupid! I'm only watching it because my wife likes it.


So...

...your wife is...


----------



## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

I think what he's saying is that his wife likes pointless and stupid things.

So...

...ej42137 is...


----------



## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> So...
> 
> ...your wife is...


I like a lot of things that are pointless and stupid. I like you, for example.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

ej42137 said:


> I like a lot of things that are pointless and stupid. I like you, for example.


Hey!

I am NOT stupid!


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Last night wasn't a bad episode, but a couple things bothered me...

They knew where an Influx facility was, they knew her dad was there, which meant it probably was research oriented, and all they do is send in a small team to extract him. It's the US of A, couldn't they send in like, the army or something? Enough people to overwhelm the place, and get everything? All those equations, all that equipment, etc etc.

And they were supposed to be watching the hotel so her dad stays safe, yet he has no problem leaving his room and going to the office?


----------



## Wil (Sep 27, 2002)

Forgive the smeek but for a series nobody seems to like, this is getting a lot of ink (or pixels). Maybe worth a try?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

"Face Off"
"Re-Animator"
Tin foil hats sheets.


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Poor dude, just sitting there watching the sun, wearing headphones. They snuck up on him, startled him, then mowed him down. Yah, they did it to prevent him from pressing the alert button, but since they failed, they don't really have an excuse.

Wait, which side should I be rooting for again?


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

kdmorse said:


> Poor dude, just sitting there watching the sun, wearing headphones. They snuck up on him, startled him, then mowed him down. Yah, they did it to prevent him from pressing the alert button, but since they failed, they don't really have an excuse.
> 
> Wait, which side should I be rooting for again?


Reminds me of those rebel terrorists, murdering thousands of innocent construction workers on that major Imperial public works program...


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)




----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Wil said:


> Forgive the smeek but for a series nobody seems to like, this is getting a lot of ink (or pixels). Maybe worth a try?


Let's just say that I'm calling this show "De bore".


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I have the last two episodes saved up. I don't find myself having a huge desire to watch right now when I have a bunch of other stuff to watch as well. I might go back to this at some point, but I'll keep an eye on this thread.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

I rarely notice the soundtrack unless it’s really bad. I notice the soundtrack.


----------



## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

I am still watching. I wish they would have less George Jones (It is still weird how they chose such an iconic name for a character) and more debris-of-the-week.


----------



## DavidTigerFan (Aug 18, 2001)

Tony_T said:


> I rarely notice the soundtrack unless it's really bad. I notice the soundtrack.


God I want to find the person that scores this show and tell them how horrible they are.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Donbadabon said:


> I am still watching. I wish they would have less George Jones (It is still weird how they chose such an iconic name for a character) and more debris-of-the-week.


You want more debris-of-the-week?


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Looks like they're finally getting to the real story so hopefully the rest of the season will deal more with this Influx/George Jones story rather than DotW. Fingers crossed.


----------



## Donbadabon (Mar 5, 2002)

cheesesteak said:


> You want more debris-of-the-week?


Yes. I know. But I enjoy seeing the different things the debris does.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Resurrected by debris. Should we start calling it Jesus Junk instead?


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Just peeked in to see if this show is still Deux ex Debris. I see it is.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I'm still going to watch until the end.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

eddyj said:


> Just peeked in to see if this show is still Deux ex Debris. I see it is.


I think that with the last episode, it's turned the corner and is now going to be focused on the real story. There was barely any DotW in that episode and it spent most of the time advancing the underlying story. Fingers crossed.


----------



## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> I think that with the last episode, it's turned the corner and is now going to be focused on the real story.


You ain't sucking me back in! Nice try.


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Today's episode (or at least, my Tivo picked it up today), "Do You Know Icarus?", I actually enjoyed. I mean, actually enjoyed enjoyed.

Which really kinda shocked me, because the previous eight were pure bleck, and I only hit play on this one so I could confirm my preconceived notion that it would be terrible to the end.

I'm sure it was a fluke.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Yeah, it wasn't bad. I'm still not thrilled with the DotW story lines, but at least this was an interesting one. I really wish this show had some unifying structure, it could be so good.

For example, the side story with Maddox, the CIA handler, and his wife, and the "something" that happened to their son. Either it's a total tangent, which means it's a waste of time, or it's tied in, in which case TELL US HOW. I vaguely recall an early episode where they were using debris to rehab the son (or did I dream that?), but we only saw it for one quick scene, and it hasn't been revisited since. WhyTF do we care about this side story? Unless you give us a reason, and so far... bubkes.

I'll probably continue watching thru season end, as it's not terrible, and has potential. But I'll treat this like Manifest... I stuck it out thru S1, decided it had no hope or vision, and quit. I'll do the same for Debris, and see if they can create a reason to keep watching. 

Of course, this assumes there IS an S2.


----------



## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

I have read everyone dumping on this show. Think about it. The debris is coming off what looks like an intact ship. There may be aliens aboard. There may be aliens chasing the debris aliens. What Im saying is there is plenty potential for stories here. Like Ive stated before. I dont need great scifi. I just need scifi. Hell, I watch DUST all the time. Crappy production but sometimes some very interesting stories.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

I guess it was inevitable that they would do a Groundhog Day episode...I think there must be some kind of Federal law that all genre shows must. 

It was a pretty unique take on the trope, however.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Last episode with the space/time loop was better and I didn't think that it was a completely bore.
But I still find the tone of the show to be dull.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

YEah, the Groundhog Day episode was pretty decent even though I let out a groan when I first realized that was what it was going to be.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I guess I was wrong about them being done with DotW storylines, but at least this one seemed to incorporate George Jones, so it's got at least some chance of being incorporated to the serial story. Also, I like the fact that it ended on a cliffhanger, meaning there's going to be more to this story in the next episode.

Finally, I watched this episode on Hulu because my TiVo recording was screwed up, and during the closing credits there was some radio communication about a Debris team reaching a debris field and then someone being vanished who was just there moments before. Since NBC usually plays promos for the next episode or other shows over the credits, I wondered if this is something the show does every week and it's completely meaningless, or if this was unique to this episode. If the latter, did anyone else hear it and have a guess what it might mean?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

I also watched on Hulu, heard it, and have no idea what it means.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> I also watched on Hulu, heard it, and have no idea what it means.


Have you watched previous episodes on Hulu? Do they always have random radio transmissions over the credits, and those who watch on NBC just won't ever hear that stuff?


----------



## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

I've got 5 or 6 episodes unwatched and I'm wondering if I should dump them and cancel the SP or save them for a boring day of binging when I have nothing else to watch.


----------



## bobfrank (Mar 17, 2005)

I agree with most of the posters about the quality of this show and the DotW plots. This last episode was better than most of them.

I'm hanging in a little longer because there was a show years ago, I think it was titled Fringe, that drove me away during the first season. After the second season started I started hearing some better comments on it. So I re-watched hte first season and continued with the second and later seasons. Not an all time great, but ended up being worth watching for me.

Keeping my fingers crossed for Debris.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

DevdogAZ said:


> Have you watched previous episodes on Hulu? Do they always have random radio transmissions over the credits, and those who watch on NBC just won't ever hear that stuff?


I was out of town, and this was the 1st episode I watched on Hulu.

edit, just ffwd the previous episode (spaceman) and it also had the radio transmissions over the credits - didn't notice if they were the same as the last ep, or different.

edit, a little googling found that someone on Reddit took the time to do a transcript, see my reply: Debris (NBC) Season Thread *spoilers*


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Craigbob said:


> I've got 5 or 6 episodes unwatched and I'm wondering if I should dump them and cancel the SP or save them for a boring day of binging when I have nothing else to watch.


You can really just watch from the current episode forward and you won't miss anything (which not a good sign for most shows)


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

bobfrank said:


> I agree with most of the posters about the quality of this show and the DotW plots. This last episode was better than most of them.
> 
> I'm hanging in a little longer because there was a show years ago, *I think it was titled Fringe,* that drove me away during the first season. After the second season started I started hearing some better comments on it. So I re-watched hte first season and continued with the second and later seasons. Not an all time great, but ended up being worth watching for me.
> 
> Keeping my fingers crossed for Debris.


Same guy behind Fringe is behind this... J.H. Wyman


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

reddit:

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w


----------



## bobfrank (Mar 17, 2005)

astrohip said:


> Same guy behind Fringe is behind this... J.H. Wyman


I didn't know that. I guess that might be encouraging that by next season the show will be moving forward along some kind of plot line. Thanks for the info.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

astrohip said:


> Same guy behind Fringe is behind this... J.H. Wyman


During the previous episode when the two leads were finally united with her eccentric father in order to solve a scifi conundrum, I got a very distinct Fringe vibe. Hopefully that keeps getting stronger as the series progresses.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> reddit:
> 
> __
> https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w


Thanks for finding that. Maybe it's just meaningless stuff they've added in there to give it some extra scifi mystery feel, but it sure seems like there's some continuity there and that it has some meaning. Especially since the last two reference Garcia, who was just introduced in the show. Clearly something traumatic happened to Garcia to cause those scars and whatever is wrong with his eyes. And he's obviously bitter at George and Orbital for the way it was handled.

But it's odd that NBC would allow them to put something meaningful to the plot of the show into an area of the show where most viewers (watching via NBC) will never be exposed to it.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> But it's odd that NBC would allow them to put something meaningful to the plot of the show into an area of the show where most viewers (watching via NBC) will never be exposed to it.


I suspect it's just Easter eggs, and that anything that's truly important will be introduced in the show itself at the appropriate time...


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

I loved Fringe, but this isn't Fringe-worthy quite yet. I was on the fence watching after the first 5 or so episodes, saved up the last 3 and watched them this week. I agree, the last two episodes were better, I'm in for awhile at least.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

I’ve noticed that the supporting actors in the DOTW (not recurring actors), are really bad actors.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

This show has some guy in it named Scroobius Pip.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

cheesesteak said:


> This show has some guy in it named Scroobius Pip.


That fact is pretty much the only thing about this show that puts it in the same category as Fringe. Because clearly Mr Pip comes from an alternate universe, where people are named Scroobius.

(His actual name is David Peter Meads.)


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> I loved Fringe, but this isn't Fringe-worthy quite yet. I was on the fence watching after the first 5 or so episodes, saved up the last 3 and watched them this week. I agree, the last two episodes were better, I'm in for awhile at least.


Definitely not "Fringe-worthy", but at least the second-to-last episode had a bit of a Fringe vibe.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Other than the letters "e" and "i" there's no comparison between this show and Fringe (yet).


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

cheesesteak said:


> Other than the letters "e" and "i" there's no comparison between this show and Fringe (yet).


What about the letter "r"?

They're more alike than you thought!


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> What about the letter "r"?
> 
> They're more alike than you thought!


Damn! I double checked that, too!


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

I really enjoyed the two-part Groundhog Day story that finished in last night's episode. I felt like the way they resolved the problem was a little simplistic, but overall it was a cool story and done well.


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> I really enjoyed the two-part Groundhog Day story that finished in last night's episode. I felt like the way they resolved the problem was a little simplistic, but overall it was a cool story and done well.


Yah, episode one of the two-parter was better at establishing the mystery than episode two was at solving it. But it was still ok. In the realm of sci-fi, it was average. This of course puts it *miles* ahead of the rest of the series.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

kdmorse said:


> Yah, episode one of the two-parter was better at establishing the mystery than episode two was at solving it. But it was still ok. In the realm of sci-fi, it was average. This of course puts it *miles* ahead of the rest of the series.


Well, I wasn't completely bored at the last two episodes.
But I certainly wouldn't rank them as compelling.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Since the last scene was different (not going to restaurant and divorce papers being served), are they now in a different reality?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Tony_T said:


> reddit:
> 
> __
> https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w


reddit:

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w/end_credit_transmissions/gwx0mmd


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

^Thanks for this. The odds of me watching the credits of a tv show are negligible.


----------



## Family (Jul 23, 2001)

This episode had the most Fringe feel with Jones playing the role of Dr Bishop inside feeding the team theories.

I agree with others that these were the two best episodes, but still borderline blah.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Should I waste any more brain time on how the twins knew to tuck themselves into the contours of the debris and wait for something to happen? And why didn't they change into bathing suits when diving?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

A more interesting question is why were they only in 2 and not 3 or 4 separate “realities”? And did the MI6 agent really not expect what her father’s response would be when she asked what his final works to her would be?


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

cheesesteak said:


> Should I waste any more brain time on how <snip>


Someone needs to, and it's clearly not the rest of us. You're elected!


----------



## LlamaLarry (Apr 30, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> And did the MI6 agent really not expect what her father's response would be when she asked what his final works to her would be?


Yeah, that whole sequence didn't make any sense to me.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> And did the MI6 agent really not expect what her father's response would be when she asked what his final works to her would be?


She had a complicated relationship with him in the original reality. He killed himself (or so she thought) without saying goodbye. So when she asked him that question, I knew exactly what she was doing. She wanted him to say he loved her, because she hadn't heard it from him before he died, and she'd been living with that feeling of loss. So the fact that she was talking to him, and he didn't seem to be the version of George Jones she grew up with, who was completely consumed by science, led her to ask that question, and that may have been the first time she ever heard that from him.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

cheesesteak said:


> And why didn't they change into bathing suits when diving?


Maybe because they had to leave the house in such a hurry that they didn't have time to change. Besides, when they reset they would have dry clothes anyway so why bother?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

The CIA guy always took off his jacket


----------



## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

Family said:


> This episode had the most Fringe feel with Jones playing the role of Dr Bishop inside feeding the team theories.
> 
> I agree with others that these were the two best episodes, but still borderline blah.


Didnt George Jones look different than what we are used to seeing? No long hair, his eyes looked different.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Yes. That was a "different" George (not the resurrected one )


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Yeah, all of the Georges we met across the past couple of episodes had at least minor differences (as well as the other repeating characters). Some were more "together" than others.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Tony_T said:


> The CIA guy always took off his jacket


Have you ever tried to swim wearing a leather jacket? 

Every time anyone tried to use the debris in the ocean they were rushing to get there so there really wasn't much time to shed any clothes other than a jacket. Besides, this was in Washington state. The water must have been pretty darn cold so clothing was probably not optional under the circumstances.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

They should have taken off their shoes.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

It seemed that whoever jumped in and swam to the debris was basically running out of breath and about to drown each time right when the reset happened. So what caused them to jump in and swim out there and risk their life the first time? Was there some unseen mystical force calling to them that made them swim into that underwater tube when they knew it might kill them?


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

mr.unnatural said:


> Every time anyone tried to use the debris in the ocean they were rushing to get there so there really wasn't much time to shed any clothes other than a jacket. Besides, this was in Washington state. The water must have been pretty darn cold so clothing was probably not optional under the circumstances.


And since it was really Vancouver, I'll bet the water was even colder.

(I was thinking about the water temperature while watching the second part. I hope they paid the stuntpersons well.)



DevdogAZ said:


> It seemed that whoever jumped in and swam to the debris was basically running out of breath and about to drown each time right when the reset happened. So what caused them to jump in and swim out there and risk their life the first time? Was there some unseen mystical force calling to them that made them swim into that underwater tube when they knew it might kill them?


Maybe the brother and sister used scuba gear the first time around.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

All I could think of is, on TV, people often can hold their breath for a LONG time. I'd be gasping within 10 seconds, but on TV, they can hold their breath for 2-3 minutes, no problem.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Steveknj said:


> All I could think of is, on TV, people often can hold their breath for a LONG time. I'd be gasping within 10 seconds, but on TV, they can hold their breath for 2-3 minutes, no problem.


Except it was much less than that...it was two minutes from when they left the house. They mentioned that on several of the trips.

Which, of course, raises other questions...like how they could get from the house to the cliff, dive in, and swim to the debris, all in two minutes!


----------



## DavidTigerFan (Aug 18, 2001)

Ok help me out here. Isn't the fiona that jumped not the same one that beneventi had as a partner? She came to the sister and didn't know what was going on, but then when she saw the brother and the partner through the window, she realized she had to jump. She jumped and then her dad was alive again. Then they all 4 jumped and everything is back to normal. If the premise was that they all had to get back to their own timeline, isn't this Fiona the wrong one?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

By ending the episode with a slightly different scene than what opened the episode (the one with the boss getting a call about a restaurant reservation), it looks like something has changed.


----------



## Family (Jul 23, 2001)

Steveknj said:


> All I could think of is, on TV, people often can hold their breath for a LONG time. I'd be gasping within 10 seconds, but on TV, they can hold their breath for 2-3 minutes, no problem.


Not to mention that they just sprinted from the house as they jumped.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Tony_T said:


> By ending the episode with a slightly different scene than what opened the episode (the one with the boss getting a call about a restaurant reservation), it looks like something has changed.


I couldn't remember if the original scene was before or after they started jumping...


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

After


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Tony_T said:


> After


That's what I thought. So what happened at the end doesn't represent a change in "our" timeline.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Not a change in timeline, the story could now be in another reality.
Guess we’ll have to look in the mirror.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> That's what I thought. So what happened at the end doesn't represent a change in "our" timeline.


Except Brian and Fiona now think they've reset the timeline, so they have no idea they're not in the original timeline where they started. Unless the show turns this into an ongoing plot point, this new timeline is just the new reality going forward.


----------



## wprager (Feb 19, 2006)

So this show has nothing to do with the Chinese rocket booster that's crashing down this weekend?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

DevdogAZ said:


> Except Brian and Fiona now think they've reset the timeline, so they have no idea they're not in the original timeline where they started. Unless the show turns this into an ongoing plot point, this new timeline is just the new reality going forward.


Actually, they don't remember anything that happened. At the end of the episode, they arrive for the first time, they think, to where the debris fell into the water.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> Actually, they don't remember anything that happened. At the end of the episode, they arrive for the first time, they think, to where the debris fell into the water.


Well, I guess what I mean is that with Brian and Fiona back together, and the two siblings in the house back together, nobody will feel a loss that will make them swim back out and reset the timeline, so whatever has changed seems like it's going to be a permanent change.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

….but then they go to the house where only the kids remember (he knows Bryan’s name, tells him to come in and that he’ll tell them what they know). So, since the kids remember, and they don’t, something is up…

…or I’m just lost


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> Well, I guess what I mean is that with Brian and Fiona back together, and the two siblings in the house back together, nobody will feel a loss that will make them swim back out and reset the timeline, so whatever has changed seems like it's going to be a permanent change.


But what's changed?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

The only change that we were shown was how the boss handled the call from the restaurant.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Tony_T said:


> The only change that we were shown was how the boss handled the call from the restaurant.


But you said the first time happened after they started jumping, which means not in "our" timeline...


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> But you said the first time happened after they started jumping, which means not in "our" timeline...


I see your point. I had to go back and check. The 1st scene was in the middle of the kid's jumps when Bryan "lost" Fiona, then "re-found" her, but hadn't yet jumped himself. (halfway through the prior episode), so now that it's "reset" the second scene with the boss is our timeline. The only question I have is why the kids remember, but not the agents.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> I see your point. I had to go back and check. The 1st scene was in the middle of the jumps when Bryan "lost" Fiona, then "re-found" her, but hadn't yet jumped himself. (halfway through the prior episode), so now that it's "reset" the second scene with the boss is our timeline. The only question I have is why the kids remember, but not the agents.


Maybe because they had jumped many times before the sister got lost, so while they're back together, they're not truly back to their original timeline.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Steveknj said:


> All I could think of is, on TV, people often can hold their breath for a LONG time. I'd be gasping within 10 seconds, but on TV, they can hold their breath for 2-3 minutes, no problem.


When you're young and in good shape you should be able to hold your breath for a considerable length of time. I started smoking back when I was a dumb teenager at the age of 14. By the time I was 21 I was smoking up to three packs a day of unfiltered hand-rolled cigarettes (I was a poor college kid so I had to make do with what I could afford). I took a course in scuba diving as part of my curriculum. The first day in the pool we had to see how long we could hold our breath. I lasted less than ten seconds before I came up gasping for air. I quit smoking then and there and haven't had a cigarette in 49 years.


----------



## Allanon (Nov 2, 2005)

I'm just waiting for the boss to figure out how to use the debris to bring his kid back from a different reality.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

They must have blown their budget on special effects. Because they clearly forgot to save a little for hair & makeup. 

OMG, that beard...


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

astrohip said:


> They must have blown their budget on special effects. Because they clearly forget to save a little for hair & makeup.
> 
> OMG, that beard...


Yeah, that was really bad. I have a friend who does hair and makeup and all I could think every time I saw that beard was just how much she would be cringing if she saw it.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

The horrible beard helped to distract me from the horrible soundtrack


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

The horrible beard was more interesting than the way the episode's story was presented.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

The scar is more interesting to me...the actor doesn't seem to have it in real life (unless he covers it with makeup all the time), but I don't recall any mention of it in this show...at least not yet.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> The scar is more interesting to me...the actor doesn't seem to have it in real life (unless he covers it with makeup all the time), but I don't recall any mention of it in this show...at least not yet.


That was the other thing that was distracting me! 
I don't recall seeing it before and between that and the terrible beard, my focus was on his chin a lot. 

(I'm not saying that the scar wasn't there before. If it was, I never noticed it and I'm too lazy go back and look.)


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> The scar is more interesting to me...the actor doesn't seem to have it in real life (unless he covers it with makeup all the time), but I don't recall any mention of it in this show...at least not yet.


I thought he cut himself shaving the horrible beard, but&#8230;


__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w/end_credit_transmissions/gxq4ubt


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

JYoung said:


> That was the other thing that was distracting me!
> I don't recall seeing it before and between that and the terrible beard, my focus was on his chin a lot.
> 
> (I'm not saying that the scar wasn't there before. If it was, I never noticed it and I'm too lazy go back and look.)


The scar has always been there. I just assumed the actor had a scar there in real life.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> The scar has always been there. I just assumed the actor had a scar there in real life.


I undeleted the last episode and looked at the "Previously On..." part and yes it was there before.
But it seemed more prominent later in the episode.
(Maybe due to the bad beard.)


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

JYoung said:


> I undeleted the last episode and looked at the "Previously On..." part and yes it was there before.
> But it seemed more prominent later in the episode.
> (Maybe due to the bad beard.)


I've noticed it since literally the moment he appeared on screen.


----------



## Rainy Dave (Nov 11, 2001)

Have we heard why Beneventi (sp?) is getting injections?


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

I thought this episode was interesting but was disappointed that we still have no idea what's really going on. The "everything's connected" hypothesis didn't thrill me.

I thought it weird that Finola would be the person who recommended electro-shock therapy to he co-worker's brain. How would she know? Then it seemed like the doctor administered so many shocks that the agent's brain should have been deep fried.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Somewhat related to @cheesesteak's post above, is the way Finola & Brian make these huge leaps of conjecture, and the show just runs with it.

The DotW will cause a shimmer, and one of them will say, "I think the shimmer is the Debris trying to tell us it knows who shot JFK. I need to talk to George Jones stat!" And just like that, everyone is trying to find the Man in Foil.

I'll stick it out, just to see where it goes But unless there is a significantly thrilling & electrifying finale, no way I come back for S2.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

astrohip said:


> Somewhat related to @cheesesteak's post above, is the way Finola & Brian make these huge leaps of conjecture, and the show just runs with it.
> 
> The DotW will cause a shimmer, and one of them will say, "I think the shimmer is the Debris trying to tell us it knows who shot JFK. I need to talk to George Jones stat!" And just like that, everyone is trying to find the Man in Foil.
> 
> I'll stick it out, just to see where it goes But unless there is a significantly thrilling & electrifying finale, no way I come back for S2.


Unless I'm thoroughly disappointed by the show, I'll soon forget I have a season pass set up for it and will be like "Oh, Debris is back. I'll watch." when next season's first episode shows up in the queue.


----------



## Johncv (Jun 11, 2002)

Bad beards joke aside, what was with the "Native American" and yellow to the south, white to the North and forgot the rest of what he said. Maybe someone here can fill it in.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Last night sealed the deal for me. I'll watch thru the end of the season (quick look at schedule... one left!), but unless next week's finale is a game-changer, I'm done.

It's just the same nonsense, week after week. Like 90% of SF dramas on network TV, they can't create a cohesive narrative, with actual character development, to keep us hooked. There was no rhyme or reason to what happened this week. It just "started" happening. And luckily, George knew to "reverse the polarity" before the Earth flew off its axis. And why did those people just stare into the boardroom?

We keep getting that woman appearing to Bryan, without explanation (unless I missed it). And everyone is a bad guy, including our guys. And the sub-plot with Maddox keeps chugging along, getting its obligatory 15 second scene.

I'm no longer holding out hope that there is a story hidden in this mess. And I'm sure as heck not going to give them another season or two to further irritate me. If they get it, as it has not been renewed as of yet.

I hope next week is amazing. I really do. I'd love to love this show. And one good closer can do it. Because that's what it will take to keep me. And I'm guessing, the NBC brass are waiting too.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

astrohip said:


> I hope next week is amazing. I really do. I'd love to love this show. And one good closer can do it. Because that's what it will take to keep me. And I'm guessing, the NBC brass are waiting too.


I'm sure the NBC brass (at least any who care) have already seen the season finale. So are you saying they're waiting to see the ratings and fan reaction?


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> I'm sure the NBC brass (at least any who care) have already seen the season finale. So are you saying they're waiting to see the ratings and fan reaction?


Well, I was kinda saying that, but I think they're probably ahead of me. They know they're going to cancel it, but don't want to say anything until it ends, for fear of killing any remaining eyeballs.

Unless viewer reaction is crazy good, in which case...


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

"Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" was all i got from this episode.

Although I did spend half the episode wondering why they didn't try moving the queued cases out of there first.
(And couldn't try other methods of moving them in addition to just one guy going to pick it up?)

Also, did it make sense that the teleporting bad guy knew that George had found the location of the crucial piece.
I mean, how did he know, being locked away in a black site and all.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

JYoung said:


> Also, did it make sense that the teleporting bad guy knew that George had found the location of the crucial piece.
> I mean, how did he know, being locked away in a black site and all.


Well, he can teleport. So obviously he teleported the knowledge from George's brain.

Duh.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

JYoung said:


> "
> Also, did it make sense that the teleporting bad guy knew that George had found the location of the crucial piece.
> I mean, how did he know, being locked away in a black site and all.


It was the driver who got a text from Otto.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Well, that episode was,….bad.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Tony_T said:


> It was the driver who got a text from Otto.


How did Otto know?


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Tony_T said:


> Well, that episode was,&#8230;.bad.


It only had about 3 minutes of watchable material, all the scene's with teleporty dude. He seems to be the only person in the entire show having any fun.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> It only had about 3 minutes of watchable material, all the scene's with teleporty dude. He seems to be the only person in the entire show having any fun.


With a name like Scroobius Pip, you know he's having fun!


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Agree with the sentiment here. That was horrible. I held out hope that this was going to get better with the "twins" episodes which were quite good, but otherwise? Too confusing and complicated for it's own good. Can someone make a good, straightforward semi Sci-Fi show that doesn't try and outsmart itself with inane twists and multiple subplots and stories that jump all over the place? This isn't just a thing on the networks. I've seen a few on Netflix and other streamers like this too.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

My favorite part was when Beneventi touched the unconscious guy's neck with his bulky hazmat suit glove and said "He's dead" after two seconds.

DO we know Finola's background? She seems to pull all kinds of complex scientific theories out of thin air.

One episode left for the season? There's no way they can come to a satisfyingly logical conclusion based on all the scattershot episodes we've had so far. I'm guessing there'll be a cliff hanger since there are so many loose ends to tie together. Did I say "threads"? I should have said "cables".

Will we see that Native American again?


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

cheesesteak said:


> DO we know Finola's background? She seems to pull all kinds of complex scientific theories out of thin air.


She's the daughter of a scientific genius which means she's a scientific genius.
After all these years of watching TV, don't you know how this works?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

But not smart enough to know that the tech will be used for weapons by any country that has debris. Her indignation when she learned that was ridiculous and poorly acted.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

JYoung said:


> She's the daughter of a scientific genius which means she's a scientific genius.
> After all these years of watching TV, don't you know how this works?


Hell, just being an Egyptologist makes you a scientific genius!


----------



## tim1724 (Jul 3, 2007)

I can't imagine that NBC will possibly renew this show. Maybe if they're really hard up for content on Peacock, but I don't think they are.

The writing is so lazy. Most of the episodes feel weirdly disconnected from each other. And then there's the weird errors (trying to feel a pulse through those gloves) and the bizarre lack of communication between characters on the show (it seems like half the episodes have at least one situation where characters should be on the radio to each other to let each other know what's going on… at least four or five times in that most recent episode). All of the characters are oddly undeveloped and aside from the main two they come and go randomly with no real connection to anything. I don't expect any of the different ongoing threads to be resolved at all. Not that I care; none of them are the least bit interesting.

The acting is acceptable, but few performances even approach what I might call good.

Oh, and don't get me started on the sound mix. Sure, just play loud annoying "music" (I don't think it deserves to be called that) over the mumbling actors.

I really don't know why I'm still watching. If it somehow gets a second season I won't watch it. (But I won't have a choice; there's no way it's getting renewed.)


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w/end_credit_transmissions/gykr0rn


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

tim1724 said:


> I can't imagine that NBC will possibly renew this show. Maybe if they're really hard up for content on Peacock, but I don't think they are.


Can't see them renewing it either since E.T. apparently already phoned home. The only thing missing is a row of theater seats with some wisecracking robots. Now that's a show worth watching.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

While I agree with all the sentiments about lazy writing et al, what will drive renewal is ratings and advertiser commitment. It doesn't matter what we think. Plenty of crappy shows have lasted a long time on TV.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

Steveknj said:


> While I agree with all the sentiments about lazy writing et al, what will drive renewal is ratings and advertiser commitment. It doesn't matter what we think. Plenty of crappy shows have lasted a long time on TV.


And plenty of great shows have died a quick and horrible death...


----------



## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

I knew this ep was bad when I dozed off several times...while watching it in the middle of the day!


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

I feel better now, after having watched the season (series?) finale. I was afraid they were going to end it with a great episode, something that tied it all together, something that made sense of the season, of the entire story line. A big hook to draw me back for S2.

But no worries. That was complete unadulterated crap. I feel better knowing that whether there's an S2 or not, my journey is complete. With no regrets.

I'll give the writers credit. They were consistent from E1 to E whatever-this-was. Nothing ever tied together, there was no flow to the plot, ideas came and went. As viewers, we rarely knew what we were watching, or if it meant anything. Telespheres, Native Americans, N-Us, Debris that weighed a ton, debris that floated away, people staring into space. For example, in an apt conclusion to the season, and pretty much like every episode before it, we had people strangely affected by debris (in this case, congregating, staring, emoting), with no reason given as to why. Not even hinted at, and nothing to make us care about it.

What a waste of John Noble.


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

I was going to write up all the various ways in which the season finale failed, and I had a pretty good list going, but somewhere along the way I just ran out of give-a-damn. Like the show, there was absolutely no compelling reason to give a damn.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

I found this line in a review on another site. Sums it up nicely:
_
I found the show to be equal parts bad and disappointing._


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Good summary, astro. I was really hoping the finale would pull it all together, but after watching, it seems the writers either have no concept of how TV works (thinking they would get multiple seasons to tell a story without ever setting the hook and making things coherent), or they simply didn't have a cohesive plan for the direction of the show and that's why it just felt like it was always all over the place.

Was that the first time we've seen John Noble in this show or had I missed him before? He was criminally underused.


----------



## stellie93 (Feb 25, 2006)

Is there going to be a season 2? Because John Noble is enough reason to watch it for me.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

This is the first time John Noble has appeared. The showrunner, JH Wyman, also wrote for Fringe, so he knew Noble. He (Wyman) said in an interview he wanted to use Noble for this specific role, and kept it a surprise from viewers.

Sadly, he also kept "why should we care about any of this" a surprise from viewers.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

As I expected, the season finale was another dull mishmash with "shock" revelations that don't make a lot of sense.
(George I guess, is the real head of Influx and while he claims to be working for the benefit of humanity, he's surrounded himself with some awfully nasty characters.)
Except for maybe Maddox and his son.

But that highlights the other problem with this show, I don't give a damn about any of the main characters.

Olivia, Peter, Walter, and Astrid were all interesting characters while the ones in Debore are two dimensional drabs.
(Ok, Finola is juuuust a little bit interesting due to her daddy issues. But only barely.)

It's amazing how they took such an intriguing premise and made it utterly boring.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

The reveal that Brian's injections had to do with prior exposure to debris radiation could have come much earlier in the season and that could have been an ongoing plot point. Instead, we didn't know anything about it and didn't really care and then at the last second they give a throwaway explanation that was ultimately meaningless. Same with revealing that Brian was there with Garcia and some other guy named Ming. Would have been nice to know what that was all about 5-6 episodes ago. Why are they introducing what should be substantive plot points with only a few minutes left in the season (most likely series) finale?


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

*Definition fits the Season&#8230;*


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> *Definition fits the Season&#8230;*
> View attachment 60091


So what you're saying is the clues were there all along. And we just missed them. They literally told us what the show was.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

Pointing out the poor writing is just wasting time, but, the debris they’ve been looking for is found by George (using a WWII antenna system) about the same time as it becomes active and attracts people with newborns? What was the point? to show George as “not that evil as Otto” as he convinced Otto to just erase their memories? Would have made more sense to just find the piece without the (senseless) attraction of the people.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

__
https://www.reddit.com/r/Debris/comments/mbnz6w/end_credit_transmissions/gykqkj1


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

Summed up well in previous posts. I think not only was the writing poor, but the story itself (or lack thereof) was poor as well. I had actually stopped watching and read a couple of reviews here, and then watch the two episodes that involved the brother and sister, and had hope that it would lead to something (because those were the two most interesting episodes in the show). But after those two they moved on to something completely different. What a mess. I loved Fringe, so it's a shame that the writers who were involved here didn't do nearly as good a job. As Astro said in the OP, I'm out if there's a S2.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

This show could have been and should have been so much better.


----------



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

I wish I had all the hours back from this show. Like Manifest, it's cancelled in my house no matter how many seasons they try to milk it for.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Tony_T said:


> Pointing out the poor writing is just wasting time, but, the debris they've been looking for is found by George (*using a WWII antenna system*) about the same time as it becomes active and attracts people with newborns? What was the point? to show George as "not that evil as Otto" as he convinced Otto to just erase their memories? Would have made more sense to just find the piece without the (senseless) attraction of the people.


Speaking of that antenna array, is that something that exists in real life? That massive "wall" of antennas in the middle of nowhere?

Edit: It looks like there's something similar near Chernobyl, but I seriously doubt they went there to film.

Duga radar: Enormous abandoned antenna hidden in forests near Chernobyl


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

DevdogAZ said:


> Speaking of that antenna array, is that something that exists in real life? That massive "wall" of antennas in the middle of nowhere?


That looks a lot like duga-3, an early missile detection array outside of Chernobyl.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

kdmorse said:


> That looks a lot like duga-3, an early missile detection array outside of Chernobyl.


Yes. Saw it on some channel when I was flipping one day.
They probably just CGI'd it into the show.


----------



## cwoody222 (Nov 13, 1999)

I had some hope after the brother and sister two-parter but that hope fell away fast.

I had to rewatch the end of the final two episodes because I fell asleep!

Likely won’t come back for S2.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Apparently ratings for the finale were about even with previous episodes. At a level that's not great.

From looking up the ratings I ran across this recap and interview with the creator and he's clearly got a lot more planned for this show. It makes it that much more disappointing that the first season was presented in such a shoddy, haphazard way so as to make viewers not care at all about what's going on.

Debris Boss J.H. Wyman Breaks Down Fringe Star's Surprise Role in Finale, What It Means for (Possible) Season 2

Also, people voted on this show and overwhelmingly gave it an A? Really? And the comments to that article seem to be largely from fans who really like the show and hope it returns. So bizarre!


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

DevdogAZ said:


> Also, people voted on this show and overwhelmingly gave it an A? Really? And the comments to that article seem to be largely from fans who really like the show and hope it returns. So bizarre!


Maybe NBC hired a Russian troll farm to help them out...


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

DevdogAZ said:


> Apparently ratings for the finale were about even with previous episodes. At a level that's not great.
> 
> From looking up the ratings I ran across this recap and interview with the creator and he's clearly got a lot more planned for this show. It makes it that much more disappointing that the first season was presented in such a shoddy, haphazard way so as to make viewers not care at all about what's going on.
> 
> ...


Well, there were tens of fans who protested the demise of Flashforward.

Re duplicate Finola: the obvious answer is that she's either a clone or from another reality (or the one with Bryan is).
This is the sort of thing that would normally keep me intrigued but the presentation of this show has been so badly mishandled that I just don't care.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Rob Helmerichs said:


> Maybe NBC hired a Russian troll farm to help them out...


You mean Wyman and the production company.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

JYoung said:


> This is the sort of thing that would normally keep me intrigued but the presentation of this show has been so badly mishandled that I just don't care.


Nailed it.

There were so many things along the way, that in a well-made Sci-Fi TV show, could hook a viewer (or millions of them). Clones, alternate universes, parallel universes, alien debris, time loops, terraforming, wormholes, yada yada. But they never found a way to make it work. To make any connection among them, to keep us watching.

Ultimately, the writers failed.

I was also stunned at those grades. Usually they're realistic, but this is far too many "A"s to be legit.


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

One thing I noted about that recap/interview I posted earlier, it contained the following paragraph:



> In the finale's final sequences, we saw an ominous "Sandman" figure following George and the INFLUX agents&#8230; Maddox using the Debris he traded with Irina for, to facilitate a conversation between wife Julia and their son Dario&#8230; and the "ball of light"/telesphere making its way to Black Water Grandfather aka Dakheya, who entered a cave to tell Brill, "It's time" - to which Sebastian Roche's character replied, "Let's begin," as they both regarded a version of Finola that was held in suspension.


I watched every episode of this show and actively participated in discussions here about it. Yet this paragraph is complete jibberish to me, except for the line about Maddox/Julia/Dario (and even then, that feels like the first time the writers made any effort to get viewers to care about Maddox's wife and kid). No good show should end its season finale with a montage of scenes that a dedicated viewer has no idea who or what is going on. That's where a writer should be wrapping up existing plots and setting the hook for the next phase of the story. Instead, these writers were basically treating this season like the longest Chapter 1 in the history of literature, and counting on getting a S2 pickup in order to make it all tie together (presumably).


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

After 296 (now 297) posts, it's clear we've given this show far more thought than the writers.

Sad!


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

astrohip said:


> After 296 (now 297) posts, it's clear we've given this show far more thought than the writers.
> 
> Sad!


I suspect that's not true. I suspect they've put far more thought into it than we have.

It just hasn't been very fruitful thought.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

JYoung said:


> Well, there were tens of fans who protested the demise of Flashforward.
> 
> Re duplicate Finola: the obvious answer is that she's either a clone or from another reality (or the one with Bryan is).
> This is the sort of thing that would normally keep me intrigued but the presentation of this show has been so badly mishandled that I just don't care.


Flashfoward was a masterpiece compared with this show!


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> Flashfoward was a masterpiece compared with this show!


That's like saying spoiled milk smells better than poopie diapers.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

What annoys me is I get sucked into these types of shows every time, hoping for another Fringe, or Lost. But usually we get Under the Dome, Flashfoward or Debris.

But I guess they should keep trying. It's all better than watching 3 nights a week of The Voice or The Bachelor.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

Steveknj said:


> What annoys me is I get sucked into these types of shows every time, hoping for another Fringe, or Lost. But usually we get Under the Dome, Flashfoward or Debris.
> 
> But I guess they should keep trying. It's all better than watching 3 nights a week of The Voice or The Bachelor.


Agree. Can't stand reality shows (except of course ANW). And like you, I'll almost always try them. I'm just quicker to pull the trigger when they can't perform. I used to stick it out far too long. Now if it's crapola, I kill the SP.

In the case of Debris, I liked the premise, and had hopes for it. It was just good enough (or rather, showed just enough potential), to keep me until the season/series finale. But whereas in the past I would return for S2, hoping for redemption, now I've learned to walk away. Not an easy task for a TV addict.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

astrohip said:


> In the case of Debris, I liked the premise, and had hopes for it. It was just good enough (or rather, showed just enough potential), to keep me until the season/series finale. But whereas in the past I would return for S2, hoping for redemption, now I've learned to walk away. Not an easy task for a TV addict.


Didn't hurt that we're in a TV drought... (Or DID hurt, depending on your perspective!)


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

astrohip said:


> Agree. Can't stand reality shows (except of course ANW). And like you, I'll almost always try them. I'm just quicker to pull the trigger when they can't perform. I used to stick it out far too long. Now if it's crapola, I kill the SP.
> 
> In the case of Debris, I liked the premise, and had hopes for it. It was just good enough (or rather, showed just enough potential), to keep me until the season/series finale. But whereas in the past I would return for S2, hoping for redemption, now I've learned to walk away. Not an easy task for a TV addict.


As I said, I actually stopped watching for a couple of weeks, then with the decent comments about the brother/sister episodes I went back and watched hoping that's where the story would take off, but alas, it didn't and it was back to the same thing for the following episodes. Now I'm just done with it.


----------



## Family (Jul 23, 2001)

I'd be back for season 2.

Not that I think it is any better than any of you do. I just stick with sour milk and poopy diapers in this genre.


----------



## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Debris Cancelled After 1 Season at NBC


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

No surprise. No tears shed here. 

But I will be interested to see if they try to shop it around and if it gets picked up somewhere else.


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

LoadStar said:


> Debris Cancelled After 1 Season at NBC


Oh Noes! Now we'll never know wtf they were thinking!


----------



## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

kdmorse said:


> Oh Noes! Now we'll never know wtf they were thinking!


The sad thing is, based on that interview I posted earlier, the creator clearly has a lot of this show planned out and knows where most of this stuff was going. It's just unfortunate that he chose to structure the first season so poorly so that viewers had no investment in the ongoing storylines that really mattered.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

LoadStar said:


> Debris Cancelled After 1 Season at NBC


And the very small, minuscule, spark of interest I had for Season 2 now mercifully dies out.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

JYoung said:


> And the very small, minuscule, spark of interest I had for Season 2 now mercifully dies out.


_{with apologies to Frasier Crane}_

"At Cornell University they have an incredible piece of scientific equipment known as the tunneling electron microscope. Now, this microscope is so powerful that by firing electrons you can actually see images of the atom, the infinitesimally minute building blocks of our universe. If I were using that microscope right now... I still wouldn't be able to locate my interest in Debris."


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

DevdogAZ said:


> But I will be interested to see if they try to shop it around and if it gets picked up somewhere else.


I don't think this is the type of show that gets a second chance. It doesn't have (AFAIK) a rabid fan base, it wasn't growing it's numbers, it wasn't cancelled for any of the wrong reasons (cost, contracts, studio conflicts). It just didn't have enough eyeballs.

Not a great candidate for a streaming rebirth, like Lucifer or Arrested Dev.


----------



## obixman (Sep 7, 2004)

At last, our nation's great national nightmare is over.


----------



## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

LoadStar said:


> Debris Cancelled After 1 Season at NBC


Well, at least I know I can safely delete my unwatched episodes (5 or 6 of them I think) from my DVR. I was saving them for a rainy work from home day to binge, but alas its not to be.


----------



## Craigbob (Dec 2, 2006)

JYoung said:


> Well, there were tens of fans who protested the demise of Flashforward.
> 
> Re duplicate Finola: the obvious answer is that she's either a clone or from another reality (or the one with Bryan is).
> This is the sort of thing that would normally keep me intrigued but the presentation of this show has been so badly mishandled that I just don't care.


As a huge fan of the book Flashforward was based on I was extremely disappointed in the series that came out of it. they had a thought provoking hard Sci-Fi premise and turned it into a cop show. So much lost potential.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

Debris was dumped into the trash


----------



## Hcour (Dec 24, 2007)

i watched about half of the first episode and thought it was terrible. This thread, however, has been very entertaining.


----------



## ellinj (Feb 26, 2002)

Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


----------



## Rob Helmerichs (Oct 17, 2000)

I wouldn't say it's a cliffhanger. That implies suspense.

It's more like it just...stops. In the middle.


----------



## Tony_T (Nov 2, 2017)

ellinj said:


> Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


It's a "debris of the weak" type show. Try an episode or two.


----------



## astrohip (Jan 7, 2003)

ellinj said:


> Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


I vote no. It wasn't that good---weak writing, with adequate but not great acting. I think many of us watched hoping it would get better, and the story would eventually create something interesting, something worth following. But it never reached that point (IMHO). I would have stopped watching about now if it had a regular 23 episode season, but with only 13 or so, I stuck it out. And was not rewarded.

Story just never hit that critical mass where you want to see what happens next.


----------



## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

I guess this means we'll have to be on the lookout for the next network tragedy to comment on. It makes me wonder if the network execs look at anything other than the ratings. Had any execs actually watched this show it probably would have been pulled after the first couple of episodes. Then again, most of them wouldn't know a quality show if it bit them in the arse anyway. I have to wonder if they put shows like this on the air to intentionally drive people to use their streaming services instead.


----------



## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

ellinj said:


> Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


No really. the pieces were never connected and the show just never really went anywhere. It should have been good. It just wasn't.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

But again, I hope they keep trying. Last thing we need is another cop show, another medical drama, or, *gasp* another no talent contest. Maybe they will continue to suck, but at least for a few weeks, there will be hope that they will figure it out. And before you say, well you can go watch something on streaming, I'm beginning to realize that steaming probably has the same crap percentage as the networks. I can't tell you how many series I've started on streaming that I ended up quitting after an episode or two. I think the days of "you want something quality, go to streaming" is over. There's so much content that needs to be filled, the crap factor has gone up exponentially.


----------



## lparsons21 (Feb 17, 2015)

cheesesteak said:


> No really. the pieces were never connected and the show just never really went anywhere. It should have been good. It just wasn't.


I agree, this should have been at the top of my list of must see TV, but it never rose above 'well maybe this episode won't suck'.


----------



## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

ellinj said:


> Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


No.
Fantastic premise completely undermined by a scattershot storytelling effort that made it a complete bore.


----------



## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

No, unless you think we're all lying to you to get you to not watch it. That secretly we believe it's good, and want to keep it to ourselves


----------



## rpj22 (Mar 27, 2016)

kdmorse said:


> No, unless you think we're all lying to you to get you to not watch it. That secretly we believe it's good, and want to keep it to ourselves


Oh, please. People in this thread aren't lying about their feelings, but there is a bit of selection bias. All of the Debris haters have simply turned this thread into an anti-Debris pep rally. Over on Reddit there is a group of 1300, some of whom like it, and none of whom have made hating it into a party. That would be a better place for someone to get an accurate read.

I'm normally a harsh critic of sci-fi shows, and I'm not in love with Debris, but even I think this thread has been over the top.


----------



## Family (Jul 23, 2001)

rpj22 said:


> Oh, please. People in this thread aren't lying about their feelings, but there is a bit of selection bias. All of the Debris haters have simply turned this thread into an anti-Debris pep rally. Over on Reddit there is a group of 1300, some of whom like it, and none of whom have made hating it into a party. That would be a better place for someone to get an accurate read.
> 
> I'm normally a harsh critic of sci-fi shows, and I'm not in love with Debris, but even I think this thread has been over the top.


A piece of debris is controlling this thread to save the show from itself.


----------



## Steveknj (Mar 10, 2003)

rpj22 said:


> Oh, please. People in this thread aren't lying about their feelings, but there is a bit of selection bias. All of the Debris haters have simply turned this thread into an anti-Debris pep rally. Over on Reddit there is a group of 1300, some of whom like it, and none of whom have made hating it into a party. That would be a better place for someone to get an accurate read.
> 
> I'm normally a harsh critic of sci-fi shows, and I'm not in love with Debris, but even I think this thread has been over the top.


This thread tends to be more sci-fi nerdy than most, and a lot of folks come from that perspective and draw their conclusions. Some of us (like me) just want to the show to be good, because it's something different from the norm. And on that it fails as well, because, well, the writing and story telling wasn't good. Reddit can draw in a lot more folks with different perspectives as it has a wider reach. I'd expect exactly as you say, more of a diverse opinion. In the end, the ratings spoke and not enough people liked it. The fact that so many of us didn't like it, yet watched through the end hoping it would get better says something too, though I'm not sure what, considering we've been burned countless times. For me, those two middle episodes with the twins kept me watching as they were pretty good, and their felt like there was some movement. Then it all fell apart again.

And you know what? The next time there's a show like this, I'll probably watch again and hope.


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## cheesesteak (Jul 24, 2003)

rpj22 said:


> Oh, please. People in this thread aren't lying about their feelings, but there is a bit of selection bias. All of the Debris haters have simply turned this thread into an anti-Debris pep rally. Over on Reddit there is a group of 1300, some of whom like it, and none of whom have made hating it into a party. That would be a better place for someone to get an accurate read.
> 
> I'm normally a harsh critic of sci-fi shows, and I'm not in love with Debris, but even I think this thread has been over the top.


Yes, we all conspired together to form a united front against the show. We're mean that way. Or maybe, as has been said here multiple times, the show should have been better than it actually was.


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## panictivo (Mar 3, 2001)

ellinj said:


> Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


I would recommend watching just the first episode. That was the *only* episode I enjoyed before I cancelled my season pass. It gives you a hint at how the season could have been with if they had decent writing. The first episode does leave mysteries unresolved, but you can make up your own mystery resolutions that would be better than anything the series came up with.

The episodes after the first one were so boring that it was hard for me to watch an entire episode without dozing off.


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## pkscout (Jan 11, 2003)

ellinj said:


> Worth watching? I know it was cancelled, but if there is some big cliffhanger I'll skip it.


I would be more willing to recommend it if the season (now series) finale hadn't left so many open threads. Not questions, but actual open plot threads. But if you're willing to accept that, I actually enjoyed the show and think it could be worth a watch if you have time you want to fill.


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## mattyro7878 (Nov 27, 2014)

JYoung said:


> "Reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" was all i got from this episode.
> 
> Although I did spend half the episode wondering why they didn't try moving the queued cases out of there first.
> (And couldn't try other methods of moving them in addition to just one guy going to pick it up?)
> ...


Maybe a Tachyon pulse would help.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Came to read the last page to see if I made the right decision to drop this way back. Looks like I did. I guess I won't try to find it streaming.


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## Ann Elisabeth Rothschild (Jul 6, 2021)

Thank goodness it's finally over! So many flapdoodles on that show. Bleak character development with some mediocre acting. Not going to miss that one. Wasted time watching it to the very end, hoping it will be a "last episode" surprise or secret revelation. Confusion and inadequacy to the very end.


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## eddyj (Jun 20, 2002)

Thanks for confirming that bailing out early was the right thing to do!


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