Chapter 37-2- Balance of Power

[Cabbage Patch]

Asked:

...I listened really hard and I didn't hear a single crow when we hear Scratch's voice. I heard lots of songbirds but no crow....

And answered:

...I was dead wrong about both the graphic surgery and CJ dying on the table. <munches on crow>...

Clearly there was no crow sound when we heard Scratch's voice because SCBubba was busy eating it at the time.

[Grognaurd]

Actually it was a murder if crows and I was having seconds. I will keep listening, to see if there is a correlation, but right now I lean towards random coincidence. I just have not had the time to go back and read all the posts in the last year or so.

[Cabbage Patch]

...Victor has brought it up twice now: A lot of the Colonists aren't going to like Michael taking charge because they remember what he did to the Colony. ...You can see how the average Colonist that's been there the whole time could easily be convinced by someone (like Victor maybe) that Michael doesn't have their best interests at heart. Is it a powerplay by Victor to take a spot at the Colony? Sure he says that he wasn't well liked around there but we don't really know that....

I doubt that Victor is interested in taking power for himself. I think he is honestly trying to warn Michael of a real political danger based on his concerns and his conversations with Colony survivors.

And lets not discount the impact of Victor's personal sense of guilt over what happened at the Colony. He really seemed to take it hard when Glenn and Pete accused him of helping the Mallers take over, and I'm sure he's been getting more of the same over the last 3 days. His comments that sounded like he was assigning blame to Michael feel like a defense mechanism to me.

[Witch_Doctor]

Ok, so Victor does not want to talk about Angel. Is that a good enough reason for Lizzy to not want to talk about Angel? I am fine with let's not rain on the group hug, but each hour that goes by adds to the collateral damage potential. First the pain of reliving the loss and then the anger of being not told.

Ok, maybe none of us are licensed social workers, but what is the consensus? Should Lizzy have told anyone?

Yeah, Victor is turning into Hamlet, here. He keeps waiting until the right time to reveal someone's death. First Sean now Angel. What does it matter anyway? Has he been told that the others already think that Angel is dead? Also, the more he holds off, the more I'm beginning to side with Scratch that killing Angel was an act of mercy. He was dying from the fall: Scratch shooting him was as much mercy as it was murder.

I think, also, that the power play involves Victor; a three-way power balancing act.

[IamPaul]

Great episode, as is always the case. I was half expecting Michael to huff some chloroform after his interaction with Pegs, thus explaining the Chapter Art. I guess the Angel video could push him over the edge.

[Arch_Will]

Wow.. eventually get to listen to the episode a few hours after it comes out.. i get to the forum and there's 15 pages to trail through.. Ouch.. long haul but made it.

firstly, great episode... Poor CJ

Kc, I loved the effect of putting the headphones on CJ.. it really made you connect with the character as if you were seeing it through her ears... as a manner of speaking. it really adds a 3rd dimension to it a level of depth not anticipated... freaked me out driving at night when those sounds were all i heard could almost feel the bonesaw.

next point, and i'm a little bit mad that scbubba has already noticed this and commented on it before i could:

we all know that Kc loves his double meanings and his wording is orchestrated perfectly (imagines a bald conductor in finely pressed tails with a microphone as a conductors baton), did everyone notice Michaels phrasing when he referenced his arm.... he didn't say his arm was broken.. he said he nearly had his arm "broken off" so this indicates a possible brutal assault by a Behemoth?... a zombified randy?... a human randy? ..............Chuck Norris?

so doesn't seem apparant that he broke it in a trivial way like falling down stairs or walking in to a Door.

next thing.. Go Pegs... she does right.. Michael made his choice when the ultimatum happened. he chose the military and not her. she moved on and spent longer time with someone who obviously was able to support her more emotionally than Michael ever could if the unsaid manner of his death/out-of-the-pictured-ness/awkward-conversation-of-the-year, had anything to do with it. and while Pegs went on and lived her life, Michael moped around pining and doin g the shoulda coulda woulda.

Go Team Datu/Saul.. World Presidential Team 2013!

[Grognaurd]

Good stuff, but...

next thing.. Go Pegs... she does right.. Michael made his choice when the ultimatum happened. he chose the military and not her. she moved on and spent longer time with someone who obviously was able to support her more emotionally than Michael ever could if the unsaid manner of his death/out-of-the-pictured-ness/awkward-conversation-of-the-year, had anything to do with it. and while Pegs went on and lived her life, Michael moped around pining and doin g the shoulda coulda woulda.

Go Team Datu/Saul.. World Presidential Team 2013!

I think you are too hard on Michael. Did you hear the exasperation in his voice in Seaon 3? He had no choice. Kimmet would never have let him leave. He would have thrown Michael in the Brigg and killed Tanya. Michael had no choice.

As long as I am defending Michael, I am not sure if he was actually using the chloroform. Since Saul was so clueless, my guess is Michael may have been doing it in his first tour when he was hard charging. They may have been using it in abductions and interrogations.

[Witch_Doctor]

As long as I am defending Michael, I am not sure if he was actually using the chloroform. Since Saul was so clueless, my guess is Michael may have been doing it in his first tour when he was hard charging. They may have been using it in abductions and interrogations.

That's what I originally thought he was using the chloroform for, but hey, maybe Michael WAS breaking bad. Anyone thinking what I'm thinking? Meth-head Zombies and exploding safe houses! Now that's how you take the fight to them.

[Alizée]

... but hey, maybe Michael WAS breaking bad. Anyone thinking what I'm thinking? Meth-head Zombies and exploding safe houses! Now that's how you take the fight to them.

I like the way your brain turns, sir!

[Witch_Doctor]

The video - I always felt that the information about Angel and his ultimate end would be discovered before it was revealed by Victor. If Vic was going to tell them, he would have done it already. I know a lot has happened in a few days but he could have at least told Saul before. The knowledge of what happened to Angel and that Victor was hiding it will stir up trouble of course. Michael and the Fort Irwin Towerites hadn't had any interaction with her or the Mallers since the Tower fell. Saul and Victor (and Lizzie) did in the very recent past. Will the video stir up a big revenge impulse in our heroes? Not sure. I think we will have a Scratch story arc resolution with or without the video.
For me the bigger story is, what was Victor really protecting? Was it the circumstances around Angel's demise (even though he was thought to be dead already) or perhaps some tie in with the Family. Maybe Victor's "insurance salesman" job was a protection racket for an organized crime group like maybe, the Family... Or even something more sinister...

Yo Ho Ho, let's give Victor a bottle of rum for keeping secrets of dead men in a chest. Sean, Angel, Tupac & Biggie. Don't forget, "Ix-nay on the Hombre..." (Wait, did he know about the Lewis ploy?) Maybe he just doesn't like talking about dead people (Like his wife. How did she die?)

Here's Victor delivering a eulogy at a funeral:"Um,.... now is not the best time."