During Morgan's musical session on the VR gear, notice his
bass drum has the letters MM on it, for Morgan Martin. Like
all of his dreams of glory and wealth, the jazz band is
probably named after him. Something like the Morgan Martin
Quartet perhaps?
This episode is narrated by Julia. She remarks that it is
Day 38 on the planet and 7600 kilometers from New Pacifica.
That equals about 4,722 miles. We keep getting different
figures of higher and lesser distances to New Pacifica
between the episodes of the TV series and novels. Earlier
calculations suggested New Pacifica was only about 3200 miles
away in
"First Contact" Part 2.
At the beginning of the episode, Bess is bathing in what
appears to be a large plastic storage container. The water
has wisps of steam rising from it; was a large amount of
water heated beforehand and dumped in or is the container
actually a heating unit for baths?
Bess implies she is Catholic when she asks Yale if he has
religious data on file, particularly Catholic, because she'd
like to make a confession.
When Julia reports Terrian-related changes in Uly, Reilly
wants to harvest his pineal gland as the possible location
of the human soul. Some researchers of a metaphysical bent
have attributed the pineal gland as the seat of the soul
ever since the theory was first proposed by French scientist and
philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
Growing upset about Bess' confession to him that she'd had
random
thoughts about having an affair with another, Morgan disgustedly
remarks it must be one of the men they're on an "extended
camping trip from Hell" with and who has probably seen him
naked. The nudity reference is probably to
"A Memory Play",
in which Morgan had to trade the clothes off his back to a
Grendler in return for the creature's antiseptic spittle.
Morgan refers to Alonzo as a sleep jumper. This must be a
reference to the pilot's long periods of sleep during
interstellar voyages.
Julia tells Riley she has access to Terrian remains and we
see a Terrian finger bone in a specimen container. But how
did she get it? I suppose she could have some bone fragments
from Gaal's shattered necklace of Terrian bones from
"Promises, Promises", but it did not appear to have a whole skeletal finger on it.
Bess remarks on Devon's father having designed the stations
that are in Earth orbit. The novelization of the pilot
episode ("First Contact")
states that Devon was the foremost designer and
developer of the space stations in the solar system from
Venus to Neptune. This is how she became one of the
wealthiest women in history. Presumably she was not the
designer of most of the Earth-orbiting stations since page
27 of that book tells us that Earth's population moved to the space
stations six generations ago.
Devon remarks to Bess that she had fantasized, as a child, of
a romantic, life-and-death existence on Earth, but that her
parents would not take her on a trip down. But pages 6-7
of the pilot episode novelization ("First
Contact") reveal that Devon's parents took her on a trip to
Earth when she was 7 years old; she remembers seeing the
Statue of Liberty, only the feet and the hem of the gown
remaining due to acid rain.
Through a discussion between Julia and Reilly, this episode
reveals there was something called the Faith Wars at the end
of the 21st Century. During the conflict, experiments with
the pineal gland were conducted on POWs. Many of the POWs
died and some devolved into vicious primates.
Bess remarks to Morgan that he used to refer to some people,
particularly Earthers, as NOCD, "Not Our Class, Dear." This
is a put-down used by the British upper-class, especially
during the 1940s-50s.
Notice that Julia performs the surgical procedure on Uly outside.
That seems a risky move since I doubt she drugged everyone
in camp (despite us seeing her drug Walman, on guard duty,
and Devon in her and Uly's tent).
A Terrian appears in front of Julia while she's performing
the procedure on Uly. The Terrian transforms into an image
of Alonzo in order to communicate its message about Uly's importance as a connection between humans and Terrians
and the evolution of humanity on G889. It seems as if Alonzo
himself was brought in during his dream state, yet the next
morning he says he did not have any dreams. In the past, he
seems to remember his Terrian dreams, so why not this time?
Did the Terrians prevent him from remembering? It makes
things convenient for Julia's secret to stretch out a little
longer, but why would the Terrians not want him to remember?
When Morgan speaks to the VR version of Bess' father, the
man has what appears to be some kind of small gasmask-like
contraption around his neck. Bess said earlier her father
was a miner on Earth, so the gasmask makes some sense.
During the marriage ceremony, Yale states that the marriage
contract renewal acts of the late 21st Century were intended
to strengthen birth rates in Earth's environmentally
red-tagged areas.
During the marriage ceremony, Yale reveals that Morgan's
middle name is Horatio and Bess' full maiden name is Bess
Amelia Klempt.
The "until death do you part" portion of the wedding vows
reveal that Morgan and Bess have decided not to have a
standard short-term marriage commitment, but to remain
together for the rest of their lives.
As Devon is holding her son at the end of the marriage
ceremony, he looks at Julia with less than his usual
boisterous features, as if maybe he suspects she did
something to him last night.
The VR simulation the group all participate in at the end of
the episode is a sort-of 1930s-style wedding reception.
At the wedding reception, most of the group members are
dancing with VR simulations. Danziger is seen dancing with a
redhead. Maybe she is a simulation of the redhead who broke
his heart, as mentioned by Alex in
"A Memory Play". Danziger
also later grabs Devon for a dance. True is seen dancing
with a VR boy.
In the last shot of the episode, Zero appears to be guard
duty over the humans as they prance around the clearing
during the VR wedding reception.
Unanswered Questions
To paraphrase Baines...who was the lucky guy Bess was
attracted to? Yale can probably be ruled out since he's the
one Bess chose to confess her sinful thoughts to. Alonzo,
ever the ladies man, claims he'd know if he were the object
of her affectionate thoughts (though Bess does later tell Alonzo
in "The Enemy Within" that he's every woman's type). But notice she never actually
says it was a guy. With that in mind, her personal
discussion with Devon about their individual perceptions of
each other's lives from 18:15-20:52 on the DVD
is...interesting.
Reilly tells Julia that the Council knows the Terrians have
some kind of symbiosis with the planet and they can't be
killed or enslaved without killing the planet. How does he
know this? Did the Council already kill a large number of
Terrians and see the planet weaken as a result?
Memorable Dialog
cheated on my husband.wav
medical ethics.wav
only woman in the world.wav
a rhetorical question.wav
you're thinking about having an affair.wav
an extended camping trip from Hell.wav
whose nest to feather.wav
whenever you get the urge.wav
his kind of people.wav
kind of romantic.wav
some kind of princess.wav
a woman like you.wav
a cuckold on some distant ball of dirt.wav
witch
hunt.wav
who the lucky guy is.wav
the last wildflower on Earth.wav
will you marry me?.wav
nothing like the love of a woman.wav
a very powerful position.wav
Back to Earth 2
Episode Studies