Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Not to sound like a jerk, but is that actually what you think? Answering every question about a character is not the same as a fully developed character.

This episode was all about Marc's story and how Steven came to exist, which was the main plotline for this whole series thus far and what we've been building towards.

They've definitely hinted at a third alter, but we still have an episode to go, which will probably be a long one. But that won't really change that the story was about Marc.

At this point I feel like the third one will just be an embodiment of Konshu rather than a whole other alter whose backstory we've yet to see.

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The thing is, we already knew Steven was the invented personality. So to spend an entire episode watching him finally come to that realization, and finally catching up to where we've been since basically episode one/two, just wasn't interesting to me.

Agreed. Still, "information" isn't character development, nor is it plot. We already knew Mark was troubled, and we already knew Steven was invented. So they "paused" the story for an entire episode, just before the finale, to explain why, and I just didn't care about the why by that point.

Exactly… took an entire episode to balance the scales… and even after that… we don't even under all that part

Nobody said it was plot. But it most definitely is character development.

jeffk said:

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See, to me it was a lot more than just "information." Knowing the why to Steven was pretty important to understanding the character of Marc (and vise versa). An internal struggle was overcome which makes his external victory over Harrow possible and maybe more meaningful. We'll see.

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I hear you. I guess for me, more than anything, this episode is just really emblematic of the JJ Abrams, Mystery Box bullsh*t way of storytelling that I've grown to loath so much, where it puts "mystery" above even character. It waited until the penultimate episode to reveal crucial information about a character's psyche/motivation, when I would have been SO MUCH more invested in the character had I known some of this information way earlier in the story. And granted, the dueling personality aspect would have been affected by that, and I get that, but maybe that's why this show isn't working for me on the whole. The entire premise is designed around withholding information that would otherwise make a character more sympathetic from the jump, in favor of dangling carrots and faux "mystery" nonsense, and I'm just not at all into that way of storytelling, when done this way.

Exactly.

Marc had to make that internal decision to allow Steven to see/learn what the truth was.

I mean it's been kind of a staple of all the MCU shows up to this point, except for maybe F&WS.

If that isn't your thing, then sure, but they've all heavily relied on mystery to hook the viewer.

Edit: Haven't seen Hawkeye.

As a non-fanatic, I enjoyed the episode.


Mr. Robot did it better tho

That's a good point, and in agreement. I just wish it hadn't taken up an entire episode.

Fair. For me, Isaac's fantastic portrayal had me fully engaged.

This is how I felt last week though, we could lose that entire tomb sequence and lose nothing of value.

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Not to sound like a jerk, but is that actually what you think? Answering every question about a character is not the same as a fully developed character.

This episode was all about Marc's story and how Steven came to exist, which was the main plotline for this whole series thus far and what we've been building towards.

They've definitely hinted at a third alter, but we still have an episode to go, which will probably be a long one. But that won't really change that the story was about Marc.

At this point I feel like the third one will just be an embodiment of Konshu rather than a whole other alter whose backstory we've yet to see.

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Yeah, it's what I think. I never did any film class or whatever so I may not have your definition of "fully" developed. Having questions like that negates "fully" to me.

But I am educable and willing to learn.

New Rockstars called the multiple afterlifes including the ancestral planes

Loved that episode

I wasn't all that into the episode at the beginning, but by the end, I really loved it. Hoping we get a nice hour and a half long finale next week. It's been a fun series.

I enjoyed that episode. Unlike some of the episodes in the past, this did not feel like filler at all to me. I'm surprised we didn't see the rumored third personality. I guess that's maybe coming in the finale? Looks to be a packed finale, I hope it wraps up in a satisfying way.

It was an episode I think that needed to happen, but yeah it feels like it could have been done earlier as kind of the origin story.

Still not in love with the series. Something to watch but just kind of a weird off flavor MCU experience like Wandavision.

scoop12 said:

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All of the TCTTS and Spilner back and forth on this thread has me wondering if they are one person with two personalities. It would explain all of the 100s of other arguments they've had.

TCTTS = Steven and Spilner = Marc?
And Redstone is the 3rd personality we don't see as much

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I don't know whether to be relieved or offended that I'm apparently the Steven in this scenario.

scoop12 said:

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All of the TCTTS and Spilner back and forth on this thread has me wondering if they are one person with two personalities. It would explain all of the 100s of other arguments they've had.

TCTTS = Steven and Spilner = Marc?
And Redstone is the 3rd personality we don't see as much

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It's clearly TC and Redstone.

Is it? All I've heard is it's pretty skippable.

It's decent. Middle of the pack Disney+ MCU series, IMO.

I'd say…

1. Loki
2. WandaVision
3. Hawkeye
4. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
5. Moon Knight

Man, when Marc's parents first showed up, I thought Rosario Dawson was playing the mother and Louis from the OG Ghostbusters was CGI'd to look younger as the father (with touches of Fred Armisen). Glad to be wrong.

The bird skeleton on the ground by the cave was too obvious but it might have been an artifact placed by memory machine)

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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Is it? All I've heard is it's pretty skippable.

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Maybe skippable due to probably having the least impact(as far as we know) on the main narrative. I thought it was really good and a lot fun.

I rank it up there with WandaVision. Loki was good, but just didn't like it as much as I wanted to.