This Friday on 'Earth 2' ep 20 'Survival of the Fittest'

I was not expecting this kind of an episode from this show. As much as we’ve been saying for weeks that this was a kid-friendly show I was surprised to see it deal with this kind of a subject. I’ve rarely seen any show deal with this kind of subject matter. It didn’t try to make light of it or somehow make it noble. It had a lot of gray area and made you think.

It started out in typical fashion. Hoping to find a storage pod and bring back some food and supplies to their depleted colony, Danzinger decides to gamble by going past the safe limits of their rationed food and water, and everyone but Morgan agrees. Usually, such a risk pays off but not this time – the cargo pod turns out to be empty. Making matters worse, as they try to speed home they end up crashing the dune rail stranding them until help can arrive from their camp. But surprisingly when the camp detail arrives they are all okay – or are they? The group seems downbeat and barely communicates with each other as they return to base camp.

Morgan has nightmares and wakes up screaming. A Grendler’s corpse is left staked up near the camp and another Grendler silently takes up watch outside the camp. In semi-ROSHOMON style, narratives begin to emerge from the four people in the party. (It’s not really 4 different versions of the same story, though there are some parts that repeat – hence the “semi.”)

John had spotted a Grendler near their temporary camp and he and Alonzo followed her hoping she would have a stash of something nearby. Following her into the cave they found only acid dripping from the walls – no food or water. The Grendler confronted them – John saw her as a threat and aimed his Mag-Pro at her. But in Alonzo’s version he told John not to shoot. But John did shoot and kill the Grendler. But it goes beyond that. Hungry and thirsty, they decided to eat parts of the Grendler to survive. As Dr. Heller cut up the creature for food, it looked like she saw an unborn Grendler within. But it’s never mentioned aloud, so I’m not sure if that’s what was really implied. But Julia had made a point of saying that the Grendler was a she.

True tries to be peacemaker, going to talk to the Grendler to see what he wants. (I presume the watchful Grendler was a he – probably the mate of the one who died.) Danzinger thinks she’s been kidnapped and goes out to find her. Yale finds her tracks showing she was the one who went to the Grendler. When they approach, it looks as if this Grendler will end up being shot too. He puts True in front of him defensively, but she pleads that he isn’t trying to hurt her. John puts down his gun, and in a genuinely emotional scene tells the Grendler that he didn’t mean to kill the other Grendler and that she didn’t die in vain – saving their lives with her remains. He offers to trade himself for True, but the Grendler simply releases her. He was only looking for remorse from the humans for what they had done. The final scene has Danzinger helping to dig a grave for the fallen Grendler.

One has to wonder what would happen if the situation was reversed. What if back in episode 11 when Alonzo went back to get the abandoned Julia, he had found her dead and partially eaten? If a creature had come forward and admitted that he had killed her by accident and was sorry – and then added that she didn’t die in vain because her body helped to feed him and some friends – would any of the colonists have been as forgiving as this Grendler was? Food for thought – if you’ll pardon the pun.

I don’t blame the humans for eating the Grendler once she was already dead; it was harder to think that such a creature might be edible. The mistake was killing her in the first place. They did break into her lair scavenging; she had a right to be angry. This story was all about mistakes: going too far out on too little food, arguing while driving which caused the crash, and shooting a Grendler who had no weapon or obvious means of killing them. (We know they can kill, like they killed the commander. But as far as the colonists know, the Grendlers had never killed anyone in their party.)

At one point Baines argues that Grendlers are just animals, but they are obviously too intelligent to be dismissed as such. They have ranged from obedient near-slaves (the ones with Gaal), arguing scavengers willing to trade, and even noble creatures who carry messages around for years or are willing to forgive a cruelty as this one was. It’s hard to know what to make of them, but simple animals they are not.

I give the writer/director of this piece credit for tackling such a tough subject as what people would do to survive in a dire situation without trying to make heroes out of the humans who did it. I give this episode a 9 just for being something totally different and thought-provoking.

The only light comment I can bring myself to make here is – for once, if they’d taken Morgan’s advice they’d have been better off.

Got to say I was happy to see that there are only two more episodes.

So I guess it is now not a kid friendly show? How many parents do you think sat down with their children to watch this and didn’t know they were going to have to explain ‘survival of the fittest’ to their children?

So on the plus side they did tackle a hard subject but I just do not think they did it well. These characters seem to be all over the place depending on what the episode needs and not on what we have learned about the characters. However, I did like that they didn’t make it cut and dry.

If Bess knows so much about the ways of the world why didn’t she go with them instead of Morgan? She is telling Devon that none of them understand what it is like ok but why didn’t you go?
Well this is a first for Devon. When Yale said she wasn’t going, she didn’t do her “I’m going and you can’t stop me” thing.

I know they were not trying to be funny but the scene of them driving and fighting was like watching a bad home movie. I was thinking John was going to turn around and say “Morgan, if I have to stop this car you are going to be sorry”.

At one point I thought we were going to have a Rashomon episode. But a least they stopped at only two versions of the killing. (Yes, more stories than two but only two of the killing).

So let’s see Danziger, you break into someone’s home and then feel you have to kill them because they are aggressive toward you?
So these Grendlers are a very understanding bunch:
Break into my home
Kill my wife
Kill my baby (by default)
Eat my wife
But that is all ok I just wanted you guys to understand I feel sad and maybe some help digging a hole!

I don’t think you saying you ate my loved one after you killed them is going to make me feel better about you. Now, if you found my loved one dead and by eating them you saved lives believe it or not I would be ok with that.

I think this was Clancy Brown’s big dramatic episode but it just came off as a man having a nervous breakdown to me and I would keep sharp objects away from him for a while.

So I thought execution was bad but good for them for trying something different. Averaged that low and high score and came up with:

5 out of 10

Another 45 minutes of my life I won't get back. What pearls of wisdom were the writers telling us here ? Grendlers have feelings and get upset if you eat their wife but really being sorry and blubbing makes it OK.
Danziger's behaviour here is inconsistent with what we know of the character,he's not the panicking type , I felt he just wouldn't shoot the Grendler.
Tackling the subject of cannibalism was brave though so 3 for that but that's all.

Much better episode. In a colonization mission where survival could be at stake, this kind of situation was quite likely to happen, and perhaps the colonists should have been more prepared to face it, instead of reacting more like the regular middle-class audience would react, surprised someone would go that far too survive.

Oh, killing the Grendler was bad, I won't deny. Grendlers have shown they can make an use tools, make simple clothing items, understand language and even deliver messages. They're obviously more than irrational animals. But two things: if you enter a cave in search of food and encounter an angry bear, you'd probably shoot it, even though the bear had all the right to be angry. And probably the situation might go similarly even if we were talking about a hermit in a cabin instead of a bear in a cave, as long as the hermit looked crazy enough and couldn't be reasoned with.

And the colonists know how dangerous can be, after all they killed O'Neill savagely. Yeah, yeah, it was under Gaal's influence, but the bites and claw marks on O'Neil's body made it unmistakable as an act of collective Grendler rage. |In fact, I think the writers are not sure what to do with the Grendlers: they can kill in cold blood and drink human blood, but they are also loyal, civilized and understanding.

And as far as eating the remains goes, that's another thing to be expected. Baines asks, "what if it'd been one of us, would it be all right to eat us?" Of course! These are not ordinary circumstances; they are stranded on an alien planet and have to do whatever it takes to survive.

But of course that doesn't mean the experience would go without a trauma. By the way, the way Danzinger is getting trigger-happy, he seems to be getting into some PTSD mode. It was an event that shook the emotional basis of their little community, and with reason. Even though, as I said, they should have been more prepared. Watch out, Baines, you may be the next meal!

A few observations:

- The accident was an unforgivable amateur mistake. You don't lose your cool while driving, don't overspeed on strange terrain and don't take your eyes off the way you're going.

- Methinks they should have packed light closed vehicles. Dune rails are just too cold and unprotected for the winter.

- You think this episode had no shrieks? Think again. The subtitles clearly said "Bird shrieks" each time we could hear a bird at a distance.

I enjoyed this episode very much, with it's life-or-death theme. It gets 9 drops of acid.

WTF Was that I just watched??? O.K. I guess I can give them some points for trying something way out there but seriously what was the point they were trying to make with this mess? Is this show over yet? How did this show last this long on the initial run?

Ok basically Danzinger, Alonzo, Julia, and Morgan are out on a supply pod search expedition and they're on limited supplies and told by Devon that they received a signal to the fabled "pod 9" But the problem is that the pod is over a day's journey away and they will run out of food. So they decide to risk it and then the pod is destroyed with no trace of supplies. On the way back they start arguing and get into car accident so they're stuck and Morgan is hurt. It looks as though all hope is lost as they have no more food. Yale goes out for a rescue mission but to his surprise everybody is fine when he gets there.

When they get back to the main camp it basically turns into a "Rashomon" style story but they don't even do that right because they only tell two different stories with the other 2 participants corroborating one of the stories. Danziger basically follows a grendler and decides to break into her cave and then kills the grenadier supposedly in self defense. Alonzo tells a different story were Danziger is much more aggressive and basically wants to kill the grendler so they can eat her.

So the four of them ate the Grendler while they waited for Yale.

The Grendler husband shows up at the camp as is pretty pissed off that they killed and ate his wife and oh by the way she was pregnant. So did they also partake in the fetus?

Then there's a stupid stand off with True and then this Grendler who is the most forgiving creature in the universe because he's ok with everything and them eating his wife and killing the unborn grendler. Then there's some really lousy acting by Clancy Brown and some stupid monologue that's supposed to be profound.

Random Thoughts:

*What happened to the all the snow?? It was like a blizzard last week.

*Notice how they're concealing Deborah Ferentino's pregnancy with her wearing that huge jacket all the time.

*Why wouldn't they just go back and get more supplies once they knew the whereabouts of pod 9???? They could go back to camp fully supplied and then just return??? It's not like they could bring back anything with that yellow car with four passengers. It made no sense.

*Why do they have so much stuff with them but no food???

*Why was Morgan with them? Shouldn't Bess be the logical choice? And she hasn't done anything in 10 episodes.

*Why did they run out of food so fast? It's like they left pod nine and then that was it.

*Seriously they made it sound like they were on the verge of starvation which was ridiculous. They all looked plenty well fed. I"ve known people that have gone on ten day fasts. Ghandi was a feeble 74 year old man and he lasted 21 days without food. My mother's uncle was in a German POW camp during the war and spent weeks without food.

*So Danziger basically broke into the Grendler's cave with a weapon and then was surprised that it acted strangely and aggressively towards him.

*So Danziger murdered the pregnant Grendler and then they all ate the body. Even Gaal didn't do anything like that. Who wrote this one? This is a family show?

*So Danzinger would be cool with a hungry Grendler coming into camp and killing a Devon and then eating her?

*Danzinger is just a big A-hole. Is that the point of his character?

*I'm guessing this will be forgotten next week.

Oh man what a mess of a show when is it over. I give this one a 2/10.

I'm sure this will be the episode with the most irregular evaluating. It looks like we've watched different things.

by JohnQ1127 » How did this show last this long on the initial run? (...) Oh man what a mess of a show when is it over. I give this one a 2/10.

by brimfin » I give this episode a 9 just for being something totally different and thought-provoking.

by lorkris » So I thought execution was bad but good for them for trying something different. Averaged that low and high score and came up with: 5 out of 10

by michaellevenson1 » Another 45 minutes of my life I won't get back. (...) Tackling the subject of cannibalism was brave though so 3 for that but that's all.

by madp » Much better episode. I enjoyed this episode very much, with it's life-or-death theme. It gets 9 drops of acid.

In semi-ROSHOMON style, narratives begin to emerge from the four people in the party.

At one point I thought we were going to have a Rashomon episode.

When they get back to the main camp it basically turns into a "Rashomon" style story but they don't even do that right

I highly recommend Roshomon! It is one of those movies, like a great book, that sticks with you.
I also enjoyed his Seven Samurai.