This Friday on 'TR 2070' ep 8 'First Wave'

madp could you post the page you are using for the order in which we are watching. I just was going with whoever downloaded them to youtube but it is not always the same as what you have. The good news is I am ready for next week.
On with the show:

The good about this episode:
I could see that this would be realistic in the future. Groups fighting for the purity of the original DNA strain. That was a very interesting premise.
I like little things that to me make a show more realistic. Two that I saw this time was when Ehrenthal came out of the room and just did a little thumb pointing for someone to go into the room to watch the prisoner. No words, he just kept walking but a natural way it would be done and says so much more than a dialog. Shows the workings of the station and also his standing as a leader.
The other is when Ehrenthal gives his wife a little head shake and she returns it. They said so much more to each other by doing that then a whole dialog would have.

Other than that I will let those who liked this one discuss. To me it was a melodramatic mess. To top it off, way to make your daughter need therapy. Honey, you know that guy who had you kidnapped and a gun put to your head well come on over here and say good-bye.
Also, what parent would have her come over to the dying man. They have shown that he is mentally unstable what if his last act was to take a family with him for eternity.

Something different this week. No corporate villain – although we are introduced to a group called ENSOM who want a world free from any android influence, feeling that relying on android labor weakens mankind. One of their members manages to infiltrate the CPB and infect their computers with a virus that starts to shut the entire place down. He is played by Chad Allen, whom I remember way back from OUR HOUSE when we was still barely a teenager. He managed to grow up and stay in the business – still active by the looks of his credits. He gave an impressive performance here, starting as a seemingly nervous tech who accidentally set off an alarm and then converting to his cool, confident persona once the AC shuts down from his command and his plan goes into effect.

But the story is not so much an “under siege” type story as a character study. Eddie Miller, the tech (or whatever his real name turned out to be) was part of a failed genetic experiment to have a generation of children with enhanced brain power – the first wave referenced in the title. Instead most of them died or became psychologically unstable. Eddie survived to adulthood but now has boosted his brainpower so much that his brain is slowly self-destructing.

The other standout in the cast in Michael Anthony Rawlins as Martin Ehrenthal. Early on he mentioned meeting his wife and daughter and I thought, well there’s something we didn’t know about him earlier. But not only do we end up meeting his wife Alana and his daughter Tara, but they turn out to be part of the story. It turns out they tried to adopt the young Eddie years earlier, but he was afraid of being abandoned eventually and started a fire instead – which eliminated him from adoption consideration. It was not the choice of Ehrenthals, who would have still been willing to take him in. The confrontation between Eddie and Martin becomes a poignant “what if” tale of how Eddie might have been different had he been raised by two loving parents like them. He eventually sacrifices his partner in crime to save his lost family. As to his partner, I’m not exactly sure who she was – a fellow “first waver”, or just a human who was against machines. With her fancy disassembling helmet, she almost seemed like an android herself, but that would make no sense to an anti-android group like they were.

Not a lot of interaction between Ian and David tonight, nor much human/android interplay – except for the interesting moment when Eddie concludes that Ian is an android. Dr. Chang had some sympathetic scenes as she laid out the plight of Eddie and the First Wavers. Olivia and Calley were no-shows. But that didn’t matter, because this was the Martin and Eddie show tonight and they provided solid, poignant drama. It’s good to see a supporting character have his day in the sun for a change. Cheers to the show for being willing to try something different. I’m giving this 9.5 floating digital skulls buried inside sinister software.

I sort of cheated and read my fellow board members' reviews before considering what to write, bcause honestly, I think both have a point. On the one hand, it was melodramatic, and usually I'm not impressed about episodes about kinds and loving parents. On the other hand, it was a character-driven story, and one that gave Martin some chance for us to explore him as a rich character. And Chad Allen gave a great performance as the First Waver. I guess I'll need some days to consider, reflect and collect my thoughts.

Hey, didn't we just have our first bopttle episode? It seemed so. Which doesn't seem to make much sense, since all the stories usually take place in basically the same sets, which probably must have already been paid for anyway.

A few bits and pieces:

- So if the CPB computer network was on the fritz with a malignant virus, how come Olan's computers worked fine to perform her analysis?

- I'm not an expert in 2070 criminal law, but Detective Moralez's distinction between arrested and detqined seemed pretty iffy to me, and I wasn't convinced.

- Shooting the girl with Hume's favorite gun was such an overkill it was almost cartoonishly funny. I imagine him getting a small cannon and her exploding to bits. And the reaction of the Police Chief to actual blood, was also priceless. I guess he's only used to seeing stun guns used.

- Though ethnically diverse, society in 2070, judging by the Ehrenthals, the Humes and the Soodors, doesn't seem to encourage ethnically diverse couples.

- So, whatever happened to the computer virus anyway? The moment it stopped being important in the story, people just stopped caring about it and it simply went away. I guess the tech guys took care of it in another memorable moment in the Total Recall Dramatic Moments We Were Not Invited to Watch gallery.

- When Martin's daughter asked her father (or was it her mother?) "Who's that man?" or something, for a moment I thought he was going to answer, "He's your brother." That would've been strangely appropriate.

- We've already talked plenty about the outdated monitors, but the keyboard the First Waver was using (like some kind of touch pad) seemed to have an interesting concept. At least it wasn't an ordinary keyboard.

- I'll add along the way. As I said, I have to reflect.

For the time being, this ep. gets 7 uniformed police chiefs that dress like and seem as competent as fancy hotel doormen.

Madp
I sort of cheated and read my fellow board members' reviews

This episode starts with a guy posing as a computer technician but is really a saboteur and he releases a horrible virus that shuts down the entire computer system in the CPB and shuts down the air conditioning among other things. Originally he just sets off an alarm and were not quite sure if he's innocent or a real hacker. Eventually Hume determines that he's indeed a real hacker and that he has plans to shut down the entire CPB. What's odd is that Hume basically says his not arrested yet they take him to this back room against his will and question him? Doesn't make much sense to me.

It ends up that this technician has some super human brain power and they fear that he's taken some kind of dangerous anabolic brain steroid that increases cognition. Olan takes a blood sample and it gives no indication that the tech has taken any kind of drug. One thing that makes absolutely no sense is that Olan is able to test the sample with a computer. How the heck does she have computer access if the tech shut down the whole system???

Anyway it ends up that he was part of a radical experiment to increase brain power in children called "The First Wave". It was sort of an anti-adroid group that wanted to invest in human brain functioning rather than invest in android research. Most of the children died or became unstable, the tech guy is still alive but his brain functioning is unstable and there's an implication that it will eventually kill him.

It seems like this episode is going to go into some interesting philosophical arguments about artificial intelligence and untaped human potential. Instead it makes an odd left turn and turns into a melodramatic foster care story with Martin and his wife as a couple who didn't adopt him. It's awfully convenient for the plot that Martin's wife and daughter who we have never seen, just happen to be at the CPB when the tech guy takes everybody hostage.

The tech guy basically has everybody hostage because the CPB will self destruct or something along those lines, he's aided by some Ensom people who are against the developments of androids.

In the end there's a confrontation and the good guys win.

Random Thoughts:

*There's no real tension in an episode where the cast is held hostage because you know they're coming back next week. Also there's no real tension about the CPB being destroyed because again everybody is coming back next week.

*The show has some really cool and imaginative sets, atmosphere, and special effects, but it's so formulaic. A: Something computer or android related happens. B: Hume and Farve are called in to investigate. C: They consult Olan about something. D: There's usually an android debate or problem. E: They track the culprit but are at odds with Martin in terms of procedure. E: There's a confrontation with the culprit. F: Good guys win. G: Some type of 2 minute Coda that will be forgotten in the next episode. There's no long term story arc with returning antagonists.

*I found this episode to be boring as most of the eipsode takes place in 2 rooms at the CPB.

*Farvre is barely featured in this one and he's the most interesting compelling character on the show.

*The whole melodramatic foster care story was such an odd plot turn.

* Did they ever resolve the whole computer virus thing??? It seemed like that plot point was dropped once they started the whole foster family thing.

I give it a 5 out of 10.

This is a very sombre episode. I don't usually like these human interest stories,but this was quite gripping. Being used to slow moving British drama shows meant I was comfortable with the slow pace of it.
Good to see Ehrenthal having more to do ,this being made during the X Files era law chiefs are usually portrayed as mysterious,tough and bald, in homage to Mitch Pileggi's Skinner. Up to now Ehrenthal has just ticked the last of those boxes and probably still does, but the character was used as more than just a cipher.
Eddie ended up being a tragic sympathetic person who never asked to be a first waver though the Ensom group he got involved in is decidedly fascist. Remembering the pilot and the plot to enhance android memory we might see a finale as CPB is caught in the middle of a battle between Ensom and whoever is behind an android revolution.
On the subject of why older shows get more in depth reviews, I agree that growing up with these older shows is part of the reason but also simply there is more plot to get your teeth into in classic shows. From about the 1990's Sci fi on tv seemed to be obsessed with showing full character back story and other waffle not connected to plot.
Compare Star Trek classic with the newer versions ,one is plot...plot ....plot..plot.,and the other plot ...waffle ..plot ...waffle.plot. Todays writers only need to come up with 25 minutes of plot the other 20 they fill with meandering back story.
Not just Sci fi ,the original Hawaii five 0 (zero) and the boring Hawaii five o (letter o) illustrate perfectly my point.
8/10.

Sorry it has taken me this long to respond. I have just gone through a forty-eight plus hour power outage. I have thrown my food out from the refrigerator and freezer and am ready to roll.
Thank you all for the information. I find this group and its development interesting.
I did not know that the rating system was used later. I am embarrassed to confess how hard this is going to be for me. I tend not to be a cut and dried kind of person (to the point of driving people crazy. I am always saying “on the other hand”) so it will probably take me longer to give an episode a rating then it will for me to write my review. Maybe this will help me be more decisive.
Brimfin I really could not go back and rate the past episodes. I just would not remember them well enough to do so. I could start now with the next episode.

JohnQ1127
Was the point that he was white and the couple was black supposed to be shocking? I didn't get it, maybe it was a bigger deal in 1999.