Ghosts? It seems to me what he sees is what he said. Manifestations based on his guilt for taking a life or he takes the whole "reconstruct the person as alive to do our job" a little too far. Otherwise "Stevie" would have told him who killed her. Which she didn't. Her ghost even taunted him with her having a relationship which we now know wasn't true.
It may seem like hair-splitting, but they mean different things.
A manifest used as a noun (as River does) is a list of cargo or passengers carried on a ship or plane. Whereas, a manifestation , used as a noun is one of the forms in which someone or something, such as a person, a divine being, or an idea, is revealed or the materialized form of a spirit. [The Free Dictionary]
You're right, I think, about them being based on his guilt -- at least in part and the clue to that is in the word 'manifest'. They're his cargo.
She never directly says Hadar was a boyfriend. She asks, "You didn't think you were the only one, did you?" but she never says only one what. I'm certain she did not have a romantic relationship with River but many of the aspects of their relationship were so intimate that perhaps River unconsciously wanted one. When she says, Is it so hard to believe I had a boyfriend?, or when Hader seems to taunt him, nothing is ever directly said that definitively says they were sexually connected.
So, I don't actually think he sees Stevie's ghost, but the part of Stevie that had touched him, became a part of him and that he loved.
I think this is where the intuition that leads him to discover clues, resides as well. .
God made man because he loves stories. —Rabbi Nachman
In my captions it said "manifestations", sorry. I stand corrected.
She never directly says Hadar was a boyfriend. She asks, "You didn't think you were the only one, did you?" but she never says only one what.
That's exactly my point. Her ghost didn't appease him nor did she give him any information he didn't already have filed away somewhere in his mind. She is there for him to bounce ideas with but she doesn't give him any new information (in a way an actual ghost would). He imagines her because he needs her. Not sexually obviously but she is his only friend who knows everything about him, he loved her and he can't let go.
I think this is where the intuition that leads him to discover clues, resides as well.
That's what I think so too. His intuition knows things he's unwilling to consider and so he sees the manifests. Both the dead teenager of the first episode and the guy he chased to his death also in the first episode (sorry, I'm terrible with names) go away once he has accepted the truth about them. reply share
I think the manifests/manifestations mix-up is more than understandable -- it may be intended. Had I not watched last week's show again right before tonight's, I would not have caught it. It's the perfect example of the mind filling in the blanks.
His intuition knows things he's unwilling to consider and so he sees the manifests.
I think so.
He's not only in very early stage profound grief, but it's compounded by the PTSD of watching Stevie killed. The mind will protect itself -- sometimes with amnesia, sometimes with deep depression -- there are as many ways as there are minds.
Research has shown that we absorb much more than we're consciously aware of -- even if we're not traumatized with violence & grief. Clearly, since childhood, he's been able to mine the depths of his subconscious with these 'manifests'.
God made man because he loves stories. —Rabbi Nachman reply share
I'm waiting for the show to end so I can marathon it and see whatever else I've missed by watching one episode per week. I love British dramas and their pacing but I can miss things when the audio or the subtitles/captions aren't great.
I agree with you. River is on the verge of losing his mind and not only because of the manifests or his boss or his boss's boss. He's grieving and he needs to find Stevie's killer before he can begin to rest and heal.
She asks, "You didn't think you were the only one, did you?" but she never says only one what.
Maybe I'm over-thinking it, but I started to believe that Stevie's "other" relationship is her special bond with Frankie.
Perhaps River subconsciously picked up on her "hidden love" and misperceived it later when he though it was Hadar thereby projecting his jealousy onto Stevie's 'manifest.'
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I think those manifests are the way he deals with his guilt/grief. It's kind of "what if" some people are wallowing in when someone connected to them suddenly pass away without any closure.
But he doesn't see only people that are dear to him (i.e. Stevie). He sees other people too, including that guy when he was a child.
But you're right that it's how he deals with emotions. So far they all go away once he has resolved why they died/what they were hiding and has put them to rest.
The old guy when he was a child was dear to him in a sense -- he was lonely, and he had the guy to talk to. Also, the manifests don't go away after their deaths are resolved; they make occasional appearances.
He doesn't see ghosts. He also knows they are not ghosts.
This is obvious from the the fact he is seeing the 'ghost' of the gay construction worker while he is still alive, and that the 'ghost' of Haider is not even a little bit like the real person.
I just started watching but I don't believe they are ghost. I think they're more visions that have manifested from feelings of guilt or an inability to solve a crime that weighs on his conscience. I would think that Stevie, if she was a ghost would help him not only solve her murder but help him solve others as well.
Of course Ron Howard did this in beautiful mind. Most people with Schizophrenia have audio hallucinations and hardly any have full on relationships with invisible people dead or alive.