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I have so many feelings, I mean thoughts, about "Lucky Day"!
If UNIT were all frauds used to control people, how could Conrad fake them out? They'd have known the Shreek call was a false alarm and wouldn't have come. He could claim they are bad at their jobs, but the whole scenario shows that UNIT believes there is a real threat, and also that they were capable of recognizing that this was not that real threat in the nick of time. Frankly, I don't trust any military organization on earth to do what UNIT did there.
But that's part of the point. The demonstration that UNIT was fake failed to demonstrate anything of the kind, but that's the story of at least the US nowadays, and the episode seems to demonstrate that it feels the same in the UK.
I am still seething at and about Conrad half an hour after finishing the episode because it hit home too much. It's terribly heavy-handed, but so is what I see happening around me.
Conrad really did reject reality. He believed in the moments he needed help, and as soon as he felt safe, he was laughing about special effects again. He didn't even believe he was in the TARDIS. I have spent the last ten years trying to decide whether people are deluded or lying, especially those in power. I am repeatedly confounded because can be both/and instead of either/or. This episode felt so on the nose that I am horrified and think it shouldn't work, and yet it worked a bit too well for me (see "seething").
I felt bad for eight-year-old Conrad. I thought Jonah Hauer-King did excellent work, convincing both as a sweet, awkward guy and an entitled influencer with no compunction about shooting someone who's helping him. When he admitted not taking the antidote but told Ruby that he wanted to be brave, and replace the Doctor, I said to Brilliant Husband, "Oh, too bad: he's not really boyfriend material after all." I was right, but for the wrong reasons! (Also, I admit with some embarrassment that I have seen all 13 episodes of World on Fire and spent the whole episode going, "He looks familiar, but maybe he just looks like someone. He's the star of World on Fire!
I love Kate. Ibrahim is right: she went too far. But stepping in front of Ruby and shouting, "Don’t you dare point a gun at her!" felt so right. She's flawed, and she was wrong, and I love her anyway. I'm glad she has Shirley and Ibrahim around her, and I hope she listens to them more.
And I love Ruby, who can't come off high alert. I love all her mums (counting her grandmother, crowing over the shirtless pic!). It's both great to have such support—but also a bit scary! I hope we'll keep checking in with Ruby.
Also, the Vlinx evacuating gave a nice comedic short break to the tension!
Conrad asks the Doctor if he has met Belinda Chandra again, and the Doctor appears not to have met her yet! Is this how he starts looking into her, which brings us into the first episode of the season? I like it!
I do not like Mrs Flood letting Conrad out.
If UNIT were all frauds used to control people, how could Conrad fake them out? They'd have known the Shreek call was a false alarm and wouldn't have come. He could claim they are bad at their jobs, but the whole scenario shows that UNIT believes there is a real threat, and also that they were capable of recognizing that this was not that real threat in the nick of time. Frankly, I don't trust any military organization on earth to do what UNIT did there.
But that's part of the point. The demonstration that UNIT was fake failed to demonstrate anything of the kind, but that's the story of at least the US nowadays, and the episode seems to demonstrate that it feels the same in the UK.
I am still seething at and about Conrad half an hour after finishing the episode because it hit home too much. It's terribly heavy-handed, but so is what I see happening around me.
Conrad really did reject reality. He believed in the moments he needed help, and as soon as he felt safe, he was laughing about special effects again. He didn't even believe he was in the TARDIS. I have spent the last ten years trying to decide whether people are deluded or lying, especially those in power. I am repeatedly confounded because can be both/and instead of either/or. This episode felt so on the nose that I am horrified and think it shouldn't work, and yet it worked a bit too well for me (see "seething").
I felt bad for eight-year-old Conrad. I thought Jonah Hauer-King did excellent work, convincing both as a sweet, awkward guy and an entitled influencer with no compunction about shooting someone who's helping him. When he admitted not taking the antidote but told Ruby that he wanted to be brave, and replace the Doctor, I said to Brilliant Husband, "Oh, too bad: he's not really boyfriend material after all." I was right, but for the wrong reasons! (Also, I admit with some embarrassment that I have seen all 13 episodes of World on Fire and spent the whole episode going, "He looks familiar, but maybe he just looks like someone. He's the star of World on Fire!
I love Kate. Ibrahim is right: she went too far. But stepping in front of Ruby and shouting, "Don’t you dare point a gun at her!" felt so right. She's flawed, and she was wrong, and I love her anyway. I'm glad she has Shirley and Ibrahim around her, and I hope she listens to them more.
And I love Ruby, who can't come off high alert. I love all her mums (counting her grandmother, crowing over the shirtless pic!). It's both great to have such support—but also a bit scary! I hope we'll keep checking in with Ruby.
Also, the Vlinx evacuating gave a nice comedic short break to the tension!
Conrad asks the Doctor if he has met Belinda Chandra again, and the Doctor appears not to have met her yet! Is this how he starts looking into her, which brings us into the first episode of the season? I like it!
I do not like Mrs Flood letting Conrad out.
From:
no subject
I've been seeing MAGA folk essentially rewriting things in their head all the time. It was something described in 1984, but I'd never thought I'd see it happening at this level. Major event happens, MAGA folk are all over the map for a day or two with conspiracy theories, until they get their "reality" from Fox News or similar news media. Then all of a sudden, those theories are quickly forgotten like they never existed, and the new story is now the story.
Maybe Conrad is a grifter, but has been marinating in that mindset for so long, he can't remember his own objective reality? We might not see Conrad again, but I wouldn't be surprised if the concept is revisited, as there's supposedly a UNIT series in the works.
From:
no subject
I've occasionally seen MAGA people rewrite stuff almost in real time. I've also seen a colleague repeatedly misrepresent things that happened in a way that messed with my head. I'm not sure I can call it "gaslighting," because I think gaslighting is intentional. I think the colleague believed what they said at the moment they said it, but I found myself after meetings digging up emails and minutes because they were so earnest that I felt I was losing my memory or my grip on reality!
That's where I think Conrad is: as you say, "marinating in that mindset for so long, he can't remember his own objective reality."
From:
no subject
There's an interesting bit of "I can't be wrong" threaded into being able to warp objective reality. I see so many people who just aren't very educated on a topic who suddenly think they know more than people who studied it all their adult lives. If something goes against what they think it should, then it's wrong, not them. No facts, just vibes.
If you've been watching Andor, Mon Mothma has a banger of a speech where she talks about "The distance between what is said and what is known to be true has become an abyss. Of all the things at risk, the loss of an objective reality is perhaps the most dangerous." Reminded me of this conversation about Conrad, as well as... other things.
From:
no subject
And SF tv has too much in common with reality these days.
From:
no subject
I know SF is supposed to be allegory of the future, whether near or far future. I didn't expect to be living it live.