Episode six is a key episode when you think about everything that’s still to come.
What keeps coming to my mind while watching this episode is the question of how we, as humans in the real world, would react. A negative reaction is briefly shown at the end of episode five, and then we only see it one more time when Will, Saul, and Auggie try to buy alcohol. I thought it was really fitting because people start panic buying, even though the San-Ti won’t arrive for another 400 years. I find that realistic, because after such news, we might see a similar reaction here. But would it also work on the scientific side? Despite the difficulties and the fact that no real progress seems possible, would some people still not give up and try to keep advancing humanity?
I believe the author of the books really did his homework here, as with many other topics and areas, and thoroughly researched what might happen. There’s a part, which should be covered in the second season, where humanity goes through a major collapse, wiping out a large portion of the population before any real development takes place. No matter how it’s portrayed in the series, I recommend looking at the book because the future described there is really well done, with many innovations that make sense when you look at today’s developments.
Operation Staircase basically starts here, and I find it fascinating how its development is shown. You have all these scientists who live in their own world and don’t look beyond their own fields. Thomas Wade knows exactly who he needs to listen to and how to motivate them to get a decent result. Jin, on the other hand, thinks outside the box and isn’t discouraged by certain limitations. She works with the resources she has and builds on them, instead of just hoping that the right technology will be developed in a few decades, as suggested.
But Operation Staircase also lays the foundation for another event that fully unfolds in the third book. Spoiler warning! When we lose Will Downing, he is miraculously found by the San-Ti and turned back into a human. In the distant future, Jin and Will meet again, talk, and Will tells her three fairy tales he came up with. These three tales lead humans to develop a kind of faster-than-light drive, but it seems they stop before finishing it.
I’m particularly excited about these three fairy tales because I really enjoyed them in the book, and, as I’ve mentioned many times, I’m very curious to see how they will be portrayed in the series. Especially since they play a crucial role in a later catastrophic event.
The purchase of the star might seem a bit over the top, but it’s also an important event. Later, Jin and her friend will travel to that star to meet Will there. However, Jin won’t find Will, and everything that happens in between and afterward really blew me away. This will likely be one of the most challenging parts to adapt. There are so many events that need to be “checked off” before everything in the last third of the third book can make sense. And will Saul really become the Archivist?
My mind is racing because I’m being flooded with memories from the books, which are mixing with the visuals from the series. I recently read an article that said the creators are already working hard on seasons two and three. They now have a good idea of the cast’s abilities and can better judge who is capable of what. But the next two seasons will be so different that it might feel like they’re almost casting new actors and creating a new show, even though it’s the same cast.
This makes me feel very hopeful because the books are very different from each other, and if they’ve already understood this for the planning of the next seasons, they’ve already overcome a big hurdle.
I just remembered another difference that was portrayed much more emotionally in the series than in the book. This is because, in the series, we have this small group that doesn’t exist in the book in the same way, and there’s a strong friendship bond. We see a tearful farewell between Saul and Will, and Jin, who arrives too late to say goodbye after she finds out that the star is from Will. I have to admit, I got a bit emotional here, too—it was pretty intense. Especially since I think she already noticed that there was something between them, even before Will told her that he loves her. (And here I’m getting a bit ahead of myself because that happens in the next episode! But what does time even mean?)
The next two episodes tighten everything up, and as mentioned before, we also get to see the Wallfacers, although the information is a bit sparse, which I think I’ve mentioned before. Maybe I’ll talk more about that later.
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