Believe's third episode "Origin", written by executive producer Jonas Pate and directed by Stephen Williams, sheds light on the past, gets into fate, and reunites a mother and son ripped apart by The Ayatollah many years ago.
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Motherhood is highlighted further by a story of the week that starts off with a woman almost running Bo over on the street, whom William Tate takes the confrontation as an opportunity to pick pocket and lift her wallet. Bo is dismayed by Tate's choice and realist perspective of being jaded, and tells him it serves him right when there is no money to be found. Bo convinces him to give the wallet back and he agrees, again seeing another greedy opportunity. After using some more abilities they are able to get to the living space of the woman named Leona (Shohreh Aghdashkoo). Bo immediately connects with her and understands the loss of her son. Tate then steels a silver necklace with an amulet of a bird. The two soon take off to the apartment Winter had set up for them, but the FBI find them soon after and the two are forced to take off again until Winter can meet up with them. Not sure where to go, the blue butterfly appears and Bo is able to figure out that they need to go to "Half Moon" where there also happens to be a pawn shop. Tate is in the process of trying to sell the necklace when Bo finds Leona's son working in the back of the pawn shop. Bo is able to convince him that she understands and is like him, despite that he says he is not at first, but after Bo shows him the necklace, he knows that Bo is telling the truth. A little later in the episode he takes the necklace to his mother and they reunite at long last. Motherhood is also lightly touched on too with a reminder that FBI agent Ferrell is mother, which leads me to believe that there will be a good story arc for her character down the line.
Well Zoe (Kerry Condon) being Bo's mom theory is obviously debunked now, but it doesn't disclose that Skouras or Zoe couldn't still be blood relatives, especially since we know that Nina's mom was institutionalized when Nina was 15, and we have no mentioning of whatever happened to her let alone nothing was said about Nina's father. Additionally we see that Skouras has invested in the belief of these people even before Winter joins his project. When the first information about the series came out, it was mentioned, much like Alias and Fringe that Bo's existence and Milton's need to protect her for another 7 years tied into a prophecy.
It then makes sense to me that there is a story behind Bo's race and that either Skouras just disregards it for his own greed and/or need to control the world, or he and Milton just disagree about interpreting some line of text, but if it's of any consolation, we should take comfort in Bo's belief that there are no coincidences and that everything that happens in this universe is suppose to happen...
Additionally I also loved the way this episode tied back to things seen in the Pilot from the blue butterfly resurfacing to the bird necklace referencing back to the pigeons in the warehouse. It seems entities of flight are going to be highly thematic to the series
Additionally I also loved the way this episode tied back to things seen in the Pilot from the blue butterfly resurfacing to the bird necklace referencing back to the pigeons in the warehouse. It seems entities of flight are going to be highly thematic to the series
And lastly other things I'm pondering, I'm also pretty sure Corey (Arian Moayed), the guy that left Winter's group will become, if he's not already, a member of Skouras' group, as the character's original casting call described him as Moore's "Right Hand" Man.
Johnny Sequoya and Jake McLaughlin continue to have great chemistry on screen and I felt that both actors have started to ease into their roles, but additionally Delroy Lindo and Kyle MacLachlan also have an interesting dynamic and more personality came out of both actors in this episode as well. It was also nice to be able to get into the back story behind Bo's mother this early in series, as episodes like this sometimes don't show themselves a little later in the season. Another plus is that there seems to be a lot of characters starting to emerge and that gives the writers an opportunity to shock and amaze viewers with a lot of unexpected plot threads and character development down the road.
Bad Robot Factor:
Each week after my review I will bring this section relating to many things Bad Robot in relationship to the episode, as I feel certain Bad Robot often makes a point to reference themselves with similar characters, subject matter, riffs, easter eggs, aesthetics, contrasting situations, & occasionally shared pop cultural references. So this section is to explore the possibility of those things, which may provide some and insight speculation and at the very least food for thought and/or trivia. I also think it's just fun to be able to reminisce!
Each week after my review I will bring this section relating to many things Bad Robot in relationship to the episode, as I feel certain Bad Robot often makes a point to reference themselves with similar characters, subject matter, riffs, easter eggs, aesthetics, contrasting situations, & occasionally shared pop cultural references. So this section is to explore the possibility of those things, which may provide some and insight speculation and at the very least food for thought and/or trivia. I also think it's just fun to be able to reminisce!
Nina Soft (William and Nina Romance)
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Note: The surname Adams could by a play on words for allusions to Adam and Eve and The Book of Genesis, as Adams means: "Son of Adam" and/or could also allude to the basic unit of matter: Atoms
The First People
"With more Corexiphan children, their collective psychic energy could...you know, Belly and I always agreed that, that primal part of the brain which allows us to cross universes is also responsible for a host of -of paranormal activities - pyrokinesis, telepathy, thought control. And that we all had these abilities until...'til there was a moment in history when something was don to us, --and it was shut down." -Walter Bishop "Over There Pt. 1."
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As mentioned above this leads to me believe that like with either Alias and Milo Rambaldi's works or Fringe with The First People, that the series will explore a mythology centered around some kind of prophecy or manuscript in relation to Bo and other with kinetic abilities.
To See You Again
The reuniting of son and mother also reminded me of Fringe "Over There Part 1", because this is the one episode where Peter is able to reunite with his biological mother, as he was stolen/saved by non biological counterpart of his father, Walter Bishop, of another parallel universe. This is also similar to the ending of Lost where a lot of the characters exist together in an after life or in between and along side ethereal plane, but most importantly it is where Jack finds resolve in finally connecting back with his father again which was a driving force behind Jack's whole story.
Note: Another Fringe wink with "red and green lights" and the Lincoln Tunnel.
New York City Serenade
A pawn shop in New York City is also another thing iconic to Fringe, but the way the episode was set up with all of these groups of people hunting down Bo and Tate --and with so many characters from these groups coming to light and having these people constantly monitoring Bo and Tate, actually felt more like a Person of Interest episode, which has me more than hopeful about the way this series can go.
Director and Producer Stephen Williams has worked on lot of Bad Robot episodes from Lost, Undercovers, and Person of Interest. He also shares another connection with Damion Lindelof whom both worked on Crossing Jordan.
Much like Banshee alumni Trieste Kelly Dunn has guest stared on an episode of Fringe ("Midnight"), so does her Believe character's co-worker Agent Martin played by Banshee alumni Matthew Rauch who's guest stared on an episode of Person of Interest ("In Extremis").
CIA & DARPA
Winter's past with the science division of the CIA and Darpa is also reminiscent to things heard of or seen in Fringe and Alias, as in Alias there is the CIA science division headed by Agent Kendall (Terry ' O Quinn) called DSR (Department of Special Research) and on Fringe the CIA's science division is occasionally mentioned from Agent Michael's trying to get a hold of the child observer ("Inner Child") and from awareness of projects that slip out into the public like "Project Jellyfish" ("Concentrate and Ask Again"). DARPA is also mentioned as apart of "extra" season 3 tie-in material.
Note: Last Week mentioned a strange science division of the US air force featured in Super 8.
Do Not Mistake Coincidence For Fate
A lot of Bad Robot works tend to exist in fate orientated universes, as the high concept fantasy and/or science fiction elements are ripe for the series to philosophically explore identity with a metaphysical backbone. It appears given both Bo's role in the world to help people and because she states that there are no coincidences, that we are in another fate oriented universe...
So what did you think of 1.03 "Origin"? Do you think Skouras could be related to Bo? Are you mad a Milton for not yet telling Tate the truth about Bo? Did you like some of Bo's newly seen abilities? Did you like this weeks story of the week? Any theories about anything out there? Let us know in the comments below!
Do Not Mistake Coincidence For Fate
A lot of Bad Robot works tend to exist in fate orientated universes, as the high concept fantasy and/or science fiction elements are ripe for the series to philosophically explore identity with a metaphysical backbone. It appears given both Bo's role in the world to help people and because she states that there are no coincidences, that we are in another fate oriented universe...
So what did you think of 1.03 "Origin"? Do you think Skouras could be related to Bo? Are you mad a Milton for not yet telling Tate the truth about Bo? Did you like some of Bo's newly seen abilities? Did you like this weeks story of the week? Any theories about anything out there? Let us know in the comments below!
I haven't watched since the pilot,not even sure i will until the summer? I just wanted you to know why i haven't been reading your reviews.
ReplyDeleteThe Show is great but the slot is totally wrong still I feel that it might pick up somehow.
ReplyDeleteI'm still watching! Even though it hasn't done well so far, I still like this storyline as opposed to what we see with Resurrection so far. Resurrection has too much of a soap opera type story for me, even if they keep including the idea of these people coming back from the dead somehow. I like the science leaning shows better.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'm glad we are getting the facts on Bo's background so quickly. I noticed that Winter didn't say whether or not Bo knows that Tate is her dad. Maybe she just "knows" anyway. Not sure if Skouras is related to her or not. We do see that his main thrill is the ability to impress the important people of the world with his abilities through his patients. I guess I just see him in the roll of mad scientist a little more than caring about what happens to his patients at his clinic.
I don't think that Tate is ready for the truth about Bo just yet. The two of them are bonding and you can tell from this episode that they are connecting at last. I just think that Milton is waiting for the right moment for this to all come together. We did hear Tate mention Nina though to Bo as he said something about a woman he lost in his life. They are both connected through her and we have already seen that they both "see" the blue butterfly which symbolizes her watching over them. Tate saw it in the prison escape in the hall and now we see Bo recognize it while they stand on the street looking for the pawn shop.
I know this will probably be similar to POI with Bo helping/saving people each week but I'm okay with that. This is what she was meant do to with her powers, not save the world from some political uprising that Skouras wants done. She is doing good in a different way and although this might not be good for ratings on a TV show, I like to see this type of storyline each week.
So for now I'll keep watching and following along probably with the idea that it won't last but I like Bo and Tate and even Milton enough to stay with it.
"I'm still watching! Even though it hasn't done well so far, I still like this storyline as opposed to what we see with Resurrection so far. Resurrection has too much of a soap opera type story for me, even if they keep including the idea of these people coming back from the dead somehow. I like the science leaning shows better."
ReplyDeleteI feel the exact same way!
" don't think that Tate is ready for the truth about Bo just yet. The two of them are bonding and you can tell from this episode that they are connecting at last. I just think that Milton is waiting for the right moment for this to all come together. We did hear Tate mention Nina though to Bo as he said something about a woman he lost in his life. They are both connected through her and we have already seen that they both "see" the blue butterfly which symbolizes her watching over them. Tate saw it in the prison escape in the hall and now we see Bo recognize it while they stand on the street looking for the pawn shop.
I know this will probably be similar to POI with Bo helping/saving people each week but I'm okay with that. This is what she was meant do to with her powers, not save the world from some political uprising that Skouras wants done. She is doing good in a different way and although this might not be good for ratings on a TV show, I like to see this type of storyline each week.
So for now I'll keep watching and following along probably with the idea that it won't last but I like Bo and Tate and even Milton enough to stay with it."
100% Agree :) Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
That would be SO nice! :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the revive was negative or positive, because I'm sorry I didn't read it, But I love this show.
ReplyDeleteAnd I like the fate oriented worlds. As Yuuko used to say: "everything is a matter of fate"!
It was more analytically than really a positive or negative review, as I'm a big Bad Robot fan and rarely don't like an episode of any of their works, but am also interested in making connections between them.
ReplyDeleteBut that doesn't mean I lie about the facts either, which is the ratings are unfortunately very bad. I knew this would happen, because it's not a good time slot at this time of year.
OK Thanks for your honesty... lol!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteI liked this episode, while I'm still not sold on the idea of hiding Bo in NY. There are to many cameras with facial recognition, but it is a city where nobody pays much attention to who is beside them.
I don't think Skouras is related to Bo.
I think Winter is right to not tell Tate about Bo. It might freak him out. He is waiting for Tate to grow attached to her so that when he tells Tate he likes these news instead of being in shock and freaking out about the responsability. If he is told later on, Tate will already feel much more responsible for Bo.
Loved her new abilities and the fact that her father's actions end up converging with her abilities in order to create the situations necessary for her to act. Had he not stolen the wallet or the necklace, like Bo later said, Bo wouldn't have been able to reunite a mother and her son. I think that aspect of the episode highlighted their connection very well.