Last week on Debris viewers were left on a cliffhanger with Bryan getting caught up in various iterations of the timeline, as he followed Shelby on his quest to get back to a time line where his sister still exists. In the latest iteration, Bryan found himself in an alternate reality where Finola was no longer his partner, but he found her counterpart and began to confess his feelings for his Finola to her.
But if any viewers thought this next episode was going to be an episode that was all about Bryan trying find a way back they may be sorely mistaken. Bryan and Shelby do end up reaching a dead-end and decide to jump again despite the degradation to the fabric of the universe(s), but suddenly the viewers do not reset with Bryan and agent Grace, but instead Finola and agent Grace! But the real kicker is that Shelby is not the one who has been trying to find a way back to their sibling, instead it is Kathleen, his twin sister!
This version of Finola who has been jumping started from a place where her father was dead, so it was a bit of a shock to her that she could reach him quite easily at Langley's Oribital division. Jones, like in almost every iteration he's in doesn't offer much help, except to say that the fabric of the universe is breaking down because of these resets/jumps. Finola asks him to make Oribital situation team stand down, and he insists that he can't. Finola then asks him what would be the last thing he would say to her, should he never see her again. His answer is, "I love you."
Finola and Kathleen jump and reset yet again, but this time Finola thinks she has figured out something her father had mentioned before--that Bryan and Shelby need to jump at the same time as they do! They are able to find Bryan and Shelby in a bleedthrough and make a plan to jump together in 2 mins!
Viewers watch both sides of reality play out and of course they jump together.
Finally it appears that the timeline is reset to time where Finola and Bryan are once again partners and they are called to the scene of Oceanside. Shelby and Kathleen are expecting them and tell them where the the debris is. A bit baffled, Finola and Bryan don't remember any of their previous iterations, and the Debris is seemingly recovered.
But to set the stage for the next episodes, the last scene remind viewers that this must be the right reality, as Maddox returns home only to find divorce papers (but could this piece of Debris change everything for him?) and Anson Ash makes contact with a guard through a fight with a metal tray that seems to allow him to hear what keys the security officer types into a security keypad!
I Am Icarus seems to be about a battle of wills making their own fate and plays to the battle for the debris at large!
The Fringe Factor
Again there wasn't so much a particular episode that jumps out, as much as the concept of White Tulip and perhaps a little bit of 6B (quantum entanglement created via bleed through) was amplified in this two part episode in a really great way!
I didn't just love the construct of twins creating bilateral deviation (ie: double branch off timelines) but the idea that it took quadruple emotional quantum entanglement to create bilateral convergence. In other words, it took the will or "desires" of four people to reset the timeline.
It was beautiful way to showcase where some of the characters are emotionally. Double iterations, double episodes, and double jumpers! For Bryan it's pretty clear he has feelings for Finola, feelings that may continue to be suppressed, since he doesn't seem to remember. As for Finola, however if she has deeper feelings for Bryan (of course she does!) it was never revealed in an obvious way, as she was often more concerned for the love of her father, granted she trusted Bryan and helped Kathleen...
In fact I thought it was sort of interesting the way the writers chose that Jones said, "I love you." to her in one of those last goarounds. In some ways, it was more of an apology, much like Fringe's white tulip idea, given that he wouldn't stop the situation team from picking up the debris. While it's hard to blame Jones for not wanting the universe to break down, it shows the character in a bit of new light--a time where he's really in his element and his motives could be seen as circumspect, given what this piece of debris can do-and how viewers are already set up not to trust The CIA, Maddox, and Anson Ash. In fact the inclusion of those last two characters in final scenes seems to almost indicate that they are both closer to reaching their goals given this piece of debris---and I have to wonder if this was actually the piece Jones was looking for and if Garcia knows this, as I feel almost certain that
On the other hand, it's a bit worrisome and exciting to think that maybe this isn't the most dangerous piece of debris and makes me wonder what this other piece might do????||
Last week I got a little bit into some possible Bad Robot connections as well and I have a couple more this week too!
For starters both Bryan and Finola have iterations where they end up partnered with an agent Lee Grace. In one iteration Finola ends up with an Agent with the surname Gibson. On Alias the final season introduced two new CIA agents, Rachel Gibson and Thomas Grace, who ended up having a romance together, but that tragically ends in Alias' season finale. (I haven't really thought of it before, but I have to say that Bryan's character has a very similar personality type to Thomas Grace.). However, kind of as an additional sidetrack, Fringe also had elements that could be compared with The X-Files. There was something about the casting or the manors of Debris' agents Grace and Gibson that kind of remind me Agents Doggett and Reyes in the sense that some fans felt like they were "add-ons" and took away something from the Mulder and Scully dynamic.
Last week I also mentioned LOST. I felt Shelby was reminiscent of the whole Boone and Shannon dynamic (minus the romance). Well it wasn't so much that Kathleen was anything like Shannon (maybe Claire and Charlie mash-up :p), but I forgot that the idea of going under the water to touch wreckage is also kind of reminiscent to Oceanic 815's plane crash---but speaking of, Anson's Ash's cell number is 108!!
108 is the total of the LOST numbers (4, 8, 15, 23, 42) added up and is the amount of time the Dharma Swan Station's countdown timer has to be RESET to, or the Island will implode seemingly taking all of existence with it (In fact Desmond causes Oceanic Flight 815 to crash, because he was late to punch the numbers in). My interpretation to LOST's ending was that the Island was time machine that housed life extension in all conceivable terms and that it allowed for the process of reincarnation. Viewers experience one life time or "go around", but with evidence and/or experiences of other previous iterations of time line around them. Hence something like all of Desmond's abilities showcasing this idea. (ie: all the ways Charlie had died in previous iterations, until thanks to Desmond, he spiritually progressed to die for a meaningful purpose. Also, maybe Finola is Bryan's constant xoxo?!).
Anyways, that's it for this week! Any theories out there? Other easter eggs I missed?! How did you like the episode? What do you think will happen now? Will Finola and Bryan ever remember what happened? Sound off in the comments below!!!
