Official 1.04 "The Arrival" Discussion Thread

[MystikPeril]

Did anyone notice the sign on the warehouse towards the beginning of Episode 4? It said: "S.E. Kramer Manufacturing"

Which is the same name as the author of the Popular Mechanics blog posts debunking the various scientific claims in each episode.

I think they call that a "shout-out"

I did notice that and found it pretty amusing!

[linagee]

What I am able to deduce after watching this episode a second time is that they are playing with three generations of mind reading technologies.

1) The mind reading / mind linking technology in which Olivia was able to talk to her fiance using Walter's technology a few episodes back.

2) The "hunter" who seems to use a similar wire-link technology similiar to Walter's although the equipment used seems to be in smaller size. (also using a mind reading / mind linking technology) Some views of the oscilloscope type equipment seem to indicate two wavelengths are being looked at, similar to Walter's equipment.

3) "The observer" which does not seem to use any equipment at all but seems to be able to use the same mind reading / mind linking technology. Listen to the last part of the movie when Walter is talking to Peter in the hotel room about proximity and mind linking / mind reading, it seems to indicate this might be possible.

This leads me to believe either we are dealing with time travelers or something else... (Also notice the gun the hunter uses. It looks like a large prototype. The one the observer uses on Peter at the end seems to emanate the same pulse but smaller / looks like a normal gun.)

*** Also another thing I noticed on close examination of the HD version was that the observer's eye-piece (used in the restraunt) had a green-green-green-red small circles in the lower left corner. The same green-green-green-red small circles appeared on the "hunter"'s black hat.

If you look closely frame by frame at the observer's eye-piece, it looks like programming code appears. (A lot of IF THEN statements.) Maybe this isn't part of the show, but it is fun to notice.

Another interesting thing is that when the observer looks at his pocket watch in the restraunt it's 3:14 (or so) and the seconds are around second 5 or 6 when the explosion happens. (6 / 60 = 0.1). That is, 3.14 + 0.001 = 3.141??? (first sequence to PI.) Maybe another unitentional easter egg, maybe part of the plot. *shrug*

If the bald observer is from the future, maybe he is burying the diaries so that they can be found and decoded in the future?

-Linagee

[jords]

This leads me to believe either we are dealing with time travelers or something else... (Also notice the gun the hunter uses. It looks like a large prototype. The one the observer uses on Peter at the end seems to emanate the same pulse but smaller / looks like a normal gun.)

ITA, and wondered if the CRAZY-HOT!! sandwich was also a clue of some kind. Perhaps in the future they don't have jalapenos? Or are smart enough not to eat nearly raw roast beef? (I eat sushi/sashimi without issue but found that scene mildly stomach turning, despite the hilarious expressions on the waitresses' faces.)

I did flashback to the the whole "aliens liking sweet/hot food" deal from Roswell, but have trust that JJ wouldn't play that card.

Back to the guns - did anyone else think the hunter's gun looked like the same prototype EMP guns used in Eraser?

And finally, will Astrid forgive Walter?

[linagee]

jords: What do you think about the green-green-green-red? This has to have some significance.

[redgirl]

Great episode. I wonder what the bald man is. Angel? God? Alien? Experimentee? Also, I was wondering why Olivia is always going to these dangerous situations by herself?

[Wondermind]

jords: What do you think about the green-green-green-red? This has to have some significance.

The color sequence represents the level of rank and order in the organization. John Mosely (the hunter with the pulse wave gun) intention is to use the subteranean missle for some dark purpose where as the observer is to keep it safe from being use for that purpose and that is where Walter came in. The Observer is from the same organization (perhaps from a future time-line) and color sequence is important as well. Each man is playing out thier role. The hunter from our time line and the Observer from the future would be my initial guess. Good thread. Thing s are really heating up now. Their are indeed 3 versions of technologies being used as linegee pointed out. Now you have what appears to be a cross-dimensional and parallel time convergence at a certain axis in time in which the focal point is now in our time-stream. Perhaps the observer has come back in time to correct the errors of past sins committed by his organization from an earlier point in history.

[redgirl]

The green and red dots were also on the Zeno kayak. Time traveler society?

[D-Roc]

I agree with the general sentiments here - this was a fantastic episode, the show gets better and better and after this episode I can truely call myself a 'fan'.

There's so much that I loved about this episode - the little clues to a greater mythology that were given, the depth and scope given to Walter and Peter's relationship, the level of intensity and excitement that the episode carried, the continued growth of Olivia's character and her relationship with the other team members (especially her and Peter, felt some real vibes there and it didn't feel phoney). Creepy Bald Guy was AMAZING..just AMAZING! I think we'll see him as a recurring character, we simply have to - his connection with Peter (and Walter) and possibly Olivia (although they didn't make that connection as much as I thought they would) has so much potential. I also enjoyed the 'smaller' moments, such as Walter's apology to Astrid and her reaction to him - which I thought was perfect, as it shows the ethical boundaries that were crossed, and the relationships that were broken..and/or mended (in the case of Peter and Walter). I'm really interested to see how Astrid responds to Walter in the future, as they were getting really close and were quite a cute pairing.

All that and no Massive Dynamic and Nina! this bodes well for the future of the show - to have such an entertaining episode without the massively dynamic one is very good news indeed.

The John Scott breadcrumbs were also interesting - can't wait to see how it all unfolds in the future!

Oh, and good spot linagee - I also noticed the colours on Mosely's hat (but didn't notice the ones on the eye-piece - good job!)..do you remember the ZENO kayak in Olivia's dream (pilot 1.01)? I'm pretty sure those circle colors were also on the kayak, in fact I know they were, the only thing we need to check is whether the sequence is the same - I'll see if I can grab a screenie for comparison.

EDIT: lol, redgirl beat me to it whilst I was posting

EDIT 2: Here's the ZENO Kayak with the circle colors and Mosely's hat with the same pattern:



As has been mentioned and speculated prior to this episode, I think our bald friend is from the future - the ZENO forshadowing seems to support that, although there still might be some mis-direction in there.

For much of this episode, I thought Mosely was also from 'a' future, as I thought that both he and CBG (who's name I believe was credited as "September") where from 'different futures', but Broyles' comment about him being from Seattle or something, seems to quash that idea - although maybe not. Tbh, this aspect of the episode probably deserves it's own thread.

[Wondermind]

This is a great thread everybody. I am highly impressed with those contrubuting. It's good to engage with such a strong, intelligent and observant group. We'll crack this stuff yet.

[ryaninc]

I just found this site and I definitely plan to stick around. :-) Great discussion, it's given me a lot to think about. I agree that this is possibly the best episode yet. :-)