Carole & Tuesday – 18

「Only Love Can Break Your Heart」

I see what happened here. If I take a step back and look at the whole picture, Carole & Tuesday eased us in. The first half of the series was about getting to know the main players in the story. It set up each character’s backstory and established the inevitable part they’ll play in Carole & Tuesday’s journey.

The story already has a few loose threads (plot holes/unnecessary arcs) but I’m willing to wager that Watanabe won’t ‘resolve’ any of them. There might be no point to Tuesday being harassed at Mars Brightest. There might be no point in meeting Desmond and so on. A strong story with unending paths is better than a thinly built plot with a generic and predictable end. This storytelling style is similar to this thing we call ‘life’. It’s continuous and stories don’t ever ‘end.’ Now I’m not yet saying this story is solid but it’s definitely on a better path.

Alright, enough with my antics and onto the good stuff. It should already be evident this episode has me thinking quite a bit. Not only about the general view of how to process this uncontrollable time we spend on this planet but also about what the future holds for the characters of this show.

I’m now extremely concerned for Angie (Angela’s my main girl now so I get give her a nickname). I’m ecstatic for Carole and Tuesday. I’m crushed by Tuesday’s first love. And, I’m worried about Jerry’s influence on Valerie.

Tuesday generously provided some insight into Valerie’s character. While interviewing with Kyle, she acknowledges the differences between her views and her mother’s but she also expresses understanding towards her mother’s position and the pressure she must have endured. I can tell you right now, at seventeen, I’m pretty sure no girl understood their mother the way Tuesday does. It can’t have been easy to raise two children and rise to power within politics as a woman, even if it’s decades past 2019 and our species has colonized an entirely different planet. I wonder if Valerie is aware of the puppet master controlling her every move. Was her desire to climb up the ladder create a weak spot Jerry took advantage? There’s a lot going on with her but, like I said earlier, I very much doubt this thread will find any true resolution.

Jerry, on the other hand, is twisted. If he’s the person funding the terrorist attack on the weather plant (as he so subtly ‘hinted’ to), he’s madder than I thought. The real villain of the show has finally emerged from the shadows. True he’s had influence over Valerie but nothing pointed him out as a deranged campaign manager. Risking the stability and lives of the people of Alba city all to win a presidential campaign, huh? Yeah, definitely deranged.

That said, what’s with the snow on mars? I assume the plant creates the weather in Alba city similarly to all other cities (or populated areas) but snow too? Did the psychological and environmental departments of the terraforming program recommend to keep all four seasons for the wellbeing of the people of Mars? Or is this just an add in to make North American viewers relate to the environment? OK. I got too technical but these are legitimate concerns of mine, so I had to share.

Kyle is great too. He’s a journalist, activist in a way, and wants to work towards the betterment of society. He can see the changes coming and is fearful of them. I just hope his prodding doesn’t put him at risk of ‘disappearing.’ Jerry’s already blown up a facility. He probably wouldn’t be against getting rid of other bumps in the road either.

I’m a little disappointed as to Aaron still being alive. I thought the show might get a little darker. At the end of the 17th episode, it really looked as though he’d died. But nope, just a little maimed, a concussion, and some fractures. OK. Pretty bad but not as bad as I thought. AI just isn’t safe, eh? What would happen if all the AI on Mars gets hacked? Or blown to bits? They’d have to head back to Earth for a while… That might change things up for the political game Valerie is playing.

And finally, Tuesday. Poor, poor Tuesday. She’s absolutely smitten by the beautiful man showing interest in her but she can’t yet tell the difference between ‘obligation’ and ‘genuine interest.’ Some might say this love interest was rushed but I think the timing and ‘fleetingness’ of it was necessary to show how Tuesday is still very naive, young, and new to this thing called ‘life’. Kyle was only doing his job and being a gentleman, nothing more, nothing less. It was difficult to watch as her first crush resembles my first crush, and probably many other viewers.

Anyway, she’ll be extra busy working on the album and preparing for the upcoming Cydonia festival in the ‘fall’ where Angie will be performing with Ertegun too. Or perhaps it’ll result in a killer album. We’ve already gotten a sneak peak with the new song playing during Carole and Tuesday’s reunion on the bridge and I thought it was pretty good.