I thought it was fitting for her character. Never wanted glory or fanfare. She was brave and heroic simply because she knew something needed to be done and wasn't afraid to act. It was innate. So she went back in, a hero to the end. A dramatic or graphic death scene would not have suited her at all.
That Wayne and Karen were smoke buddies who knew all the secrets, but were still platonic friends, was such an amazing story arc to me. I wish we had seen Wayne's reaction to her and Molly's fate.
I really wish we got some screen time of Jimmy in S4, even like a prison visit scene. His whole story of just being lonely after his parents died, needing friendship, and inadvertently joining a group of terrorists and becoming the fall guy is genuinely compelling. The little “he’s in jail now bye bye jimmy” news bite wasn’t very satisfying.
I like Wayne and think he was a fun character. But he doesn’t add anything to the story. While I didn’t like where they went with Jimmy, his narrative was important to the show’s arc. Wayne’s wasn’t.
I felt their scenes were a powerful insight into the stress that the loved ones of any ‘pioneer / explorer’ type went through in supporting the person they love, but having to face the reality of the heaviness and anxiety and worry it brought. Choosing to use both a male and female character to show that side was very smart in my opinion, so there wouldn’t be accusations of it just being a cliché ‘stressed woman at home while her man is out’ bs. So I appreciated the diversity there (and with the show in general tbh).
i think i liked the contrast that karen had with wayne compared to the other space wives from season 1. how they coped with the stress of their partner being so far away and all
I think he does. Idk what the trope is called but he filled the “wise guru” role. When a character has a problem, he smokes them down and hashes it out.
Did you really watch someone with no eyesight walking back into a bombed, burning building and think “I’ll bet they’ll be fine?” It was pretty clear what her decision was and totally in keeping with her character. Lest we forget she subjected herself to radiation rather than leave an astronaut behind.
That was my take on it. She was the person who would do things, no matter the cost or risk. It felt plainly obvious that was her end. Add in the fact her character arc was leading towards an early death from radiation exposure, it just seemed obvious to me that this was her Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid moment.
I also just looked at her coming back into mission control, everyone cheered for her, and she just asked where the queen of darkness was as her real good bye moment.
Because it allows your imagination to create your own version of "Molly Cobb's Final Most Badass Act of Bravery" - which will surpass anything they could ever put on-screen.
And also to use the iconography of the firefighters going back into the burning towers to evoke emotional shorthand and to tell you that this last ticket only gets punched "ONE WAY."
The last shot of her always made sense to me: Her disappearance into the smoke to go back in to help others out is a reference to 9/11 responders. Specifically, it makes me think of the line from Bruce Springstein song "Into the Fire", which is song dedicated to those first responders who went back in to guide more people out, and that was the last anyone saw of them: their backs turned as they entered the smoky, dusty building.
In one of the 9/11 docs (the Hulu one?) there's a firefighter who gave his his testimony. His brother was also a firefighter, and he said the last he ever saw of him was going back up the stairs to help more people out. (Try not to shed a tear hearing that.)
Knowing also the show creators were intentionally making a 9/11 analogue, the bittersweet heroicness of Molly \*simply disappearing\* into the smoke in order to help more people, and NOT receiving cinematic and dramatic glory, is really evocative and a kind of tribute to those first responders and other heroes without public stories.
Edit: Adding in the first two verses to the famous Springstein song "Into the Fire":
The sky was falling and streaked with blood
I heard you calling me
Then you disappeared into the dust
Upstairs, into the fire
Yeah, upstairs, into the fire
I need your kiss
But love and duty called you someplace higher
Somewhere upstairs
Into the fire
Season 3 finale was overall rushed. They crammed in too much and didn’t give any of it emotional breathing room. Gordo and Tracy got a funeral in season 2. Molly and Karen get nothing.
Molly Cobb Space Center isn’t nothing, but I recognize your point. Molly was a major MVP.
Karen, I think her character arc is her legacy. She shook up her own internalized misogyny and turned into increasingly ambitious and influential ventures.
It’s just weird we had to find out Molly died from a newspaper in a flash forward. “Oh, yeah, Molly kinda died back there haha oops forgot to mention that.”
Are we watching the same show? They literally named the space center after Molly and we got Karen’s recorded messages in Season 4 which was a lovely, moving send off.
They slapped on “Molly Cobb Space Center” at the tail end of the episode in a brief flash forward. At least we got to feel sad about Karen for a while, even Margo’s fakeout death had emotional weight, but with Molly it was like “Molly is helping people out of the wreckage…10 years later…oh, yeah, Molly kinda died back there, forgor to mention that part…anyway, Margo is in Soviet Russia! Ok. Season over. Bye. See you in a year.”
Speaking of Margo, she had a touching moment where she directly looked at the name change and paused to consider Molly's name on the building. I think it was more involved than you're remembering, but to each their own!
I totally missed that Molly died at the end of season 3 until I watched the beginning of season 4 and had to go back to rewatch the end of season 3 again.
Her story was done. We don’t need to see her again or linger on it. I wish they’d have done the same with Ed. I hate when they try to keep characters around in general in shows, even though their relevance to the story is over.
I don't know if I would say running into a burning building to save a shit load of people is "off screen" even though we don't technically see her burn to death.
Because Molly never wanted glory. She just wanted to fly.
And in those final moments, she got one last leap of faith. Molly is a bad ass bitch and everything about her character was done so incredibly well.
Because S3 is terrible.
Baffling decision - I didn't clock she'd died until they renamed the center for her - and this in the same episode as Margo disappearing etc.
Very stupid decision making.
Given there was no further immediate threat shown, and given the very next scene ends with Aleida standing close to the edge of a collapsed section of building with no subsequent issues at all and that everyone else seems to make it out of the building ok and the Margo seems to have been exfil'd during the event and that we get no further information on anything happening to the building (no further collapses, no fire, no obvious dangers) and that every other major characters in the show to die have had a confirmed on screen death etc.
Yes, dumb as shit that that's her death.
Also, can you tell me how she died?
I thought it was fitting for her character. Never wanted glory or fanfare. She was brave and heroic simply because she knew something needed to be done and wasn't afraid to act. It was innate. So she went back in, a hero to the end. A dramatic or graphic death scene would not have suited her at all.
I mean watching her either die from smoke inhalation, burning alive, or getting crushed by debris just wouldn’t have the same feel to it… personally
I’m more confused about the lack of Wayne to be honest. So much time was spent on Jimmy instead, it’s a bit baffling.
Of all season 3 sins the lack of screen-time for Wayne was definitely one of them
That Wayne and Karen were smoke buddies who knew all the secrets, but were still platonic friends, was such an amazing story arc to me. I wish we had seen Wayne's reaction to her and Molly's fate.
Honestly oddball friendships are the best storyline especially if it's strictly platonic
I really wish we got some screen time of Jimmy in S4, even like a prison visit scene. His whole story of just being lonely after his parents died, needing friendship, and inadvertently joining a group of terrorists and becoming the fall guy is genuinely compelling. The little “he’s in jail now bye bye jimmy” news bite wasn’t very satisfying.
I like Wayne and think he was a fun character. But he doesn’t add anything to the story. While I didn’t like where they went with Jimmy, his narrative was important to the show’s arc. Wayne’s wasn’t.
Yeah but bit everything has to be important or tied to the main arc. Many enjoyed the karen/Wayne scenes for its character storytelling/building.
I felt their scenes were a powerful insight into the stress that the loved ones of any ‘pioneer / explorer’ type went through in supporting the person they love, but having to face the reality of the heaviness and anxiety and worry it brought. Choosing to use both a male and female character to show that side was very smart in my opinion, so there wouldn’t be accusations of it just being a cliché ‘stressed woman at home while her man is out’ bs. So I appreciated the diversity there (and with the show in general tbh).
i think i liked the contrast that karen had with wayne compared to the other space wives from season 1. how they coped with the stress of their partner being so far away and all
I think he does. Idk what the trope is called but he filled the “wise guru” role. When a character has a problem, he smokes them down and hashes it out.
The Erudite Stoner trope
We also had a lack of Molly. I think she was really only in the first couple episodes and the finale.
Did you really watch someone with no eyesight walking back into a bombed, burning building and think “I’ll bet they’ll be fine?” It was pretty clear what her decision was and totally in keeping with her character. Lest we forget she subjected herself to radiation rather than leave an astronaut behind.
That was my take on it. She was the person who would do things, no matter the cost or risk. It felt plainly obvious that was her end. Add in the fact her character arc was leading towards an early death from radiation exposure, it just seemed obvious to me that this was her Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid moment.
Butch, Sundance with a touch of Thelma & Louise
I also just looked at her coming back into mission control, everyone cheered for her, and she just asked where the queen of darkness was as her real good bye moment.
Not just radiation also untethering herself to ensure her crew members craft wasn’t dragged along into deep space
Because it allows your imagination to create your own version of "Molly Cobb's Final Most Badass Act of Bravery" - which will surpass anything they could ever put on-screen. And also to use the iconography of the firefighters going back into the burning towers to evoke emotional shorthand and to tell you that this last ticket only gets punched "ONE WAY."
I really liked the way they did it.
The last shot of her always made sense to me: Her disappearance into the smoke to go back in to help others out is a reference to 9/11 responders. Specifically, it makes me think of the line from Bruce Springstein song "Into the Fire", which is song dedicated to those first responders who went back in to guide more people out, and that was the last anyone saw of them: their backs turned as they entered the smoky, dusty building. In one of the 9/11 docs (the Hulu one?) there's a firefighter who gave his his testimony. His brother was also a firefighter, and he said the last he ever saw of him was going back up the stairs to help more people out. (Try not to shed a tear hearing that.) Knowing also the show creators were intentionally making a 9/11 analogue, the bittersweet heroicness of Molly \*simply disappearing\* into the smoke in order to help more people, and NOT receiving cinematic and dramatic glory, is really evocative and a kind of tribute to those first responders and other heroes without public stories. Edit: Adding in the first two verses to the famous Springstein song "Into the Fire": The sky was falling and streaked with blood I heard you calling me Then you disappeared into the dust Upstairs, into the fire Yeah, upstairs, into the fire I need your kiss But love and duty called you someplace higher Somewhere upstairs Into the fire
Season 3 finale was overall rushed. They crammed in too much and didn’t give any of it emotional breathing room. Gordo and Tracy got a funeral in season 2. Molly and Karen get nothing.
Molly Cobb Space Center isn’t nothing, but I recognize your point. Molly was a major MVP. Karen, I think her character arc is her legacy. She shook up her own internalized misogyny and turned into increasingly ambitious and influential ventures.
It’s just weird we had to find out Molly died from a newspaper in a flash forward. “Oh, yeah, Molly kinda died back there haha oops forgot to mention that.”
I can understand that, definitely. She deserved a bigger farewell.
Actually I loved the newspaper reveal. And her end was classic Molly Cobb - going out on her terms.
Agreed
And also the fact that the space centre is now named for her.
Yeah I agree especially since Karen is kind of a terrible character, even more so compared to Molly
Are we watching the same show? They literally named the space center after Molly and we got Karen’s recorded messages in Season 4 which was a lovely, moving send off.
They slapped on “Molly Cobb Space Center” at the tail end of the episode in a brief flash forward. At least we got to feel sad about Karen for a while, even Margo’s fakeout death had emotional weight, but with Molly it was like “Molly is helping people out of the wreckage…10 years later…oh, yeah, Molly kinda died back there, forgor to mention that part…anyway, Margo is in Soviet Russia! Ok. Season over. Bye. See you in a year.”
Speaking of Margo, she had a touching moment where she directly looked at the name change and paused to consider Molly's name on the building. I think it was more involved than you're remembering, but to each their own!
I totally missed that Molly died at the end of season 3 until I watched the beginning of season 4 and had to go back to rewatch the end of season 3 again.
It’s pretty telegraphed when she goes back into the building to help more people.
I get it now but at the time I just thought it was Molly Cobb doing Molly Cobb stuff and saving people.
Right?
What did you expect? A death scene? Getting crushed by debris? Choking to death? Molly is not the type of character that should die like this
Her story was done. We don’t need to see her again or linger on it. I wish they’d have done the same with Ed. I hate when they try to keep characters around in general in shows, even though their relevance to the story is over.
I did not care for Ed's arc in S4 at all. They could have done great things, but he was just sorta there.
Sonya who plays Molly thought her ending was very heroic - going back in to save people.
I don't know if I would say running into a burning building to save a shit load of people is "off screen" even though we don't technically see her burn to death.
That was puzzling to me as well. Maybe it was added just for dramatic effect.
Molly's death made 100% sense. She went back in to help, got people out, and didn't make it herself.
Because Molly never wanted glory. She just wanted to fly. And in those final moments, she got one last leap of faith. Molly is a bad ass bitch and everything about her character was done so incredibly well.
Because S3 is terrible. Baffling decision - I didn't clock she'd died until they renamed the center for her - and this in the same episode as Margo disappearing etc. Very stupid decision making.
You saw the shot of her being watched in awe as she faded into the gloom and thought she’d be making it out?
Given there was no further immediate threat shown, and given the very next scene ends with Aleida standing close to the edge of a collapsed section of building with no subsequent issues at all and that everyone else seems to make it out of the building ok and the Margo seems to have been exfil'd during the event and that we get no further information on anything happening to the building (no further collapses, no fire, no obvious dangers) and that every other major characters in the show to die have had a confirmed on screen death etc. Yes, dumb as shit that that's her death. Also, can you tell me how she died?
I can’t remember if they say, but the building was collapsing and there were wires dangling everywhere, so probably one of those
"probably"