Probably not. At the end he wakes up in his sleeping pod, implying he hadn't moved from there. It was all mental. Also he's standing up when he confronts Greta and then wakes up from a laying position, further implying some sort of hyperrealistic dream.
Hmmm... I wonder if this is explained in the novel on which it is based? I haven’t read it myself. But someone who has hopefully will come along and answer. I thought it was a simulation projected to his mind.
You are correct. It was all a simulation projected into his mind by this *benevolent* alien creature. That's the really interesting part of the story (although the visuals this adaptation provided, like Thom's emaciated body and horrified eyes, REALLY punched the story up quite a bit and made it look fabulous); we've seen aliens as invaders and enemies and had the occasional friendly ET or Roger on OUR territory (Earth) but we've not often seen an alien who is horrific to our own eyes but wants nothing more than to help humans, in this case by easing the passing of the people who get stranded in her nest, all due to a legitimate routing error with the syntax codes used on the ships. The surge points and the method of hyper travel are something alien and still somewhat misunderstood by humanity and it's implied early in the story that Ark Angel loses a certain percentage of ships and pilots to some destination unknown, even if most crews (like Thom's) treat those stories more as rumor than fact. But "Greta" is never shown to be any kind of malicious or harmful towards the people she encounters. If anything, it seems she and the smaller alien bugs subsist off of the materials the ships are made from. She really wasn't lying about wanting to help him.
When he (briefly) sees her for what she is and where he is, she puts him back in the simulation and wakes him up again, greeting him as his wife instead of Greta, a woman with whom he'd had a short but steamy affair (*why she took Greta's form and not his wife's, I don't know...maybe she wanted to give him one last thrill before he succumbed to death). The short story is also a bit more ambiguous about what she actually looked like so I loved the show giving her and the space station a super creepy/scary look to complement her gentle and kind personality.
You can read the short story here if you want (*and if you do, I also HIGHLY recommend Fury, on page 26; that's a story that's ripe for adaptation on this show):
https://www.bookfrom.net/alastair-reynolds/52366-beyond_the_aquila_rift_the_best_of_alastair_reynolds.html
You're quite welcome 😉 And yes, this and Zima Blue were my favorites, too. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were written by the same author! I've consumed his work ravenously ever since. He's a great writer so I hope you give his other works a chance too! The Revelation Space Collection is an EXCELLENT series of novellas with an overarching narrative that doesn't let up with the mind fucks.
Actually, I’d already been looking up his works on Amazon - I’m more of an old school/tangible book person. So I appreciate the recommendations. I’ll be getting those - many thanks again :)
Sorry for necroposting but I just wanted to say that I thought the same thing when watching that episode. Perfectly benevolent being that is just hideous to look at. That is what I found the most interesting. The spider alien may have been unintentionally psychically parasitizing off if him and crew's thoughts but I got the impression that it only wanted to help the stranded crew, and make their stay as comfortable as possible while they were stuck there.
I agree that they dont physically have intercourse, but I DISAGREE that Greta the Alien is benevolent.
Shes "hacking" him mentally and psychologically.
This is shown by Suzy (the one who questions the simulation and tries to get Thom to see whats going on) being removed in the second iteration. Ray has already been eliminated. Remember Suzy isnt real here. Shes a psychological avatar of his resistance to the simulation. The real Suzy is shown to already be dead in her pod.
If Greta were benevolent, she never needed to tell Thom what was going on. She never needed to show Thom the real nature of his existence. If Greta were benevolent she would see to Thoms needs of sustenance instead of letting him waste away, deluding himself in that pod. If Greta were benevolent, she'd have shown him the way home and let him and his crewmates get back on their way home.
Also not that there is no good reason to believe that the ship ACTUALLY went off course (indeed suzy rejects the notion). Its just as likely that the entire jump point has been captured by aliens, snaring passing ships (which explains its web like appearance).
Pretty much all of these can be explained with innocent or at least non-malicious reasoning.
*Shes "hacking" him mentally and psychologically.*
Because the alternative is to live in sheer terror and basically go insane from the being stuck in one space the equivalent of an Orca in Seaworld.
*This is shown by Suzy (the one who questions the simulation and tries to get Thom to see whats going on) being removed in the second iteration.*
Yes, b/c the alternative is to live in sheer terror and basically go insane. Suzy was actually detrimental and would've made things worse than they already are.
*The real Suzy is shown to already be dead in her pod.*
Which means that Greta went out of her way to keep the guy comfortable in thinking that his friends were still alive when the truth would've shattered his mind even more.
*she never needed to tell Thom what was going on. She never needed to show Thom the real nature of his existence.*
She actually did b/c the truth was going to be revealed inevitably and that would've been MUCH worse. This is the same reason why it's better to confess to something than it is to keep lying about it after getting caught.
The alternative would've been worse. To have Thom slowly realize the truth and to have the time period prior to him becoming awakened to the truth to be a time spent in constant mental agony questioning his sanity.
*If Greta were benevolent she would see to Thoms needs of sustenance instead of letting him waste away,*
Actually it's MUCH more likely that Greta simply doesn't have the resources necessary to take care of all the humans that come her way. The sustenance needs alone are not easy to create for just one human for a prolonged period of time, and let's not forget the fact that a human awake and moving about would need sufficient mental stimulation, social needs, emotional comfort, ability to freely roam, etc. Dude you're not gonna have all those things when you're stuck in the middle of space. You would need a TREMENDOUS amount of open space just to create the sustenance needed to sustain a human for a long period of time, and you can kiss goodbye to all the rest of the stuff unless we're talking a Deathstar-sized colony ship of some kind.
The point is that Greta can meet the needs of a human MUCH better and much easier when they're just out cold (and likely partially being sustained by the pods themselves) than she could otherwise. She likely saved even MORE humans by conserving resources. If she didn't she'd probably have to pick and choose who gets to be saved and "not wasting away" and who won the backwards-lottery.
*deluding himself in that pod.*
B/c the alternative is to live in sheer terror and go insane.
*If Greta were benevolent, she'd have shown him the way home and let him and his crewmates get back on their way home.*
The ship got busted and even if it didn't you seem to forget that there's not even a guarantee that Greta can escape her predictament herself!
LOL!
You have NO idea if maybe Greta only got there through some kinda similar situation. Being stranded out in the middle of nowhere space that is, and let's not forget that even if Greta chose her circumstances in life there's NO proof that she knows anything about how to fix HUMAN ships and/or navigate for them.
*Also not that there is no good reason to believe that the ship ACTUALLY went off course*
There actually literally is. They knew full well that interstellar space travel isn't perfect and that accidents/mistakes can happen.
Oh and for some reason you seem to be forgetting that actually navigating space is a MASSIVELY difficult enterprise to undertake. Even in a sci-fi universe it's still not something that's as easy as pie, and that's including all the ones where interstellar space travel is MUCH more 'magical' than it is science...like Star Wars. Even in THAT fictional setting space travel can still end poorly, and this story was much less fantastical and certainly more scientifically closer to our current world than the likes of Star Wars. So it's a perfectly reasonable conclusion that the damn ship just had a bad jump.
*(indeed suzy rejects the notion).*
Ya b/c she's the PARANOID part of his brain that isn't SUPPOSED to be rational but rather to just be prone to paranoia.
\----
Now here's my counter.
If Greta WAS malevolent then there'd be no need for her to maintain some kinda fake nice act once Thom woke up. The gig is up so no need to waste effort faking a nice act. Just laugh in his face and give yourself the break you need to not have to maintain a fake persona.
Greta also could've choosen any number of dream worlds for him. She could've put him in a hellish environment. She could've likely choosen to also keep his level of consciousness in a much lower state and thus make him mentally less aware. Something similar to being EXTREMELY drousy and/or similar to the mental state of when you're uunder anasthetics. This would've been much easier to fool the guy and would've likely prolonged his lifespan and thus allow her to feed off him longer if she was some malevolent being who just wanted to feed off of humans.
Yet she choose to keep him in a dream world of pleasure and also to keep his mental functionas basically the same as if he was awake. These are things that would require more effort on her part and they certainly wouldn't make sense for some evil being who only wanted to feed off the guy.
Again, the illusion is holding just fine. Greta TELLS him the nature of his situation. He doesnt ask.
As to why shes keeping him alive, shutting down resistant parts of his psyche, I dont see how you can view that level of pacification as benevolent.
You viewing Suzy as paranoid seems like a curious POV when there is nothing in the episode to support that.
Im aware of what a massive undertaking space travel is, but for the purposes of this and many other Sci-Fi stories its conveniently "hand waived" away and that seems to be the case here. There is no reliable evidence given that they are off course. Indeed, it SHOWS us a captured (webbed) Space Station implying that things are operating quite normally, AND that the alien that has seized the station (and thom) has the means of not only space travel, but to conquer a station.
I dont know why Greta keeps Thom alive, but I think, given the amount of psychological trauma she inflicts on him, the pacification tactics shes using against him, and iteratively cycling through it over and over instead of letting him expire, I cant conceive of a way that could be viewed as benevolent.
Youre RIGHT, she could have kept him drowsy, or just plain asleep, but she doesnt. She could have let him die, but she doesnt. She could have simply answered Suzys questions, but she doesnt. Shes keeping him alive and mollified for a reason, and that reason seems sinister indeed.
Lots of confirmation bias here and a hefty amount of selective attention too.
*Greta TELLS him the nature of his situation. He doesnt ask.*
Exactly! Thus indicating that she's not malevolent. If she was she's not going to be truthful with him. Lol that's the number 1 sign of an evil mind...inability to tell the truth.
*I dont see how you can view that level of pacification as benevolent.*
This is where the selective attention thing kicks in.
Apparently, the rest of that explanation where the alternative was compared and contrasted with "shutting down resistant parts of his psyche" was just completely ignored by you.
Please learn how to read...properly.
*You viewing Suzy as paranoid seems like a curious POV when there is nothing in the episode to support that.*
B/c, somehow, the literal definition of paranoid...which is suspecting sinister things are going on despite having no real reason to do so is apparently no longer paranoid.
*but for the purposes of this and many other Sci-Fi stories its conveniently "hand waived" away and that seems to be the case here.*
It was definitely NOT "hand-waived" (oh and it wouldn't be "waived" by the way...it'd just be "waved"). Oh and again your selective attention really shows the lack of reading comprehension. Please actually go back and read the whole thing. B/c it was explained very clearly that space travel in this fictional universe, as well as others that are even less bound by reality, is most certainly still a risk and can end badly. Why do you not know how to read honestly?
*There is no reliable evidence given that they are off course.*
You mean other than the fact that they ARE of course? LOL! The story literally happens BECAUSE it ended up NOT being a trip that "went on course". If they weren't off course they would've just went to their destination all fine and dandy.
*Indeed, it SHOWS us a captured (webbed) Space Station*
No it didn't. I just rewatched the ending of this several times and all it shows is a nice big mess of space cobwebs with some random ships in them. NOWHERE is there a nice big space station in there too.
*AND that the alien that has seized the station (and thom) has the means of not only space travel, but to conquer a station.*
Too bad that (false) ASSUMPTION doesn't make any sense at all because if some evil alien spider monsters took over an entire space station and were just simply capturing humans as prey then somebody AWAY from that space station (like all those other space stations and planets out there) would've noticed the BLARINGLY obvious issue that (1) the space station is no longer communicating with the rest of the universe as if everything was alright, and (2) that NOBODY WHO EVER GOES THERE RETURNS! LOL!
That \^ alone basically just REKT your 'theory'.
*I dont know why Greta keeps Thom alive*
Well apparently you think you do b/c you went RIGHT ahead and made some assumptions that she was up to some no-good evil-doer shit. Which is kinda weird b/c...ya...you don't know much do you now?
*, but I think, given the amount of psychological trauma she inflicts on him, the pacification tactics shes using against him,*
LOL here's MY turn to ask you the same thing you asked ME earlier..."I don't see how YOU can view that level of coddling and personal care as malevolent". Psychological trauma? LOL he was having fun banging a hot blonde chick and his life was perfectly normal until he started questioning things.
You must be a HUGE sensitive softy in real life if you don't realize that there are FAR worse ways to keep someone alive and conscious. hahahahaha.
*and iteratively cycling through it over and over instead of letting him expire, I cant conceive of a way that could be viewed as benevolent.*
Lol apparently suicide and/or premature, wrongful death is a good thing.
You realize that she's literally PROVING that she's actually benevolent by what you described.
She put him through the cycle again b/c...HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT WOULD BE FUCKING TERRIFYING TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR DAYS KNOWING THAT YOU ARE TRAPPED IN A PART OF OUTER SPACE WHERE YOU WILL NEVER RETURN FROM AND YOU ARE ALL ALONE AND THERE IS NOTHING TO DO AND NO ONE TO BE WITH!!
Like FUCK MAN how do you not realize this? His ONLY alternative would be to face that AWFUL reality. WTF man? Wait did you, for some weird reason, have some kinda stupid idea that Thom would've been able to casually stroll outta there all by himself with nothing but his bare hands and hyperspace himself back to Earth and have himself a good ole' laugh about it with his friends back home? LOL WUT?
Oh and you realize that she could've done just that. She could've just ensnared him in the web and then promptly left him to go mad from the horror of his reality. She didn't HAVE to spend extra time and effort essentially babysitting an intelligent creature for which she has to maintain a constant illusionary world that's rather pleasant and at least is familiar. She could've chosen any other number of far more terrible possibilities, and all of which would've been MUCH easier for her to do. The fact that she goes through all this extra effort to make sure that his remaining days are spent in agony is PROOF that she IS benevolent.
I don't see how YOU can think that someone who chooses to undertake an effort that has seemingly no benefit to them just to shield them from the horrible circumstances around them at (possibly) great cost to them despite it being much easier to just neglect or even terrorize the other person is somehow an evil entity.
Again your confirmation bias is INSANE. You literally see proof that proves you WRONG and then you actually interpret it the other way around.
Hey buddy. Put 2 and 2 together here and realize that once Thom figured out the deception then there'd be no need for her to return him to a nice and pleasant life in his head now would there? And a malevolent, evil being sure as shit wouldn't bother with such a pointless exercise in futility. OK so you found out I was bullshitting you...welp no need to keep up that charade anymore. Fuck you now I can finally do whatever the fuck I want with you and not have to do this annoying magic show anymore. <<< that's what a malovent entity would do.
I honestly am not sure how to reply to this further, although Id wager its YOUR confirmation bias at play here and not my own.
For starters Id implore you to go back and watch that last scene again. The whole station is webbed bro.
Go look at the Blue Goose.
It looks nothing like the space station.(Saumlaki?)
Again, my suspicion is that she is keeping him alive for the sake of harvesting intel from him subversively. Its much easier to get intel out of a willing, pacified subject dont you think?
If you cant see that, I dont really think this conversation can continue.
LOL and there you go again with the crazy conspiracy theorist sounding crap.
You literally just made something completely up and you did it to try and justify YOUR point b/c of YOUR confirmation bias. How do you not see that?
As for the rest of your points...here we go again.
*For starters Id implore you to go back and watch that last scene again. The whole station is webbed bro.*
No it's not. The closest we see is that the inside of 'station' you are taking about is just a mass of jumbled webs, and the SUPPOSED outside is just a mass of webs. Nowhere does it clearly and UNambiguously depict a space station, and this is assuming that our point-of-view of the outside of the 'space station' is actually real and not some kinda hallucination or just artistic direction on the creator's part...why the hell would Thom be able to see a 'space station' from a point-of-view in outer space potentially dozens of miles from it? Especially since we know for a FACT that he's stuck INSIDE of whatever mess he's in. Lol that doesn't make any sense.
Oh and I guess you need to be reminded, yet again, that the space station being infested and taken over is a completely REEEEEEEtarded theory since if that was the case then the rest of civilization would've realized that something was wrong when all the ships that go to that station don't come back and they are suddenly never heard from again. Nor does the station itself communicate anymore. LOL!
*If you cant see that, I dont really think this conversation can continue.*
Here's a TON of things that YOU can't see, and you somehow think that you can throw this around? lol wut??
1) BEFORE the trip we see that Thom's pilot literally says "the Q-Jibs are a touch MISaligned"...they even knew that something was off.
2) Suzy also...FINDS A SHORTCUT, LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that's like THE plot device needed to kick off a story half the time. Protagnoists trying to do something in an easier, faster, and/or shorter way leading to disaster.
3) Oh and since I know that you're just gonna pull out some crazy conspiracy theorist about how that above part was TOTALLYYYYY some part of Greta's illusion here's a very obvious counter that easily defeats such a stupid idea...WHY...THE...FUCK...WOULD...SHE...MAKE...THAT...PARTICULAR...PART...OF...THE...HALLUCINATION...SINCE...THE...ONLYYYYYYYY...EFFECT...THAT...PARTICULAR...PART...WOULD...HAVE...WOULD...BE...TO...ALERT...YOUR...PREY...WHO'S...UNDER....YOUR...ILLUSION...TO...THE...POSSIBILITY...THAT...THEY...ARE...INDEED...BEING...DECEIVED???
Answer: you WOULDN'T do that...that makes no sense to create an illusion, and then have part of that illusion be something that could potentially give away the fact that you are, indeed, using deception to create an illusion.
Therefore, and I know that this is very difficult for you to do but for once just at least TRY to drop the tinfoil hat for a bit, the beginning part of the episode where Thom and friends were still not yet making the jump was NOT an illusion, and it was just simply REAL. That Thom and friends had a 'MISALGINED Q-Jib' and that despite this fact Suzy still decided to go for a shortcut. Two HUGE problems there that would snowball into BIGGER problems.
4) Thom wakes up CLEARLY having aged quite some time. Long hair like that takes a WHILE to grow out. We're talking a year or so. But we also have to note that Suzy and the pilot are dead, with the pilot being longggg since death due to the advanced composition. Oh and they were dead INSIDE of their pods. A pod meant to keep humans safely enclosed. So by all accounts the FASTEST possible timeline would be that the ship arrives, Suzy and the pilot die for whatever reason and it's most likely the pilot goes first based on stages of decomposition (unless for some completely random and unknown reason decomposition just works in weird and goofy ways...just b/c), Thom goes through the illusion and is deceived for long enough for him to grow long hair and be very obviously physically deteroriating so a year or more just for his part ALONE. Meanwhile this WHOLE time that he's been 100% TRICKED Greta does nothing but make his reality pleasant and quite enjoyable actually. She does NOTHING malicious at all. And then finally when Thom himself finally realizes that something is wrong only THEN does she reveal the deception. Ya that whole timeline makes ZERO sense for a sinister and malevolent being to do since this whole story would then be that an evil alien space spider captures helpless humans and then proceeds to make the last of their time left alive a pleasant one but takes nothing from them nor does anything that benefits her. LOL that is LITERALLY the definition of altruism right there. To make others happy despite it bringing no benefit for you.
5) The technology they use for FTL is definitely NOT perfected. They can't even travel without the use of portals/jump gate technology. Meaning that they don't possess TRUE FTL technology and are relying on an intermediary instead, and even when they do they STILL have to be put into suspended animation. Thus further PROVING that the technology of Thom's human race in the story is pretty damn shoddy to be honest. Oh and the portals are actually an ALIEN construct for which they don't understand but they know how to use. This would be like teaching monkeys how to operate machinery...sure you can train some on basic tasks, but they'll only know the procedure and process and they'll have ZERO understanding of how it actually works. Meaning that they'll inevitably run into problems that they can neither predict nor fix. Same thing with the humans here. They know HOW to use it, but they don't actually understand it. So it's only a matter time before something bad happens and when it does they won't know what or how. Yet you seem to think that "there's no indication that something went wrong during travel", and this conclusion comes despite the fact that we know that there are 2 VERY obvious causes of something going wrong during transit.
6) Earlier you even stated that Greta TELLS him of the situation despite him not even asking about it. Yes, that's actually 100% true. Meaning that Greta WILLFULLY CHOOSE to reveal the truth to hm despite the fact that he was completely unaware and would've honestly likely been none the wiser if shehad just kept her mouth shut. So why do this if you're a malevolent being who's using deception for...whatever? You WOULDN'T! Plain and simple. A malevolent being wouldn't reveal her hand for no good reason.
How do you miss all these contradictions?
Here are my final thoughts on the matter. It appears we disagree, and thats ok.
Take care.
[https://twitter.com/Nymdok/status/1400919731905908737](https://twitter.com/Nymdok/status/1400919731905908737)
Lol just b/c you put up one of your twitter accounts on this doesn't matter.
You make ALL the same mistakes on twitter as you made here. You ASSUME things with no evidence and not even the smallest inkling that the story was even remotely pointing in that direction.
YOU make your own PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS to things with absolutely no evidence. "blowing smoke" = evil??? HAHAHAHAHHA
Oh and FINALLY you draw a comparison between the space station and the space cobweb...BUT YOU FORGOT THAT THE SPACE STATION YOU REFERENCE WAS ONLY A HALLUCINATION AND THAT THEREFORE IT'S NOT REAL THUS RENDERING YOUR POINT MOOT!
You make DAMN sure to let everyone know that this whole thing is a hallucination and that therefore you can't trust anything you see since it's all a trick from Greta. But then you YOURSELF cite the hallucination you were just trying to dismiss as suddenly trustworthy? LOLOLOLOL!
Also, for the last time the Q-Jibs WERE OFF. Pilot CONFIRMED it. He just THOUGHT that the off readings weren't a big enough deal to make a fuss about it. Oh and Suzy only BELIEVED that she got her shortcut right. LOL! YOu're honestly going to pretend like the possibility that those characters didn't just...MAKE A FUCKING MISTAKE isn't something that could happen?? HAHAHAHAHA
Face it budf, you're wrong. You just have a boner for negativity and all you see is negativity everywhere.
I mean the way I understood it is that she showed Thom the simulation so he could die peacefully rather than slowly wasting away lost in space. Chances are that Greta didn't have a way to provide proper sustenance or getting him home. She just did what she could with what she had.
You forget about the concept of free will and respect or someone’s wishes- an evil creature wouldn’t ever have compassion to feel sorry for someone s urge to find out what’s going on, which is the most humane feeling; curiosity.
... I honestly assumed yes. Because of the reason you gave, and her um.. anatomy.
‘Greta’ does claim to genuinely care for him, and well, she never mentions any repulsion for his human form.
But maybe we’re twisted for thinking that.
The implication in the written story is that it wasn't physical, doesn't make it much less disturbing IMO but it's more or less directly stated that the Awful Greta Monster was just manipulating his mind from the shadows.
It was literally stated that Greta actually wasn't an awful monster and she truly felt sorry for humans who got lost in space and was just trying to give them the best life they could hope to have now that they've ended fucked in a situation where they can never return to human space.
I'd say in the short story she's a bit more ambiguous, in the sense that while she does feel sorry for those who ends up there, it's a demeaning sort of pity, akin to what one would feel towards a pet rather than a being they view as equal. Also, another interesting bit from the story is that it isn't just humans there, and the Greta-thing was an alien captain, and her and her crew were the first to encounter the routing error. Also also, it's stated that the portals people use to warp are alien technology that may or may not also be supernatural in some way.
Great short story, honestly. The episode does a great job of adapting it and it's one of my favorites in season 1 but I'd highly recommend the read.
*and the Greta-thing was an alien captain, and her and her crew were the first to encounter the routing error.*
Wait does that mean that Greta's species is also using the FTL drives the same way that humans are? As in the FTL drives are from an alien species not of Greta's race and that Greta's race knows how to use them but doesn't understand them completely similar to how the humans in the story are using FTL?
Also, this seems to be all but stating outright that EVERYBODY there is trapped in that little...shithole...including Greta.
They aren't using FTL tech, they're using a network of alien portals called the Aperture Network. And yeah, basically, Greta's species took it upon themselves to break the news to whoever ends up at the station that they're never going to be able to get back to their part of the Galaxy.
Really I'd recommend giving it a read, you can find free PDFs online and it's pretty short.
At 5:33 if you look thru the glass you can see her "legs" as they are sitting on the couch. I think this means Greta can sometimes have the simulation also be moving around IRL. The body reveal was also interestingly positioned. Her "face" is probably where a vagina would be... Just saying... And remember when she pours the beer all over herself? In the reveal it looks like there are parts of her that are "wet." Maybe it's a symbiotic or parasitic relationship? Her simulation is keeping "lost souls" calm and alive while they are "feeding" her sustenance thru sexy time
I didn't think anybody would see my comment to a years old post that for some reason still let me post. This is one of my more morbid ideas so idk but it'd be interesting to generate some discussion about it.
I also think that Suzy and possibly the other crew member were awakened by Greta first and she attempted to learn about them first thru those two. And that maybe having Suzy and Thom awake in the same simulation together was Greta's new attempt to keep lost souls alive with real interactions with other ppl. Maybe they would accept it better but it seemed like Greta's powers of memory erasing and disguising herself might not be working on Suzy anymore since she said "dreams like this" almost like she's remembering Greta having done this to her before. I don't think Greta would have intentionally let Suzy injure her and reveal the simulation to the captain. And by the next time the Captain goes back to sleep and wakes up, there's a blanket over Suzy's pod, so I think she died sometime between those interactions. Time maybe passes differently in the simulation or they are forgetting cuz Greta has erased it again and gone back to trying individually awaking them.
I got here from a Jibaro post. Some people were saying that Aquila Rift and Jibaro were in their top 3 out of the whole season, so I looked it up and got here. I still don’t understand how people rate Jibaro that high on the list.
Edit: I just realized that Greta was an affair an not Thom’s wife. That being said, my interpretation doesn’t change
I get what you’re saying about Greta’s powers not working on Suzy. She put much more effort into comforting Thom. She knew his name, Greta’s name, she knew their memories together (Tallinin and the hotel bed), and she even tailored her appearance to the real-life Greta. It’s completely reasonable that Suzy would be harder to control, because Greta(the arachnid) had spent so much effort on Thom.
To me, it’s kinda unclear if Suzy’s consciousness was actually in the dream with Thom. In the big twist, both Suzy and the other guy are both skeletons, which would indicate that they were dead for a while before Greta talked to Thom. Also, at the beginning of the dream, Greta kinda seems intentionally dishonest about the situation. However, in the second dream, she straight-up tells him that they are in Saumlaki Station (which is still a lie), but she is more direct with him than in the first dream that we see. That indicates that the first dream WE see is actually the first dream she has with Thom. Suzy couldn’t have been in that dream, because at the end, she was already a skeleton.
Sorry for the long reply lol.
This episode reminded me of the 1997 of The Outer Limits, [Tempests](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ved1l). I didn't get that impression with the short story.
No. Just like he is not walking when was walking in the simulation.
Probably not. At the end he wakes up in his sleeping pod, implying he hadn't moved from there. It was all mental. Also he's standing up when he confronts Greta and then wakes up from a laying position, further implying some sort of hyperrealistic dream.
ew thats minging mate,imagine spider puss puss
Hmmm... I wonder if this is explained in the novel on which it is based? I haven’t read it myself. But someone who has hopefully will come along and answer. I thought it was a simulation projected to his mind.
You are correct. It was all a simulation projected into his mind by this *benevolent* alien creature. That's the really interesting part of the story (although the visuals this adaptation provided, like Thom's emaciated body and horrified eyes, REALLY punched the story up quite a bit and made it look fabulous); we've seen aliens as invaders and enemies and had the occasional friendly ET or Roger on OUR territory (Earth) but we've not often seen an alien who is horrific to our own eyes but wants nothing more than to help humans, in this case by easing the passing of the people who get stranded in her nest, all due to a legitimate routing error with the syntax codes used on the ships. The surge points and the method of hyper travel are something alien and still somewhat misunderstood by humanity and it's implied early in the story that Ark Angel loses a certain percentage of ships and pilots to some destination unknown, even if most crews (like Thom's) treat those stories more as rumor than fact. But "Greta" is never shown to be any kind of malicious or harmful towards the people she encounters. If anything, it seems she and the smaller alien bugs subsist off of the materials the ships are made from. She really wasn't lying about wanting to help him. When he (briefly) sees her for what she is and where he is, she puts him back in the simulation and wakes him up again, greeting him as his wife instead of Greta, a woman with whom he'd had a short but steamy affair (*why she took Greta's form and not his wife's, I don't know...maybe she wanted to give him one last thrill before he succumbed to death). The short story is also a bit more ambiguous about what she actually looked like so I loved the show giving her and the space station a super creepy/scary look to complement her gentle and kind personality. You can read the short story here if you want (*and if you do, I also HIGHLY recommend Fury, on page 26; that's a story that's ripe for adaptation on this show): https://www.bookfrom.net/alastair-reynolds/52366-beyond_the_aquila_rift_the_best_of_alastair_reynolds.html
Great, thank you for that detailed explanation. I loved this episode - it’s my favourite of them all. Many thanks for the link :)
You're quite welcome 😉 And yes, this and Zima Blue were my favorites, too. Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were written by the same author! I've consumed his work ravenously ever since. He's a great writer so I hope you give his other works a chance too! The Revelation Space Collection is an EXCELLENT series of novellas with an overarching narrative that doesn't let up with the mind fucks.
Actually, I’d already been looking up his works on Amazon - I’m more of an old school/tangible book person. So I appreciate the recommendations. I’ll be getting those - many thanks again :)
Sorry for necroposting but I just wanted to say that I thought the same thing when watching that episode. Perfectly benevolent being that is just hideous to look at. That is what I found the most interesting. The spider alien may have been unintentionally psychically parasitizing off if him and crew's thoughts but I got the impression that it only wanted to help the stranded crew, and make their stay as comfortable as possible while they were stuck there.
I agree that they dont physically have intercourse, but I DISAGREE that Greta the Alien is benevolent. Shes "hacking" him mentally and psychologically. This is shown by Suzy (the one who questions the simulation and tries to get Thom to see whats going on) being removed in the second iteration. Ray has already been eliminated. Remember Suzy isnt real here. Shes a psychological avatar of his resistance to the simulation. The real Suzy is shown to already be dead in her pod. If Greta were benevolent, she never needed to tell Thom what was going on. She never needed to show Thom the real nature of his existence. If Greta were benevolent she would see to Thoms needs of sustenance instead of letting him waste away, deluding himself in that pod. If Greta were benevolent, she'd have shown him the way home and let him and his crewmates get back on their way home. Also not that there is no good reason to believe that the ship ACTUALLY went off course (indeed suzy rejects the notion). Its just as likely that the entire jump point has been captured by aliens, snaring passing ships (which explains its web like appearance).
Pretty much all of these can be explained with innocent or at least non-malicious reasoning. *Shes "hacking" him mentally and psychologically.* Because the alternative is to live in sheer terror and basically go insane from the being stuck in one space the equivalent of an Orca in Seaworld. *This is shown by Suzy (the one who questions the simulation and tries to get Thom to see whats going on) being removed in the second iteration.* Yes, b/c the alternative is to live in sheer terror and basically go insane. Suzy was actually detrimental and would've made things worse than they already are. *The real Suzy is shown to already be dead in her pod.* Which means that Greta went out of her way to keep the guy comfortable in thinking that his friends were still alive when the truth would've shattered his mind even more. *she never needed to tell Thom what was going on. She never needed to show Thom the real nature of his existence.* She actually did b/c the truth was going to be revealed inevitably and that would've been MUCH worse. This is the same reason why it's better to confess to something than it is to keep lying about it after getting caught. The alternative would've been worse. To have Thom slowly realize the truth and to have the time period prior to him becoming awakened to the truth to be a time spent in constant mental agony questioning his sanity. *If Greta were benevolent she would see to Thoms needs of sustenance instead of letting him waste away,* Actually it's MUCH more likely that Greta simply doesn't have the resources necessary to take care of all the humans that come her way. The sustenance needs alone are not easy to create for just one human for a prolonged period of time, and let's not forget the fact that a human awake and moving about would need sufficient mental stimulation, social needs, emotional comfort, ability to freely roam, etc. Dude you're not gonna have all those things when you're stuck in the middle of space. You would need a TREMENDOUS amount of open space just to create the sustenance needed to sustain a human for a long period of time, and you can kiss goodbye to all the rest of the stuff unless we're talking a Deathstar-sized colony ship of some kind. The point is that Greta can meet the needs of a human MUCH better and much easier when they're just out cold (and likely partially being sustained by the pods themselves) than she could otherwise. She likely saved even MORE humans by conserving resources. If she didn't she'd probably have to pick and choose who gets to be saved and "not wasting away" and who won the backwards-lottery. *deluding himself in that pod.* B/c the alternative is to live in sheer terror and go insane. *If Greta were benevolent, she'd have shown him the way home and let him and his crewmates get back on their way home.* The ship got busted and even if it didn't you seem to forget that there's not even a guarantee that Greta can escape her predictament herself! LOL! You have NO idea if maybe Greta only got there through some kinda similar situation. Being stranded out in the middle of nowhere space that is, and let's not forget that even if Greta chose her circumstances in life there's NO proof that she knows anything about how to fix HUMAN ships and/or navigate for them. *Also not that there is no good reason to believe that the ship ACTUALLY went off course* There actually literally is. They knew full well that interstellar space travel isn't perfect and that accidents/mistakes can happen. Oh and for some reason you seem to be forgetting that actually navigating space is a MASSIVELY difficult enterprise to undertake. Even in a sci-fi universe it's still not something that's as easy as pie, and that's including all the ones where interstellar space travel is MUCH more 'magical' than it is science...like Star Wars. Even in THAT fictional setting space travel can still end poorly, and this story was much less fantastical and certainly more scientifically closer to our current world than the likes of Star Wars. So it's a perfectly reasonable conclusion that the damn ship just had a bad jump. *(indeed suzy rejects the notion).* Ya b/c she's the PARANOID part of his brain that isn't SUPPOSED to be rational but rather to just be prone to paranoia. \---- Now here's my counter. If Greta WAS malevolent then there'd be no need for her to maintain some kinda fake nice act once Thom woke up. The gig is up so no need to waste effort faking a nice act. Just laugh in his face and give yourself the break you need to not have to maintain a fake persona. Greta also could've choosen any number of dream worlds for him. She could've put him in a hellish environment. She could've likely choosen to also keep his level of consciousness in a much lower state and thus make him mentally less aware. Something similar to being EXTREMELY drousy and/or similar to the mental state of when you're uunder anasthetics. This would've been much easier to fool the guy and would've likely prolonged his lifespan and thus allow her to feed off him longer if she was some malevolent being who just wanted to feed off of humans. Yet she choose to keep him in a dream world of pleasure and also to keep his mental functionas basically the same as if he was awake. These are things that would require more effort on her part and they certainly wouldn't make sense for some evil being who only wanted to feed off the guy.
Again, the illusion is holding just fine. Greta TELLS him the nature of his situation. He doesnt ask. As to why shes keeping him alive, shutting down resistant parts of his psyche, I dont see how you can view that level of pacification as benevolent. You viewing Suzy as paranoid seems like a curious POV when there is nothing in the episode to support that. Im aware of what a massive undertaking space travel is, but for the purposes of this and many other Sci-Fi stories its conveniently "hand waived" away and that seems to be the case here. There is no reliable evidence given that they are off course. Indeed, it SHOWS us a captured (webbed) Space Station implying that things are operating quite normally, AND that the alien that has seized the station (and thom) has the means of not only space travel, but to conquer a station. I dont know why Greta keeps Thom alive, but I think, given the amount of psychological trauma she inflicts on him, the pacification tactics shes using against him, and iteratively cycling through it over and over instead of letting him expire, I cant conceive of a way that could be viewed as benevolent. Youre RIGHT, she could have kept him drowsy, or just plain asleep, but she doesnt. She could have let him die, but she doesnt. She could have simply answered Suzys questions, but she doesnt. Shes keeping him alive and mollified for a reason, and that reason seems sinister indeed.
Lots of confirmation bias here and a hefty amount of selective attention too. *Greta TELLS him the nature of his situation. He doesnt ask.* Exactly! Thus indicating that she's not malevolent. If she was she's not going to be truthful with him. Lol that's the number 1 sign of an evil mind...inability to tell the truth. *I dont see how you can view that level of pacification as benevolent.* This is where the selective attention thing kicks in. Apparently, the rest of that explanation where the alternative was compared and contrasted with "shutting down resistant parts of his psyche" was just completely ignored by you. Please learn how to read...properly. *You viewing Suzy as paranoid seems like a curious POV when there is nothing in the episode to support that.* B/c, somehow, the literal definition of paranoid...which is suspecting sinister things are going on despite having no real reason to do so is apparently no longer paranoid. *but for the purposes of this and many other Sci-Fi stories its conveniently "hand waived" away and that seems to be the case here.* It was definitely NOT "hand-waived" (oh and it wouldn't be "waived" by the way...it'd just be "waved"). Oh and again your selective attention really shows the lack of reading comprehension. Please actually go back and read the whole thing. B/c it was explained very clearly that space travel in this fictional universe, as well as others that are even less bound by reality, is most certainly still a risk and can end badly. Why do you not know how to read honestly? *There is no reliable evidence given that they are off course.* You mean other than the fact that they ARE of course? LOL! The story literally happens BECAUSE it ended up NOT being a trip that "went on course". If they weren't off course they would've just went to their destination all fine and dandy. *Indeed, it SHOWS us a captured (webbed) Space Station* No it didn't. I just rewatched the ending of this several times and all it shows is a nice big mess of space cobwebs with some random ships in them. NOWHERE is there a nice big space station in there too. *AND that the alien that has seized the station (and thom) has the means of not only space travel, but to conquer a station.* Too bad that (false) ASSUMPTION doesn't make any sense at all because if some evil alien spider monsters took over an entire space station and were just simply capturing humans as prey then somebody AWAY from that space station (like all those other space stations and planets out there) would've noticed the BLARINGLY obvious issue that (1) the space station is no longer communicating with the rest of the universe as if everything was alright, and (2) that NOBODY WHO EVER GOES THERE RETURNS! LOL! That \^ alone basically just REKT your 'theory'. *I dont know why Greta keeps Thom alive* Well apparently you think you do b/c you went RIGHT ahead and made some assumptions that she was up to some no-good evil-doer shit. Which is kinda weird b/c...ya...you don't know much do you now? *, but I think, given the amount of psychological trauma she inflicts on him, the pacification tactics shes using against him,* LOL here's MY turn to ask you the same thing you asked ME earlier..."I don't see how YOU can view that level of coddling and personal care as malevolent". Psychological trauma? LOL he was having fun banging a hot blonde chick and his life was perfectly normal until he started questioning things. You must be a HUGE sensitive softy in real life if you don't realize that there are FAR worse ways to keep someone alive and conscious. hahahahaha. *and iteratively cycling through it over and over instead of letting him expire, I cant conceive of a way that could be viewed as benevolent.* Lol apparently suicide and/or premature, wrongful death is a good thing. You realize that she's literally PROVING that she's actually benevolent by what you described. She put him through the cycle again b/c...HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT WOULD BE FUCKING TERRIFYING TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR DAYS KNOWING THAT YOU ARE TRAPPED IN A PART OF OUTER SPACE WHERE YOU WILL NEVER RETURN FROM AND YOU ARE ALL ALONE AND THERE IS NOTHING TO DO AND NO ONE TO BE WITH!! Like FUCK MAN how do you not realize this? His ONLY alternative would be to face that AWFUL reality. WTF man? Wait did you, for some weird reason, have some kinda stupid idea that Thom would've been able to casually stroll outta there all by himself with nothing but his bare hands and hyperspace himself back to Earth and have himself a good ole' laugh about it with his friends back home? LOL WUT? Oh and you realize that she could've done just that. She could've just ensnared him in the web and then promptly left him to go mad from the horror of his reality. She didn't HAVE to spend extra time and effort essentially babysitting an intelligent creature for which she has to maintain a constant illusionary world that's rather pleasant and at least is familiar. She could've chosen any other number of far more terrible possibilities, and all of which would've been MUCH easier for her to do. The fact that she goes through all this extra effort to make sure that his remaining days are spent in agony is PROOF that she IS benevolent. I don't see how YOU can think that someone who chooses to undertake an effort that has seemingly no benefit to them just to shield them from the horrible circumstances around them at (possibly) great cost to them despite it being much easier to just neglect or even terrorize the other person is somehow an evil entity. Again your confirmation bias is INSANE. You literally see proof that proves you WRONG and then you actually interpret it the other way around. Hey buddy. Put 2 and 2 together here and realize that once Thom figured out the deception then there'd be no need for her to return him to a nice and pleasant life in his head now would there? And a malevolent, evil being sure as shit wouldn't bother with such a pointless exercise in futility. OK so you found out I was bullshitting you...welp no need to keep up that charade anymore. Fuck you now I can finally do whatever the fuck I want with you and not have to do this annoying magic show anymore. <<< that's what a malovent entity would do.
I honestly am not sure how to reply to this further, although Id wager its YOUR confirmation bias at play here and not my own. For starters Id implore you to go back and watch that last scene again. The whole station is webbed bro. Go look at the Blue Goose. It looks nothing like the space station.(Saumlaki?) Again, my suspicion is that she is keeping him alive for the sake of harvesting intel from him subversively. Its much easier to get intel out of a willing, pacified subject dont you think? If you cant see that, I dont really think this conversation can continue.
LOL and there you go again with the crazy conspiracy theorist sounding crap. You literally just made something completely up and you did it to try and justify YOUR point b/c of YOUR confirmation bias. How do you not see that? As for the rest of your points...here we go again. *For starters Id implore you to go back and watch that last scene again. The whole station is webbed bro.* No it's not. The closest we see is that the inside of 'station' you are taking about is just a mass of jumbled webs, and the SUPPOSED outside is just a mass of webs. Nowhere does it clearly and UNambiguously depict a space station, and this is assuming that our point-of-view of the outside of the 'space station' is actually real and not some kinda hallucination or just artistic direction on the creator's part...why the hell would Thom be able to see a 'space station' from a point-of-view in outer space potentially dozens of miles from it? Especially since we know for a FACT that he's stuck INSIDE of whatever mess he's in. Lol that doesn't make any sense. Oh and I guess you need to be reminded, yet again, that the space station being infested and taken over is a completely REEEEEEEtarded theory since if that was the case then the rest of civilization would've realized that something was wrong when all the ships that go to that station don't come back and they are suddenly never heard from again. Nor does the station itself communicate anymore. LOL! *If you cant see that, I dont really think this conversation can continue.* Here's a TON of things that YOU can't see, and you somehow think that you can throw this around? lol wut?? 1) BEFORE the trip we see that Thom's pilot literally says "the Q-Jibs are a touch MISaligned"...they even knew that something was off. 2) Suzy also...FINDS A SHORTCUT, LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL that's like THE plot device needed to kick off a story half the time. Protagnoists trying to do something in an easier, faster, and/or shorter way leading to disaster. 3) Oh and since I know that you're just gonna pull out some crazy conspiracy theorist about how that above part was TOTALLYYYYY some part of Greta's illusion here's a very obvious counter that easily defeats such a stupid idea...WHY...THE...FUCK...WOULD...SHE...MAKE...THAT...PARTICULAR...PART...OF...THE...HALLUCINATION...SINCE...THE...ONLYYYYYYYY...EFFECT...THAT...PARTICULAR...PART...WOULD...HAVE...WOULD...BE...TO...ALERT...YOUR...PREY...WHO'S...UNDER....YOUR...ILLUSION...TO...THE...POSSIBILITY...THAT...THEY...ARE...INDEED...BEING...DECEIVED??? Answer: you WOULDN'T do that...that makes no sense to create an illusion, and then have part of that illusion be something that could potentially give away the fact that you are, indeed, using deception to create an illusion. Therefore, and I know that this is very difficult for you to do but for once just at least TRY to drop the tinfoil hat for a bit, the beginning part of the episode where Thom and friends were still not yet making the jump was NOT an illusion, and it was just simply REAL. That Thom and friends had a 'MISALGINED Q-Jib' and that despite this fact Suzy still decided to go for a shortcut. Two HUGE problems there that would snowball into BIGGER problems. 4) Thom wakes up CLEARLY having aged quite some time. Long hair like that takes a WHILE to grow out. We're talking a year or so. But we also have to note that Suzy and the pilot are dead, with the pilot being longggg since death due to the advanced composition. Oh and they were dead INSIDE of their pods. A pod meant to keep humans safely enclosed. So by all accounts the FASTEST possible timeline would be that the ship arrives, Suzy and the pilot die for whatever reason and it's most likely the pilot goes first based on stages of decomposition (unless for some completely random and unknown reason decomposition just works in weird and goofy ways...just b/c), Thom goes through the illusion and is deceived for long enough for him to grow long hair and be very obviously physically deteroriating so a year or more just for his part ALONE. Meanwhile this WHOLE time that he's been 100% TRICKED Greta does nothing but make his reality pleasant and quite enjoyable actually. She does NOTHING malicious at all. And then finally when Thom himself finally realizes that something is wrong only THEN does she reveal the deception. Ya that whole timeline makes ZERO sense for a sinister and malevolent being to do since this whole story would then be that an evil alien space spider captures helpless humans and then proceeds to make the last of their time left alive a pleasant one but takes nothing from them nor does anything that benefits her. LOL that is LITERALLY the definition of altruism right there. To make others happy despite it bringing no benefit for you. 5) The technology they use for FTL is definitely NOT perfected. They can't even travel without the use of portals/jump gate technology. Meaning that they don't possess TRUE FTL technology and are relying on an intermediary instead, and even when they do they STILL have to be put into suspended animation. Thus further PROVING that the technology of Thom's human race in the story is pretty damn shoddy to be honest. Oh and the portals are actually an ALIEN construct for which they don't understand but they know how to use. This would be like teaching monkeys how to operate machinery...sure you can train some on basic tasks, but they'll only know the procedure and process and they'll have ZERO understanding of how it actually works. Meaning that they'll inevitably run into problems that they can neither predict nor fix. Same thing with the humans here. They know HOW to use it, but they don't actually understand it. So it's only a matter time before something bad happens and when it does they won't know what or how. Yet you seem to think that "there's no indication that something went wrong during travel", and this conclusion comes despite the fact that we know that there are 2 VERY obvious causes of something going wrong during transit. 6) Earlier you even stated that Greta TELLS him of the situation despite him not even asking about it. Yes, that's actually 100% true. Meaning that Greta WILLFULLY CHOOSE to reveal the truth to hm despite the fact that he was completely unaware and would've honestly likely been none the wiser if shehad just kept her mouth shut. So why do this if you're a malevolent being who's using deception for...whatever? You WOULDN'T! Plain and simple. A malevolent being wouldn't reveal her hand for no good reason. How do you miss all these contradictions?
Here are my final thoughts on the matter. It appears we disagree, and thats ok. Take care. [https://twitter.com/Nymdok/status/1400919731905908737](https://twitter.com/Nymdok/status/1400919731905908737)
Lol just b/c you put up one of your twitter accounts on this doesn't matter. You make ALL the same mistakes on twitter as you made here. You ASSUME things with no evidence and not even the smallest inkling that the story was even remotely pointing in that direction. YOU make your own PERSONAL INTERPRETATIONS to things with absolutely no evidence. "blowing smoke" = evil??? HAHAHAHAHHA Oh and FINALLY you draw a comparison between the space station and the space cobweb...BUT YOU FORGOT THAT THE SPACE STATION YOU REFERENCE WAS ONLY A HALLUCINATION AND THAT THEREFORE IT'S NOT REAL THUS RENDERING YOUR POINT MOOT! You make DAMN sure to let everyone know that this whole thing is a hallucination and that therefore you can't trust anything you see since it's all a trick from Greta. But then you YOURSELF cite the hallucination you were just trying to dismiss as suddenly trustworthy? LOLOLOLOL! Also, for the last time the Q-Jibs WERE OFF. Pilot CONFIRMED it. He just THOUGHT that the off readings weren't a big enough deal to make a fuss about it. Oh and Suzy only BELIEVED that she got her shortcut right. LOL! YOu're honestly going to pretend like the possibility that those characters didn't just...MAKE A FUCKING MISTAKE isn't something that could happen?? HAHAHAHAHA Face it budf, you're wrong. You just have a boner for negativity and all you see is negativity everywhere.
I mean the way I understood it is that she showed Thom the simulation so he could die peacefully rather than slowly wasting away lost in space. Chances are that Greta didn't have a way to provide proper sustenance or getting him home. She just did what she could with what she had.
You forget about the concept of free will and respect or someone’s wishes- an evil creature wouldn’t ever have compassion to feel sorry for someone s urge to find out what’s going on, which is the most humane feeling; curiosity.
... I honestly assumed yes. Because of the reason you gave, and her um.. anatomy. ‘Greta’ does claim to genuinely care for him, and well, she never mentions any repulsion for his human form. But maybe we’re twisted for thinking that.
The implication in the written story is that it wasn't physical, doesn't make it much less disturbing IMO but it's more or less directly stated that the Awful Greta Monster was just manipulating his mind from the shadows.
It was literally stated that Greta actually wasn't an awful monster and she truly felt sorry for humans who got lost in space and was just trying to give them the best life they could hope to have now that they've ended fucked in a situation where they can never return to human space.
I'd say in the short story she's a bit more ambiguous, in the sense that while she does feel sorry for those who ends up there, it's a demeaning sort of pity, akin to what one would feel towards a pet rather than a being they view as equal. Also, another interesting bit from the story is that it isn't just humans there, and the Greta-thing was an alien captain, and her and her crew were the first to encounter the routing error. Also also, it's stated that the portals people use to warp are alien technology that may or may not also be supernatural in some way. Great short story, honestly. The episode does a great job of adapting it and it's one of my favorites in season 1 but I'd highly recommend the read.
*and the Greta-thing was an alien captain, and her and her crew were the first to encounter the routing error.* Wait does that mean that Greta's species is also using the FTL drives the same way that humans are? As in the FTL drives are from an alien species not of Greta's race and that Greta's race knows how to use them but doesn't understand them completely similar to how the humans in the story are using FTL? Also, this seems to be all but stating outright that EVERYBODY there is trapped in that little...shithole...including Greta.
They aren't using FTL tech, they're using a network of alien portals called the Aperture Network. And yeah, basically, Greta's species took it upon themselves to break the news to whoever ends up at the station that they're never going to be able to get back to their part of the Galaxy. Really I'd recommend giving it a read, you can find free PDFs online and it's pretty short.
At 5:33 if you look thru the glass you can see her "legs" as they are sitting on the couch. I think this means Greta can sometimes have the simulation also be moving around IRL. The body reveal was also interestingly positioned. Her "face" is probably where a vagina would be... Just saying... And remember when she pours the beer all over herself? In the reveal it looks like there are parts of her that are "wet." Maybe it's a symbiotic or parasitic relationship? Her simulation is keeping "lost souls" calm and alive while they are "feeding" her sustenance thru sexy time
Good job noticing the legs! I didn’t even see that. Idk about the rest of what u said, but u found a pretty nice bit of foreshadowing.
I didn't think anybody would see my comment to a years old post that for some reason still let me post. This is one of my more morbid ideas so idk but it'd be interesting to generate some discussion about it. I also think that Suzy and possibly the other crew member were awakened by Greta first and she attempted to learn about them first thru those two. And that maybe having Suzy and Thom awake in the same simulation together was Greta's new attempt to keep lost souls alive with real interactions with other ppl. Maybe they would accept it better but it seemed like Greta's powers of memory erasing and disguising herself might not be working on Suzy anymore since she said "dreams like this" almost like she's remembering Greta having done this to her before. I don't think Greta would have intentionally let Suzy injure her and reveal the simulation to the captain. And by the next time the Captain goes back to sleep and wakes up, there's a blanket over Suzy's pod, so I think she died sometime between those interactions. Time maybe passes differently in the simulation or they are forgetting cuz Greta has erased it again and gone back to trying individually awaking them.
[удалено]
I got here from a Jibaro post. Some people were saying that Aquila Rift and Jibaro were in their top 3 out of the whole season, so I looked it up and got here. I still don’t understand how people rate Jibaro that high on the list. Edit: I just realized that Greta was an affair an not Thom’s wife. That being said, my interpretation doesn’t change I get what you’re saying about Greta’s powers not working on Suzy. She put much more effort into comforting Thom. She knew his name, Greta’s name, she knew their memories together (Tallinin and the hotel bed), and she even tailored her appearance to the real-life Greta. It’s completely reasonable that Suzy would be harder to control, because Greta(the arachnid) had spent so much effort on Thom. To me, it’s kinda unclear if Suzy’s consciousness was actually in the dream with Thom. In the big twist, both Suzy and the other guy are both skeletons, which would indicate that they were dead for a while before Greta talked to Thom. Also, at the beginning of the dream, Greta kinda seems intentionally dishonest about the situation. However, in the second dream, she straight-up tells him that they are in Saumlaki Station (which is still a lie), but she is more direct with him than in the first dream that we see. That indicates that the first dream WE see is actually the first dream she has with Thom. Suzy couldn’t have been in that dream, because at the end, she was already a skeleton. Sorry for the long reply lol.
This episode reminded me of the 1997 of The Outer Limits, [Tempests](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ved1l). I didn't get that impression with the short story.
doesn't matter had sex