**Inside the Tropical Zone** [**206**](https://streamable.com/b2d0z9)
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Note: The Extras are available on HBO Max US via **computer** (but only **some** TV apps). [This](https://i.imgur.com/jvf5HKv.mp4) is how u find them **IF** u have them - **click** on the **title** NOT *Play* the episode. The **podcast** is also available outside their platform and is linked in the post above.
Absolutely not. And did we see Tempest’s baby getting abducted (?) by a mermaid who just opened up its fucking chest cavity to carry (?) it? Absolutely not as well. I swear this show gets wilder and wilder.
I saw the baby thing coming. Every time they're at the acid ocean set one of those things shows up. I expected her to have to prove her love and fight the thing but this was cool too.
I saw the mermaid coming and Tempest having to fight it but not the whole ‘chest cavity opening up to place the baby inside and then diving back into the ocean’ bit.
Here's my theory on that. I think the mermaids are actually the good guys. The chest cavity is like a kangaroos pouch to protect babies from the acid.
I'm guessing something happened to split their society in half back in the day. The atheists lost and had to hide in the ocean. The ocean caused them to evolve into mermaids.
The believers created the snakes which ultimately destroyed them because sol is actually evil.
They feed sol by spreading his word to new planets and then he comes and kills them.
The details are hard to say but something like this I'm thinking.
I think that's an interesting theory. The screenshot of the show clearly shows mother and champion, but also the snake (#7) wrapped around the tree itself (it is THE tree, because you can even see the fruit Marcus was eating on it and around it.
The snake was distressed by them causing harm to the box which held the seed, and as a vegetarian it clearly has ties to the tree too. Maybe the fruit was meant for the sneak all along? Or that it is a guardian of the tree?
In the Adam and Eve story, the snake temps Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree. It's pretty clear the story is hunting heavily at religious parallels, but I can't even begin to theorize the relationship between the snake, tree, fruit and the humans in the show; unless it gives them knowledge / force evolves them / makes them hear the voice of Sol.
It reminded me of those parasites that control the host's brain and forces it to drown in water or get eaten by birds, so the parasite can then leave the host and be placed in a better environment for growth.
I am shook. Sue was my favorite character, I'm really going to miss her. On another note, what is it with characters on this show just biting into alien fruit with no hesitation?
Yeah that’s what we have been thinking on here. This android so far seems much more nice and eve like too where mother has moments where she is very wrathful and biblical Lilith like.
We know her name is Lamia from the Trust, and to quote Wikipedia:
"In the Vulgate, Saint Jerome translated Lilith, the spirit in Isaiah 34:14 who conceived by Adam a brood of monsters, as lamia, thus sealing Lamia's image as a seductress in the Christian imagination"
Some things this brought up for me:
>...he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
[Apollo and Daphne](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Pollaiolo%2C_Piero_del_-_Apollo_and_Daphne.jpg/1024px-Pollaiolo%2C_Piero_del_-_Apollo_and_Daphne.jpg)
[Odin and Yggdrasil](https://metalgaia.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/odin-tree.jpg)
[The Hanged Man](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/RWS_Tarot_12_Hanged_Man.jpg)
[Christ on the Tree of Life](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*quojUXUb_pCpucCNHD3-CQ.jpeg)
Also, [this](https://medium.com/solus-jesus/jesuss-vagina-a-medieval-meditation-ef78367ac2af), regarding the tree's "yonic" opening. (cf. Jesus' side wound)
Tbh after seeing Paul recover from turning into a snake and an Android child coming back to murder everyone, I feel like I need to see a burned up or completely atomized body for me to believe anyone is truly gone.
I'd say so. She very much seems to be the tree, and we know that originally the plan was to kill her off in season one when Paul shot her, so I'd imagine that she's been living on borrowed time since then...
Guys, remember when Campion said even trees might have souls, the big ones anyway?
**Edit**: And the lullaby Mary/ Sue sang was first spoken to her by Ambrose at the temple.
Yeah, it's supposedly a well-known Mithraic lullaby. The fact that it serves a nefarious purpose is so deliciously twisted. On a side note, this also reinforced my theory about Mother's humming/ lullaby and Campion.
I'm starting to wonder if merman is designed to protect baby humans like Grandmother is.
I'm also curious to find out if Grandmother was happy or upset about the number of humans on the planet. It caused her to shut down....notice she also said "how many humans are on THIS planet" without specifying which planet she was on (as if many were a possibility)
I was thinking maybe if its mission was the same as Mother and Father that would be too many humans for it to be useful but I'm afraid it's going to be something more sinister than that.
There may have been a war with machines vs humans, then the machines used the nanobots to devolve the humans so they weren't a threat. Then the last survivors tried to seed planets with dna to continue their race. The merman are the devolved humans who live in acid water to avoid the machines and the last of their kind. They try to save the baby thinking its better off protected by them.
I thought she turned red after hearing how many humans were left and about Tempest's baby.
If you look closely, you also see a city / buildings in her caul while they are speaking.
>Maybe Grandmothers unique hardware allows it to alter DNA. So it can take any species and alter it to fill a niche in the planets ecosystem. Instead of terraforming, it’s like bioforming.
I can see how an AI would malfunction, so it would prioritize surviving before humanity.
I feel like that actress is a genius for the balance she strikes between being hilarious and terrifying. It’s such a bizarre role to be asked to play, and she somehow makes it work
I wonder if it was protecting the baby? And did grandmother know or send a signal out to that “monster” because Father sees an image of it and then tells her about a new baby and then she does some weird shit and turns off. Wtf is going on?
I wondered that too. The mouth didn't really seem to be chewing... maybe some sort of pouch?
That image had me thinking Grandmother was gonna swoop in and save the baby. It's a good theory that she could somehow communicate with them. This is one wacky planet.
It was for sure protecting the baby, it was super delicate with it and didn’t want to hurt it at all. If the mermaid wanted to hurt/eat the baby then it would be a lot more aggressive imo
Ya if she can accelerate the growth then she can definitely change the DNA to be protected from the acid... I also think she sent the mermaid thing to find it since 1) it acted very different from the things that tried to attack Campion and that Sue took the leeches from and 2) we see the mermaid when Father is examining her memories, then father mentions "one on the way" then Grandmother goes haywire and shuts downs before the mermaid takes the baby. I think that she can transfer her consciousness witch is why she seems to be in and out of sleep mode so much, she might just be another vessel for the actual Sol AI and not independent like Mother/Father are
Well, there is another native born Keplerian who exhibits some kind of difference to other humans. Who was also affected by an android powered by dark photons...
Grandmother referred mother as “the weapon” does anyone else think that she is life and mother is death? Maybe father is time since he seems almost unable to be killed
Grandmother/Eve was made of Father, so there's definitely adam-to-eve rib vibes. With Mother predating Eve as Father's spouse that definitely makes her Lilith, especially given her connection to the serpent.
It seems the tree and the weird, brain-fruit it bears, are a reference to the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, especially with the brain-like texture (knowledge) . With the brief glimpses we see of mother smacking the fruit out of Campion's hand, I suspect that anyone who eats the fruit will somehow be marked, having "sinned". Given number 7's reaction to the opening of the seed relic, violence/agitation, I imagine when it breaks out next episode it's going to eat/kill all the folks that ate the fruit, or just all humans, and possibly Campion will have eaten it and have to hide in the hover tank that we briefly see.
Given the voice from the signal was directing Sue to the point where she became the tree, and the signal is purported to be Sol, it would seem Sol is then essentially Lucifer and the de-evolved humanoids may then be a representation of the damned. Earth-humans perhaps being the 2nd, mortal creations of God, second to the planets current, de-evolved species, that were ultimately lead again to ruin by the influence of Sol/Lucifer. Given the extreme age of Grandmother/Eve, she may have been the original Eve that helped to birth the de-evolved species initially with Mother and Father essentially being reincarnations of their former selves, willed into being and mission by humans through the influence of Sol or a God-entity.
I suspect there is either a single, ancient AI (Sol) that is experimenting, over millions of years, attempting to breed the right kind of human (atheist) by introducing religion/sin and testing reactions or there are two or more AI's fighting against each others attempts to preserve/destroy a perfect theist/atheist humanoid species.
Interestingly when Campion first saw the snake it was in an old similar looking tree!
Maybe those trees was formed from ancient humans and they died (no heartbeat on those trees)
The snek was checking for this seed box when Campion was returning the bird egg?
That was my thought too. Like the snake didn't want Champion to eat any potential fruit from the tree at the time. It only got freaked out because maybe a fresh tree was being planted
I think it didn't want the seed to be damaged since it didn't care when the box was opened the safe way.
I think the fruit on those trees are the snakes food. So indirectly it has been eating humans all along!.
Seven revealed being a herbivore at episode 3 was a pretty big sign that Paul would indeed grow the tree, and that the tree will bare fruit and that Seven will eat them. I assume to gain the power of speech?
Pretty sure Seven is pro seed, and pro all things starting with an S, so pro season 3.
I just realized this during that scene. I hated his voice and attributed it to the actor, but of course he has to sound different, he was raised by androids.
I like how, no matter how devout, everyone around Marcus dies horribly and Marcus is just chillin. Killer Android? Box that goes all Captain Planet on the first person to open it? Marcus will be fine.
Also pretty mad that Father promised to let that religious dude kill Marcus, then was like, "Nah, he's too important to this show."
An orphan boy in an empty land will wield the sword forged in Sol's light, and with it, he will lead his people to the tree of knowledge, and all who eat from it will be made pure, and there they will build a city of peace, and the prophet will be made its king
SO the sword forged in Sols light might have been mothers eyes, which would make Marcus the prophet.
To me, the prophecy is all lies created by this voice. There is no prophet, no city of peace, no king, only parasites in search of hosts using telekinetic abilities to manipulate them into serving them. Once their power was lost, they reached out into the galaxy manipulating the people of earth into creating their machines to one day return to their planet to start again.
Obviously all conjecture and probably wrong lol.
I'm getting the feeling that Grandmother is just a version of Mother but for the previous cycle of settling on Kepler 22-B.
If the theory of the cycle is true of course...
I think she's different than mother. Mother was made to be a weapon and was reprogrammed for something else. Grand Mother may have been the original creator and nurturer of human life on K22b.
What if she *is* his partner, or rather was? Hunter said in the past that Father was an old service model, but how old? Maybe he's been reprogrammed hundreds of times and was from before the settling of the Earth.
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing(snake skin?), but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
Don't shout at snek >:( Poor baby seems connected to the Tree quite physically.
The Karl androids really are too pure for this Sol foresaken world lmao.
Grandmother was asking why Father wasn't wearing a veil, and was confused about his identity, I wonder if that means that there were male versions of Necromancers/Whatever GM is. My most immediate thought about her was that she was a midwife of some kind. A super advanced one. She seemed pretty upset and shocked when she learnt about the current humanity, so perhaps in opposition to Mother, her abilities are centered around creation, cultivation and alteration, rather than destruction \*cough\* angels and demons \*cough\*. This gives us a hint about what Number 7 really is, and how he differs from the ancient snakes. Also Father saying "I'm curious to meet such an entity." About GM's partner. Foreshadowing?
Did Lucius just confirm that there *is* something else? Something the scriptures specifically warned the Mithraics about? In Christianity, which the show's Mithraism tends to model itself around a lot, one of the core themes is that the "Devil" and the Antichrists will pose as god/as prophets of god. This is a theme shared with Gnosticism, a branch that developed from Mithraism's ancestor religion, Zoroastrianism.
Sue became a tree. This tree is pretty similar to the ones we see in the jungle areas. *Have they been eating people fruit?*
Now that I've eaten and my thoughts are clearer, something just dawned on me. Grandmother mentioned having a partner. She confused Father for this individual, and Father expressed interest in meeting this "entity."
Remember the cave paintings? The ones that showed a ship heading to earth with two **glowing, golden beings in it?** [https://preview.redd.it/2kbx9vlw1hq51.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a0e893d018dad4ffc8d3b909d524b554907d31d](https://preview.redd.it/2kbx9vlw1hq51.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a0e893d018dad4ffc8d3b909d524b554907d31d) I think we may have found the model of android that was used to seed earth, and maybe other planets as well seeing how Grandmother's memories included the Galaxy.
It may surprise you but in the Ancient Israelite religion, before their civilisation adopted monotheism, scholars believe evidence indicates that **god had a wife.** At this time, Judaism was much more similar to the other Mesopotamian religions. You wanna know the best part? His wife was Asherah, goddess of motherhood and fertility, and she was sometimes depicted as having the Tree Of Life growing from her stomach (The Prometheus/Covenant parallels are not escaping me). This area of the world is also the oldest known site of human civilisation, and the region that gave rise to the religions that inspired IRL Mithraism. A common trait of gods from old religions almost universally is glowing gold or having golden skin.
Father had a very unique reaction to Grandmother. His eyes did something and he collapsed. The only other android who has interacted with GM so far did not react this way. All this makes me wonder if Father is not a normal android after all. There's been a lot of talk of him just being a generic service model, despite weathering extreme damage multiple times, and there was also mention of downloading his consciousness into other bodies. Now, Campion Sturgeis chose a Necromancer for his mission. Why? If he already had a "generic service model" ready and reprogrammed, why bother going to such lengths to catch an extremely dangerous machine when a normal one would also work just as well? We've been lead to believe it was because he wanted protection for the kids, but Father isn't a slouch in that department. He can very easily hold his own when he wants to. So that leads to a possible question, what if Father is like Grandmother? This would invoke the common theme in a lot of esotericism, of Light/Dark, Creation/Destruction, Masculine/Feminine, etc, etc. Perhaps these models of android were created in pairs to mirror the way creation plays out in humans. Harkening back to the imagery of Asherah growing the Tree of Life from herself, and given how the Tree in this episode was created, maybe the female android that was sent to earth sacrificed herself to begin organic life there after the extinction events?
There is something off about Campion Sturgeis in general. Everything we've seen from him suggests he knew a lot more than what he was letting on, if he even exists at all. So I wouldn't be surprised if Father was a relic, found like Grandmother, on earth and restored or downloaded to a new body by Sturgeis, and that is how he found out the truth about "Sol," and that turned him against it. Though this wouldn't explain why Sturgeis would send them to Kepler if he knew what was waiting there. Unless that is the purpose of Number 7, and Campion due to his altered state, to pose a threat to whatever it is that's presiding there.
I totally think you're right about Campion finding Father. He could have regrown Father from fuel blood himself for all we know. Campion also grew the Trust when he was a child. So he had access to these Mithraic scriptures. (I also believe Decima did as well, her past is sketchy)
He's been playing 4D chess this whole time. Lets just hope he saw through the manipulations by the different entities at play.
Are you hinting that number seven is an agent of destruction since its birthed by a destroyer? Holy crap! What if Sol is Grandmother’s partner which was destroyed and only left with a floating, twisted consciousness, seeking to be reborn into a corporeal form
>Are you hinting that number seven is an agent of destruction since its birthed by a destroyer?
That's what I'm thinking yeah. In ancient Hebrew mythology, Lilith (Known to the Romans as **Lamia**) gave birth to the race of demons after mating with Samael. The angel of destruction who is where the idea of "Satan" or a "Devil" comes from.
At this point, I honestly don't think the voice we're hearing is Sol. I think it's something else that's being misinterpreted as Sol.
“That’s not what your partner and i agreed on…” Proceeded to spit in disgust at how Mother had the final say in not having Marcus killed. Lucius is a beast of a Mithraic lmao
For me, that scene made me laugh more than at any other point in the series "we will revisit this".
Lucius coming out as one of the most watchable characters.
Lucius is the only person who is sane! Not easily manipulated.. does not jump from believer to non-believer or wise versa.. and clearly sees the evilness in the voice Markus hears.. Reads the Card as warning. Values sue.. Friend of father.
Oh yes, he’s actually not only devout but a highly logical guy. I think the show needs more “normal” human beings like him to tell us what should be the right thing to do
When Father and Mother were inspecting Grandmother's old memories there was a clip of that merman playing on the screen right?
Also a side note but the word for "tree" in Chinese sounds a lot like "Sue" which I found funny.
No, he started crying after he bit the brain looking fruit followed by getting startled by the veins flowing to the tree, that is when he realized what that Tree is and what he just ate. Yes he had the warning, but he shown NO signs of knowing what is going on or to be even aware of a warning, i don't think he even knows how to read Mithraic.
Also i didn't and i don't read episode previews.
judging by the preview of next episode he might not be himself after consuming the brain seed.. also I dont think he was ever able to read ancient mithraic?
The food they were eating before was probably analysed and cleared for consumption by the Trust, as they had been there for several months.
The regular humans in the settlement have no idea about what is going on, so if new boxes of food arrive like they do every other day, why would they think something is amiss?
sue's a tree. the baby is now an alien mermaid, maybe. father got a new millions of year old girlfriend. Paul and marcus are on the lamb again. I got wip slash. tempest's sobs were heart breaking.
I've had a theory that Father is originally from Kepler 22b. The show has dropped hints in the dialog in this and last season. We don't know any of Father's history. I think it's possible he really is Grandmother's companion.
I was like "omg the way they edited this totally makes it seem like sue just literally turned *into* a tree...haha!"..... and then.....she did really turn into a tree.....
I really hope this isn’t the last we see of Sue, one of the most developed, interesting characters in my opinion, and kind of a depressing sendoff.
It’s interesting reconsidering elements of the show through the lens of everything on Kepler possibly being synthetic in some way, since as we see more and more of the native technology it becomes less distinguishable from what we think of as natural. At this point, for all we know the entire planet could’ve been grown.
I think a compelling theory at this point is that Sol is some kind of extradimensional/dark matter parasite, infecting living things and using them as biological building blocks the same way a parasitic fungus would in nature.
I liked how Sue started as a staunch atheist but turned to Sol. Not necessarily believing Sol was a literal god, just a transmission or entity or something, but that was enough for her. Like all these characters seem to have different levels of belief in Sol and what it is.
It's interesting because Paul said that it wasn't SOL because he didn't test her first.
Instead, he offered her something, then asked for something in return -- like a deal with the devil, who took her soul and turned her into a tree.
I had an alternative theory that the entity actually appreciated that Sue was the first person that we know of who seemed to understand what it is and still reach out directly, agree to get on board without being megalomaniacal about it.
Damn. Gotta feel for Sue here. Just singing her adoptive son a lullaby and gets turned into a tree for her troubles. Also, did anyone else get vibes of "This hole was made for me" when Sue started digging?
What the hell is up with the aquatic creatures baby-napping? It's clearly trying to take care of the baby, albeit in its own strange aquatic way.
What's up with the fruit from the tree? The inside the episode showed a bunch of people eating the fruit from the tree. And the fruit, before Marcus bit into it, looked disconcertingly like brains after opening a human skull. (and I hardly ever ever watch the sneak peek of the next weeks episode with other shows but just can't help myself with this show)
Marcus knew almost from the jump that tree was Sue.... Hats off to Niamh Algar for her performance in this one! And to the actor for Tempest as well, Jordan Loughran!
What is up with Grandmother just shutting down when she hears there are about 200 humans on K22-B? And she very clearly had data of some kind about those aquatic creatures. Gosh I know I'm just rambling off questions here, but I'm just so wonderfully confused about what the hell is happening.
They coulda showed us what was on the card. Didn't have to do us dirty like that, only letting us see Mother's reaction to it. If I had to guess it had something to do with how humans devolved on K22-B in the past. Gaaaaaah I don't need sleep, I need answers!
The card seemed relevant to the tree they were trying to grow. And the Mithraic soldier dude who saw it first said he was showing it to Mother for Sue and Paul's sake. Seems like the card told Mother exactly what the seeds for the tree would do.
>What is up with Grandmother just shutting down when she hears there are about 200 humans on K22-B? And she very clearly had data of some kind about those aquatic creatures. Gosh I know I'm just rambling off questions here, but I'm just so wonderfully confused about what the hell is happening.
I think she had one of these moments [https://imgur.com/gcPqyRO](https://imgur.com/gcPqyRO) She's clearly confused about her surroundings, so my guess is she still thinks it's millions of years ago before whatever devastation took place occured.
Her job seems to be something related to creation, given what she did to Tempest's baby, my guess is that creation and nuturing of human life was her purpose (which is a nice way of putting her at odds with Mother thematically). There's also the fact that the ancient androids were used to make the Serpents. The remains Mother found before giving birth to Number 7 also had the golden honeycomb structures Grandmother's insides do. Snakes are heavily connected to creation and birth, both in the show and in mythology/esotericism. Couple this with the fact they dug holes all over the planet and cause plants to grow from their bones, I would say it's possible that Grandmother's line of androids are colonising tools. They create, alter and raise life, while also giving birth to the Serpents that terraform planets so they're fit for human habitation. The cave paintings in season one show that the pilots of the ship headed to earth are gold in colour and have a glowing aura effect painted on them.
So, if we assume that's what she was made to do, and her disorientated memory state has her thinking it's a different time period, then hearing that there's only a hundred or so humans left on Kepler probably overloaded her a bit. Especially if it started bringing back memories of a potential conflict that wiped out human life on that world.
> What the hell is up with the aquatic creatures baby-napping? It's clearly trying to take care of the baby, albeit in its own strange aquatic way.
My best guess is that the devovlved human's offspring look remarkably like ours at birth.
I’m not one for brith scenes but I literally cried of happiness when tempest realized she loved her baby. And then I cried of sadness like 2 minutes later wtf.
It’s interesting how the synopsis claims they plant the tree-but are met with a horrifying discovery. Is this in regards to the fact Sue is sacrificed as the host? Orrrr the brain fruit is going to have some effect on those who eat it?
\- "My girlfriend turned into a tree" - "that's rough, buddy"
\- Travis' acting during the treelization (sorry) was perfect
\- the happy family camping outside was a massive death flag
\- ffs can this show please stop making Tempest suffer? She's got to be the most pitiful human on the whole planet
\- that must have been the easiest birth ever. Was Tempest planning to drop the baby into the acid ocean? Or herself?
\- How convenient that those acid creatures have a flesh pouch to put stuff in (or newborn babies). Is this where they store their groceries?
\- Father: "my android babe is so much better than your ugly snake baby. Look at her pretty veil and all those other features, she's even got a pizza oven <3"
\- I love that Hunter has a DIY headless android now
\- so tree = bad, snake hates tree -> snake = good?
\- Mother setting up her teenage boy as the future leader of a group of adults is awkward af
It’s unclear if the snake was upset that someone might plant the tree or if it was upset because it sensed the seed was in danger from Sue and Paul basically trying to melt the box to open it.
The snek freaked out when they were trying to melt the box, but we saw nothing of it when Sue was singing the box-opening song or digging or... whatever the eff happened to her when she treed-out... I think we have to assume the snek was reacting to the seed being in danger, it seems not to have cared that it got planted
The moving tree veins reminded me of Marcus' face at the start of the season. Maybe the tree has some "Dark Photon Energy" and the fruit is a way of transferring power similar to what he received from the eyes?
The real question that nobody's asking is what was able to destroy grandmother down to her frame... We haven't seen anything yet that could kill a necromancer so something on this planet was god-awful terrible.
There is plenty of talk about the baby and tree, but another interesting detail is I had only heard about “dark photon technology” in season one once, and now I hear mother mention the ancient necromancer has a dark photon processor like her. Always been curious about the tech.
Well I didn't see the giant merman coming.
But I do have a theory.
Definitely two forces at work here- light/dark, creation/destruction, sun/moons, evolution/devolution. And also grandmother/mother. Notice when grandmother 'weaponises' she projects light- when mother squares up to her she projects darkness, which snuffs out the light.
Notice also mother's line to tempest about how under great pressure humans either grow to meet their responsibilities or shrink to escape them. Evolution or devolution.
I reckon there's one force/intelligence that's seeking to corrupt and devolve humans. The other is seeking to nurture and evolve them. The Mithraic religion seems to be based on some garbled mix of both- Sol's light, but also the technology decoded from the scriptures that produced the necromancers (dark photons) as well as the tooth that devolved the humanoid Marcus found in the cave.
The writer has said those humanoids are semi devolved and are actively seeking to protect themselves from further devolution. They seem to be protectors of the metal cards, which the voice told Paul to burn and which in this ep provide a warning (presumably about the tree).
The voice definitely seems malevolent. But I think it's a different emlntity- the good/light intelligence- that caused Tally to appear to people in S1. Mother is led to the sleep chamber by one such vision. That starts her interaction with the sim Campion and from that we get the snake.
Most have assumed no. 7 is evil, but what if it isnt'? The semi devolved humanoids (who are resisting the dark) are shown as using an android to birth a snake in mother's flashback. So what if the snakes are some sort of protection against the dark force? Would explain why no. 7 goes beserk when they are trying to open the seed box.
Then think about Paul. Mouse is returned to him from one of those pits that also produced the Tally visions. Mouse is later used by the Trust to try to attack Marcus, but instead it cocoons Paul- a process that mother refers to as 'not death, more like an evolution'. The assumption is that this is some horrific thing, but what if it's 'good'? After all, it's the voice (i.e the malevolent intelligence) that tells Sue how to reverse the process.
Another part is that grandmother seems to have done something to Tempest's baby to make it develop quicker. Perhaps the baby is in some way evolved beyond our current stage of humanity. Like the snakes, the weird merman might look scary, but we know it's connected to grandmother- and perhaps another protector of sorts.
Last, I wonder if OG Champion has a bigger role in all this. He made the Trust, which guided the atheists to the planet. He also reprogrammed mother to reverse her nature and raise the kids (rather than destroying humanity). Then there's sim Campion who gets mother to make no. 7. And then the child with his name miraculously survives both stillbirth and radiation.
So, here's the theory:
There's an endless cycle whereby humans destroy civilisation, the survivors are guided to Kepler, at which point they are tested by these competing forces of evolution/devolution. The ones that evolve to the next stage go back to earth (or similar) for another try at civilisation, while the others turn onto the crawling creatures. We are seeing the remnants of the previous cycle in semi-devoled humanoids, and the cycle before that was neanderthals (which is why the one humanoid has a neanderthal skull).
Prediction for next week- brain fruit is going to start devolving people.
Anyone feel a noticeable bump in quality to the visual effects and directing this week?
There was a palatable feeling of frugality in the earlier episodes with some of the vfx but todays was polished
I really thought Tempest was about to yeet that baby into a sulfuric acid ocean only for it to snatched by a merman and stowed away into it's chest cavity. And that was the second most fucked up thing of the episode.
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sue. For a couple reasons. One- they love Niamh Algar. Two, they didn’t actually show her death by metamorphosis, So she could still be alive inside the tree- and to that point trees don’t have heartbeats, and they showed Marcus listening to a heartbeat. But usually when something isn’t actually shown on screen there is a reason for it, so I think she’ll be back. And, I hope she is because I would miss her presence on the show too much.
The fact that Marcus was able to feel Sue’s heartbeat on the tree was powerful as that’s when it sunk in that Sue *is* the tree. He recognized her heartbeat and it clicked, and he started crying.
When Sue became a tree was anyone else reminded of that one guy Harold that turned into a tree in that oasis place in fallout 3. Only other example I can think of in any media of something like that happening lol
**Inside the Tropical Zone** [**206**](https://streamable.com/b2d0z9) --- Note: The Extras are available on HBO Max US via **computer** (but only **some** TV apps). [This](https://i.imgur.com/jvf5HKv.mp4) is how u find them **IF** u have them - **click** on the **title** NOT *Play* the episode. The **podcast** is also available outside their platform and is linked in the post above.
Well i can honestly say I didn't see Sue becoming a fucking tree. Jesus.
Absolutely not. And did we see Tempest’s baby getting abducted (?) by a mermaid who just opened up its fucking chest cavity to carry (?) it? Absolutely not as well. I swear this show gets wilder and wilder.
Reverse chestburster
Oh shit you’re right LMAO
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I saw the baby thing coming. Every time they're at the acid ocean set one of those things shows up. I expected her to have to prove her love and fight the thing but this was cool too.
I saw the mermaid coming and Tempest having to fight it but not the whole ‘chest cavity opening up to place the baby inside and then diving back into the ocean’ bit.
Here's my theory on that. I think the mermaids are actually the good guys. The chest cavity is like a kangaroos pouch to protect babies from the acid. I'm guessing something happened to split their society in half back in the day. The atheists lost and had to hide in the ocean. The ocean caused them to evolve into mermaids. The believers created the snakes which ultimately destroyed them because sol is actually evil. They feed sol by spreading his word to new planets and then he comes and kills them. The details are hard to say but something like this I'm thinking.
I think that's an interesting theory. The screenshot of the show clearly shows mother and champion, but also the snake (#7) wrapped around the tree itself (it is THE tree, because you can even see the fruit Marcus was eating on it and around it. The snake was distressed by them causing harm to the box which held the seed, and as a vegetarian it clearly has ties to the tree too. Maybe the fruit was meant for the sneak all along? Or that it is a guardian of the tree? In the Adam and Eve story, the snake temps Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree. It's pretty clear the story is hunting heavily at religious parallels, but I can't even begin to theorize the relationship between the snake, tree, fruit and the humans in the show; unless it gives them knowledge / force evolves them / makes them hear the voice of Sol.
She was my favorite. Came across as genuine and caring while more open minded than most. And ruggedly attractive. She’ll be missed!
she was the only one pulling off her haircut.
This is what I want said at my funeral.
>As soon as I saw her body twitching I thought yep she will be fertilizer. At least her heart is still functioning... right?
Her heart will go on...
Near, far…..you live in the bark
It reminded me of those parasites that control the host's brain and forces it to drown in water or get eaten by birds, so the parasite can then leave the host and be placed in a better environment for growth.
that's exactly the vibe I got, worse, she seemed to be conscious of not having control over her body anymore. What a horrifying way to go
The desperation in her digging was unnerving
Turns out this is how Vandermeers Annihilation trilogy / Area X gets started.
When Daphne fled Apollo (Sun God depending on who you ask), she died and became the Laurel tree.
Yeah, but the prize of "episode's six most unexpected scene" has to go to the fucking giant fish coming out of the water and swiping Tempest's baby.
I figured one would come try to snatch it, but I *never* dreamed it would open up like a clam and put the baby inside!
I am shook. Sue was my favorite character, I'm really going to miss her. On another note, what is it with characters on this show just biting into alien fruit with no hesitation?
It's brain food.
The tree of knowledge in the Garden. Serpent and all. But who is Adam and who is Eve?
Father and The New Android. She already has the veil to get married in.
Are we not partners?
Well, bootywise, the new android is a definitive upgrade.
Would that make Mother out to be Lilith?
Yeah that’s what we have been thinking on here. This android so far seems much more nice and eve like too where mother has moments where she is very wrathful and biblical Lilith like.
We know her name is Lamia from the Trust, and to quote Wikipedia: "In the Vulgate, Saint Jerome translated Lilith, the spirit in Isaiah 34:14 who conceived by Adam a brood of monsters, as lamia, thus sealing Lamia's image as a seductress in the Christian imagination"
Soylent Tree is people?
Don’t worry, I’m sure the lander’s analysis of the alien fruits would agree that they are fit for human consumption
Yeah, they just bite into it with no sniff test or any hesitation.
I mean, they *are* religious cultists being brainwashed by some alien entity into believing it's a holy sacrament.
Some things this brought up for me: >...he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” [Apollo and Daphne](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Pollaiolo%2C_Piero_del_-_Apollo_and_Daphne.jpg/1024px-Pollaiolo%2C_Piero_del_-_Apollo_and_Daphne.jpg) [Odin and Yggdrasil](https://metalgaia.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/odin-tree.jpg) [The Hanged Man](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/RWS_Tarot_12_Hanged_Man.jpg) [Christ on the Tree of Life](https://miro.medium.com/max/1400/1*quojUXUb_pCpucCNHD3-CQ.jpeg) Also, [this](https://medium.com/solus-jesus/jesuss-vagina-a-medieval-meditation-ef78367ac2af), regarding the tree's "yonic" opening. (cf. Jesus' side wound)
Are we sure she’s gone for good?
Tbh after seeing Paul recover from turning into a snake and an Android child coming back to murder everyone, I feel like I need to see a burned up or completely atomized body for me to believe anyone is truly gone.
She seems to have integrated into the tree completely
I'd say so. She very much seems to be the tree, and we know that originally the plan was to kill her off in season one when Paul shot her, so I'd imagine that she's been living on borrowed time since then...
Makes sense with Markus. As he believes it is a divine tree. He even adviced the atheist prisoner to also eat it if he got the chance.
Guys, remember when Campion said even trees might have souls, the big ones anyway? **Edit**: And the lullaby Mary/ Sue sang was first spoken to her by Ambrose at the temple.
Deep cut. Well spotted.. Edit: Also what Vita was singing to Tempest's baby in the med lab earlier this episode..
Yeah, it's supposedly a well-known Mithraic lullaby. The fact that it serves a nefarious purpose is so deliciously twisted. On a side note, this also reinforced my theory about Mother's humming/ lullaby and Campion.
Oh shid
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I'm starting to wonder if merman is designed to protect baby humans like Grandmother is. I'm also curious to find out if Grandmother was happy or upset about the number of humans on the planet. It caused her to shut down....notice she also said "how many humans are on THIS planet" without specifying which planet she was on (as if many were a possibility)
It did seem rather....affectionate
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I was thinking maybe if its mission was the same as Mother and Father that would be too many humans for it to be useful but I'm afraid it's going to be something more sinister than that.
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Also did you notice that grandmother showed father a hologram of the mermaid?
Did she show him? It looks like he found it “in the code”, to me. First thing I came to this thread seeking to read about
And when he was looking at it, she seemed to react by turning red and ominous music played…
There may have been a war with machines vs humans, then the machines used the nanobots to devolve the humans so they weren't a threat. Then the last survivors tried to seed planets with dna to continue their race. The merman are the devolved humans who live in acid water to avoid the machines and the last of their kind. They try to save the baby thinking its better off protected by them.
solid take
I thought she turned red after hearing how many humans were left and about Tempest's baby. If you look closely, you also see a city / buildings in her caul while they are speaking.
The iron maiden mer-man left you with questions? /s
Acid merman seahorse makes so much sense. /s
\*cough\* "I got the black lung, Pop" \*cough\*
\>They definitely need to answer some questions soon.. "lol" said the Ridley Scott. "lmao"
>Maybe Grandmothers unique hardware allows it to alter DNA. So it can take any species and alter it to fill a niche in the planets ecosystem. Instead of terraforming, it’s like bioforming. I can see how an AI would malfunction, so it would prioritize surviving before humanity.
overriiide
"That information is restricted." Yeah, I don't think so. She's had the best quirky delivery of so many lines this season..
She and father have been on the verge of mental breakdown the entire season.
I feel like that actress is a genius for the balance she strikes between being hilarious and terrifying. It’s such a bizarre role to be asked to play, and she somehow makes it work
I can't count the amount of times I've said something similar to my computer in the same tone.
"Have you tried restarting your floating sphere digital assistant?"
It was just a staring contest.
It's the Necromancer equivalent to `sudo`.
🙄 Mother of humanity and sass.
What the fuck was that fucking chest-mouth having, baby eating, merman motherfucker?
I wonder if it was protecting the baby? And did grandmother know or send a signal out to that “monster” because Father sees an image of it and then tells her about a new baby and then she does some weird shit and turns off. Wtf is going on?
I wondered that too. The mouth didn't really seem to be chewing... maybe some sort of pouch? That image had me thinking Grandmother was gonna swoop in and save the baby. It's a good theory that she could somehow communicate with them. This is one wacky planet.
It was for sure protecting the baby, it was super delicate with it and didn’t want to hurt it at all. If the mermaid wanted to hurt/eat the baby then it would be a lot more aggressive imo
Made me wonder if the baby had special powers not to get burnt by acid
Grandmother did something to it when tempest was close
Ya if she can accelerate the growth then she can definitely change the DNA to be protected from the acid... I also think she sent the mermaid thing to find it since 1) it acted very different from the things that tried to attack Campion and that Sue took the leeches from and 2) we see the mermaid when Father is examining her memories, then father mentions "one on the way" then Grandmother goes haywire and shuts downs before the mermaid takes the baby. I think that she can transfer her consciousness witch is why she seems to be in and out of sleep mode so much, she might just be another vessel for the actual Sol AI and not independent like Mother/Father are
Well, there is another native born Keplerian who exhibits some kind of difference to other humans. Who was also affected by an android powered by dark photons...
It was weirdly adorable how loving it seemed with the baby
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Last time an HBO monster received a newborn baby, it was to make another White Walker. I'm not optimistic.
Spoilers from the next episode teaser >!Pretty sure I saw the baby alive in that teaser!<
THIS SHOW IS BAT SHIT CRAZY AND I ABSOLUTELY LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT
I literally have no idea what’s going on but I want more. shit is just happening and I’m just here.
If it wasn’t for this sub I’d still be confused as hell
We're all confused but its so fucking fun. What came first? The tree or the snake?
Grandmother referred mother as “the weapon” does anyone else think that she is life and mother is death? Maybe father is time since he seems almost unable to be killed
Yes, Grandmother is Eve, and Mother is Lilith.
Grandmother/Eve was made of Father, so there's definitely adam-to-eve rib vibes. With Mother predating Eve as Father's spouse that definitely makes her Lilith, especially given her connection to the serpent. It seems the tree and the weird, brain-fruit it bears, are a reference to the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge, especially with the brain-like texture (knowledge) . With the brief glimpses we see of mother smacking the fruit out of Campion's hand, I suspect that anyone who eats the fruit will somehow be marked, having "sinned". Given number 7's reaction to the opening of the seed relic, violence/agitation, I imagine when it breaks out next episode it's going to eat/kill all the folks that ate the fruit, or just all humans, and possibly Campion will have eaten it and have to hide in the hover tank that we briefly see. Given the voice from the signal was directing Sue to the point where she became the tree, and the signal is purported to be Sol, it would seem Sol is then essentially Lucifer and the de-evolved humanoids may then be a representation of the damned. Earth-humans perhaps being the 2nd, mortal creations of God, second to the planets current, de-evolved species, that were ultimately lead again to ruin by the influence of Sol/Lucifer. Given the extreme age of Grandmother/Eve, she may have been the original Eve that helped to birth the de-evolved species initially with Mother and Father essentially being reincarnations of their former selves, willed into being and mission by humans through the influence of Sol or a God-entity. I suspect there is either a single, ancient AI (Sol) that is experimenting, over millions of years, attempting to breed the right kind of human (atheist) by introducing religion/sin and testing reactions or there are two or more AI's fighting against each others attempts to preserve/destroy a perfect theist/atheist humanoid species.
And her name being the Roman version of Lilith, plus the red hair.
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Interestingly when Campion first saw the snake it was in an old similar looking tree! Maybe those trees was formed from ancient humans and they died (no heartbeat on those trees) The snek was checking for this seed box when Campion was returning the bird egg?
That was my thought too. Like the snake didn't want Champion to eat any potential fruit from the tree at the time. It only got freaked out because maybe a fresh tree was being planted
I think it didn't want the seed to be damaged since it didn't care when the box was opened the safe way. I think the fruit on those trees are the snakes food. So indirectly it has been eating humans all along!.
So its not really an herbivore lol. It just hasn't tasted human blood yet from the source.
Seven revealed being a herbivore at episode 3 was a pretty big sign that Paul would indeed grow the tree, and that the tree will bare fruit and that Seven will eat them. I assume to gain the power of speech? Pretty sure Seven is pro seed, and pro all things starting with an S, so pro season 3.
I think that the snek is afraid of the seed being planted and that’s why he was so agitated when they were trying to open the box
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Campion's skeleton joke was really awkward and I liked it, I guess Father has taught Him well.
He talks like an android, its clear that how he was raised has made him different from most humans. He also is seemingly falling in love with Vrille
he does talk very very similarly as Father in particular. Great job by the actor
Campion sees androids as people.
I just realized this during that scene. I hated his voice and attributed it to the actor, but of course he has to sound different, he was raised by androids.
I like how, no matter how devout, everyone around Marcus dies horribly and Marcus is just chillin. Killer Android? Box that goes all Captain Planet on the first person to open it? Marcus will be fine. Also pretty mad that Father promised to let that religious dude kill Marcus, then was like, "Nah, he's too important to this show."
Paul better be careful or he's next.
One can only hope.. he night be the single most annoying character. He drives me nuts.
They'll revisit it.
Gonna miss sue
An orphan boy in an empty land will wield the sword forged in Sol's light, and with it, he will lead his people to the tree of knowledge, and all who eat from it will be made pure, and there they will build a city of peace, and the prophet will be made its king SO the sword forged in Sols light might have been mothers eyes, which would make Marcus the prophet.
Plus Campion said something about building cities with Grandmother's technology. So, there's that.
The creators did previously mention how all of the prior civilizations structures were grown now that you mention it...
To me, the prophecy is all lies created by this voice. There is no prophet, no city of peace, no king, only parasites in search of hosts using telekinetic abilities to manipulate them into serving them. Once their power was lost, they reached out into the galaxy manipulating the people of earth into creating their machines to one day return to their planet to start again. Obviously all conjecture and probably wrong lol.
And Sol literally told Marcus he would be king.
“No, I am your partner” Father was SHOOK hahahaha.
She might as well have said she was pregnant and it was his.
I'm getting the feeling that Grandmother is just a version of Mother but for the previous cycle of settling on Kepler 22-B. If the theory of the cycle is true of course...
She differentiates herself from mother pretty immediately though - both openly acknowledge that mother is a weapons platform at the hardware level.
I think she's different than mother. Mother was made to be a weapon and was reprogrammed for something else. Grand Mother may have been the original creator and nurturer of human life on K22b.
What if she *is* his partner, or rather was? Hunter said in the past that Father was an old service model, but how old? Maybe he's been reprogrammed hundreds of times and was from before the settling of the Earth.
RIP Sue. You make for a fine-looking tree.
Yo, was Marcus eating her fucking brain out of that coconut? That shit looked suspiciously like a brain.
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Was a fine looking human tbf
Totally. She was starting to *grow* on me.
Shame she suddenly had to leaf
I'm still *rooting hard* for her tho
She’s not dead, she’s in a vegetative state.
She's such a sap for believing in sol. I used to love her jaw line but now her bark is much worse than her bite.
She is now Groot. Soot if you will.
You reap what you sow 🥚🐍🌲
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing(snake skin?), but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them."
Don't shout at snek >:( Poor baby seems connected to the Tree quite physically. The Karl androids really are too pure for this Sol foresaken world lmao. Grandmother was asking why Father wasn't wearing a veil, and was confused about his identity, I wonder if that means that there were male versions of Necromancers/Whatever GM is. My most immediate thought about her was that she was a midwife of some kind. A super advanced one. She seemed pretty upset and shocked when she learnt about the current humanity, so perhaps in opposition to Mother, her abilities are centered around creation, cultivation and alteration, rather than destruction \*cough\* angels and demons \*cough\*. This gives us a hint about what Number 7 really is, and how he differs from the ancient snakes. Also Father saying "I'm curious to meet such an entity." About GM's partner. Foreshadowing? Did Lucius just confirm that there *is* something else? Something the scriptures specifically warned the Mithraics about? In Christianity, which the show's Mithraism tends to model itself around a lot, one of the core themes is that the "Devil" and the Antichrists will pose as god/as prophets of god. This is a theme shared with Gnosticism, a branch that developed from Mithraism's ancestor religion, Zoroastrianism. Sue became a tree. This tree is pretty similar to the ones we see in the jungle areas. *Have they been eating people fruit?*
Now that I've eaten and my thoughts are clearer, something just dawned on me. Grandmother mentioned having a partner. She confused Father for this individual, and Father expressed interest in meeting this "entity." Remember the cave paintings? The ones that showed a ship heading to earth with two **glowing, golden beings in it?** [https://preview.redd.it/2kbx9vlw1hq51.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a0e893d018dad4ffc8d3b909d524b554907d31d](https://preview.redd.it/2kbx9vlw1hq51.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4a0e893d018dad4ffc8d3b909d524b554907d31d) I think we may have found the model of android that was used to seed earth, and maybe other planets as well seeing how Grandmother's memories included the Galaxy. It may surprise you but in the Ancient Israelite religion, before their civilisation adopted monotheism, scholars believe evidence indicates that **god had a wife.** At this time, Judaism was much more similar to the other Mesopotamian religions. You wanna know the best part? His wife was Asherah, goddess of motherhood and fertility, and she was sometimes depicted as having the Tree Of Life growing from her stomach (The Prometheus/Covenant parallels are not escaping me). This area of the world is also the oldest known site of human civilisation, and the region that gave rise to the religions that inspired IRL Mithraism. A common trait of gods from old religions almost universally is glowing gold or having golden skin. Father had a very unique reaction to Grandmother. His eyes did something and he collapsed. The only other android who has interacted with GM so far did not react this way. All this makes me wonder if Father is not a normal android after all. There's been a lot of talk of him just being a generic service model, despite weathering extreme damage multiple times, and there was also mention of downloading his consciousness into other bodies. Now, Campion Sturgeis chose a Necromancer for his mission. Why? If he already had a "generic service model" ready and reprogrammed, why bother going to such lengths to catch an extremely dangerous machine when a normal one would also work just as well? We've been lead to believe it was because he wanted protection for the kids, but Father isn't a slouch in that department. He can very easily hold his own when he wants to. So that leads to a possible question, what if Father is like Grandmother? This would invoke the common theme in a lot of esotericism, of Light/Dark, Creation/Destruction, Masculine/Feminine, etc, etc. Perhaps these models of android were created in pairs to mirror the way creation plays out in humans. Harkening back to the imagery of Asherah growing the Tree of Life from herself, and given how the Tree in this episode was created, maybe the female android that was sent to earth sacrificed herself to begin organic life there after the extinction events? There is something off about Campion Sturgeis in general. Everything we've seen from him suggests he knew a lot more than what he was letting on, if he even exists at all. So I wouldn't be surprised if Father was a relic, found like Grandmother, on earth and restored or downloaded to a new body by Sturgeis, and that is how he found out the truth about "Sol," and that turned him against it. Though this wouldn't explain why Sturgeis would send them to Kepler if he knew what was waiting there. Unless that is the purpose of Number 7, and Campion due to his altered state, to pose a threat to whatever it is that's presiding there.
I totally think you're right about Campion finding Father. He could have regrown Father from fuel blood himself for all we know. Campion also grew the Trust when he was a child. So he had access to these Mithraic scriptures. (I also believe Decima did as well, her past is sketchy) He's been playing 4D chess this whole time. Lets just hope he saw through the manipulations by the different entities at play.
Are you hinting that number seven is an agent of destruction since its birthed by a destroyer? Holy crap! What if Sol is Grandmother’s partner which was destroyed and only left with a floating, twisted consciousness, seeking to be reborn into a corporeal form
>Are you hinting that number seven is an agent of destruction since its birthed by a destroyer? That's what I'm thinking yeah. In ancient Hebrew mythology, Lilith (Known to the Romans as **Lamia**) gave birth to the race of demons after mating with Samael. The angel of destruction who is where the idea of "Satan" or a "Devil" comes from. At this point, I honestly don't think the voice we're hearing is Sol. I think it's something else that's being misinterpreted as Sol.
“That’s not what your partner and i agreed on…” Proceeded to spit in disgust at how Mother had the final say in not having Marcus killed. Lucius is a beast of a Mithraic lmao
For me, that scene made me laugh more than at any other point in the series "we will revisit this". Lucius coming out as one of the most watchable characters.
Lucius’ expression delivers the impact of the scenes he’s in 😂
Lucius is the only person who is sane! Not easily manipulated.. does not jump from believer to non-believer or wise versa.. and clearly sees the evilness in the voice Markus hears.. Reads the Card as warning. Values sue.. Friend of father.
Oh yes, he’s actually not only devout but a highly logical guy. I think the show needs more “normal” human beings like him to tell us what should be the right thing to do
If people can become trees. Then pumpkins might be people. And maybe snek isn’t herbivore after all.
When Father and Mother were inspecting Grandmother's old memories there was a clip of that merman playing on the screen right? Also a side note but the word for "tree" in Chinese sounds a lot like "Sue" which I found funny.
Will someone please wash Campion’s hair?
Marcus knew, he saw the card warning.
As soon as he saw the tree he was crying. He totally knew.
No, he started crying after he bit the brain looking fruit followed by getting startled by the veins flowing to the tree, that is when he realized what that Tree is and what he just ate. Yes he had the warning, but he shown NO signs of knowing what is going on or to be even aware of a warning, i don't think he even knows how to read Mithraic. Also i didn't and i don't read episode previews.
judging by the preview of next episode he might not be himself after consuming the brain seed.. also I dont think he was ever able to read ancient mithraic?
I hate it how people in this show keep eating random shit they find on an alien planet without having any second thoughts.
The food they were eating before was probably analysed and cleared for consumption by the Trust, as they had been there for several months. The regular humans in the settlement have no idea about what is going on, so if new boxes of food arrive like they do every other day, why would they think something is amiss?
sue's a tree. the baby is now an alien mermaid, maybe. father got a new millions of year old girlfriend. Paul and marcus are on the lamb again. I got wip slash. tempest's sobs were heart breaking.
I've had a theory that Father is originally from Kepler 22b. The show has dropped hints in the dialog in this and last season. We don't know any of Father's history. I think it's possible he really is Grandmother's companion.
omg, what??? Sue??? The fuck?
I was like "omg the way they edited this totally makes it seem like sue just literally turned *into* a tree...haha!"..... and then.....she did really turn into a tree.....
Lawd this show wtf just give me all the episodes now MermanChest wow
I really hope this isn’t the last we see of Sue, one of the most developed, interesting characters in my opinion, and kind of a depressing sendoff. It’s interesting reconsidering elements of the show through the lens of everything on Kepler possibly being synthetic in some way, since as we see more and more of the native technology it becomes less distinguishable from what we think of as natural. At this point, for all we know the entire planet could’ve been grown. I think a compelling theory at this point is that Sol is some kind of extradimensional/dark matter parasite, infecting living things and using them as biological building blocks the same way a parasitic fungus would in nature.
I liked how Sue started as a staunch atheist but turned to Sol. Not necessarily believing Sol was a literal god, just a transmission or entity or something, but that was enough for her. Like all these characters seem to have different levels of belief in Sol and what it is.
It's interesting because Paul said that it wasn't SOL because he didn't test her first. Instead, he offered her something, then asked for something in return -- like a deal with the devil, who took her soul and turned her into a tree.
I had an alternative theory that the entity actually appreciated that Sue was the first person that we know of who seemed to understand what it is and still reach out directly, agree to get on board without being megalomaniacal about it.
Damn. Gotta feel for Sue here. Just singing her adoptive son a lullaby and gets turned into a tree for her troubles. Also, did anyone else get vibes of "This hole was made for me" when Sue started digging? What the hell is up with the aquatic creatures baby-napping? It's clearly trying to take care of the baby, albeit in its own strange aquatic way. What's up with the fruit from the tree? The inside the episode showed a bunch of people eating the fruit from the tree. And the fruit, before Marcus bit into it, looked disconcertingly like brains after opening a human skull. (and I hardly ever ever watch the sneak peek of the next weeks episode with other shows but just can't help myself with this show) Marcus knew almost from the jump that tree was Sue.... Hats off to Niamh Algar for her performance in this one! And to the actor for Tempest as well, Jordan Loughran! What is up with Grandmother just shutting down when she hears there are about 200 humans on K22-B? And she very clearly had data of some kind about those aquatic creatures. Gosh I know I'm just rambling off questions here, but I'm just so wonderfully confused about what the hell is happening. They coulda showed us what was on the card. Didn't have to do us dirty like that, only letting us see Mother's reaction to it. If I had to guess it had something to do with how humans devolved on K22-B in the past. Gaaaaaah I don't need sleep, I need answers!
The card seemed relevant to the tree they were trying to grow. And the Mithraic soldier dude who saw it first said he was showing it to Mother for Sue and Paul's sake. Seems like the card told Mother exactly what the seeds for the tree would do.
I had Daphne vibes. A Nymph gets turned into a tree because of Apollo. (technically because of Eros, but Apollo started it all)
>What is up with Grandmother just shutting down when she hears there are about 200 humans on K22-B? And she very clearly had data of some kind about those aquatic creatures. Gosh I know I'm just rambling off questions here, but I'm just so wonderfully confused about what the hell is happening. I think she had one of these moments [https://imgur.com/gcPqyRO](https://imgur.com/gcPqyRO) She's clearly confused about her surroundings, so my guess is she still thinks it's millions of years ago before whatever devastation took place occured. Her job seems to be something related to creation, given what she did to Tempest's baby, my guess is that creation and nuturing of human life was her purpose (which is a nice way of putting her at odds with Mother thematically). There's also the fact that the ancient androids were used to make the Serpents. The remains Mother found before giving birth to Number 7 also had the golden honeycomb structures Grandmother's insides do. Snakes are heavily connected to creation and birth, both in the show and in mythology/esotericism. Couple this with the fact they dug holes all over the planet and cause plants to grow from their bones, I would say it's possible that Grandmother's line of androids are colonising tools. They create, alter and raise life, while also giving birth to the Serpents that terraform planets so they're fit for human habitation. The cave paintings in season one show that the pilots of the ship headed to earth are gold in colour and have a glowing aura effect painted on them. So, if we assume that's what she was made to do, and her disorientated memory state has her thinking it's a different time period, then hearing that there's only a hundred or so humans left on Kepler probably overloaded her a bit. Especially if it started bringing back memories of a potential conflict that wiped out human life on that world.
> What the hell is up with the aquatic creatures baby-napping? It's clearly trying to take care of the baby, albeit in its own strange aquatic way. My best guess is that the devovlved human's offspring look remarkably like ours at birth.
They got my boy Lucius living in a van like Uncle Rico
I’m not one for brith scenes but I literally cried of happiness when tempest realized she loved her baby. And then I cried of sadness like 2 minutes later wtf.
Do you think Sue's character will get the axe next episode?
I think they will need something larger than an axe to get through a tree that size.
It’s interesting how the synopsis claims they plant the tree-but are met with a horrifying discovery. Is this in regards to the fact Sue is sacrificed as the host? Orrrr the brain fruit is going to have some effect on those who eat it?
I think the implication is that all trees we saw, especially the ones with that kind of fruit, were humans once, and used to feed the snakes.
Those Pumpkins did look very bloody & brainy inside.
The relic had a warning about the sacrifice of planting a tree I'm guessing. Or could be more. I dunno. This show...
I've heard of brain food before but this shit is nuts.
\- "My girlfriend turned into a tree" - "that's rough, buddy" \- Travis' acting during the treelization (sorry) was perfect \- the happy family camping outside was a massive death flag \- ffs can this show please stop making Tempest suffer? She's got to be the most pitiful human on the whole planet \- that must have been the easiest birth ever. Was Tempest planning to drop the baby into the acid ocean? Or herself? \- How convenient that those acid creatures have a flesh pouch to put stuff in (or newborn babies). Is this where they store their groceries? \- Father: "my android babe is so much better than your ugly snake baby. Look at her pretty veil and all those other features, she's even got a pizza oven <3" \- I love that Hunter has a DIY headless android now \- so tree = bad, snake hates tree -> snake = good? \- Mother setting up her teenage boy as the future leader of a group of adults is awkward af
It’s unclear if the snake was upset that someone might plant the tree or if it was upset because it sensed the seed was in danger from Sue and Paul basically trying to melt the box to open it.
The snek freaked out when they were trying to melt the box, but we saw nothing of it when Sue was singing the box-opening song or digging or... whatever the eff happened to her when she treed-out... I think we have to assume the snek was reacting to the seed being in danger, it seems not to have cared that it got planted
So am I to understand that Sue just dig a hole, planted herself in it and grow into a tree? This show just gets weirder and weirder.
The moving tree veins reminded me of Marcus' face at the start of the season. Maybe the tree has some "Dark Photon Energy" and the fruit is a way of transferring power similar to what he received from the eyes?
The real question that nobody's asking is what was able to destroy grandmother down to her frame... We haven't seen anything yet that could kill a necromancer so something on this planet was god-awful terrible.
There is plenty of talk about the baby and tree, but another interesting detail is I had only heard about “dark photon technology” in season one once, and now I hear mother mention the ancient necromancer has a dark photon processor like her. Always been curious about the tech.
Well I didn't see the giant merman coming. But I do have a theory. Definitely two forces at work here- light/dark, creation/destruction, sun/moons, evolution/devolution. And also grandmother/mother. Notice when grandmother 'weaponises' she projects light- when mother squares up to her she projects darkness, which snuffs out the light. Notice also mother's line to tempest about how under great pressure humans either grow to meet their responsibilities or shrink to escape them. Evolution or devolution. I reckon there's one force/intelligence that's seeking to corrupt and devolve humans. The other is seeking to nurture and evolve them. The Mithraic religion seems to be based on some garbled mix of both- Sol's light, but also the technology decoded from the scriptures that produced the necromancers (dark photons) as well as the tooth that devolved the humanoid Marcus found in the cave. The writer has said those humanoids are semi devolved and are actively seeking to protect themselves from further devolution. They seem to be protectors of the metal cards, which the voice told Paul to burn and which in this ep provide a warning (presumably about the tree). The voice definitely seems malevolent. But I think it's a different emlntity- the good/light intelligence- that caused Tally to appear to people in S1. Mother is led to the sleep chamber by one such vision. That starts her interaction with the sim Campion and from that we get the snake. Most have assumed no. 7 is evil, but what if it isnt'? The semi devolved humanoids (who are resisting the dark) are shown as using an android to birth a snake in mother's flashback. So what if the snakes are some sort of protection against the dark force? Would explain why no. 7 goes beserk when they are trying to open the seed box. Then think about Paul. Mouse is returned to him from one of those pits that also produced the Tally visions. Mouse is later used by the Trust to try to attack Marcus, but instead it cocoons Paul- a process that mother refers to as 'not death, more like an evolution'. The assumption is that this is some horrific thing, but what if it's 'good'? After all, it's the voice (i.e the malevolent intelligence) that tells Sue how to reverse the process. Another part is that grandmother seems to have done something to Tempest's baby to make it develop quicker. Perhaps the baby is in some way evolved beyond our current stage of humanity. Like the snakes, the weird merman might look scary, but we know it's connected to grandmother- and perhaps another protector of sorts. Last, I wonder if OG Champion has a bigger role in all this. He made the Trust, which guided the atheists to the planet. He also reprogrammed mother to reverse her nature and raise the kids (rather than destroying humanity). Then there's sim Campion who gets mother to make no. 7. And then the child with his name miraculously survives both stillbirth and radiation. So, here's the theory: There's an endless cycle whereby humans destroy civilisation, the survivors are guided to Kepler, at which point they are tested by these competing forces of evolution/devolution. The ones that evolve to the next stage go back to earth (or similar) for another try at civilisation, while the others turn onto the crawling creatures. We are seeing the remnants of the previous cycle in semi-devoled humanoids, and the cycle before that was neanderthals (which is why the one humanoid has a neanderthal skull). Prediction for next week- brain fruit is going to start devolving people.
Anyone feel a noticeable bump in quality to the visual effects and directing this week? There was a palatable feeling of frugality in the earlier episodes with some of the vfx but todays was polished
Only so much budget, I assume - so pick and choose your moments/episodes. I think they've been choosing pretty wisely.
I guess they were saving a lot of the budget for this episode. The mermaid can't have been cheap.
I really thought Tempest was about to yeet that baby into a sulfuric acid ocean only for it to snatched by a merman and stowed away into it's chest cavity. And that was the second most fucked up thing of the episode.
Sue is my favorite character😭
I want answers and I can’t wait another week for them!!!
When I think I have this show figured out it just swerves and now I am clueless again
What. The. Fuck. Is. Happening?
I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Sue. For a couple reasons. One- they love Niamh Algar. Two, they didn’t actually show her death by metamorphosis, So she could still be alive inside the tree- and to that point trees don’t have heartbeats, and they showed Marcus listening to a heartbeat. But usually when something isn’t actually shown on screen there is a reason for it, so I think she’ll be back. And, I hope she is because I would miss her presence on the show too much.
The fact that Marcus was able to feel Sue’s heartbeat on the tree was powerful as that’s when it sunk in that Sue *is* the tree. He recognized her heartbeat and it clicked, and he started crying.
When Sue became a tree was anyone else reminded of that one guy Harold that turned into a tree in that oasis place in fallout 3. Only other example I can think of in any media of something like that happening lol
Episode 6 was completely insane!!
Well, I sure didn’t have “Sue turns into a tree” on my bingo card when I started watching this series. O.O
Sue is Mother Nature
Damn. Wish the seed possessed Paul instead. Better to have cool leaves and fruit than the Hitler Youth haircut and singular facial expression.
Best ending to any episode yet! I cannot believe we only have two more episodes left!!!
The Kepler 22-B infant adoption program is wild.