![]() He’s dressed almost as a Shakespearean version of a king, with robes on his shoulders and large, gaudy icons hanging around his neck. This sequence also explains the 2040 version of Clark, who we see for the first time this episode. Gael García Bernal’s performance here is almost maniacal, a slight smile on his lips as he watches Clark consider the copious amounts of booze sitting in front of him. Arthur seems to want to hurt Clark, offering him the booze and then giving him the double temptation of a hot waiter who has eight balls on hand for them to party with. Earlier this season, Clark whispers into the nothingness, pretending it’s Arthur, that the difference between Arthur and Tyler is that Arthur was “never destructive.” This episode proves Clark was wrong. I would also suggest that Clark is also deeply in love with Arthur and Arthur knows it. He’s angry at Arthur’s talent, telling him, “you’re great and you shouldn’t be because you haven’t earned it.” Meanwhile, it’s inferred that Clark had to work hard at his creative endeavors and gave them up to be a “CEO Whisperer.” While Station Eleven has told us that Clark always plays second fiddle to Arthur, it’s here that we see just how much anger and hurt that brings Clark. What starts as an awkward reunion quickly falls back into familiar patterns for the two, with Tim texting Clark to remind him that Arthur triggers him and to manage his anger.īefore long, Clark is pouring himself a drink (then two) and arguing about art and commerce with Arthur, each one throwing barbs meant to harm the other. Arthur, offering him a plethora of alcoholic choices, has also conveniently forgotten that Clark is nine years sober. It’s obvious that their time away from each other was spent without even communicating as Arthur is surprised, for example, that Clark is seeing his partner Tim. While the 2040 portions of “Who’s There?” focus on reuniting characters and bringing the entire cast together, the flashback brings Clark and Arthur back together, after a long time apart. Station Eleven has given us a Clark-focused episode before with “The Severn City Airport”, but here we get more clues about who and why he is the way he is. His damage is laid out bare on the screen as “Who’s There?” expertly mixes the traditional 2040 storyline and the flashback-heavy ones, using The Before to explain character motivations in 2040. There Tyler, who’s so hurt he wants to blot out anything related to The Before, as if he can kill the pain inside him from that time period.Ĭlark (David Wilmot) is still alive in 2040, though he’s now gray and melancholy. There’s Sarah (Lori Petty), who was hurt by Gil (David Cross) and then devastated over his death. There’s Elizabeth (Caitlin FitzGerald), who was married to Arthur (Gael García Bernal) and who lost her son. The characters we’ve met over the series, too, have all experienced intense trauma in some way, typically from events that happened in the Before, as Tyler/The Prophet (Daniel Zovatto) calls it. Kirsten is in the act of being traumatized at a young age, forced to understand her family’s mortality and hiding out with men who can barely take care of themselves, let alone her. ![]() Each one of them is damaged in their own particular way. Last episode, you keyed in on the specter of mental health hanging over Jeevan, Frank and Kirsten during their time in Frank’s apartment. ![]() ![]() And yet, the series continually pelts us with representations of damage, both literal and metaphor, that paints that refrain as an almost thesis statement. I’ll start with the continued refrain “I remember damage” that has been used throughout the entirety of Station Eleven, which by this point has become almost meaningless to me in its repetition. After “Who’s There?”, we have two more episodes, but this dense episode feels like it could be the climax as it brings all of the characters together and explodes their worlds. I don’t even know where to start with this episode, Joe, because there’s a lot of thematic weight going on here.
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