Spoilers 12 Monkeys - Season 4 Discussion Thread

[Procutus]

The journey through time that began with Cole speaking the line "See you soon" draws to a close in a matter of weeks. The fourth and final season of 12 Monkeys returns to SyFy on Friday, June 15, with three episodes each Friday until the two-part finale on July 6.

It's been an interesting ride, and I can't wait to see where it's all going to end. Let's monkey around one more time.

See you soon.

 

[Phoenix219]

I thought this got cancelled after Season 3... wth?

no shit.

 

[crookeddy]

I thought this got cancelled after Season 3... wth?

no shit.

Not sure why you would think that. Syfy renewed the show for two seasons after season 2.

 

[Christopher]

I thought this got cancelled after Season 3... wth?

No, the show was picked up for a fourth and final season a couple of months before season 3 even aired. But Syfy chose to release all of season 3 in a "binge"-like format over a single 3-day weekend, which probably gave many people the impression that they were burning off a cancelled show.

 

[Procutus]

And it was a great way to watch it, too!

 

[Procutus]

Here are the titles and brief descriptions of the first three episodes:

S4, Ep 1 - The End: The final conflict with the Army of the 12 Monkeys begins when the Witness returns to Project Splinter.

S4, Ep 2 - Ouroboros: Travelers come face to face with ghosts from their past, when they find themselves maneuvering around their own timelines.

S4, Ep 3 - 45 RPM: Cassie travels back in time to confront a younger Olivia; Cole helps Jennifer find the meaning behind her final Primary vision.

 

[Procutus]

Premier tomorrow night at 8:00 EST. Time to head back to Monkey Mansion!

 

[Procutus]

Here we go!

 

[Procutus]

That first half-hour was awesome.

 

[Christopher]

As soon as they dug up from underground and started to emerge into the building, I guessed that it would be the hotel. It's their stock standing set that they use in every era to save money, so of course it's where they'd end up in the future.

 

[Morpheus 02]

Glad I did not get spiked here...but this 3 episode per week deal isn't good for our household...early in our marriage it would have worked. But today? Only 1 episode and 10 minutes in...I think we missed it last time and missed the last couple of episodes...

So now how many times has Jones died in the series (so far)?

 

[Christopher]

"You want to save Hitler? That's the opposite of what you do with a time machine!"

 

[Procutus]

While I greatly enjoyed Ep 6, I think the show may have jumped the shark with Jennifer singing a classic Pink song in front Hitler and a Nazi audience. Hat's off to Emily though, she did a great job with it.

I'm a little foggy on something; at the end of the show where they're all gathered 'round drinking and listening to Jones read to them, which version of the Emerson are they in? A past version, or the future one they crashed the facility into? And if it's the latter, then who's the guy tending bar?

 

[Christopher]

While I greatly enjoyed Ep 6, I think the show may have jumped the shark with Jennifer singing a classic Pink song in front Hitler and a Nazi audience. Hat's off to Emily though, she did a great job with it.

Would she be Jennifer if she didn't jump every shark she could? I mean, it's nothing compared to the literal bomb she dropped on history at the end, even if it supposedly had little impact on the course of the war.

I'm a little foggy on something; at the end of the show where they're all gathered 'round drinking and listening to Jones read to them, which version of the Emerson are they in? A past version, or the future one they crashed the facility into? And if it's the latter, then who's the guy tending bar?

That confused me too. Dr. Adler was there, IIRC, so I assume it must've been in 2043, and they just cleaned up the place and have one of the Splinter staff doing the bartending. But that could've been made clearer.

 

[Procutus]

Well if we're lucky, Miss Goines will find at least one more shark to jump before the whole thing ends... At the beginning.

 

[Aragorn]

So that happened.

 

[Christopher]

This is all making very little sense now. The show's falling into the common trap of time travel stories: "Oh, no! Time travelers in the past are doing something dangerous right now! We have to stop them before they finish what they're doing centuries ago!"

It's also falling into a common trap of serial fiction -- having everything on a vast cosmic scale ending up to be just the story of one family, with all the major players being related to each other. The advantage of serialized fiction is that it lets you develop and evolve the main characters more fully, but it's led to a tendency to make modern TV series too much about the main characters dealing with their own personal issues and relationships, instead of focusing on helping others. All these plots where everyone is related to everyone else tend to end up feeling quite small and self-absorbed even when they're supposed to be about the fate of the world/universe.

I understand why the writers would bring things back full circle to the plague storyline from season 1; a lot of serialized shows try to tie back into their beginning story arcs in the final season (or what they suspect will be the final season, as with Agents of SHIELD this past year), plus it fits the whole Ouroboros theme here. The problem is that the show's mythology has left the whole plague angle so far behind that it feels incongruous to suddenly bring it back. I can't even remember how it's supposed to tie into the whole Titan/Red Forest/Witness arc. And I'm not at all clear on why Cassie did what she did at the end, and which side it helps.

 

[Procutus]

Christopher, while my memory's not always the best, as I recall the whole purpose of releasing the virus was because it would lead to the creation of time-travel, resulting in the 12 Messengers going back to various periods in the past to either start or fulfill the cycle, take your pick.

At least, that's what I think I recall being the reason. I have to agree with you, this sudden reveal of Hannah being Cole's mother and his importance in things is very much like what Fringe evolved into, and more recently, Timeless.

I just hope the two-part finale delivers something that is both satisfactory and to some degree, resolves the story once and for all.

I guess time will tell, eh?

 

[Caretaker]

I was thinking on this "small-universe" situation, but in this case, I'm willing to forgive it - just because of family members manipulating time in the first place.

I long ago lost track of how the plague ties into everything. Actually, I lost track of the time travel and the conspiracies and whatnot in the last part of season one and through the first half of season two before I think I understood it again. But I did like the use of the airport as a callback to the ending of the film.

Part of me is still holding out hope for a cameo by Bruce Willis in the series finale (ala Val Kilmer's cameo appearance in the series finale of Psych). I know, wishful thinking.

 

[Christopher]

Part of me is still holding out hope for a cameo by Bruce Willis in the series finale (ala Val Kilmer's cameo appearance in the series finale of Psych). I know, wishful thinking.

I don't get the comparison to Psych. As far as I know, that was an original show, not an adaptation of a Val Kilmer movie. So what's the connection?