Sojourn is the second album to come from Michael 'Cavs' Cavanagh (drummer of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard). For this record CAVS teamed up with longtime friend and kindred spirit Jim Rindfleish (drummer with Melbourne fusioneers, Mildlife), as well as some of the best players in Melbourne, Australia.
Sojourn’s imagery and world-building narrative are conjured wordlessly. These 10 instrumentals are rooted in CAVS’ love of spiritual jazz, prog and Krautrock, but never anchored to it. Sojourn’s imagery and world-building narrative are conjured wordlessly. These 10 instrumentals are rooted in CAVS’ love of spiritual jazz, prog and Krautrock, but never anchored to it.
Flawed or not, this is a damn good episode, and definitely one of my favourites from the series.
A virus is loose on a plane and our team of three try to keep people alive.
Drama comes from several sources: time is running out, the passengers are revolting, the nearest airport won’t let them land, etc. Each crisis comes hot on the heels of the last one. Very exciting story.
Richard Yniguez had a particularly nice role as a brave pilot who insists on dangerous levels of a failed cure so that he can stay functional long enough to land the plane.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan gets a lot of screentime in this one, and he impresses. Marcase is written as a jerk in the opening scene, but as soon as the crisis hits he becomes heroic and interesting.
The same cannot be said for Shiroma who is as dreary as ever. She also gets very emotional when patients start to die, thus ruining her credibility with the audience. The final scene (where Marcase talks her out of survivor’s guilt) is truly terrible.
When the script is driving the plot forward, the episode works. When the script tries to add character/humanity to the heroes, it falls flat.
I mentioned a MacGyver/Starman crossover in another post. I have thought a little more about that, but the important thing here is that it made me think of the show Starman. So I rewatched (most of) the episodes for the first time in a long time.
Of course, it had a big two-part penultimate episode…that ultimately made little impact, since everything is back to status quo by the end.
Anyway, I started thinking of things I’d have liked to have seen going forward. And there are some I haven’t made my mind up about, so if there are any fans out there that have any opinions or ideas, I’d absolutely love to hear them.
Well, one of the first questions is, of course, “how long should they stay on the run?” Another year? Three more years? Scott is supposed to become a teacher. Does this mean teaching in the K-12 group, college instructor/professor, or in some non-vocational capacity? I default to the first, in which case he would need a college degree. Doesn’t need to pursue it at 18, but that would be a good “latest end date” so that they had to have everything sorted by time he was ready to attend college (so he could stay in one place, etc.). Could be much sooner – just depends on how many stories there are to tell in the meantime.
The next big question is how to take Fox off the board. He is obsessed. Paul healed him, and he still denies and believes the alien evil. And he might have more resources now (though nothing like what he wants). What could break through that obsession? He could certainly die, of course, but it would have to be in a way that would make a good story (and not get anyone else on their case). I have absolutely no idea how to resolve this one, and it is really probably the most important in my mind. I need to know the endpoint to have any idea of the path taken to get there.
I’m not sure how long it should be until they reunite with Jenny. I’m interested in the idea of her traveling with them, rather than only appearing at the end, in the time when they’ve attained their freedom from pursuit (or while they are achieving it). She doesn’t need to be there the entire time, but I would like at least a few months. Other characters talked about Jenny being fragile. I can get where they come from (though she’s not without strength). I mean, it’s normal to be devastated by a spouse’s death, but she didn’t deal with in the healthiest fashion. I like to think she was better when she had Scott, but she doesn’t seem to have lived her life after that. She’s still hung up on the man she knew for three days. That could be seen as romantic, but also as unhealthy (especially as he didn’t seem to have the same degree of fixation on her). She doesn’t seem to have non-romantic connections, either. She removes herself from the world when dealing with loss. Then, of course, she threw herself into her new relationship with Paul after no time. She felt that connection that she didn’t know what was, of course, so that contributes. And again, it’s normal to be happy and excited when in a new romantic relationship, but she just seems to go to extremes. I think it would be interesting to see Scott deal with that possible volatility, that extremeness of personality. To know his mother as a real person, not just an ideal. It would also be interesting to see her deal with the long-term of moving every few days, roughing it, etc. Very stressful, but she has the people she loves with her for the first time in a long time.
On episodic ideas, I feel like Scott’s continuing growth with his powers, and his continuing dissatisfaction with the lifestyle would be ongoing threads. Sleeping on the streets (or continually “camping”) isn’t fun, there’s no financial security, and no actual security with Fox chasing them, and he can’t form any bonds. He may feel more and more disconnected with other people/teens, I’m not sure. I would like to revisit the Lockharts’ memory. They were the only parents he knew for a long time, and they should matter to him, and we should get to see it. Maybe nightmares about their deaths (and did it actually happen just the way the nightmare went or not) and dealing with emotions that he hasn’t revisited since he went on the run? If we revisit Seattle, maybe see old buddies – and does it stir longing or does it feel like the past was so long ago they might as well be strangers? For powers, healing always come up as major milestones – got any other ideas?
Should there ever be situations where Paul is just wrong? Really, except for “The Return” when Liz called him out, I can’t think of a situation where that happened in the show. He might operate from ignorance, and therefore not do the appropriate thing, but I cannot recall another case where he was really treated as wrong. I, personally, had issues with how he resumed the relationship with Jenny without telling her who he was, but it was not treated as wrong within the show. There’s sometimes conflicting opinions between kids and adults, and if it’s going to happen is Scott ever going to be the one in the right?
I, personally, prefer Scott and Paul together – they’ve spent a lot of time apart already. But if they are to be parted, I wouldn’t want to see Scott with any other guardians (I feel like Jenny would take a major contrivance). I wouldn’t mind a reversal of what he said in the show. He said to Eric that he couldn’t make it on his own. Completely reasonable, he’s a kid. But if waited a year or two, and then had Scott on his own for a bit, it could work. Because a parent’s job is to rear their kids to be able to make it on their own, to be able to function without the parent. So this would be an illustration that Paul did his job as a parent.
After the end, what do they do? Does Paul still freelance, or does he get a salaried photography job where he can have predictable income? Where do they live – ally Liz is in Chicago, Scott’s from Seattle, Jenny from Wisconsin, or do they settle on the west coast? Does Scott live with his parents while attending college or go away to school? Obviously, the former is cheaper than the latter. They have no savings, but Paul may be earning very well in that situation. And when his body is close to death, does Paul leave it and return to the stars? He misses it, despite the ties that he has on earth.
And hey, what about Scott’s love life? To what degree can/does he date when traveling? When does he meet his “happily ever after” (because, of course I think he should have one)? What should she be? I guess some of it depends on if you have a story. If there’s no story to tell, why bother? But for myself inventing stories, I need to know what story I’d tell. Is anyone much interested in a relationship that isn’t the endgame? Does he meet her at 15 or 23? I tend towards him marrying by age 25 (I think 27 would have been pretty median of his age cohort), because I think of him wanting a more settled life, long-lasting connections, etc. at a younger age than many, given the upheaval of his high school years. I think he needs to know her longer than 3 days to fall in love. I have some vague idea of what she should be, and some about what she should not be, but am open to suggestions. Ones that make a good story.
As for the end-game love interest, I’m not settled on any particular race, ethnicity, or even nationality. Obviously these things would have a major impact on her upbringing, so once I have a grasp on what her upbringing is, I can look into that more. She could have shared experience with Scott – being homeless or looking over her should (immigration status, though it covered under 1986 act that would have gone away). Or maybe be just working class. I don’t want white collar or moneyed background (though I’m perfectly fine with she or her folks having white collar aspirations for her). They have to have compatible wants – he wants a roof over his head, a comfortable bed to sleep each night, and stable life with those he loves. She can be of a background where that sounds like a dream come true or she can strive for “greatness” but either way, she needs to have wants compatible with staying in one place long-term not an adventure-chaser (which again makes me think of MacGyver crossover and how different they are). She should not need him to “rescue” her. I mean, from her home life or anything like that. That would be too ill-balanced. Likewise, I want her to have someone she cares about that isn’t him (he has his parents). It can be parents, a sibling, a best friend, whatever. They love each other, but aren’t each other’s whole lives. They each had dreams and goals before they met each other. She needs to be strong, determined, level-headed (basically traits that make them partners instead of her to be taken care of), and she needs to be a good person, because he’s a good person and wouldn’t want a selfish one. And no virgin-whore dichotomy can be used. I mean, sure if she’s in high school, it would be totally normal for her to be virgin, but I don’t need her put in either role, and especially not another female character used so you have one of each.
