Touch

[Whitty Whit]

Whose idea was it to stick the pilot out two months before the show is going to start?

I know, right? It bugs me to no end. Is it because they're gauging the future audience? O.o

[bookworm]

Probably something like that. Or they wanted to get people excited by going ‘Look what’s coming up!’ and then making them wait for it, but that seems like it would be counterproductive.

[Whitty Whit]

Hehe, so "1+1=3" aired recently.

I liked it, I guess. I'm not really sure I fully appreciated the heartchange of the Russian guy. He's the russian mafia dude. Why on earth is one phone call going to change what he does?

But whatever.

[bookworm]

I noticed something new rewatching the pilot. Actually I probably noticed it the first time too, but this time I really thought about it.
They don’t know the full scope of what all happed. You know, all the around the world stuff. I guess Jake does, but Kiefer Sutherland just thinks it’s about that guy, his wife, and those kids on the bus.

[gunblader3]

I only watched the first 2 episodes of it. It seems more like a family show... I don't know I was expecting more 24 action. I mean it cool how all the events and numbers relate to each other and all, but I wonder how much this plot can play out. I mean once I watched the pilot, episode 2 didn't really impressed me anymore because I already knew what was to be expected. Plus Kiefer's dialogue in episode 2 sounds awfully a lot like he's in 24 working for CTU, "What do you mean by this son?" What do you mean by that?". It feels so far as if it doesn't really have a main direction other than figuring out what his kid is trying to tell him.

But thats just my first impression on the first 2 episodes. I have yet to watch the third one, but hopefully the plot kicks up a little bit more. Overall its an interesting concept, just how long it can play to keep my interest is something to be noted.

[Whitty Whit]

Yeah, I get annoyed that Kiefer's character has to basically be a slave to his son. He has to randomly follow these numbers. While from most viewpoints, everything he does/saves is good. But what is that teaching young kids? That they can be mute and make their mom and dad work only for them?

[bookworm]

I didn’t like 1+1=3 as much as the pilot, but I thought it was good.

The connections in this one were pretty straightforward.
The dog got out not only to make the stewardess miss her plane, but also cause her to go with that guy to the field. Because he could have done that on his own, but if she hadn’t gone with him she wouldn’t have picked up the dog’s trail again to get to her father.
I disagree about the mafia guy, I think it was believable enough for him to turn his life around, in this case. He did it for his son. I think he was probably already thinking about changing, as evidenced by his lamenting comment about a second chance at the beginning, but didn’t have enough motivation to go through with it. That phone call gave him the reason.
On the subject of the Russians, I didn’t understand the kids’ behavior. If they were scared of the boy’s dad, then surely they would have been friendlier to him, not rude, right? If you’re scared of the dad you don’t upset the son. If you do that he sends his dad after you, if you just let him fit in then you go undetected. That would be my thinking anyway.
And I also didn’t understand why those Japanese girls were in it. They were shown briefly at the beginning, and then again at the end like it was trying up something. But unless I missed something they had no part in any of this episode’s events.

Overall it was another solid episode. I wasn’t sure where they were wanting to go with this so I just took it as it came. It seems so far that these are stand alone stories with the underlying connection being his ongoing attempt to connect with his son. I don’t know if they’re going to put anything more than that in as the show progresses. I guess we’ll find out.

[whittaker96]

YAY!!!!! SCRIPTURE REFERENCE ON NATIONAL TELEVISION! Kiefer Sutherland looked up Exodus 22:22 to help him bring together siblings on Thursday's episode.

[bookworm]

It seems like each episode is repeating the same thing. Kiefer and the lady argue about whether or not Jake needs evaluated, then Kiefer and that guy talk about how the numbers are pain Jake feels for the universe. Is it really so hard to understand that we need reminded every episode?
Aside from that I liked Safety in Numbers alright. The connections were clear enough, but they didn’t seem as solid as usual. I don’t know if I was just missing something or what.

I didn’t get why that lady that was hit by the car was important to anything if she wasn’t the other lady’s mother. I didn’t get why that girl that was stood up was in it, she didn’t do anything except get the phone. But maybe that was the point and it will come into play later, like the Japanese girls that passed it on. Now I know why they were put back in, so the phone would move along, but I still don’t know why they were shown in the last episode when they didn’t do anything until this one. And I didn’t get what the deal with room 6 is. They were playing it up already in the last episode and really continued it here, but nothing ever came of it. I assume there’s someone in there, because I don’t know how else the car would be pushed back out, but if that’s the case why didn’t we see who it was? It drove me crazy that she didn’t check the room when she saw the car was back in the hallway, how did that not occur to her?

This episode seemed to focus on the connections themselves rather than the timing of them, as the past episodes had. But there was one timing thing I appreciated in this, the dance contest thing. Kiefer asking to use that guy’s computer just in time to bump his kid off and make room in the queue for the other kid who goes on to win.
And the class action story was good, I liked that. I wasn’t sure where they were going with that guy at first, I thought he was just another Jake type person being used to make the show’s overall concept clearer. I didn’t realize he would actually be specific to the episode. His analogy with that story was a nice touch. As we started following it I wasn’t sure if that was just supposed to be a metaphor for how he sees the patterns or what, but when it started falling in place it was rather satisfying.

So what was there was good, but what wasn’t kind of bothers me. Either I missed something, or this one just had a different format than the others. Maybe this is just the starting point for some stories that will get continued later and that will make it feel more complete.

[Whitty Whit]

I was thinking they were going to incorporate the woman being hit by the car in the next episode, but apparently not.

The whole car-sliding-back-from-door thing confused me. What's it supposed to mean? Some sort of crazy person there?

I suppose the girl who got stood up was just supposed to pass on the phone. I was hoping her story would be resolved.

I'm getting sick and tired of Jake being all "i'm not talking because i'm special" junk. And he screams when he is touched. Sure it's a part of the storyline, but that just goes to show that he's bratty.

[bookworm]

Kite Strings was pretty good.
I was surprised at the reentry of some of the pilot characters, and bringing Kiefer’s wife back into the story after all these episodes. It seems there is indeed a deeper story being unfolded, it’s just not happening every episode.

This episode was different in that there was only one major underlying connection rather than several little ones, but it worked very well. It starts really moving when Jake is on that fire escape, but to set that up it goes all the way back to the beginning, to the cemetery. If they hadn’t been there to meet that guy at Sarah’s grave then Kiefer wouldn’t have known there was any connection, and so later when they go to his apartment they wouldn’t have had a reason to stay. But because he learned he knew his wife, when they met again at the apartment he started talking with him, causing them to stay there long enough for Jake to disrupt the internet connection at the right time to altar that other guys message, which in turn blew out the amplifier and lit up the power line at the exact right place to find the soldiers. I really liked that part, that was perfect.

The lottery winner and pastor storyline was the only one that didn’t quite fit. They weren’t connected to the main story, it seemed to just be a separate thing advancing that guy’s personal journey started in the pilot. The pastor did turn out to be connected to the other in retrospect, but only as an afterthought, he didn’t make his own advancement to the overall story. So this episode had more of a linear connection between the stories than a circular one. Which is fine, I mean every episode can’t have an amazing full circle interconnection like the pilot did. That is still my favorite so far, but I think it’s because the mindset was different for making that one. For that, everything did have to be played out in the same story, so it was. But now that the season is started, they may be taking their time more and spreading things out over several episodes. If that’s the case, then we’ll only know how connected everything really was after the fact, looking back. In the meantime we just have to keep track of what’s going on and take what they give us.

[Whitty Whit]

Yes, I liked how all the plots interconnected.

The lottery winner was in another episode. The pilot I think. He was leaving a message for Kiefer from the airport pay phone when Kiefer needed to get to a phone and he punched the fireman which caused the man to be late for his train. He went home and eventually saved a bus full of kids.

But that's a different episode.

There's almost no feasible way to guess what will come out at the end of the episode. There's so many different actions and plots, that the writers will leave us guessing and we'll try to figure out and then the writers surprise us at the end.

[gunblader3]

I like how they're grabbing you into the episodes. There's so many things we don't know (such as the African American women's mother). I believe many of these key events in these episodes will tie in all together (maybe somewhere in the series finale). I still haven't watched episode 4 though.

I'm getting sick and tired of Jake being all "i'm not talking because i'm special" junk. And he screams when he is touched. Sure it's a part of the storyline, but that just goes to show that he's bratty.

Yeah! I know right? The pilot episode made him a pretty likable character and I also love how Keifer had to get rid of his fear of heights (well that was why he had a hard time climbing up right?) just to get close to his son. I thought at first the kid had autism, which made it acceptable why never talked. But now the kid just seems to be some little brat making Kiefer running around all over the place because he's soooo much better than his dad. I hope kids don't mimic what Jake is doing to their own parents.

[bookworm]

Entanglement was an interesting one.

We got a glimpse of what it is Jake sees with Dr. Teller and what appears to be the beginning of a new side story in uncovering some of his past. I don’t know if that will be continued in future episodes.

This episode had yet another different approach. This time the connections weren’t based so much on coinciding timing, they hinged on emotional decisions. Whether those girls would risk being discovered by helping the lady having the baby. Whether that student would give up his chance to meet that girl by staying to find a donor for the kid.

At first I didn’t appreciate the girl on the bus part of the story. It didn’t seem like Kiefer had anything to do with it other than being there. What stopped the bus and disrupted the shooting was that guy running out in front, which would have happened anyway because he got that call from his wife. Now that call couldn’t have been made at that precise time if those girls hadn’t stopped for her and let her use the phone, so there’s a connection, but it still doesn’t have anything to do with Kiefer. But I suppose if he hadn’t gotten on the bus and distracted the lady by talking with her she would have shot the guy before the bus stopped maybe. And even if she hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t have gotten off when the bus stopped, so she would have got him later. Kiefer had to be there to take that opportunity to rush him off.
Later though, it made much more sense. Because there was more to it. Kiefer and the guy leave the bus, forcing the lady to follow them and eventually be hit by that vehicle which puts her in the hospital to become a donor match for her long lost brother. So after it was all done, it was clear.

Also, the hospital worker that had to stay late to find the donor was connected because he wanted to meet that girl on the train, but couldn’t go because he had to work. When the previous storyline finally wound up and the match was found he rushed off as soon as he could, but still just missed the train. However, it turned out the girl he was looking for had missed it too, so actually if he hadn’t had to stay late then he would have made the train and still missed the girl. And if that had happened then the arranged marriage would have probably gone through. So everything had to work out the way it did.

That thief guy I didn’t really get. I can see why he was put in, he stole the computer so Kiefer would chase him onto the bus and put him in place for the previously mentioned storyline, but beyond that I didn’t see how he fit into anything else that happened so I don’t know why his story was elaborated on so much outside the main story of the episode. It seemed out of place. Unless perhaps it comes into play later.

I’m starting to agree with you about Jake. If he can see how everything is happening, can’t he see that if he keeps acting like this it’s just causing problems? If he wants Kiefer to be able to continue following his messages then he should be trying to make sure that remains an option.

[Whitty Whit]

I didn't really understand why the guy stole the laptop and everything. Except maybe to cause Kiefer to be late for his evaluation.

[bookworm]

He took the laptop so Kiefer would follow him onto the bus and interrupt the shooting. That was clear enough. What I didn’t get was why his story was continued after that with the birthday party and all that when his part was over, as far as I could see.

[Whitty Whit]

Yes, that.

In the upcoming episode, they will revisit the woman who got hit by the car in the prior episode. The homeless woman with the social worker's phone. I saw that in a trailer. If they bring back stuff they've seen/done in the past, maybe they'll use this thief and daughter plot again in the future.

[Knight Fisher]

Because the reason he's doing all this isn't to help people. It's so Jake isn't in pain.

[bookworm]

Lost and Found was different. I’m not sure exactly how, all the overarching connections were still in place, but the way they connected were different. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t all happening in distant storylines this time, it tied back right to the central characters instead of just through them. It seems they’re finally ready to start paying off some of those unanswered questions.

The lady found her mom for real this time. And now we know what was up with the other lady that was hit by the car. We don’t know how she got the mom’s phone, but we know why. If she hadn’t had it, then that accident wouldn’t have caught anyone’s attention. But because she thought it was her mom, it highlighted that spot, and she was able to remember it later to track down her real mom.

The other connections had an interesting feel to them. They didn’t seem as circular as usual, but they definitely weren’t just linear. It was like a semicircle that doubled back instead of continuing around.
That guy and girl meet at the airport, which really didn’t have to happen. That just added emphasis to the later developments. The important part was her not making the flight so he got her seat. That sent her home to start fulfilling her story.
Meanwhile he’s now on the plane, but not actually supposed to make the flight. He just had to get on, so she didn’t. So there’s the plane crash, to stop him from making his flight now. That sends him back to the office, enabling him to have a change of heart about the building. He goes to stop the demolition, enabling Kiefer and the lady to save the mom, and so fulfilling that guy’s wish to make a difference. It wasn’t by saving the building, it was by saving a life. Finding the mom allows Kiefer to then find the missing kid, bringing that storyline full circle.
The other one didn’t really reconnect, it just went on its own. Because the lady missed her flight she was sent back home, which caused her to reevaluate her priorities and decide to go ahead and have a kid, which did somewhat tie back in because that guy ended up being the donor, but I see that as just a tangential connection, not strong enough to count as another full circle because what it connects back to was just the start of its own story actually, not the larger one going on.

Room 6 was finally opened, but nothing was found. That just makes me more frustrated that the lady didn’t open the door when she found that car three episodes ago. If they don’t let us in on what’s going on with that soon I’m going to get annoyed.

And an interesting cliffhanger with Dr. Teller’s story. We got a little more filled in, finding out about his former patient, but then just got more questions dumped on top of it with the suggestion that it may just all be in his head. And then suddenly he’s slumped over in his car. I assume he’s just unconscious, because it would be pretty abrupt and upsetting for him to die right now.

[Whitty Whit]

I didn't understand why the woman getting pregnant was essential to the story, except to provide another reason for the guy to show up at the airport and cause the woman to think about the irony. He survived the crash long enough to keep the building from being torn down, which was his ultimate purpose. So I didn't really get the woman-getting-pregnant part. Dr. Teller, from what information was given us in the episode, I assume was having another vision. But he didn't take the seat for her to fulfill her purpose though. (I'm going out of order, pardon me please.) He took the plane which eventually made him come back to his workplace to save the building.