I had no clue wtf was happening for 97% of that episode.

I only watched this show b/c of the critical acclaim it was getting. I'm not much of a comic book / superhero guy.

Out ****ing standing show. The best production value I've seen on TV. Acting was good, writing was good, characters were good. All good.

PoopKing said:

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Hmm

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This. The pilot was a bit too cute for my tastes, trying a little too hard to be X-Men by way of Wes Anderson, but I'm intrigued for the most part and will definitely stick with it.

I had high expectations going in to this how and wow they nailed it. I can't wait to see where they go with this. Visually it was gorgeous, it felt like I was watching a movie rather than TV and the acting was incredibly well done.

What really impressed me in the acting was when they switched bodies and David was Syd. The actress playing Syd not only took on David's physical personality traits like his ticks and the way his eyes dart. But she also was trying to play it cool and not raise suspicion so the parts of David were very muted like she was trying to hide them. Very impressive to show all this just through acting.

Just FYI, for show threads like this, there's no need for spoiler tags. After an episode has aired, it's assumed that everyone will be discussing the specifics of the episode and that most people stay away who haven't watched yet.

Damn. That was an amazing show.

Having said that....what just happened?

AgsMnn said:

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Still trying to figure it all out.

Can someone explain it a little.

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I'll take a stab at it.

David, his powers finally fully awakening during a time of extreme stress after a long upward climb, is overcome by the voices he was hearing in his head. As a result, he destroys his apartment using his telekinetic powers. In the fallout of this event, he is committed.

At the asylum, he is medicated, which mostly keeps his powers in check. He is convinced that he doesn't even really have powers, but is mentally ill. He has no friends except the eccentric Lenny, until one day Syd arrives. She has a unique view on mental illness, suggesting that they are not necessarily ill, but are in fact "special" like Picasso or Einstein. She does seem to have mental issues, however, as she will not let anyone touch her, even the man she loves.

Syd is scheduled to be released. Devastated because he feels he'll never get out, David almost fails to see her off. In a last desperate act, he rushes toward her as she's leaving and kisses her against her will.

David couldn't have known that Syd is a mutant, or that her power caused her to physically switch bodies with anyone she came into contact with. At the instant of their kiss, their physical beings swap in an explosion of psychic energy. David's mind is now wrapped in Syd's body, and more importantly, the reverse is true.

Unrestrained by years of suppression coupled with medication, Syd's mind is unable to control the powers the lie in David's body. She unwittingly releases a wave of psychic and telekinetic energy that is so powerful it rewrites the laws of physics to meet her subconscious wishes. All of the patients are locked in their rooms, and the doors dematerialize, trapping them all. Sadly, Lenny is mistakenly killed in the incident as her body half-materializes in a wall.

David, in Syd's body, is released. Shortly after, the duration of the power comes to an end and their bodies revert. David is now free.

David goes to his sister's house to hunker down, increasingly out of control of his powers, which are slave to his emotions. He spends his time looking for Syd, while his subconscious materialized Lenny for him to talk to; it is possible that her apparition is an actual psychic imprint, but we can't know for sure.

After a week, David is captured by a rogue group of some sort who capture, study, and sometimes kill mutants. In their custody his powers manifest more fully before Syd and her friends come to free him.

Syd belongs to a resistance group of mutants (and potentially non-mutants) who oppose David's captors, who continue to hunt him and Syd.