Kush (105)

[helenmagnus23]

Originaly Posted by dasNdanger
We've been discussing the Helen/Druitt scenes in the Helen/Druitt thread.

Some things we've noticed...

In there last scene together, Druitt's hand doesn't cast a shadow on her cheek (though after he's gone her coat or hair casts a shadow on her cheek). This suggests that he is just her imagination, and didn't jump into her reality.

However, there is also a flash of light when he tells her to wake up. I wonder if, in that one instant, the real Druitt - or at the very least, his consciousness - did reach out to her. Perhaps not, but it would be a nice thought to consider.

Something else about that scene, however - really, all of their scenes together. This was Helen's mind, Helen remembering their times together, Helen questioning herself if she ever really loved him, and admitting - beyond a shadow of a doubt - that she did. If that's the case, then - at that moment when Druitt told her to wake up - then it was her remembering that he was, at one time - good.

Now - was it the creature telling her to wake up? No - I don't think so. I think that was really either Helen's good memories of John trying to save her, or the real John's consciousness reaching through time and space to help her.

From the little I know of John, and his relationship with Helen, I suspect it's a very intense love-hate thing between them. Even though John's a monster now, there is still part of him that clings to his old humanity, part of him that isn't pure evil. It could have been this part of him - either figuratively or literally - reaching out to help Helen in her time of need.

It was, I feel, the best moment of the episode - very intense, and very thought-provoking.

das

I saw that flash to i reckon that Helen was asleep but Druitt was realy there talking to her then he told her to wake up and in a flash he was gone but Helen wouldnt have realy known weather he was in her subconscouis or not .

Though it was all in her head i believe if Druitt was realy there she was telling how she realy still fell's for him having a chance to remember the good old day's before facing the monster ahead .

[Amalthea]

I really liked this episode. It was a creepy deeky monster! It was nice seeing Zalenka and Morgan Le Fay again- once in Sci Fi, always in Sci Fi! I thought they were going to make none of them the monster at one point, so, even though I was pretty sure who it was, they did their best to make it not as obvious.

Druitt was also awesome... even if most of the time it was hallucination Druitt. I think Helen's hallucinations were interesting. While she was unconscious, she hallucinated history, but then, hallucinated present. It makes me wonder if the first hallucination was what Will first attributed them all to- altitude and shock. It's also interesting that she believes he hates her. It's a notable word choice, I think. I suspect she did something to him before he knew about Ashley or any of all that.

Overall, fantastic and very creepy!

[dasNdanger]

Wow, nice catch. Now I want to watch the episode again just to see that part. Oh the hardship...

The more I watch this show, the more I see...I really am liking it. And I just find Druitt...mesmerizing...

From what we've been shown or told of Druitt's powers so far, it seems to be confined to jumping through time and space, and to me jumping into a person's subconsciousness seems to be a stretch from that. It would make him perhaps too powerful, for if he can reach Helen in the middle of the Himalayas, what's stopping him from getting into Ashley's subconscious and telling her the truth?

I didn't mean that he jumped into her subconscious, but that his consciousness (not his body) jumped into her reality for just a second and told her to wake up (I'm thinking that, perhaps, he wasn't strong enough to make a complete physical jump, so he just projected his thoughts). BUT, you're probably right...I just like to think in the abstract.

I'm inclined to think that it was Helen who woke herself up, using the hallucinated John as the catalyst, and sort of overcoming the monster's control on the hallucination. The monster seemed to then regroup and tried to trick her with the Will hallucination, but Helen seemed suspicious of him from the start, which led to the trick coffee question and Helen blowing the monster away.

You're probably right. Just like in the morning, when you have to use the bathroom but you're sound asleep, sometimes you dream that you need a bathroom - it's your subconscious frantically trying to wake you up before you wet the bed.

Okay - maybe that was a weird analogy...

I do agree that all of Helen's hallucinations centered around her questioning her feelings towards John, and I think you've defined their relationship perfectly as love-hate. I think that's what makes her so afraid of him, because it would probably be so easy for her to fall for him again, despite everything he's done.

Exactly. She knows the temptation is there, and so must protect her heart just as much as she must protect her life, and her child's life.

But what of Druitt? Could he be compared to someone who has an obsessive attraction to Helen? 'If I can't have you, nobody will' type thing? Or is he just struggling to hold onto that bit of happiness he once had, while the monster inside is hellbent on destroying it all?

Could that be his thing? Part of him wanting to hold onto something good, while the other part of him wants to destroy anything, or anyone, that makes him happy? Almost like a masochistic thing?

I saw that flash to i reckon that Helen was asleep but Druitt was realy there talking to her then he told her to wake up and in a flash he was gone but Helen wouldnt have realy known weather he was in her subconscouis or not .

Though it was all in her head i believe if Druitt was realy there she was telling how she realy still fell's for him having a chance to remember the good old day's before facing the monster ahead .

I would hope this to be true, but that troublesome lack of a shadow suggests that he wasn't really there. However - did he momentarily jump in during that flash - in and out in an instant? I wonder if we will ever know...

das

[EvenstarSRV]

I didn't mean that he jumped into her subconscious, but that his consciousness (not his body) jumped into her reality for just a second and told her to wake up (I'm thinking that, perhaps, he wasn't strong enough to make a complete physical jump, so he just projected his thoughts). BUT, you're probably right...I just like to think in the abstract.

Ah, gotcha. Though I guess I still don't see Druitt as being able to project his thoughts like that, nor how he would know where Helen was at that moment and that she was in trouble.

You're probably right. Just like in the morning, when you have to use the bathroom but you're sound asleep, sometimes you dream that you need a bathroom - it's your subconscious frantically trying to wake you up before you wet the bed.

Okay - maybe that was a weird analogy...

Hehe, I get what you're saying. That happens to me all the time with my alarm clock, everything from ambulance sirens to a jazz band.

But what of Druitt? Could he be compared to someone who has an obsessive attraction to Helen? 'If I can't have you, nobody will' type thing? Or is he just struggling to hold onto that bit of happiness he once had, while the monster inside is hellbent on destroying it all?

I'm going with the latter. I think Druitt was a good man, but using his power seems to cause some kind of damage to his psyche or self-control (maybe some kind of frontal lobe lesions...I wonder which part of his brain controls his jumping...).

Helen's treatments may have initially eased the symptoms or reversed some of the damage, but it didn't last. So now he's losing the more normal, saner parts of himself every time he jumps, and yet probably struggles to hold on to those parts. He may even be using Helen as a touchstone for that, such as looking at her picture as soon as he jumped in the pilot.

[Naddy]

I'm pretty sure that Druitt's power itself causes some funky stuff with his DNA. I seem to recall from the webisodes - I think it was explained at some point. My understanding is that the mechanism which allows him to jump, some sort of temporal thing 'cause I think he can jump through times as well as places, causes his DNA to mutate. The mutations then make him go kinda nutty and, voila, Jack the Ripper.

My take on it was that if Helen doesn't age, there must be something in her cells allowing for stabilization of the genome - cause part of aging is the breakdown of the successive copies of genetic codes - so maybe her blood stabilizes Druitt's DNA?

Anyone else? I'm not totally sure if I understood this right from the webisode...

[EvenstarSRV]

I'm pretty sure that Druitt's power itself causes some funky stuff with his DNA. I seem to recall from the webisodes - I think it was explained at some point. My understanding is that the mechanism which allows him to jump, some sort of temporal thing 'cause I think he can jump through times as well as places, causes his DNA to mutate. The mutations then make him go kinda nutty and, voila, Jack the Ripper.

My take on it was that if Helen doesn't age, there must be something in her cells allowing for stabilization of the genome - cause part of aging is the breakdown of the successive copies of genetic codes - so maybe her blood stabilizes Druitt's DNA?

Anyone else? I'm not totally sure if I understood this right from the webisode...

I think so far they've left the reasons behind Helen's longevity and Druitt's powers pretty vague, though we may find out more about Helen in the upcoming episode The Five.

Spoiler:

My theory on Helen's longevity is a genetic mutation that produces a special polymerase that allows her to rebuild her telomeres, a string of nucleotides at each end of a person's genome that gets smaller with each successive replication. Older people have shorter telomeres, so I think rebuilding them could theoretically slow down aging.

As for Druitt, the purified blood she gave him in the pilot may have been the polymerase, which maybe also repairs the damage Druitt's jumping causes?

[Matt G]

Hmmm...

1. Noticed David Nykl but only because I was looking for him after his name turned up in the credits.

2. Called Alison as the creature halfway through.

3. Silvio's a vampire? Trying to work out where I've seen him before!

4. Yes Helen should have noticed Will outside.

Overall, meh, this sort of stuff has been done better elsewhere. Is it me though or are all the regulars here Samanda veterans?

[majorsal]

watched 'kush' again. a REALLY good episode! loved the atmosphere, the who-done-it, and especially loved seeing so much helen!

[AvatarIII]

awesome!! this was the kind of ep i was waiting for after fata morgana mediocrity

[Celandine]

I'm a bit behind in watching all the eps but am slowly catching up thankfully. Most of teh eps so far have been great, but didnt sit with me enough to make me want to post any comments as of yet, until of course I saw Kush.

For starters, the change in scene was refreshing. The plot was different. Those two had me hooked right away. Also, I've always been a fan of psychological type thrillers and Kush had all these elements. I loved wondering and guessing who might be the 'monster' and how Helen and Will worked together to make something confusing quite plain. As she said, "it's teh little things..." that pointed clear to the answer they were seeking rather than believing what their eyes saw to be truth. Overall, my favorite ep so far.

[Achaja]

I like the way John helped Helen Good idea for the episode!

[Julian]

that and will not knowing the 'right' way to slit one's wrist. i think even psychlogists have to take basic med school,and even if he didn't, with his time as a csi, he'd have known

Firstly, will is a Psychiatrist. There's a big difference.
Also, there isn't necessarily a 'right' way to slit your wrist - you can easily die either way, but if you slit across then it's most likely for attention, if you slit downwards (the vain that goes up your arm) then you're most likely doing it to die because there's the vain there.

But really what Will saw hasn't got anything to do with that - it was the monster which was making him see things.

Psychologists don't do any med training (at least here in Australia) though we do do a fair bit of work on the brain. However, Psychiatrists would need to have completed a Med degree and then gone on to specialise (I stand to be corrected).

[AresLover452]

Apart from the Helen and John flashbacks, I did not like it at all .

the only reason why I watch it is for the fact Helen keeps Seeing John... not Ashley.... JOHN!!


I'm such a shipper.

[stargatelover4ever]

just saw the episode. I felt like I was reading one of Agatha Christie's books
My brother said right from the start Allison is the killer but I thought he's just being swallow...aparently I was wrong

[AresLover452]

I like the way John helped Helen Good idea for the episode!

I loved how helen was seeing john in the episode, how she saw the good of him from the past and the present him. It was so nice to see and i loved what she said to him.