Really, go read the issue first if you don't want spoilers.
Next, Happy Pi Day! :D
The title pretty much describes what's going on with Nasty. She's confused, she's not where she thought she should be. And, yes, Subject 4 is working on altering her memories, as the Coordinator tells the two people who brought Nasty in. Eleven's concerns should make sense once Issue 11 is posted tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Maria is still showing that she's not that great a parent. She had a kid far too young, lost her "sowing wild oats" years and, once Nasty could take care of herself, tried to make up for it. Her plotline will continue. Why should Nasty be the only one forced to have character development?
Back in Nasty's head, she's making it difficult for Subject 4 to lay new memory tracks. Think of all the details you have in your life. Now consider how many of them are summed up with a word or two - "home", "the computer", "work", "the guys". Expand those words, though. Is "home" just an address? Or does "home" encompass not just a layout of your home but the feeling you have when you return from work or school? Do you even keep a layout of "home" in mind? How much of "home" do you take for granted? This is what Subject 4 is facing with Nasty. Nasty's beloved "bike" is, as described way back in Issue 1 as "an aging Kawasaki in desperate need of new paint". Subject 4 managed to make a saving throw and adjust the "car" for the situation, but it was a close one. Yes, telepathy can be fought, even without needing an earworm.
Tomorrow, Nasty's training continues.
Saturday, over at Fan To Pro, my review of The Incredible Hulk will be up.
Still to come, some NaNoWriMo prep work.
She took her bike to school that morning though. Shoudn't that have been a bit of a giveaway? Though I grant that a lot of the problem is finesse, so it's nice when you can just have some things run on autopilot. And it's an excellent point you make about details.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the nickname will be a sticking point for the mental control. Even her best friend used it, but not in a bad way... I think the only ones who don't would be the adults, and Eric. I also think the bits with the mother involve Maria trying too hard to be happy - otherwise it's undoing some of the earlier effort with the Hayes. But maybe that's me. Having her around also means (to me) that this part fails to completely break away from the storyline, as was implied in previous commentary.
Indeed. You should notice a few things coming up that are off.
DeleteVery good question. It's a matter of how the others use the nickname. Rennie doesn't mean anything when she calls Natasha "Nasty"; there's no teasing, no baiting, just a friend using an embarrassing nickname.
Maria and Natasha do care about each other. They just get along better when they don't have to share an apartment. Again, Maria needs her character development, too. There's also the bait-and-switch factor happening; Maria's tale starts a diversion to distract readers from Nasty's side.
Ah, actually, I'm off. I thought Nasty took her bike, but re-reading this commentary, I think she walked. My issue was I thought #4 already knew what kind of bike she had.
DeleteI think part of my trouble with Maria is she's effectively become the narrator (which used to be Nasty and the Consortium), even though we established that she's not much more reliable than her daughter. Does she really need character development that is completely removed from the rest of the storyline? It's not like she's teaming up with Eric to figure out what happened to her daughter.
I think it goes back to how he saw the motorcycle in Nasty's mind. Some people can tell the differences between one model and another. Others are aware that motorcycles exist. That said, he should be aware of what the research department discovered.
DeleteMaria started being the viewpoint character for the reality branch of the story. She does disappear for a bit from the narrative, but there's some background happening for later.