On top of learning Kirsten’s fate after what happened at the end of the last episode, we learn why Frank didn’t join Jeevan and Kirsten in leaving Frank’s apartment.
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On top of learning Kirsten’s fate after what happened at the end of the last episode, we learn why Frank didn’t join Jeevan and Kirsten in leaving Frank’s apartment.
| Aired | 12/30/2021 |
| Network | HBO Max |
| Directed By | Lucy Tcherniak |
| Written By | Kim Steele |
Recap
Life Before Jeevan Showed Up – Frank
So, who is Frank? Well, while Jeevan can be seen as a media journalist, Frank was a journalist who went to places like Sri Lanka to report on their war. But, after getting injured and having more than a dozen pieces of shrapnel in his body, it appears Frank not only calmed down his reporting but became a recluse. One who only ghostwrites now, and to get through this change in his career, he dabbles in heroin.
We Got A Kid Now – Jeevan, Frank, Kirsten
However, by the time Jeevan discovers this, Frank has pretty much discarded most, if not all of his drugs, and we don’t see him hideaway to shoot up. This is good for Kirsten since she is going through so much with her parents being dead, Jeevan now being her guardian, and Frank also being forced to assume this role. One that he doesn’t note too much discomfort with but, then again, Kirsten doesn’t ask or complain much.
Really, it is Jeevan who picks up all the nagging and pointing out that Frank’s has to be temporary, for when spring comes and the flu dissipates, it is going to be Armageddon.
Lies Are Sometimes A Veil Of Protection – Kirsten, Jeevan, Frank
Throughout the episode, both 28-year-old and 8-year-old Kirsten are featured, and with poison pumping through her veins, we are led to believe this is all an illusion. One which has Kirsten confronting what she did and didn’t know about Frank and Jeevan’s relationship. One which comes to an end with a man, who assumingly wasn’t part of the Red Bandanas, breaks in after Jeevan leaves the door unlocked and stabs Frank, who didn’t want to give his apartment to this man.
During the fight, which comes after Kirsten has everyone do a play she wrote based on Station Eleven, she is in hiding, and so she doesn’t see or know Frank dies. Instead, Jeevan makes it seem Frank refused to go with them, as he noted he wouldn’t do before. But, as 28-year-old Kirsten sees Frank’s corpse, she realizes what the truth is.
Things To Note | Question(s) Left Unanswered
Things To Note
- Frank got stabbed where David did
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- What led that guy to pick Frank’s apartment specifically?
- What kind of poison was Kirsten injected with?
- Was it a hallucination, her talking to her past self, or was it like when Jeevan spoke to Siya? Maybe part delusion but, in their mind, real?
- Who was Frank ghostwriting for?
- Was Jeevan talking to Kirsten in his head something he did before all this happened? Also, what was the trigger since it started before Frank was killed?
- Has Kirsten named all her pets Luli?
- What’s up with the “Wanted to thank you for letting me stay here” at the end of the episode
- What happened with Jeevan’s girlfriend? Did he even try to contact her once he got to Frank’s?
- Who introduced Frank to heroin?
- Was Frank a shut-in because of his injury or something else?
- How far is Frank’s old apartment from where everything else happened? For, with poison in her body, you’d think taking such a long walk would have made her heart pump more and make things worse.
- What happened to David?
- How did Jeevan’s parents treat his anxiety, or did they not take it seriously?
What Could Happen Next
- Episode Preview: Clark and Elizabeth are seen, so they appear to be running things still – but no sign of Miles
- Us seeing what happened to Jeevan, and how Kirsten survived and killed, until meeting Sarah
- Seeing Charlie and Kirsten bond, since that was Kirsten’s first friend her own age (so I feel like we should see that)
- David revealing to Elizabeth that he is Tyler, or her just picking up on it
Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs
Review
Highlights
A Deeper Understanding of Jeevan and Kirsten
One of the things we’ve come to see with Kirsten is that she doesn’t like speaking about her past, and if you confront her about it, she will spiral out a bit. But, one of the reasons for that seems to be to maintain what Jeevan was trying to protect her from. For as much as Jeevan was touted as the irresponsible sibling, you can’t discount him flying to Malaysia on Siya’s dime to see Frank after that attack in Sri Lanka. Also, he took on a white child who didn’t have anyone else.
Now, why are we specifically mentioning Kirsten’s race? Well, look at it this way, he is a Brown man who looks nothing like Kirsten and is completely unrelated to her. On top of that, post-pandemic, it’s shown the people who live outside Chicago, who by no means are liberal folk, were militarized and attacking people. So imagine one of them seeing this white girl and this bearded Brown man. That’s a death sentence.
Yet, despite the threat, it seems Jeevan, be it to compensate for what isn’t going right in his life or his family having a bug for helping people, he took that risk. And in my mind, to honor the risk he took, Kirsten has buried the need to question what she didn’t see and maintain the innocence Jeevan was trying to protect. Now, did she have a need to confront this? Yes and no.
As seen with Alex, a lot of what Kirsten has gone through is being repeated, and I think her need to explore what really happened is so that she understands the lesson. Thus far, she has benefited from the result but didn’t appreciate or comprehend why Jeevan did certain things. At best, she followed his lead. So her learning the truth, I think, allows her to see Jeevan’s flaws and perhaps her own more clearly. That way, while she may never keep Alex from leaving and wanting to explore the world, but at the very least, she can create the kind of relationship where Alex will, eventually, want to come back.
Learning What Happened With Frank
With the show bouncing back and forth between the past and future, many bits of the plot are left for us to hope they will be explored in the future. For example, we assume Miranda, Siya, and many others died, but we don’t know for sure. Also, we’re still not sure if Jeevan died, was captured and enslaved, or another option. We assume he died, but with how Station Eleven is, we could learn by episode 10 that isn’t the case. Nothing is really set in stone until you see a dead body.
So with Frank, it has been a question of why Jeevan and Kirsten left, considering they were high up in an apartment building, and it seemed like a good home base. Well, we got our answer, and it was a bit devasting. Especially considering, while Frank seemingly didn’t want his brother there before, it seemed whatever issues they had previously were chipped away by the time Frank died. For with getting to see his brother in the flesh and spend a few months with him, it seemed to renew their relationship.
On The Fence
Not Understanding How Kirsten Survived
I get Kirsten is a badass, but she was poisoned and had at least 4 people coming for her at once. Now, unless they did so on some action movie nonsense, where it was one at a time, and they had a circle solely so she couldn’t get away, explain to me how, with one knife, not much bigger than her hand, she not only survived but without extensive cuts and injuries?
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