Who & Why? - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

 

The cousin of an old friend of mine found his first marriage ending. His wife came to him expressing dissatisfaction. She framed it as her desire to have "a better balance sheet." I don't know the people nor the particulars well enough to say, but my impression was that it's likely that she did

approach a review of their marriage as one might some problem where one would try to quantify every element and build a spreadsheet of it, though I admit it may have been little more than a literal accounting of relative incomes versus her notions of a "successful" life.
 That memory came quickly to mind as I watched the first episode of Soulmates. (AMC, but also airing on BBC America, Monday nights at 10 pm Eastern; Six weekly parts running from Oct 5th through November 9th.)
  The powers of doubt and envy, and the potentially corrosive effects of recognized options, are at the conceptual core of this new anthology series.
   Set approximately 15 years in the future, though based on the first episode it could practically be next week if we just had more interactive display and control surfaces around us, a scientific breakthrough provides a biometrics test that reveals who one's true soulmate is. The person one would be automatically most immediately compatible with. The person with whom one would be able to live their Best Life. This is the pitch a company named Soul Connex makes to the public.

  While a seemingly obvious boon for the unattached, the breakthrough quickly becomes disruptive for those already in conventional, committed relationships. After all, it's scientific, isn't it?
 Heavily advertised, focused on in news and entertainment media, and very soon to be seen all around in daily life, the rest of the world suddenly resembles an endless blend of Valentine's Day scenarios and Hallmark specials about idealized romances.
  For too many people this quickly puts a spotlight on every grubby, dissatisfying daily aspect of their

current relationship. Some almost immediately give into the doubts, knowing that, surely, what they have is not the best they might. Others reflexively resist, but all too often soon protest too much as they stress their relationship in an attempt to prove to themselves and the world that they already have The Best. Their own doubts build, and if their spouse is paying attention their confidence in the relationship -- and their partner's commitment to it -- is quickly undermined. Rationalizations soon ensue. With certainty just an application and a fee away - why, it's really not much different from medical screening, is it? It's not like going out to a bar looking to cheat, right? More and more people are quietly booking tests just to check. Of course, once one does take the test, if their bona fide soulmate, somewhere out there, has also taken it, they're presented with a name, some basic details, and contact information if the other person authorized it. If their match isn't in the system, then it's a holding pattern because at any moment that might change, and an alert would come through. Once presented with the information and access, it seems few if any can resist "just" reaching out to make contact.
   Lore of a palpable sense of pull, of immediate attraction and a sense of rightness, runs thick in the public discussions of the process, and it's a very human thing to want to experience that if it's true. Of course, it's such a subjective experience, and this is all so new, that it's unclear if it, too, will last. Is the world just suddenly awash in early-stage smitten romances, not yet seeing the inevitable fading of the blush from these roses?

  We're only two episodes into this weekly series, so with two thirds of the way to go I'm uncertain of what the remaining first season of tales will tell. My questions include whether or not the test will ever start to bring back alternate matches, or whether the "soulmate" status will turn out to be triggered by a less than complete accounting, so a more perfect match might come into the system at any time? Also,

is there any aspect of this process that changes over time? In the initial pitch it's laid out - with the vagueness of detail accompanying the claim that it's all verified, just above your level of technical competence to grasp - as a true certainty. A divine and incontrovertible pronouncement from the great god Science.
  William Bridges (along with Brett Goldstein) is co-creator, -writer and -producer of the series, and his primary claim to fame is having worked on the anthology series Black Mirror. This series - were it to have been condensed into a single show - would definitely fit the Black Mirror theme, as it's an exploration of how one, significant tech element impacts and reshapes society and lives, with a particular emphasis on the dark, corrupting and/or destructive influences.
  My largest, early concern for the series was learning that a second season had already been approved. The best counter to that concern is that as this is an anthology series, we expect that each episode will involve a new group of characters (as was the case with the first two episodes), so we'll be spared following individual lives from episode to episode, potentially beyond their points of interest. What mostly then remains to be seen is how many fresh takes and perspectives there will be on this concept. Again, only having two episodes to judge by, I'm encouraged because the second episode uses the societal trigger of the Soul Connex phenomenon (which by that point is at least two years established) to ultimately explore completely separate issues.
  With two episodes - more correctly, two samplings of this universe - my concern's become that we may end up seeing more of what we got in the second episode than the more direct and full consequences seen in the first. I apologize for being so vague, but I don't want to spoil story elements.

  This past weekend I got around to Monsterland, an 8-part anthology series that arrived early this month on Hulu.
  Conceptually there's a narrow footbridge between this series and Soulmates, inasmuch that both involve the theme of lives possibly misspent.
  In Monsterland, there are elements of potentially - sometimes overtly - supernatural horror, but these exist side-by-side with much more conventional sources of dread. The limitations of poverty, and being trapped in a web of predatory powers, resonate strongly through nearly all of these tales, even the ones where it initially seems as if the main characters have it made. The desire to avoid, more often to escape, that impoverished powerlessness drives characters to desperate, regrettable actions.

  Each story is separate, though there are various connections between them, giving the sense of a shared universe, with at least one character playing a part in at least three of the stories. Likely there are more connections than I casually realize, as solo binge-watching often isn't the best way to absorb and really appreciate material.
  I would suggest that you show more restraint/less OCD than I did, and spread these out rather than do a concentrated binge. These are not uplifting stories.

   A likely next up for me will be The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix; 9 episodes), which has only been out since this past Friday, the 9th, though in the fog of 2020 it feels as if it's been available for much longer.
   This is the sort of project that betrays a personal weakness, deficiency or laziness, I'm still not sure in which proportions. See, very often many of you humans look much the same to me. I don't really know who any of you are, and I'm not sure if we've ever met, even if it was just yesterday. Chances are I didn't do anything to create any mnemonic links, and it probably wasn't as if I was aware of your name while we were speaking, and even if I had been that probably faded about the time you left my sight.

  This project, is the kinda-sorta follow-up to 2018's The Haunting of Hill House (also on Netflix), also being created and overseen by Mike Flanagan. Many of the people behind the scenes and much of the cast from Hill House are back in this new production, though playing different characters. Since there's no character and story continuity from the earlier production, it'll be interesting (to me) to see if I have any memory flashes about any of them.
  Some of it's coming back to me, though, and now I'm recalling that there may be some element of a cheat to all this. While I recall that I and, it seems, much of the audience for Hill House was interested in seeing what was next for the Crane family, as far as Michael Flanagan was concerned their story was told. So, here we get continuation only in theme and much of the cast. The bright side of that is that there's no prior story to remember, as it's a fresh start.
  I'd initially passed on Bly Manor because the early promotional materials (I realize now I hadn't even watched the trailer) pressed it as a "gothic romance," which wasn't a selling point at the time. Again, though, I remind myself it's only been out a week. Life in the age of streaming media seems to be on such a different scale and speed.

      Another week sped by! Now October's roughly at the halfway point. Should we be getting Christmas decorations up?
      Continue to take care, and don't forget to vote if you have the early opportunity! There's a real world horror story out there, and that one you have a part in. -- Mike