Speculation and Reaction (S01E03)

The Danger of Ret-cons

The idea of ret-con is the single most dangerous concept set forth in the series and it’s not because of zombies. I was surprised to see that Zebulon Pike was the one behind the Zombie ret-con from 80s? I wasn't expecting tha type of reveal this this early in the series.

However, I’m expecting the ret-con idea to form an even stronger connection with the mysterious Mr. Inns.  Swords says that he discovers ret-cons relevant to missions based on intel from Mr. Inns. This is really screwed up when you think about it. Mr. Inns could say absolutely anything could have happened in the past and no one remembers it, but you should trust him anyways. This is just an appeal to authority that has been masked by this sci-fi concept.  Swords has been represented to this point in the series as a competent leader. But I still think Zebulon Pike is 100% correct in saying that Swords and The 33 are all just his puppets that blindly obey his orders.

Mr. Inns

Who is he? This is bugging me so much because I really don’t feel any sense of trust about this guy. Knack is sort of acting like a proxy for the reader at this point because he’s new to this world as well.  Even if Knack were to suddenly feel like he trusted Swords and The 33 hierarchy, I don’t know if I would.  I don’t trust Swords and, therefore, I do no not trust Mr. Inns.  I can’t help but notice the similarities between the supposed villain, Zebulon Pike, and The 33. Both are implanting advance technology into the heads of their employees for communication purposes. One side used audio, the other uses audio/visual.  This can be used by either side to really screw with someone’s mind.  We actually saw it happen with both sides in this episode.

Knack

I look at knack’s ability as the type of super-power that most people would choose to have in heartbeat.  Every high-school and college student uses the cramming method to their advantage at some point in their academic and personal life, but those that live off this technique tend not to be the ones that retain much information and don’t really learn.  So I love the analogy put forth for cramming for the final to make a statement about this ability. It’s talent, but its also frustrating.  I can completely sympathize with Knack as he tries to recall some to the Japanese culture, but can’t because he never truly learned that information. As a teacher, I have the most difficult time trying to explain to students the difference between learning information and temporarily memorizing information and how this relates to study habits. I think this type of super-power would be an awesome thing to explore in even mundane activities, so I hope it’s explored on more on other 33 missions.

John Smith

In any other story a reference to John Smith would just be a filler name. It’s used because it’s so common that no one would be inclined to sue the author due to likeness.  I might be stretching this, and it might just be the wishful thinking of an obsessed fan, but it could be a reference to 7th Son. What are the chances given that he referred to him being “not dead, but long gone”. Something tells me this might be a certain musician that cut off all ties from friends other than his girlfriend, Sarah, and his pet cat, for the sake of protection.