Welcome Wolf 359 friends and fans to another installment of Wolf 359 Daily! Today is March 10, Mission Day 655, and we’re taking a look at Episode 23: “No Pressure.”
We’re now 10 days into the Lovelace administration, and she seems to have the crew well in hand. I suppose hanging a nuclear bomb over everyone will do that, but hey. Lovelace, Minkowski, Eiffel, and Hera have been hard at work to get Lovelace’s shuttle spaceworthy again. Or at least Lovelace has, Eiffel, Minkowski, and Hera are dragging their feet as much as possible, since once they finish the shuttle repairs, Hera gets blown up along with the Hephaestus. Their latest attempts to get the shuttle’s life support systems back online end up frying some circuitry, leading to an electrical discharge which leaves Minkowski stranded in the docking corridor between the shuttle and the Hephaestus station. The only way to get her out and get everyone back to the nice, oxygenated station? Getting the shuttle’s life support working, ASAP.
I’m sure I’ll say it another time or two before we finish season 2, but it always feels so weird to go back to the early days of Lovelace, when she’s the main antagonist to the crew. I just love her so much, I forget sometimes how her relationship with the crew started. And “antagonist” doesn’t mean she’s a “bad guy,” her motivation is incredibly understandable when you consider what she’s been through. Particularly when you consider the timeline from her perspective, the last thing she remembered was putting herself in cryostasis for the trip back to Earth. From her point of view, the loss of her crew is much fresher than it actually is, chronologically. It’s just the part where she wants to blow up the Hephaestus, which will take Hera along with it, which puts her at odds with the rest of the crew’s desires.
And I know we need conflict to have a plot and push the story forward or whatever, but my god the number of times I’m likely to say “Would you guys just say these things to each other!” before the season’s out is likely to be astronomical. Even with the whole looming threat of blowing everyone up hanging over them, Eiffel and Lovelace have such a rapport that all I want is for him to go “Hey, so about that blow-up-the-station plan, could we consider not doing that?” Though I suppose, they are living under the threat of a nuclear bomb, which I have to assume makes it even harder to broach uncomfortable subjects. It’s just so weird to go from Eiffel and Lovelace joking together pretty easily, and then end with Eiffel, Minkowski, and Hera plotting against her.
Speaking of joking, this time around Lovelace’s moth joke just struck me so strongly as being similar to Kepler’s pig joke from “A Matter of Perspective.” I don’t know why it’s never hit me like this before, or really what to think about that. Does Goddard give commanding officers courses on managing crew morale through really bad, long-winded jokes?
Anyway, this episode ends with the crew trying to figure out how to stall Lovelace’s exit plan, and hopefully disarm the nuclear threat she holds. You know we can’t plot mutinous actions on this station without bringing up halothane knock-out gas. Reset the clock, folks, it’s been 0 days. Truly, how many gas canisters did Hilbert rig up back during the toothpaste siege? Ultimately, they decide on a plan to recalibrate some of Hera’s sensors to make her systems think there’s a threat to the station. I guess she’s discovered a fresh loophole in the programming. She might not be able to lie, but she is allowed to truthfully report bad data. And of course, there’s always the knock-out gas for backup.
Their plan will go into motion soon, as we’re due for “Tactical Brain Damage” in just two days. But before we go, did anyone else catch that little coughing fit of Eiffel’s? Well, keep it in mind, because we’ll see that come to a head before the week is out as well! This season is gonna get going fast for the next two weeks, hold on tight y’all.
Today’s rejected Pryce & Carter tip:
A word once let out of its cage cannot be whistled back again. Hence the shock pens.
Wolf 359 Daily is written and recorded by Rina Cerame.
Wolf 359 is a product of Kinda Evil Genius Productions. More information on the show can be found on their website at wolf359.fm
We hope you’ll join us again on March 12 for Episode 24: “Tactical Brain Damage” Thanks for listening!
Share this post