Knowing The Score: Zero Hour S1 E7: "Sync"

(Author's note: this essay contains spoilers for the seventh episode of Zero Hour, so don't say I didn't warn you!)

My apologies for the misspelling of "pyrates" in earlier entries; as I've noted I haven't really been following along with discussion of the show online, and that includes other recaps.  I am correcting this retroactively.

Previously on: COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON, APPARENTLY.
Hank is his own grandfather, do I really need to say more?  I do?  Well okay, all your clocks are belong to Hank, everybody's got FEELINGS! and it's going to get rather messy because reasons.  So let's see if any of those reasons are made any clearer than mud in this episode...

White Vincent intones that six is the number of harmony, and yeah, that's what numerology teaches us (one of its characteristics, that is).  It's also the number of idealism, which I think is a better theme for this episode.

"Sync" opens with a shot of the thawed subsicle, and we see WV in Cousteau mode, having gone scrounging for something.  Since two episodes prior we knew the True Cross had been transferred to the sub I assume we are meant to think he's looking for the thing itself, but what WV retrieves is a strong box which contains the logbook of das boot and he looks, uh, reassured, I suppose.

Next is Agent Blonde reporting to Riley; Hank's phone is tapped and they hear him agreeing to rendezvous with his estranged clandestine wife.  Scully looks a bit miffed that Mulder did not let her in on this development; but like I keep tellin' y'all, the Feds will find you out!

And then The Escape Artist Formerly Known As Laila is at the rendezvous point, nervously scanning the crowd, giving a nod to her Shepherd security detail.  Arron rolls up and cooly tells her to get on the next bus (can I just say the boy looks damn fine in that hoodie?) and she sprints for it, to find Rachel all tight-faced scorn but carrying out her part, which is to get the electronic watchdog off the trail by switching coats and ditching the umbrella so that Anna's watchers are foiled (and they phone Reggie who doesn't really look stressed).  Anna apologizes to Rachel, says she's sorry for everything, and we know Rachel wants to yell YES YOU ARE SORRY and I NEVER LIKED YOU ANYWAY EVEN WHEN I THOUGHT YOU COULD BE MY MOM! but she is dignified in her response. poor girl.  I have to say that for such a stereotypical role as the Girl Genius who is yet also the Ingenue, Addison Timlin has a wonderfully expressive face which conveys more than they give her time to accomplish in her dialogue.

Anna does the thing and they end up meeting in Central Park right on the spot where Hank proposed so he could be all LYING LIAR WHO LIES WHY ME?! and so we are right back to what I believe he considers the central mystery of his life, even more than his being-his-own-grandpa origins.  Anna blathers exposition and then says the Pyrates are "radical believers," uh...like the Shepherds aren't?  Yeah, that's convincing.  Even less convincing is her "I loved you, I still do" spiel, and the Skeptical Schlub is all "Wrong!" and states He Wants Answers or the next clock will be bartered away to the baddies.

Do I believe him?  No, not really.  I believe Hank does want answers but I don't see him going to WV to get them.  He may be starting to buy into their lab-rat origins but he's not feeling kinship with his freaky-ass eyeball brother just yet.  Hank would just gather his Scoobies and figure it out for himself.

And...cue title sequence!
That was eight minutes into the ep, which, again, is better timing.

Back at the media empire, a wee bit of exposition about Hank being his own grandfather (and Arron's goofiness, I get that he's comic relief but it - like many things in this show - is too contrived) and a rhyme in Latin engraved on the bottom of the twelfth clock.  In the North Sea WV discovers that the log book is coded in Demonic (?) - the same language Messenger Boy knows - and he calls Mommy Locust for help.  This exchange reveals she's in yet another clinic (but she's not playing God, just God's administrative assistant) somewhere with her Messenger Boy, to whom she gently explains that their cabal will survive the apocalypse because that's how all End Times scenarios play out: the righteous never have to suffer for long, or not at all.

Riley barges into the offices of Modern Skeptic (and a large blowup of one of the covers is on display, just to remind us that there is a magazine alledgedly being published), Arron is goofy, Rachel is, "WTF dude?" and Riley is "Don't make me have to bust a cap, Mr. Tall, Shaggy and Dumbass." and is in Hank's face, "You cut me out, man!" and what is incredibly annoying is - as she admits to her overwhelming agenda to find out why her husband had to die - she chides Hank for wanting to know if Laila's love was, in any sense, real.  Damn woman, don't you see you both want the same thing?  Closure.  They bicker and when Hank says WV and Laila are not on the same side Riley retorts, "Is that what THE LIAR told you?"

"What about me and my obsessive quest, Hank?  It can't all be about you because we're costars, damnit!"

Meanwhile at Shepherd HQ Laila is praying (but really pining), and Reggie tells her she must shun attachment (which, if you think about it, is more a Buddhist tenant than a Christian one) and he's shutting her out of the negotiations because he knows she's conflicted but of course this has to happen because Dramatic Tension and then another priest busts in and says, "All our clocks are belong to Hank!" and "The Pyrates will find our Holy Relic before we do!" and so we know that it was transported via the sub, but was hidden elsewhere because of course it was.  I'd still like to know why subsicle with Kommandant Doppelganger in its belly but anyway...Reggie immediately leaps to the dramatic solution of, "Well we gotta snuff Hank and nab the clocks, obvs."

Post-commercial we are hanging with the Sad Schlub in the wee small hours of the morning as he tells Riley, "Yeah let's sell the Lying Liar Who Lies down the proverbial river."  They share their FEELINGS! and talk about life post-grand conspiracy ruining their lives and she remarks, "I want to be happy again." and his look says good luck with that.  Because really, is that not the most naive thing you've ever heard an edgy tortured tattooed woman say?  Somewhere in...Norway?  Greenland?...WV meets up with the translator and answers the guy's academic curiosity with, "Chop-chop, time's a wastin,' scholar man!"

And then in the stupidest sequence of the ep, Hank gets a call from Laila's phone only it's Reggie, he is then ready to enact his Clever Plan (which, yes, meant that ALL THE CLOCKS were hidden at the office) which, as you can imagine, was a Complete and Utter Failure.  Seriously though, the guys just obvs hanging around the building who then begin chasing Hank and Arron, who are supposed to be the decoys?  That's not tension, Show, that's comedy.

After what must have been a long drive (because it's now night) they arrive at the Shepherd stronghold (I guess when you talk about the 1%ers it really means the clandestine true believers of the world and then all those other cabals) and duuuude, hallway of scarlet-robed monks!  We are led to believe Hank is going to meet his end at their hands, but no, not before he does the clock-fu thang; Reggie tells Hank it is his Destiny and Hank's all "Wha?  No, I was created in a lab because reasons!"  We learn there is a pesky Rosicrucian mole on the ship, who - in the second stupidest sequence of the ep - strolls into the Room of Exposition pretending he thought it was the storage closet.  Laaaaame, Show.  So then he's all, "Hey guy, explain your whole deal there," and Scholar Man obliges but moments later WV appears and is sorry to crash their convo but he has some killin' to do and the knifefight is on, because the mole pulls a knife out of his boot like he was expecting this, but dude despite your green hoodie you are totally a redshirt, as in: your blood on your shirt after being stabbed by WV.  He sees the guy's cross and has a look of "Meddling pesky Rosicrucians!" while Scholar Man is all, "Please don't kill me!" and WV has a look of "Do you think I'm an idiot?" and Scholar Man collapses to the floor, in full possession of the knowledge that upon the North Sea, no one can hear you scream.   The Escape Artist Formerly Known As Laila reveals to her supervisor that she didn't make Flight 71 because her taxi hit a bus but as she crawled from the wreckage she saw "352" on the bus' display and it's totes A Sign From God!  Back at the Shepherd stronghold, Hank is muttering the rhyme like it's some unfathomable mystery - and sadly the pesky Rosicrucians don't know that it's really the Scoobies who do all the puzzle-fu, Hank is just the guy who tells them to figure it out.  Anna and Father Mark show up and she tells Reggie, "I'm assigning myself to this mission, because I am righteous and I has the clock-fu!  I won't flinch when the time comes to get rid of the fly in our holy ointment."

A murder of Shepherds.

Arron is freaking out at Riley in regards to the nabbing of Hank and Rachel, and I've noticed she has said "Calm down!" or some variation thereof quite a few times over the course of the series.  Plus her accent keeps slipping.  Agent Blonde comes in and says they've got a plate hit, the Shepherds were spotted exiting the highway somewhere in upstate NY and because the Feds will find you, that's what they're gonna do.

This week's puzzle-fu is pretty lame as well: Hank just suddenly wonders why all the clocks have a similar piece of glass and reminds Anna that she told him every part of a clock serves a purpose.  In conjunction with the rhyme they figure out there's a pattern (because of course there is) etched on each piece of glass which when placed all together reveal a map   It's always a map, y'all.  Reggie begins to exposition to Hank about his lab-rat origins as part of Project Zero Hour, revealing that he is the detonator of the True Cross to bring about the End of Days and...I'm sorry but, I don't get how that can be even symbolically appropriate.  Anyway...they get wind of the Feds approach and it's been fun but they must dash, and Anna's supervisor is ready to shoot Hank rather than let him fall into the hands of the Pyrates. but of course Anna stops him.  Literally.  Having now really broken her vows and fucked up her shot at salvation (one assumes) for the sake of that dangerous ideology called love, she then points the gun at Hank and they also flee the oncoming Feds.

(Because we totes knew she's been lying to everyone, especially herself, right?  And I guess Hank totally forgot about Rachel being a hostage too.)

It wouldn't be an episode of Zero Hour unless there's globetrotting because reasons and so Hank drives Anna to Grand Central and she tells him she's going to destroy the True Cross because otherwise they won't stop hunting for him and he reminds her that she is a Lying Liar Who Lies and she says, "Jesus wants me for his cross-killer!" and he has put the Feds on their tail again and she says, "The plot demands that I insist you come with me!" and he wants to know if - when Skeptical Schub won the heart of Hot Girl with Clock-Fu - did she run off to her pesky Rosicrucian overlords and confirm she bagged him, and she's all, "Well obviously," and he agrees to her crazy plan with extreme reservation because she told him One True Thing and he's a masochist, obviously.

And she may be a Lying Liar Who Lies, but she's hot.  Especially now that he's heard her real accent, because we all know Yanks can't resist an Aussie accent, c'mon now!

But in the midst of all this WV phones Mommy Locust again (apparently she's somewhere in the Middle East where she looks out upon the Fourth Plague of Revelations manifested as severe drought) and tells her he'll have the cross within the week, and she continues with her apocalypse educational plan, quoting scripture to her Messenger Boy. And even though she tells WV, "No loose ends," he then gives Scholar Man a choice: jump into the cold North Sea where no one can hear you die from hypothermia, or quickly dead via bullets.  The guy appears to agree to swim for it and ya gotta feel bad for what was the worst decision of his life but...whaddya think?  He's gonna get rescued?  He might be an actual plot point!

Rachel was stashed in some room at the stronghold and badasses her way out with her boots made for kicking in doors only to Meet The Feds, who are then allowed to track Hank.  Riley and Agent Blonde show up at Grand Central where Riley finds Hank's phone duct-taped to a pole with an apology and Hank is driving his lying bride to Montreal, because she totes knows how to travel without attracting the attention of INTERPOL even in the post-9/11 world, apparently?  Well maybe it's Quebec's insistence upon sovereignty meaning they don't trifle with such silly things as international law?  Who knows...but this episode was structured okay even for all its actual lame content.

The good (scoring) stuff:
Again there is a sequence of cues and themes in the beginning which really set the tone nicely, in the sub sequence I'm actually reminded a bit of Trevor's score for 5 Days of War.   There's a nice wistful cue as Laila meets Hank on the bridge.   The sequence during Hank and Riley's conversation about their future plans is lovely as well, there's a lightness to it suggesting hope, but then a pulse of tension intrudes, undermining their words.  A percussive-heavy chase sequence reminds me that's always one of Trevor's strong points in a score (though usually he gets to use guitars).  A wonderful piano cue during the puzzle-solving sequence, also quite a sprightly fight sequence, a bit of what I refer to as "the stabbing violins of significance."

Knowing The Score: Zero Hour S1 E6: "Weight"

(Author's note: this essay contains spoilers for the sixth episode of Zero Hour, so don't say I didn't warn you!)

Before I watched this episode, this is what occurred to me: I haven't been following online discussion/theorizing but I would say it's fairly obvious that Riley's husband - a  volunteer doctor - figured out what's the deal with Project Zero Hour and that's why he had to die.  Mommy Locust picked up the phone and barked "Clean it up!" and shit got done, y'all.
Reggie: Sister, don't get on that plane.
Anna: But why?  Will there be more needless deaths in the name of all that is holy?
Reggie: WELL DUH.
Anna: FEELINGS!
Reggie: You are on a mission from God, suck it up.

Previously on: COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON, APPARENTLY.
Hank and Riley are bungling in the jungle with a raving White Vincent but guess what?  None of that counts, y'all.

Five is the number of grace, the father and the son.  But if either is a lie, then all is...undone.

Okay I get what this is supposed to mean but what does it really mean?  It comes off as more mumbo-jumbo than some of the others.

We open with Mommy Locust calmly assuring her cabal that the End Times are not at hand just yet; but whomever controls the cross might have some say in the shenanigans.

Oh and why did that cliffhanger not count?  Because "Weight" opens with all of them back in NYC, a handwaveium hoedown of Riley being medivac'ed and WV pulling his usual disappearing act.  Okay Show, this shit is not on, alright?  Yes we know Riley can't die because she's a lead character but to make us think there's a crisis but NO NOT REALLY is screwing with our trust...and you wonder why people have trashed this series?!  There's not going to be any emotional investment if none of the suspense really means anything in terms of the narrative arc.  Anyway, in the waiting room Hank is transfixed by a report of a hurricane and then he gets to see Riley.  They bicker a bit as she observes that WV seems to be a bit too fixated on Hank to be merely an errand boy of the apocalypse.  Back at the media empire, Rachel is trying yet again to cockblock Arron (who is wearing a hoodie that looks like a bathrobe), and he really is trying to convince her that he and Agent Blonde were just being geeks.

Meanwhile at Shepherd HQ, Reggie and Anna (IF THAT'S YOUR REAL NAME) are expositioning about the plot device, while the Cute Squad does the same thing, meaning another parallel chase, as it were.  And ugh now they're going to bicker about the third wheel, so thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster Hank busts in just then, angryface because reasons and the Baby Skeptics are all, "Laila!  Clocks!" and he's like, "Whatevs," and then is off to confront his Lying Liars Who Lie parents.  And he makes it sound like a big deal but if he can drive there in a reasonable amount of time (which clearly he can), it's not Going Home, it's "gonna go see the 'rents."  A wistful gentle piano cue underscores his paging through a photo album and then Mom is like, "Uh hi, Hank Who Is Totally My Son!  Why are you ninja-ing into our idyllic homestead?"

(Note: this episode's anvil of significance is the matryoska dolls toy Hank is holding in one of the photographs he looks at.)

Hank busts out the old "We need to talk," and genuinely attempts to find out what the frack is going on, and because you can tell they're totally cabal-trained, his parents misdirect like they do two shows a night in Vegas (dark on Tuesdays).

And...cue title sequence!  That was only about nine minutes into the show and it felt much tighter, structure-wise, in regards to where the break was placed.

So in an attempt to placate him somewhat they say they must Tell Him the Truth and relate the whole "We found you floating in a basket...uh...delivered in a duffle bag!" and understandably he says, "You lied!" and his "mom" says "We didn't know!" and it gets pretty deep and soon Hank stalks off, "Later, lying liars who lie!"  His "parents" hope he doesn't do that thing he does, you know, for a living.  Oh, and Hank smirked as a baby, it's a sure sign of a skeptic!  We then see that WV is still stalking him, of course.  So then he's back at his office watching a video transfer of Kommandant Doppelganger, deciding to go visit Nazi Collector Extraordinaire because reasons, and Paige busts in so the Scoobies proclaim, "Clocks!" and he's still all, "Whatevs," and then a parallel sequence begins: the Scoobies' computer-fu versus Hot Girl with Clock-fu (who I don't even know what to call anymore!).  Whomever is hiding the clues in the clocks is getting less clever with it, as they all think their way through the density problem of the spherical object and there's a thing and crazy awesome science and of course it's a map, duh!  Why do they always discount the possibility of geographic information in the clues?  Again Show, that's just falling down on your own formulaic superstructure.

Hank is at the secret bunker of Nazi Collector Extraordinaire - whom like many old fanbois is more than a bit sad and creepy - and he's all, "OMG did anyone ever tell you -" and Hank says, YEAH I KNOW and "Schnitzengruben?" he offers, and, "Let me tell you this utterly obvious fact about the word doppelganger!" and Hank's expression is clearly LOOK FANBOI JUST FIND ME SOME CONVENIENT EXPOSITION, 'KAY?!

Meanwhile, WV is doing the creepy-crawly at the Galliston homestead, which triggers a memory of his Tragic Childhood where no one loved him and how the other orphans called him a freak because, admittedly, of his freaky-ass eyeballs.  Before the commercial break he stands menacingly at the foot of the bed of the Lying Liars Who Lied to Hank but you totes know nothing is going to happen (despite a cue trying to tell us otherwise) because this is Show, where none of the suspense is really suspense.  Post-commercial, he's really going all Single White Female on Hank, stealing the Photo Album of Childhood Lies, as upstairs "Mom" wonders Do you hear an agent of evil creepy-crawling in here?

Back at the bunker, NCE just happens to have a handy-dandy family tree for Kommandant Doppelganger, noting that his bloodline is descended from a group whose zealotry appears encoded in their DNA, and the only clue he can offer is where he got all the junk from (with that whole MY COLLECTION. LET ME SHOW YOU IT. thing which is a meme because it's true, and wow, dude looks like Peter Lorre, actually).

This is your life, Corbin Sterm.

Meanwhile at the media empire Riley crows, "We found her!" and Girl Genius Rachel looks miffed (she clearly does not remember what I said about the Feds being able to find anyone at any time) and exposition about Anna and WTF is she doing, and Agent Blonde is out of her depth with computer-fu and Girl Genius says let me drive, and Paige is like, "Whatevs, show-off," and apparently there's a tally somewhere which Rachel adds a point to because this is not about saving the world or finding answers at all, it's all about I am Girl Genius and you must love me, clueless cute boi!  Rachel, honey, he is cute and all but...*facepalm*

WV is positively wallowing in his bad memories and a barking dog makes him recall the first time he stood up against the bullies, who hooted at him in unison as they tormented him, and you know...I'd feel sorry for him if it wasn't so very Lord of the Flies.

Hank has a date with destiny in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where a crotchety junkman turns out to be the son of Corbin Sterm.  Uh...okay?  And naturally his response is, "Uh hi, stranger who looks just like my dead Nazi father?"  There's a whole thing where they hit every point on the Kubler-Ross scale but cross-cut with that is....

Expense accounts are strained as Riley and the Scoobies travel to Istanbul on Laila's trail but of course the pesky Rosicrucians have untold wealth, or whatever.  Arron counsels to snatch some DNA and Hank is all, "Try not to cause an international incident or get killed, mmmkay?"

But also, as WV is waiting for Creepy Little Boy (more stairs are involved), he's still angsting about his antiseptic upbringing.  He then lies (like Laila did) about Hank's significance in his report to Mommy Locust.  He learns she cut out Creepy Little Boy's tongue and knowing they're both from the Island of Misfit Errand Boys, he is ready for a showdown.  Later, in the suitably fairy tale-esque penthouse of Mommy Locust, WV comes up against the True Believer, and it's pretty much a standoff.  Because she's all, "Blah blah blah YOUR LIFE, SO HARD," and says that she'll tell him why he exists in exchange for the True Cross.  "Trust me," she says, much like Kaa, and you just know WV so totally cannot trust her.

He's like a sociopathic Malamute (no offense to the breed).

Son of Sterm explains how he found his calling in an apostle's house in Istanbul, where he and his mother took refuge after Kommandant Doppelganger went off to save the world, just as Anna fails to find the next clock in the Turkish hidey-hole and is then ambushed by the Scoobies and Riley says OH HAI LYING LIAR WHO LIES.  Post-commercial, what is truly unbelievable is how none of them save Rachel (because it's a ratio of four females to one male) have their heads covered in the showdown sequence.  Y'all are in Turkey, in case you forgot.  I'm thinking the polis would be a little more miffed over that than just a B&E, but of course it's not entirely the police, one of them is a Shepherd, come to rescue the wily Anna.  But before the polis showed up, forget all that clock bullshit, Riley Needs Answers and starts in on Russiyana Flight 71.  Remember what I noted at the beginning of this recap?  Anna warns Riley that she might not really want to know why her husband had to die.

(OMG Riley's husband was either a Shepherd or a Pirate, hmm?!)

Dangerous misunderstanding, police intervention, letter of revelation ("I've got something in my pocket that explains everything!"), The Escape Artist Formerly Known As Laila goes poof, and Erik Haas reveals that he has the rest of the clocks because he was clever way before it was cool, y'all.  And really, we're so done with the clocks, right?  Because it's all about the True Cross now.  But Hank's solution to keeping them safe means bringing them to the offices of Modern Skeptic...oh yeah, that's really safe.

Gotta whole lotta clocks!

WV, like Aqualung, is sitting on a park bench, eyeing...well okay, not little girls, but kids playing...OH NOES MOAR ANGST?!  No, but this week's anvil of significance.  Identities within identities, lies within lies, mysteries within mysteries...HANK IS TOO MY LAB-ENGINEERED BROTHER, SEE WE HAVE THE SAME TOY, WHY DOESN'T HE LOVE ME?!

All the Skeptics return home, Anna is advised to do something about those meddling Feds, and Hank is his own grandfather!  Laila calls and declares, "It's time to end this," (because people in Zero Hour don't know they're in Zero Hour)...and that's where it does end.  That was actually rather unexpected (by me, anyway), and it works much better than last week's non-denouement.

The good (scoring) stuff:
Within those first nine minutes, the cues progress in what I perceive to be an interconnected fashion, but it also shows how music works in underlying some parts and not others.  It's a great example of how this show really is scored like a film would be.  The piano cue I mentioned earlier is really lovely, a slight wash of brass carries it away and then strings enter to enhance the emotional resonance of the scene.  But then after the commercial the more delicate side of it comes back, with perhaps a slight touch of menace.  I assume Nazi Collector Extraordinaire is listening to Wagner when Hank comes to visit him.  The music which backs WV's reminiscences is not wholly bathos, there's an interesting tension in it.  There's one use of licensed music in the scene where Hank first arrives in St. Charles but it's used in a realistic fashion, way in the background.  There's a nice use of Middle Eastern music in the first Istanbul scene, it's at least not as silly as last week's Let's go to Paraguay!   I believe the piano cue which I think of as "Home" comes back during the scene where Erik reads the letter Sterm wrote while on the sub. I really like the last cue as well, it's also piano-based.   I'd say my only complaint is in the transition to commercial the cues become way too dramatic, much like the cue when WV looks into the mouth of Messenger Boy, it's telegraphing, and that's a no-no.

Knowing The Score: Zero Hour S1 E5 "Suspension"

(Author's note: this essay contains spoilers for the fifth episode of Zero Hour, so don't say I didn't warn you!)

As I noted previously, these recaps are pastiches of the type you might see elsewhere; and Jacob Clifton of TWoP recapped the first three episodes with his trademark snark and I highly recommend you go read and giggle.  I don't believe he's doing the rest of the series, however.  But really, my style, such as it is, is more a homage to Cleolinda Jones, she of Movies in Fifteen Minutes fame, and currently recapping Hannibal on her blog Occupation: Girl.  So I don't pretend to be some clever thing, but I am having fun (and really, you kinda have to just to get through an episode much less watching each one twice and listening to it a third time, as I am).

Previously on: COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON, APPARENTLY.
Hank Galliston, Skeptical Schlub, has been racking up the frequent flyer miles in pursuit of his clock restorer wife Laila who was passively-aggressively kidnapped by Creepy Omniscient Villain White Vincent, and the greater mystery of Why Clocks?  and Why does some dead Nazi dude have my face? and now Damnit, I knew a hot girl with clock-fu would not really be interested in me and that's not just my skepticism talking!  So Hank has been to the Canadian tundra, and Chennai, and Princeton, and Wismar, but he's never really been to Me?  Uh...okay?

The revealing of the Holy Relic - like there's not enough going on in this show - strikes me as rather premature.  The unfortunate premature, the kind which gets guys the nickname Minute Man kind of premature.

Vincent intones stuff about the number four...blah blah blah seasons...blah blah blah death and birth.

Creepy Little Boy is with his mom Amy Irving and she gives us a lesson in locusts like they're sacred and is so proud of her understanding progeny who pets the one in her hand in a gesture of Who's a pretty locust?  You are! but then is made so angry by WV's lack of progress that she kills it and so she's crazy, I guess?

Crosscut between Hank and Riley Mulder-and-Scullying their way down a busy street while back at the media empire it's the Scoobies (minus Agent Blonde)!  Rachel then chastises Arron for his purported lack of empathy but we all know her FEELINGS! are hurt by the betrayal and he's nicely big brother-like instead of being defensive.  Later, Head Skeptic busts in, still fueled by his RAEG. and starts in on the credo, or whatever, and they'll follow him anywhere, of course.  They are tasked with finding out what lock the key Hank found in the feeder will fit into.  He's going to tear up the clock shop in another RAEG, uh, intense search for clues.

Hank loses his shit and tears up the house - HANK SMASH! photos of the Lying Liar Who Lied - but we are not to think it's merely RAEG, you see.  He has a helpful flashback which conveniently allows him to find something in the hummingbird feeder.  Even though his heart is broken in a million clock gear-sized pieces, he has to give it up for The Escape Artist Formerly Known As Laila.

"Clever," he murmurs, looking at his find.

WV is in a park drinking from - I shit you not - a juice box, waiting on Creepy Little Boy, whom he meta-esquely points out is strange, freaking out again.  He gets a blank stare, like, My mom is mad at you, mister, let's cut the chitchat.  It's amusing to see WV unhinged because he knows he's in deep shit with Mommy Locust, who would likely crush him just like she did that Schistocerca gregaria.  Indeed, she sends him a note: "Do I need to cut you from the roster, errand boy?" and he's all psychopathic posturing and then Creepy Little Boy finds one of his wounds and ICK plays with the blood still seeping from it, and to see WV start at his touch like OMG NO and there's a creepy cue and....this kid had to be born of a jackal, right?

Back in The Year of Our Lord 2007, exposition of an incredibly anvil-esque fashion shows us that Anna (IF THAT'S YOUR REAL NAME) has always been A Lying Liar Who Lies and is caught out by the head priest of the church/convent where she's hiding from whatever and he basically demands her cooperation: "You want advancement?  Then you need to take this incredibly dangerous assignment for our clandestine organization who totally lies and kills and fornicates and lots of other sinful stuff for the greater glory of God."  He pulls the sacrifice card and I'm all, Guilt: motivational tool since forever.  She burns up all her identification as he's giving her the Higher Calling speech on the side of the Shepherds, and I'm not buying that it's all she is, not yet.  But you gotta know when a religious devotee uses the word true in conjunction with their ideology there's gonna be hijinks and bloodshed and probably death, especially when he's whispering it in phone sex come-on fashion.

Hank has Riley meet him at a public garden where The Escape Artist Formerly Known As Laila volunteered to stake out her plot and Riley's all, "Be cool, fool!" because Hank has no idea about surveillance, and then a pesky Rosicrucian appears and digs up a note, they roll up on him but he recognizes Hank and gives chase, which follows the Point Break school of urban pursuit, and make it to the top of a building where he warns Hank off the search and in answer to the query he is very very afraid he knows where she is and he must now swan-dive to his needless death.

And...cue title sequence!  Which I've realized is probably only about 15-20 seconds long and that's why I prefer the end credits version instead.

Post-commercial break Hank and Riley discuss the clue while back in 2007, Anna (IF THAT'S YOUR REAL NAME) and her boss discuss the whole Spy vs.Spy history between the Shepherds and the Pyrates.  We learn that Mommy Locust appears to be a definite baddie (but we already knew that, of course).

Scoobies doing their thang: Girl Genius Rachel figures out half the answer to the key while Arron and Agent Blonde track Laila's movements via the subway (Here's where the ep totally fails the Bechdel Test, as Rachel rolls her eyes at Paige's he's so cuuuuute comment...Show please don't tell me Rachel secretly loves Arron, that's just so dumb.) and they find out she really likes Brooklyn.  A lot.  Stuff happens. they find Laila's hidey-hole and Hank looks totally betrayed, as if he's discovered she was really a prostitute or something...How could I, the Skeptical Schlub, have fallen for a religious fanatic on a Mission from God?  They each find Clues which will of course lead them to the Weekly Showdown.  The Feds know everything, of course, and so crazy awesome science backs it up.

In The Year of Our Lord 2008, Anna is in Paraguay being all nun-ninja, posing as Emily, a backpacker with a yen to do good works.

Two priests walk...okay no they're just standing somewhere (Battery Park, maybe?  Admittedly my familiarity with NYC is limited to a few visits.) having a conversation of significance about those pesky Rosicrucians, and it's just like I said: Reggie knows a lot for someone who doesn't actually know them, and Mickle calls him on it.  They jump at the clatter of a shredder and the camera pulls back to allow us to see that WV is eavesdropping...because he's going to find TEAFKAL before Hank does...maybe.  Okay Show, that was a creepy moment.  It's totally contrived but whatever, Let's go to Paraguay!  

Lots of stereotypical visual shorthand ahoy!  Including a llama.  I like llamas but damn, that was just gratuitous.  Hank and Riley are in the same marketplace where Emily and her drinking buddy once stood for a photo op: Excuse us, do you recognize these girls from five years ago?   Oh yeah, that's not a longshot at all.  But it's totally not because a taxi driver recognizes them as volunteers at A CURSED CLINIC!  Flashback to 2008 and the girls arrive at said haunted clinic, a kinda creepy-looking-out-in-the-middle-of-the-rainforest place and Emily's suspicion-fu is on high alert.  But from the way she keeps whining about her hangover apparently her drinking-fu is fail.  In yet another parallel sequence, Hank and Riley head out to investigate.  The place looks deserted, but totally is not.  And speaking of wardrobe choices, you're gonna tell me that Riley would actually go on a mission in the jungle wearing white jeans?  Do I look like I fell off that beat-up VW bus, Show?

Meanwhile the Cute Squad are conspiracy-chasing at the media empire (With people!  Looking like they do stuff!) and Rachel has a sad, and Arron gets brotherly again (and I want his sweater) but she still manages to cockblock him (oh please!), then more exposition regarding another Super Secret Cabal, The 41 Trust.  Back at the deserted haunted clinic, Hank and Riley are insertion teaming and Emily is spying and flirting and running down secret tunnels and creeping around the basement.  But hey, what else is a girl whom Show objectifies in cut-offs gonna do?  Riley has to take a call and Hank is thinking, "Uh, maybe you shouldn't leave me alone in the haunted clinic?"

Sure enough...It must be time for Weekly Showdown, eh?  Antagonists now united in their cause to inform Laila she's got some 'splainin' to do, WV mutters cryptically about how Hank and Laila were looking for each other, and it all has to do with Project Zero Hour.  Plus there's a scene with the most docile supposed-to-be-wild rat I've ever seen, just chillin' with the villain down in the haunted basement and whatnot.

The Cute Squad pays a visit to The 41 Trust and Emily finds Bad Stuff in the super secret lab including people in cages.  She grabs film canisters and files and manages to leave with a minimum of fuss, and thus we know that the 352 in her message of significance is a test subject.  Mommy Locust is revealed as The 41 Trust's head honcho Melanie Lynch - she even has a TED Talk, y'all - since when did that become a viral marketing tool, btw?  WV gleefully shows Hank that they are, indeed, brothers, as during his lab rat captivity Hank possessed the same creepy-ass eyeballs, and we see Anna complaining about the toll to her soul and receiving her next assignment as hot girl with clock-fu Laila Galliston.

Riley busts in all OH NOES and WV gives her back her bullets.  In her body.  He's ready to finish the job when Hank - taking a page from the playbook of Captain Fisticuffs - is all WHAM! with some random piece of wood and they get out and into the foliage, whereupon WV delivers his soliloquy of whining and threats much like DeNiro in Cape Fear.  Seriously, it was made of *facepalm* and scenery-chewing.

So back at HQ Anna burns the remnants of her deep cover as Laila, looking all hard-eyed and Good With God, and...yep, here's Reggie, looking equally smug.  Later she prays and she's holding a photo of herself with Hank and of course this shit ain't over but her FEELINGS! are not going to be well-received in future, I'm thinking.

WV is yelling, Riley is bleeding, Hank is freaking...and the evidence of his origins as Project Zero Hour test subject 352 are also burning up in the film projector, all creepy-like, because there is a particular angle at which he totally looks like a serial killer fer realz.

OH MAH GAWD DIDN'T I TELL Y'ALL?!
(But hey, it's not that difficult to figure out, I know.)

The good (scoring) stuff:
I thought there were rather a few obvious cues in this episode but that said, the sequence where Hank is at home looking for anything which might tell him who Laila really is works very well at transitioning from anger and panic to bittersweet memories.  Discussion of The Shepherds has a cue which is interesting to me, it's a little more subtle than I would have thought.  The sequence at Laila's apartment is also nicely structured.  I love the Paraguay cue too, Trevor has an affinity for Latin music (but watch, it will turn out Paul wrote that cue or it was licensed music).  The theme during the scenes where Hank and Riley visit the Santa Marta Clinic remind me somewhat of Trevor's score for Bad Company (one which remains unfairly obscure, as it contains the achingly beautiful "Prague" main theme).

Knowing The Score: Zero Hour S1 E4 "Chain"

(Author's note: this essay contains spoilers for the fourth episode of Zero Hour, so don't say I didn't warn you!)

Show...dude...how the heck are ya?  Oh, right, cancelled.  But hey, at least we can hang out in the network purgatory which is Saturday night.  Let's make a whole mess of nachos and get conspiracy-chasing!

Yeah so, welcome back everyone...previously on COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON, APPARENTLY: there were clocks and shocks and villains, oh my!  Plus, likely the most beautiful antique clock restorer in recorded history, her harried husband, and the angst-haunted tattooed FBI agent who follows him around.

Tick-tock, tick-tock...
Three is the number of the Trinity: the Son, the Spirit and God.  As man grows near the truth, he'll find all he knows is a fraud.

A conundrum, as usual. The smartass who lives in my brain said, "You didn't make any popcorn?"  And also: "Yeah we know what the fraud is, mmm hmm."  I threw an old Twinkie at it and said not to interrupt this beautiful reunion with Show.

So.  Previously on: Rosicrucian Hijinks, as the ubiquitous enemy of truth and light descends on the sacred space, Hank's doppelganger ancestor is entrusted with the sacred mission of protecting The Arc of the Covenant...uh, whatever it is which is really yet another prop 'cause there's probably not even a clock in it.

"Church before Reich?" his fellow officer accuses, delaying his departure at gunpoint  Yeah you can't be crossing the streams of your cultural oppressors, you know, that just leads to trouble every time.  "What's in the box, man?"  Ooops, wrong story.  Then he starts blathering on about power and Hank's doppelganger looks all annoyed and retorts, "You don't know what power is."  Uh oh...you know when people start busting out that line they're even more deluded than the people who think they do know.  And then Bait-and-Switch appears and stops the annoying lecture and it turns out he does have the clock and yeah, Anthony Edwards' German accent is really lame.  And then he busts out with the episode symbolism in the first five minutes.  OKAY SHOW STOP WITH YOUR ANVIL-ESQUE MOMENT PLEASE.  Dang, I probably could have figured it out without that exposition, thanks.  Gunplay of significance follows which then allows us to segue to a clever (okay not really) juxtaposition of White Vincent also bleeding out from his latest encounter with Riley, as Laila attempts compassion and also driving.  He's totally onto her, and they both look awful, and again points to Show for being honest about how two people would look in the midst of such an ordeal.  She calls her skeptical schlub, and they have a mushy minute before WV intrudes.  "Dude, I'm bleeding out and therefore you need to be my errand boy, mmmkay?  Go fetch and I give you my word you can totally have her in tradsies," and Hank's all "Your word?!" like anyone could really believe that WV is a Man of His Word.  And WV says, "I don't lie, brother," and OMG they were both made in the same lab, I'm tellin' ya!  They're the ubermensch, except, seriously, if male pattern baldness is part of that genetic sequence then someone totally screwed up the splicing, IMO.

Meanwhile, Riley has an argument with Special Agent Obvious who reminds her WV is a lying liar who lies and then says if she wants answers about her husband's death she needs to get WV and ask him and...WUT.  How can WV be a lying liar who lies and the only one with the answers?  She looks as pissed off as I do at that whole exchange.  I know what he's really saying is, "Girl, get over your angst-haunted self and do your friggin' job already," but still, don't doubletalk us, Show!  Even though we all know the Feds have to take a class in that to qualify for the job.  Sometimes versimilitude is besides the point.

Back at the media empire known as Modern Skeptic (seriously, suddenly the staff grew by a factor of ten), Hank is attempting some clock-fu of his own while he and the Cute Squad exposition about "What's the deal with these clocks, seriously?" and then they find a gear made of gold which they take to a Hassidic jeweler (again, not really necessary to be that obvious) and he expositions about smuggling and informs them that the entire gearwork of Einstein's clock is a metallurgic hoedown, with each part constructed of a different material.  Walking, exposition, convenient tote board of significance and smartphone Google-fu and now they must Crack The Code, which is what they have to do every episode anyway, right?  But the hilarious thing is one of the Suddenly Staff Members dress sense is pure Jimmy Olsen:

Montage of Cracking The Code, with Hank reviewing guesses like an underpaid overannoyed high school English teacher (better known as just about every high school English teacher ever), cut to numerous reaction shots of so lame from Rachel, who totally wants to be the one to figure it out.  (I know that feeling.) and he's so mentor-esque: "Thank you, nice try."  No dude, you need to be Gordon Ramsey screaming at them to figure it the fuck out already, you donkeys!  Whoops wrong show, anyway, because she wants to be The Smart Girl, she totally is, and she can barely contain her glee at figuring it out.  But he tells her she is "gigantic" uh, meaning her brain, I guess?  So Hank is off to pack for his trip of Weekly Showdown but upon reaching his domicile finds Father Reggie, and he's all, "Uh hi, strange priest in my house?" and we hear a music cue of WTF?

OMG IS REGGIE A SHEPHARD?!  Given his previous exposition I imagine we're meant to believe he is.  Like, "Uh, I don't know these guys?  But I totally know everything about them.  Yeah, that's it."

And...cue title sequence!  That was, like, almost ten minutes into the episode and I can't help but think it's a bit long.  Although I know it's got to cut on a cliffhanger (such as it is) I think it could have done so earlier, but I know that's just the way they roll on Zero Hour; OMG HOW MANY TWISTS AND TURNS CAN THEY BOMBARD US WITH BEFORE THE TITLES!

(Why am I yelling?  Because that's what it feels like it's doing to me, kinda.)

So then the good father gives a speech about sacrifice (something which religious personages always seem to be lecturing us about), and cue WV and Laila breaking into a not-so-random house (I assume because he knows exactly where the stuff he needs is) for some impromptu surgery.  She keeps saying, "You need help!" and you just know he's thinking Fer chrissakes stop with the Feelings! and the Help! already, it's bad enough I have to drag you around as my clock-fu consultant, what, you possess impromptu surgery-fu too?!  As WV preps the wound with a handy bottle of booze he actually snorts from the pain - I lol'ed - and then creepily makes her watch him take the bullet out (because that's the way he rolls) and ICK WOUND PENETRATION  (But not as potentially oh my god no as five minutes of your average episode of Hannibal, just sayin.'), the only kind you will ever see on network television.

Elsewhere, Riley decides to do her job, except she totally doesn't - being more Mulder than Scully - as she sweet-talks Agent Blonde into becoming her accomplice in accessing the files on the bombing of Russiyana Flight 71 (the event in which WV killed her husband).  Agent Blonde is understandably reluctant and Riley is all, "Look, Conspiracy Girl - I saw you totally geeking out with Arron - and we need to bust this wide open, know what I'm sayin?"  Agent Blonde demurs and Riley has the look of, "Who do I have to shoot to get some clandestine help around here?!"

Meanwhile, Hank and the Cute Squad (not looking one bit jetlagged, I might add) are headed to the Weekly Showdown and Rachel's got that bitchin' coat on again.  Their expositionary setup segues to another flashback of Hank's doppelganger who is freaking out over his bleeding comrade and, okay, I get that's upsetting but I'm figuring you don't become a Nazi officer without some knowledge of bloodshed.  There are more symbolic anvils dropped upon us as it is revealed they are traveling the very same road and the scene cuts back and forth as both timelines enter the church of revelation.  Hank's doppelganger is holding the clock...which we can assume is conveniently buried with his fallen comrade in the churchyard.  One of the twelve apostles is Wilhelm Craig: travel agent...uh, okay?

Back at the not-so-random fugitive hideout, Laila is attempting to convince WV she does have impromptu surgery-fu and with purring menace WV declares, "I tire of your attempts to forge a human connection with me," and shows her his freaky-ass eyeball  And then she unleashes her pity-fu, which is the Worst Solution EVER, causing WV to smile all crazy-like and inform Hank he's subtracting one day from the timetable, after which he's all, "Laila, seriously, STFU mmmkay?"

Returning to the crossroads of history, where the Cute Squad cutely bickers and Rachel notes, "Bro, you would totally shit your pants if you saw a mouldering corpse!"  Arron's look is clearly, "Nuh-uh, Teacher's Pet!"  Hank is being skeptical (because, you know, that's what he does) and deduces that no, the clock is not buried with failed apostle Wilhelm Craig and Arron rhetorically wonders, "Well where the hell do you find a replacement apostle in Nazi Germany?"  Funny you should ask, Cute Boi, 'cause flashback time is gonna tell ya!  So Hank's doppelganger is walking the streets, trying to be all fascist officiousness (and fooling no one, seriously blandest Nazi EVER).  A fine strapping Hilter Youth steps up, all bright shiny Aryan attitude and Kommendant Stern has to lecture him about the meaning of words (there's a lot of that in this episode) and thus they go forth to a marine conveyance and again, they are all walking those same cobblestones at night on both sides of history and ooh freaky parallels (no not really)!  Exposition and...uh-oh creepy guy lurking in the shadows!  Riley calls Hank and they Mulder-and-Scully a bit and then she oh-so-helpfully causes him to have an epiphany...it's a boat!  In a slip!  How quaintly significant!  But instead of returning to flashback time we see that WV is definitely hurting and blathering on about how everyone is only out for their own interests....DUH MR. TERRORIST!  But if he's one of the apostles (albeit a very extreme one) then I guess the grumbling makes sense but damn WV, you know you want to live so shut up already and let her bust out the impromptu surgery-fu!

Cut to Hank foolishly wandering around Genesis where he makes a Significant Discovery and then WHAM!
"Uh hi, strange man on my boat?"

Post-commercial break WV (apparently not dying just yet) and Laila are like a Stockholm Syndrome old married couple and then she launches into a lecture about having grace and just as I'm thinking, "Wow, messiah complex much?" then WV retorts, "Lying liar who lies!" and she's all, "Nyah-nyah-nyah not gonna hate you and let you win!" and there is the truth of it, not so compassionate after all.

This episode is about ideologies, after a fashion, and how they are reflected within identity.

Laila's theme swells as WV stumbles towards her, knife in hand, radiating the classic I hate you but I need you resignation to cooperation emotional aura.  He does his usual threatening but warns her he will have no grace in betrayal.  Meanwhile, Riley is also lacking this quality as her search is stymied and then Agent Blonde is a helper just like we knew she (eventually) would be.

Hank was definitely nicer to his intruder, as he finds himself hog-tied and beaten, but then again you know how sailors are...
Cut to Flashback Time:
"What's in the box, man?!" Hitler Youth asks.
(Sorry but I can't help myself.)
Hank's doppelganger is attempting to get underway with the Holy Probably Not Even A Relic and then the ubiquitous enemies of truth and light show up and Hitler Youth pulls a gun on Stern.

"Who are you?!" Corbin and Hank are asked in their respective timelines.
Yeah that's a good question...

Captain Fisticuffs finds the clock and Hitler Youth is equally sunk in the Matrix and can't comprehend A Higher Calling...until Stern shows him what's in the Plot Device.  The Box has a cue, I guess, and it's suitably awestruck.  They get asked the same question again but this time we are with Hank and just as Captain Fisticuffs loses his patience, the apostle appears, recognizing Stern rather than Hank.

Back at the not-so-random fugitive hideout, surgery and more cat-and-mouse between the couple of the moment and Laila manages to fool WV - in his admittedly bloodloss-loopy state - into thinking that she didn't hold back one of her clock-fu tools to effect an escape...BUT SHE TOTALLY DID BECAUSE SHE'S TRICKY!

A lovely reflective cue introduces the next scene, as Hank and the fourth apostle discuss ghosts and yeah, it's pretty much as I figured...Hitler Youth received his Higher Calling by virtue of Stern's badly-accented proselytizing.

OH HAI NAZI SUB NOT YET A SICLE!
Yeah Corbin...dude, I think you might not wanna get on that thing, even though submarines are totally bitchin.'

The clock - as with the others - travels the paths of history, from Stern to Hank, while the man who was once the boy who became an apostle speaks of patience, and I get that it's yet another aspect of this episode: patience is rewarded but so difficult to sustain in regards to the actions of the lead characters.

Oooh clever segue..."I couldn't think of better hands," Hank assures his Baby Skeptics, cut to WV washing his own (which will never ever never be clean) and he realizes it's quiet...too quiet.  Yep, the chicken done flew the coop, no good deed goes unpunished by the noble Laila.  WV seems to think she was a bit careless  and signficantly murmurs, "The clocks," as we then see Hank as his flight arrives checking his phone to find a text from Laila and then warily approaching a hotel room because...IT MIGHT BE A TRAP but the cue is so wistful I'm thinking no.  And yeah, they have a sweet reunion and Laila whispers, "We did it," and I'm all, "Girl, you gotta know this ain't over even though I know you don't know you're in Zero Hour."

As the last act begins, husband and wife are having a post-coital discussion about Their Special Love and that Hank is not a Lying Liar Who Lies just to win someone's love.  This is Hank's superpower, I'm thinking, not that he's a skeptical schlub, but he is the one who is noble and compassionate and will sacrifice for the sake of love, perhaps the most dangerous ideology of all.  Laila attempts - as we would expect - to lead him off the quest and he's all, "Look, this is a Big Secret which has somehow managed to elude my skepticism!"

LET THE MAN SKEPT, AIIGHT?!
*ahem*
I mean, it's far better than having him be all WHA? like previously.

Ideologies and identity are further bandied about as she gets him to swallow the blue pill...at least temporarily, pulling him back down on the bed while the clocks sit there, telling him otherwise with their very presence.

Riley and Agent Blonde are going over the Forbidden Files, discussing luck (a subset of fate) when they make a significant discovery and Scully is suddenly on the phone to her Mulder, while Paige says, ""Dude, no time for just asking, we're Feds, we can track everyone through their phones!"

Again: "What's in the box, man?!  What's in the box?!"

At the No-Tell Hotel, Hank's phone is blowing up and predictably, he's just too well-humped to care.

The Fourth Apostle reveals that the Holy Relic is the true cross, but somehow manages to make it sound like something more than wood, while - and I totally figured this out, you guys - Riley busts in on Hank because her husband and his wife were supposed to be seatmates on Russiyana Flight 71.

And The Escape Artist Formerly Known As Laila has left the building.

Hank, listen to me.  Everything you think you know...is a lie.
Well obviously, Riley...but why?  That is the question you have to keep answering every week.

As Laila (or Anna Massey, as she is apparently also known as) takes a cab to elsewhere with clocks in hand, the voiceover of the Fourth Apostle informs us that the true cross is The Doorway To God.

Uh...okay?  There was a lot to unpack in this one and I can't say I liked it all, but Show is back and that's all that matters.

I wanted to note, in regards to identity:
Jacinda Barrett is Australian, just like Anna Massey is supposed to be, so I'm assuming that's intentional to make up for Edwards' bad accent because when she has to 'fess up she'll be authentic.
Carmen Ejogo, who plays Riley, is UK-born and in her last scene for whatever reason she completely loses control over her Yank inflections when she tells Hank what she learned about Laila.

The good (scoring) stuff:
Trevor's theme for the flashback sequences has a really lovely majestic feel to it, it reminds me somewhat of his score for The Great Raid.  What I have come to think of as "the puzzle theme" is also very catchy, there's something about the way it sort of gallops along, but in an understated fashion.  The theme during the code-breaking sequence has a nice sort of "countdown" motif to it but it's subtle as well.  During the scene with Riley and Paige (Agent Blonde) I like the way the theme sort of creeps up on you, on metaphorical conspiratorial cat paws.  I appreciated the way the theme, while Hank explores Genesis, was all deceptive calm.  The last act has a cue which reminds me a bit of "Aftermath" from Deep Blue Sea in its sparse beauty.

Let's get happy!

A welcome recent piece of news was Ryan's revelation that GROUPLOVE would be recording and releasing a new album this year, and fans were able to witness the process taking place at Perfect Sound Studios in the Hollywood Hills as the band used a livecasting channel they dubbed "Superkaliwood" to allow a glimpse into the workings and chat with whomever had logged in.  This week brought the news that the album - titled Spreading Rumours - is scheduled for release on September 17th and the video for the first single, "Ways To Go," an electronica-based piece of sweet ear candy which loyal fans have likely seen performed recently, has been released.

The interplay of Christian and Hannah as co-lead vocalists is stronger than ever, and there's no doubt in my mind the new album will contain even more of what makes the band so much fun to listen to.

I’m With You

Borderlines And Aliens

Schoolboy

Ways To Go

Shark Attack

Sit Still

Hippy Hill

What I Know

Didn’t Have To Go

Bitin’ The Bullet

News To Me

Raspberry

Save The Party For Me

One imagines that some of these songs will be played in the course of the summer festival touring the band is currently undertaking.  I was surprised to see the album does not include the new song used in the television series Girls, "Everyone's Gonna Get High," which is also featured on the soundtrack album for the show.

Zero Hour strikes again.

With thanks to that invaluable resource The Futon Critic, it is confirmed that Zero Hour - the hour-long television drama scored by Trevor and Paul Linford - will conclude its 13-episode run on ABC this summer, beginning on June 15th.  The show is slotted in the Saturday night schedule from 8-9pm EST.  This Saturday will be a double feature with episodes four and five, "Chain" and "Suspension," shown back-to-back.  The penultimate episodes "Ratchet" and "Spring" will also be shown consecutively on August 3rd.

I'm happy ABC decided not to bury it after all and look forward to bringing you more snark-filled recaps of each episode as part of my Knowing The Score series.  Hopefully this also means a DVD/Blu-ray release of the series just in time for holiday shopping (for those of us who are completist collectors, but maybe that's just me).

Media Watch: Progression, issue 65

An ongoing series wherein I comment on Trevor's recent publicity.

Although I'm about a month late with the news, with thanks to Yesfans member bleakhouse, I can now expound on a new interview with Trevor in the progressive rock journal Progression, the story is in their Spring issue (No 65) which is now available for purchase and can be ordered directly from their website:
http://www.progressionmagazine.com/
This is, of course, one of a few rare print appearances for Trevor in the last three years.

The article, "A Welcome Return to Form" is written by long-time Yes fandom enthusiast Tim Morse, whose popular book Yesstories: Yes In Their Own Words was published in 1996.  The subject matter focuses primarily on the album, but also discussion of Trevor's work in film scoring as well as future projects.  There's a few details which didn't feature as prominently in other interviews, such as his history with Hennie Bekker (although it was something Trevor discussed during his in-store appearance last year) and an interesting reaction to the album from someone at Varese Vintage.

The last section of the article addresses those topics fans are most desirous to learn about now, post-Jacaranda.
-Including discussion of the AWR project:

"...We really want to try to do something.  I've had a great idea of using drummer Taylor Hawkins and he's really into it.  So I'm not sure when or how, but the intent is stronger now than it has been.  We've been talking conceptually, but not really trading musical ideas.  When Jon heard my solo album he immediately started singing over everything saying, 'Oh the album's done!'  Typical Jon."

(For those who might wonder as to the appropriateness of this choice, Trevor and Taylor have been friends for a few years now, introduced by Chris Squire, and Taylor is an admitted fan of both progressive rock and of Yes.)

-as well as solo projects to come:

 Looking ahead, Rabin says he's considering another instrumental solo album but isn't sure.  "I'm pretty impulsive and restless," he says.  "My head's always looking this way, that way.  I'm definitely going to do another jazz album.  I'm in the middle of writing a guitar/dobro concerto and that's going to take a long time.  I know if I don't do it now it'll never get done.  So I want to discipline myself and get started.  And I do want to do a regular progressive rock/vocal album."

-and a discussion of touring:

"I'd love to do Jacaranda live.  If all the stars line up and the people are available.  I'd love to have Steve Morse and Steve Lukather as guitarists. Tal Wilkenfeld on bass, Vinnie (Colaiuta) on drums.  I think it would be a wonderful tour, but it would take a lot of money to put together.  I don't mind going on the road and losing money, but it has to be very special and for a good reason."

(Interestingly, one of my crazy ideas for a performance scenario for Trevor involves Luke (as Steve is known to fans), who has been a friend of Trevor's since the 1980s.  My idea involves putting together a band of fathers and sons, with Trevor and Ryan and Steve and his son Trevor.  It would be the second time that Ryan and Trevor Lukather have been in a band together.)

Whatever awaits us as fans, it's clear from this interview that Trevor is looking forward to making himself (and us) happy making music, and that's exactly as it should be.

Recommended reading

Author's note: contains obvious authorial bias, caveat lector.


(As previously promised, here is my entry regarding the plethora of interviews Trevor conducted over the past year and which of them is worth reading, in my opinion not only as a fan, but also as a writer.)


2012 provided an incredible wealth of media coverage for Trevor, not the least because he had released his first solo record in 23 years, Jacaranda.  But it also had the effect of reminding not only the target audience of fans but also any potential audience of his relevance to music history past and present, because the release itself is such a creatively audacious artistic statement.

The downside to a media blitz of this calibre is that fans will experience a kind of informational overload, or as I have coined it: interview fatigue.  In my non-solicited opinion, Trevor gave about a dozen interviews too many, although I completely concede that for promotional purposes more is better.  The number of people who just might happen to find one interview over another (or one out of many), read it and thus were moved to check out the album can only be a good thing for Trevor's career overall.  Jacaranda certainly deserves to have the widest audience possible.  However, as the promotional juggernaut took place almost entirely online (where - unlike traditional print media - there is a decided absence of gatekeepers), the Internet is world-wide and yet also incredibly small.  Anyone looking for any press is likely to find all of it, unless - to utilize the lingua franca of the milieu - their Google-fu is made of fail.  Most Rabid Rabinites have read every single article and review because that is what fans do.  And sifting the dross can get depressing, one tends to think, "Trevor deserves better than this!"  Also, many of them tend to suffer from the repetition of asking obvious questions (i.e. those same questions Trevor has been asked over and over, interview after interview, year after year).  And I will say to any future interviewers: please remember that you are not the only one to be interviewing Trevor.  Just go to the official site article archive and learn how many other people have had that privilege.  And that's only a fraction of participants from a career which has lasted nearly 40 years.  So please keep that in mind and ask him something interesting, I beg of you.  Be innovative and show respect for your subject by not boring him with the same old inquiries.

So although I expect most readers of this blog will have also read all or nearly all of the interviews available from the promotional cycle, I desired to provide a guide to the best ones.  I will list them in order of chronology (or as close as I can make it).  To avoid at least one conflict of interest, I am omitting my own interview with Trevor ("Trevor Rabin: the cultivation of Jacaranda") from the list but of course it is available to read on the blog as well as at its' original publication site, Rocktopia (rocktopia.co.uk).

Classic Rock Revisited: "Movies Don't Count"
http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_interview.php?id=157
Although this interview covers a lot of familiar ground there are some interesting anecdotes and insight into Trevor's history contained therein.

Music Street Journal
http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/artists_interview_display.cfm?id=100544
Admittedly the best thing about this interview is the revelation regarding Trevor's spleen (and lack thereof), and sometimes, if an article gives me even one factoid I didn't know before, then it's got my vote.

Scott Holleran, Writer. 
http://scottholleran.com/writings/music/interview-trevor-rabin/
This article should have been published somewhere other than the author's blog; but I can sympathize with how difficult it is to find an venue these days, even online.  But unlike some of the people who interviewed Trevor in this promotional cycle there's no question that Holleran is a true professional and his acumen is wholly apparent in this article as he gets Trevor to open up in an insightful fashion.

ASCAP.com: "Move Yourself: Trevor Rabin's Evolving Career"
http://www.ascap.com/Playback/2012/06/radar-report/trevor-rabin-interview.aspx
Conducted primarily to promote Trevor as the recipient of the 2012 Henry Mancini Award, although this interview could also be said to cover a lot of familiar ground it is nicely comprehensive.

Crescent City Jewish News: "Grouplove's Ryan Rabin: strings, sticks and synergy"
http://www.crescentcityjewishnews.com/grouploves-ryan-rabin-strings-sticks-and-synergy/
Elyse has interviewed Trevor several times over the course of his career and is a fan, so even though this article is primarily about Ryan's career, there is also a good amount of interesting content from Trevor in regards to their relationship as both father-and-son and fellow musicians.

Blogdegezou
http://bondegezou.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/interview-with-trevor-rabin.html
I'm going to say that as interesting as what Trevor has to say in this interview is also what he doesn't say, the questions he obviously doesn't answer in any direct fashion.

All About Jazz:
"Take Five with Trevor Rabin"
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=42704#.Uap759I-bVG
"Trevor Rabin: All Colors Considered"
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=43306&pg=6#.Uap7O9I-bVG
Two different interviews (one just a quick Q&A and the other a long-form narrative article) with both containing interesting and insightful content; this publication did provide the best coverage for Trevor in regards to the promotional cycle, so they get a big "Good On Ya!" from me.