Intergalactic Comics: 12 Monkeys: “Mother” Review

Saturday, May 20, 2017

12 Monkeys: “Mother” Review

By: Ashley Binion (@ashleybinion)

12 Monkeys began its third season with a strong, table-setting episode for the rest of the season.

Warning: Spoilers ahead.

It has been around a year since 12 Monkeys has been on the air and I needed a refresher. Thankfully, the show is so in tune with their audience that they knew it, too. Instead of doing a typical “Last season on…” the series took a different approach. They built in the recap as a mini movie at the beginning of the episode. It was an innovative way of connecting the viewers to what has happened throughout the series so far.

Throughout the first two seasons, the show has taken on many looks. The first season was primarily the story on Cole and Cassandra with occasional nods to secondary characters like Dr. Jones, Jennifer, or Ramse. Season two was much more on an ensemble piece that focused more on Team Time Travel as a unit and developed the aforementioned peripheral characters. However, with their development, they became integral to the success of the series. This one aspect alone brought 12 Monkeys to new heights.

Unfortunately, “Mother” felt like a small step backwards. Even though the plotting in 12 Monkeys is almost impeccable and should be praised for being so, the previous season relied heavily on the bonds between Team Time Travel. That’s one of the main reasons it was so successful.

“Mother” was almost exclusively about the relationship between Cassandra and Cole. They are the two characters the show revolves around, so the search for Cassandra wasn’t a big surprise. She was kidnapped. Of course Cole would literally go to the ends of the Earth for her and their child. However, I felt the series was beyond focusing mainly on the romantic pair.

Cole’s journey on this episode was completely in character. From the pilot episode, he has been a rebel. “Mother” continued reinforcing this as he defied Dr. Jones.

It was nice to see Dr. Jones and her daughter share a couple moments. Her daughter surviving was a large arc from last season, so it was nice that she and The Daughters were not pushed aside or forgotten.

Cole speaking to and fighting Future Cole was an entertaining twist. It was nice to see a lighter side to Cole with some small jokes. Future Cole has some kind of agenda and I can’t wait to see how that plays out.

Cassandra’s dilemma of killing her child was a heart-wrenching one. She loves her child but to save the world, she knew she had to do something. When that didn’t work, she practically refused to give birth. It was intense. Now that The Witness is born, will Cassandra continue to fight against her child’s future?