I know people were concerned with Jack being the “evil leaper”, however, I think they actually set this up a while back with talks between Davis and Tru (about balance and what not). I am not unsatisfied that they did indeed go this route - and I’m praying that it really did get picked up for next season because man! There’s some shit to clear up now!
-I knew the death that Tru couldn’t stop would either be Luke or Lindsey. They were the only two “expendable” characters (IMO). Harrison is too good a character to kill off - the show wouldn’t be any where near as good if he wasn’t in it.
-Whoa! I knew her father was an ass (I mean we knew he contracted the mother’s death), but to find out he was her counterpart. I wonder if he married her because he really did fall in love with her, but then couldn’t find any other way to stop her, and had to kill her. I don’t like that scenario because it makes him a little too sympathetic. But then, why the ruse? Why marry her, have three kids then kill her? Do you think maybe she stopped after getting married and while the kids were babies?
I’m glad to see a Tru Calling thread, I really like this show for some reason. Maybe because I’m a big Quantum Leap fan. Definitely a lot of questions raised there Mauvaise, but I’m just hoping the show sticks around - Fox has a knack for dropping the ones I watch.
When did they say the dad contracted the mother’s death, earlier in the season? Does Tru know this? And will Jason Priestly be a regular now? I really want to know more about the background of the leapers, and it sounds like he and the father have the info.
There was an episode where her dad, stepmom and half-sister came to town. In that episode, her step mom was murdered due to an apparent mugging. She asked Tru for help and in the course of saving her step mom, she realised that the man wasn’t trying to mug the S-M, but had deliberately killed her. She also found out it was the same man that killed her mother.
Her father was out in the alley (I’m leaving out some bits here) arguing with the guy and it came out that he contracted him to kill his wife and the man’s been blackmailing him for all these years. Father had finally said that was it - no more money, so he decided to take revenge by killing Father’s current wife.
Tru doesn’t know this - she did see her father and the man arguing and did leap to the wrong conclusions, but her father was able to talk his way out of it (and for the life of me, I can’t remember what story he gave).
I was wondering when they were going to re-introduce the father story line, because from that episode it was very clear that there was something going on. Of course I didn’t suspect that the father was that evil - I thought he was more the garden-variety type of evil.
I object to the characterization of Tru’s father and/or Jack as “evil.” It makes no more sense to label them as “evil” than it does to label a flood or tornado as “evil.” If Jack is truly a force of “nature” or “the universe” charged with “balancing the scales” or what-have-you, then it’s unreasonable to say that his actions are “evil.”
Although personally I think that within the dynamic of the show Jack is in fact “evil,” but only because the show has defined what Tru is doing as “good.” Examining the roles of each of them from a neutral viewpoint it’s not correct to assign the roles of “good” and “evil” to them if in fact Jack’s job is to make sure that the people who are supposed to die stay dead.
The idea that one life serves as substitute for another, however, is ridiculous.
I’m agreeing with Otto in his main premise that Jack and Tru’s dad aren’t really “evil”. They are simply trying to preserve the order of the universe. The writers could easily have made Jack the super evil dude, but they gave him a good reason for doing what he is doing and, HELL, I think Jack may be more right than Tru (changing history because certain people meet the right time reverser person may be more damaging than helpful).
It’s like saying the Grim Reaper is evil, but he is just doing a job that needs to be done. Jack is just making sure that order and balance is restored to the universe when Tru decides to save someone who has been destined to die.
As for the one life substitutes for another, I was of the opinion that it was more of a threat to try to get Tru to stop what she is doing. Kind of like Jack saying if you want to save your family fine, but someone else close to you will die instead. Either that or Jack really did like Harrison, but had to make sure SOMEONE died and took the route that may lead Tru to reconsider.
Btw, anyone else find it silly when Tru said “It’s ON!”. What’s she gonna do? Find more people to save?
The story with the father is interesting (and blatently foreshadowed… I kinda knew he was a death reverser of time when he didn’t react with much emotion after Harrison died). I guess the question is whether he married Tru’s mom because she was the life reverser of time or whether he actually loved her and after they were married he realized that she was the one who had the life powers.
Exactly. And, as you’ve said, not everyone that asks for help is saved - there have been more than one episode where the person asking still died and it was because they were meant to die, but someone else wasn’t and they needed Tru’s help.
I agree with that, however, I don’t believe that Jack is “charged with ‘balancing the scales’”. He may believe that - but I don’t think the show has laid the groundwork for that actually being the case.
Another unanswered question: How is the power passed on? It passed from Tru’s mother to Tru (but not right away*).
And Tru’s dad said he USED to do what Jack does. Did it pass from TD to Jack when Jack had his near death experience?
How did Jack and TD find each other?
Has TC definitely been renewed?
Brian
*And as far as I know, not through Kendra first 8)
I miscalculated how much room I had left on the tape I used, and as a result, I missed everything past the part where Jack makes the one-life-for-one-life offer. Thankfully, I did get to hear the funniest line of the season: “Davis took you off payroll once we realized you were death.”
I think Tru’s powers are something outside of fate. Like Jack said, if Tru was meant to do what she did, then why was there a need for him? Obviously Jack was created to prevent Tru from doing what she did.
Secondly, in most of these people go back in time things, there are always questions of whether the person is messing with fate. I figure Tru Calling is just using that :D.
IIRC, after that scene in the morgue, Jack tried to get Harrison killed by aiming Donnie at him at the wedding reception. Davis tried to warn Tru but Jack took his cell phone. Tru took Harrison to the wedding and Luke showed up during Tru’s reading. At the reception, Tru spilled to Luke, who wigged and left. Tru saw that Harrison was gone and went out to find Donnie with a gun in his face. Tru and Harrison convinced Donnie that Harrison and Donnie’s ex hadn’t met before that day and Donnie left.
Back at his dark room, Jack told Luke that Tru was telling him the truth and he could go see Donnie’s ex for proof. But he shouldn’t go empty-handed because she’s eccentric, he should bring her flowers. Tru shows up at the dark room and figures out that Jack has aimed Luke toward Donnie. She heads out to save him but ends up gtting grazed by the bullet that kills Luke. With his dying breath he declares his love.
Cut to the funeral. Tru whispers into the coffin that she loved him too. She sees Jack and they have words. Jack goes off and gets in a car with Tru’s dad and we find out that Tru’s dad used to do Jack’s job. Final shots are Tru and Jack walking off with the wind blowing their respective hair in slow motion.
Otto, I think that these events themselves make Jack evil and probably her dad too. I don’t think that a non-evil person would steer two different people towards a situation in the hopes that said situation will get them killed.
His job may not be evil, but I don’t think that it is up to dispute that Jack himself isn’t a nice guy.
Assuming that Jack, like Tru, had this ability come upon him by surprise, his reaction to it is telling. When Tru was asked for help, her natural reaction was to try and help. Jack’s response to the same thing is to avoid helping. When given the chance to talk the ‘gift’ over with Tru, he lies to her rather than trying to convince her to do what he thinks is right.
He is clearly evil when compared to Tru.
It would be different if the Reaper had appeared to him and explained why he had to do this and why it’s the right thing to do, but he’s actually decided his role on his own (or he took Tru’s dad’s word for it, which is as bad).
Well if he believed that it was necessary to have someone die in order for balance to be restored to the universe.
How do you know this? Maybe thhe Reaper did come to him and tell him. After all, did Jack say that he was only around because Tru is. He would have to know there was a life rewinder and if he was the opposite of that, I’m sure it would have been revealed to him.
Is the officer who orders his men into battle knowing some of them will die “evil”? Most would say he’s not, and that scenario is analogous to what Jack did with Harrison. Someone according to Jack’s lights needed to die, and it was Harrison the first time around so of course he’d try to get Harrison killed again.
I think what makes Jack wrong in this scenario is that he presumably has some control, should the original death be prevented, over who gets slotted to take that person’s place. He could’ve steered any random person into the path of a bullet but he sent the person who, after Harrison, would have perhaps the greatest impact on Tru.
From what we’ve been told, Jack’s first reaction to rewinding was to think he was going insane. We don’t have enough backstory yet on Jack to make a full-out bad guy. For all we know he tried helping but came to realize, or was told by Tru’s dad, about the supposed “big picture.”
Note also that while Jack delayed Tru from getting to the doctor in part one, he prevented the bus crash, possibly saving some lives but definitely altering history and the destinies of dozens of people, not the least of whom being the doctor’s son and his receptionist/nurse. Note also the doctor said “help them.” If Jack were flat-out capital-E Evil surely he could wreak a lot more havoc than he does, but apparently as long as someone dies he’s all good with whatever other “ripples” of whatever size he might cause in the rewound day. I think Jack would be a much more interesting character if it turns out that Tru’s dad was actually lying to him about the whole “balance of the universe” thing, that it turns out at some point that the only reason Jack buys into this is that he’s desperate to make some rational sense out of the entire situation. Jack’s not a killer, or at least doesn’t see himself as a killer, which is why he doesn’t simply pull the trigger himself on the supposed-to-dies. I’m really hoping if the show gets picked up that a strong sense of moral ambiguity around Jack develops, that it doesn’t just become a flat good vs evil throwdown.
Possibly* saving lives. It’s more likely (to me) that he knew no one died from that bus/dump truck crash the first time around, so he did that as a diversion to throw Tru off his real plan since he stopped Tru from getting to the doctor before he died and she might have second thoughts. It worked too - his jumping in front of a bus to stop it had her convinced that he was a good guy. At least until she figured out about the suicide he didn’t tell her about.
