I feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster! The loss of the Professor and his replacement by skull-face was an unexpected twist. It makes for good viewing. The difference in their mentoring styles seems to me to reflect the difference between “old school” and “new school” professorship: “Study!” vs. “Here’s some candy!”
Here’s hoping the Professor will return to his post, unscathed and sanguine (but not sanguinary).
An episode with many surprises, not least of which is the new introductory segment, with new music and clips from numerous episodes. –The old-fashioned silent recap of recent episodes, together with the shot of the Professor and Ruth driving off a cliff, are an obvious hommage to Truffaut’s “Jules et Jim.” –Liz is surely right to want to continue the search for the professor. A preponderance of evidence from t.v. shows indicates that a missing person *will* turn up again eventually. –Felix the unfortunate biologist is a surprising replacement for the Professor, and he turns out to be very good, at least for fighting bad science; as a teacher, we do not know yet. Felix is even better than the Professor, or seems so; the Professor usually needs the help of his team to accomplish a goal; this guy gets the job done in spite of them. It is heartening that his lack of a face does not stop him from stepping in when needed.
A further comment: On the other hand Felix’s all-too-easy explanation of the phenomenon of the giant sea monkeys did not have the convincing ring of most of the Professor’s pin-point scientific clarifications.
Tyler says
I feel like I’m on an emotional roller coaster! The loss of the Professor and his replacement by skull-face was an unexpected twist. It makes for good viewing. The difference in their mentoring styles seems to me to reflect the difference between “old school” and “new school” professorship: “Study!” vs. “Here’s some candy!”
Here’s hoping the Professor will return to his post, unscathed and sanguine (but not sanguinary).
Steve says
An episode with many surprises, not least of which is the new introductory segment, with new music and clips from numerous episodes. –The old-fashioned silent recap of recent episodes, together with the shot of the Professor and Ruth driving off a cliff, are an obvious hommage to Truffaut’s “Jules et Jim.” –Liz is surely right to want to continue the search for the professor. A preponderance of evidence from t.v. shows indicates that a missing person *will* turn up again eventually. –Felix the unfortunate biologist is a surprising replacement for the Professor, and he turns out to be very good, at least for fighting bad science; as a teacher, we do not know yet. Felix is even better than the Professor, or seems so; the Professor usually needs the help of his team to accomplish a goal; this guy gets the job done in spite of them. It is heartening that his lack of a face does not stop him from stepping in when needed.
Steve says
A further comment: On the other hand Felix’s all-too-easy explanation of the phenomenon of the giant sea monkeys did not have the convincing ring of most of the Professor’s pin-point scientific clarifications.