"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Favorite Characters: Simon Monroe (In the Flesh)


Handling the Undead Liberation Army stuff in series 2 (especially when it involves major characters) requires a great deal of care, and overall, I think In the Flesh addresses it in a thoughtful way.  It really looks at the parallels between a terrorist organization and a cult, not shying away from the horrible acts but also examining why someone with PDS would be drawn to a group like the ULA.  This aspect of the show is always at its most interesting as it relates to Simon (series 2 spoilers.)

It’s hard to nail down Simon early on, which is as it should be.  In series 1, we see the shrouded figure of the Undead Prophet preaching undead supremacy on the Internet, and the second season opens with a Blue Oblivion attack on public transit.  Everything we’ve seen of the ULA suggests very bad news.  When Amy brings Simon back to Roarton with her and goes around calling herself one of “the redeemed,” we have every reason to be worried.

But are Simon and his ideas dangerous, or aren’t they?  The answer is yes and no.  There are clear red flags:  he keeps Blue Oblivion at the bungalow, he’s preparing his followers for the Second Rising, and he does think he and other people with PDS are ascended in a way that the living aren’t.  However, not everything he believes is bad.  He encourages people with PDS (including Kieren) not to be ashamed of who they are and not to hide their true faces.  He stands up against having their rights stripped away and is appalled to see the squalid conditions in which a pair of untreated rabids are kept at the local hospital, waiting to be shipped to the treatment center.  And even though he has a hidden agenda in asking his followers to share their Rising stories (he’s trying to identify the First Risen,) it’s still valuable to get people to come to terms with that part of themselves and talk about what they experienced in their untreated state.

Of course, it can easily be argued that the good parts of Simon’s ideology just make it even more dangerous, because they lure people into a false sense of trust/safety and prime them to accept the more extreme stuff.  It might also be said something good could emerge from the ULA, discarding the hateful elements and keeping the salvageable aspects to create something new.  The show doesn’t ultimately come down on either side where the ULA is concerned, but Simon at least is shown to be possible of redemption.  It’s hard, because he came to the Undead Prophet when he was very lost and destroyed by guilt.  He’d spent months in the treatment center undergoing torturous experiments in a desperate attempt to be “cured,” he learned that he killed his mom in his untreated state – oh my god, how tragic can you get? – and he was living on the streets, alone in the world, and hating himself.  In the face of all that awfulness, the ULA was this shining thread of hope, a place where people like him were accepted and he was taught that he wasn’t a monster.  It’s no wonder he was pulled in so thoroughly, and it’s also understandable that it takes him a long time to reject the darker side of the ULA. 

I discussed Kieren and Simon’s relationship in a previous post, but Simon’s realization of what the Undead Prophet wants to do to Kieren (who Simon believes is the First Risen) is just brutal and raw.  As weird as it is to sympathize with a cult disciple who’s been told to prepare himself to bring a sacrificial lamb to slaughter, I absolutely feel for Simon in that moment and root for him to finally let the scales drop and see what he’s allowed himself to become, to understand that he can demand self-worth without having to buy it in blood.

No comments:

Post a Comment