CFM News: TV Review: Stitchers Nerdy Sci-Fi At It’s Best

Stitchers Tuesday nights on ABC Family

Stitchers Tuesday nights on ABC Family

Episodes of Stitchers are available FREE  on ABC Family.

Warning MY reviews are about ME.

Science Fiction writers can be the seers, oracles and predictors of the future.

My brother was forced to take me to the Saturday afternoon matinees. It was there that I learned to love science fiction. I still remember two things from “The Day The World Stood Still” (original black and white). Along with everyone in the audience I was trying to remember the words that would save the world, “Gort, “Klaatu barada nikto”.  The other was the space ship’s unbelievable technology.  The door would open when he approached the ship. He passed his hand over the console and everything came to life. Now the things that awed me are common.  When Harry Bates wrote about motion sensors did he predict the future by speculating where technology was going or create the future by planting a seed?

Stitchers shows you what “20 minutes into the future looks like.” Other shows have covered. Every. Possible. Earth in the future where there is no soap and water and everyone must stink plots. In the here and now science fiction the human brain is the perfect landscape for new ideas. We can reuse just about everything in the human body except the brain.

General Description

On Stitchers, a highly intelligent computer science grad student (Emma Ishta) is recruited into a covert government agency to be “stitched” into the minds of the recently deceased. Using their memories, she’s able to help investigate murders and decipher mysteries that otherwise would have gone to the grave.

I don’t write a review until I have seen a few episodes. Then I read a few reviews. Turns out, I didn’t know what Stitchers was about. Stitchers is described as a crime drama. A crime drama? Before reading the reviews, crime drama never occurred to me. They do solve crimes, but it is a science fiction drama.

There will be the inevitable comparisons to iZombie. They both have another person’s thoughts and solve crimes. The comparison stops there. iZombie is the zombie universe, which I do love, but is limited to some extent by basic mythology of the zombie culture.  Stitchers is forward thinking and relies on technology to boldly go into the next frontier of the human brain. The only limit for the show is the writer’s imaginations.

Stitchers writers have fun and never take themselves too seriously. Each episode is peppered with nerd references. There was a Doctor Who reference, followed by a quick Tolkien reference. For a woman (read that fangirl) whose desk is next to “It Is Not A Shrine, It Is A Tasteful Display of Tolkien Books And Movie Memorabilia” and a full size TARDIS standee this was pure squeee.

 Stitchers Vocabulary

Stitching: The process of inserting a living consciousness into the memories of a recently deceased person. By invading those memories, the living person can recreate the corpse’s last moments.
Stitcher: The living person inserting their consciousness into the corpse. Zap2itStitchers Glossary
Temporal Dysplasia: is a condition first described by Dr. Daniel Stinger and Dr. Edwin Clark in the late 1980s. Those who are afflicted by TD do not perceive the passage of time. The moment a temporal dysplasic experiences something it’s as if he or she has experienced that moment forever.
Temporal Dysplasia leaves the dysplasic generally cold and emotionless.  Dysplasics are often incapable of adequately feeling fear or misery, friendship or love; any emotion that draws its power from the passage of time.
Drs. Stinger and Clark first diagnosed the condition in a patient identified in their notes as ‘K.S.’ and were working on isolating the genetic markers for the condition when both suddenly stopped their work and retired from research.  Dr. Clark was a consultant living in Los Angeles until his recent death.  Dr. Stinger’s whereabouts are currently unknown. TemporalDysplasia.com

Stitchers Creator

Jeff Schechter   scored big with “Temporal Dysplasia” it threw the internet into a tizzy. It was explained in a way that it had to be real. It sounded real. People, myself included, hit Google during and after the show. They made it sound so real that I started to think I was missing something in my search.
Google had spoken.
If it wasn’t in Google it couldn’t exist, right?
Yet it sounded real.
*hanging my head in shame* the writers made me *gasp* doubt the all-knowing-Google!
Internet articles that followed the pilot went to great lengths to explain that temporal dysplasia wasn’t real.
One seemed pissed off, perhaps they too doubted Google.
It was hilarious.
Another definition of Temporal Dysplasia: “Goooood science fiction.”

The writers have me eating out of the palm of their hands. (It kind of grosses them out what with the spit, germs, etc. They have asked me stop.)

Maggie, Cameron, Kirsten, Camille, Linus

The Cast

Emma Ishta …  Kirsten
Kyle Harris  …  Cameron
Allison Scagliotti … Camille
Sola Bamis … Ayo
Ross Kurt Le … Alex
Cameron Britton … Tim
Ritesh Rajan … Linus
Salli Richardson-Whitfield … Maggie
Damon Dayoub … Detective Quincy Fisher

First episode, there she was, Allison Scagliotti (Warehouse 13). We didn’t know she was in Stitchers. My husband, nerd by marriage, and I both like her.

We don’t get out much, so seeing Scagliotti was an exciting moment. She started out as a mean roommate and rat for the agency that wanted to recruit Kirsten. Love Scagliotti. Her character Camille Engelson, not so much. I was disappointed. Fortunately, Camille changed. Scagliotti does snarky, funny nerd better than anyone. Camille is sassy, funny and we love her.

Kirsten has temporal dysplasia which makes her perfect to jump into another person’s memories. It also makes her unable to process feelings and emotions. She doesn’t respond correctly in social settings. To some extent Kirsten is a lost little girl in a grown up body. Stitching into the brains of other people, gave her first the taste of emotions and she isn’t quite sure how to handle them. She has trouble trusting people. Camille is teaching her how to process what she feels. They writers also like to tug at our heart strings. When Camille pulled back the blanket so that Kirsten could sleep with her it was touching.

The characters in Stitchers has learned they can’t trust anyone. Everyone they meet could have an ulterior motive.

My one criticism of the show is how they write for Kirsten. She is Spock. He was half human to make him less robotic and explain any “human” traits. Kirsten picks up emotions when she taps into a memory. The script seems to wobble just a little with her. They are almost there but haven’t completely pinned the character down.

 

There is one unanswered question that that needs to be addressed by the writers! What happens if Kirsten accidentally pees in the tank?

 

Detective Quincy Fisher

1 thought on “CFM News: TV Review: Stitchers Nerdy Sci-Fi At It’s Best

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