Falling Water sees the three main protagonists becoming aware of their dream sharing. “Monsters Most Familiar” deals with the question of why we build our own boogeymen. It also continues the blending of dreams with reality.
Taka still sees his comatose mother everywhere while searching for answers to the mass suicide he discovered. Those green tennis shoes (trainers) are cropping up everywhere, even in the shared dreams.
Perhaps more importantly the imagery in the shared dreams are also cropping up in the real world. The huge clear bowl of vanilla ice cream been served to the Belgian Ambassador for instance.
Firstly, the waiter, Woody, tells Taka that the desert of for the ambassador. Secondly, the mound of ice cream with what appears to be chocolate added, is an obvious allusion to the man’s real life drug overdose. Even more to the point is that girl Taka follows into the bar and restaurant takes a white plastic bag and uses it to suffocate the ambassador in the dream.
In the bar Burton hears Woody tell the bartender, after ordering pretzels, that he is allergic to peanuts and “froths at the mouth like a rabid dog.” Later, on the corporate plane, Woody repeats the line in real life, verbatim.
Clearly the bar is an interchange or bridging point in the in the dream. Burton has been dreaming of the place for some time. Now we have Tess and Taka entering into Burton’s dream. It must be his as Burton meets his dream lover here at the start of the series.
Apart from the merging of each person’s dream world into a shared world of dreams, each individual has something odd and off-kilter about their lives. Burton has a love affair with a woman who only exists, it seems, in his dreams.
Burton’s job is also quite odd, working security for a firm that specializes in the weird and wonderful.
Tess grew up being psychoanalyzed to the nth degree and finally had a nervous breakdown. Tess was hospitalized for an extended period of time and she does not get along with her sister. She and her mother also have an odd relationship.
Taka sees his comatose mother everywhere but she is clearly only in his mind. The cop does see the fliers with a picture of Tess’ son and the words “His name is…” written underneath. (Later Burton sees the same phrase on the back of a business card.)
The detective follows the green sneaker girl to a clearing in the woods where she and other cult followers throw the ashes of the 12 dead people in the air. Following a woman who leaves the group and enters into the woods, he sees his mother again.
Later the woman calls Taka and reveals that she knows he saw his mother in the woods.
Everything about this series is quirky and disjointed. Boerg and his team experiments are, it seems, bleeding over into everyone else’s dreams. Taka and Burton are having their dreams merge and now Tess has entered the picture.
Both Burton and Tess have something in common with their dreams. Burton sees his dream lover taken away. It is disturbing and it upsets him. Tess, in her most recent dream, has a faceless man chasing her.
She is attempting to find two years worth of records that she has no recollection of. Taka wants to solve his suicide mystery and Burton wants to know who the woman is in his dreams.
Falling Water is fascinating. Despite being a little confusing with all the dreams and dreamlike reality it is an addictive experience. Watching each episode unveil a reality versus the dream state it is difficult not to get wrapped up with each scene as presented.
Every single event in this new series has an unreal feel to it. Series creators Blake Masters and Henry Bromell have are presenting what feels like a dream within a dream times three.
Falling Water airs Thursdays on USA. Tune in and try to follow this odd series. Be prepared to re-watch episodes to find the connections. Like the Belgian ambassador in tonight’s episode there are more ties between the three protagonists.
Cast:
- David Ajala – Burton
- Lizzie Brocheré – Tess
- Will Yun Lee – Taka
- Zak Orth – Bill Boerg
- Shiloh Fernandez – Levon
- Kai Lennox – Woody Hammond
- Anna Wood – Olivia / The Woman in Red
