Summary
Extrapolations is getting bogged down in its preach-filled scripts.
We recap the Apple TV+ series Extrapolations Season 1 Episode 3, “2047,” which contains spoilers.
Extrapolations‘ episodes are beginning to get bogged down in their preach-filled scripts, while also being too self-indulgent with its stars’ gratification (the imaginary “Singing in the Rain” bit feels like Daveed Diggs has to sing in everything he does). The episode is well-acted, but for so much flooding, “2047” is a bit dry.
Extrapolations Season 1 Episode 3 Recap
Another year has passed. Now 2047, the series is a Marshall Zucker episode. He is the counsel to a young girl going through an extreme existential crisis. That young girl, Allana (Neska Rose), attends the synagogue with her family. Her father (David Schwimmer) is divorced, and her new stepmother is converting to the faith. Her grandfather (Judd Hirsch) mocks her any chance he gets. Allana is neck-deep in religious zealots and now knee-deep in water, as Miami is flooding and experiencing its 41st storm in a young year. There are 23 million refugees in the country this year, and Miami is down to a little over 800,000 residents. You can no longer get fresh food in Florida, where they make soft shells from cauliflower.
How does Allana’s father save the synagogue?
The local government is meeting with social service organizations and religious groups to see what facilities can be saved. When Marshall shows up, the local representative is shocked that they didn’t arrive with gifts, food, or celebrities. That’s not a good sign for Marshall, as he tells the board and his mother. After getting the rejection notice and Marshall gives a passive-aggressive sermon at Passover, Allana’s grandfather pulls Marshall aside. He tells him that he needs to talk to his son, who deals in these grey areas, and help with the appeal. That means greasing the wheels. And since Allana’s father is filthy rich, it will be money well spent.
Allana asks almost anyone an existential question. Even Alpha (which is the new Alexa). Like, which city will fall first — Miami (I assume the other is Tallahassee, and Marshall states it’s a regular Sodom and Gomorrah). Marshall is also having his crisis of faith since he allowed the public officials to be bought, which works, and now he feels guilty about it because they closed a local shelter he has always helped support. The more Allana asks questions about how God can let this happen or who chooses who should be spared, the more Marshall excuses specific sins since he just committed.
Who turned in Allana’s father for bribery?
Allana’s father was arrested for bribing the public official, but we find out later it was Allana who turned him in. Unknown to Marshall or Allana’s father, she has recorded and documented her father’s conversation about bribing. She announces this to the world at the synagogue, with her father sitting in a pew.
She also plays a video of Marshall’s first sermon, imploring people to help support — I’m paraphrasing — the homeless and disenfranchised. With the storm fast approaching, Marshall wants to quit being the facility’s Rabbi. However, he receives a call from his love interest in the episode that the pumps are no longer working at the synagogue.
What does Marshall save at the synagogue?
Marshall arrives and must save their sacred Torah scrolls kept above the water in a Torah ark. (The irony of an “ark” protecting scrolls during a flood was not lost on the series’ creator, Scott Z. Burns). While they climb the stairs to the roof, Marshall narrates a story (a better version can be watched on The West Wing episode “Take this Sabbath Day” by the great Karl Malden) about the man by the river who refused the help that God sent for them.
Extrapolations Season 1 Episode 3 Ending Explained
Does Marshall survive the flood?
Marshall survives the flood when he is airlifted by a local police helicopter to safety. While working at a shelter in Tallahassee, Allana is there and tells him her father is also alive because he was transported to a prison up north the day before.
Allana reminds him he never answered her question: Why doesn’t God intervene while there is so much suffering? I would have preferred Marshall to respond with, “Because you ask too many questions,” but he gave her a different answer. He reminds her that Moses asked God the same question, and he paraphrases because he is God and that Moses wouldn’t understand.
However, he leaves her with his thoughts that he thinks it’s up to us.
What did you think of Extrapolations Season 1 Episode 2? Comment below.
