#flipsays

the "asleep at the wheel" scene takes its time to show us how simon operates. it's deliberate with it.

to me, it seems very logical and step-by-step. every time simon hits a wall on his radar, he marks it on his map. he takes a picture when he doesn't see a wall for a while, to see where he's at. he marks out his situation. he finds alien shit. he goes back to steering

but every time that he takes a picture, we see him operate the camera. he's standing beside it, or he visibly hits it. the film could easily just show us the pictures in a collage as he progresses; hell it DOES, but only at the beginning of the film after he loses his first oxygen meter (8:05)

not here, though. simon always is at the camera when a picture is taken

it really feels like that's intentional. like it's setting up for something

^ this is the last picture we see simon take. but it's not the last picture in the scene. in fact, ten seconds later, we get this shot:

simon isn't near the camera.

hm. interesting. okay.

but this scene in general is, in mark's own words, hypnotic. maybe it's a case of simon being drowsy and disoriented?

the next time we see a photo get taken, simon is, again, not shown to be anywhere near the camera. the shot before and after show him at the steering console, and at the map. though, we don't see who took this specific image, nor do we see that simon DIDN'T take it. we just know that it was taken. i'm not claiming one argument or the other here

and then simon falls asleep, and he doesn't wake up until he's at the sm-8.

but when he's at the sm-8, the terminal computer connects to the sub and tries to initiate the black box recovery program. it then tells simon that he doesn't have the right credentials, so he can't download anything.

that includes photos.

when he gets frustrated with the computer not letting him download the archive, he hits the mouse and it begins to cycle through photos until it lands on a shot of the eel's tail, complete with her legs poking out

and simon looks at it like it's something he's never seen before

but these are all his pictures. they can't be from the sm-8, he doesn't have the credentials to download anything. he should recognize them

unless, of course, he didn't take it.

let's look at the images in order and compare them to the photos in the scene before he falls asleep:

this, being the last photo we see simon take.

this, being the first photo that was taken without simon.

this, being the ambiguous "might have been the ship, might have been simon" photo

and lastly, a photo that we do not see get taken at all, because our perspective follows simon into his sleep.

i'm fairly confident that this photo was taken while simon was asleep, by the ship, and that's why he doesn't recognize it.

the following question is, why does the eel swim away? if simon is unknowingly following it, why do we not see it in any other picture?

my answer: coordinates.

stick with me.

these are the coordinates from right before simon falls asleep. it's important to note that both x and y coordinates are going down; y faster than x. he's probably at an angle somewhere in the early 200's, but it's obstructed, so we can't see exactly

the coordinates are 704, 679

these are the coordinates when simon wakes up

still 704, 679. despite driving forwards, he's in the same spot

and, oddly, despite him navigating south-west, the coordinates have somehow bumped up 0.8 units between these two screenshots. that movement doesn't follow what angle simon was at before

and, yeah. the angle changed. he's now pointed mostly west and a little north, going at an angle of 273°.

a few options here. either:

despite showing clear shots of the coordinates before and after simon falls asleep, the iron lung crew just didn't pay attention to the coordinates and what they meant (which i doubt)

simon somehow steered 300° in his sleep

or, wild concept, there's some kind of aforementioned mysterious force that has already showcased that it knows how to take pictures, and could probably additionally learn how to steer the ship

my thoughts?

the sm-13 is, in fact, alive.

it noticed the sm-8 before simon. how? i don't know. but, while simon slept, it turned the ship around as simon held the lever forward

the eel was following them from behind. she noticed the ship turning around and tried to swim away before it could get caught, but its tail was still captured in a picture that the sm-13 takes