the Humans-major spoiler
the Humans-major spoiler
Understudy Joined: 5/22/03
the Humans-major spoiler#1
Posted: 10/8/16 at 8:51pm
Saw this. Was not that impressed. Question. At the end. Does the father, as he exits, turn left toward the trash compactor or right to the elevator. I did not have a clear view
the Humans-major spoiler#2
Posted: 10/9/16 at 11:00am
I have seen the play twice, and I still don't understand the ending.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
the Humans-major spoiler#3
Posted: 10/9/16 at 11:07am
^Same. I think it's a pretty pretentious and inaccessible ending.
the Humans-major spoiler#4
Posted: 10/9/16 at 11:50am
Omg thank god. I thought I was the only one who didn't get it!!
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
the Humans-major spoiler#5
Posted: 10/9/16 at 12:25pm
The supernatural element (specifically the letdown in the ending) is there both as a physical manifestation of fear of the future as well as a comment on the fact that the things that go bump in the night are nowhere near as terrifying as facing tomorrow.
Understudy Joined: 5/22/03
the Humans-major spoiler#6
Posted: 10/9/16 at 8:56pm
I thought it was a 'to be or not to be moment' a contemplation of suicide. Do you see which way he turns or is is like a "Doubt" ending
the Humans-major spoiler#7
Posted: 10/10/16 at 12:05am
people are really over thinking this, its a reference to the conversation about his dream and the tunnel and eric says
"Next time you see the tunnel, walk through it"
the door way is a tunnel
the Humans-major spoiler#8
Posted: 10/10/16 at 12:11am
As a person who looks for deep interpretation in a piece, I accept the last two responses. And as much as liked the piece when I saw I last Wednesday, I did find the ending heavy-handed. I get the metaphors involved, but it tried too hard there in the end. So much snappy and realistic dialogue to end in a pretentious mess. I applaud the performances and script until the end. My eyes rolled off the mezzanine at the end. Is a forced and literary ending what we need to make an audience come to its feet now?
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/03
the Humans-major spoiler#9
Posted: 10/10/16 at 1:52pm
The printed text, whatever the script's merits, makes the ending seem rather consistent with the whole play. If you read it, you get it. But overthinking it, yeah, not helpful here.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
the Humans-major spoiler#10
Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:15pm
Hamilton has a stunning ending that can be immediately interpreted in any which of several ways. The Humans just left me with "???" on my mind.
the Humans-major spoiler#11
Posted: 10/10/16 at 2:40pm
I saw it yesterday and agree the ending made no sense.
Updated On: 10/10/16 at 02:40 PM
the Humans-major spoiler#12
Posted: 10/10/16 at 3:01pm
I'm going to paste what I wrote on another thread here.
I suspect some of you will believe that I'm overthinking it. :) Basically I agree with Baker and LightsOut.
I do think there's something supernatural, or at least unnatural, going on. The clincher is that the lights go off in the apartment, and Erik can't get them to come back on despite fiddling with all the circuit breakers, yet the hallway outside the apartment is revealed to be brightly lit when he opens the door.
That whole business with the lights and the circuit breakers reminded me of certain dreams I've had where the lights are off and I can't get them back on because the light switches don't work properly. I do think that Erik has fallen into some sort of insomnia-induced nightmare at this point in the play. So maybe it's not supernatural per se, but there's been a dramatic change in perspective.
This is probably obvious, but his entry into the brightly-lit hallway echoes his dream, discussed earlier in the play, where a faceless woman beckons him into a tunnel. He found it scary in the dream, but his daughter's partner tells him it's a sign of positive transformation and that he should go into the tunnel. That's exactly what he's doing in the final scene.
The woman he sees is not the faceless woman from his dream, but an old Chinese woman. Note that the weird noises throughout the play have been attributed to an old Chinese woman, but that his wife teases that they're really being caused by the faceless woman of his nightmare. The two, in some sense, have therefore been equated during the course of the play.
In general, I think the noises and the lights going out should have scared the wits out of everyone, but they find reasons to pretend that it's nothing out of the ordinary. I've had noisy neighbors, but nothing like that. These are signs of danger and doom, on a supernatural level, but the family chooses to go through the day in denial. And most of the characters can be said to be in denial about things in their non-supernatural lives.
the Humans-major spoiler#13
Posted: 10/10/16 at 4:20pm
ive also heard two other theories that
A) The entire play is one of his dreams
B) The entire play is actually one of the stories being told by the aliens in the comic series that Rich likes
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/5/16
the Humans-major spoiler#14
Posted: 10/10/16 at 4:45pm
LightsOut90 said: "ive also heard two other theories that
A) The entire play is one of his dreams
B) The entire play is actually one of the stories being told by the aliens in the comic series that Erik likes
"
I kind of want to see the show again, while bearing the first theory in mind. I hadn't even remotely thought of that, but it's definitely an interesting theory.
the Humans-major spoiler#15
Posted: 10/10/16 at 7:45pm
Someone asked Don McLean about the meaning of "American Pie"
He replied "It means I don't have to ever work the rest of my life if I don't want to"
the Humans-major spoiler#16
Posted: 10/11/16 at 12:04am
LightsOut90 said: "ive also heard two other theories that
A) The entire play is one of his dreams
B) The entire play is actually one of the stories being told by the aliens in the comic series that Erik likes
"
I'm going to assume you meant Rich?
the Humans-major spoiler#17
Posted: 10/11/16 at 12:50pm
BroadwayConcierge said: "Hamilton has a stunning ending that can be immediately interpreted in any which of several ways. The Humans just left me with "???" on my mind."
omg that gasp is the worst
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/24/15
Leading Actor Joined: 2/1/16
the Humans-major spoiler#19
Posted: 10/11/16 at 2:06pm
How on earth are the multiple interpretations for the end of Hamilton? I like the show, but the attempts to pin it as anything more than a well executed and highly commercial show are bizarre.
Videos
