Home Sweet Home - Matt Meta
A recurring theme in past team fests has been visits to characters places of residence. This time we're going on a tour around Matt's very... um... spartan home.
Word Count: 1700
Spoilers: No
Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures, I'm just writing for fun and non-profit.
A/N: For the
primeval_denial Team Fest Challenge - Matt
Home Sweet Home - A Look at Matt's Flat
Today we're going to have a little trip round Matt Anderson's warm and welcoming home. Jess's home was somewhat strange, with its vanishing wall and copious numbers of places to sit. However, it's nothing compared to how weird Matt's home is. Actually, it's probably the saddest and most depressing place to live ever! Minimalist doesn't even begin to describe it.
Here's the entry hall.
It has a lovely stairwell with patterned glass, which might make us expect a highly decorated abode. Oh, the disappointment.
Could it be any more barren? There aren't even any curtains. Has he only just moved in? Nope, definitely no curtains. Not a single one. Nor any blinds or anything at all. It would be unbearably hot in the summer, and be unnecessarily cold in the winter. Surely someone so keen on saving the planet would invest in a few draft-proof curtains to lessen the need for air conditioning or heating?
Ah yes, the heating and the air conditioning...
Both are visible in all the pictures. There are little heaters all around the outside wall. Lots and lots of them. Could he possibly be any less Mr Save The Planet if he tried?! This brings up a worrying point - is Matt what he seems?
Sometimes you go into someone's home and they are a bit obsessively tidy, so there's just a few photos, perhaps some tasteful(?) artwork, something like that.
There's nothing in Matt's flat. Two armchairs, which appear to live at opposite ends of the flat, and a bed. That's it. No curtains, no blinds, nothing on the shelves.
This is the view from the top of the stairs:
Everything he owns is on that counter. There's a black armchair just out of sight on the left hand side of the picture, which later makes up half of Matt's makeshift bed, and that's it. Look at the number of heaters in there!
Here's the view from the other end of the flat.
Empty shelves. Lots of them. Who on earth has empty shelves? Not even a photo of his old dad, or a pot plant? Or his old dad with a pot plant? It's quite odd as his office at work is full of shelves with plants on them. Presumably they'd all die in the unbearable heat in the flat. Presumably they don't have curtains and blinds in the underground caverns of the future, but you'd think Matt has been around in the present for long enough to get how they work?
We can also see in the above photo a nice reflective fire with a mirror surround. I did think on first glance that it was a TV. How silly of me. As if Matt would own something so frivolous.
Here's a better view of it.
and here it all is from another angle. Um... nice duvet cover. Matches his jacket. And why would anyone want to sleep facing an armchair like that? Surely the whole point of the lack of curtains is to enjoy the scenic view of Dublin London?
So, this end of the flat is presumably Matt's usual sleeping area. Where are the wardrobes? Emily finds a shirt (which has a strange blue material under the collar so it looks more like a blouse. Is that some strange future-man fashion? Perhaps he wasn't joking about his skirts.) and that's all she can find. Though she's got jeans on as well so presumably she found other clothes. But where? She's heading from the bedroom area but that's full of empty shelves and minimalism. Drawers under the bed? Matt's bed looks as though it has a plain wooden base. Where is his sock drawer? Where does he hang his endless collection of beige trousers and white t-shirts? So many questions.
We can just see the edge of the red armchair. Why does this live in his bedroom? He uses it with the black armchair to create a makeshift bed whilst Emily stays. Now, assuming that he wasn't actually expecting Emily to get kidnapped by Ethan while he was out chasing dinosaurs, and therefore likely to stay another night, why did he move the chair back down to that end of the flat? Were the two armchairs together making the place look cluttered and lived-in?
Let's have a look at Matt's makeshift temporary bed then.
Here we can clearly see it's the two armchairs pushed together. Probably not overly comfortable.
Notably, Matt gets up and puts his clothes on immediately. No washing. Of course, in the future there aren't any showers or bathrooms or anything, because all the water is kept in little plastic pots. Much like the little plastic pots up on the counter. Perhaps the counter actually doubles as Matt's bathroom? (Still with no curtains) This would explain quite a lot about Matt, such as why his flat isn't set up for socialising. Because really, who'd want to socialise with someone who doesn't wash?
Well, aside from Emily who's come from Victorian times and is yet to meet a deodorant, and who has spent several years wandering around with the Time Tribe in dinosaur land and probably isn't so very fragrant herself at this stage. In fact, she's probably very whiffy. But not as whiffy as Matt, who quite possibly has never actually washed in his life.
So, let's look at the central area of the flat.
Here Emily goes over to have a closer look at it all. There's a large circular counter with all sorts of exciting things on it.
Like this.
Okay, what is it? And why is that book open on the side there? Why isn't it on the bookshelf? Ah! Perhaps Matt doesn't know what bookshelves are for, and he's got them all hidden under the counter! This one's been left out. Mystery solved. They don't have books in the future, probably, so he doesn't know. But, what about the...um... thing?
There are two of these things in the flat, and he's got at least one in his office in the ARC as well. This one appears to be holding a large moss-covered pear with things sprouting out of it. It's in some nasty-looking reddish water, and surrounded by little lights. Almost as if it's under interrogation.
Here's the other one.
Bit difficult to see what's in that one. Some sort of red plant, also in the red water and also under interrogation. It's possible that in the future plants can talk and Matt's hoping to find out from them who destroys the world. They look as if they might be future plants. The pear in particular might be dinner. Yum.
There's also lots of little plastic pots and things. And a coffee cup. The pots are all empty and look as if they've never been used for anything, although as we've already noted, they could well be Matt's bathroom. Nice.
The coffee cup appears to have little sachets in it. Like you would find in a coffee shop or a bar.
Here's the view of what's under the counter on the other side. More plastic pots. Matt's just wandering round to (presumably) the hidden entrance to the centre of the counter.
There's a kettle too. And a sink. A small sink. One about the size of what you'd expect to find in a bar or a coffee shop or something.
Emily wants a cup of tea! How lucky that one cup is sitting there! All the rest must've been removed when they cleared the set! Oh and look, there's the barista! He found the way in!
Okay, let's face it, they've used a coffee shop or a bar to film it in, and the budget didn't stretch to any personal belongings. Well, nothing except the plant torture devices. Those are just bizarre.
Matt's found the cup (see, there was only one. Where is the rest of his crockery?). He's also found the tap.
Further evidence of the lack of bathroom/washing. Matt is staring at that tap as if he's never seen one before. He should think himself lucky - Jess didn't get a kitchen sink at first.
Okay, it's a very strange place. Perhaps he has piles of personal belongings on the floor below. Hopefully there is a bathroom down there, or a shower or something. And yet the rest of the flat all seems to be on this floor. Maybe it's a studio flat and there's a communal bathroom downstairs? Or maybe Matt just smells?
Other worrying things - let's go back to the curtains. Aside from the insulation problem, there's also the exhibitionist factor. Matt, we assume, does have lighting in his flat. This is an assumption, because there's very little of anything else so it is possible that there aren't any lights. But we'll assume that there are. So, in the winter time, from about 4pm or so, everything he does can be seen by all the flats in the surrounding area. This would be rather nice for his neighbours, but it would also probably prove problematic for the secretive Mr Anderson when he's conjuring up electronic images of the future to mull over (we've seen he doesn't have a TV or any books (except one) or DVDs or... well, anything at all, and his plant torture machines are going to have limited appeal after a while) as that is his sole source of entertainment.
On the bright side, there really aren't any continuity clangers - it's a bit difficult to mess up continuity on a set where there are only a couple of items of furniture and next to no decor at all. And was anything there at all when they first arrived? There's no sofa - just two single armchairs. Not exactly welcoming for guests.
It's a very sad little place really. Or it would be if it wasn't a coffee shop. Coffee shops are lovely and cheery. Well, unless Matt has taken up residence there. Emily cluttered up the place with her drawings. She hasn't got the hang of minimalist living and leaves a couple of her etchings of Ethan for Matt to find. He'll soon get rid of those.
Oooh, maybe it's nicer outside? There's a door to the balcony at the top of the stairs.
Okay, it's not an overly attractive balcony. It does have a nice view out over the city though.
Um... of the well-known mountains that surround London. Yes...
Moving on. Here is the view from across the way.
Yes, Matt clearly needs to get some curtains.
The coffee-shop balcony has obviously been thoughtfully cleared of chairs and tables, despite it being summer. But look, there's bushes on the next level down. That's very green and much more in keeping with Matt.
So, there you have it. A tour of Matt's um...lovely empty flat.