(no subject)
Nov. 2nd, 2006 11:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenStolen from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
anomilygrace: This guy is bouncy. Hee!
Okay, what? What is going on with this show? I remember how utterly frustrated I was last season with this show, but I don't think it was this bad (I don't think it was, anyway). There was the hatch to worry over and the button. There were Sawyer and Michael out on the remnants of the second raft (okay, that's more interesting to me because Sawyer was hot and wet and injured and he took a bullet out of his shoulder with his fingers, but still). What have we got so far this season? Besides the awesome rocking-ness of Juliet? Not a whole helluva lot. The Others are apparently an willingly exiled community, they're still creepy as fuck even for not being crazy island people, and...that's it. Oh, and a really hideously animated polar bear is still--somehow--surviving on a tropical island.
I don't know what they could do better here, though, aside from laying off of all of the following:
1) Jack's melodrama.
Yes, Jack is hot. No, nobody cares about his daddy, wifey, confidence issues. Please do not bring up any of the following ever, ever again. If you want to completely rewrite his backstory at this point, no one would mind. Let's focus on the tattoos, his trip to Thailand, anything else. Also, please get Jack laid. Preferably by Juliet, but fine from anyone who is not Kate. But, speaking of...
2) Kate
Period. No more Kate. You know what I'd love more than anything else right now? A Kate-centric flashback episode that reveals absolutely nothing about her but tries to make her seem like she was a good person. Because that's the kiss of death. It happened to Boone, Shannon, and now Mr. Eko (HAAAAAATE), so it can happen to Kate, thank you very much. No one cares about her skinny ass, her emo story. So her Daddy was a drunk and the Daddy she liked wasn't her real one. Boo-fucking-hoo. Has the show forgotten that when it comes to Daddy issues, absolutely everyone else on the island has a better story than her? Even Desmond has a better Daddy story, and we've only met his would-be father-in-law!!! Down with Kate.
3) Ignoring discoveries of last season
Hey, remember when Penelope had people like "listening" for explosions to find the island? Yeah, what happened with that? Hey, remember those thousands of other hatches running around? Oh, well, we remembered one at least! Maybe the wreckage of the old hatch would be worth investigating? Maybe, if all forty of the survivors stormed the opposite side of the island, they could force the Others out? No? Okay, never mind. We'll just be "grateful" that Nikki and Paulo are suddenly in the gang. Woo.
4) Unforgiving, unfunny episodes
You know what was great about Hurley? He was hilarious and still sweet. Now, he's the retard chorus and is treated as such. While pariahs like Charlie are island darlings. How about we give Hurley back his tragi-comedy status and his fucking dignity? I realize that Hurley is slightly larger than the starved folk running around, but that doesn't mean he deserves to be demeaned and ignored. Also, he's like the only funny guy you have left. Don't get rid of him or the mean-spirited sense of humor some of the rest of the episodes had.
5) Killing off people
That doesn't seem to make sense, but it does. I mean just stop doing it. For every Shannon you knock off, there's an Eko, and I don't like that trend. Also, if everyone on this island's killed someone in their trrrraaaaaagic past, it sorta makes the ones who actually had dramatic heft and conflict over so doing (Jack, Sawyer, Ana-Lucia) seem like nothing special. Locke never killed anyone, which was a relief. Next week, expect Nikki to have murdered a small child in front of its mother, who she then raped and killed, too. Paulo? Son of Nazi exiles living in Brazil, led his own death squad in the Amazon. Look, it's going to be ridiculous, so knock it off!
I really, really love Oliver Queen. The flashbacks did their damnedest to make him look like notabadguy, but the strength of the last episode was that he acknowledged he pretty much was. There was the melodramatic (and gay--oh so GAY) confession to Clark that--woe!--he was responsible for a life being ended, but, outside of that? There was guilt and grief and pain that really impressed me. The guy playing Oliver has got too much skill to be stuck on Smallville forever, although I suppose he could just coast like the rest of the cast.
When Oliver went to Lex and humbled himself after the initial pissing-on-the-other-guy part? I was really sad for him. How incredibly hard is it to go to someone you never liked, treated like dirt, and don't trust and give them that piece of your pride? To admit you were totally wrong, that you don't ask for forgiveness because you understand that it's asking a lot of someone who's of no mind to grant it? It's ugly to look at your own character like that and it takes tremendous strength to resist defending yourself. Earlier in the episode, where Lex comes to Oliver and he confesses his responsibility has never weighed far from his mind, he does defend himself. But it is the part at the end, the naked (I wish!) admission that there may be good deeds to his name but he is still that boy whose actions got someone killed that slays me. Wow, go Oliver (and the actor, because, again me = floored that someone on Smallville can actually act).
Lex wasn't wrong in his saying he never should have wanted to be like Oliver was, but, if you're operating in a time ten years past what happened immediately after Oliver was (and then subsequently ceased to be) a bastard, Lex, you are still wrong. Because although Oliver was not one to admire, you're still the psycho traitor. Good job with that. Oliver felt bad for what he did to Duncan and to Lex, even though he didn't really know Duncan and he despises Lex. Lex doesn't even care when happened to Oliver's friends (who he didn't like but obviously admired) or even his own best friend. It was a surpassingly subtle (and yes, also completely out there) way of showing how the one billionaire boy is so different from the other. What kindness you show, how you treat people who aren't important to you defines your character. At least Oliver's has improved...(though, again, he knows that's just paying an endless debt, but at least he's working on it).
Okay, yeah, I like the guy, but he really did a great job with those difficult scenes, and I just hope they don't ruin the nuances and concessions there in favor of the more obvious "I am a vigilante! woo! Good but baaaaad boy!" stuff when Clark outed him (heee). And woooooo, no security system will keep Clark out of Oliver's private sanctum! Woooo!!! I have a new OTP for this show!
Carnivale continues to make no sense. But afterfeiran's comment last night, it does, at least, keep me giggly. If anyone has seen all of it, don't tell me, but I think the story could be boiled down to "There are two Kamuis!" I bet feiran a shiny nickel it would.
anomilygrace: This guy is bouncy. Hee!Okay, what? What is going on with this show? I remember how utterly frustrated I was last season with this show, but I don't think it was this bad (I don't think it was, anyway). There was the hatch to worry over and the button. There were Sawyer and Michael out on the remnants of the second raft (okay, that's more interesting to me because Sawyer was hot and wet and injured and he took a bullet out of his shoulder with his fingers, but still). What have we got so far this season? Besides the awesome rocking-ness of Juliet? Not a whole helluva lot. The Others are apparently an willingly exiled community, they're still creepy as fuck even for not being crazy island people, and...that's it. Oh, and a really hideously animated polar bear is still--somehow--surviving on a tropical island.
I don't know what they could do better here, though, aside from laying off of all of the following:
1) Jack's melodrama.
Yes, Jack is hot. No, nobody cares about his daddy, wifey, confidence issues. Please do not bring up any of the following ever, ever again. If you want to completely rewrite his backstory at this point, no one would mind. Let's focus on the tattoos, his trip to Thailand, anything else. Also, please get Jack laid. Preferably by Juliet, but fine from anyone who is not Kate. But, speaking of...
2) Kate
Period. No more Kate. You know what I'd love more than anything else right now? A Kate-centric flashback episode that reveals absolutely nothing about her but tries to make her seem like she was a good person. Because that's the kiss of death. It happened to Boone, Shannon, and now Mr. Eko (HAAAAAATE), so it can happen to Kate, thank you very much. No one cares about her skinny ass, her emo story. So her Daddy was a drunk and the Daddy she liked wasn't her real one. Boo-fucking-hoo. Has the show forgotten that when it comes to Daddy issues, absolutely everyone else on the island has a better story than her? Even Desmond has a better Daddy story, and we've only met his would-be father-in-law!!! Down with Kate.
3) Ignoring discoveries of last season
Hey, remember when Penelope had people like "listening" for explosions to find the island? Yeah, what happened with that? Hey, remember those thousands of other hatches running around? Oh, well, we remembered one at least! Maybe the wreckage of the old hatch would be worth investigating? Maybe, if all forty of the survivors stormed the opposite side of the island, they could force the Others out? No? Okay, never mind. We'll just be "grateful" that Nikki and Paulo are suddenly in the gang. Woo.
4) Unforgiving, unfunny episodes
You know what was great about Hurley? He was hilarious and still sweet. Now, he's the retard chorus and is treated as such. While pariahs like Charlie are island darlings. How about we give Hurley back his tragi-comedy status and his fucking dignity? I realize that Hurley is slightly larger than the starved folk running around, but that doesn't mean he deserves to be demeaned and ignored. Also, he's like the only funny guy you have left. Don't get rid of him or the mean-spirited sense of humor some of the rest of the episodes had.
5) Killing off people
That doesn't seem to make sense, but it does. I mean just stop doing it. For every Shannon you knock off, there's an Eko, and I don't like that trend. Also, if everyone on this island's killed someone in their trrrraaaaaagic past, it sorta makes the ones who actually had dramatic heft and conflict over so doing (Jack, Sawyer, Ana-Lucia) seem like nothing special. Locke never killed anyone, which was a relief. Next week, expect Nikki to have murdered a small child in front of its mother, who she then raped and killed, too. Paulo? Son of Nazi exiles living in Brazil, led his own death squad in the Amazon. Look, it's going to be ridiculous, so knock it off!
I really, really love Oliver Queen. The flashbacks did their damnedest to make him look like notabadguy, but the strength of the last episode was that he acknowledged he pretty much was. There was the melodramatic (and gay--oh so GAY) confession to Clark that--woe!--he was responsible for a life being ended, but, outside of that? There was guilt and grief and pain that really impressed me. The guy playing Oliver has got too much skill to be stuck on Smallville forever, although I suppose he could just coast like the rest of the cast.
When Oliver went to Lex and humbled himself after the initial pissing-on-the-other-guy part? I was really sad for him. How incredibly hard is it to go to someone you never liked, treated like dirt, and don't trust and give them that piece of your pride? To admit you were totally wrong, that you don't ask for forgiveness because you understand that it's asking a lot of someone who's of no mind to grant it? It's ugly to look at your own character like that and it takes tremendous strength to resist defending yourself. Earlier in the episode, where Lex comes to Oliver and he confesses his responsibility has never weighed far from his mind, he does defend himself. But it is the part at the end, the naked (I wish!) admission that there may be good deeds to his name but he is still that boy whose actions got someone killed that slays me. Wow, go Oliver (and the actor, because, again me = floored that someone on Smallville can actually act).
Lex wasn't wrong in his saying he never should have wanted to be like Oliver was, but, if you're operating in a time ten years past what happened immediately after Oliver was (and then subsequently ceased to be) a bastard, Lex, you are still wrong. Because although Oliver was not one to admire, you're still the psycho traitor. Good job with that. Oliver felt bad for what he did to Duncan and to Lex, even though he didn't really know Duncan and he despises Lex. Lex doesn't even care when happened to Oliver's friends (who he didn't like but obviously admired) or even his own best friend. It was a surpassingly subtle (and yes, also completely out there) way of showing how the one billionaire boy is so different from the other. What kindness you show, how you treat people who aren't important to you defines your character. At least Oliver's has improved...(though, again, he knows that's just paying an endless debt, but at least he's working on it).
Okay, yeah, I like the guy, but he really did a great job with those difficult scenes, and I just hope they don't ruin the nuances and concessions there in favor of the more obvious "I am a vigilante! woo! Good but baaaaad boy!" stuff when Clark outed him (heee). And woooooo, no security system will keep Clark out of Oliver's private sanctum! Woooo!!! I have a new OTP for this show!
Carnivale continues to make no sense. But after
feiran's comment last night, it does, at least, keep me giggly. If anyone has seen all of it, don't tell me, but I think the story could be boiled down to "There are two Kamuis!" I bet feiran a shiny nickel it would.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-02 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-02 04:44 pm (UTC)Also! Heee!!! I knew I recognized Gwen Gooper from Torchwood! She was Gwyneth, the psychic from the first Doctor Who new series! Don't tell me if that's important! Shh!!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-02 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-02 04:52 pm (UTC)Remember the guy who was flying with Kate to take her back to be tried for murder? And then Sawyer shot him to put him out of misery, but he missed and Jack ended up suffocating the guy (or something)? First season.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-02 05:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-02 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 03:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-03 04:44 am (UTC)I have a feeling that I won't be watching the second season already, actually, and I'm only four episodes in.