Thursday, May 21, 2009

Glee

As EW rightly described it - it's a amalgamation of Pushing Daisies, High School Musical and Jack's Jazz Hands from Will & Grace. Check out the end of the pilot episode below. It's by far the best part of the episode. If the rest of the season follows where this pilot leads, I think I've found my new favorite show. Check it out and see what you think:


Thursday, May 14, 2009

Lost - The Incident - Season Finale

Wow. It's interesting how even though LOST has blown me away on multiple occasions, I always find plenty to say about it. This time, however, I am tending towards speechless. It's probably a good thing, considering how it's impossible for my fingers to run across these keys fast enough to keep up with my non-stop, rapidly flowing LOST-esque thoughts. Still, in an attempt to keep all my thoughts from spilling out of my ears and rudely disturbing all my cube neighbors, here are a couple first impressions, theories and general things to scream/cry/wtf? about from last night's 2 hour finale:




* The first scene, where we go through some unknown person's daily routine, only to be surprised by who we were "following" around, brings to mind the first scene from season 2 premiere episode ("Man of Science, Man of Faith"), as we follow around Desmond in the hatch. Meaningful? Maybe.





* In the first scene, Jacob is wearing white and the unknown, Mr. Cranky, is wearing black. Universal signs for good and evil. There was probably a reason behind that wardrobe choice.

* The Egyptian statue is NOT Anubis, but perhaps Sobek or Taweret, both gods related to childbirth.

* Jacob is distractingly gorgeous. I had trouble concentrating on the big reveal of him and not just his face...*swoon*



* My first impression of Jacob is as a good guy, like a REALLY good guy. As in, if this show really turns out to be about the ultimate good versus the ultimate evil, then I'm rootin' for Jacob.



* Something to note: In most of the flashbacks, Jacob apologized in the most sincerest manner to our castaways, almost as if he blamed himself for the pain they were going through (or would HAVE to go through in the future).



* I have only two theories, so far, on who/what Jacob and Mr. Cranky are. One: gods. My main thought: Ra and Osiris, Egyptian gods of the sun and the dead, respectively. Two: time-travelers. My main thoughts: Perhaps once they were human, but I doubt they are any longer. Maybe during their time spent traveling through space/time they acquired certain powers, maybe they got certain powers from the Island. As far as the Island goes, perhaps they got stuck there (astral projection explains Jacobs visits off-Island) or they liked it so much they decided to stay. At some point, rules were made for them or because of them, which caused Mr. Cranky to not be able to kill Jacob by his own hand. Ok, ok, I know I am reaching now, but a this point, I think anything is game.

* Wondering what Richard said when he replied to Illana's riddle, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" It was Latin and he said, "He who will save us all".

* The Jughead idea was insane. How could any one of the castaways think that blowing up a H-Bomb would help anything? What about everyone else on the Island? Was it ok that they would get all blown to bits? Crazy...



* I love how Miles stay relatively quiet until he asks the one, most important question.



* I loved seeing Rose, Bernard and Vincent (now all you Vincent obsessors can stop whining about where he might have been this whole time). I also loved how Rose bluntly summarized the drama of the whole show and put things in perspective for the viewers and the other castaways. The most important thing is being with the one you love, no matter what happens. And aren't these guys sick of shooting each other yet? Drama, drama, drama girlfriend!


* Juliet. Sigh. What to say? You gave up too easily? You should have fought for your man, for your life, just a little bit harder? Yeah, I could say those things...but all I really want to do is cry. I can't imagine how Sawyer will ever get over the loss of her - oh wait - if Jack's loony-bins plan worked, maybe it will be like Sawyer never even met Juliet. Except, not only would that be even more heartbreaking than her dying right in front of him, but it would mean that Sawyer would never become the good man, the good leader, that we love and know him to be now.



* Jack, dear Jack. Either your plan failed and you're a complete nut-ball or your plan succeed and you're still a complete nut-ball. Either way, I'm shocked to discover that I don't much love you as I once did. Like Kate, your character's natural development is not one that I get a good feeling about. I find myself loving Juliet and Sawyer where once I loved Jack and Kate. Interesting how the tables turn like that.



* Hurley theory: He may have an even bigger part to play in this story than we originally guessed. Of all the cameo visits Jacob made, his visit to Hurley seemed the most significant. He actually spoke in length with Hurley, even going as far as letting him know he wasn't just some stranger. That makes Hurley special...




* People have already been arguing this point - Did Jacob CAUSE Nadia to get run over or did he merely save Sayid from the same fate? I'm on the side that believes Nadia was going to get run over anyway and that Jacob stepped in to keep Sayid from getting run down also.

* Point to me: I totally guessed that it was a body that Frank was looking at in the box. I figured it was John the moment Illana showed up at the statue and spoke with Richard. Go me!





Questions:

* Why did Mr. Cranky Pants want to kill Jacob so bad?

* Why did Jacob not seem to mind that he was about to die? Why didn't he fight? Perhaps not in his nature (as a benign deity)? Does this go back to the idea of FREE WILL - it was Ben's choice to make...Does this go back to what John Locke (the real one) heard when he was in the cabin in season 3, "help me"?

* What really DID happen to the statue?

* Is Richard Albert maybe a sailor/slave from the Black Rock ship, the same one that Jacob and Mr. Cranky were watching at the beginning of the episode?

* Why did Jacob want Hurley, and possibly everyone else, to go back to the Island? What does that mean? Was he hoping they could help him with his Mr. Cranky Pants issue or was it for some other, unknown reason?

* What did Jacob want Ilana to do? How did she know him already? My thought - he wanted her to get Sayid on the plane, among other things.

* What is Mr. Cranky Pants? Some shapeshifter who took the form of John Locke? A ghost like Christian Shepard? Or is the last season of LOST really about ZOMBIES?!?!?!

* Who side is Christian Shepard on anyway?



Ok, so I know I probably missed a hundred other things but my brain is already fried. Let's just say that 2010 can't arrive soon enough. Overall, a pretty amazing season, to say the least. For a real, in-depth review of last night's finale, go check out Doc Jensen's site. He's da man! Yeah, I said it. What?

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

The Hero of Ages

Here is a QotD from the book I am reading right now, "The Hero of Ages" by Brandon Sanderson. Slowswift gives a great argument that I am personally fond of making...




"Do you enjoy stories, young lady?"
"What kind of stories?"
"The best kind, of course," Slowswift said, tapping his book. " The kind about monsters and myths. Longtales, some call them - stories told by skaa around the fires, whispering of mistwraiths, sprites, and brollins and such."
"I don't have much time for stories," Vin said.
"Seems that fewer and fewer people do, these days. It makes me wonder what is so alluring about the real world that gives them all such a fetish for it. It's not a very nice place these days."



Monday, May 4, 2009

The Thing About Dollhouse



Spoiler Warning!!!!!


Maybe it was the long, relaxing shower or the slightly melancholy thoughts of old friends that I have become disconnected with over time, or perhaps the combination of both, but it was Saturday morning after watching the newest Dollhouse episode that I finally realized, or maybe accepted, what it was that Dollhouse was missing; the glitch that was making the show feel hazy and unattainable.

It came to me as both simple and obvious, but it was a simple and obvious truth that had never existed in any Joss Whedon show. That's probably why I missed it in the first place. In fact, it is a staple, a wide-sweeping signature of any preceding Whedon show that is the very thing that is making Dollhouse...less. I am speaking of it's lack of deep, meaningful and solid relationships.



I have heard some people complain that Dollhouse hasn't contained much of that witty-Whedon dialogue that we love so much...but I don't think that's the real problem. Even if we did have that dialogue, no matter how great, it would mean little without the relationships to support it. If we look at it from that perspective, it's perhaps that very lack of character connection that is at fault for our missing dialogue.

This lack of connection, for the characters and therefore the audience, is plainly displayed in both Paul Ballard, our one and only constant outside the Dollhouse, and within all the actives and employees in the Dollhouse. The reason behind this lack in all the characters of the Dollhouse is evident by the very definition of the show; it's about people being constantly wiped clean of personality, uploaded with a new one, wiped clean again, uploaded again with yet a different personality, and so on. There is no constant here, nothing to cling to and we find ourselves, much like Echo at times, searching for a familiar face, feeling or instinct to guide us towards the safety and comfort that deep attachment can bring. But as much as we enjoy watching these obviously deep and complex characters (Topher is one of my personal favorites), it's hard to love them or love to hate them or sympathize with them on any deep emotional level. The ones who aren't dolls (Topher, Claire, Adelle, etc) live, work and breathe around the dolls and since their work relationships tend towards the creepy (Topher/Claire) or just the cold (Adelle/everyone else), they too lack any deep and abiding relationships to support them. The one exception I will list here is Boyd. He is the one character I find that I can feel for, that I can connect to more deeply than any other character, even Echo herself. It is his concern and care, what can only been seen as fatherly (Watcher-ly) affection and worry, towards Echo and his clear outlook on what is right and what is wrong that allows for such a character-viewer bond in this one and only case. He is also the one person that Echo finds that she can cling to, even in moments of fading memory and personal chaos ("Target", "Briar Rose"). This also helps pave the viewers' way to seeing Boyd as someone they can trust and relate to. Unfortunately, Boyd has seen very little screen time lately, not to mention that his removal as Echo's handler has distanced her and us from him, causing our tentative connect to become even looser.



As for Paul Ballard, he voiced this problem himself in the latest episode, "Briar Rose": "My whole life, my whole life isn't real". The one character that should have been our constant, should have been the person to forge the more likely lasting relationships, is instead surrounded by dolls. Every relationship he's had (except the rare professional one), every deep conversation he's been apart of, has been with a doll. If say, we had some back-story or some time with him that wasn't related to the Dollhouse, we could have the material to forge some connection to him. But we don't have that material and ever since we've known Paul Ballard he has been lost and confused and so we, the viewers, have been lost and confused with him. He has no anchor in this chaos, now even more so since discovering Echo's resistance to being rescued and his soon to be finding that even his reluctant co-rescuer is in fact a cold-blooded, psycho killer. His constantly unstable reality causes us to keep our distance from him emotionally, no matter how stunning he looks without a shirt on. Also, his righteousness is less touching than it should be, considering we don't really understand yet WHY he is so gung-ho about finding Caroline and bringing down the Dollhouse. Instead of chivalrous, he comes off as slightly looney-toons in his desperation and blind need.




I have never come across this problem with Joss' shows before so I find it difficult to express how I feel about Dollhouse. With Buffy, it was her relationships with her friends, family and Watcher that made her special, that allowed her to live long past the time that any other Slayer had ever survived. All of Xander's witticisms, all of Angel's dead-pan lines, all of Buffy's sarcastic retorts; they would have all been meaningless without the support of the relationships around them. The same goes for the characters in Angel - Wesley's dark transformation (one of the best ever on television) would never have been possible without the loss of his friends and eventually the loss of his one true love (Fred) - and goes for Firefly as well. The relationships do not revolve around the story - the story revolves around the relationships. The story comes from the relationships. And that is why they were great shows. And that is what Dollhouse is missing.


Don't get me wrong. I love Dollhouse. I love it for it for the fun, I love it for the Tahmoh, I love it for the potential and I love it for trying. What we need more than anything is a second season. We need the time for character and relationship development and we need the time to correct the story flow, which has been choppy - I'm sure due to network interference . We need that chance. Even though it's a chance in Hell, I am choosing to go against my nature and look upon this chance optimistically. If Joss has taught me anything in the 13 years he's been apart of my life, it is to laugh in the face of any "chance in hell" situation...and then hide until it goes away.

Disclaimer

The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.