mariness

So I finally got around to finishing up FlashForward. Alert readers will have noticed that the show actually ended a few weeks ago, which kinda illustrates the many problems right there.

As I've said earlier, FlashForward had a marvelous dual premise: first, what if nearly everyone in the world did know what would be happening in about nine months? (One of the minor irritations of the show was never addressing the concerns of the multiple people in the world who were asleep during the initial event and therefore missed out, unless they just happened to have unusually vivid dreams and managed to remember them after waking up and not merely dismissing them as, look, even in nine months mushrooms are not going to be talking. [Er. That was my dream last night. They were genetically alerted mushrooms although I know many of you are going to point out that even genetically alerted mushrooms a) aren't too likely to actually talk and b) probably won't have that much to say other than, "Shade. Awesome. More of that, please," but I have never claimed that my dreams are models of logic and possibility. But I digress!] The dream part might have been true, but it was never, as far as I know, actually addressed.) How many people would be desperately trying to stop those futures, and how many would be actively creating them? And could the futures be altered?

That could have been interesting enough, but the show added a second dimension: the FlashForward event killed millions (which should have created more disruption and panic than it actually did) what with cars and planes and electronics everywhere failing, and nobody knew if a second event might be coming. How do you act knowing that another event that might kill millions is coming?

If you are Olivia, YOU BECOME AN ANGST RIDDEN IRRITATION. But I anticipate.

So, awesome premise.

And after the first episode, shoddy execution that could be best described as a disorganized mess. Sideplots popped up only to be abandoned by the next episode. A woman angsted and angsted and angsted over saving her marriage, only to dump that by the next episode. (Also, for the record, "trying to save several million people from dying in another blackout" is generally considered a worthwhile reason for your spouse to risk his life, but I digress.) Unlikeable and boring characters were replaced by….unlikeable and boring characters. Rings were found and fondled by hobbits. (Ok, ok, just one ring and one hobbit, but that sentence leapt into my mind and would not be killed.) Characters headed to Afghanistan and found stunning cell phone/satellite phone reception. (The most inexplicable part of that whole plot is why they weren't using that phone to update Facebook.) Bits of medieval art were introduced in a failed attempt to keep the show, um, intellectual. Cliffhangers leapt up only to rapidly flattened. And, lo and behold, a Miracle Autistic Child appeared. He wanted cookies. I think he spoke for all of us.

I did like the kangaroo.

I can't blame the actors, or the camera work. I can blame the writers and producers, for forgetting that just having the idea isn't enough. You also need something – a tight, twisted plot; likeable or, failing that, watchable characters, villains that you love to hate, solid dialogue, creepiness, something. And although no one wants static, unchanging characters in drama (sitcoms thrive on the idea), that's not a license for having everyone act inconsistently from week to week. (The major problem with both of the love triangles in this show wasn't the love triangles, but the fact that everybody in both of them kept acting out of character. Well, and they were both fairly boring.)

Other comments about the finale: ( spoilery, not that I think this matters much. )

And just to show that I'm not entirely negative about this year's television shows:

1. Really enjoying Castle, to the point where I must admit to a bit of heresy – I may – just may – be enjoying Nathan Fillion as Castle more than I did as Mal. Gulp. I know. I submit myself to your judgement.

(Not that the characters are all that different, really. Also, loved the return of Mal for Halloween moment.)

2. Also sucking me in: Flashforward, admittedly mostly because of the ongoing cliffhanger endings, which, let's face it, I'm an absolute sucker for (Lost! Come back to me quickly, Lost!). Also, the kangaroo. I am seriously hoping that in the season finale, we find out that This Was All The Fault of the Kangaroo, who, as it turns out, is a Evil Scientist Mastermind.

(Let's face this, too: if you're going to be an Evil Scientist Mastermind, why NOT turn yourself into a kangaroo? You have just enough strength in your paws to operate all of your dangerous evil scientific equipment, and when the bad guys show up, you have a wealth of options: look adorable, cute and helpless, the sort of kangaroo that would never hurt anyone; leap away, leading off a wild chase through city streets which, awesome, because, kangaroo; or alternatively, use some harsh kangaroo kung fu kicks on your enemy. But I digress.)

Also enjoying the show's willingness to play with the inevitability of time and the future and questioning the concepts of fate and destiny.

I do have some quibbles: several episodes in, I still don't like most of the characters, except Demetri, which is not good for keeping me sucked in long term, and not surprisingly the show hasn't been able to keep up the intensity of the first couple of episodes. But they have me hooked for now.

3. And one advantage to watching V and Stargate: Universe is that I am now regarding the insanity that is Fringe in a much kinder light.

They still need to get rid of the cow, though.

The general blogging silence over the past few days has been to spare you, my mostly innocent readers, from a stream of constant entries running more or less like this:

Ow, knee.

Knee, ow.

Oooooooooh! Look at all the pretty colors on my leg! Purple everywhere!

Apparently, my knee has decided to take up a second career as a balloon. I rather wish we'd chatted about this beforehand.

This riveting series of updates would then only be followed by yesterday's:

The water is off.

Why is the water off?

The water is still off.

AUUGH! THE WATER IS OFF!

Er. Is that a demon in the toilet?

Ok, either the toilet has taken up demon torture as a hobby or something damn strange is going on in the bathroom.

What would a water demon caught in a toilet look like, anyway?

Can I get a poem out of this?

Every drop you shake…
Every thirst you slake…
every earache you make every brain you break
I'll be watching you…

Do water demons actually slake thirst?

And so on.

I did, however, manage to catch FlashForward, which so far I have mixed feelings about. Lots of other people have already identified the two main issues: 1) the cool science-fictiony thing has already happened, leaving us knowing that nothing cool is going to happen again until April 29, not even remotely uncoincidentally the start of May sweeps (the show wins, hands down, for most blatant attempt to drive viewers to a chief sweeps episode seven months in advance ever) 2) the characters are, how to put this kindly, dull. Duller, I would say, than ditchwater, which actually has all kinds of awesomely cool critters living wildly dramatic lives inside it if you just take the time to look. The trouble with FlashForward is that it hasn't exactly convinced anyone to take the time to look. Not yet, anyway.

(Well, ok, I think many of us were looking at the cute babysitter and her decidedly fetching bra, but I mean, beyond a completely superficial look.)

I think part of the problem here was that the show had to focus on a lot – major worldwide disaster, bizarre and frankly not particularly credible partial explanation for worldwide disaster, without enjoying that time that most disaster movies have to introduce us to a nice set of Characters So Cliched We Already Know Or Can Guess Their Backstories, allowing us to Care For Them (or Not) in seconds. In theory Flashforward's characters are supposed to be a little less clichéd (the show hasn't shown any evidence of this one way or another) but regardless, we didn't see enough of them before the Great Disaster to know.

I did like the kangaroo, though. And the last 30 seconds or so.

Meanwhile, Fringe traded the cow for a lovely set of images gross even beyond Fringe's usual standards. Ugh. Sigh. Ugh.

More TV catchup later, although almost certainly sans Heroes; I had been watching it because my gaming group does, but I feel Fringe, cow or no cow, is enough of a sacrifice there, and so far, I haven't heard anything that's convincing me to give Heroes another try this season.