lauraanne_gilman (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lauraanne_gilman) wrote2008-09-10 07:49 am
lauraanne_gilman) wrote2008-09-10 07:49 am
Entry tags:
Various and Sundry, midweek iteration
Hrm. No *poof* yet. Unless it kicked us all into an alternate dimension/universe? *checks newspaper* Nope, alas, looks like the same old one (and if the alternate universe is exactly like the old one only with a few pinprick differences I'm just not going to give it the satisfaction of noticing, okay?)
Reminder: if you missed it in your end-of-the-world jitters I posted an excerpt from BLOOD FROM STONE yesterday.. And I have a new darling from that book:
"The fact that Chang had even thought to think about that impressed Wren – she supposed it came with the job, to think like a criminal. Danny did the same thing. Funny, really. She was a criminal, and she didn’t think like one."
So, last night, having actually remembered the new season's starting, I watched "Fringe."
And?
And...I dunno.
Drawbacks: I didn't buy that Our Heroine was going to be allowed to do what she did to save one agent's life while apparently forgetting all about this task force she was assigned to, wasting lots of government time and money and pulling impossible strings (anyone else believe that Harvard had that much space just sitting around as storage for 17 years?) and there's no sign of why they're letting her do this or that anyone has a reason to be defending her from getting her ass canned for the crap she's pulling? Or did I miss an important set-up at some point?
The writers need to keep in mind that a character who could apparently forget about the hundreds of other people who died because they were just a plot device is not one I (and presumably others) am going to want to hang with. Fox Mulder was obsessive yeah, but you knew he gave a damn about people outside his own tight-focus, and he had Scully to remind him of the larger picture and Skinner to kick their asses when they both forgot. Here? She has a nominal boss who gives way to a New Boss who is set up as giving her shite because she helped put away a buddy of his who got drunk and sexually harassed/assaulted three young women [and he keeps defending said buddy with lame 'men will be men' defense that did not set him up as an interestingly horrible character but just made me want to kick his teeth in] and then recruits her to be part of some vague group doing vague things about a seemingly unconnected set of phenomena. No sense of structure or consequences or, really, humanity, and that pissed me off as both viewer and storyteller.
Also: the plot was telegraphed like a trans-Atlantic cable; I could describe the next scene before the previous one ended, every character came complete with EZ-use directions, and there wasn't a damn thing (including the 'twists') that surprised me. And those three-dimensional place identifiers? Need to go. Seriously. So. Annoying.
And Pacey is still Pacey. I know some of you find him hot. I just want to check and make sure he's done his schoolwork and remind him of his curfew. I kept thinking it was a shame that Love Interest had to die, 'cause him I'd keep around.
Positives: The heroine is appealing. Surprisingly. And some amusing lines, mostly from the Essential Mad Scientist. And... overall, despite all the drawbacks, it came together well. That surprised me. It's dumb and annoying and lord knows it's no X Files [even in the very first episode, there was something Magical about the X Files, mainly due to the actors having total chemistry from scene one] but... I'm probably going to tune in for another episode, and see if I'm still annoyed, or intrigued.
Verdict: I'll give it another chance. But it had better do something to convince me pretty fast.
Woke at 5 this morning, surprisingly un-tired. I guess I've recovered from my post-Trip meltdown. Managed to get the household stuff sorted before the sun was up. That's just Wrong, y'know? Today is all about short fiction. "Cold Iron Cross" is going down, man! Meanwhile I have started eying potatoes and lamb and bottles of red wine, and there's that red garlic in the pantry too... I think there's stew in the near future. Wow, all this energy. Must be autumn. Yay!
Reminder: if you missed it in your end-of-the-world jitters I posted an excerpt from BLOOD FROM STONE yesterday.. And I have a new darling from that book:
"The fact that Chang had even thought to think about that impressed Wren – she supposed it came with the job, to think like a criminal. Danny did the same thing. Funny, really. She was a criminal, and she didn’t think like one."
So, last night, having actually remembered the new season's starting, I watched "Fringe."
And?
And...I dunno.
Drawbacks: I didn't buy that Our Heroine was going to be allowed to do what she did to save one agent's life while apparently forgetting all about this task force she was assigned to, wasting lots of government time and money and pulling impossible strings (anyone else believe that Harvard had that much space just sitting around as storage for 17 years?) and there's no sign of why they're letting her do this or that anyone has a reason to be defending her from getting her ass canned for the crap she's pulling? Or did I miss an important set-up at some point?
The writers need to keep in mind that a character who could apparently forget about the hundreds of other people who died because they were just a plot device is not one I (and presumably others) am going to want to hang with. Fox Mulder was obsessive yeah, but you knew he gave a damn about people outside his own tight-focus, and he had Scully to remind him of the larger picture and Skinner to kick their asses when they both forgot. Here? She has a nominal boss who gives way to a New Boss who is set up as giving her shite because she helped put away a buddy of his who got drunk and sexually harassed/assaulted three young women [and he keeps defending said buddy with lame 'men will be men' defense that did not set him up as an interestingly horrible character but just made me want to kick his teeth in] and then recruits her to be part of some vague group doing vague things about a seemingly unconnected set of phenomena. No sense of structure or consequences or, really, humanity, and that pissed me off as both viewer and storyteller.
Also: the plot was telegraphed like a trans-Atlantic cable; I could describe the next scene before the previous one ended, every character came complete with EZ-use directions, and there wasn't a damn thing (including the 'twists') that surprised me. And those three-dimensional place identifiers? Need to go. Seriously. So. Annoying.
And Pacey is still Pacey. I know some of you find him hot. I just want to check and make sure he's done his schoolwork and remind him of his curfew. I kept thinking it was a shame that Love Interest had to die, 'cause him I'd keep around.
Positives: The heroine is appealing. Surprisingly. And some amusing lines, mostly from the Essential Mad Scientist. And... overall, despite all the drawbacks, it came together well. That surprised me. It's dumb and annoying and lord knows it's no X Files [even in the very first episode, there was something Magical about the X Files, mainly due to the actors having total chemistry from scene one] but... I'm probably going to tune in for another episode, and see if I'm still annoyed, or intrigued.
Verdict: I'll give it another chance. But it had better do something to convince me pretty fast.
Woke at 5 this morning, surprisingly un-tired. I guess I've recovered from my post-Trip meltdown. Managed to get the household stuff sorted before the sun was up. That's just Wrong, y'know? Today is all about short fiction. "Cold Iron Cross" is going down, man! Meanwhile I have started eying potatoes and lamb and bottles of red wine, and there's that red garlic in the pantry too... I think there's stew in the near future. Wow, all this energy. Must be autumn. Yay!