Terminator

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The TV choice has been made

October 1, 2008 in TV | No comments

It looks like I will be focusing my watching and commentary on Fringe.  I’ve found myself liking the show more and more, while liking the Sarah Connor Chronicles less and less.  Apparently, I am not the only one, as the SCC ratings have tanked and Fox may cancel the show very soon.  So it looks like the choice would be made for me, at any rate.

Fringe — Episode 4 — “The Arrival”

Recap: Some strange device tunnels it’s way UP into Brooklyn, destroys a building, and gets sent to the Fringe team for analysis.  This mayhem is witnessed by a strange pale guy who apparently likes his food REALLY spicy.  Pale and baldy has been witnessed at a number of Pattern events, earning him the nickname “The Observer”.  Another strange guy, armed with a sock cap and a sonic gun, is after the device; he apparently has a device of his own that can read minds (but only by inserting tubes up your nose and shocking the crap out of you).  Peter Bishop wants out of the team, Walter Bishop wants a root beer float, and Olvia Dunham is getting phone calls from her dead partner.  As it turns out, Walter is friends with The Observer and hides the strange tunneling device at his request.  Peter gets captured, tortured, and inadvertently leads Sock Cap to the device.  I say “inadvertently” because even though Peter doesn’t know where the thing is, his dad does, so Peter’s mind apparently contains the info, too.  It’s just one instance of mind reading in the episode.  The episode ends with Agent Dunham shooting Sock Cap to stop him from getting the device, Peter confronting the Observer, and Walter making a confession that helps Peter decide to stay with the team.

One thing that made this episode the best yet was a relative lack of deus ex machina.  Aside from a mention of “Project Thor” the burrowing device was not linked to Walter’s past experiments, nor was some crazy gizmo used to solve the problem at hand.  Instead we got some interesting father/son drama from Peter and Walter, some further mythological details about the Pattern, and a relative lack of Agent Dunham.

Questions from the episode:

  • Who or what is The Observer?  What’s he up to?  Is he really just observing?  For whom?  For what?  Why can’t he taste anything?  How can he read thoughts?
  • Who was sock cap guy?  How did he get a sonic gun and a mind reading device?
  • What was the burrowing device?
  • How/why is Dunham’s partner back from the dead?

Rampant speculation:

Sock cap guy works for Massive Dynamic, who wanted to get their hands on the burrowing device for research purposes.  The Observer is a clone created by Massive Dynamic (in it’s infancy) but has somehow gotten free.  Due to his creation he has telepathy, access to The Pattern, and some anti-Massive Dynamic agenda.

Favorite line:

(Walter is apologizing to Astrid, the FBI agent he drugged so he could hide the device):

“By way of retribution, you could inject me if you wish.  Although I admit I’d probably enjoy it.”

Another good recap can be found at It Happened Last Night.

I need a new TV show

September 17, 2008 in Geek | 4 comments

One of my favorite things about my old blogs were my weekly write-ups on Lost.  Those things really were “serious thoughts on trivial matters”, but I had fun doing them and they seemed to generate conversation.  I certainly plan to return to writing about Lost when the new season begins in 2009, but until then I am searching for a new show to follow and write about.  Two possibilities have emerged, though I am willing to consider other options.

The first is J.J. Abrams’ new show, Fringe.  It runs Tuesday nights from 9-10 and has a lot going for it.  It’s from the same guy who did Lost, it features weird quasi-paranormal science, it has a mysterious mega-corporation, a global conspiracy, and a new mystery every week.  I’ve watched the first two episodes but am still rather “meh”.  Three elements are bugging me.

First is the lead, both the character and the actress.  I don’t find either all that compelling.  The actress seems to have one dominant expression, which is best described as “pinched”.  The character, while obviously meant to be a strong woman, is still saddled with the “man-motivation”, i.e. her biggest conflict and drive is generated by her attachement to a guy (a dead guy, but still. . .)  This may fade as the show goes on, but it’s been fairly prominenet in the first two episodes.

Second, the fringe science stuff has the potential to be a deus-ex-machina in every episode.  I like the rapid growth experiements, the psycihic links, and everything else, but we are two shows in and both times the break in the investigation is fostered by some crazy gadget the crew is able to get their hands on.  Come to think of it, both times said gadget allowed the crew to “see” the bad guy or where the bad guy was hiding.  I realize fringe science is the hook of the show, but dragging out some new contraption every week to solve the mystery will get old very fast.

Third, the pacing just feels off a little.  Humor comes on the wrong beats, the flow of time in the episodes seems erratic, and each episode tries to do too much.

Thus far, I don’t find Fringe as smart as Lost or as compelling as the X-Files, yet I like the premise and there is certainly potential for the show.  That and there’s nothing else on on Tuesdays.

The second show possibility is Terminator: The Sarch Connor Chronicles.  I really enjoyed last season.  There’s a nice mythos to it, it’s smart, there’s a literary quality to aspects of it I enjoy and it’s got robots blowing things up.  My only issue thus far is I’ve missed parts of both episodes thus far due to stuff going on at the house.  It also runs against How I Met Your Mother, another show that my wife and I both enjoy.  Even so,  it’s the leading candidate.

What do you think of these two shows thus far?  Is there another one I should be following instead?