I’m still not entirely sure what I think about the controversial Lost finale (short version: my heart liked it, but my head is skeptical), but the best, or at least most enthusiastic, apology for it I’ve read has to be this exhaustive re-cap from Jeff “Doc” Jensen at Entertainment Weekly: part 1, part 2.
Category: TV
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Literalists, progresives, and Lost
I like this, from Newsweek:
Lost‘s viewers fall into two categories, those who adhere to reason and those who follow their faith. The Lost literalists believe that the show is infallible, that it’s not only an engrossing, entertaining television show, it’s holy writ–divinely inspired, all-knowingly conceived, and absolutely inerrant. In other words, the show’s many, many loose ends–the smoke monster, the polar bear–have to be resolved. The progressives like the show just fine, but they accept its limitations. They know that television shows adapt, that actors leave or get pregnant, budgets get cut, writers go on strike. More than that, they know that ideas change, that good ideas are orphaned in favor of great ones, that Lost doesn’t have to be perfect in order to be important. In short, Lost has gone beyond being just a show about faith to being a meta-commentary on faith.
Maybe not entirely surprisingly, I’m firmly in the progressive camp. I’ve always found Lost most compelling when seen as a parable of human existence, not a meticulously constructed imagined reality. Obviously, some degree of continuity and–I won’t say plausibility–coherence are necessary for any satisfying storytelling, but I really couldn’t care less about the polar bear, Walt’s super powers, etc.
It’s interesting how many SF fans take a “literalistic” approach to the genre’s products. The “continuity police” types so familiar on message boards (and, in days of yore, in comic book letter columns) seem strangely incongruous with the suspension of disbelief necessary to get fantasy and SF off the ground.
ADDENDUM: Nice pre-S6 write-up from the AV Club’s Noel Murray (whose Lost reviews I read faithfully).
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Two episodes from Buffy season 7 seems a bit dicey…
But, otherwise, this is an interesting list of the top 25 “Whedonverse” episodes (i.e., shows from creator Joss Whedon, including, inter alia, Buffy, Angel, and Firefly).
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Maddening
As someone who’s only half-way through the first season of Mad Men on DVD, it’s hard to avoid all those juicy articles on season 3 that are currently everywhere.
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The lizard people cometh
This could be incredibly cool, or incredibly lame, but ABC is re-making the 80s science fiction series V, which, if you’re of a certain age, you probably remember as being awesome/terrifying.
As a bonus, it will star Morena Baccarin, who played Inara on Firefly/Serenity and Elizabeth Mitchell (a.k.a. Juliet) from Lost. I’m sure I’ll be tuning in.
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Speaking of BSG…
You can watch the trailer for the prequel series “Caprica” here.
According to Wikipedia, an “extended version of the pilot will have its world premiere exclusively on DVD on April 21, 2009. In early 2010, the first season, composed of the two-hour pilot and 18 hour-long episodes, is expected to begin airing on the Sci Fi Channel in the United States.”
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BSG and green anarchy
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Lost!
This week’s episode was good, though not quite as good as last week’s IMO. It seems that this season’s all about (at least in part) expanding on the mysteries of the island’s history that we’ve only gotten bits and pieces of so far. My question: is this going to add up to some kind of coherent whole or meaningful theme or is it just a series of bones being thrown to longtime fans? I still have hope for the former. Part of what initially appealed to me about Lost was that you had these characters making different existential responses to a fundamentally ambiguous environment (Locke’s faith vs. Jack’s scientific empiricism, e.g.). How does that equation change once the mysteries are spelled out for us? Also: are we going to find out what’s up with the giant four-toed statue?
On another TV-related note: Last week’s BSG rocked. A big improvement from the first two episodes of this (half) season. Here’s hoping they keep it up.
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Earthbound and down
Also from the Atlantic–a primer on Battlestar Galactica (may contain spoilers for the uninitiated). The anecdote about Dirk Benedict, who played the original series’ “Starbuck” (and “Face” on the A-Team!), being outraged that the character was re-imagined as a woman is pretty funny.
I’m really looking forward to the new season starting this Friday (or in my non-cable-having case, whenever they decide to post the episodes on the Web), but, like the author, I’m nervous that they won’t be able to tie all the loose threads together in a satisfying way. (I have similar concerns about Lost, but they’ve at least got a few more seasons to go.)
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Guest post: Sunnydale, 90210
Editor’s Note: The following is a guest post from the Missus on the important parallels between Beverly Hills 90210 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
As some of you may know, the Thinking Reed and I have recently entered the Buffyverse. One of the most wonderful things about the Buffyverse is its near seamless overlap with our first love, the magical kingdom known as 90210. Imagine Brandon’s surprise to learn that not only did Susan have an abortion – she’s also an 1100-year-old demon! And imagine Brenda’s shock when she learned that the sweet football player who took her to prom was later raised from the dead to wreak havoc on Sunnydale. Oh, Tony, how far you fell.
We learn that Tara, after becoming obsessed with Kelly and attempting to kill them both, goes on to become the werewolf, Veruca, who steals Oz from Willow and ends up dead. But the most tragic of all was poor deranged Laura; after accusing Steve of rape at a Take Back the Night rally, being redeemed, and then flipping out when Brenda was given the role of Maggie the Cat (did Brenda get the role by sleeping with the director? Did she???) , Laura meets a gruesome and untimely end after running afoul of a powerful vampire whom Angel ineptly fails to stop before he kills Laura/Tina.
Then there’s the day before prom, when Joyce Summers channels Felice Martin and convinces Angel to break up with Buffy. If only Angel had been a dreamy singer-songwriter (who for some reason won’t give the rights to his songs for the 90210 DVDs! Seriously, Jamie Walters, is it really that important to protect the rights to those songs?), perhaps Joyce would eventually have come around to the Buffy/Angel relationship. Alas.
Plus, Angel could learn a thing or two from Dylan about brooding with one’s shirt on.
I would also be remiss if I failed to mention the striking architectural similarities between Sunnydale High School and West Beverly. And one final similarity: all the main characters end up graduating together (admittedly, West Beverly’s graduation featured fewer cross-bows) and attending the plausibly named, though entirely imaginary, local colleges, UC Sunndydale and California University.
A Thinking Reed 