Best of 2006: Top 10 Episodes

With the year almost over, it's time to start the list making, I'll be putting a new list out every other day until the end of the year, and our first is the ten best TV episodes of 2006. This list is tough to do for a number of reasons, one is some shows are just better than others, so is a pretty good Sopranos episode better than a great Gilmore Girls episode? I tried to balance things here, but there's a good amount of repeat appearances here.

10. Arrested Development - 'Family Ties'

Watching the last four episodes of Arrested Development in one go, as they were broadcast, was a surreal experience, with the show going to more bizarre places than it had ever gone before, and this episode was one of the highlights. Michael hires Nellie, a prostitute he thinks is his sister, to work at his office and raise morale. There's hilarity in the show itself, and on a meta level, because Nellie's played by Justine Bateman. Wow, this show enjoys going to the incest place, and it's always funny. The capper is the revelation that Nellie's pimp is actually Gob's puppet Franklin.

9. 24 - 'Day 5: 7:00-8:00"

It's tough to distinguish standout episodes of the show, what with the really heavy continuity. However, this premiere still stands out nearly a year later. They teased that you shouldn't miss the first five minutes, usually a hollow promotion. Not here, killing three major characters in a period of ten minutes established again that this show has no limits, anyone is in danger, and that's what makes it work so well. You actually believe that anyone could die, so every episode is suspenseful. Maybe it's a bit gimmicky, but it's necessary to keep the show fresh and exciting.

8. Gilmore Girls - 'I Get a Sidekick Out of You'

Much like Buffy's sixth season, this was all about plunging the lead character into awful emotional trauma and repression. Lorelai's underlying concerns spill to the surface in the most painful scene of the series' entire run, her drunken ramble at Lane's wedding. It's tough to watch, and is the highlight of the episode. But, there's a lot of the quirky comedy stuff the show does so well in there too.

7. Friday Night Lights - 'Pilot'

Not that the show itself isn't great, but this Pilot was just unbelievable in setting up a completely unique world for the show to inhabit. The lengthy non-dialogue sequences were great, and by the end, I really cared about the result of the game, and the victory was a fantastic payoff. This was a great start to the best new show of the season.

6. Battlestar Galactica - 'Occupation/Precipice'

One of the best season openers of all time, this was an incredibly tense, emotionally wrenching two hours. The show again returns to the loaded political commentary of the miniseries, and also tracked our characters through the worst moments of their lives. And it's all capped by the powerful image of a cylon firing squad about to gun down Roslin and Zarek. I'd never seen a world like this on TV before.

5. Arrested Development - 'Development Arrested'

As I mentioned before, the show seemed to spin out of control as it reached this bizarre, fantastic conclusion. Lindsay's attempt to sleep with Michael was hilarious, completely messing with the fictional world the show had built over the past three seasons. George Michael's trip to second base was another highlight, though the biggest laugh for me was the return of Anyong. The show may have been cut down too soon, but with a finale this good, I can't be too mad about that.

4. The Sopranos - 'Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni...'

The season definitely had some issues, but the first half was as consistently brilliant as any previous season. This episode, chronicling Tony's first public appearance after the shooting, was a fantastic exploration of masculinity in the mob world. Johnny's tearful breakdown as he was taken back to prison, Vito's continuing issues with his sexuality, and Tony's new outlook on life all caused problems. Tony's attack on his driver at the end was the perfect cap to the episode.

3. Battlestar Galactica - 'Downloaded'

The gem of the otherwise troubled second half of season two, this episode gave us our most intriuging look into the cylon world yet. I love Six and Boomer's uncertainty about their place in the cylon hierarchy, and the episode ending murder of D'Anna was shocking. Unfortunately, most of what this episode explored was abandoned to recast the cylons in a more obviously evil role in season three. But, this one still stands out as a masterpiece.

2. Battlestar Galactica - 'Exodus II'

The capper to the New Caprica arc, this is the best episode the show's ever done. The effects were dazzling, better than anything I saw in the cinema this year, but what really makes it powerful is how satisfying it is to see humanity get a victory after the oppression of the first three episodes. There's so many fantastic moments here, Tigh killing his wife, Baltar's confused flight, the Pegasus' destruction. This episode was so good, everything after has felt a bit lackluster.

1. The Sopranos - 'Join the Club'

In the real world, it's an emotionally raw exploration of familial grief and worry, as Tony lies in a coma. Edie Falco's monologue should have come with an Emmy, and the others get great material too. This has the same power as Six Feet Under's 'Ecotone.' But, that's not all we get. The allegorical storyline of Tony as Kevin Finnerty is one of the best things the show's ever done, intellectually challenging and extremely revealing of Tony's psyche. The layered complexity of this episode is something you'd only see on The Sopranos, and that's why, despite this season's problems, it's still on a whole different level from anything else on TV.

Babylon 5 - 'The Parliament of Dreams' and 'Mind War' (1x05-1x06)

These two episodes were an improvement over the first four, further developing the show's world and alien cultures, and generally telling better stories, even though some of the major issues from the previous episodes persist. However, I am getting sense of the depth of the universe and that has me really intrigued to see how things develop in future episodes.

'Parliament of Dreams' is explicitly designed to deepen our understanding of the various alien cultures by giving us a glimpse of their religious ceremonies. It's troublesome territory to so explicitly separate everyone by certain 'racial' characteristics, but I think it works here if you view it more as cultural differences. The alien races are more like old world nations, while Earth is clearly equated with the United States, a blend of cultures and traditions, such that it's impossible to isolate one Earth religion, rather it is in the mixing that we are unique. Presumably a major thread of the series will be the way that the alien cultures are forced to move beyond their old prejudices and find peace.

While he worked well in 'Born to the Purple,' Londo was a bit broad here, literally falling over the table. However, at least he's putting some effort in, a lot of the human people are still completely emotionless in their performance. The Minbari religious ceremony was appropriately reverent and one of the best visual moments in the series so far. In general, the series seems uninterested in doing really interesting visual stuff. Shots are very basic and there's no attempt to do really strong visual storytelling. That's not about the effects limits, it's more about the choice to play stuff out with dialogue rather than visuals. Of course, in TV, it's only recently that we've seen shows with visual presentation to match the quality of the writing.

The Captain is still something of an absent center, though his encounter with Catherine was probably his best material yet. We get a better sense of him as a character, but I feel like the performance just isn't there to make me care about him. Though it's not just him, the scripts still use too many cliches, the people talk like people in a movie talk, not like people in real life talk.

G'Kar is the standout character so far, he's got some complexity and the acting stands out through the makeup. His pettiness is a nice contrast to the human cast, who are generally stoic and noble. Also, having multiple plot lines going during the episode helped the pacing.

'Mind War' is my favorite episode of the series so far, focusing on a telepath who has evolved too fast, causing problems when he tries to interact with normal humans. We also get further development of the Psi Corps, with the appearance of two Psi Cops. Talia is one of the more interesting characters on the show and it was nice to see more development of her. The old teacher comes back storyline is a staple, and it generally worked here. However, the guy playing Ironheart went way too over the top overacting it. It's like he was trying to make up for everyone else underplaying things, and that wound up throwing the show out of balance. His creep down the hall at the end of the show was just ridiculous in how much overacting he was doing.

However, the end of the episode is great. Ironheart seems to transcend the boundaries of physical humanity and become a kind of god. He then passes on some of his TK power to Talia. I'm intrigued by his comment that he'll see Sinclair in a million years, that one remains unexplained. Even the visual effects worked there, with his astral body against the stars. I'm imagining that was an X-Men reference, as the whole Psi Corps thing seems to draw a lot from there. It looks just like Xavier's astral body when he duels with the Shadow King. I'm assuming having Ivanova say "Who watches the watchmen?" was another comics reference.

There seems to be a recurring theme of corporations trying to use technological advances for profit and war. In 'Infection,' it was the organic weapons and here it's the TK potential. There is a fight between people who want to keep the tension between races and those who want to bring them together. That's looking more and more like it's the thematic core of the series.

I also really liked the story with Catherine and G'Kar. Her incessant talking to the computer was a bit much, but the end, with the discussion of ants was great. This episode is full of Morrisonesque ideas, and this is a critical one, the idea that we're only a small piece of a much larger universe. G'Kar is becoming more layered every week and here he's thankfully free of having to do goofy comedy bits.

I think what the show really needs now is a Whedon style sense of humor about itself. There's some jokes, but they don't really work. Whedon always knew exactly when to puncture the show's seriousness and absurdity, which made this odd world more accessible to the audience. We could accept whatever came up because at the core of the show were three very relatable characters. Here, we don't have that same entry point, so it's easier to criticize the show from the outside. I'm not saying they should break the fourth wall down and just mock things, rather, be more aware of how ridiculous some of what happens is and acknowledge that in the story world.

Even as Whedon would make a lot of jokes, he never let those jokes mess with the dignity of the characters, we were meant to laugh with them, rather than at them, and a lot of the time, I feel like we're meant to laugh at the ridiculousness of some of the Londo bits. Those bits go too far and just aren't funy. Go more for subtle wit than the really broad comedy things.

And in general, try to get the characters more emotionally involved in things. It can be contrived to have people going through huge emotion in these standalone episodes, but to really know the characters, they need to open up more. That said, the creation of more recurring elements and interepisode continuity is a great sign. These two episodes were a big jump over what came before, and hopefully the show will keep moving forward.

Babylon 5 - 'Infection' (1x04)

I've heard this is the worst episode of the entire series, which is encouraging on one level because it's not that bad, however, it's still far from good. I do think this is a better episode than 'Soul Taker,' so if that's the all time worst episode, it'll be good for the show's future.

My major problem with the show so far is with the pacing and acting. It is over ten years old, so there's going to be a gap between this and something like Battlestar, but still, the intensity just isn't there. Scenes take longer to unfold than they should and I feel like every episode is about a half hour of story stretched out to fill 45 minutes.

The lackluster acting also contributes to the lack of intensity. There's not as much egregiously bad performance as in the pilot, but the actors don't seem engaged in their roles. Watching Buffy, there were some similar jitters in the first season, but the core four were great actors and helped sell some pretty bad storylines. Here, everyone seems to be reading off cue cards, there's no real emotional depth.

More than any other show, this reminds me of the early days of The X-Files, a show that started around the same time and had some similarly ridiculous episodes in its first season. The thing that made the really bad episodes of that show work was the chemistry between Mulder and Scully, and this show doesn't have an anchor like that.

I'm still intrigued by a lot of the stuff floating around the outskirts, the scene between Garibaldi and Sinclair, talking about their time on Earth Force, was really well done and sets up some potentially interesting stories down the road. That was a moment that could have been truly great, but got bogged down a bit in cliche. I wanted the emotional beats to be more raw, but the characters don't feel real enough for that. The show's very static, restrained shooting style doesn't give us access to the characters' emotions in the same way that Battlestar Galactica's hectic verite does. These people act like they're on sets, putting on a show. The BSG characters do their own thing and the camera struggles to catch up and find those moments of weakness when they're alone.

More generally, I'm hoping that there's not too many more of these random alien shows up and kills people episodes. Considering the show's set on a space station, there's bound to be some of them, but this episode didn't do much that wasn't already done in 'Soul Taker.'

So, if this is the worst of it, I'm glad to be through, and hopefully things will pick up soon. The show is definitely stronger when Londo and G'Kar are on, they have a lot more will and emotion, an energy that the human characters just aren't bringing. Hopefully they'll turn up in the next episode, and hopefully it'll be better.

Battlestar Galactica - 'The Eye of Jupier' (3x11)

This was a great start to a story, but it's very difficult to evaluate it without any resolution, and this episode gave us nothing in the way of that, just a whole bunch of cliffhangers. The episode is definitely an improvement over the past few, but still pales in comparison to the season opening New Caprica arc.

Watching this season has seen a nearly week to week reversal of my opinion about the series. Towards the end of season two, the show was really drifting and it was only the back to back combo of Downloaded and the fantastic season ending cliffhanger that kept me with it. However, this year's season premiere completely bowled me over. The next two didn't stop, I'd consider Exodus II the best episode the show's ever done. So, where do they go from there? Sadly, it's been something of a retreat to conservatism, exactly what I feared after watching Collaborators. With the exception of the wonderfullly evocative Torn, there's been very little that couldn't have happened in seasons one or two. The resolution of Torn was good, but nowhere near what it could have been, and Hero was another weak episode. I did enjoy Unfinished Business, but last week's episode was one of the weakest the series has ever done. Into this schizophrenic season, we get a midseason finale that's good, but left me wanting more. I suppose that's what a cliffhanger is supposed to do, it's just that this was more me wanting more because very little actually happened, rather than wanting to see the resolution of what did happen.

The basic structure of the episode reminds me of a classic X-Files mythology episode, in which Mulder and Scully would race against the government to find some object that is the "key to everything," inevitably resulting in a standoff that's resolved after the cliffhanger, at which point the object is promptly forgotten and everyone moves on. The Eye of Jupiter is a basic macguffin, setting up the conflict between the cylons and the humans, even though we're never clear exactly what it's role in the overall scheme of things is, or even what the actual object is. Basically, it's there and everyone wants it. That's all we need to know.

There is a lot of interesting stuff in the episode, and if they deliver on what's been set up, this could be one of the stronger stories they've ever done. The best stuff here involves, as usual, the cylons and their uneasy relations with the humans. While I love the Baltar on the cylon ship stuff, I think the show thrives in the tension between humans and cylons. When the two groups are interacting it's great, but alone, they each drift away from excitement and get caught up in irrelevant issues. That conflict is the core of the show, so it's good to keep it front and center.

That's why I love the scene where Baltar and the Cylon party go to the Galactica. I was missing Dean Stockwell, despite all the time on the cylon ship, we haven't gotten to know the cylon men in greater depth. However, Dean brings such wonderful weirdness, any scene he's in is going to be entertaining. He may have been laying it on a little thick here, but it made for a fun scene, and the show can always use a burst of bizarreness. I was feeling a bit of Ben from Blue Velvet seeping into that scene. Baltar's total unease at being caught between the cylons and humans is also great. He's best when he's groveling, so it's good to see him back in that position. He's still one of the show's most fascinating characters and this episode is the best material he's gotten all season.

The other great scene with him is the farewell to Caprica, as he and D'Anna go off to pursue their destiny. I'm really curious to see what this leads to, the buildup's been great, but it'll be difficult to come up with a meaningful reveal for the identities of the five cylons. But, if there's been this much buildup, I'm sure there must be an interesting revelation coming up down the line.

Elsewhere, there's the wonderful scene with the two Sharons. It's one of the first times we've see dialogue between two identical cylon models and it feels odd. I'll say that cylon Boomer Sharon is definitely looking hotter, and seeing her standing near Hera back on the cylon ship was a well done odd moment. We're aware that Sharon is Hera's mother, but this isn't that Sharon, yet it looks just like her.

That said, I feel like the revelation Hera's alive was pretty badly botched. Now, maybe they're building up to bigger consequences in the future, but, for one, I felt like there was a scene deleted that set up the conversation between Adama and Helo/Sharon. But more importantly, where was the emotion from either of them, I feel like this should have been something shocking and they just take it. Now, maybe there'll be a big breakdown in the future, but Sharon put all her faith in these people, was willing to condemn her people to genocide and they completely betrayed her. Now, there's a lot of potentially interesting stuff that could happen if she goes back to the cylon ship, but I feel like the initial emotional reaction could have been played up more.

The other major thing that happened in this episode was the Lee/Kara love quadrangle. I think Unfinished Business was a great episode, but the treatment of the issues here was a bit too soapy. Kara doesn't seem like someone who'd care about getting divorced, so I would argue she's just trying to keep Lee at a distance, and not have to deal with potentially getting married. However, it's still a bit contrived to bring them all together here. That said, I am glad to see a followup on that plot thread, since the episode to episode continuity had been slipping a bit recently.

On the visual front, the algae planet was very cool looking, I still enjoy the heavily color corrected look they use for the different planets they encounter. The stuff on Galactica seemed a bit clearer than usual. The real visual knockout of the episode was the shots of the baseship in the pink/black clouds, very striking stuff. The FX just keep getting better.

One of the biggest issues that's developed over the course of the season is the fact that Adama and Roslin have become different aspects of the same exact character. The early parts of the show were largely based around their conflict, but now we don't have any sort of argument within the fleet itself. Tom Zarek hasn't been on in a while and we really need that oppositional voice to keep things on edge. Maybe someone on the show could step up, or else bring in a new character.

More generally, they need to commit to stronger continuity between episodes and less of these obviously throwaway standalone episodes. It's okay to do the occasional standalone, but don't stack them all together, that's what's going to make people criticize the show. It's still great, but I haven't been blown away by it in a while, I'm hoping the resolution to this episode will do that, but we'll have to wait a month to find out.

Kamikaze Girls

This film is a fine example of what I call Pop Cinema, movies where the narrative exists primarily as a structure from which the filmmaker can indulge in a variety of stylistic flights of fancy. One of the finest examples of this is Run Lola Run, a movie that also blends animation and fractured chronology to tell its story. However, Kamikaze Girls has a bit more heart than Lola, using its style to enhance the story of Momoko and Ichiko.

The film's opening establishes the mood right off, a hyper animated sequence segues into Momoko on the bike, music blaring, camera moving all around, stopping only for freeze frames for the credits. The use of freeze frame is really striking here, a very pop move, bringing instant cool to the proceedings. The font is also great. I love a film that starts right off with something cool, and the crash into the watermelon truck does that, the beautiful footage of Momoko drifting through the air pondering her life moving us into the opening chunk of the film, which chronicles Momoko's history. The images here, in brilliantly exaggerated slow motion, are really striking.

The subsequent accounting of history uses some techniques I've seen before, the direct address, acknowledgement of the camera, speeded up storytelling, etc. aren't all original tactics, but they work well in context. Again, you could say these techniques have been used before or are gimmicky, but the so called 'normal' techniques for exposition have been used a lot more. As I said with reference to Friday Night Lights' visual style, it's ridiculous to accuse something that breaks from the norm of being gimmicky because the norm itself is a construction. It may not work, but what I find most boring now is a film that sticks to strict classical continuity rather than using all the possibilities of film to tell its story.

These opening sequence definitely uses all film has to offer. I'm curious about the bleeping out of Versace, was that just on the American DVD or was it a reference to the fact that the clothes aren't really Versace? I'm not sure what's up there. I really liked the flashbacks to the Rococo period, a ridiculously idolized depiction constructed in Momoko's mind. She doesn't necessarily want the reality of what things were like then as much as the fantasy her mind has built out of what she's read.

That sequence in particular, but the whole film in general has a lot of thematic simmilarities with Marie Antoinette. Both films use a character's ridiculous consumption as a way of exploring their emotional shortcomings. For Marie, consumption became a means of rebellion, the only way to assert her own identity in the strict world of the court. For Momoko, fashion becomes a way of defining herself, creating her own special world that's more exciting than the poverty she actually lives in. I like the fact that the film doesn't have her grow beyond consumption, it doesn't work for everybody, but in her case, it seems that all she really wants to do is wear these ornate clothes and enjoy being seen in them. That is the best way for her to express her self identity, and the film presents it without the expected growht beyond that. She has the chance to become a designer, but she'd rather just wear the clothes. Ichigo says that as a designer she could stop others from having to stop at Jusco, but I feel like Momoko needs Jusco, if they didn't exist, she wouldn't have a normal to define herself against.

The core of the film is the relationship between Ichiko and Momoko, and the way that they each push each other outside their comfortable behavior patterns. I really like Ichiko's 'origin' sequence, the moment where Akimi shows her a vision of what she could be. Both girls are trying to live up a fantasy image they have constructed, even as the world around them tries to force them into conformity. The final confrontation at the end makes it quite literal. The other bikers try to force Ichiko to accept their rule and live by their behavior patterns. But, Momoko fights back, and in a great display of ferocity, points out the way that they have become the very society they were trying to escape from, trapped by their own rules and power structures.

The film is primarily about the power of subculture to provide an outlet for imagining for young people. High school is an oppressive place where everyone must dress the same and do the same, so in their own time, Momoko and Ichiko are able to create fantasy personas, outlets for their dreams and desires. The reason they become friends is exactly because they are so different, and the difference between them makes it easier for each to express their individuality.

Much like a Wong Kar-Wai film, this is more about moments than a strict linear narrative. My favorite segment of the film is the 16mm footage of the two of them around the city. Taking them out of the glossy sheen of the regular film makes their difference from the norm more apparent. Momoko looks pretty ridiculous at times, but you forget about it as you're watching. Seeing it in the more 'real' view of the 16 footage makes it apparent again. I'm always railing against film, promoting digital, but in this case, the 16 is essential to making the sequence work. The problem with 16 to me is that it always winds up looking the same. Your look is the look of the film, which can work. But, you have less control. In this case, shooting on film gave them the perfect look for the sequence, but it wouldn't stand out if the whole film was shot like that.

I also really love the part at the train station in the rain, where Momoko offers to make Ichiko the embroidery. It reminds me of a similar scene in Three Times. Another cool bit is the 50s inspired sequences in the Pachinko parlor with Ryuji, the music there is fantastic. The denouement to that storyline, where Ichiko cries, is a great moment too. Throughout the film, the music does a fantastic job of pushing the emotional point the filmmakers were going for. The songs are great in their own right and also fit nicely with the energy of the film.

In the end, the film shows how Momoko can open her world to others without compromising her values, and the same's true for Ichiko. In terms of narrative, the film isn't particularly groundbreaking, but it's so stylish and fun, it's just a really enjoyable viewing experience. I sometimes wonder whether I'd like a movie like this if it was set in America. Certainly part of the enjoyment is seeing a different culture and its odd subcultures, but I feel like I would still really enjoy it if it was an American film. However, I seriously doubt I'd go to see it, just because teen movies here are usually so bad, a good pop gem like this would slip through the cracks.

Weekend Update

Golden Globe Noms: Movies

I'm not thrilled with the Golden Globe nominations, I haven't even seen most of the films in the major categories. I haven't seen the film, but I seriously doubt The Queen is one of the best films of the year, there's a widely increasing gap between films that are actually good and the ones that receive the year end awards. That said, I really want to see Babel, Little Children and Volver. I'm back in New York tomorrow, the first screening will be a re-view of Inland Empire, and after that I'll hopefully get to some of these other films.

Golden Globe Noms: TV

24 definitely deserves its best series nomination, but The Sopranos and Battlestar Galactica are pretty grievously missing. Heroes is decent, but it doesn't come close to either of those shows, or Friday Night Lights. The acting nominations are pretty solid though.

The Year End Review

Starting in a week or so, I'll start posting my year end review stuff, top tens for TV, music and film. I've still got some screenings/listenings to get in, there's a lot of good stuff out there this year so it won't be easy to narrow things down. There's definitely going to be some different stuff on my lists than you'll see elsewhere, so stay tuned for that.

Friday Night Lights - 'It's Different For Girls' (1x10)

After watching the first nine episodes of the show in a couple of days, it was tough to wait the week for this new one. The show is so easy to watch in multi-episode chunks, it's tough to scale back to just one a week, and I'm not sure of the schedule, but there probably won't even be another new one until late January. That's tough, but at least the show got a full season pickup, and a new timeslot could help get some more viewers.

This episode focuses on Lyla and the cruelty she faces as a result of her dalliance with Tim. The classroom commentary on the difference between male "fertilizers" and female "seed growers" was a bit on the nose, but generally, the story was handled well. The website is definitely something that would happen in real life, and, as the title says, the difference between the treatment Lyla received and the treatment Tim received is very telling. I don't get why women are usually the ones who are first to call someone a slut, why should you care so much about what someone does? Obviously men do it too, and it's just cruel that our society has those values.

I think her turnaround was a bit too quick, but that's one of the necessities of episodic television. Stories need to fit themselves into these 45 minute chunks, and even though in real life what would happen is things would just gradually quiet down, here we need some kind of dramatic punctuation to the story. Her assertion of confidence at the competition provides that punch to the end of the story. It's tricky to balance the need to keep something realistic, and lasting, without making it feel prolonged. Lately, Battlestar Galactica has gone way too far towards the set up and resolve in one episode, at least this storyline was built up over a few episodes before it go the spotlight. That's one of the great things about serialized television, the ability to let stuff simmer then come to the surface. My main issue with recent BSG is that there's no simmering, everything occurs in standalone episodes.

The resolution itself is fantastic for all the conflicting emotions. Tim, having realized the error of his ways too late, is now helping out both Jason and Lyla, inadvertantly driving the two of them back together. The moment where he sees Jason in the stands is wonderful, it's not dwelt upon, but we know exaclty what he feels. That's well done visual storytelling, one shot conveying a wealth of emotions, particularly the juxtaposition of Tim's realization that he will never have a chance with her with Jason's rediscovering of his feelings about her. I complained before that this storyline had a bit of a soapy feel, but this episode didn't at all, it was much more restrained and realistic.

On his own, Jason continues to have a lot of interesting stuff. Most TV dramas have set storylines that they draw on, but I've never seen anything like this extended spinal injury recovery storyline. The scene with the lawyer is great, the Streets realizing that they could make some easy money off this, while Jason struggles with the moral consequences of suing the coach. The race with the kid is well done too. Though I hope he stays in touch with the rehab crew now that he's back at home. I'm assuming they'll show up in the future at some wheelchair sports.

The other major storyline dealt with Coach Taylor's continuing struggle with his daughter dating Matt. There's a lot of funny stuff here, particularly him continually referring to Landry as Lance, as well as him miscorrecting Matt ("It's Julie and me. Common mistake.") I don't think anything reaches the level of the Members Only exchange from the last episode, but it's still great. It's particularly fun to watch Matt turned into a pawn for Julie and Eric's familial conflict. He just seems befuddled most of the time, as he struggles to stay on good terms with both of them. The blanket scene is another classic, perfectly exemplifying Coach Taylor's ridiculousness when it comes to dealing with Matt and Julie.

Elsewhere, Smash continues to drift closer to some kind of breakdown. I'm not sure wheter they'll go for the obvious, he gets caught and suspended storyline, or for the more subtle, he decides to quit and finds his game suffering, tempting him back to the steroids. Both have great dramatic potential, but I would go for the latter, forcing the character to suffer in silence and again deal with the fact that he just might not be good enough. For someone so totally confident in himself, that's the most painful thing to experience.

The show continues to work great visually. The texture of the image is unique in television and the camera movement/zooms do a great job of drawing our attention to specific, important parts of the frame. The cheerleading competition is a great example of visual storytelling, giving us everything we need to know with glances. I don't think there's one line of dialogue in the final sequence, but we still understand what every character is feeling.

More generally, I think having Tami work as a guidance counselor was a great plot choice. Having all the characters clustered in the same place can make things feel incestuous or claustrophobic, as in Buffy season seven. But, it works here because it allows us to see two adult viewpoints on the goings on at the school, and in contrasting Tami and Eric's thoughts on what's happening, we get a more nuanced picture of the school environment. I'm not sure if people actually do go and break down and cry at the guidance counselor's office, when I was in high school, the guidance counselor was pretty much exclusively about getting you into college, but maybe it's different elsewhere. In this case, Lyla was at a breaking point, looking for someone to unload her emotions on, and Tami offered her that chance. But, having this kind of thing happen too often could push things into melodrama.

I think it'll be interesting if the show goes into a third or fourth season, when this generation of kids moves on, but the adult figures stay behind. Tim isn't likely to make it out of the town, so he could stay on the show, and it's not that tough to keep the rest of the cast close, but will we see the introduction of a whole new generation of players? I'm not sure if the show will make it that long, but it's a problem that a show like Freaks and Geeks never had to resolve. This one is even more complex because we're not invested in the characters, we're invested in the 'team,' and how interesting will the team be if all the players leave? Obviously I hope the show keeps going for many seasons, but it's going to be tricky to work it out. I've always felt that there was a lot of potential drama in showing high schoolers going off to college and building new social systems, while still maintaining the old ones. The issue then becomes you wind up with a massive amount of characters, and not enough time to spotlight them all.

But that's down the line, for now the show is rolling along, and this was a fantastic episode. This is easily the best new show of the season.

Miami Vice: Redux

I already reviewed it back in July, but I just watched the film again on DVD, and I've got to say, if you not have seen this movie, get the disc and watch it. It's on the level of The New World or Wong Kar-Wai in terms of using visuals and music to construct an incredible film narrative. Mann's world is a bit harsher than either Malick's or Wong's, but there are also moments of such incredible beauty.

Watching it on DVD, the DV photography looks even better, particularly in the city scenes, which are absolutely awe inspiring in their seemingly endless progression of lights. The camera moves in a fluid, very emotional way, never more so than in the sequences with Sonny and Isabella in Cuba. Starting with the phenomenal boat scene, we get one beautiful sequence after another, culminating in the shadowy, perfectly lit sex scene. I love the lighting throughout, stylish but not stylized. Mann finds the beauty in the world, rather than trying to bring something into it that's not there.

The skillful narrative construction is also more apparent on the revisit. He uses a lot of Soderbergh style multi-location cutting to convey information in the film's opening chunk, and similar work is done in the ending, giving us just enough to get to the emotional core of the story.

That core is the Isabella/Sonny relationship, and that makes the film. I love the scene in Jose's nightclub where they dance close, oblivious to the fact that this dance is putting them both in danger. It's just the two of them. The most heartbreaking moment in the film is the ending, Isabella on the boat, moving away from Sonny. Their eyes stay locked as she moves away, but when she's outside of sight, he turns away and goes back to his life. We then see her, still looking to the land. She turns around, and in that moment, she have given up everything she knows. The man she loves has ruined her life and now she's alone.

But, that's business. This thing happened between them, and then they must move on. In Mann's films, the personal is always sublimated to the professional, and nowhere is that pain more apparent than in those final moments. The music builds, Sonny walks into the hospital, he's back on the job and that brief escape into another identity is left as nothing but a dream.

This is an astonishingly beautiful film, and more than any other, makes a strong case for the potential superiority of digital to traditional film. But, it's not just the camera, it's what Mann does with it, allowing the visual landscapes to convey character emotion. When Sonny and Isabella are in the boat, he belts her in, then we move out to a wide, swooping helicopter shot following the boat in its smooth course over the water. I love the moment when he buckles her, we see her as a strong woman, not used to this kind of treatment, he's a bit too gruff, but they each appreciate the other. When he's returning from Cuba, the smooth waters are gone, it's rough and the boat hops over every wave, struggling to return.

Another shot I absolutely love is Isabella getting off the plane. Mann gives his people fantastic sunglasses, and Gong Li has never looked better than she does walking down that staircase towards Sonny. Their frazzled encounter in the back of the car after that tells us everything we need to know about their love, it's passionate, it's fast, and it can't last.

This film is a world you slip into. Yes, there's a story, but it's more about getting lost in the undercover world, the glamour and the dirt. In doing so, Mann makes unique use of the power of cinema not to tell a story, but to instead convey a feeling, and he does it incredibly well.

Battlestar Galactica - 'The Passage' (3x10)

When talking about Collaborators, I talked with concern about the fact that the episode seemed designed to return the show to the status quo. The next couple of episodes dispelled that for me, but this is another off episode, marking two out of the last three that just weren't very good. This slumping back to the status quo is even more noticable placed against the groundbreaking, phenomenal opening run of the season. I had no desire to see any more of these standalone military episodes involving jumps and keeping the fleet together, and I was hoping that we were done with this kind of stuff after the second season jump forward in time. However, we're back in first season territory with this one, an episode with a story I feel like I've seen twelve times already.

The show is frequently frustrating because there's such a dichotomy between the good episodes and the bad ones. The first four episodes of this season were as good as anything that's ever been on television, just phenomenally intense storytelling. And then an episode like this doesn't even have a chance of hitting those peaks. In serialized storytelling, there's bound to be peaks and valleys, but with so many potentially interesting storylines to tackle, why come up with the spotlight, then kill for Kat, backed by this lame, out of nowhere food crisis. The food crisis could produce some good storylines, but this didn't expand much on similar episodes we'd seen before involving a water crisis and other issues with moving the fleet.

In the main storyline, there were a couple of good moments. I really liked Kara giving her the sleeping pills and the awkward farewell as she knew Kat was going to die. And, the wall of pictures still holds a lot of power, but it felt like a contrived attempt to create emotion, the story didn't earn it.

So, I was basically waiting for them to get back to Baltar and the cylons. There we get some interesting progress, though I was left wanting more. We get the setup for a showdown on this planet, between humans and cylons, setting the stage for the big midseason finale. They always find a way to bring the show's quality back for the beginning and endings of seasons, it's just a matter of keeping the consistency, and this episode is so obvious weak and misguided, you're basically watching just for hints about what will come next week.

Weekend Update

Inland Empire Released

It came out in New York on Wednesday. If you haven't already read it, I reviewed the film back in October in non-spoiler and spoiler variety. If you have seen the film, I'd love to talk more about it, it's nice to see a Lynch film before the critical consesus about it has emerged, to invent the theories that will one day guide viewers. I'll be going back for a second viewing as soon I return to New York, which should be in a week or so. And, I just have to add that it's cool to be the top Google search result for "Inland Empire explanation."

Upcoming Viewing/Reading

I'm still reading through the second TPB of Ellis' Stormwatch. The series just isn't very good. Once that's done, I'll be reading, and reviewing, Alan Moore's Lost Girls. In terms of TV, I'm caught up on Friday Night Lights, next I'm going to watch season three of Rescue Me. I left my first season of Babylon 5 at home, so I can't start that again until next week, but after that I should go through it fairly quickly, and will be reviewing as I go. I've also got I'm Alan Partridge coming in. I haven't written about many films lately, largely because I haven't seen much worth writing about. But, when something comes along, it'll be on here.

Awards Buzz

The National Board of Review named Letters From Iwo Jima the best film of the year. I haven't seen it, but come on, the war movie was exhausted with Apocalypse Now, and Clint just isn't that good a filmmaker. Of all the best picture contenders, the only one I'm a big fan of is The Departed. But, I've still got to see Babel and I'll probably check out Dreamgirls when it drops.

Buffy Comic

I read this interview with Joss about the upcoming Buffy comic. I'd rather have seen the character movies he mentioned here, but at least the comic will be something. I'm not sure I like the idea that the Buffy seen in Angel's 'The Girl in Question' isn't the real Buffy, I liked the idea that she had left behind her responsibility and was just having fun for once. The Buffy in the comic seems to be an extension of season seven grim leader Buffy, the least interesting she ever was on the series. I hated the idea of the army of slayers then, and I don't think it's a good idea to put Buffy with a bunch of random people rather than her friends, the characters we've followed through the series. I'm going to be open minded, but it was the personal dynamic that interested me more than the big action stuff on the series, that's why season six was the show's best.

Friday Night Lights (1x02-1x07)

After a fantastic pilot, the show keeps up the intensity and visual mystique, even as it falls into some well worn patterns of serial drama. In the pilot review, I talked about the way that recent debut episodes have totally raised the game in terms of visual and narrative progression, creating fully formed narrative universes in a television hour. But, after building this universe, where is there left to go?

In terms of presentation, the show's kept the very dynamic, verite visual style of the first episode. The handheld camera work brings our eyes right to the most important part of the frame, telling the story in glances and body language. I think this kind of camerawork can really help actors because it allows us them to just perform without worrying so much about how to emphasize what they're doing to the camera. A traditionally shot show necessitates a somewhat theatrical performance, with the actor catering to the audience in a set location. This show goes in a more dogme direction, allowing the action to happen and just catching it with the camera. I'm sure there's still a lot of planning and blocking, but you get the feeling of spotaneity, and that's what matters most. It's hard to keep this level of stylization on a weekly basis, but, with the exceptin of Battlestar Galactica, this is the most interesting looking show on television now.

That said, I do miss some of the nonverbal storytelling of the pilot. Now, with more responsibility to advance the plot arcs, the drifting shots of the town and silent focus on the people has largely gone by the wayside. There's always some interesting musical moments in the episode, but the focus on visual storytelling that was present in the pilot just isn't there. I may not be in the majority here, but I'd rather see a slower paced show that emphasizes the visual than one that rushes through stories. I find it annoying that people constantly criticize shows for moving too slow, particularly Heroes and BSG, then rush to say they're not as good as they used to be. It's not a race, events are more meaningful if they build, and we get to know the characters.

Buffy season six and Six Feet Under season three, arguably the two greatest seasons of television ever, both have a slow build structure, totally immersing us in the characters' troubles and then blowing everything up at the end. 'I'm Sorry, I'm Lost' isn't the best episode of the series solely because of what happens, it works so well because we've been immersed in what's Nate feeling, and are able to completely understand what he's going through in that moment. Sure, there may be a few slow episodes earlier in the season, but if you're going to approach a TV show as one big story, there's got to be slower parts. So, rather than filling the slow parts with circular narrative stopgaps, just focus on the visuals and the world and just relax in the characters' presence. Certainly by the end of Buffy, it wasn't the narrative moments that made the show work, it was hanging out with characters I'd come to love. If there was a follow up Buffy project, I wouldn't want a big bad, I'd rather see a Before Sunset type thing, with the characters just being together and reflecting on their lives.

But, that's a digression. This show isn't to that point yet, though the characters are becoming more interesting and developed. Saracen is probably my favorite, a goofy guy who probably just played football to make his dad happy is now thrust into the ultimate position of power in the town. His basic conflict is his reluctance to fully move into the football players' world. These are the people he's mocked all his life, and most notably in 'El Accidente,' we see that he knows this glory is fleeting. He's not going to go pro, and it's tough for him to get caught up in things when he knows that it will all end in a couple of years.

That's the spectre hanging over every character on the show, the knowledge that this is probably the high point of their lives. As we see with the former state champion quarterback, it's a lot tougher on the college level, they lose the chance for uncomplicated glory they have in Dillon. And, after those couple of years on top, the fall will be harsh. In the scenes with the team, there's the inevitable knowledge that the people there next year will be a very different crew, the coaches stay, but the kids move on, and that's the way of things in high school, football and otherwise. I think it must be weird being a teacher, staying in the same place, while those you teach move on to different things. When you're in class, you're unaware of the fact that the teacher has done this many times before, and with a few exceptions, you're probably not that special a class. Go back in ten years and who's going to remember you? Certainly not the students, everything changes, and soon no one who remembers you even works at the school.

Anyway, back to Saracen, he's the axis through which we can see both inside and outside the football machine. His friend, Landry, is simultaneously reveling in his connections to the football team and worried that Saracen will fully assimilate into their world and leave him behind. So far, that hasn't happened, but it's not easy for Saracen to navigate this world. On top of that, there's the trouble with his grandmother, the kind of realistic touch you usually don't see in TV. He's got so much going on, it's excusable when he doesn't give his all on the field.

Along with this heavier stuff, there is some humor. Saracen's almost painful awkwardness is very true to life. I love the scene where Coach Taylor tells him to take some girl in the backseat, and then realizes he was talking about his daughter. Because the show is so realistic otherwise, they can get away with what might be broad humor on another show. In comedy, I find it's always funnier to do a realistic universe. Cheech and Chong smoking pot, not particularly funny. Lester Burnham, straight laced businessman, smoking up is hilarious becuase it violates the code of the world he lives in, and does so in a realistic manner. The scene where Saracen asks Julie out works really well because he's so awkward and unconfident, saying "I'm just throwing it out there." You're simultaneously laughing at his lack of confidence and realizing that you'd be doing the same thing, or at least I would be.

A more troubling plotline is the relationship between Lyla and Tim. It plays fairly well, but comes off a bit too soapish. The Saracen stuff seems to take place in the real world, but they're from TV reality. It's very difficult to do a story like this without desending into melodrama. For me, the most realistic kind of writing is when characters don't do or say what they want. So, having Lyla say "I'm sleeping with my paralyzed boyfriend's best friend" may be designed to hit the nail on the head, but it winds up feeling a bit melodramatic. That said, the section where they go out on the boat is wonderful, Jason's lack of knowledge coupled with our knowledge makes his happiness painful, and just when we're thinking that maybe it can work, he finds out what's going on.

In general, the Jason storyline has been well handled. The best moment was definitely when he saw the wheelchair basketball, and for the first time was able to recover some of his hope. I like the way he makes no progress before that, but after is working on improving. Now, you could argue he's recovering too fast, but I think it makes sense. This is a guy who was in peak physical shape, if anyone can come back quick, he can. All it took was the will. The other great thing about this is the mix of pain and happiness he feels when with the team. The scene when he rolls out onto the field really conveys this mixed emotion, as does the locker room scene after that.

Elsewhere, Kyle Chandler as Coach Taylor continues to own the screen. They've done a good job of allowing him to totally buy into what they're doing, but still keep a bit of distance. He's torn between Buddy and his wife, between the idea of winning as the number one priority and football as something help the kids grow up into better people. This is the core tension of the show, and it was hit on a bit obviously in 'El Acidente.' I think the show is good enough that they don't need to spell things out in the way that episode did. Like in Battlestar Galactica, any time an episode too obviously tackles a theme, it comes off false. It's better to let things play out as subtext, the show is good enough that we get what they're doing.

So, in general I'm thrilled with the direction of the show. The few hiccups along the way don't detract from the way the series has created a very unique world that's unlike anything I've seen before on TV. I'm not a big football fan and I usually hate stuff about the middle of the country, but the show completely won me over. This is easily the best new show of the season, and one of the best on TV right now.

Best Album of the Year

2008: Cut Copy- In Ghost Colours
2007: Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
2006: Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
2005: The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black
2004: The Polyphonic Spree - Together We're Heavy
2003: Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress
2002: Doves - The Last Broadast
2001: Daft Punk - Discovery
2000: Phoenix - United
1999: Mr. Bungle - California
1998: Air - Moon Safari
1997: Radiohead - OK Computer
1996: Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
1995: Radiohead - The Bends
1994: Tori Amos - Under the Pink
1993: U2 - Zooropa
1992: Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes
1991: U2 - Achtung Baby
1990: Depeche Mode - Violator
1989: Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
1988: Morrissey - Viva Hate
1987: U2 - The Joshua Tree
1986: The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
1985: The Smiths - Meat is Murder
1984: Prince - Purple Rain
1983: Pink Floyd - The Final Cut
1982: Michael Jackson - Thriller
1981: U2 - October
1980: David Bowie - Scary Monsters and Super Creeps
1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall
1978: Patti Smith - Easter
1977: Pink Floyd - Animals
1976: Electric Light Orchestra - A New World Record
1975: Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
1974: David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
1973: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1972: David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust
1971: Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV
1970: The Beatles - Let It Be
1969: The Beatles - Abbey Road
1968: The Beatles - The Beatles
1967: The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
1966: The Beatles - Revolver
1965: The Beatles - Rubber Soul

Friday Night Lights - Pilot (1x01)

I'd heard good things about this show back when it debuted, but I was busy watching a whole bunch of other shows. Now that most stuff is going on post sweeps hiatus I figured it was time to take a look, and after one episode, I'm totally wowed. I've mentioned before that in recent years, the quality of pilots has improved a lot, a lot of shows are coming out of the gate fully formed, which just wasn't true ten years ago. In some cases, such as Studio 60 or Lost, the pilot is the series highpoint, and I'm hoping that's not the case in Friday Night Lights, because this pilot is one of the best starts to a series I've seen.

Now, I haven't seen the film the show was based on, so maybe this seems so well formed because it ha the movie to draw from. But, as a new viewer, I was really impressed by the show's use of art cinema style and documentary conventions to create a reality. The show this is closest to is Battlestar Galactica, which has a similar handheld style, making frequent use of zooms and cuts to give the feeling that this is really happening and we're trying to keep up and follow the action. I love this style of filmmaking, to some extent it's become a cliche denoter of realism, but it's nowhere near as cliche as the classical Hollywood conventions that govern most shows. People still have this mindset that shot/reverse shot, wide/close dynamics are the way film should be, and anything else is gimmicky. That simply isn't true, the style used here works really well with the material and does make it feel real.

The standout scenes in terms of this are the diner scene and the party scene. There, we cut between a variety of narrative strands, hearing snippets of conversation then moving forward to something else. In this pilot, rather than trying to specifically develop the characters, the goal seems to be to give you a portrait of the town. So, we meet a variety of people who demonstrate the values of this town. It is an economically depressed area that has largely been left behind, and the one uniting force in the town is the football team. It transcends high school to define existence for all these people. That's certainly weird to see, and the show does a good job of getting you into this world without an outside point of view. To some extent, the news crew is used to give some quick exposition, but generally we're allowed to just view the world on its own terms. I like the fact that no one is there to question their values, instead that act of questioning is left up to the viewer.

I've talked a lot about how TV has surpassed film in many ways. This show is shot better than the vast majority of movies out there. It has the dynamic energy of indie films like My Summer of Love, where the emphasis is largely on creating visual moments rather than conveying all the details of a story. I love the music, and the silent moments where the camera drifts down the street. The radio show is another great conceit, an omnipresent voice pressuring the coach. One of the coolest sequences was the silent practice with the peewee team, which segued into the locker room prayer. I was surprised to see them pray, and I think that's something deliberately designed to confront blue state viewers with the differences of this world.

This all leads up to the game itself. The pacing here is pretty quick and the one thing that struck me as off was just showing the touchdowns. But, once Street gets hit, everything slows down and we get a much better sense of the reality of this moment. I think it's a great testament to the show that for all its art cinema flourishes, it still provides the basic narrative tension that engrosses you in the action. The problem with doing this sort of subtle character development is that it sometimes means distancing the audience. At the same time, using tired editing techniques just to build tension is too transparent. Here, the presentation is so strong, I was on some level aware I was being manipulated, but I just didn't care. When Saracen is given the ball, I really wanted him to succeed. I love the juxtaposition of Street being cut out of his football stuff, really nasty stuff, with the triumph on the field. There's this very quick shift of emotions, and when that final pass is up in the air, you can tell that in that moment, everyone in the stands has forgotten about Street, they just want someone to catch the ball.

But, that moment of triumph is quickly undercut, first with another prayer, and then with the tense ending at the hospital. And that's the sign of a good series, the ability to make you care so much about what happens in the moment, and also realize that, in the long run, it's rather insignificant.

I thought this pilot was fantastic. It created an entire world, with a very distinct mood and feel in only one episode. The characters weren't developed in the traditional TV way, but I already have a sense of them, and I'm curious to see how things develop. There's a lot of potential here, and I'll definitely catch up on all that's aired in the next couple of weeks.

Weekend Update

History of Melody Nelson Videos

Yesterday I watched the TV special that Serge Gainsbourg did for his 'History of Melody Nelson' album. It's available in seven parts on Youtube. As I've already written about, I love the album and it was cool to see it visualized. There's not much of a narrative to the songs, but you get the basic idea of what happens through Serge's interactions with Jane Birkin as Melody. The visuals are very abstract, most of the songs feature our heroes superimposed over weird spinning patterns. My favorite video is the first, showing Serge driving along, passing through a bunch of lights and colors. The video for 'L'Hotel Particulier' is nice as well, following Serge and Jane through a variety of classic paintings. The only problematic one is the finale, 'Cargo Culte,' which focuses on African tribal imagery for some reason. But, it returns to Jane by the end and resolves nicely. I thought this was a great series of videos and I'd love to see a higher quality version on DVD. The album is still one of the all time greats, and if you haven't heard it, check out this video below.



Inland Empire Trailer

In other video news, the trailer for David Lynch's Inland Empire is up online. I saw the film and reviewed it back in October, but I'm looking forward to a second viewing when I return home in a couple of weeks. The trailer isn't exactly representative, I don't think anything could be, but it captures a lot of the film's mood. Also, I believe the vocals on that song are by Lynch himself, but I'm not positive on that one. This is a film where it's pretty safe to watch the trailer, there's so much in there, it's tough to spoil.



The Fountain Dries Up

It's been tough to see last weekend's box office report, and see The Fountain get so few viewers. I've followed this film for six years, and even though the film itself was great, I'd have liked to see it make more of a cultural impact than it did. Now, I'm sure this will be one that people will rediscover on DVD, but if you want to see more films like this get made, go see them in the theaters. If everyone who likes Eternal Sunshine now went to see it in the theater, it'd probably be a lot easier to get adventurous films like that made. But, I feel like people go to the movies that are most hyped, the ones that you need to see to be part of the cultural dialogue. And, outside of the internet, The Fountain is not a part of that dialogue.

Weeds Season Two

I finally finished watching the second season of Weeds earlier today. The last run of episodes was great, with an expertly constructed cliffhanger to top it off. I prefer the show when it's in dramatic mode rather than broad comedy mode, and this final arc, in which Peter turns on Nancy was the best thing the show's ever done. Plus, Nancy and Conrad are fantastic together, there's a chemistry there that makes all their scenes together great. Zooey Deschanel fits right in with the cast, hopefully she'll be back next season, and I like how they use her to help develop Andy a bit. The show grew a lot with the second season and I'll definitely be back to see how things are resolved next year.

More on the Preacher show

There's an interesting interview with Mark Steven Johnson here, in which he talks about his plans for the Preacher show. I like the idea of one episode an issue, the Grandma storyline will certainly provide a nice first season finale. I'll be curious to see how the show winds up, this isn't a series where the comics connection is instantly apparent, so it could wind up attracting a general, rather than fanboy audience. That's not to say that superhero films don't attract a general audience, it's just that they're usually ghettoized, where a show like Carnivale isn't. More generally, I'm curious about how people will adapt to watching a show where they already know what will happen. If the general viewer wants spoilers, they'll be readily available, and I'll be curious to see how many people get hooked on the series and wind up reading the comic because they need to know what will happen next. And, how will this show affect Alan Ball's upcoming vampire series, True Blood?

Veronica Mars: Season Three, Part One

Now that the first mystery of the season is over, it seems like as good a time as any to check in on Veronica Mars. Most shows have a lot of trouble transitioning from high school to college, and I think Veronica has done a smoother job it than Buffy or Gilmore Girls. However, the primary reason for this is that they've made very few changes to the show from the high school years. Everyone that Veronica knows has gone to Hearst, even Weevil is a janitor there. So, other than calling the cafeteria a dining hall, and getting some new antagonists, this is the exact same show it was the previous two years. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, clearly it was a formula that worked, but at the same time, it feels like the show hasn't grown.

Part of the reason that's difficult is because of Veronica herself. With Buffy, there was real difference between college and high school. Xander never got a job at the college, instead he was left behind, and that was a great choice. When you go to college, everyone you know doesn't follow you, and there are people like Xander, who get left behind. Similarly, Buffy runs into issues with her parental figure, Giles. She has trouble incorporating him into her new worldview, she's outgrowing him, and we don't get that same tension with Veronica and Keith. I think it would have been smarter to not have her live at home, that way there'd be more tension in the relationship, with Veronica working on cases without his knowledge or approval.

The major reason they can't do this is because none of the other characters are complex or developed enough to sustain their own storylines. Xander could easily handle an A storyline, but I don't think the same is true of Wallace. He's given a couple of decent storylines, but generally speaking, he remains the same person he was back in high school, Veronica's sidekick. Ironically, despite being added to the opening credits, Mac has even less screentime. This is a huge mistake, we should be seeing more of how her experience with Beaver affected her, but that's only really touched on in the first episode.

That's symptomatic of a larger problem, which is the show's reluctance to use its history to its advantage. There are references to past episodes, but generally speaking, there is not strong character development over time. Some awful stuff happened at the end of last season, and they should have engaged with that more. Now, a major reason for the reluctance to do so was likely the desire to make it easy for new viewers to watch the show. There's validity to that, but I think it's possible to incorporate arcs that build off of old stuff without requiring the audience to know the exact details of what happened. If you just started watching the show this season, you'd have no concept of Mac as a character, she'd just be Veronica's friend who appears occasionally.

There are similar problems with the new characters. For one, they don't get much screentime, so you don't really know them. I just had to look on IMDB to find Parker's name, which shows how much she's impacted the show. The problem with her is that they set up a specific kind of personality in the first episode, then having her get raped negates all that personality. So, who is she now? That is never really clarified. Piz is the archetypal self deprecating nice guy who cropped up often on Buffy, always as a contrast to her real desire for the bad boy figure. Now, I think Logan is the most interesting character on the show, but with Veronica's morality, there's no real reason that she should be interested in him.

Veronica has a very strict manichean worldview. With her dad's affair, she refuses to consider that it might make him happy. Admittedly, she has seen a lot of these kind of affairs that go wrong, but I feel like she's acting a bit hypocritical when she is dating someone who's been involved in all sorts of bad stuff. With Buffy, it made sense for her to be attracted to Spike because having her drawn to the darkness was a part of her character. We never get that sense with Veronica, when she crosses the line, it's in being utterly cold, there is none of the emotional heat that Buffy had. Veronica's decision to break up with him does make sense, but I'm sure they'll inevitably be drawn back together.

The other major issue I had with this part of the season is with the overall mystery. Now, having your best friend murdered isn't very nice, but I think we're more used to dealing with a whodunit, and it's not as fun to engage in a whorapedher. And, the resolution wasn't particularly exciting. A couple of peripheral characters did it because they could. The resolution of the first mystery was great, and the second season's was solid as well, but this one felt like they just picked a couple of people and had them do it. Plus, I think it's troubling that Veronica has been dosed with GHB so many times. I feel like it's crossing the line from something interesting to a kind of perverse punishment for the character. They've made her so steely that it takes literally being drugged to give her any kind of weakness.

But, there is one element of the show that always works and that's Dick. Every scene he has with Veronica is funny, and a nice counterpoint to her usual seriousness. Logan's also still pretty interesting, though a bit neutered this season. I'm still enjoying the episodes, but the show's not growing, and that's a problem. What did this season's nine episode long rape arc do that wasn't already done in the standalone episode that introduced it last season? Not much. The show needs to commit to giving more development and better arcs to its supporting cast, and challenge Veronica with more than just rape drugs.

Battlestar Galactica - 'Unfinished Business' (3x09)

The premise here wasn't too promising, and even after the episode was over, the sudden introduction of boxing into the universe felt a bit weird, but if you roll with that, it's actually a great hour, and a nice return to form after a couple of off weeks.

The thing that stands out most here is the structure of the show. Very few other shows on television attempt the complex structural and storytelling techniques used on Galactica. In mid season two, they did a bunch of start at the end, track back episodes, and those were generally unsuccessful. What we have here are two seperate storylines that progress forward independently, and comment on each other as they progress. The show does a lot of impressionistic openings, presenting a bunch of images whose meaning only becomes gradually clear. They usually save this for big episodes, like the season one finale or this year's premiere, but it works well here too.

The most interesting thing about this episode was definitely the look back on life at New Caprica. When I heard they would be doing a flashback episode filling in the 18 month gap, I wasn't too excited because I got the sense that they skipped over all the interesting stuff, and looking back would ony mean dwelling on some inconsequential stuff. That is true to some extent, but at this point, just seeing the happiness and optimism they have about New Caprica is powerful. They all seem so happy and the blue skies are such a contrast to the oppressive gray we see later in the Cylon era. I think Baltar got a bad rap throughout the season, but here, it looks like his decision has really worked out. I particularly like Adama and Roslin, their drug fueled ruminations on the future of the planet are great.

The problem with doing any flashback episode is that it has to fit into what we've already seen in the series. In the last episode, the major issue was, if this is so important to Adama, why have we never heard about it before? To some extent, the story with the Chief runs into that issue. At first, it felt totally arbitrary that he would choose to fight the chief, but eventually it becomes clear that he's not fighting the chief, he's fighting the complacency that allowed the cylons to so thoroughly rout New Caprica. Much like on the original Caprica, they got lazy, let their guard down and were overwhelmed by the cylon force. Adama is basically saying that he won't allow that to happen again. He lets himself be hurt as a way of showing to the men that it's important to always be ready for a fight.

Having Roslin all of a sudden be into boxing was a bit ridiculous, but the other scenes between the two of them were great. That's true of a lot of the episode, having the characters suddenly invested in boxing is just weird, but the way it's intercut with the New Caprica stuff makes it work. The boxing become a purely allegorical piece of storytelling, a means to work out what the story is really about, the lingering emotional tensions between the crew.

I've never been particularly invested in the Kara/Lee relationship, but this episode does a good job of telescoping their whole history into a few moments. I like the way moments are continually replayed, and over the course of the episode, we're given context for what we're seeing. The shots on New Caprica are so good looking, it's a joy just to be back there. I really wish they had the budget to spend more time there.

The ending is the most effective part of the episode, particularly the brutality of the fight. Kara seems devoted solely to hurting Lee, and that means using kicks, elbows, anything. I like how the show never even makes issue of the fact that Lee is fighting a woman, Kara is his equal, or superior, in all respects, and the end of the episode makes the point that they're so even, neither can ever definitively top the other. It's that equality that makes them so attractive to each other, no one else in on their level, and if one of them definitively won, it would let them both move on. But, after the stalemate, they each see the other as the archetypal male or female against whom all others will be judged.

So, I really enjoyed this episode. The boxing initially felt a bit goofy, but it worked really well in context, and the narrative structure here was fantastic. The music was also critical to making the episode work, building mood and momentum through the repeating string motifs. It's a testament to the episode that I wasn't even missing Baltar and the cylons, the Galactica stuff was that solid.

Babylon 5: 1x01-1x03

After watching the pilot, I wasn't thrilled with Babylon 5. But, as promised, things improve as it goes into the series. The first episode is basically a revised pilot, introducing us to the new characters and re-establishing the status quo on the station. What stands out immediately is the loss of most of the really bad actors. Ivanova has a lot more personality than Takashima, it's always good to have a contentious supporting cast rather than people who totally believe in the mission. With Ivanova, I see a lot of potential for future development, and we even get some more layers here, with the death of her father and her story about her mother. Plus, it's nice to see Bill's mom from Freaks and Geeks getting some work.

There's a lot more tension here. In 'The Gathering,' there's very little actual conflict, but the attack on the colony lends urgency to what's going on. Plus, it allows for some humanization (or Centauriazation) of Londo. After three episodes, I'm still not sure about Londo. He's a very entertaining character, but sometimes feels a bit too broad. He was better in the third episode, gradually becoming more than just funny hair and an accent. It doesn't help that his assistant seems to be right off of a bad sitcom. It's hard to take a character seriously when he's dealing with such goofy help. On Buffy, there were a lot of complaints about the goofiness of Andrew, but I always found him funny in a smart way. This assistant guy just isn't funny, and that makes him only annoying. I think the guy could bring a bit more realism to the acting.

The Captain is also still a question mark. I really didn't like him in the pilot, and I don't know if it's that he's improved or that I've gotten used to him, but he's definitely less offensive. That said, I still don't buy him as the center of the show, and it feels odd that he's always involved in the action. We never see Bill Adama going out in the Viper, and similarly, I don't know if the head of this whole station should be out on fighter missions. Admittedly, it's needed for the plot, but I feel like it might have been better to make a seperate pilot hotshot character and captain character. Of course, that could just be the Battlestar influence talking.

The effects were a real problem in the pilot, but I'm getting used to them a bit more. The rendering is pretty bad, but I think they are successful in terms of free camera movement. You can do more with these CG ships than with models, and the fights are pretty well done. However, the basic issue remains that they're clearly fake, and the story has to be better to compensate for that. In any sci-fi show, you must willingly cross into the universe. Sometimes when I catch a snippet of Buffy or Angel out of context, it looks absolutely ridiculous. But when you're watching the show, it feels perfectly natural. I'm still not quite at home in the Babylon 5 world.

A simpler trouble arises in the second episode, a standalone that feels a lot like a bad X-Files episode. The Soulhunter is a decent idea, but so much time is spent on drawn out dialogue scenes, the episode never really comes together. It's a visual medium, and I understand the budgetary limitations, but a snappier pace is needed to keep things interesting. We do get some interesting teases about the future, and possible developments with the Minbari, but that's not enough to make the episode work.

I'm hoping that there's not a long period where every episode is a standalone. I get the need to set up the universe, but I feel like there are more exciting stories that could have worked to set up the Minbari world. For example, the next episode does a good job of setting up Centauri culture and developing both G'Kar and Londo. It wasn't a particularly unique plot, but it was the most emotionally involved I've been in an episode so far.

I'm curious to see if relationships become central to the series as it goes on. So far, the show seems pretty cold, and I don't see the potential for a relationship with the fire of a Buffy/Spike, or more accurately, there's no indication that kind of storytelling is a priority for JMS. The Captain has his girlfriend, but other than that, everyone just seems to be there.

So, I'm not fully sold on the series. The standalone structure isn't what I usually like, and there's too much of a sitcom style, set up conflict, resolve it all by the end, have a nice happy ending structure, but I was more entertained by each episode here than I was by the pilot. I'm really curious to see how it develops and how all of the hints dropped here eventually play out over the course of the series.

Comics to Film/TV: The Latest

Back when I first started reading comics, I read with baited breath every rumor about the possibility of a Watchmen or Preacher movie, even hoping that the awful sounding Sandman movie would get off the ground. I'm not sure why, I guess part of it was to bring these stories to more people, and also just curiosity about how to do it. Then, I saw the From Hell movie, absolutely awful, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, even worse, and V For Vendetta, a good movie, but nowhere near the book.

By this point, I'll admit I'm always curious to hear about progress on a project, but I don't particularly want most comics I really like to get made into a movie. It's particularly odd that so many Alan Moore books are getting adapted. What makes Moore so unique is the way that he makes use of all that comics have to offer as a storytelling form. Watchmen has a great story, but even if you tell the whole story, the film still won't have a lot of the impact of the book. Watchmen is often called comics' Citizen Kane, and just like Kane, the form is critical to the success of the work. Nobody would want to read Citizen Kane as a comic, and that's the equivalent of what a Watchmen movie would be.

If this Zach Synder Watchmen movie does happen, I'm sure I'll watch it, but if it doesn't happen, I won't particularly care. I think the great myth of these films is that it gets people to read the books. In some cases, it does, but I think it puts things the wrong way around. People read V For Vendetta the book and compare it to the film, it ceases to be an original work unto itself.

But, a development I am interested to see is the just announced HBO Preacher series. I'm always annoyed when longform comic series are turned into movies, the two forms don't match. Preacher fits perfectly with a TV show aesthetic, and HBO is one of the few places that will have no problem dealing with the violent and sexual content. Plus, the whole joy of the series was the evolving relationship and that'll be easier to work with in this form. I guess I'm more attached to Preacher as a story than as a complete work of art, so I think it could do better in translation. If the casting's right, the show will write itself.

Considering both HBO and Vertigo are in the Time Warner empire, if this show is a success, I wouldn't be surprised to see more Veritgo books turned into TV shows. I think the most obvious candidate is Y: The Last Man, which has a perfectly promotable high concept, if you can't make a good pilot out of it, then you shouldn't be working in television. I think 100 Bullets would also work really well, it's nicely episodic already and would be a new twist on the crime genre.

Of course, for me the big one would be The Invisibles. It's still shocking to me that no Grant Morrison stuff has been adapted for the screen. He's got so many quality projects, you'd think one of them would have stuck. Morrison is still little known outside of comics, despite the fact that he's an equal of Moore. I guess it's because Morrison has less easily accessible one volume works, a lot of his best stuff is longform, and tied up in a lot of continuity. But, perhaps I should be happy that I've been spared adaptations on the level of Moore's work.

If I got the chance, there's two comics I would want to adapt for the screen, and only two. One would be Miracleman. Of all Moore's major works, this one is the least tied into comics form. Totelben's art in the last book is some of the best ever, but that's more due to his pointilistic style than to anything particular in the layouts. The story is also easily accessible, and in today's post Heroes world, would have a very broad appeal. Superhero movies are now so prevalent, I think we're ready for the deconstructionist take, and few works are better at first breaking down, then reimagining the superhero than Miracleman.

I would make books one and two into one movie, ending with the birth of Miracleman's child. Then, do book three as a second movie. The brawl between Miracleman and Kid Miracleman is still unmatched in comics, and it'd be cool to imagine the world described in Olympus. The primary issue I could see there is that the fight would be the height of narrative tension and the worldbuilding might be a bit anticlimactic. So, perhaps it would need to be a trilogy.

The other work I'd be really curious to see a film of is Flex Mentallo. Flex is Morrison's response to the deconstructionist 80s works by Alan Moore, and I think no work does a better job of articulating the essential appeal of superheroes, the wonder and magic inherent within the concept. I love the fractured narrative structure, and it'd be cool to cut between Wallace Sage's suicide attempt and the superhero stuff with Flex. I would shoot Wallace in low end DV, and Flex in 35mm film, then find some kind of median when the two worlds intersect. More than anything, the key would be not trying to increase narrative comprehensibility, but rather use music and editing rhythm to let the viewer just drift through the world.

The two things that film has that comics do not are sound and motion. I enjoyed the Sin City film, but it's ultimately pointless, a film should not use the comic as a storyboard, I'd prefer to see a film use the comic narrative as a jumping off point to create a Wong Kar-Wai style immersive journey through another world. Flex would be perfect for that, with a lot of montage editing and voiceover to link the disparate story strands. I feel like comic book adaptations should use what cinema has to offer, and try to stand as a nice addition to the original work, rather than a replacement.

Ghost World is the best graphic novel adaptation because it captures the soul of the original work and also adds something new. You can read the two side by side and see them each as pieces of a larger universe. I hope that Preacher feels the same way, a growth upon the original and not just a second generation degraded copy.

The New World: Redefining Cinematic Language

To celebrate thanksgiving, I rewatched Terence Malick's The New World. I saw the film last New Year's Eve and loved it. I was really disappointed to see the film get critically savaged, but thankfully a small online cult of admirers has risen up, and I think future viewers will rank the film right alongside Malick's 70s work. I think it's easily his best movie, and also one of the greatest films of all time.

The thing I love about the film is the way it thoroughly immerses you in a world. Most films are designed to tell a story, and they use a language that was codified in the classical Hollywood era. Films may be paced faster and less narratively cohesive than they were then, but it's still the same basic structures, shot/reverse shot dialogue, and all style and technique designed to move the narrative forward. It's like this is what film must do, and you very rarely see films that manage to tell a story in a totally different way. The New World is one of them.

Days of Heaven was Malick's first masterpiece, a film that was revolutionary in its focus on visual storytelling. There's very little dialogue in his work, rather, he uses music and voiceover to convey meaning. He's at his best when working with very simple stories, one of the reasons The Thin Red Line is his weakest film is that there's too many characters and events, no chance to just get lost in the emotion of the moment. In The New World, the story is a simple cultural myth, and that means most of the basic work is done for him. Doing a straight adaptation of the Pocohontas story would be horribly misguided because we already know what will happen. To try to build tension in traditional ways just wouldn't work. Because we already know what happens, Malick chooses to focus on immersing us in the world, and making us feel what these characters felt at the time.

In doing so, Malick helps to pioneer a new time of filmmaking that has emerged in the past ten years or so. I think the originator is Wong Kar-Wai, a director whose mid 90s work uses incredibly over the top stylistic techniques to construct uniquely emotional moments. I think Fallen Angels is the most beautifully shot movie of all time because not only are the shots well composed and aesthetically pleasing, each frame illuminates the characters' emotions. The best moments in film are almost always about a fusion of visual and music, and virtually every moment in The New World is just that, a visual narrative with musical accompaniment designed to create an emotional reaction. This is his goal with every moment of the movie, to make you feel. The voiceovers aren't so much about conveying information, it's a spell designed to immerse you in the world the characters are experiencing.

As the film opens, Pocohontas says "Come spirit, let me sing the story of this world," invoking a mystical storytelling power to help create a reality. This is very much in line with what Alan Moore or David Lynch talk about, the idea that the storyteller is a vessel through which some the collective unconscious expresses itself. The editing of the film makes you feel that you're being taken on a kind of hallucinatory journey, experiencing many years of history in a state of reverie. It uses dreamlogic or drug logic, moments stringing together outside of time, rising and falling like music.

The best example of this is near the beginning of the film, after Smith is spared. We experience the essence of his relationship with Pocohontas through a series of perfectly chosen moments. What makes it different than a typical montage is the way the characters seem to step outside of time. The events are arranged into a beautiful pattern of rising emotion, culminating in the unbelievable shot in which the camera rotates around Pocohontas, lightning crashing on the shores behind her. To watch the sequence is like experiencing a compressed dose of pure love, the sequence is a dream of a world that could be, and we spend the rest of the film wanting to return to this pure state.

We finally return there at the end of the film, when Pocohontas comes to terms with the loss of the life she had. The film is largely concerned with growing up, and in her son, she sees the same sense of wonder that she once had. Running through the garden, she rediscovers the passion, culminating in the fantastic scene where she cartwheels across the grass in her formal dress. With the music swelling, we experience her death not as sadness, but as passage, a return to whence she came, and it is good. The editing returns us to that moment we thought lost.

A lot of complaints about The New World claim that it was all style, no substance. In cinema, style is the substance. No other medium can so thoroughly affect your perception and immerse you in a completely different world. This film made me feel like I was there at the birth of contemporary America, and through it, I understood the conflicting emotions they felt at the time. That is a more substantial experience than comes from passive engagement with a traditional narrative. Most films are concerned with making you feel for the characters. This film makes you feel exactly what the characters are feeling, and I think that's a more valuable endeavor.

There are moments in this movie that are among the most beautiful in cinema history. They are beautiful not only from an aesthetic point of view, it is also an emotional beauty. Q'orianka Kilcher in particular conveys such pure joy, it doesn't feel like acting at all, she is completely in that moment. Seeing her joy is infectious.

So, I feel like this film is creating a new cinematic language, one that relies on visuals not words as the foundation point. Film was at first inspired by theater, and then by novels, but in recent years we've seen movies that are not governed by traditional scripts, rather they're governed by the possibilities of visual connection. This film, Wong Kar-Wai's work, Miami Vice and David Lynch's Inland Empire all function in this respect, neglecting traditional, outmoded forms of characater development, preferring instead to focus on putting you in a world and making you feel that way. This film has images so powerful, they touch something primal. It is one of the greatest films of all time, and a critical moment in the evolution of this new cinematic language.

Babylon 5: 'The Gathering'

Back in 2003 when I started watching Buffy on DVD, I'd seen very few long form TV series, but over the past few years, I've gone through pretty much every show I really wanted to see, the shows that were considered essential works of longform television storytelling. However, there was one still out there that I'd heard great things about, and that's Babylon 5. The thing that stopped me from watching it before was the first season's bad reputation.

Most shows today are able to start off strong. For whatever reason, the medium has evolved to the point where a show like Six Feet Under or Lost can come out with a first episode that instantly places you in a specific world, with developed characters and strong style. In the case of Lost, this first episode turned out to be the best moment of the series, but back in the early 90s, it seems like it took longer for shows to find their voice. Buffy's first season is decent, but almost embarassing compared to the greatness that would shortly follow. The same thing is true for The X-Files, which took a season to really find its voice. If I was watching Buffy as it aired, I'm not sure if I would have made it through the first season. And, in the case of Babylon 5, I'm pretty sure I would not make it past the pilot. But, there's an advantage in knowing that something will get better and that means that I'll stick with the show despite the very weak opening.

The first thing that stands out watching the show today is the pathetic effects work. At the time, it was apparently groundbreaking, but most videogames today have better stuff than what we've got here. Particularly coming off of a show like Battlestar Galactica, it's jarring to see stuff that doesn't even come close to reality. As the episode went on, I got more used to it and was able to accept that this is just how it is and I can't ask for more. It does hurt though because any time we're presented with something that's supposed to be dramatic happening in space it has to overcome the hurdle of the blatantly unreal effects.

But, that's not my major problem with the episode. In sci-fi, there's an inherent ridiculousness to the material, and it's up to the actors to make the world into a place that's emotionally real. Someone like Patrick Stewart or Edward James Olmos brings the gravitas you need to create a believable world. Alas, our captain here feels more like a game show host or used car salesman, you get no sense that he's invested in the world, it's more like he's trying to avoid being embarassed by working on the show. His second in command, the Asian woman, is even worse, delivering every line with the same b-movie mix of anger and disinterest. The alien actors are much better, when they're on, it's easier to believe in the reality of the world.

The acting is my main issue with the pilot. I'm not expecting much from the first season, but I just don't see most of these actors ever doing something great. Now, I also couldn't see most of the Buffy actors ever doing the stuff they would do over the course of the series, but most of them were at least alright in the first season, not actively bad.

What's most exciting about the pilot is the glimpses of the larger world in which the series takes place. It seems like the series' overall arc will revolve around the difficulties that the various alien races have in co-existing. Presumably they'll move towards the goal of a universal peace, but constantly be undermined by individual jealousy and selfishness. There's certainly potential in the premise, and pieces of the episode are good, but generally speaking the acting and effects prevent the series from creating a believable reality.

It's always unfortunate to watch a show like this after seeing what it spawned, in a Battlestar Galactica or Firefly. The latter have access to so many more resources in creating their effects, it's very difficult to compare. Yet, you don't really have a choice, and rather than BSG being a pleasant surprise in the growth in quality of its effects work, Babylon 5 winds up looking far below standard.

But, I will be sticking with the show, at least through the first season because I would love to see something as good as people say the later seasons of the show are.