Friday Night Lights: Season Four

I just watched the season finale of the fourth season of Friday Night Lights, a season that rivals the series' first for emotional power and directness. The show has performed an astonishing course correct, after plummeting terribly in the second season, the third brought together a lot of elements successfully, and paved the way for the series' impressive full on rebirth in this fourth season. The series seamlessly managed to integrate an entire new premise and cast of characters, while still giving some long timers their best material on the series to date.

Let me first talk about perhaps my favorite arc of the season, and a great example of the show finding power and drama in everyday life, the Tim Riggins storyline that crossed the season. The arc felt like a David Gordon Green film played out across thirteen episodes, with the same heartbreakingly gorgeous visuals, particularly during Tim and Becky's kiss in the field at golden hour, as well as the low key drama that flows organically out of daily life.

The thing I loved most about the story in its final moments, and the season as a whole across all characters, is the way that it downplayed situations that could have been big blow ups, and made them feel more real. The season ends with Tim Riggins going to prison, but no one really talks about it in a direct way, it's all beneath the surface, and I think that's how a lot of real life conflict is dealt with. It swirls around in your head and you try to ignore it, but just can't. When you experience big events in your life, they usually don't feel big in the moment, it's only in retrospect that you fully realize their significance. So, even though this decision he makes for Billy is perhaps the most important in his life, Tim doesn't break down or betray his fears. We know they're there, but this feels like a moment that just happens. In real life, narrative arcs aren't quite as clear, and you just do the things you have to do and press on.

This approach, keeping events that could be played huge either dramatically or melodramatically, low key and realistic also worked to ground some of the crime elements in reality. Vince gets caught up in criminal activity, and it just sort of happens, it's not dwelled on or fully dealt with on an emotional level. He's in over his head and that's reflected in our experience of what he goes through. The key thing to note is that it's not simple dedramatization, or a decision to take the emotion out of the viewing experience. We feel the emotion all the more because the characters can't fully admit it, they soldier on even as things crumble around them, never realizing the extent of what's happened to them.

Getting back to Riggins, the show ran into trouble in season two when it separated characters and left them on story islands that didn't connect to the main arc. Riggins' story does that again, he mainly interacts with Becky, and she barely interacts with anyone else, but the story feels so connected to the town and the kind of lives that people like Riggins live that it seems totally essential to the mission of the series.

And, on top of that, we've been with this character for so long that he can command his own storyline in a way that Tyra in season one or Lyla in season two could not. The slow growth of his relationship with Becky was fantastic, and she really blossomed as a character as well, struggling to move out of the shadow of her mother, even as she found herself getting closer and closer to what her mother has become.

The pitch of a love triangle between a mother, a daughter and Tim sounds like a recipe for comedy, but by making all the characters emotionally real, it takes on a gravity that it would otherwise lack. Becky loves Tim because he functions as the perfect hybrid of the father she never had and the boyfriend she'd always wanted. He's always there for her, and doesn't have much going on to distract his attention. He cares about her and goes to her pageant even though her father fails to, she's spent her own life playing the role of the perfect smart, polished girl, and it's only with Tim that she can be herself, and it's precisely because Tim won't just sleep with her that she likes him so much.

The last few episodes of the season converged in a brilliant, intense tragedy, with everyone's world crashing down around them. And one of the most devastating was the breakup of the perfect little family Tim had built for himself. For once, he had people who were proud of him and cared about him, but it was untenable. Cheryl is getting older, and for a woman who based so much of her identity around her sex appeal, that's hard to do. When Tim rejects her advances, he does it to try to keep things the same, but what it reads to Cheryl as is that she's too old. This devastates her, she has lost something that she can never get back. And, when she sees Tim and Becky together, she jumps to a conclusion and takes it all out on Tim. One of my favorite scenes of the season was Becky going to Tim and telling him that her mother wasn't right, that he is a good guy. That was extremely powerful and came organically out of the story being told.

This collided with the stealing cars storyline, leading to one of the best moments in the entire series, Billy's speech at Thanksgiving. The surface of the moment is fine, not totally unexpected, but the mix of emotions there, the knowledge that Billy will have to leave his family gives it an incredible poignancy and power. No one else there knows what he's talking about, except Tim, who is already formulating his plan. This leads to the great scene outside the house where he tells Billy what's going on, and the final sad march to the police station. Tim is taking the bullet on this one, and it reflects an incredible amount of growth on the character that he chose not to run, but to instead ensure that his nephew has a chance at a better life than he did.

But, the season was not just about Tim. I think there were some bumps along the way, not all the crime stories worked, and I feel like it would have been great to get a few more episodes to develop the Lions' progress a bit more, but perhaps this season took on the hyper pacing of Morrison's Final Crisis, giving us just enough of each story to get the emotional impact and then getting out. Think of something like the decision to not reveal that Becky and Luke slept together until she says that she's pregnant. I think it works because it makes their awkwardness around each other during the mid season more explicable, and also avoids the obvious foreshadowing and imposition of consequences that sleeping with someone once leads to a baby. The narrative event still happens, but our experience of it isn't the same because there's no moralizing about the action itself, we're just dealing with the consequences.

I would have liked more access to Becky's feelings about the abortion and how she's dealing with it, but again, the choice seems to be to not dwell on the obvious story, and instead to show her pain beneath the surface, but also acknowledge that this is something that happens in real life, and not everybody has to ruin their life because of it. I've only seen one TV series actually have a character get an abortion, Six Feet Under, so it was particularly courageous of them to go down this root and not do the obvious adoption or she decides to keep it storyline. Contrast that to films like Juno or Knocked Up to see where the edgier storytelling of 70s Hollywood lives on.

If there's one big frustration for me this year, it's the fact that Landry, the breakout star of season one, lost virtually everything that made the character unique. I'd have loved to see more of him and Devon in his band, but I guess the need to make him the one character we know on the Lions overwhelmed that. In general, I think the character was ruined, not so much by the murder plot which has been essentially retconned away, but by placing him on the football team. That made him like everyone else in Dillon, and took away his outsider status. He didn't have much to do this year, though it was satisfying to see him kick the game winner, and get a flash of the old Landry when he hung out with Matt.

Perhaps the best testament to the series' work this season is the seamless integration of so many new characters into the story. Looking at the fate of Rileys or Nikki and Paolos, it's clear that it's not easy to introduce a character into an existing series. But, Vince was an anchor of the season, and had one of the most interesting arcs, and Luke, despite not getting much screentime, still registered as a real presence. I'm eager to see more of Vince next year, and I think the show has done the near impossible of managing to see off virtually the entire main cast and still flourish and feel like the same show.

Of course, a lot of that is due to the continued wonderful work by Britton and Chandler as Eric and Tami. They're the best, most interesting functional couple in the history of television. The show seems to enjoy teasing the viewer with the suggestion that they're going to have blow ups or arguments, by doing scenes like Coach staying out drinking too late, or Tami not telling Eric about Glen kissing her, but they always weather the storm, and usually wind up joking about what could be a breakup motivator on another show.

I also like that Coach wanting to stay out drinking was played subtly, not made into a big deal. We know how frustrated he is with the Lions, how he's not used to having all the resources he wants and a winning team, and that frustration plays out in wanting to run away from his problems. I also like how the show makes a point of showing how he can't quite keep up with drinking all night anymore, particularly during the funny looking for his car scene.

And, the show remains one of the most beautiful in all of television. The shooting is realistic, but not in an ugly way, it captures the beauty of everyday life in a way that so few films do. It can make Dillon look like a prison, or make it look like the most beautiful place in the world, and the series' impeccable music always adds to the creation of sublime moments.

Ultimately, the fourth season was intensely powerful and riveting throughout. I know there are flaws, but I'd put this right up there with the first season, and maybe even a touch above. It's amazing that a show this low rated has had the chance to run for five years, and will get to go out on its own terms, but I'm thankful for that. It's one of the best series on TV, and I'm eager to see it finish its run next year.

Lost - 'What Kate Does' (6x03)

Last week's Lost had me feeling some uncertainties about the season's direction, and this week's only enhances that with an episode that feels right out of the problematic characters in cages era of the third season, backing it up with an alt-verse storyline that felt tacked on and inessential at best, outright illogical at worst. The cliffhanger ending and teaser for next week look great, but this week's episode was not a winner.

Let me start with the worst of it, the alt-verse Kate storyline, which didn't seem to add anything to the universe of the show. The big problem with any alternate universe is that you're not going to invest in the characters in the way that you have in the main universe. That usually leads to stories that have shocking twists, think Peter Parker's marriage to Gwen Stacey in House of M, or just pile on the spectacle, kill a bunch of characters and get out, like “Days of Future Past,” or Buffy's “The Wish.”

The Lost alternate universe is weird primarily in the way that it's being used. The very first moments of the alt-verse were fantastic, with the exciting trip to the drowned island, raising the question of how one change can create a butterfly of consequences. I'd be curious to explore the entire alternate history of the island, and the Dharma Initiative, and even see what happens to our characters, but that's something that I'm not particularly interested in on an emotional level, it's something I want to do on an intellectual level.

As such, it's mildly interesting to see that Claire winds up with Aaron anyway, and that Ethan happens to be a doctor on the mainland, and that information may play a big part in the prime-verse storyline down the line. But, even if it does, that doesn't make up for the fact that it's about the journey not the destination, and this Kate story didn't work. It felt like some leftover scripts from season three, repurposed for a new era. I have no idea what this story told us about the character that we didn't know before, namely that even though she does bad things, she secretly has a heart of gold. I didn't need to see that again, and certainly not in a storyline that seems inherently consequence free.

The creators promised to bring back a season one feel, and unfortunately, that's very much the case here, with a series of meandering island stories, intercut with a pointless off island story that has enough interesting ideas and a good cliffhanger to keep things moving. Notably, this episode featured none of the great characters introduced from seasons two through five, except for Miles who has to announce he's going to “the food court” just to get a line in the episode.

The fundamental flaw of many peoples' approach to the show is the idea that the off island flashbacks were character based storytelling while the on island stuff is all convoluted mythology. Character development in a six year series isn't telling us how someone got to where they were when the show began, it's about letting them change and develop in the moment. I feel like Juliet/Ben and the freighter people were a conscious effort to bring in characters who were more interesting than the first batch of characters, and now spend so much time with Jack and Kate drags the show backwards.

The series' most effective character arc happened not off island, but in the Dharma stuff that turned Sawyer from rogue to hero and domesticated man. One of my big problems viewing this season is that I was so invested in that Dharma stuff and the relationship between Sawyer and Juliet that I find myself hating Kate and Jack for ruining that, and being trapped in a position like Sawyer, lamenting the loss of those days.

And, I will commend the episode for showing us more of Sawyer's pain. And, the most effective Kate moment here was her crying on the dock, after realizing just how badly she'd screwed things up. I get the sense that she always felt like Sawyer was on the shelf, waiting for her if she ever wanted him, and knowing that he fell in love with someone else hurts her, and makes her realize how many things she's messed up in her life.

Elsewhere, the temple storyline is reminding me a lot of season three's troubled polar bear cages arc. It started out interesting as we get a glimpse of a new world on the island, but by this point, it's basically our characters sitting around doing nothing, asking questions that aren't answered, and being manipulated by all powerful enigmatic figures. The problem with this from a plot construction standpoint is that it reinforces the show's worst tendencies to be willfully obscure and make us focus on how many questions aren't being answered. I don't care about answers at this point, I think most stuff has been answered, but if you're not going to give answers, the episode has to have more to it than asking questions.

It's also frustrating to have an episode where Jack and Kate totally dominate, leaving everybody else on the sidelines. Hopefully they'll have the week off next week when we return to Locke, Ben and the rest of the gang, as well as the reborn feral Claire.

In terms of questions raised this episode, the big issue seems to be the nature of the Smoke Monster, and the way that his infection works on Claire and Sayid. Are they implying that Rousseau herself was infected by the Smoke Monster, hence her at times mentally off behavior? If that's the case though, it doesn't seem worthy of killing. But, this may be a more insidious infection. It would make sense to have Claire and Sayid corrupted so that Fake Locke will have some people to back him up in battle. Could we be building to a big battle where the Fake Locke revives everyone who's dead on the island and puts them into battle against the living?

It could also imply that Ben's own corruption and lying nature is a result of his corruption in the temple healing pool. That would tie together a lot of things, and would it mean that Sayid would essentially become Ben? The question then is why would the temple people let Ben go if they want to kill Sayid? Perhaps being actually dead makes your condition worse than if you were just injured then healed. As in all stories, every good things comes at a price.

It's also notable that some of the Others from Ben's group are in the temple. The question that raises is whether Ben knows about the temple and its healing properties in the present day. He went there as a kid, but do these guys know about what he's doing now? Is he exiled from their group? I'm imagining we'll get some clarification on this once the two stories come together. I do really like the idea of the Smoke Monster as incarnation of this essentially evil force, and I think it helps tie together a lot of disparate elements of the mythology in a satisfying way.

So, there's some good elements in this episode, most notably all the Sawyer stuff around the ghostly Dharma barracks as he struggles to come to terms with losing Juliet. However, the basic structure of the season still has me very concerned. I have no idea why they feel so resolutely committed to the off island/on island structure, particularly when the backhalf of season five, which featured no off island, was by far the show's high point. This alt-verse structure recalls the worst of seasons one through three, and even if it is vindicated by a great plot twist down the line, these episodes will still be dramatically flawed.

But, let's hope things pick up next week when we get a more interesting set of characters back and dig deeper into the mysteries of Fake Locke and perhaps even finally see Jin and Sun reunited.

The Third Age: Episode Twelve/Thirteen: 'The Last Supper'

Here's the last episode of Volume One! Zinone mulls an intriguing proposal from Jerrod Woolf, and makes a decision that will irrevocably change his world. The apocalypse begins here!

I'm really proud of this episode, and the series as a whole. Thanks to everyone who's been watching, and I'm eager to hear your thoughts on the season finale. And, if you aren't caught up, head over to http://watch.thethirdagebegins.com, where you can see all our previous episodes.

Also, look for a Lost post later tonight, and some more content later this week!

Lost - LA X (6x01/6x02)

Six months after I wrapped up my viewing of the entire Lost series to date, it’s time to check out the Lost season premiere, the first Lost episode I’ve watched as it aired since the first season finale. LA X is a strong episode in a lot of ways, but features a central narrative conceit that seems expressly designed to bring back everything I dislike about the show, creating for a fractured viewing experience that jumps between some really great stuff and some plot developments that even if they lead to good stuff later are just stagnant and tired here in the present.

Let me start with the bad, namely the alternate universe conceit, and how it was used here. In many ways, the low point of the series for me is the feels like fifteen minute slow motion shot in ‘Exodus’ showing everybody getting on the plane. There, it was frustrating to spend so much time on this while the plot points on the island moved forward at glacial pace. Here, we get a reprisal of that moment, this time with people actually getting off the plane, plus a bunch of other bad season one rehash stories.

I think the greatest misconception the Lost creators have, based on interviews I’m reading, is that season one is still peoples’ favorite. Season one is okay, but nothing compared to the best moments of seasons two or three, and nowhere near the heights the show hit in years four and five. And yet, the central purpose of this alternate universe thing seems to be to let us relive classic terrible stories like Kate on the run from the law or Jack feeling guilty about not fixing people.

Other than the Locke/Jack scene at the end of the episode and the surprise appearance of Desmond, every scene in the alternate universe felt like an attempt to “give the fans” something they, or at least I, don’t even want. Most of the series’ great characters were additions to the cast in the later years, the people whose personalities weren’t fit into neat boxes to accommodate flashbacks, and who don’t feel exhausted from overexplanation of their pasts. And, even originals who are still interesting, like Sawyer and Jin, are totally removed from the people they were in those early days.

Trying to relive the “glory” of season one is like Radiohead dropping OK Computer or Kid A then coming out and saying that they really want to get back to what they were doing with Pablo Honey. Those episodes don’t compare to the complexity or ambition of season five, and I’m baffled at this point as to why they chose to do this conceit.

Now, it may have a larger point in the overall narrative. I’m guessing that they’re going to somehow pull the real Locke out of the alt universe, perhaps after Jack heals him, and then real Locke will do battle with fake Locke. And, that’s a potentially good storyline, but I just don’t have that much interest in the series of disconnected stories that will likely lead there. Every story has to work both in a larger context and in the moment, this might work in the larger context, but in this episode at least, it didn’t work at all in the moment. The potential interesting stories are in finding out why the island is flooded and seeing what Juliet or Ben are up to, but I’m not sure that’s worth the terrible story that’s sure to come in “What Kate Does” next week.

I don’t know why the show continually looks backward when the stories are so much more interesting in the present. The reason seasons four and five were so great is that finally every part of the episode was worth watching and we didn’t have the frustrating bifurcated structure. Now, that structural annoyance is back and I find myself wanting to get out of the alt-verse and back to the present day of the islanders.

And things are much better there. Over with fake Locke, we get confirmation that fake Locke is the smoke monster, and see another demonstration of his powers. This makes a lot of sense, and goes a good ways towards tying the whole series together. Jacob and this guy (who really needs a name) are locked in an eternal battle to see if the people who land on the island can do good or if they’ll succumb to the fear manifested by the smoke monster.

The smoke monster has been shown as being able to manifest as dead people, so the question is raised whether the Jacob that Hurley sees is actually Jacob or if he’s the Fake Locke manipulating Hurley to go to the temple. The show implies that it’s the real Jacob, but it’s possible that it could be manipulation, along the lines of Ben seeing his daughter.

Everything on that side of the story was very exciting, and it looks like all our characters will finally be getting reunited soon, now that they’re back in the same time and place. The big question coming out of this is where is Fake Locke’s home. I’ve got no idea on that one, but it’s conceivable it could involve something in the alternate universe.

The question remains what was it that split the timeline. In the main timeline, it’s clear that the bomb exploding was what came to be called the incident by the Dharma people. It’s notable that when Desmond triggered the destruction of the hatch, we saw a similar white flash like in the other time jumps. Is it possible that there was a time jump there? I doubt the show would revisit that moment, but it was invoked here in the destroyed hatch site.

I’m not sure why, from a dramatic point of view, they chose to have Juliet survive. I loved that final scene with Sawyer, and I can see that she was needed to tell them that the alt-verse exists, but emotionally their farewell in “The Incident” was so raw, this scene, great as it was, can’t compare. I did love Sawyer burying Juliet on his own and forcing Miles to read her.

But, bringing Juliet back also reinforced one of my major issues with the show at this point, which is the renewed centrality of Jack and Kate to the narrative. I liked the 70s Dharma stuff so much, and I feel like bringing Jack and Kate in to screw things up there cemented the loathsomeness of the characters that had always been there. We’ve got Jack and Kates making dull storylines in two universes, and the show still seems to hold them up as heroes and sympathetic. The way things have gone, Sawyer has every right to be furious at Jack, and I think those two characters are so toxic at this point, I have no sympathy left for them at all.

It’s also notable that in that side of the story, almost all of the new characters are gone, and we’re back to the old, less interesting dynamic. It’s great to have Miles there, but it seems like they’re getting back to the old group of characters, and I’m not sure where he’s going to fit in.

But, that said, there was a lot of stuff that I did love in the premiere. A lot of the Sawyer stuff was great, all the Locke/Ben stuff, and also the nature of the temple was awesome. Seeing Cindy the flight attendant was a great surprise, and I loved the Apocalypse Now end of the road feel of their settlement. It felt like this might be where some of the surviving Dharma people went, or perhaps all these people are near immortal, like Richard. I loved that environment, and am eager to see more of it, and I love that the show is still presenting new characters and ideas and worlds at this point in its run.

Thinking more about the alternate reality device, it seems designed to prove what Fake Locke says to Ben, that everyone who came to the island wanted to leave, but they’re really better because of it. The plane crash was a new start for people trapped in lives they almost uniformly hated, and that always seemed to be the fundamental flaw of Jack’s plan. Why would Kate agree to go along with it when it meant she winds up back in custody? Why would anyone agree to wipe away the last five years of their life? I’m guessing the realization of the island’s importance in their lives and the fact that it was a curse not a blessing will be key to the finale, and ultimately be the purpose of the alt-verse storyline.

So, there’s a lot to like, but also some potential issues. The show is drifting from the things that I loved so much in season five, and does feel more like season one. But, why you would want to go back to the worst season, I don’t know! Maybe I’m alone in this, but if Jack and Kate died and we never saw the alt-verse, and just proceeded with the island stuff and spent some episodes with those temple folk, I’d be happy.

Lost, much like Locke, has a good self and a bad self. Will the bad self, the one centered around pop-psychology backstories and beaten to death character arcs for Jack and Kate triumph? Or will it be the good Lost, with interesting characters like Sawyer and Ben and crazy ideas and wildly ambitious conflicts be the winner? We’ll have to watch on and see.

The Third Age: Episode Eleven: 'A Very Generous Offer'

Check out the latest episode of my psychedelic webseries, The Third Age! With one episode to the finale, Zinone finds himself wondering whether he's a prisoner or a guest at Woolf Pharmaceutical!

In other news, check back later today for a post about the Lost premiere.

Comics, Continuity and Complexity

I’ve been reading a whole bunch of new comics lately, mostly stuff I’ve been getting out of the library. So, I’ve read a wide variety of stories, and been straying outside of the safe zone a bit and trying to read some new stuff. Two of the big ones I read recently were Warren Ellis’s Nextwave and Geoff Johns’ recent Green Lantern run, up through Secret Origin so far.

The two works are polar opposites in terms of approaches to comics, one a continuity laden multi-year saga dwelling in the deepest recesses of the DCU, while the other is a done in one, light fun jaunt through a parody version of the Marvel Universe that explicitly rejects continuity. The generally held belief would be that Nextwave would be much more likely to draw in a new reader and engage them, while Green Lantern would likely confuse and alienate someone new to comics. The thinking is that Nextwave is going to make more comics fans than Green Lantern would, and I don’t think that’s the case, at least when it comes to big two superheroics.

One of the most unique things about superhero comics that take place in the DC or Marvel universes is their vast continuity, the fact that each story is the product of thousands of individual issues and choices made by writers many years ago. It’s always exciting to me to see a reference to a story from the past that I’ve read, be it reading about Mon-El in Showcase Presents Titans then seeing him in Geoff Johns’ Superman, or seeing Grant Morrison riff on an Alan Moore Swamp Thing story in Seven Soldiers: Zatanna.

The common complaint is that these stories exclude new readers. I think that can be true for certain writers, but when applied successfully, as I’d argue good writers like Morrison or Johns do, the accumulated history of the universe makes for a deeper, more expansive universe. There’s a common misconception that you have to understand every element of a story to enjoy it, but that’s not the case at all. One of the beauties of a film like Star Wars is the sense that behind every corner of this world are other stories, other characters and lives being lived.

But, if Star Wars was a comic coming out today, people might complain that we have no idea who Greedo is, or who this Jabba the Hutt that they’re referring to is. But, the thing is, it doesn’t matter, we understand who they are through context clues. The best use of continuity in comics is to make it so that someone who isn’t familiar with the stories can understand it from the context, but someone who is familiar gets the added bonus of being able to connect this story to what’s come before.

Just to clarify, I don’t like stories that require you to read another book to understand it, but I absolutely love the way that Morrison and Johns have recurring elements and characters across all their books. It’s fun to see the Squire show up in his new Batman book, and be able to connect her to the JLA: Classified arc, or even his original JLA run. Similarly, in the Sinestro Corps War, we see the further development of Superboy Prime, connecting that story to Infinite Crisis, and laying the groundwork for Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds.

The problem I have with a book like Nextwave, or with the original manifesto of Ultimate Spider-Man as a series of self contained arcs is that it gives you no pleasure beyond the moment of reading it. Nextwave doesn’t ask for emotional engagement with the characters, and the characters don’t develop. One of the big pitches of the series is that you can read one arc or all six and still get the same experience. That’s a sentence you could read as a positive, (i.e. you only have to buy two issues!) or you could read it as a negative, that reading ten more issues gives you nothing you didn’t get from the first two.

People frequently say that self contained issues and arcs are the best way to hook new readers. I think they may be the best way to get someone who doesn’t want to read comics to give them a try, but it’s not the way you’re going to make new fans. It’s possible to be a casual comics fan, to read Maus and Persepolis and not much else, but most people who get into comics become huge fans. And, the kind of people who become huge fans are going to be the ones who don’t say I read this done in one issue and am satisfied, they’re going to be the ones who read an issue of Green Lantern and want to read years of back issues to catch up and fully understand the story.

Particularly with big two comics, but even with ongoing Vertigo series, most major comics fans have a completist kind of personality, a desire to always read more and more, and I think giving someone a series like Green Lantern better activates that desire. When I was a kid, the book that got me into comics was X-Men, I read a few random issues and wanted to know more and more about the world, so I went back and read Claremont’s Essential X-Men 1, then went on and on until eventually I’d read every Claremont book from the 70s to ’91.

The reason I became hooked was not because of a successful done in one story, it was getting an insight into this expansive universe and wanting to fully understand it. Even though I think Ellis’s level of craft is better than Johns, and Johns will probably never write a book as good as Planetary, I prefer to read Johns’ work now because it all builds on each other, it’s part of one masterwork within the DCU.

Most really big fans of any medium are the ones who want more and more. Casual TV viewers will watch a sitcom or procedural, serious fans watch The Wire and savor every detail, every piece of intricate continuity and consider continuity and complexity a sign of a more mature work. In TV terms, Nextwave is CSI, Green Lantern is Buffy.

Now, it’s easy to embrace The Wire as worth your time because it’s socially relevant and something that feels good for you. Is it worth investing the time needed to read 300 issues of Geoff Johns’ comics to fully understand what he’s doing in the DCU? One, I’d argue that he’s skilled enough to make sure you don’t have to read them all, but also, I think it comes down to what you want out a story. Do you want to be entertained and put it down with a complete package, or do you want the promise of more stories to check out? I read Sinestro Corps War and not only wanted to read more Green Lantern, I wanted to catch up on JSA, so I could read Legion of 3 Worlds and then Adventure Comics. I love that all those stories tie together, and I love that each seemingly isolated work builds and enhances the other.

And, I’d argue most people who are going to become comics fans like that too. I don’t think you make people fans of comics by hiding them from that which makes them unique. Nextwave might hook certain people, but I don’t think it has that addictive quality that makes people really need the next issue, the next story. That’s what’s going to get people coming back, and I think people are sometimes scared of embracing what makes comics unique and special. Try to enjoy each individual issue, but also enjoy them as part of a much larger tapestry that’s one of the most complex, ever evolving pieces of narrative in the contemporary world.

The Third Age: Episode Ten: 'In Exile'

Here's the new episode of my webseries, The Third Age. This week, Holly, Zinone and Morning are on the run and facing a crossroads! Not all will make it 'In Exile.'

Sorry for the lack of posts of late, I was on vacation last week, but I'm back in the game this week and will have some new words for you shortly. In other news, I'm doing the final run through of my Invisibles book, Our Sentence is Up, and it will be on store shelves in mid February.

The Third Age: Episode Nine: 'Mission Control

A bit late on this one, but here's episode nine! Check it out and let me know what you think. Look for some more posts shortly.

The Third Age: Episode Eight - 'Hyperopia'

This week, The Third Age kicks into high gear. After completing her ritual with Morning, Holly knows what she has to do, but can she do it? And, Jerrod Woolf's vision reaches a critical point, thirty years of work and it's all lead to this!

If you're just joining us, The Third Age is a fantasy/sci-fi webseries that I produce/execute, you can check out all previous episodes here: http://watch.thethirdagebegins.com

More blog stuff will be happening this week, stay tuned!

Dollhouse: Late Season Two

I guess I’m the only person left watching Dollhouse who doesn’t love it because every review or discussion I’m seeing about it seems to ignore the gaping illogical flaws in the back half of the second season, and the arbitrary plot twists and developments that the show tries to cover up with fast paced storytelling and a just keep moving forward attitude. Even though the second season is better on a micro level than the first one, it’s a lot more enjoyable and exciting, but it’s even more illogical than the convoluted, but logically somewhat plausible first year.

Now, I’m not a big believer in the need for stories to make strict sense, or for all the dots to connect. When Morrison or Russell T. Davies tell crazy stories, I’ll jump past any plot inconsistencies because they’ve always got strong, very real emotions at the core. I need the feelings to make sense, even if everything in the plot doesn’t strictly hang together. But, there are certain elements that need to be internally consistent within a narrative world and this year of Dollhouse just doesn’t do that.

The second half of the season posits the idea that all the employees of the LA Dollhouse would all of a sudden decide to go along with a conspiracy to attack their corporate backers and battle against them. Why are they doing this? It’s ostensibly attributable to the Rossum scheming with Senator Perrin and the revelation that Rossum’s aims are much higher than running a weird brothel/human trafficking operation. But, what Rossum plans to do is really no different than what everybody at the LA Dollhouse has been doing for years, with no moral qualms, so the sudden about face feels very wrong on a couple of levels.

It feels like if in the second season of The Sopranos, Tony all of a sudden decided that being a criminal was wrong and decided to take down Johnny Sack and New York because their criminal schemes were wrong. And, not only did Tony do this, everyone else in his crew decided to go along with it. It would take a show that was an interesting exploration of moral ambiguity and the way that people justify the bad things that they do, and spin it into a simple good vs. evil tale, conveniently skipping over the fact that just a few episodes ago he was doing the very things he’s now putting his life on the line to end.

It’s plausible that some people in the Dollhouse could feel this way, and want to take it down, but to have every single character do so makes no sense, and even with the Boyd twist at the end of the last episode, it ignores the conflict that could come from somebody there saying, “Why are you feeling this way all of a sudden?”

The show raises a lot of interesting questions in its premise, but resolutely refuses to engage with anything that could be really troubling or emotional. Why not have the rebel crew struggle with whether to kill DeWitt, or have to forcibly make Topher serve them, rather than have everyone go along with it. There’s no real consequences that way.

Similarly, after raising the idea that Caroline might be a bad person, they counteract that by having it turn out that she didn’t betray Bennett, and actually got captured to save Bennett. This story makes no sense on several levels. We’re to believe that Bennett was not mad that Caroline was spying on her, and actively chose to go along with a terrorist plot against her employer, but then got mad at Caroline for not making her get caught as a terrorist, and as a result, decided to keep working for the company in question. If she really wanted to get caught as a terrorist, just say she was one. The whole story is rendered illogical, when it could have been so much cleaner to just have Caroline accidentally injure Bennett when she used her info to sneak into the compound behind her back.

That’s the kind of lazy plotting there’s been a lot of lately. Another weak development is to have Dominic literally wander out of the attic at the perfect time to deliver a key piece of information, then get shoved back in the attic. There’s no excuse for that kind of lazy writing, there would have been much more elegant ways to get the information, not to mention the fact that this undermines the threat of the attic. Equally frustrating was the idea that all these guys who were played to do security in the place are going to be cool when all of a sudden the higher ups decide to release all the actives. Wouldn’t somebody wonder why this is happening and what it’s going to do to business?

I guess my biggest problem with the series as a whole is that the business model of Rossum makes no sense, and consequently, it’s difficult to engage with the show on any sort of intellectual level. This is a company that is using an incredibly complex piece of technology, but each branch seems to have their own version of it, they can’t advertise their services nor confirm their existence, yet clients as diverse as a new dad, a college professor and a music producer know about the company and have the money to pay for full time employment of both an active and a handler.

Every show has a conceit that separates it from reality. It’d be foolish to nitpick Doctor Who for the existence of the Tardis, you just accept it and move on. The conceit of Dollhouse is the imprint technology, I accept that, but I don’t accept the business model that’s built around it, and frankly, fitting this into a more realistic business model would make for more interesting stories. I’d rather see this as a real company than as a standard issue evil corporation from a movie. Even the company from Avatar, as broad a caricature as you’re like to see, at least had a business model that made sense and didn’t abandon their pursuit of unobtainium halfway through the film for no apparent reason.

So, even though these episodes have been exciting, the writing is just so sloppy and twisty and turny for no apparent reason, I can’t really enjoy them. It’s not good writing, it’s not good TV, it’s entertaining in the moment, but has no internal consistency. If I really cared about the characters, that might not be as big a deal, but I don’t, and that brings all the flaws to the surface.

Most Anticipated Films of 2010

2009 is over. The 00s are over. It’s time for a new decade and an exciting new year of movies. Some years, I’ve had to scrounge around to find enough movies to fill out this list, but this year I’ve got an overflow. Of course, three of them are the same films that topped last year’s list, but hopefully they’ll all make it out this year, and hopefully this will be a great bunch of films. First off, some films I’m looking forward to that didn’t make the list include Alice in Wonderland, Toy Story 3, Scott Pilgrim, Cemetery Junction and Kick-Ass. Here’s my ten most anticipated…

10. Tron Legacy - If I had to honestly guess, I’d say this will be a terrible film. The first Tron is pretty bad, though it does have some charms, and I think what I’m looking for from this film is not what it’s going to deliver. So why is it on here? It’s primarily because it’s being scored by Daft Punk and in my mind, I see a 90 minute avant garde burst of light and strange visuals, accompanied by a killer new Daft Punk score. The teaser reel shown at Comicon is pretty great, but I just fear the actual dialogue and narrative will kill the experience. So, let’s hope there’s not too much of that, and we can focus on the abstract Daft Punk experience. Bangalter’s score for Irreversible was the best score of the decade, let’s hope he matches it here.



9. Your Highness - I love the old David Gordon Green, “the next Terence Malick,” but he’s chosen now to become the next Ivan Reitman. Still, as long as he makes films as entertaining as Pineapple Express, I’m down. I’d love to see him do a non-studio project next, but the cast here is fantastic, with James Franco, Danny McBride and perhaps too much hipster cuteness to believe with both Natalie Portman and Zooey Deschanel in the same film. The premise is great, and hopefully it’ll be a really fun epic comedy. And, the thought of Natalie Portman in the role of a warrior princess brings to mind her fantastic work in The Professional, so I’m eager for that.



8. The Green Hornet - I remember the old 60s series, which was most notable for its great theme song. The film offers a lot more, with Gondry and Rogen sure to bring us an unconventional action film. The issue for me is that I’ve seen diminishing returns from Gondry’s work since Eternal Sunshine, his visual tricks have gotten a bit stale, and Be Kind, Rewind just didn’t work that well. Rogen has a similar problem, where his schtick has been so prominent, it doesn’t have the fresh quality it did in Knocked Up. But, Rogen’s never done a bad film, and maybe matching Gondry’s visual style to a blockbuster structure will make for something really special. The presence of Christoph Waltz is a great bonus, coming off an instantly legendary turn in Inglorious Basterds.



7. The Runaways - I’m pretty confident the two preceding films will at least be entertaining, this one’s more of a question mark. I like the premise, and musician biopics can be a great frame through which to explore social and cultural change. Of course, only filmmaker has used them in that way, the brilliant Todd Haynes. But, with director Floria Sigismondi at the helm, I’m hoping this will be something more than your typical rise and fall narrative. She has an amazing eye, and I’m eager to see what she does with a more long form work. The trailer looks pretty exciting, but I fear that she’s going to be constrained by a weak narrative and that she doesn’t have the clout to do Haynes style avant garde visual indulgence. But, it looks like a fun film and will hopefully deliver.



6. Kaboom - Gregg Araki followed up his most consistently great film to date, Mysterious Skin with a goofy throwaway, Smiley Face, that was unjustly neglected by its distributor. But, he’s back in his classic thematic wheelhouse with this tale of teenagers in a wacky universe of craziness. The initial stills look great, and I love Araki at his most personal and experimental, so I’m eager to see how he brings the style of The Doom Generation and Nowhere into a new era. His Twin Peaks comparisons only make me more intrigued.



5. The Black Swan - Speaking of films that have too much hipster cuteness, here’s Natalie Portman and Winona Ryder in the same film. And on top of that Vincent Cassel. But, the real attraction is Darren Aronofsky who’s following up his “comeback” The Wrestler with a thriller that sounds inspired by Argento’s Suspiria. I think Aronofsky’s never made a film that wasn’t great, and I’m eager to see him continue to branch out. I’d like to see a bit more stylistic experimentation here than in The Wrestler, but I’m sure whatever he does will make the film work. For all the attention that his technique gets, he always does a great job immersing you in character subjectivity, and that seems like a perfect technique for a film about identities in crisis.



4. Somewhere - Sofia Coppola is another director who’s never made a film that wasn’t great. Her new one sounds like a retread of some Lost in Translation themes, but I’m confident in her taste, and am sure that even if it is narratively similar, there will be a lot of wonderful images and moments to enjoy. I loved Marie Antoinette, and think she’s been consistent in really using film as a medium in a way that so few other filmmakers can. An assist from her partner Thomas Mars on music will only make it even sweeter.



3. Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance - This film was released in Japan in June, but thanks to the horrific distribution of foreign films, it’s still not made it over here in either a legal format or a subbed DVD release. But, it’s slated to drop on DVD in the spring, and I’m eagerly awaiting checking out this new film which diverges from the timeline of the original series to offer something new. Anno is one of the best filmmakers out there, and I’m sure he has good reason to revisit his masterpiece and bring it into a new, modern light. This film also introduces my favorite character from the series, Asuka. And, if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll see 3.0 this year as well.



2. The Tree of Life - It was a big disappointment when this one didn’t make it out this holiday season, but hopefully we’ll see it in the late summer as rumored. Malick is a master filmmaker, telling stories through film in a way that no one else even tries to, and this sounds like his most ambitious, cosmic project yet. I’m also really excited for the rumored Imax companion project. It’s going to be very annoying if this film turns up on the most anticipated of 2011 list.



1. Enter the Void - Another film that’s been released abroad, but hasn’t been seen here yet. The film got a mixed reception, but every critical review only made me want to see the film more. It sounds like a groundbreaking, sensory experience that redefines what cinema is capable of. Irreversible was the most innovative use of filmmaking in countless years, and I can’t wait to see Noe push it further with this film. I’m hoping to go to Europe in the spring, and if the film hasn’t made it here by then, there might have to be a special trip to France to check this one out.

The Third Age: Episode Seven - 'The Tree of Life'

If you watch one episode of The Third Age, make it this one! This week, Holly leads a ritual to find out the truth about Morning, and is shocked by what she discovers! It's a more experimental episode than usual, and is my personal favorite of the series to date. I'd love to hear what you think.

In other news, after the epic posting frenzy of best of time, things will probably slow up for a bit. In the next couple of days, I'll be posting my most anticipated movies list for 2010, and in the next couple of weeks, Caprica, Lost and Big Love will start up, all shows I'll surely be writing about.

Best of 2009: Film

Here’s the last of the best of lists. Just a quick note, I haven’t been able to see all the films I’d like to see, here’s some of the key gaps in my viewing: Antichrist, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call: New Orelans, A Single Man and a couple that didn’t make it over here, but will likely be part of next year’s list are Enter the Void and Rebuild of Evangelion 2.0.

10. Observe and Report - A dark slacker comedy riff on Taxi Driver, Observe and Report is a great journey into one ordinary man’s mad world. Seth Rogen does his most intense work yet, as a local flasher becomes the bane of his delusional existence. Considering the prominence of Rogen in Apatow’s work, this film is a great subversion of the lifestyle celebrated by countless slacker comedies. Not every slacker has a heart of gold, some are trapped in insanity, and this film conveys that in a really dynamic way. Plus, it’s got a great, fearless supporting performance from Anna Faris. Definitely an underrated film.

9. Up in the Air - Clooney is one of the last movie stars left in Hollywood. Like classic stars, think Gable or Grant, every character he plays exist somewhere within the spectrum of the core George Clooney persona. Up in the Air works as an examination of someone who thinks he has his life totally under control, think he has everything he wants, and realizes that maybe he doesn’t, and has to deal with that revelation. The film has some major flaws for me, notably a slightly off key tone in the Jason Bateman scenes, and overuse of voiceover, particularly at the beginning, but Clooney and Vera Farmiga are incredible together, and everything with them works great. The trip to Miami is one of the most fun sequences in any film this year, and I particularly love the way so much of what we expect is subverted by the film’s ending. This is a smart, satisfying character study, and a great exploration of one particular aspect of the Clooney character.

8. Funny People - This film carried the advance hype of being Apatow’s turn to drama, and in the end, yes, it is dramatic, but I don’t think significantly more so than Knocked Up. And like Knocked Up, this is a great story that’s topped with a lot of really funny jokes. The thing I love about this movie is the way that its lengthy running time means that it doesn’t fit neatly into a three act box. The characters’ lives sprawl across multiple stories, and though that can make the film feel disjointed, it gives it the lived in feel of a real world. It’s hard to predict things because the film doesn’t fit into a 90 minute comedy box, and that’s great. I hope Apatow doesn’t see the lukewarm reaction to this film as an incentive to dumb down. Keep telling emotionally true, funny stories.

7. The Limits of Control - The artiest film on the list, Control is my favorite Jarmusch to date. A total dedramatization of what could have been a traditional action plot, the film is a surreal journey through Spain, that has that distinctly Jarmusch slow paced dreaminess. I love the production design and Christopher Doyle’s cinematography is beautiful throughout. What really makes the film work is the confrontation with Bill Murray, and the haunting finale. The film is a hazy dream, and I think some mistook its stylishness for vapidity. There’s intelligence here, but even if there wasn’t, isn’t it nice to just get lost in this strange world for a bit?

6. Avatar - I could point to a hundred flaws in Avatar, I could point out to serious social and thematic issues, derivative plot points and cardboard characterization, but I choose to focus on what works about that film, on the dazzling visuals, the audacious and important thematic statements and most of all, the emotional rush you feel watching the film. It really does build a world and wrap you up in it in a way that few films before have. Cameron has pushed the boundaries on a technical level, and the dragons vs. helicopters closing fight scene is pure energy to watch. But, I also think there’s a strong philosophical and emotional core at the center of the story that’s impossible to ignore. I love that he has such a distinctive voice and watching a film like this reminds you just how good blockbuster cinema can be. There’s a reason that he’ll soon be the director of the two highest grossing films of all time.

5. Star Trek - While less ambitious than Avatar, Star Trek was equally spectacular and emotionally engaged. By maintaining a tight character focus, Abrams was able to craft a blockbuster that felt like a TV show, and I mean that as a good thing. He never got caught up in just showing random CG beasts, the goal was always to explore the way that events shaped the characters and to keep the crazy goings on anchored in emotional reality. That’s not to say there wasn’t great spectacle, the effects were fantastic, and the action scenes were tense and riveting. I’ll always have a soft spot for space action like this, and Star Trek ensures that the next generation will as well.



4. Where the Wild Things Are - As with many of the films on the list, WTWA has some flaws that prevent it from reaching all time greatness, but the heights that this one reaches are even higher than almost anything else this year. After the first half hour of the film, I was ready to call this Spike Jonze’s career best, the intense subjectivity and raw emotion of the real world segment is harrowing and does an incredible job of totally immersing us in Max’s view of the world. And, the first glimpse of the Wild Things is awe inspiring. The film’s issue is that it doesn’t always know where to go from there, and though the emotional issues raised at the top persist throughout, the film just isn’t as riveting as it was right out of the gate. That said, it’s good throughout, and ends on a really powerful note. It’s still a great film, just not as great as it could be.



3. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Another ostensibly kid targeted film from an acclaimed indie director, Mr. Fox feels in many ways like the most adult of any of his movies. It’s also one of the most fun. Visually, it’s like nothing I’ve seen before, with its utterly tactile animation, it’s entertaining just to watch the characters move, particularly during the interludes where they cut loose with dancing. But its not just spectacle, there’s real emotion that runs the gamut from melancholy to joy. And, as with Up in the Air, it’s an interesting exploration of the Clooney persona. His presence comes across in a way no celebrity voice in animation has before, and you get a real sense of performance. This film is a really cool world to visit with its own wacky flourishes, it’s everything I like about Anderson’s films in a snappy, exciting story.



2. Public Enemies - Michael Mann continues his work making esoteric, rambling art films within studio blockbuster structures. Returning to many of his core themes, he uses the visual language of Miami Vice to tell a story that makes the 30s feel real and vibrant, not like something out of a storybook. Depp and Cotillard have fantastic chemistry, and carry a sense of doomed abandon throughout. Dillinger knows he’ll die, but they hold on to the dream that somehow they can escape. The film’s most haunting moments are Dillinger’s death, staged like a film shoot, and ending in a flood of crowd and media, it’s the birth of law enforcement as spectacle. The emotional punch is then driven home in the devastating starkness of the final scene. Mann is turning back the clock, and acting like it’s the 70s, when intelligence and adult themes were mandatory in blockbuster cinema. Hopefully he’ll get to keep experimenting and exploring as a filmmaker. I can’t wait to see where he goes next.



1. Inglorious Basterds - All the preceding films were great, but nothing this year, or in the past five years, can come close to Inglorious Basterds. I’ve written about it extensively already, but I’ll stress just how exciting and suspenseful and virtuostic the film is. I’ve seen it three times and it’s still a rush every time. Tarantino puts on a masterclass in how to produce suspense, and skillfully pulls together several disparate plot strands into a perfect finale. I particularly love the seamless jumps between the goofy over the top violence of the Brad Pitt section and the very real emotion Shosanna experiences, and how the ending is able to meld the two modes so that the Basterds’ violence becomes our catharsis after the emotional climax of Shosanna’s story. No question, this is the best film of the year, and of the second half of the decade as a whole.

Best of 2009: TV

2009 was a great year for TV, with some long running shows having their best season yet, and a lot of great shows staying strong. It’s a wealth of riches on the list here, let’s check it out…

10. True Blood
Best Episode: ‘Timebomb’

The show improved on its first season by refining its campy appeal and upping the stakes. The season peaked early, at the end of the Fellowship of the Sun arc, and kind of petered out at the end, but the peak was great. I think there’s still room for some more real emotion in the show, but they know that it’s supposed to be fun and the show is able to poke enough fun at itself to make it work. I wish Alan Ball was doing something better than this, but if it’s a show like this or another ponderous film like “Towelhead,” let’s stick with this.

9. Bored to Death
Best Episode: ‘The Case of the Beautiful Blackmailer’

This show was ostensibly a comedy and was never particularly funny, nor was it dramatic, but it was charming throughout. I loved the New York locations, and the three leads were all a lot of fun to watch. The show struck a tricky balance, and as it went on, it just got better and better. I love the quirky world they’ve built, and hopefully it’ll continue to grow in interesting directions in season two.

8. Parks and Recreation
Best Episode: ‘Greg Pikitis’

I’m one of the few people who actually really liked the show in its first season, so I was even more excited when it took a major quality leap in year two. The show has one of the deepest comedy casts of any series, and the characters are developed in ways that make sense, and over the course of the series so far, they’ve developed the kind of depth and emotional engagement that make for a long running sitcom. There’s been some very sweet moments, like the relationship between Dave and Leslie, or April’s fliration with Andy, but throughout it all, they keep things funny and snappy. It’s the best comedy on TV right now, and a few more seasons at this level could make it one of the best sitcoms all time.

7. Big Love
Best Episode: ‘On Trial’

I liked the first two season of Big Love, but the show made a quantum leap in quality in the third season. The big emotional hook for me was Nikki’s work at the D.A’s office, and the way that her flirtation with her boss opened up a window to a new world for her. But pretty much every element of the season worked, and it had a hyped up, every episode’s a season finale level of intensity that made the whole season riveting to watch. It’s always nice to see a show realize its full potential, and that’s what Big Love did this year.

6. Battlestar Galactica
Best Episode: ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’

The controversial final season of Battlestar worked for me on most levels, but had some key missteps that stopped it from hitting the series’ highest heights. The much beloved military coup arc did nothing for me, and the resolution to the final five storyline was extremely convoluted and didn’t really hold together in terms of making sense. But, I love a lot of the ideas throughout, and thought the final episode was haunting and epic. Visually, the show was on its game, and certain moments, like the appearance of the final five on the flight deck, were haunting and burned in my memory. Like the show as a whole, it had moments of brilliance mixed with ideas that didn’t quite come together. Still, to see such an ambitious and mostly successful work reach a satisfying conclusion was merit enough.

5. Doctor Who
Best Episode: ‘The End of Time: Part II’

I was holding off on writing the list until the last of Tennant era Who had aired. Technically, End of Time II aired in 2010, but I’m grouping it with ’09 for list making purposes. This year’s Who started off with a dud, but the last three episodes were all fantastic. The intense ‘Water of Mars’ ominously set the stage for an epic finale that didn’t quite come together on a plot level, but was so satisfying emotionally, I’ve got to include it here. I felt emotionally fulfilled at the end, but like the Doctor said, I didn’t want him to go. I wasn’t sure what the specials could add to the epic finale of ‘The Stolen Earth,’ what they gave us was a Doctor coming to terms with his own mortality, an extended meditation on the inevitability of death, and a call to do the most we can with the time we have.

4. Torchwood
Best Episode: ‘Children of Earth, Day Five’

More than any other show this year, Torchwood made a massive jump in quality. The first two series were very hit and miss, but this intense, character focused miniseries was intense brilliance from start to finish. The characters were all the same, the scenarios were the same, but the focus was so much tighter, and over the course of the series’ five episodes, it crescendoed to higher and higher intensity, culminating in a final episode that featured devastating scenes of the UK giving in to alien demands and Jack sacrificing his ties to humanity to save them. It’s a series that forced the characters to make tough choices and never backed down from putting the audience through the ringer. Not since Buffy season one to Buffy season two have I seen a series make such a giant quality leap between seasons.

3. Friday Night Lights
Best Episode: ‘Tomorrow Blues’

Speaking of shows that made a giant leap, after the disastrous second season, Friday Night Lights bounced back with a fantastic third season and is now working on an even stronger fourth year. It’s very rare that a show can as successfully reinvent themselves as FNL has, but the East Dillon setting has reinvigorated the series and changed its narrative. I’m always frustrated by shows like Alias and Battlestar Galactica that hinted at big change then retreated from it. By shifting its basic status quo, FNL has become a much more exciting show, and this most recent year may top even its brilliant first season. Seamlessly introduced new characters and consistent brilliance from Chandler and Britton keep this one of the best hours on TV, and that’s not even bringing it the series’ unparalleled cinematography.

2. Mad Men
Best Episode: ‘Seven Twenty Three’

In its third season, Mad Men continued to be the most challenging and artistically ambitious series currently on the air, and perhaps ever. The complexity of the stories increased, and the end of the season opened up some amazing new directions for future plotlines. I don’t think this year quite matched the second season, but the consistency of its ambition only adds to its reputation. The fact that nine year old Sally Draper is more complex and well developed than the vast majority of adult lead characters is a testmanet to the show’s greatness.

1. Lost
Best Episode: The Incident

Lost’s great problem since the start has been its inconsistency, so it was surprising and exciting to see it finally produce a season that was just outright great from start to finish. The series attempted an ambitious time travel storyline and nailed it throughout, giving us great timeloop moments, like Locke coming across himself in the past, but the primary joy was seeing our lead characters in the 70s, and getting an insight into what the Dharma Initiative was like back then. Those episodes were just so much fun and built such a great world, I would have loved to stay there for much longer. And, one scene in the season finale totally changed the game looking forward, opening up a myriad of interesting new storytelling possibilities. It was all anchored by great character work on Locke, Ben, and in particular the series’ heart, Sawyer and Juliet. If the last season is as good as this one, it’ll go down as one of the all time great series.

Doctor Who: 'The End of Time'

“The End of Time” is exemplary of all the virtues and flaws that made Russell Davies’ Doctor Who a unique work in sci-fi history. It’s got some muddled storytelling and weird deus ex machina elements that make it hard to even explain what’s going on, but it’s also intensely emotional and character focused, particularly during the final half hour of the episode, a lengthy, totally earned farewell to the tenth incarnation of The Doctor, and on a meta level, the universe that Davies created over the course of the past five years. I could pick apart the issues with the storytelling, but ultimately those pale in comparison to the intense emotion and power of the story. It’s easy to write a story that obeys the rules of screenwriting, but it’s incredibly difficult to create characters and stories that tap into our emotions on a primal level, and for me at least, no series hit me as hard as this series did.

Let me track back and discuss in brief the high points of part one. That episode felt a little padded, with an awful lot of running around and Master craziness surrounding not quite an hour’s worth of story. Still, it had an impressively propulsive story momentum, the stakes were high, and I particularly liked the way they segued from the goofiness of the Doctor in a straw hat to his discussion with the Ood where he has to own up to the fact that he’s going to die, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

The high point of that episode was the discussion between Wilf and the Doctor, as the Doctor sees Donna as she was, and thinks back on the person she became with him. There’s such sadness there, and it’s appropriate to match Wilf with the Doctor, both old men who know that their time is coming to an end, but are trying to live it up on the way out. The moment in part two when Wilf finds out how old the Doctor is is particularly effective, when he realizes that even though the Doctor is older than him, he still has the spirit and fire of youth. In Wilf, the Doctor sees the humanity that he’s fighting to save, and that’s what motivates him to go into the nuclear chamber, it’s not worth living if he can’t save someone like Wilf.

But, Part 1 was mainly set up, the meat of the story was in tonight’s episode, and it had a lot that worked and some that didn’t. Let me first discuss my biggest disappointment, and that’s the treatment of Donna. Nothing is really changed from what we saw at the end of “The Stolen Earth,” and that’s the problem. If you’re going to bring the character back, you should really do something with her, and depriving her of a final reunion with the Doctor after he gets to say good by to everyone is kind of cruel. But, what makes it worse is the fact that it’s treated as not that big a deal, the Doctor gets her a lottery ticket, but money can’t replace what she’s lost.

The brilliance of the end of “The Stolen Earth” was that it placed Donna in the prison of never knowing what she could be, this episode basically gives her a nicer prison cell. She may be happy, but she’s not going to live up to her destiny, and that’s really sad, putting a kind of damper on the whole triumphant spirit of the episode, and because that tragedy wasn’t really acknowledged in part 2, it feels off. The wedding was a celebration, she is happier, but there’s still that something missing, and I wish that we had seen more of that. I was hoping to see Donna reclaim her role as a timelady or something more, but it apparently wasn’t to be. I thought it was implied that the timelady who appeared to Wilf was meant to be an older version of Donna, but apparently it was meant to the Doctor’s Mother. Having that be an older Donna would have been more satisfying, giving her some nice closure without having to be too specific about why she can remember her power again.

That’s the only thing that’s missing from the finale for me, a final moment of catharsis for Donna. I was glad to spend so much time with Wilf, but a bit more Donna would have been fantastic. Still, I guess her story was told, and Davies didn’t want to do anything to mess with the ending we already got. Maybe she’s already played her part in the global drama, she’s saved the world, and that could be enough. Still, maybe there’s an exception for her seeing a new Doctor and having some new adventures down the line. I still love the character, particularly the way she became at the end of season four, and I’d have loved to see that Donna back.

But, other than that, I felt totally emotionally satisfied, and drained by the end of the episode. First though, let me discuss a bit of the return of the Time Lords and the beginning of the episode. I liked a lot of this stuff, I think the Time Lords were suitably menacing, and the Master worked much better here, as a child trying to finally get the approval of his parents than as an insane very hungry man, as he was in part one. I also enjoyed the spaceship missile fight, which had a nice Star Wars feel and was well executed. But, in general, the whole spaceship segment didn’t add that much to the narrative. It was a good excuse for some Wilf and Doctor interaction, but was basically filling time before setting up the final battle.

The way I read it, the conflict at the end was basically the Doctor in the position of choosing between allowing Gallifrey to return and destroy all of existence, or allying with the Master to kill the Timelords and become the ruler of the Earth. However, ultimately he chose the third path and erased them both, choosing his new human allies over the timelords I’d left behind. I like the idea that he romanticized the timelords after their destruction, in the way we always remember the good thing after someone dies. But, it’s clear that the Time War was in many ways the Time Lords doing, it was their attempt to end all of existence and transcend to another reality, but the Doctor has always had great affection for this reality, and after seeing the courage of Wilf, his willingness to follow the Doctor to the end of the world, to put his own life on the line to save a stranger, the Doctor realizes that killing anybody would be a betrayal of the spirit that has made him into a powerful symbol for humans.

He chooses a third path and again wipes his own people away, and chooses to let the Master go. The Master here is portrayed as a deranged child, warped by his own upbringing. The Doctor wants him to be better, as he says in the opening scene, because the Master is the closest thing he has to a peer, to a brother. Together, they could have great adventures, but the Master is too warped by the trauma he’s undergone to deal with that, He made the whole world over in his own image as an attempt to assert himself and become superior to the Time Lords, but it’s not enough to satisfy them. The Time Lords are old order and The Doctor is a new, better way of things, the Master is caught somewhere in the middle, and that’s what drives him insane.

That said, whenever you said up a situation where somebody has to make a choice about who to kill and he doesn’t kill, it’s going to be a little disappointing. Shooting the machine makes sense in retrospect, but kind of came out of nowhere in the moment, not to mention the confusing presence of a character who was apparently meant to be the Doctor’s Mother. As I said before, I was thinking the character could be a future Donna, and the lack of clarification within the story was okay, but I think it could have been more powerful if we had known this was meant to be the Doctor’s mother, and he was sacrificing her to save the Earth.

So, that felt a bit anti-climactic. I think it could have been better executed, but Davies often gets into trouble when the sci-fi elements lose the core of emotion. Normally, the companion grounds things in an emotional reality, but these specials have been about the Doctor, and as such they lack the element of identification. The core theme of Davies’ Doctor Who, one that’s reinforced in the final scene that Tennant visits, is the idea that every person has the potential to be a hero and if they could only look up and see the wonder all around them, they could become something so much more. That’s what we see with Jackie and Rose’s discussion, where Jackie is resigned to never having anything special, that’s what kills you, that’s what prevents you from being better, and the Doctor is a living embodiment of all the wonder and amazing things in the universe.

I think that’s why the show resonates for me so strongly, it’s that inherent positivity to the premise. The Doctor is a force that can pull you out of depression and mundanity and take you to other worlds and turn anyone he encounters into a hero. Rose walks home alone, thinking this all she’ll be, but we know that in her future there’s adventures and change and romance, all lurking just ahead of her. To the Doctor, the worst fate is resign yourself to a boring life, and part of the satisfaction of his trip around the world is to see the way that he’s touched all the people he’s encountered. They’re all living better lives than they were when he met them, and that shows that, contrary to what Davros says, he doesn’t make people die, he helps them live.

Mickey and Martha are now married and hunting demons freelance. When Jack’s depressed, presumably still dealing with the events of Torchwood: Children of Earth, the Doctor drops in to pick him up and rejuvenate his old spirit. We see Sarah Jane is no longer sad about the Doctor leaving, she’s been inspired by him to teach a new generation how to live. They are his legacy, and that’s why it’s so frustrating to me to see Donna living a normal life, it’s that she’s gotten the worst fate of all and the Doctor can do nothing.

Still, that frustration aside, the final tour of the world was intensely powerful. When I saw the end of Buffy, it felt so incomplete because, even though the story was told, it was never really about the story, it was about the characters. I so desperately wanted just another half hour with these people to wrap up their story and find out what happened to them. Davies has been accused of fan service or pandering, but I think it’s more that he does the stuff we all want to see, but on some level don’t think we deserve. I love seeing all these characters one more time, he’s made us care about them, and it’s nice to say good bye. If the episode had ended with the Timelord fight, it would have been unsatisfying, but the final half hour is so powerful and sad, it really affected me.

It all wraps up with the wonderful quote from the Ood that “the song is over, but the story goes on.” Each Doctor Who actor, each writer puts their own stamp on the character, evolves the myth and adds new layers, but they have to move on. Their song was beautiful, and as we watch the Tardis crumble, it becomes clear that this is at last the end of the line. The Tenth Doctor burns away in the fire of creation and is replaced by a new man.

I don’t have that much to say about him yet, but he seemed pretty Tennantish, and very high energy. I’m definitely excited to see what Moffat does as showrunner, the concept of the show is so fantastic, and Davies laid out a great template to follow. I’m sure it’ll be great.

But, I think a lot of people underrate what Davies did. So many sci-fi works are soulless, and so few stories of any kind have the love and emotion that infused Davies’ work on Doctor Who. It wasn’t the most consistent show, but nothing else on TV or in film is so consistent in hitting my emotions. I see a great kinship between what I love in fiction and what Davies does, using genre elements as a backdrop to establish stakes, but really writing about characters and emotions.

My favorite episode of the series is still “Parting of the Ways,” which fused an epic Dalek story, with Rose’s desperate battle to leave her home and get back to the Doctor. She was threatened with never being able to realize her full potential, and she fought so hard to get back to him, to save him, it was devastating, and so triumphant when she did return. Davies reminds me a lot of Grant Morrison, both use these cosmic elements as a way to explore very real feelings and issues, and to commune with something spiritual.

This show has a religious feel, of touching something deep and mythical within us, and that’s why I’ll forgive almost all the flaws in the writing. I’d rather see something messy and ambitious and raw than a perfectly refined script. A nice three act structure and flawless script does nothing for me if it doesn’t make me feel, and Davies always makes me feel. And, he had the perfect partner in Tennant, a fiery embodiment of life and energy who grounded even the craziest stories in a very relatable emotion. To take a thirty years old role, played nine previous actors and come away thoroughly owning it is hard to do, but the Doctor is Tennant and everyone else will work in his shadow.

So, this was a far from perfect episode, but the final half hour was as good as anything in the series, a perfect farewell to the world and characters Davies had created. I didn’t want the Doctor to go either, but he went out in style, and left me on a hopeful note, eager to see what new adventures await him. And, if Tennant or Davies want to come back for an episode, I’d be glad to have them.

Best of 2009: Albums

10. U2 – No Line on the Horizon - U2 in the 90s is one of my all time favorite bands, crafting inventive, experimental rock songs that evolved the band’s sound while still maintaining a distinct U2-ness. Their output this decade has been more conservative, and this album is no exception. There’s some good songs on here, but nothing as insistently great as their best work. Still, I love the texture and sound of the band, so even on comparatively lesser songs, they’re still a joy to listen to. And, this album has grown on me a bit, so perhaps time will be even kinder.

9. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3 - Blueprint 3 lacks the consistent aesthetic of the 70s inspired American Gangster, but in its jump between genres and styles, it offers something for everyone. “Empire State of Mind” was the breakout, a song that could very well be the next “New York, New York,” but other early singles like “Run this Town” and particularly “D.O.A” are great too. The album isn’t quite Jay’s best, but he’s not slacking either. He showed why he deserves to be ranked among the best rappers all time.

8. Air – Love 2 - After the too minimalist feel of Pocket Symphony, Love 2 is a nice return to form for Air. “Do the Joy” was a great lead single, with that uniquely dreamy Air aesthetic. With Air, I just like the sound of the band so much that it’s less about specific songs, and more about having a new world to get lost in.

7. Muse – The Resistance - Muse is the kind of band that’s easy to poke fun at, with their over the top themes and Queen meets Radiohead maximalist aesthetic, but it’s that blend of prog sounds with pop spectacle that make them an effective band. They’re a lot of fun to listen to, and this album, if a bit less instantly hooky than Black Holes and Revelations, has a very unified feel, it’s a consistent album, particularly during the final suite section. I like that they’re so over the top, and even if it’s not the most original music, it’s presented in an exciting, fresh way.

6. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic - This is an album I’ve listened to a bunch, but still haven’t totally gotten my head around. It’s an epic work, and has a lot going on in each song. The album sees the band getting a bit grittier and heavy than in the ethereal proggy At War with the Mystics, and it generally works. MGMT guests on one track, and this is definitely the Lips’ riff on the neo-tribal aesthetic MGMT works with, and it’s an evocative, trippy journey. Plus, it’s got cover art that’s either absolutely great or terribly awful, I still can’t decide.

5. Passion Pit – Manners - I refrained from listening to Passion Pit for a while, even though they seemed like a band I’d definitely enjoy. When I finally listened to the album, it lived up to the hype. They craft extremely fun power pop songs with great synth and dance rhythm and a joyful sound. I love the sound of their music, the high pitched synths and guitars, and the unique not quite falsetto vocals. A perfect example of pop music in 2009.

4. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns - “Daniel” was the blockbuster for me, the hook that got me into the album. Her first album featured an astonishing single, “What’s a Girl to Do,” but didn’t really do it for me beyond that. However, this one thankfully goes much deeper, mixing a tribal and 80s aesthetic to create something that feels eternal. I love the drum line on album opener “Glass” and the swelling soundscape of “Traveling Woman,” but throughout it’s Natasha’s voice that takes the spotlight. Her voice is huge, beyond her years and form, and here she has the songs to perfectly spotlight it.

3. Royksopp – Junior - I like both Royksopp’s previous albums, but neither of those comes close to what they do here. Fusing the ethereal soundscapes of their first album with the more Europop feel of their second, this becomes a near flawless journey through more esoteric instrumental songs and hooky pop songs. I spotlight “Girl and the Robot” earlier, but “Happy Up Here” and “This Must Be It” are also highlights.

2. Music Go Music – Expressions - Over the course of the year, I probably listened to more Fleetwood Mac than any other artist. I also delved into bands like Supertramp and Abba. I love the sound of 70s pop music, the lush guitars and slight prog tinge to a lot of the work. So, it’s appropriate that my favorite new band of the year is one that emulates a lot of the aesthetic of those bands, and crafts similarly catchy pop songs. Pretty much every track on here is great, but particular highlights include “Love, Violent Love” and “Goodbye Everybody.” The album also features a litany of fantastic instrumental breakdowns, making it clear that though prog had some excesses, there’s no reason that a killer guitar solo can’t find a home in an indie pop song.

1. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix - I loved Phoenix’s first two albums, but was very iffy on their most recent, It’s Never Been Like That. Thankfully, WAP is a huge return to form, a litany of wonderfully catchy pop songs and a couple of more experimental ones as well that works great as a cohesive unit. There’s the two massive hits “1901” and “Listzomania,” but also slinky disco slowjam “Fences” and the instrumental dreamscape of “Love Like a Sunset.” It’s the deepest album of the year, and in a lot of ways, Phoenix’s most accomplished. I still have a soft spot for “United,” but WAP seems to the best synthesis of all the elements that make Phoenix special and unique.

Best of 2009: Songs

10. Tiga – Love Don’t Dance Here Anymore - A dance epic in the best tradition of disco 12 inch singles, an insistent bass riff anchors the song throughout its run time, as the vocals swell and ebb crossing from the opening sincere verses to the killer “Tables are turning” riff breakdown. When the cowbell comes in to bring it all home, it crosses over to another level. It’s a modern day Moroder classic.

9. The Flaming Lips – Watching the Planets - An electro stomp so heavy its very sound seems distorted, this track is a tribal freakout that fits perfectly into the aesthetic of 2009. It’s a great blend of dance, rock and tribal rhythms for a hypnotic journey into weirdness. It’s one of the band’s best songs to date.

8. Muse – Uprising - If there was ever a Doctor Who movie and they wanted a pop tie in single, it would be this song, which takes the timeless Who riff and turns it into a glam rock anthem of defiance that even the Vatican loves. I love the interplay of elements, the way that the vocal blends with the keyboard riff, and the underlying pulse of the handclaps and drums.

7. U.S.E – K.I.S.S.I.N.G - This song sounds like The Polyphonic Spree meets Van Halen’s “Jump,” blending effusive group vocals with an instantly hooky keyboard riff. I love this band, and wish that they would expand out a bit from their niche in the Northwest. I’d love to hear them live, their vocoder tinged joycore pop feels like it’s made just for me.

6. Passion Pit – Little Secrets - One of the year’s big breakout bands, Passion Pit have a very 2009 aesthetic, fusing synths and dance rhythms with indie rock structures. They’re not the most original band out there at this point, but with songs this good, it doesn’t matter. This song has a great hook, and a wonderful interplay between the lead vocal and the childrens’ choir sounding “Higher and higher” refrain. It’s extremely happy, and fun to listen to, the high point of a great album.

5. Royksopp – The Girl and the Robot - This song builds an entire universe just through its sounds. The churning bass line, the ethereal backing vocals and Robyn’s forceful lead vocal all work together to create Royksopp’s most emotional, and best, song to date. The band’s previous work is often pristine and emotionless but Robyn brings a desperation and edge that contrasts perfectly with the robotic chorus. It’s a killer beat, and the high point of a great album.

4. Music Go Music – Warm in the Shadows - Another 70s style epic, this song features a great dance bass line, and a soaring painful vocal on top of it. I love the variety of sounds that make up the beat during the chorus, and the fantastic guitar work throughout. But, it’s the vocal that really makes the song work. This is another band I’d love to see live, and this song would have to be on the setlist.

3. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance - The most ubiquitous song on the list, “Bad Romance” has become a huge radio smash, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad! There’s the great bass line underlying the verse, the huge stomp of the chorus, the glossalia breakdown midway through, the “I want your love” plea section, which brings it all back to an epic final chorus. It’s all good, and together it makes for a hyperpop song, one where every section could be the chorus. Special mention has to be paid to the song’s amazing video, a masterpiece of production and costume design, full of some of the most pop avant garde images of 2009 cinema.

2. Phoenix – 1901 - It’s been the soundtrack of a Cadillac commercial, and one of the two key anthems that broke the band out to become a legitimate pop force. “1901” features all the hallmarks of a great Phoenix song, a mechanically precise instrumental backing merged with a looser, more emotional vocal. I love the way the backing synths swell into the “Falling, falling falling…” section of the chorus. It’s a tight, danceable, emotional song, and the best of a fantastic album.

1. Bat For Lashes – Daniel - It’s rare that a song can be simultaneously haunting and danceable, but this track pulls it off. Opening with an eerie, distant synth, it gradually swells to an insistent drum line, all the while Natasha’s vocal sounds like it’s coming in from another planet. She’s got one of the most unique voices, the way she sings it’s like her heart is torn open and laid out before us. She’s begging for something better, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking to listen to. The song is distinctly now, distinctly 80s in many ways, but also timeless. Like M83, it transcends its 80s inspired roots and becomes something primal and subconscious. It’s a beautiful song on a sonic level, and extremely catchy too. The video’s great as well. Thanks Ralph Macchio and The Karate Kid for inspiring such a great piece of art!

Best of the Decade: Albums

There’s a bunch of catching up to do with best of lists. Look for the best film and TV of 2009 tomorrow, but for now, here’s the best albums of the decade…

10. Justice – Cross - I like a lot of things about Daft Punk’s Human After All, but Cross seems a lot more like the second best Daft Punk album of the decade. Of course, Justice do have their own slightly harder aesthetic, crafting some of the most intense dance songs of all time on tracks like “Phantom” and “Stress.” But, they could still kill it on the best hipster dance anthem of all time, “D.A.N.C.E.”

9. Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters - The album leads off with a succession of instant classic hits, ranging from the glam rock of “Laura” to the rock stomp of “Take Your Mama” to the Moroder inspired neo-disco of “Comfortably Numb.” Those three songs alone would make a classic album, but the rest of the album doesn’t let up. It’s one of the all time great debut albums.

8. The Raveonettes – Pretty in Black - The Raveonettes are a strange case for me, I like everything they’ve done, but I absolutely love this album. They bring the hidden darkness of 50s pop to the fore, crafting songs that seem to come from another world. Rockers like “Somewhere in Texas” or “Twilight” are great, but the best song for me is by far the ballad “Uncertain Times.”

7. The Polyphonic Spree – Together We’re Heavy - On their first and third albums, the Spree generally played tightly structured songs, only on this album did they sprawl out for epics befitting the massive size of the ensemble. One of my all time favorite concert moments was hearing them open their 2004 Irving Plaza set with “We Sound Amazed,” with a sound so huge it literally shook their floor. This album feels very much of a piece, moving seamlessly through longer and shorter songs and culminating in an epic callback to the sun, that brings it full circle with their first album.

6. Junior Senior – Hey Hey My My Yo Yo - One of the greatest pop albums of all time, every song on here is an ecstatic, instantly catchy piece of musical candy. “Take my Time” is a great 80s style dance track, but the high point is the soaring tribute to music “I Like Music” which soars to Michael Jackson heights of pop greatness.

5. Phoenix – Alphabetical - Phoenix broke out with their fantastic fourth album this year, but I still don’t think they’ve topped the smooth synth sound of their second album. Very emotional, but still danceable, the album features the most consistently catchy songs of their career. “Run Run Run” is haunting, layered and totally danceable, and is always the highlight of their live set. If you’ve only heard their most recent stuff, dig back and check this one out.

4. Belle and Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress - A controversial album for many of their fans, DCW saw Belle and Sebastian shift to a more poppy direction, a change that obviously worked very well for me. Virtually every song on here is a joyous anthem, from the cheeky opener “Step into My Office, Baby” to the 80s inspired closer “Stay Loose.” The album features killer guitar solos on “Loose” and “Roy Walker,” but the high point for me is the anthemic “If You Find Yourself Caught in Love,” a pure piece of sonic joy.

3. Arcade Fire – Neon Bible - I loved many of the 00s’ anthemic multi-instrumental bands, but none of them matched the work that Arcade Fire did on their second album. Diversifying their sound from their already great first album, they crafted one of the deepest, most moving albums I’ve ever heard, full of incredibly beautiful moments. From the climactic crescendo of “No Cars Go” to the majesty of “Intervention” to the cathartic release of energy in “Ocean of Noise,” it’s an album of moments that will last forever.

2. Lovage – Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By - I’ve tried to find more albums like this after listening to it, but nothing else has matched. Dan the Automator’s production lays a soft bed of strings and mood that perfectly accompanies the vocal interplay between Mike Patton’s animal growls and Jennifer Charles’ sexy purr. It’s an album that builds its own world, alternating between skits that poke fun at the very idea of a sexy album like this, and songs that deliver on the title’s promise.

1. Daft Punk – Discovery - You could make a very convincing argument that every trend in 00s pop music began here. Autotune’s roots lie in the vocoder on “One More Time,” and were catapulted to prominence when Kanye sampled “Harder Better Faster Stronger.” The 70s cheese synth aesthetic started out as weird here, but has now become pop, thanks to bands like Phoenix and MGMT. And, most importantly, the album made it cool for music to be fun and pop and cheesy without worrying about “authenticity” or “selling out.” Discovery is as pop as it gets, and that’s its joy! It puts a smile on your face, starting with the greatest album opening run of all time, seamlessly transitioning from the disco pop perfection of “One More Time” to the hard rock dance blend of “Aerodynamic” into the 80s synth cheese perfection of “Digital Love” into “Harder Better Faster Stronger.” No album makes me as happy as this one, and no album has influenced the past decade of music more than Daft Punk did with this masterpiece.