Moonlight & Numb3rs
Okay, so I spent the day helping my cousin move and did not get to watch those videos today either. This weekend for sure. I'm staying up to watch the Atlantis re-air, and probably will put something up here about it before going to bed.
I wasn't really sure about this series. It didn't look that great, sort of a cross between Anne Rice vamps and Angel with an extra serving of cheese. Still, I've both read and watched worse things because they were ostensibly about vampires. I occasionally even really enjoy the super bad vampire story. This was both better and worse than I had expected.
I think the characters are going to grow. They show the promise of complexity, and that's encouraging. The strength of their vampire mythology is iffy, but it too is promising. I like that they can go out in the day. I like that it makes them feel bad, but doesn't kill them. I like them being so very hard to kill. I even like the changes. The eyes are kind of creepy, but overall still pretty, and the teeth are subtle. I don't like the implications of some kind of structure to vampire society, that are still too vague to quantify. I don't like the idiot way he injects blood directly into his veins and loses the fangs. And the leaping around effects are laughable. They remind me a lot of Forever Knight, especially the way he always feels the need to make stupid vampire hissing faces while he does it. Also, I got tired of the narration about ten minutes in.
The plot was basically predictable, but interesting. I would have enjoyed it more if they weren't mangling the idea of anthropology with their "professor," though the amusement I gained at the fact that he's the actor who played Dracula on Buffy offset some of my annoyance. I'd figured out that the girl was the child who was kidnapped in "the case that changed his life," about the time we found out a child was kidnapped. I like the idea though. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the romance which is sure to ensue. He rescued her when she was nine and has been watching her ever since. It's a little...something that makes me a bit uncomfortable.
So, the characters. Mick St. John is Angel or Nick Knight with less angst. He's more fun and much more charming than they are, but he's still basically the same self-loathing guy. If anyone doubted that, the answer came when he said that he came face-to-face with the woman who made him a monster. But maybe if we don't have to watch him brood, I won't get as bored and annoyed with him. Maybe his lack of angst comes from the fact that he's only 90 years old.
Beth Turner is, at this point, little more than a stock character. She's part spunky reporter with a knack for getting herself into trouble, and part the girl with the mysterious past. She's not quite as stupid as most of these girls, but I can't say that I really like her yet either.
Joshua is the most interesting to me. He's more than 400 years old and seems to be not only rich and powerful in the human world, but the official or unofficial leader of the area's vampires. He's the oldest in the LA area. Time has taught him to be paranoid and to guard his secrets well. I can't quite work out if he genuinely likes Mick or if he's just using him to do this kind of work. I'd love to know more about their backstory. Mick says that he's the only friend Joshua has that likes him for more than just his money, and Joshua agrees. Has he really had that lonely of an existence, and just how did they become friends? I want the answers to these questions, but frankly I don't care whether I get them on the show or in fanfiction. I suspect that there are people out there writing about their histories now, and I suspect that they will be one of the ships for the show, probably my ship for the show.
Last, there's the cop that Beth knows. I can't remember his name, but I suspect we'll be seeing more of him. He could be interesting, but we really just didn't get enough to know one way or the other tonight.
Overall, this was good enough that I'm giving it another chance, but not good enough to make me a fan just yet.
I have this on tape and intend to watch it again tomorrow. There were plenty of things distracting me tonight, and I'd like to see it once more just to catch all the complexities.
I thought it was a wonderful episode. It was the season premiere I've been looking for all week. The plot was engaging and the pacing was good. Everyone's reactions in this extreme situation felt true.
Let's face it though, I was almost guaranteed to love this episode. I've been a Val Kilmer fan for as long as I can remember. I think I can trace it back to Real Genius, though there is the slim possibility that I actually saw Top Gun first. I adore him, and even if he's not quite as pretty as he once was, he's still a fabulous actor.
I never believed that Colby could be a bad guy. It just didn't work in my head, and I'm glad it didn't work in Charlie's either. Don's busy beating himself up. David's too hurt and angry to even think about whether or not it's true, and Meaghan is Meaghan. The actual story was better than anything I could have come up with.
The math was interesting, as always, but not quite as thorough as it usually is. I'm amused that Don is finally starting to get some of it. I also loved that he remembered the paper that Charlie wrote in 11th grade. It was sweet. The supporting cast was great as always. Don and Charlie's dad is great, and Amita has really grown on me since the beginning of the series. And Larry is a delight as always.
I said yesterday that I was hoping to keep Colby around because my favorite pairings both involved him. The good thing for me is that I thought tonight's episode nicely supported both or neither. I'm pretty much okay with the Charlie/Amita relationship, so I'm not going to dwell on Colby/Charlie. Colby/David though, that is still really working for me. David's response last season was a bit over the top and it just seemed more so by the repeated viewing of it in the premiere. His anger is so overwhelming. They were friends and partners, but it seems extreme. But the thing that most speaks of a past relationship to me is that while some of his anger was gone at the end, his hurt wasn't. He says he doesn't know Colby, and that's what's killing him. It wasn't just the assumed betrayal of country, it was the personal betrayal the fact that Colby had looked at him and lied day in and day out, and that speaks of something more than simple friendship. His friends can forgive him and even find what he did heroic. David might see the heroism, but he can't forgive the lies, not yet.
I wasn't really sure about this series. It didn't look that great, sort of a cross between Anne Rice vamps and Angel with an extra serving of cheese. Still, I've both read and watched worse things because they were ostensibly about vampires. I occasionally even really enjoy the super bad vampire story. This was both better and worse than I had expected.
I think the characters are going to grow. They show the promise of complexity, and that's encouraging. The strength of their vampire mythology is iffy, but it too is promising. I like that they can go out in the day. I like that it makes them feel bad, but doesn't kill them. I like them being so very hard to kill. I even like the changes. The eyes are kind of creepy, but overall still pretty, and the teeth are subtle. I don't like the implications of some kind of structure to vampire society, that are still too vague to quantify. I don't like the idiot way he injects blood directly into his veins and loses the fangs. And the leaping around effects are laughable. They remind me a lot of Forever Knight, especially the way he always feels the need to make stupid vampire hissing faces while he does it. Also, I got tired of the narration about ten minutes in.
The plot was basically predictable, but interesting. I would have enjoyed it more if they weren't mangling the idea of anthropology with their "professor," though the amusement I gained at the fact that he's the actor who played Dracula on Buffy offset some of my annoyance. I'd figured out that the girl was the child who was kidnapped in "the case that changed his life," about the time we found out a child was kidnapped. I like the idea though. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the romance which is sure to ensue. He rescued her when she was nine and has been watching her ever since. It's a little...something that makes me a bit uncomfortable.
So, the characters. Mick St. John is Angel or Nick Knight with less angst. He's more fun and much more charming than they are, but he's still basically the same self-loathing guy. If anyone doubted that, the answer came when he said that he came face-to-face with the woman who made him a monster. But maybe if we don't have to watch him brood, I won't get as bored and annoyed with him. Maybe his lack of angst comes from the fact that he's only 90 years old.
Beth Turner is, at this point, little more than a stock character. She's part spunky reporter with a knack for getting herself into trouble, and part the girl with the mysterious past. She's not quite as stupid as most of these girls, but I can't say that I really like her yet either.
Joshua is the most interesting to me. He's more than 400 years old and seems to be not only rich and powerful in the human world, but the official or unofficial leader of the area's vampires. He's the oldest in the LA area. Time has taught him to be paranoid and to guard his secrets well. I can't quite work out if he genuinely likes Mick or if he's just using him to do this kind of work. I'd love to know more about their backstory. Mick says that he's the only friend Joshua has that likes him for more than just his money, and Joshua agrees. Has he really had that lonely of an existence, and just how did they become friends? I want the answers to these questions, but frankly I don't care whether I get them on the show or in fanfiction. I suspect that there are people out there writing about their histories now, and I suspect that they will be one of the ships for the show, probably my ship for the show.
Last, there's the cop that Beth knows. I can't remember his name, but I suspect we'll be seeing more of him. He could be interesting, but we really just didn't get enough to know one way or the other tonight.
Overall, this was good enough that I'm giving it another chance, but not good enough to make me a fan just yet.
I have this on tape and intend to watch it again tomorrow. There were plenty of things distracting me tonight, and I'd like to see it once more just to catch all the complexities.
I thought it was a wonderful episode. It was the season premiere I've been looking for all week. The plot was engaging and the pacing was good. Everyone's reactions in this extreme situation felt true.
Let's face it though, I was almost guaranteed to love this episode. I've been a Val Kilmer fan for as long as I can remember. I think I can trace it back to Real Genius, though there is the slim possibility that I actually saw Top Gun first. I adore him, and even if he's not quite as pretty as he once was, he's still a fabulous actor.
I never believed that Colby could be a bad guy. It just didn't work in my head, and I'm glad it didn't work in Charlie's either. Don's busy beating himself up. David's too hurt and angry to even think about whether or not it's true, and Meaghan is Meaghan. The actual story was better than anything I could have come up with.
The math was interesting, as always, but not quite as thorough as it usually is. I'm amused that Don is finally starting to get some of it. I also loved that he remembered the paper that Charlie wrote in 11th grade. It was sweet. The supporting cast was great as always. Don and Charlie's dad is great, and Amita has really grown on me since the beginning of the series. And Larry is a delight as always.
I said yesterday that I was hoping to keep Colby around because my favorite pairings both involved him. The good thing for me is that I thought tonight's episode nicely supported both or neither. I'm pretty much okay with the Charlie/Amita relationship, so I'm not going to dwell on Colby/Charlie. Colby/David though, that is still really working for me. David's response last season was a bit over the top and it just seemed more so by the repeated viewing of it in the premiere. His anger is so overwhelming. They were friends and partners, but it seems extreme. But the thing that most speaks of a past relationship to me is that while some of his anger was gone at the end, his hurt wasn't. He says he doesn't know Colby, and that's what's killing him. It wasn't just the assumed betrayal of country, it was the personal betrayal the fact that Colby had looked at him and lied day in and day out, and that speaks of something more than simple friendship. His friends can forgive him and even find what he did heroic. David might see the heroism, but he can't forgive the lies, not yet.