Some Episode Thoughts on Under and Out
At
recycledfaery's, request, I'm posting this here, from my journal (please feel free to disagree with me, debate, or join in the rant):
I haven't had the heart to say much of anything about an episode in a long time, but Under and Out warrants some words, I think. Under a cut for people who haven't seen or just don't care.
Firstly, the writing and plot, in my opinion, as well as the camera-work, went up about ten notches from the last few eps to this week. Congrats to Zack Estrin and Greg Yaitanes. Watching their escape attempt, with Michael needing to work together with T-Bag and the others, held a shadow of resemblance to S1, which was wonderful.
Wentworth was wonderful. I think he always is, but the last few eps, I really didn't get the feeling that his heart was in it, for lack of a better explanation. This ep, we were seeing the Michael of S1, for the most part. I also liked Mahone. I really liked him in S2, but he was just too high/detoxed/etc most of S3 for me to enjoy him. His strength of character and his intelligence was back this ep.
And Michael's reaction when Whistler mentions Sara and how Lincoln failed to help her? The set-jaw and closed eyes were perfect. I could feel his aching pain, and I love that Sara is still mentioned. Love.
But now, Whistler and Sofia. Does anyone else just not care? Here is my complaint: the writers finally have a solid, tense, emotionally-driven plotline with the concept of Sofia being tortured while Whistler is forced to listen on the phone and then decide whether to give up the coordinates. But the only problem is, no one bothered to flush out these characters beforehand. So what we're left with is a strong plotline involving characters few people care about. They've spent a dozen or so episodes going back and forth over who Whistler is and how he relates to Sofia. They are in love. No, he's a bad guy. No, he loves her but she doesn't love him. She's falling for Lincoln. No, she cares about Whistler. Which is it? Who are they? It's one thing to leave the viewer in suspense for a while, but if they're going to be ambiguous about it forever, we'll never form a connection to these characters.
So I watch that scene, and all I can think is, what a waste. What a waste of plot. Because if it were Sara there, being tortured, while Michael listens and agonizes over handing over information, I'd be on the edge of my seat. And not just because I love Sara and Michael. Also, because I, like any other viewer (love them or hate them), have two-plus years of character and relationship development in my mind, fueling the on-screen drama.
I think the writers probably had some good ideas for a Sara-plot in S3, but now, they're trying to create the same emotional intensity with new, one-dimentional characters. You can't just insert-character-here. It bothers me. A lot.
All that said, the fact that I'm posting any sort of episode thoughts at all tells me that for the first time in a long time, this show has caught my attention again, and I'm interested in what takes place next week. So for that, TPTB, thank you.
recycledfaery's, request, I'm posting this here, from my journal (please feel free to disagree with me, debate, or join in the rant):
I haven't had the heart to say much of anything about an episode in a long time, but Under and Out warrants some words, I think. Under a cut for people who haven't seen or just don't care.
Firstly, the writing and plot, in my opinion, as well as the camera-work, went up about ten notches from the last few eps to this week. Congrats to Zack Estrin and Greg Yaitanes. Watching their escape attempt, with Michael needing to work together with T-Bag and the others, held a shadow of resemblance to S1, which was wonderful.
Wentworth was wonderful. I think he always is, but the last few eps, I really didn't get the feeling that his heart was in it, for lack of a better explanation. This ep, we were seeing the Michael of S1, for the most part. I also liked Mahone. I really liked him in S2, but he was just too high/detoxed/etc most of S3 for me to enjoy him. His strength of character and his intelligence was back this ep.
And Michael's reaction when Whistler mentions Sara and how Lincoln failed to help her? The set-jaw and closed eyes were perfect. I could feel his aching pain, and I love that Sara is still mentioned. Love.
But now, Whistler and Sofia. Does anyone else just not care? Here is my complaint: the writers finally have a solid, tense, emotionally-driven plotline with the concept of Sofia being tortured while Whistler is forced to listen on the phone and then decide whether to give up the coordinates. But the only problem is, no one bothered to flush out these characters beforehand. So what we're left with is a strong plotline involving characters few people care about. They've spent a dozen or so episodes going back and forth over who Whistler is and how he relates to Sofia. They are in love. No, he's a bad guy. No, he loves her but she doesn't love him. She's falling for Lincoln. No, she cares about Whistler. Which is it? Who are they? It's one thing to leave the viewer in suspense for a while, but if they're going to be ambiguous about it forever, we'll never form a connection to these characters.
So I watch that scene, and all I can think is, what a waste. What a waste of plot. Because if it were Sara there, being tortured, while Michael listens and agonizes over handing over information, I'd be on the edge of my seat. And not just because I love Sara and Michael. Also, because I, like any other viewer (love them or hate them), have two-plus years of character and relationship development in my mind, fueling the on-screen drama.
I think the writers probably had some good ideas for a Sara-plot in S3, but now, they're trying to create the same emotional intensity with new, one-dimentional characters. You can't just insert-character-here. It bothers me. A lot.
All that said, the fact that I'm posting any sort of episode thoughts at all tells me that for the first time in a long time, this show has caught my attention again, and I'm interested in what takes place next week. So for that, TPTB, thank you.