sometimes I talk about television (really!)
The problem, I think, is that most of the television I've been watching lately isn't worth talking about. For a good part of the last year or so, that's exactly what I've needed--the more brainless, the better! I'm starting to miss good, thinky TV, though, and I suspect that soon enough I'll be tapping my fingers impatiently: where is my shiny, new
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Ah, well that answers that, then. In that case, they'll probably kill him; that way Cal can have something else to make All About Him.
I think I'd have let Ben and Gillian both get fed up with Cal and run off together.
Of course Reynolds wasn't that interesting, because they never bothered to develop his character. :-\ Or rather, each cast member got One Special Episode to themselves, and that's it.
Indeed. :( And has poor Loker ever had his One Special Episode? I mean, I love pretty much everyone else better than Loker, to be honest, but he's possibly the most underused and underdeveloped character of them all. I admit I watch this show with Gillian-colored glasses, so she's my primary benchmark for whether I, personally, am satisfied with the show. But they're doing such a terrible job with everyone who isn't Cal, and if I were in it primarily for Loker, Torres, or Reynolds, I'd have bailed long ago, I think.
As for Cal/Gillian, I'm pretty firmly of the opinion that Gill is better off keeping her distance. What can he possibly have done in the past year or so that would make her want to be with him? Run away, Gillian, run away! And even if they did get together, what do people think that would that solve, exactly? It would change very little about the dynamic that already exists in the show, which is a problematic dynamic on so many levels. It would make the shippers happy, I guess, but overall, I think there are too many things wrong with this show for it to be salvaged--at least not without a major change in approach, and from everything I've heard from the writing staff, it sounds like they've got exactly the show they want.
It also really annoys me that the writers and Tim Roth, and perhaps some other folks--I can't remember all the interviews I've watched and read--keep characterizing season 1 as "boring" and "sciency" and season 2 as "edgy" and "character-focused," so those of us who don't like season 2 are by implication not a fan of edgy, character-focused stuff. Um... I, on the other hand, loved the way season 1 played around with the idea of truth: when and why do we lie, especially for the good of the people we love; when does too much truth make a relationship untenable; etc. Season 1 had ideas, not to mention an ensemble cast. Season 2, on the other hand, with a couple of exceptions ("Sweet Sixteen" being the most significant of those--I really did love that ep), has been Cal-focused, increasingly dismissive of the secondary characters, repetitive (how is Cal going to risk his life this week?), and more than a little sexist. And it's increasingly clear that this is the way it will remain.
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Uhm. Fandom is defined by "character-focused stuff." But we also like ideas. Characters can't go anywhere without those. With the science of lie detection, the stories should be endless, and shouldn't have to focus on one character as they have been doing since oh, the end of S1.
TPTB claim they dropped the FBI/Reynolds so they could widen the range of cases featured in S3. I'm okay with that, as long as a) the variety is there and b) the other characters get their fair share in the cases. (And I don't like how they dropped Reynolds. Geez.) IMHO a lot of the focus on Cal is because Tim Roth is a powerhouse actor. It's too tempting for TPTB to write juicy stuff for him at the expense of the other characters. That's the exact opposite of what they should be doing, y'know? Shows like Doctor Who have powerhouse talents and still spread the character development love equally.
So I don't know. I'll probably tune in for the first few S3 eps of LtM, and go from there.
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