A scattered mishmash post

[umadoshi]

--For the second evening in a row (at least), my brain's refusing to settle on anything terribly useful. I've whittled some tabs down, but so haphazardly that I don't even have the feeling of "at least I got something done". (Not sure how that works, when clearly I have, even if it was something of no particular significance. But hey, I'm down to

Comments

[blythechild]

You know, there is a common denominator to the bad episodes in this X-Files reboot... it's Chris Carter. He wrote and directed both this past week's guffaw-fest (line dancing? REALLY???) as well as the inscrutable premiere. He was also responsible for many of the simply TERRIBLE alien conspiracy obsessed eps in the original run as well as the COMPLETELY UN-FUCKING-ACCEPTABLE series finale. Basically, he's a hot mess as a storyteller and he can't even keep his own canon straight (his ever-changing opinions on whether or not Mulder and Scully are in a relationship or not makes me want to find him and ask what he's been smoking for 25 years).

In pretty much every fan list of favorite episodes for this series ever, Chris Carter rates dead last after a slew of other, more capable writers that he had the self-awareness(?) to hire over the show's run.

I'm sorry. It's all Chris's fault.

[umadoshi]

Oh, gosh, yes. Carter is an abysmal writer, and the thing where he was PROUD about not having a series Bible (IT SHOWED, CHRIS. IT REALLY DID)... And then there was the interview I read before this run started where someone asked him about the mytharc and how it didn't make sense, and he was like, "No, it totally made sense! People just weren't thinking about it hard enough/correctly/[some nonsense]," which was one of the least self-aware things I have ever read.

But last night's truly skeevy plotline (which I'm tactfully assuming he meant as some kind of spotlight on or subversion of some awful, racist clichés)...even for him, that was horrible. Like, the premiere was terrible in the sense of "Chris Carter wrote this after marinating in the dubious juices of his own bad ideas for 15-or-whatever years". This was that and worse.

[blythechild]

Yes, my first thought was "Please don't let these guys blow something up, please don't let these guys blow something up..." but then they did and I got pretty fucking mad that I was watching yet another Muslim terrorist storyline on tv as entertainment. And then there was the Not-Srooms headwank scene (so, if he wasn't on srooms, what was THAT?), and fucking Agent Einstein, and then the whole 'let's go for a walk and get metaphysical about God' scene. Truly bad. Bring back the Australian lizard guy because at least he was funny.

[umadoshi]

Literally less than a minute into the episode we were already cringing over where we suspected the episode was going, and then unsurprised but pretty disappointed that it was the OMG MUSLIM TERRORIST awfulness. >.< SO horrible.

[sabotabby]

You know what would have been amazing and more realistic given the demographics of violence in the States?

Muslim guy prays. Muslim guy eats a sandwich. Muslim guy ogles girls, meets up with his friend, prays some more, whatever.

Muslim guys get gunned down by a disaffected white guy who can't get laid in a mass shooting.

[blythechild]

Exactly. Especially since the stats bear that storyline out in reality anyway...