Thoughts on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Alright.  Let me begin with this: I have mad love for this show.  I just finished Self Made Man, the 11th episode of season 2 and the knowledge of the impending end is enough to give me a lugubrious outlook on life.  In hindsight, I really should have done my blog-an-episode spree about this show instead of Angel. Don’t get me wrong,  David Boreanz fighting crime on his own time and in his own way is interesting and fun but Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is just full.  I’ve been trying and trying to think of another way to put it, but I can manage nothing better.  Instead of trying to address singular issues episode-by-episode, I am going to do my best to explain in some semblance of intellectual blather why this show works and what exactly I mean by describing it as full.

The show takes follows in the arc of the three Terminator movies before it, although it manages to mostly skip over the third movie (utterly terrible by *hopefully* everyone’s standards) with a nifty trick.  I won’t ruin it for you folks that have yet to see the show but have no fear, the show’s producers had some idea of just what was good and what wasn’t when they started this journey.  T:SCC follows the story (and sometimes stories) Sarah and John Connor as they fight to save the future from the horrors of the computer network SkyNet.  Aiding Sarah (Lena Headey) and John (Thomas Dekker) is Cameron, a terminator sent back from the future by John himself.  Cameron is played by Summer Glau, the former enigma River Tam from Joss Whedon’s show Firefly.  Cameron’s mission is to protect John from any dangers and we get the pleasure of seeing Summer Glau do (albeit a little bit more robotic now) what she did so well in Serenity: kick the crap out of bad guys.  I’ll be doing another post after I finish the show, one filled with much more plot analysis but for now let me address a few other things.

I’m not sure at what point in each season the show’s producers/writers has suspicions or fears of getting cancelled but T:SCC runs with a sense of urgency that is at once both exciting and alarming.  It seems that so many television shows these days are so lackadaisical and only get around to operating on a believable schedule when there are three episodes left in the season and stuff needs to be pulled together.  Other episodes are filled with crazy happenstances and coincidences that allow for neat little wrap-ups and clean beginnings and endings.  Contrastingly, T:SCC has characters getting cut, shot, and bruised in almost every episode and this is believable because our characters are skimming death’s surface every episode.  Throwaway episodes, episodes that disrupt the successive plot progression just long enough to tell a neat little story that is started and finished without any offshoots or complications within the regular programming period, are (up until this point) non-existent.  John and Sarah’s mission to stop SkyNet propels the narrative arc of the show into a crazed race to the finish, and to be honest, I appreciate that.  It’s nice to know that when I tune in, (and of course, by this phrase I mean turn on my computer and watch) I won’t be watching a 42 minute segment that requires almost no knowledge of the characters and won’t be adding to the ultimate end of the show in the least.  The producers have a story to tell and I’m glad they aren’t taking their time getting around to it.  This sense of urgency is the cause of the fullness of this show.  There’s no dead space, no emptiness, just good story and good characters jammed into the relatively small amount of time given.

The question of who is the main character in the story is also an interesting one.  Sarah, the shows titular character, is an obvious choice, but we can look just as easily to the focus of the story and realize that everything is about John.  Usually we can look at the amount of time we get with a character to determine their ‘main-ness’ but in this case there is no real difference.  Either way, this begs the question: Why does it matter?  The main character is often the lens through which a story is seen.  This person’s opinion or attitude can tinge the presentation of an issue or idea.  Episode 2.8 gets at this idea through the Tarantino-like presentation of Cromartie’s (Garret Dillahunt) pursuit of John and Riley (Leven Rambin) on their trip to Mexico.  I don’t think a definite character can be assigned the glorious role of The Main, but it is interesting to notice the changes we get if we allow the two characters to fill that role.  Sarah’s thoughts seem to run in a very militaristic line, always thinking of the mission at hand, the greater mission overall, the safety of her team members, and the possible threats to her tasks.  People are tools to Sarah, instruments to achieve an end, and Cameron is even less than that.  The terminator is treated with a disrespect bordering on malice and if it weren’t for her strength and (seemingly) blind and thoughtless commitment to her mission, Sarah would most certainly take her apart piece by piece.  Even her former fiance, Charlie (Dean Winters), is no longer judged on anything other than his usability after the initial break-up.  Sarah shows instances of sympathy, but these are more often than not only evidence of her struggle with maintaining her stoic front and not proof of any actual change.  John, on the other hand, seems to treat people with a little more respect and understanding than his hardened mother.  He shows this appreciation for people (and Cameron)  at several points (relationship with Riley, disregard for his mother’s orders to destroy Cameron) and his need for these people and other people in general alienates him from his mother.  It’s probably true that a portion of this separation is due to age but there is still a fundamental difference in ideology between these two characters.  John’s urge to treat Cameron as more than a machine and trust her is indicative of his romantic nature and even though it does and may continue to get him into trouble, it is still easier to relate to him.  I mean, I want to trust Cameron even though I know I shouldn’t, I want to believe that she is more than just a thoughtless machine, and with scenes like her over-riding her termination sequence, what else should I believe?  The juxtapositiion of these two characters is compelling and creates excellent interaction that can fuel such a minimally casted show.

As I said, there will be more, plot-driven, thoughts to come.  That is, of course, if I can manage to write anything through the tears I will most definitely shed over the ending of this great show.

Angel 3.4 Carpe Noctem

Episode 4 of this season focuses on the growing infatuation Winifred (Amy Acker) has for Angel.  This connection serves two purposes: a) Winifred comes out of her room more often in order to find the man of her dreams and in doing this, she runs into the other members of the AI squad, further establishing her place within the group  b)We get an idea of just how horrible Angel is at dealing with anything that doesn’t require a fist to be punched through a face.  The episode is framed through the case the AI squad encounters immediately; a mysterious someone has been stealing young, handsome, muscly men’s bodies (Carpe Noctem means Seize the Night), using them for a bit, and then shedding the husks much like a snake getting ready for a new outfit.  Angel gets the great opportunity to be the perp’s newest change of clothes when our hero pokes his nose just a little too far into the case without proper backing.  The usual mistaken-identities-chaos ensues and only by the brains and determination present within the AI squad is Angel able to manage to switch back into his body before stuck forever as an old man.  Not only would our hero not have been able to fight evil, his new body doesn’t have near enough hair to spike and we all know that Angel isn’t Angel without the 10th grader hairdo he proudly wears.

Even though the beginning of the episode (Winifred looking for Angel and imagining him to be doing something romantic and deep like reading Goethe) is meant to be comical and only establish Fred’s growing infatuation for and dependence on Angel, it also serves another more interesting end.  Fred imagines that Angel is reading “the brothers Karmatzov, Joyce, a little Goethe to round things out” and we are all supposed to laugh when Angel, giddy as a school-kid at recess, comes hopping out of his room to tell everyone about the great Charlton Heston movie festival that is going to be playing downtown, including the great works Soylent Green and The Omega Man.  It’s a cute little scene but the real rub of it is that the Angel we met in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the Angel who started this show would be reading those deep, thick, and usually boring books alone in his study.  I mean, the only time we really saw Angel in season one was either outside fighting the baddies or inside, alone, reading thick tomes filled with arcane knowledge.  I’ve been noticing the change in Angel, the shift toward the light, quirky star, for a few episodes now but this is the first time that there has been any mention (albeit indirectly) to what and who he used to be.  Now, we have some serious questions to consider.  First, can I still use the phrase “broody, dark hero” to refer to this show’s namesake?  Second, while his preppy boy band hair served as a nice contradiction to his previously dark demeanor, can we hope for a change to serve the same purpose with this new personality?  And last but certainly not least, does this shift from the broody also mean (fingers crossed folks) a shift from the leather pants?

A brief respite

I haven’t done much for the past few days, nothing that would be considered productive, that is.  I’ve been reading good books, watching good (and some bad) television, playing an almost grotesque amount of Plants vs. Zombies, hitting my drums loud enough to reach the neighbors in their fortified suburban castles, and doing all-around lazy things.  I’ve felt justified in doing this because I didn’t have the texts needed to continue working and until they arrived, I could literally make no progress on my summer project.  Well, yesterday at around 2:45 or so, a big box with my name on it was discovered outside the front door and sad to say for my Plants vs. Zombies game, it looks like work is back on.  I put it a few hours this morning and will put in a few more this afternoon (trying to absolve myself of the guilt monkey on my back, born during one of my lazy days I’m sure) to make up for lost time.  I’m currently reading Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, an historical play based on King Edward II of England.  So far, the reading has been a little bumpy and slow but not too bad overall.

I am planning on putting my next Angel post up later this afternoon after I finish reading and before I watch a little Ghost Adventures with B and K, but for now I am going to settle with two quotes.  The first is from Charles Bukowski and the second is from The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King.  Here they are:

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.” Charles Bukowski

“Control the things you can control, maggot.  Let everything else take a flying fuck at you, and if you must go down, go down with your guns blazing.” Cort, The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King

Plants vs. Zombies

I was introduced to Plants vs. Zombies via my friend B over a crazy game of Munchkin.  With nothing better to do, I tried out the free 60 min. trial of the game, found here.  After about 15 min. or so, I was hooked through the bag (a little recreational drug use lingo for any straight up gangstas out there).  The premise and structure of the game are quite simple.  You, as a homeowner and citizen of the free world, must protect your house from incoming zombie attacks.  Since mauls, flaming axes, and bazookas will clearly not do anything to stave off this onslaught, you (being the incredibly adept gardener that you most certainly are) are forced to protect your house and family with plants and fungi.  Depending on the time of day, you can choose to litter your lawn (or pool) with over 40 plant or fungi types.  Your sunloving allies range from the regular ol’ peashooter variety to flaming stumps and a plant that I’m almost positive is modeled after Audrey II, the alien plant in Little Shop of Horrors.  But don’t get too cocky yet, friend.  The zombie horde is more than equipped to deal with your vegetable variety; there are 26 types of zombies with differing levels of toughness and effectiveness.  Do you have what it takes to cast aside your guns, pick up your trowel, and save your home from zombie army?

The gameplay is pretty straightforward and easy to use.  As of yet (I haven’t yet beaten all of the levels) I have found no way to replay levels, which means that the only way to get money to shop for shiny new items and plants is to play the mini-games or suck it up and beat the level you are on.  The limited lawn space, although a little frustrating at times, forces you to be smart with your decisions and actually plan out a strategy.  Here is a still of a level in full swing:

The lawnmowers on the left-hand of the screen act as a safety net in an emergency and to be honest, I’ve had to use them quite a lot.  Even though Plants vs. Zombies is a fairly easy game to get into, it is much more difficult to master.  The more complex levels feel like an excellent blend of Warcraft and chess, with a little rotting flesh thrown in for good measure.  The game takes itself totally un-seriously and the result is a bunch of levels that are as fun as they are funny.  If only zombies would really write you notes that read, “Hello, We are about to launch an all-out attack on your houze.  Sincerely, the Zombies.”  Not only are they coming to eat your brains (but not your eyes, don’t worry) but they are being courteous about it.  How lovely.

What I can only hope to grow into

I had dinner with some relatives last night.  My great uncle Jack, his wife Irene, and his daughter Karen, all from Canada, came over last night with my mom and grandma.  We have recently instituted Fancy Fridays in this house and so we made up-scale food, put far too many pieces of cutlery on the table, and served tea and cake after the meal.  As we wined and dined (minus the wined part) I couldn’t help but notice that my great uncle Jack, 90 or so years old that he may be, is still full of laughter, excitement, smiles, and life.  We talked politics for some time and he is still sharp as can be with current affairs.  He reminisced with my grandma about their childhood and even at his age, he still can laugh at stories about peeing outside.  After the meal had been cleared and our guests had been waved goodbye, my brother said that he would much rather spend an evening with those people, the very elderly, than spend an evening with most 25 year olds, and I totally agree with him.  Sitting in my fanciest of clothes, sipping my post meal tea, and listening to great uncle Jack talk and smile and laugh was really refreshing.  This guy, after so many years and so many experiences, is still alive and looking ahead to the next adventure.

I managed to watch some of the first season of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles last night before bed and that show just keeps on getting better.  I thought the pilot was strong and now, halfway through season one, I am totally hooked.  If I wasn’t currently blogging about Angel, I’m quite sure TSCC would be the focus of my writing.

Angel 3.3 That Old Gang of Mine

Charles Gunn, the well loved, scrappy, streetwise, muscley part of the AI crew gets the spotlight in this episode and really, it’s about freaking time.  This guy joined the crew officially in the previous season and up until now he’s been pretty ho-hum about it, going about his work with, seemingly, little to no regrets or second thoughts about working for a vampire who doesn’t have any hard and fast rules for deciding between good and evil.

The episode begins with Angel’s heartfelt and previously transcribed words of regret and apology to Merl, his former informant.  Words lead to anger and anger leads to Merl trying to deck Angel in the face, which is a nice set up for the rest of the episode since there is an enchantment on Lorne’s place, Caritas, that prevents any demon offensive violence from happening.  The opening song/video montage begins and dear, sweet, baby Jesus I wish that song would never have ended because following it is a shot of Angel in leather pants.  Ummmm, why?  Did the people that clean his wardrobe/make his wardrobe/buy his wardrobe suddenly fall ill with the crazy disease that gives them strange, wrong thoughts and the hiccups all day?  I thought Angel only wore his pimpin’ pants when he was evil, and one of the big draws for me in this show is that he isn’t evil, which means, in a perfect and happy world, never ever ever ever should he be wearing those things.  My mind is still scarred, as is my innocence.

Anyway, the episode focuses around Gunn running into a few members from his old vampire hunting gang.  Rondel, one of Gunn’s best friends, is leading the group but now they have a hotshot new member named Gio.  It turns out that Gunn’s old gang have “forgotten the mission” and are now, instead of only hunting vampires, killing any demons that they hear about, including Merl and any other peaceful hell spawn.  Everything falls apart when Cordelia and Wesley bring Fred to Caritas for a little singing and the gang shows up with machine guns.  Most of the demons are killed before they discover Gunn is there as well.  This prompts Gio to get into a little spat with good ol’ Charles Gunn, which ends with Gunn killing a demon hostage and proving that maybe he isn’t such a 1-dimensional character.  Big, bad Angel of the leathery pants brigade shows up and Gunn is given a chance to make things right with his old pals again by putting a stake through Angel’s heart o’ hearts.  Angel vamps out, to make it easy for Gunn and then says, “Deal with it or don’t, just make a damn choice.”  Gunn refuses, not because Angel is his friend but because Angel has the mission and Rondel doesn’t.  Gio gives Fred the chance to shoot Angel with a crossbow, offering her freedom for Angel’s life.  She is a little wishy-washy right away but eventually turns out be still be a part of Team Good.  This whole time Cordelia has been working hard to get the enchantment on Caritas lifted and at this point, she succeeds.  A fight breaks out and a demon that had been left alive eats Gio’s head.  I pretty much hated the cocky jerk, so I was cool with it.

As I said before, this episode works for me because Gunn is finally exposed a little and shown to be more than just the mindless muscle that he has appeared to be until now.  The producers of this show are really great at giving us characters that are mostly shades of grey and I don’t think this episode in any way takes away from that.  Sure, we now know that Gunn has made a clear decision to be on the AI crew and we even have his reasons, but this only serves to detail the grey area that his character is a part of, not detract from it.  We also get an idea in this episode of just what kind of boss Wesley can be (remember, he was put in charge after Angel did that whole, “I’m gonna be bad but still have a soul” thing).  Wes corners Gunn after everything has gone down and says, “If you ever withhold information or attempt to subvert me again, I will fire you.”  Don’t get me wrong, I love happy endings, but only when things are actually all cleared up.  The AI squad has a lot of problems going on and I am glad that they are being addressed instead of just pushed aside in favor of more action and explosions.  Angel (and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for that matter) are both enjoyable for me because even though the structure of the shows, the premises, are totally unbelievable, the characters that fill those unbelievable worlds with the gray and shifty structures, are not only believable, but totally inviting.  I love that both of these shows know that they are cheesy and absurd, but can still achieve moments of real emotional weight.

That being said, I do have one real problem with Angel that was brought out in full force in this episode.  The majority of black people (I want to say all but there may have been one or two that I can’t remember) in this show have all been portrayed in the same kind of way: streetwise gangsters that all talk in total cliches and look like total buffoons in the face of the civilized crowd that can think in the face of danger and complicated situations.  This episode is a great example because we have Gunn’s former gang, made up of mostly black people juxtaposed with the AI squad.  The gang has a shoot first, think later mentality with no concept of distinguishing between good and evil.  Their only indicator is whether or not a being is human and if it isn’t, it needs to be stab stabbed or pew pewed.  The AI squad, meanwhile, is headed by a vampire that totally embodies the noble, selfless, make-me-puke-sometimes, kind of hero.  The squad also has Wesley, who specializes in words and would much prefer to talk things out rationally in the place of a good skirmish.  Maybe this juxtaposition is unfair because the gang was all raised on the streets and so they have no formal education unlike Cordelia (high school graduate), Wesley (brain man), and Angel (loves long walks on the moon-lit beach and sitting at home alone with a nice pitcher of blood and a stack of old novels).  Gunn is the in-betweener here and maybe this is the producers’ attempt to break out of this mold by having a black man use his words instead of his weapons.

Angel 3.2 That Vision Thing

‘That Vision Thing’ deals primarily with Cordelia’s visions and the physical manifestations that have lately been accompanying them.  Oh boy, wouldn’t you know it, Wolfram & Hart, the corporation of lawyers bent on…wait, what are they bent on again?  Anyway, Wolfram & Hart are messing with Cordelia’s visions through a hired associate with a lovely fez, played by Kai Penn.  When Angel finally confronts Lyla about this interference, she tells him that she has picked him specifically for a mission and if he wants to protect Cordelia, well, he’ll just get on up and do what the good lady says.  For some reason, Angel does the task, which involves removing a high-risk prisoner from some uber-prison from another dimension.  Our brooding, vampiric hero gives Lyla her boon and she promises to stop the harm to Cordelia.  For some reason, Lyla brought Mr. Fezzy Interference along for the shady exchange in the dark at the docks (drugs or inter-dimensional prisoner…) and just for some extra assurance, Angel throws a handy steel bar through the window of the nearest limo, giving our fezzman a shiny horn to go with his one and only Angel appearance.  The episode wraps up with a tiny continuation that is oddly reminiscent of Breaking Dawn.  We see Darla, pregnant with what looks to be the worlds largest set of manitees, trying to get some sort of magical abortion from anyone capable.  She is almost out of options so who better to turn to than the nice Native man rolling his future-predicting animal-bone-dice in his lovely teepee in the mountains of Honduras.  He takes some blood, mixes in some mysterious herbs and spices and, after rubbing the composite in his palms, presses his hands against her stomach.  Schade um, the technique fails and gasp! Darla is going to have Angel’s baby.  I swear Stephanie Meyer had to have been a large Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel watcher because this is the second time that a similarity of the large type has come up.  The first is of course the alarming traits that both Angel and Edward possess, especially early Angel.  Recall with me, if you will, the first few times we meet Angel.  He’s the strange, dreamy, hunky piece of man-meat who quietly watches Buffy while she sleeps.  Hmm, weird, it’s almost like Edward does the same thing.  The second crossover is this whole vampire baby thing.  First off, in both stories it is kind of thought to be impossible for one (and definitely two) vampires to make-a-da-baby but oh dear, love just transcends all of those physical limitations doesn’t it?  Also, much like Darla, Bella too quickly grows to the size of a tricked out station wagon with the offspring of her vampiric love.  Finally, both women  contain children that appear to be close to indestructible.  I can only hope Darla’s child grows up to fall deeply in love with one of her (or Angel’s) BFFs.

This episode was really great for a few reasons.  Cordelia, much like Xander Harris of the Scooby Gang in BtVS, is worried about her usefulness to the team and with good reason.  Before she had the visions, Cordie was no more than a secretary, but now she is a valuable and necessary member of the Angel Investigations squad.  Even though she is usually one of the less thoughtful characters in the show, we see that she understands this when she resists Lorne’s attempts to get the bottom of these interferences and maybe even fix her “vision problem.”  The usual perky and quirky Cordelia suddenly becomes a serious and almost tragic character, with her possible future contributions to the team hanging on her ability to survive the cuts, burns and, and diseases that have been accompanying her visions.  Gunn, in her absence from the funny person role, steps in and hits it of quite well.  This layer of the characters that the writers and producers are able to bring out is really great and I can only hope that now that equilibrium has been restored to the cast they won’t just fall back into their old roles again.

In other, slightly less connected or intellectual thoughts, Wesley seems to be working hard on transitioning from his pretty boy, “I am British and wear nice clothes” haircut to the ever-fashionable, wavy man-mullet.  Also, we get more of Fred in this episode and I am glad about that, due partially to the fact that Amy Acker playing a nervous, overly-talkative genius is totally adorable.

In non-Angel news, BigWhiskey and the GrooGrux King comes out very soon (June 2nd).  Am I excited?  Yeah, like, wet my pants excited.

Angel 3.1 Heartthrob

In an attempt to get something schedule-y going with my blog, I’ve decided to start writing about the television show that I am currently watching: Angel.  I started season 3 today and will begin my blogging here in order to be sure the episodes are clear in my mind.  There will most likely be spoilers, both for Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (due to the nature of the shows and their cross-over relationship).  So, without further ado, let us begin with episode 1 of season 3, entitled ‘Heartthrob.’

The episode begins (apart from a shot of Winifred ‘Fred’ peeking around a corner in the hotel) in the manner of most of the episodes up through this point; members of Angel Investigations arrive at HQ, fresh from a fight with some nasty, smelly, most likely ugly, demon.  Cordelia, she of the visions, is complaining, as she does, about the content of most of their cases.  Gunn and Wesley are with her and the three members of AI chat over the massive loss Angel has most recently suffered.  The final episode of season 2 ended with Willow (Alyson Hannigan) awaiting Angel and crew’s return in order to tell them of Buffy’s death, enacted in ‘The Gift,’ the final episode in season 5 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  We learn that Angel has left, in his usual, broody fashion, with plans to seek peace in a monastery in Sri Lanka.  The AI crew’s talk transitions us to a film montage of Angel beating the snot out of some demon monks in his peaceful monastery.

‘Heartthrob’ had a few really rough parts and little more than a single, shimmery, glimpse of hope for me as a viewer.  As a first episode after the relatively weak finale of season 2, it was disappointing.  Coincidentally, just as Angel is trying to work through the death of the love of his life, a blast from his past shows up and we are once more in the flashback style that Joss and the other producers seem to love so much.  I’m not totally sure, but I think they may have had a dialogue that went something like this:

Producer 1: “Hey guys, I have an awesome idea!  You know how Angel is, like, super duper old?  Well, since he’s pretty much seen, like, everything, we could have him face trials and tribulations in the present that like totally relate to the things he’s already gone through in the past.”

Producer 2: “Awesome!  You know that one super over-used idea of people being haunted by ghosts?  Why don’t we take that and make it a literal haunting by having old friends, like other vampires and stuff, from Angel’s past come and metaphorically haunt him in the present.  They’ll still be all bad and stuff but since Angel isn’t anymore, cuz remember, he’s totally got a soul now, he’ll have to fight them at the end of the episode and then it’ll be like he’s ridding himself of his past and paying penance for his sins.”

Producer 3: “Woah, this shit is getting real.  Let’s do it.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of the stuff Joss and his great team have produced.  That being said, I’m getting sick of these very episodic, formulaic, easy way out kind of stories.  ‘Hearttrhob’ contains an embedded narrative (even though this term usually applies to literature, I’m using it broadly to refer to a story within a story) involving two former vampire friends of Angel’s that were deeply in love.  In his fight for justice and peace, Angel kills the girl at the onset of the bulk of the episode and her love, Angel’s former friend, comes to fight him.  As Cordelia says to Angel after he has vanquished James, his former compadre, “I know that James, with all his Romeo and Julie madness, opened up a lot of wounds for you.”  Angel’s love for Buffy, his totally fairy tale, bitter-sweet, desire-for-but-can’t-have love, is called into question and even after an episode that made me cringe almost as much as it made me cackle sarcastically, there was still redemption.  After Cordelia does her best to console Angel after the heartwrenching events of the day, she ends with, “but you’ll be ok,” to which Angel responds, “I am ok.”  Finally, some real character truth in this show!  Yeah, Angel’s true love has just died.  Yeah, he just (end of season 2) had the true demon inside him exposed to everyone, thereby adding shame to the guilt he already feels.  Yeah, the dude has a lot of problems.  But he’s ok.  And as he says, the problem is, “that [he's] ok.  That losing Buffy didn’t kill [him].”  Alright, Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt (David actually wrote this episode), you guys are alright.  Because that is the problem with Angel.  Earlier in the episode, James, right before his death, looks at Angel and says, “I lived, you just existed.”  He puts it in the past tense but it is still absolutely true.  Angel is going through life, helping people, like Superman, because he feels obligated to.  Even the death of the love of his life (and unlife), the thing (person) he has been most passionate about up until this point, can’t bring him out of his essentially apathetic existence.  And that character is someone in whom I am interested.

How you like-a da rain, gurl?

Had the opportunity to hang out with some old friends and watch Twilight last night.  It’s a good thing that I was around cool, funny people because that movie is truly painful, as in, migraine kind of painful.  I can remember one especially poignant moment in which Bella walks into her classroom after coming in from the wet weather outside (Forks offers great cloud cover/weather for vampires in hiding, remember…) and Mike Newton comes in, shakes what I can only assume to be his cute, little umbrella over Bella’s head and says something to the effect of, “How you like-a da rain, Arizona!?!  Oh boy.

Seeing the movie did get me thinking about something worthwhile though.  One of my professors on Morris once said something like, “If we don’t read books to feel something, I’m not sure what we read them for.”  I read all four of the Twilight books and while I was in the thick of them, I was pretty sucked in, reading along as Bella stayed the same emotionally and Edward continued to be a domineering gentleman of the finest sort.  Yet, after I had finished Breaking Dawn, my affection for those books waned quickly, until I loathed the fact that I had liked them and wished I hadn’t wasted my time.  After watching the movie and thinking about why I no longer ‘Luv Bella + Edward, like, sooooo much’ I came to the conclusion that Stephanie Meyer had literally left me with no residual feelings for those characters.  Like a typical batch of greasy fast food, it took me a few days to clear that crap from my system and after I had, I regretted my decision to stop at the McWendy’s of the popular literature dining options.  I finished four books totalling almost an entire buttload of pages and all I have to show for it is a decidedly apathetic outlook on the characters, their motivations, (if they exist, has anyone conducted a search recently?) and the path of the story.  It’s true that no one likes to hear a whiner regretting things that can’t be changed but I do think that it is helpful to think about why or why things didn’t work for you in order to not repeat the same mistake again.

As an endnote to this post, a little something from my main man Dave.  This song reminds me of summer.  Bring it on, woot.

Funny The Way It Is

Said goodbye to a special someone tonight.  We haven’t really been hanging out for a terribly long time but I have still really enjoyed spending time with her, having intelligent conversations (as well as not so intelligent conversations) together, and just being around her awesome personality.  I’m really stoked for summer, yet I am not so excited to only be able to talk with her over the phone.  It’s strange how terrible the timing can be with things like this.  Bugger.

In other news, I’ve been watching a fair bit of Angel recently and after about a season and a half of snooze alerts and Clifford the Big Red Dog kind of episodic connection, I have finally hit the good stuff.  The episodes have finally begun to get hazy and non-existent at the corners and have started turning into one big story instead of several episode length tales coincidentally involving the same folks.  Angel has started to do for me what Buffy was able to do so well; it is telling a story that makes sense, is compelling, is imaginative, and is comfortable with what it is.  Sure, it would be easy for a show like this to either be way too serious (I mean, come on, it’s about a vampire who finds many of his answers by singing for a demon in a bar) or else way too goofy.  Instead, Joss and the other producers were able to level out Angel in a way that allows for a stellar plot progression supplemented by comedy, drama, and spoofy fun.  To anyone starting out with this show, I have the following message: Push on, brave soul, and you will be heartily rewarded.  I just hope it continues along this path.

Also, as a final note, this from Jonathan Carroll’s twitter today.

Makes me wonder why I define love the way I do.