When is bad good? When it creates suspense. When it sparks action. When it changes characters in drastic yet believable ways. When it leads to dramatic irony. In other words, when good writers know how to milk a plot where the bad guys are winning. When it's happening on Fringe!
As Fringe opens this season, Olivia is a prisoner in the alternate dimension, reprogrammed to believe she is her own double. The double is working against Peter, Walter, and the FBI in our dimension. Oh, no! Except, oh, yes! Fringe has never been as exciting, as fast-paced, and as fun as it is this season. Usually, the mood of a show plummets when the bad guys outwit the good guys at the end of successive episodes. On Fringe this year, each defeat only increases the tension.
How do they do it? Well, car chases help. The first episode of the season, which involved Olivia running away from a mental facility on the other side, was the most dynamic I've seen on Fringe. Even more importantly, the bad guys of Fringe, especially Olivia's double, are very engaging. In fact, Olivia's double, though ruthless and much too unquestioningly loyal to the evil Walternate, is much more fun than our always melancholy, sometimes flat Olivia. I'm hoping that after "being" her double for a while, our Olivia (who we are rooting for despite her woodenness) will retain some of that vivacity. Dramatic irony -- the classical trick where the audience knows something the characters don't -- also helps. We're too busy yelling angrily at Peter, "Can't you tell she's not your Olivia?" to feel depressed about the situation.
The episodes that take place in our dimension (and please understand that I am an episode behind, writing this) have not been quite as thrilling as the episodes taking place on the other side. They have relied too much on the same old plot we've seen again and again in previous seasons: strange science kills people in a gruesome way, the team investigates, yadda yadda. The episodes in the alternate universe, however, have broken free of this formula and provided twists and turns. The mystery pulls us on: What is Walternate's plan?
To sum up: I began watching Fringe, though I sometimes found it boring, because my husband was watching it. Now I'm asking him, "When are you going to have time to watch TV? There's a Fringe in the DVR!"
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Warehouse 13: Why I Just Can't Care
My husband really enjoys Warehouse 13, and is dying to see it renewed for another year. I watch it with him, and have fun doing so, but somehow, I just don't care that much, about the characters or the future of the show. And why is that, when the plots hums along, the magic involves tongue-in-cheek references to historical figures and events, Artie is lovable, Claudia is cool, and Mykha is amusingly neurotic?
I think I found the answer today, while reading River Secrets, the third in Shannon Hale's Bayern YA Fantasy series. On the page I was reading, the main character (Razo) remembered a character he used to love (Bettin) during the time of the first book. Now, Razo was not a main character of the first book; he was decidedly secondary. And yet, there was a girl he loved, who had no role in the book, but was named as part of the author's effort to round out Razo, and as a natural consequence of Hale's creation of a whole, three-dimensional, fully realized fantasy world.
In contrast, the characters of Warehouse 13 seem to spring into existence the moment the cameras start rolling, and go back into stasis as soon as they stop. There is little evidence that they have lives outside of their recorded adventures. Sure, Claudia has a history (and is also probably the most engaging character of the four). But Mykha has parents who appeared once, and Pete dated Kelly, and that's it for them. It's inconceivable that we would learn about Kelly's family, as we hear of Razo's love in The Goose Girl. The world of Warehouse 13 simply does not have that kind of depth. The lack of tertiary characters isn't a problem -- it's a symptom, a sign. The real problem is that the main characters, and the world they inhabit, seem two-dimensional.
Apply this litmus-test to Jack, the main character of Eureka, and see what you get: he has a daughter, Zoe, another main character; a sister, whose baby's father we also meet (a tertiary character!); an ex-wife, who has appeared on the show; an ex-girlfriend, Tess; and an A.I. house. All of these characters have provided drama outside, and alongside, the mystery of the week. All of them remind viewers, over and over, that Eureka exists inside a complete and complicated world.
Some of Warehouse 13's difficulties stem from the fact that the "magical space" is simply too small. Too few people are involved in the Warehouse, so, much of the agents' time is spent learning details of lives and places that will never be mentioned again. On Eureka, every investigation takes place within the "magical space" of the town, so that every detail learned by the way adds to the complexity of the show's created world. I honestly don't know how Warehouse 13 could be fixed; the sad truth is that some premises are inherently limited.
So, Warehouse 13, if we don't see you next year: It was fun. It was good. It just wasn't great.
I think I found the answer today, while reading River Secrets, the third in Shannon Hale's Bayern YA Fantasy series. On the page I was reading, the main character (Razo) remembered a character he used to love (Bettin) during the time of the first book. Now, Razo was not a main character of the first book; he was decidedly secondary. And yet, there was a girl he loved, who had no role in the book, but was named as part of the author's effort to round out Razo, and as a natural consequence of Hale's creation of a whole, three-dimensional, fully realized fantasy world.
In contrast, the characters of Warehouse 13 seem to spring into existence the moment the cameras start rolling, and go back into stasis as soon as they stop. There is little evidence that they have lives outside of their recorded adventures. Sure, Claudia has a history (and is also probably the most engaging character of the four). But Mykha has parents who appeared once, and Pete dated Kelly, and that's it for them. It's inconceivable that we would learn about Kelly's family, as we hear of Razo's love in The Goose Girl. The world of Warehouse 13 simply does not have that kind of depth. The lack of tertiary characters isn't a problem -- it's a symptom, a sign. The real problem is that the main characters, and the world they inhabit, seem two-dimensional.
Apply this litmus-test to Jack, the main character of Eureka, and see what you get: he has a daughter, Zoe, another main character; a sister, whose baby's father we also meet (a tertiary character!); an ex-wife, who has appeared on the show; an ex-girlfriend, Tess; and an A.I. house. All of these characters have provided drama outside, and alongside, the mystery of the week. All of them remind viewers, over and over, that Eureka exists inside a complete and complicated world.
Some of Warehouse 13's difficulties stem from the fact that the "magical space" is simply too small. Too few people are involved in the Warehouse, so, much of the agents' time is spent learning details of lives and places that will never be mentioned again. On Eureka, every investigation takes place within the "magical space" of the town, so that every detail learned by the way adds to the complexity of the show's created world. I honestly don't know how Warehouse 13 could be fixed; the sad truth is that some premises are inherently limited.
So, Warehouse 13, if we don't see you next year: It was fun. It was good. It just wasn't great.
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