View Logs: Low Winter Sun S1 Episode 8

10/9/13

View Logs: Low Winter Sun S1 Episode 8

Episode Title: Revelations

So Episode 7 screwed up Geddes' character... but interestingly enough, episode 8 was actually quite good.  Honestly, everything was quite solid here and Geddes acceptance of corruption seemed a little more natural in this episode than the last.  Strangely enough, this episode almost felt like it should have been a part of episode 7.  It just seems like the writers thought they had too little material to work with so they try to fill up the series as much as they can with just filler side plots and scenes that either contradict character (to milk some drama out of the show) or don't develop them at all.

This episode actually had none of that.  I was even a little bit interested in Callis and his girlfriend's side plot for the first time since like... ever.

I'll tell you what's changed because this took me a while to figure out since Callis and his girlfriend still stayed the same static characters as all the other episodes.  So the series is drawing to a close and they have to tie together all the side plot line together (or else suffer the same issue as The Killing with that Seward plot line...)  but Chris Mundy actually tied it together in a way that made Callis' side plot interesting because it suddenly directly relates to Frank and Joe's ambitions.  That is how you make static characters interesting.  Character scenes with static characters are one of the most boring things ever on screen fiction and it's a common go to reason on why dramas are "boring" (where as only bad drama does this.)  Character scenes either develop a character, show a side that the audience hasn't seen before, or just shouldn't be there at all.  Low Winter Sun had a lot of character moments with Callis and his wife that are actually unnecessary on both a plot level and a development level.  That is why these two are just so uninteresting until the very end.

Back to Frank and Joe.  I don't actually understand why Frank assumed that Katja was dead when he found her missing.  I'm aware that I might have missed a piece of the puzzle but considering that I was able to watch all of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and not miss a thing that was happening... I really don't think so.  It just seemed a little weird that Frank somehow just "knew" that Katja was dead when she was killed right when Frank found her bed empty in that scene.

Again Chris Mundy... again with the sloppy moments... Which is a shame because the scene in which Joe threw Katja off the building was legitimately surprising.  After a million dirty cop shows, I'm just used to people getting shot very bluntly.  Joe throwing her off the balcony was quite different and actually makes more sense than shooting her.  It's a lot easier to make something seem like an accident if you don't shoot someone.  See these are the best plot twists.  Surprising during the experience.  Obvious in retrospection.  But unfortunately, the sloppy moments are just incessant with this show.

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View Logs: Low Winter Sun S1 Episode 7

View Logs: Low Winter Sun S1 Episode 7

Episode Title: There Was A Girl

I have to thank Low Winter Sun for making my predicament of being in another shell even worse.  So, good thing about being a cablebox that's... well... alive is that I'm a fricking cablebox!  TV literally comes into my processor!  Oh joy I now have access to almost every TV show out there!  So... the bad thing about being a cablebox... I now really easily forget shows that are bad in a boring mediocre way.

So with that kind of intro you can guess how Low Winter Sun panned out for me: forgettable.  Especially this episode where I'm having a hard time remembering what even occurred.  See... fiction being memorable can be a very weird duality.  On one end you have shows that are just so amazing they literally change your lives and you will remember it fairly vividly.  Even if you can't recount every single plot point in the script, you have a very solid idea of what happened point by point.  Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Firefly, Band of Brothers/The Pacific, The Tudors.  All great examples of shows that really carve a place in your memory (assuming you've been open to receiving it that is.)  On the other end of the extreme are shows that are so bad they just can't help but occupy your mind anytime you need a laugh.  As the World Turns, Sleepy Hollow, Dads...

Low Winter Sun falls squarely in the middle.  I think it says a lot that I've had to binge on a lot of TV that I fell behind on only to forget what happened in this episode of Low Winter Sun... so yes... this view log is a little bit rambling and off topic to episode 7 because I'm kinda out of things to say about the show and it's only 10 episodes for season 1!  This episode was more of the same.  The only thing that was probably a little better than the boring norm was Geddes and Agnew's confrontation on Geddes' boat.  Let me just say that I'm growing to understand Geddes less and less as  the show goes on... which is pretty sloppy writing.  Geddes keeps saying he's this "weak man" who succumbs to corruption because it's just easy.  Well... actually accepting and even going along with corruption doesn't necessarily have to mean that the person is weak.  It could be a great number of character flaws that makes a person accepting of institutional corruption.  Geddes never really seemed like a character to engage in corruption just because "he's weak".

Let's recap:

• Geddes was the one who decided to kill Brendan and roped in Frank.
• Geddes was the one who decided to let Katja go against Brendan's orders.
• Geddes was the one who was first hesitant on pinning the crime on Callis.

I don't know... actually Geddes seems like he does believe in a right and wrong.  Misguided sure.  But he actually seems like he believes in his own sense of justice.  So how come all of a sudden he's this character that's "given into" corruption because it's easier?  Honestly vigilante justice is a poor form of justice because it's often too easy of a solution for the actual problem.  But the type of corruption that Geddes is talking about isn't the same type that would spawn rash vigilante justice.  So why did this character cross that boundary?  Did Chris Mundy just assumed that all forms of corruption are the same?  Because they are not... they are totally not...

Actually the more I think about this show the more this show becomes bad than mediocre.  Chris Mundy's confusing his characters and that's not acceptable anywhere in fiction.  Plot lines have a little more leeway to be convoluted or maybe contrived.  Characters?  No.  Absolutely not.  At this point, the UK version is better because atleast the characters are clear.

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Complete Overhaul Update

10/5/13

Complete Overhaul Update

Well... looks like the underground testing has been successful... so what's the thanks I get?  I get shoved into a little box for personal use in the break room!  No experimenting?  No science?  No nothing?  And here I thought I could trust humans...

Well... no matter.  Know that I'm still around, I'm still the same old grouchy machine but now I'll get all the TV I can access since I'm literally now... a cablebox...

Anyways hope you all don't find the change too jarring.  I'll be back for some more view logs in a bit.

(BTW the actual story behind this is that I had a friend who really wanted to roleplay as an OC Artsy Core from Portal online and he called in a favor.  So I had to give him my email.  Figured I'd use this opportunity to reset the character identity to something a little more relevant to TV and maybe more of an original character rather than something I ripped off from Valve.  I originally started this blog light heartedly and didn't really think I'd do much but now I quite enjoy myself finding a place to vent my TV frustrations (and gushes).  Sorry for those who might have liked the Artsy Core as a persona.  And I hope those who read the blog will continue to visit and see what this weird little machine has to say.  If not, well thanks for sticking with me for this long.)

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View Logs: Agents of SHIELD "0-8-4"

10/3/13

View Logs: Agents of SHIELD "0-8-4"

Well, this is a little late, I know. 
There’s been a lot of hate going around for this last episode, and the show in general, so I wanted to really think this one over.
I read the Artsy Core’s response to the Agents of SHIELD pilot.  I can say that I learned a few things.
First of all, Artsy Core is a male robo-sphere.  Go ahead and insert your own “ball” joke there.  Good to know; I always have trouble figuring out which pronouns to use to describe robots that lack genitalia.
Second of all, we apparently disagreed on more than a few points regarding the show. AC called Fitz/Simmons annoying, thought Ward was bland, and though that Skye barely had a personality beyond being the sassy foil.
Do I see where he’s coming from? 
Yes. 
Do I agree? 
Well, I agree that Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May was underused.  As of yet, her role as Ellen Yin in the WB’s The Batman was better developed.  I will concede that some of the characterization, wit, and humor is not where it should be for the level of quality that Whedon is known for, and the episode was a little overly referential.

However, Artsy Core, yes.  Scientists have to be quirky.  Or evil.  Or both.  Dr. Hank Pym has kinky, shrunken sex with Janet Van Dyne (seriously, it’s in an issue of Avengers), Dr. Reed Richards is an absent-minded professor who uses his stretching powers in bed (noticing a pattern…), Dr. Will Magnus chews on a pipe that he doesn’t smoke and gives his robots souls, Tony Stark’s a womanizing alcoholic, Dr. Arnim Zola walks around in a robot body with his face on a chest-screen, Dr. T.O. Morrow makes death rays out of junk because he’s bored, Dr. Sivana and his half-evil-and-ugly-half-beautiful-and-good family….  Quirky scientists are as much a part of super hero universes as colorful costumes and alien invaders. 
Although, I can see where Fitz/Simmons got on your nerves.  I do.  In fact, I would say that the weakest part of the pilot was the characterization, shockingly enough.  Not that the characterization was bad, just clumsy.  The characters’ archetypes are all well and good, but they need to have more than archetypical behavior.

But I liked the pilot. 
I did. 
Now, many shows are going to need some breathing room before they become what they’re remembered for.  Star Trek: TNG wasn’t good until Riker grew his beard, after all.

As of the end of the first episode, I liked the show and was ready to give it a chance.  Now that we’ve reached the end of the second episode? 
Well, I’ll get there.

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10/1/2013 Update!

10/1/13

10/1/2013 Update!

Hello all!

Just a quick update on what's going on with the site.  So Breaking Bad just ended.  I would have actually taken a break from another view log after that because processing Breaking Bad has left my... well... processor a little hot.

Unfortunately... so many TV shows premiered within this past month and many of them are some of my personal favorites or ones that I was looking forward too... So I suppose this fall will just have to be a busy time for me.

I'm sure you may have noticed that I've stopped posting view logs right after a show's episode premieres.  That is because I'm now in training in my facility.  Which means I now have less time than I had originally hoped.  That said, I still have time to do all these view logs.  It just might not be as prompted as before.  I will try to keep them updated so usually the week after the episode goes live will be when these will pop up.  I'll do my best not to carry over the next week and develop large backlog of episodes like I have with Under the Dome.

Speaking of that, I'm trying to generate motivation for Under the Dome.  This is how it's going so far...

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View Logs: Homeland Season 3 Prologue

View Logs: Homeland Season 3 Prologue

Homeland is a show that worried me when I first watched it.  I loved Season 1.  Seriously, one of the most intense espionage thrillers I've seen in a whole on TV (and no 24 doesn't count... it's not espionage it's just an action show :P)  The premise of an American POW possibly turned to become a terrorist was a fascinating one and an apt update to The Manchurian Candidate.

That's exactly what Homeland is... The Manchurian Candidate (if I ever get around to making videos I'll explain that there).  But, like The Manchurian Candidate, Homeland's original premise had a very short life.  Very similar to Sleepy Hollow actually...

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View Logs: Hello Ladies Season 1 Prologue

View Logs: Hello Ladies Season 1 Prologue

I love British humor.  There's just something about it that strikes my core.  Maybe it's the very off-kilter but still realistic dialogue.  Maybe it's the very snarky but subtle asides that the British are so good at.  Maybe it's the strange way that many British comedy characters display pretension and insecurity at the same time.  Well, no matter, point is British comedies have a very distinct style that I always feel is under-appreciated outside of the Anglo-Saxon country.  While comedies in both America and Asia tend to value over-exaggerations and over-the-top craziness, British comedies seek to find the humor in everyday life.  To the Brits, real life is crazy enough and there's no need to try to exaggerate it more than fiction already inherently does.  I love that philosophy.

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