Subscribe
I mentioned when I last did a little cheerleading for the new season of Eureka that I’m a sucker for the hand holding. Since then Eureka has gone from strength to strength, but the latest episode, ‘The Ex-Files’ (4.09), showed a confidence that’s lacking in most shows currently on the air.
Annoying disclaimer again: I’m friends with Amy Berg who wrote this particular gem of an episode, but if you have a quick dig I’m confident that you’ll find a plethora of more analytical reviews than this post that reach the same conclusion. She knocked this one out of the park and then some. If you’re out this evening looking for the International Space Station you may be lucky enough to see Amy’s script bounce off the side of the tin can.
I’m writing this in London and I’m pretty sure the new season hasn’t aired here yet so don’t want to get into spoiler territory, but this episode had the tricky task of bringing back a couple of older Eureka characters into the storyline without alienating any new viewers who may have only just joined the fun this season. I count myself in that category as this is the most Eureka I’ve ever watched.
Now not only were these characters introduced in a manner that didn’t make me feel I had to sit through three box sets to catch up, their presence naturally pushed the season arc along beautifully, while at the same time forced some real honest-to-Zod character development in a set up that I’ve never seen before. To have two characters reach that moment while being cheered on by their actual past gets me in the same place that all good writing gets me. It’s heart wrenching in the same way (but with opposite intent) that the loss of Wash in Serenity was or the final (almost) Buffy voice over in season five’s ‘The Gift’ always is no matter how many times you hear it. I’m also pretty sure that the four actors involved have never had such wonderful lines given to them – the transition from humour to real sentiment was seamless – and I’ve been back and watched that scene a few times now.
It’s the kind of thing that is so audacious, yet pulled off so elegantly that you kind of need Kevin Costner talking you through it frame by frame, “Back, and to the left… back, and to the left… back, and to the left.”
The killer part for me as a fan of the hands that hold is that this was just as much about letting go.
Just perfect television.
Then again you may just wanna catch it for the killer BSG reference…
I watched Eureka and Warehouse 13 when they premiered and quit after the first few episodes; like Doctor Who, they were too whimsical and cutesy to really appeal to me very much. Now they’re both getting kind of shippy.
I hate shippy. So why am I having such a good time with them now?
Because along with who’s frakking whom, there’s some backstory, some history, a little mythology. And while I’m trying not to pay too much attention to avoid disappointment (I’m good at killing shows by liking them: Dollhouse, BSG, maybe Caprica. It’s awful, I tell you) I’m kind of hearing that they’ve posted ratings gains.
And then there’s Slingers, which I pimped to everybody I could collar; I got a lot of “go away, this isn’t TV, yet”. But it’ll happen. And then I’ll tell them that I told them so.
Hey Max. I thought Warehouse 13 turned a corner towards the end of season one and is now a lot of fun. The Eureka cross over was very well done this season too. More shows should buddy up.
Doctor Who just annoys the hell out of me. Dollhouse I couldn’t watch the second season of because the first season was far too rapetastic. Caprica I got through only for it do an odd thing where it seemed to settle things pretty much exactly where they were at the end of the pilot. I’m not too excited by the trailer for the second season. BSG went so far off the rails I’m still confused as to what exactly happened… but boy when it flew it soared.
When people find the Slingers sizzle I let ‘em down easy. It’s just a tiny piece of a TV show at the moment… we’ll get there. Thanks for the support!
Television should take more cues from comic books, period. Everybody bags on science fiction. Then Avatar’s box office turns out to be bigger than the GDP of Belgium. So what do the studios want? Monopoly: The Movie in IMAX 3D.
Or we could talk about Lost. Not that I would; I thought it was silly. But there’s a real tendency to characterize science fiction as a niche audience, regardless of the medium, not just in spite of the genre’s mainstream success but in spite of being the most successful mainstream genre.
So I can only imagine how comic book tropes, like crossovers, play to TPTB.
Hopefully Walking Dead will improve on this.