Waterlog

[truepenny]

TIME: 42 min.
DISTANCE: 5.3 mi.
TOTAL DISTANCE: 247.6 mi.
DISTRACTION: The Dead Zone, "Unreasonable Doubt"
SHIRE RECKONING: This is going to take a while.

---

Twelve Angry Men, this ain't. I do give them credit for dealing with race head on, even if unsubtly and (in places) clumsily, and likewise with the issue of sexual assault--although there they opened up a can of worms much much larger than they were prepared to deal with, as the awkward little meet-cute with the sports nut and the assault victim at the end shows. Both conversion moments--the assault victim and the hold-out juror--depended far too much on Johnny using his psychic powers to cheat do some social engineering, rather than on the case in front of them. You could even read his speech to the assault victim as blackmail. And the fat fanboy nerd . . . did we have to?

Also, while Anthony Michael Hall does a great job acting when he's not being Johnny, Johnny, as OUR PROTAGONIST, needs a bigger emotional repertoire than the Solemn Look, kthnx.

On the other hand, I got a total fangirl rush for Jim Byrnes.

Comments

[ireactions.livejournal.com]

I kind of like how Johnny is rather guarded and emotionally reserved, which reflects his present state of isolation.

Oh, if you ever get around to watching the third, fourth, and fifth seasons of this show -- well, the original creator, Michael Piller, was very sick at this point. The S3 - S5 showrunners standing in for him during these three seasons seemed to flounder without Piller rewriting scripts, and, well, I highly recommend you only watch 20 of those 35 episodes, and in this order:

1) Finding Rachel Part One (3x01)
2) Finding Rachel Part Two (3x02)
3) Collision (3x03)
4) The Cold Hard Truth (3x04)
5) Instinct (3x10)
6) Shadows (3x11)
7) Speak Now (3x08)
8) Tipping Point (3x12)
9) Broken Circle (4x01)
10) Still Life (4x04)
11) Double Vision (4x03)
12) Vanguard (4x08)
13) Babble On (4x09)
14) Saved (4x11)
15) Forbidden Fruit (5x01)
16) Vortex (5x08)
17) Articles of Faith (5x04)
18) Revelations (5x09)
19) Symmetry (5x07)
20) The Hunting Party (5x11)

The show experienced a return to form in its sixth season, thankfully, but during the three previous seasons, the sicker Michael Piller got, the worse the show became; the ongoing continuity seemed to evapourate, half of those 35 episodes were just filler murder-of-the-week stories with zero characterization and zero progression, to the point where the show actually benefits from being watched slightly out of order and with the filler-episodes omitted.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you!