Quick Shots - 10/Mar/2016

TV Drama Heaven

I've been doing some research and watching a raft of programmes lately. It's interesting how TV eats up content and ideas. It's partly because the format allows for only so much investigation of ideas and so those have to go on the slow burner while the action parts have to come to the front. The other interesting thin about TV writing at the moment is that right across the board on so many shows, the past definitely informs the present, so we're regaled with vast exposition of what happened before the story. Backstory is king in TV in a way that normal cinema never has the time to cover. It's a little like the 'Lord of the Rings' book where every character comes into the story with a boat load of backstory.

Anyway... If in doubt, introduce a relative and a random bad guy because this complicates what the protagonist can do. That's the other rule.

'Arrow' - Season 1 & 2

This is an interesting series based on comic book content. Normally this stuff sits with me uncomfortably because the stories never get close to the deeper issues of beating up on bad guys. This show actually marches right into there, as well as continuously run a back story as a growing narrative. It looks pretty much the way the other shows in the CW stable look, and as the first cab off the rank, has established the tropes for 'The Flash' and 'Legends of Tomorrow'. As comic book content goes, it's pretty adult in its exploration of the ethics of beating up on bad guys.

The problem with these CW stable of shows is that somehow even when some people die, they keep finding a way for them to come back. The internal rationale for it happening makes some sense but people not dying tends to take the risk out of the adventure.

'Broadchurch' - Season 2

I imagine this second season wraps it all up. although there are some new threads hanging loose. It's very well directed - I can see the care and attention to detail that's been put into each and every shot of this series. It's very good work. I don't know if I like the characters all that much and there are moments where the murder mystery aspect of the show veers into more pulp British murder mystery fare but overall it comes together nicely. You could do a lot worse than this show.

'From Dusk Till Dawn' - Pilot Episode

This is a tight little caper. It sort of leans into the part just before the movie begins so it's all about the Gecko brothers on the run. Back with the original film, it always struck me that the mode change from being about gangsters on the run into a splatter horror vampire pic was rather dissatisfying. Episode 1 at least sticks with the gangsters on the run and it's really tight.

I'll probably end up watching more of this series.

'Shadow Hunters' - Pilot Episode

Actually I only watched 1 episode of this one and stopped. It's not terribly appealing. It must have some interesting idea about demons on the loose in the material world that have to be hunted, but there's something juvenile and shallow about this one. I'm probably not going to watch more of this show.

'House of Cards' - Season 4

I'm working my way through this one a bit more slowly than previous years. It's funny how the 2016 election in Frank Underwood's world is unfolding at the same time as our Preselection in 2016. It underscores that Frank Underwood's universe is a parallel universe to ours - and Earth 2, if you will. In fact, who you accept it that way, it makes for more interesting viewing as to what exactly is going on in this alternative universe outside of the main story.

Here are some interesting, anomalous events that marks their alternative universe from ours.
- They seem not to have had the GFC in Earth 2, certainly not as badly as we've had it. It's amazing how politics in Frank's world is devoid of Donald Trump or Occupy Wall Street.
- They have a 'G-7' summit that is not a G-8 like ours. This is weirdly interesting because this G-7 of theirs includes China AND Russia. Our G-8 used to be a G-7 summit consisting of USA, UK, France,   Italy, Germany, Canada, and Japan. Russia got added after the Cold War ended to make it G-8.
- they seem to be having an Oil Shock Mk III in Earth 2. This indicates that there is no Shale Oil and fracking in Frank Underwood's universe. That would be sort of consistent with the no GFC universe.  It flies totally contrary to the collapsed commodity prices of our universe, so it's kind of cool.
Or it could just be scriptwriters not knowing their topic very well.