"Dude, are you smart?"
Oct. 4th, 2003 02:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ealgyldenSo the writing is still a bit uneven and the cop story is still the weakest part of the show, but I have to admit, I have such a crush on this cast. All of 'em, even Joe Mantegna, who just will not stop sounding like Fat Tony to me. Also, Warren Zevon song used in the last scene. I almost cried.
The Fire and the Wood
I'm still not thrilled with "One of Us" over the credits (it's not even the song, which I neither love nor hate. It's the soppy arrangment thereof), but I love the visuals that accompany it. It's a really nice-looking sequence, one of the prettier ones I've seen recently.
Okay, I know it's a big cliché to describe family and teen dramas as "bittersweet," but this one really is. What pleases me is how strong the "bitter" part comes through. The kids snipe at each other, the parents discuss their children and their jobs, the whole family banters wittily at the dinner table... and while it's often very funny, very sharply-written dialogue, there's also a real edge to some of the lines. The Girardis love each other, yes, but they're also angry, wounded people. Luke, especially, seems to be repressing a lot of frustration with being the over-achieving, well-behaved, "well-adjusted," and easily ignorable son. He is not a happy kid, and I love Michael Welch's performance so far (particularly considering how little he's gotten to do). He's angry and frustrated, but when Kevin asks him if he wants to go out for dinner, he's all cute-younger-sibling eagerness. And he fights with Joan and Kevin, but he also genuinely cares about them and tries to help them, like when he tries to keep Kevin from backing down from the challenge that Barbie the Drive-Thru Girl presents. It's a surprisingly nuanced performance for having so few lines. And I loved Luke not being able to open the cookie jar, and having to have Grace do it. Hee!
Speaking of Kevin... Jason Ritter has an adorable smile. He has the angry, bitter, defensive parts of Kevin's character nailed down, but we haven't gotten to see him smile very much yet (mostly just when he's playing with his siblings). So his happy, smiling reaction to Barbie (and wow, that girl is confident. Is she the little sister of the phone-techie who was pouncing on Warrick last night?) and her flirting was a pleasure to see. It didn't last, and I was sorry (though not surprised) to see that he didn't ask her out for fear of rejection, but at least he allowed himself that moment of personal connection. It's a start. And it was a big step up from his self-pitying smoking by the playground (though the Joan/Kevin dialogue in the playground scene was great).
I knew as soon as we saw Conor O'Farrell (Graham Spaulding from WaT! Booooo!) that he was the baddie in Will's case. I still think the cap scenes are the weakest in the show, but I do like Liet. Dave (Daghlian, not Dave, yeah, I know) and I understand the ripple effect thing they're doing with Joan affecting Will's work. But still, average cop stuff. Oh well, average isn't bad.
Joan got friends this week! Yay friends! And I like them both, so that's all good. Grace the skater girl was amusing, with the desk carving and the excuse for her tardiness. Someone's watched a lot of John Hughes movies. She's fierce and smart, though, even if she hasn't had a chance to be original yet, so I like her. Hopefully we'll see more of her character soon.
Adam the "stoner," though... I probably would have had a crush on him in eighth grade. Seriously, that was exactly my type at that age- "bad boy" public personas shielding smart, sensitive slacker/artists who weren't quite part of the Real World. What a lousy age that was. Anyway. I loved Adam's expression after he said "for shizzle my nizzle"- "Oh please, Earth, open a hole under me right now." So very cute. Also liked him meeting Joan's parents, bonding over art with Joan, and the fact that his dad, despite his dubious looks, wasn't a stereotypical "bad dad doesn't support his artist son" type. He didn't get Adam's art (neither did I, really, although I liked the Ty Nant bottle mobile), but he supported Adam's talents anyway, because that's what parents are supposed to do. Nice touch. And I enjoyed his (Mr. Rove's, that is) friendly teasing of Joan. Nice, funny guy- I hope we see more of him.
But my favorite part of the scene with Adam (aside from the fact that he doesn't know her name) was the moment when he looked around at his creations and said, "I talk to angels." And Joan looked so heartbreakingly hopeful and scared, just for a minute, only to have her hopes fall again when he reassured her, "Relax, Jane. It's a metaphor." Beautiful. She's so alone with this terrible, terrifying secret, a secret that, if shared, could get her treated to "massive doses of Thorazine," as her vice principal so helpfully pointed out. And yeah, part of her is excited to be an "instrument of God"- you could see it on her face when she was talking to DeeliebopperGirl!God. But the fear is still there, because hey, maybe she is crazy. Joan herself isn't any too sure that's not the case, and Amber is doing a fine job of conveying that.
She's also a wonderfully reactive actress, and she and Christopher Marquette (Adam) played beautifully off each other in the art-bonding scene. I couldn't be more impressed with her performance so far. She's just stunning. I never watched her soap, whichever one it was (General Hospital?), and with the exception of one episode of WaT ("Clare de Lune"), Joan is the first thing I've seen her in. She managed to sell me on even the potentially corny scenes, like the "let Kevin walk!" bit that CBS plugged so determinedly (they need new promo people, I think)- the scene was going to happen sooner or later, and I can't imagine it was an easy one to write or perform without it becoming cheesy, but Amber did well with it. And that's not even mentioning her brilliantly teenaged reactions in the conversation with Electrician!God (my favorite of this ep's forms), some great moments with her brothers (I liked the tongue sticking-out particularly), her thorny-but-loving relationships with her parents (though we need more Joan/Will scenes, since she's obviously a daddy's girl. I like their vibe so far- now I want to see more)... I'm utterly smitten with her performance.
Oh, hey, God. It was a five manifestation episode, which seems like kind of a lot. Newscaster!God was a little silly, but I liked him using his anchorman voice to give her directives. Cute. Streetcleaner!God was good, despite getting some of the clunkier platitudes of the night. I liked the actor's delivery on, "Just because I speak, doesn't mean anyone has to listen," though, and he gave the whole scene a wry twist that was much appreciated. DeeliebopperGirl!God was a nice concept, but the kid couldn't act. Pity, because she had some important elements of the show's particular theology to express (such as the role of miracles, the fact that God too is bound by the rules of existence, and the explicit identification of Joan as "an instrument of God, bound by the limit of time and space"- important information, but poorly delivered). Amber saved that scene as much as she could. ElectricCompany!God I loved. He and LunchLady!God from last week are definitely my favorites so far. He and Joan had great chemistry (watch her reactions in that scene, they're a riot), he introduced the "Joan as catalyst" explanation of events without smooshing anyone with an exposition sledgehammer (hear that, DeeliebopperGirl!God?), and he had my favorite line of the episode: "It's anti-climactic. Anti-climatic means you're against the weather." Fabulous delivery on that, and throughout. More ElectricCompany!God, please! And Mime!God was an obvious joke, but again, he and Joan had good chemistry, so it worked. He expositioned about the greater ripple effects of her small actions (like getting a job- and btw, does she still have that?- or taking AP Chem), and explicitly linked her plotline with her father's, which could have been annoying and clunky in a "show, don't tell" way, except that since Joan herself needed to hear it (and since it wasn't just repeating info for the hell of it, like so often happens on, for example, Smallville), it mostly worked for me. The miming along with the exposition was a nice touch.
Nice to see Elaine Hendrix as something other than a man-eating bitch. She seemed fun, for a chemistry teacher. And she's listed as a recurring character, so that's good.
Another funny exchange: "My guess is, he's gonna ask you to become a Centurion." "Great, when do we attack Carthage?"
So, overall, I'm really enjoying this show so far. The writing still has a few kinks (that was my biggest complaint last week, too), and while the concept is intriguing, the plots themselves aren't astonishing (yet). But the characters (especially Joan herself) and the acting have me hooked, and I'm more than happy to spend time with them. I think I'm with this show for the duration.
The Fire and the Wood
I'm still not thrilled with "One of Us" over the credits (it's not even the song, which I neither love nor hate. It's the soppy arrangment thereof), but I love the visuals that accompany it. It's a really nice-looking sequence, one of the prettier ones I've seen recently.
Okay, I know it's a big cliché to describe family and teen dramas as "bittersweet," but this one really is. What pleases me is how strong the "bitter" part comes through. The kids snipe at each other, the parents discuss their children and their jobs, the whole family banters wittily at the dinner table... and while it's often very funny, very sharply-written dialogue, there's also a real edge to some of the lines. The Girardis love each other, yes, but they're also angry, wounded people. Luke, especially, seems to be repressing a lot of frustration with being the over-achieving, well-behaved, "well-adjusted," and easily ignorable son. He is not a happy kid, and I love Michael Welch's performance so far (particularly considering how little he's gotten to do). He's angry and frustrated, but when Kevin asks him if he wants to go out for dinner, he's all cute-younger-sibling eagerness. And he fights with Joan and Kevin, but he also genuinely cares about them and tries to help them, like when he tries to keep Kevin from backing down from the challenge that Barbie the Drive-Thru Girl presents. It's a surprisingly nuanced performance for having so few lines. And I loved Luke not being able to open the cookie jar, and having to have Grace do it. Hee!
Speaking of Kevin... Jason Ritter has an adorable smile. He has the angry, bitter, defensive parts of Kevin's character nailed down, but we haven't gotten to see him smile very much yet (mostly just when he's playing with his siblings). So his happy, smiling reaction to Barbie (and wow, that girl is confident. Is she the little sister of the phone-techie who was pouncing on Warrick last night?) and her flirting was a pleasure to see. It didn't last, and I was sorry (though not surprised) to see that he didn't ask her out for fear of rejection, but at least he allowed himself that moment of personal connection. It's a start. And it was a big step up from his self-pitying smoking by the playground (though the Joan/Kevin dialogue in the playground scene was great).
I knew as soon as we saw Conor O'Farrell (Graham Spaulding from WaT! Booooo!) that he was the baddie in Will's case. I still think the cap scenes are the weakest in the show, but I do like Liet. Dave (Daghlian, not Dave, yeah, I know) and I understand the ripple effect thing they're doing with Joan affecting Will's work. But still, average cop stuff. Oh well, average isn't bad.
Joan got friends this week! Yay friends! And I like them both, so that's all good. Grace the skater girl was amusing, with the desk carving and the excuse for her tardiness. Someone's watched a lot of John Hughes movies. She's fierce and smart, though, even if she hasn't had a chance to be original yet, so I like her. Hopefully we'll see more of her character soon.
Adam the "stoner," though... I probably would have had a crush on him in eighth grade. Seriously, that was exactly my type at that age- "bad boy" public personas shielding smart, sensitive slacker/artists who weren't quite part of the Real World. What a lousy age that was. Anyway. I loved Adam's expression after he said "for shizzle my nizzle"- "Oh please, Earth, open a hole under me right now." So very cute. Also liked him meeting Joan's parents, bonding over art with Joan, and the fact that his dad, despite his dubious looks, wasn't a stereotypical "bad dad doesn't support his artist son" type. He didn't get Adam's art (neither did I, really, although I liked the Ty Nant bottle mobile), but he supported Adam's talents anyway, because that's what parents are supposed to do. Nice touch. And I enjoyed his (Mr. Rove's, that is) friendly teasing of Joan. Nice, funny guy- I hope we see more of him.
But my favorite part of the scene with Adam (aside from the fact that he doesn't know her name) was the moment when he looked around at his creations and said, "I talk to angels." And Joan looked so heartbreakingly hopeful and scared, just for a minute, only to have her hopes fall again when he reassured her, "Relax, Jane. It's a metaphor." Beautiful. She's so alone with this terrible, terrifying secret, a secret that, if shared, could get her treated to "massive doses of Thorazine," as her vice principal so helpfully pointed out. And yeah, part of her is excited to be an "instrument of God"- you could see it on her face when she was talking to DeeliebopperGirl!God. But the fear is still there, because hey, maybe she is crazy. Joan herself isn't any too sure that's not the case, and Amber is doing a fine job of conveying that.
She's also a wonderfully reactive actress, and she and Christopher Marquette (Adam) played beautifully off each other in the art-bonding scene. I couldn't be more impressed with her performance so far. She's just stunning. I never watched her soap, whichever one it was (General Hospital?), and with the exception of one episode of WaT ("Clare de Lune"), Joan is the first thing I've seen her in. She managed to sell me on even the potentially corny scenes, like the "let Kevin walk!" bit that CBS plugged so determinedly (they need new promo people, I think)- the scene was going to happen sooner or later, and I can't imagine it was an easy one to write or perform without it becoming cheesy, but Amber did well with it. And that's not even mentioning her brilliantly teenaged reactions in the conversation with Electrician!God (my favorite of this ep's forms), some great moments with her brothers (I liked the tongue sticking-out particularly), her thorny-but-loving relationships with her parents (though we need more Joan/Will scenes, since she's obviously a daddy's girl. I like their vibe so far- now I want to see more)... I'm utterly smitten with her performance.
Oh, hey, God. It was a five manifestation episode, which seems like kind of a lot. Newscaster!God was a little silly, but I liked him using his anchorman voice to give her directives. Cute. Streetcleaner!God was good, despite getting some of the clunkier platitudes of the night. I liked the actor's delivery on, "Just because I speak, doesn't mean anyone has to listen," though, and he gave the whole scene a wry twist that was much appreciated. DeeliebopperGirl!God was a nice concept, but the kid couldn't act. Pity, because she had some important elements of the show's particular theology to express (such as the role of miracles, the fact that God too is bound by the rules of existence, and the explicit identification of Joan as "an instrument of God, bound by the limit of time and space"- important information, but poorly delivered). Amber saved that scene as much as she could. ElectricCompany!God I loved. He and LunchLady!God from last week are definitely my favorites so far. He and Joan had great chemistry (watch her reactions in that scene, they're a riot), he introduced the "Joan as catalyst" explanation of events without smooshing anyone with an exposition sledgehammer (hear that, DeeliebopperGirl!God?), and he had my favorite line of the episode: "It's anti-climactic. Anti-climatic means you're against the weather." Fabulous delivery on that, and throughout. More ElectricCompany!God, please! And Mime!God was an obvious joke, but again, he and Joan had good chemistry, so it worked. He expositioned about the greater ripple effects of her small actions (like getting a job- and btw, does she still have that?- or taking AP Chem), and explicitly linked her plotline with her father's, which could have been annoying and clunky in a "show, don't tell" way, except that since Joan herself needed to hear it (and since it wasn't just repeating info for the hell of it, like so often happens on, for example, Smallville), it mostly worked for me. The miming along with the exposition was a nice touch.
Nice to see Elaine Hendrix as something other than a man-eating bitch. She seemed fun, for a chemistry teacher. And she's listed as a recurring character, so that's good.
Another funny exchange: "My guess is, he's gonna ask you to become a Centurion." "Great, when do we attack Carthage?"
So, overall, I'm really enjoying this show so far. The writing still has a few kinks (that was my biggest complaint last week, too), and while the concept is intriguing, the plots themselves aren't astonishing (yet). But the characters (especially Joan herself) and the acting have me hooked, and I'm more than happy to spend time with them. I think I'm with this show for the duration.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-04 07:35 pm (UTC)Although, I must admit, I still have a soft spot for teeanged!God.I think it's the snark. And he and Joan have great chemistry.
The writing is still a bit uneven, I agree. The mother and her storyline is especially annoying me at this point. And the police stuff? Is just a bit too pat, too easy. 'Hey, all the shareholders own it through a blind corporation' or whatever he said. And yet, the cops so easily got a list of them? Uh-huh. Suuuuuuuure.
Nice to see Elaine Hendrix as something other than a man-eating bitch. She seemed fun, for a chemistry teacher. And she's listed as a recurring character, so that's good.
Woo-hoo! I love that actress. I kept looking at her going, 'Where have I seen her before?' Then it hit me. One of the CSIs and, more importantly, The Chronicle. Ah, The Chronicle. Such a cute little show. And it had Rena Sofer which makes everything better.
But anyway. Yay for recurring Chemistry teachers. Maybe Joan will actually stay in Chem, unlike her job, it seems. But. Good episode, good God interactions, and fabulous acting by Amber all-around. Yup. This show's a keeper.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-05 02:30 am (UTC)From the preview, it looks like he's in next week's episode, so I'll have to give him another try. Snarky is generally good in my book, so I'm not sure why he didn't quite click with me last time.
The mother and her storyline is especially annoying me at this point. And the police stuff? Is just a bit too pat, too easy.
Yup to both of these, too. I want to like the mom and her story, and I get what they seem to be trying to do with her, but it's not quite clicking for me yet. And the cop stuff, yeah. Too easy. It seems like an afterthought, and a simplistic one at that. I mean, I'm not expecting CSI: Arcadia or anything, but those scenes just aren't at the same level as most of the Joan-centered stuff, and it shows.
I always wanted to see The Chronicle. I'd see it mentioned in my geek magazines and stuff, and it looked like a lot of fun, but I never found anyone to tape it for me. It didn't last long, though, did it? Darn cancellation-happy SciFi Channel.
Maybe Joan will actually stay in Chem, unlike her job, it seems.
Yeah, what happened with that? Or with the serial killer? They just vanished into the Plot Closet. I think Chem has a better chance of sticking around, since Grace, Adam and Luke can be in those scenes too. But I guess we'll see. I just hope the show survives long enough to get the kinks worked out. (Remember the days when you could just watch a new show without assuming that it was going to vanish after every episode? Trigger-happy networks, sheesh.)
(no subject)
Date: 2003-10-05 07:06 pm (UTC)Yes, and I squeed on seeing him, I swear. I don't even know why I like him. But I do, so I'm going with it. ;)
I mean, I'm not expecting CSI: Arcadia or anything, but those scenes just aren't at the same level as most of the Joan-centered stuff, and it shows.
Absolutely! And I love the cute-detective man, but he makes it seem like his job is *so easy* that he has all this time to worry about the political ramifications. It's especially annoying because they've told us the PD had serious problems solving crimes in the past, and now everything's all hunky dory and there no kinks to work out? Right.
I always wanted to see The Chronicle. I'd see it mentioned in my geek magazines and stuff, and it looked like a lot of fun
It was a lot of fun. Incredibly unrealistic, but I don't think it was really going for that. Plus, Rena Sofer. Whom I've had a special love for since I saw her way back in that Saved By The Bell movie 10 years ago. And that actress we were talking about earlier? Doesn't play a total bitch! Points there.
I think Chem has a better chance of sticking around, since Grace, Adam and Luke can be in those scenes too.
Yeah, that's what makes me think it might just stick around. But. Every time I see a scene in Chem class I want to yell at the TV 'Chem class isn't like that!' Of course, that could be the dork in me protesting the blatant stereotypes and implication that anyone in AP Chem must immediatley be an antisocial loser.
Silly writers.