Does "The Gift" Come With a Return Receipt?

I seem to be tweeting a lot these days. But there are some things that just can't by tweeted, because, really, opinions from time to time are better said in more than a succinctly edited, cut down 140 characters. Ah, yes, the joys of slow-blogging.

Flashforward aired an episode last night that, I think, was supposed to be landmark, world-shattering, expect-the-unexpected.

In short, I think the "The Gift" was supposed to be to Flashforward what "Walkabout" was to Lost. Remember "Walkabout"? We're in Locke's backstory for the first time, there's some sad stuff, meanwhile (um, kinda) on the Island things are happening... BAM, LOCKE WAS A PARAPLEGIC BEFORE COMING TO THE ISLAND. And then you HAD to rewatch to see how the wool had been pulled over your eyes and it CHANGED EVERYTHING because nothing was impossible anymore.

But "The Gift" wasn't "Walkabout". It so very wasn't.

The concept behind the "big event" at the end of "The Gift" makes sense. And should have occurred to someone in some form or another earlier than episode 7 of the series. In fact... it should have occurred in episode 3 (see previous post: Episode 3, AKA The Corrections Department). If you count Lost's two-hour pilot as one episode (even though it was split into two weeks, it was shot as a two-hour!) then "Walkabout" is episode 3. Huh, I can't believe I didn't mention that in my other post!

The concept: defy fate by changing it.

As executed... you knew what was coming before it happened. Well before. And yet... the characters still spent a lot of time talking about it and contemplating and trying to talk Agent Gough off the ledge when, really, all that we needed were some concise (tweetable?) lines in a letter to tell us why he jumped and the SHOCK of the splat that made us go back and see exactly what led up to it. Instead... Flashforward told us how and why what was happening was happening instead of making us DISCOVER it. It's not necessarily "bad" writing... but it isn't "genius" writing like "Walkabout" was.

Even so... Agent Gough falling to his death (and thereby telling all of the other characters that the future is not set in stone) even though he had a flash forward isn't the way I wished this had happened.

Again. To change fate, defy it.

At the end of episode two, Agent Noh (John Cho) got a phone call saying that he was going to be murdered on March 15th. And he continued to spend the next several episodes weighed down by his fate. Yes, he briefly tried to find his would-be murderer, but that hasn't been made much of. Agent Noh was the one who needed fate to be changed the most, and so he should have done it himself. I'm always for adding darkness to a character... why, in episode 3, just to prove fate wrong, didn't he kill someone who had a flash forward? There. Bam. The future isn't set in stone. And that's not the only thing that could've happened to make this point...

... anyway, my problem with "The Gift" is that the event was telegraphed instead of a shock, and that this INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT EVENT happened far too late in the game.

Don't get me wrong. I'm very happy that the writers saw fit to do this in one way or another. But also don't get me wrong... I'm pretty damn bored with this show and the adrenaline that we can only HOPE has been injected into the storyline by this future-altering event had better show up next week.

Episode 3, AKA The Corrections Department

We're a few weeks into the new TV season, and I feel the need to set the record straight about a few shows, now that I've watched (whether under coercion or not) beyond the pilot of several new shows, and, with an exception-that-proves-the-rule, I've come to a conclusion.

Judge a pilot on its own merits, but don't judge a series until episode three (should you have any interest in the premise of the series... if not, then there's really no reason to stick around... i.e. me and Melrose Place, no matter what anyone could ever say, I won't be sampling it again).

Why episode three? Because pilots are, theoretically, the singular vision of the pilot's writer/writing team. Episode two is the product of the writers room... and you really have to figure out where you're taking the show beyond the set up of a pilot episode. New writers added to the mix need to figure out the voices of the characters and that takes time. In episode two, there is also the pressure / temptation of doing a second pilot... either totally revamping the show because you're going somewhere else with the series, or "restating" the pilot while not advancing the story or characters.

Cases from this season:

Modern Family: Uproarious pilot. Second episode, IMHO, far weaker. It wasn't funny, though it did bring the heart in spades. It suffered from "restatement" syndrome in that the characters were pretty much all in the same groupings as in the pilot... it just wasn't as funny and the situation not as fresh. Episode two had me worried. Episode three allayed my concerns. Third episode... hilarious (and also full of heart). Characters interacted in combinations that were different than the pilot... though Cam and Mitchell still are separate and, thus, I've found their scenes the least involving / compelling / amusing.

Cougar Town: Similar to Modern Family, in that the pilot was funny, last week not-so-much, this week things were a ton better. Particularly the supporting cast felt off and misused last week, while this week they were handled better (Busy Phillips gets more screentime, Josh Hopkins gets less... I'm happy). Also, yeah, the comedy was far superior last night to the post-pilot episode.

Community: Again... hilarious pilot, weak episode two that was a little too much of the same, strong episode three (that brought something new and different to the show).

The Vampire Diaries: Pilot episode, though the best of CW's fall offerings, was boilerplate at best. The post-pilot episode, though featuring Ian Somerhalder more after establishing him too late in the pilot, was more of the same. Episode three? Leaps and bounds better (and episode four was actually good guilty pleasure silly teen drama TV). The problem, which I think the writers figured out, was the level of danger. Both the pilot and post-pilot episodes really only had danger to characters we didn't know in the teaser section, in miniature, B-horror film vignettes. Then... our characters are in danger. There was just much more tension. I'm surprised to say this... but I think you should check this series out.

I've yet to watch Eastwick or Mercy's third episodes, but both of them had better second episodes than their cliched pilots, for various reasons (and, I will repeat, that Mercy's pilot was supposed to be reshot but didn't have the chance to be since it was suddenly airing in September instead of midseason). Mercy, I watched the 2nd episode with a friend at her place when I otherwise wouldn't have come back to the series. Eastwick I got an e-mail recommendation and was glad to see improvements in episode two.

Now... the exception. Glee. Glee's third episode was, by far, the worst of the entire series to date. Fortunately when you have a show that started with two incredibly fun hours... having an off third episode - AND KNOWING WHAT WAS OFF ABOUT IT AND FIXING THAT - can help immensely. But if the first two hours hadn't been as magical as they were, a third hour like "Acafellas" would have been the nail in the coffin for me as a viewer. If episode three of Vampire Diaries hadn't been better, I wouldn't have been back for episode four. And if I'm not pleased with Mercy or Eastwick when I get the chance to see their third offerings, considering that I'm not in love with either... then I won't be coming back.

So... episode three. Will update on Eastwick and Mercy once I've watched. And I'm very much looking forward to tonight's third episode of Flashforward (the second episode addressed some of my concerns, so I'm not thinking I'm giving the series up if episode three isn't up to snuff... but it's time to see this plot advance now that the larger "are we really dealing with this" questions seem to be out of the way).

What Did You See?

I was a little underwhelmed by the five "teaser" promos ABC did for Flash Forward during tonight's Lost. Not that I've seen the pilot yet, but those images didn't conjure anything specifically from it... just a kind of general, creepy-ish "passage of life" vibe (unborn fetus --> kids playing --> marriage --> vacation --> funeral). I suppose it does work in an "everyday person" sort of way... you and I may not be connected to the events in the series, but if the event were to happen IRL... what would we see?

Will people be curious? Maybe. Will people be enthralled? Not yet. I was holding out hope for a glimpse of the massive pile-up on the freeway...

Lost.

Good episode.

After a few weeks of putting pieces into place and setting the stage, but ultimately running in place, stuff happened this week. Glad we checked in with Desmond and Penny. It's so weird in this series how certain people, at different points in the story, seem like they're the be-all-end-all, the most important person in the Lost universe. Daniel certainly felt like that tonight (and Desmond, Ben, Jack, and Locke all have in the past)... but then, well, the ending happened.

Which wasn't entirely unexpected given the tone of the 2007 (2008?) Hawking/Widmore conversation... but still it worked incredibly well. I'm glad the twists can be built up to in this show instead of everything having to come out of left field. I was so curious the whole episode what Hawking's true agenda is. She played Daniel, that's for sure. To what end? There obviously has to be some sort of purpose to it otherwise, yeah, you change it (although I suspect the final three episodes of this season are going to be a massive attempt to change fate / the future and it fails and thus Hawking decides to plot the course she takes). On the subject of changing fate, Lost certainly does seem to be inching toward the Greek tragedy quandary about fate. "Ethos anthropos daimon" depending on which of two ways you read it grammatically... does the fate make the man, or does the man make his fate? And, of course, there's the ever-present theme in Greek tragedy that in trying to avoid or avert one's fate, one winds up causing it (i.e. Laius is told that his son will murder him and marry his mother, so Laius gives his son to his servant to have the boy killed, only the boy isn't killed, he grows up not knowing about his true heritage, happens upon Laius on a roadway and kills his father, then goes on to, in fact, marry his mother... whoops!)

Anyway. My own Greek tragedy geekiness aside...

Hawking says (in 2007/8) that she doesn't know what's going to happen next for the first time in ages (whatever it is, can we please leave Desmond and Penny and Little Charlie out of it? No? Dang) and I assume that's because Daniel will be telling his mother everything he knows (perhaps through Miles) so when Hawking leaves the Island in the evacuation, she knows what's to come in the timeline.

We know a "war" is coming to the Island. Who are the big players in this war? The show has had us going that it was Widmore vs. Ben, and even Widmore vs. Hawking... but is there another party (after all, it was the US Army that was on the Island with Jughead and we have never really met anyone affiliated with the US armed forces)? What does ageless Richard have to do with any / all of it? Jacob? Will Aaron come back into play? Claire? Cindy the Flight Attendant?