Last night's Primeval
May. 3rd, 2009 04:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vaznetti...and the scenes from next week, to which my reaction can be summed up with "OMG, have they gone completely mad?" (The answer being, obviously, yes: someone sat down in the writer's room and said, "Hey, this is a show about time travel. We have no limits!") And this is already a show which will make you turn to your watching-partner and say, in all seriousness, "If we were being hunted down by the private army of a power-mad civil servant, we wouldn't stop to have a random formal dinner in our poorly-constructed secret lair, would we?" The characters really are too dumb to live.
I am still enjoying the cracktastic nature of this show, although some of this season's changes sadden me. After all, I started watching for the following reasons:
1. Dinosaurs! In the Forest of Dean!
2. The one true love of Nick and Stephen
3. Stephen is pretty.
4. Nick's manpain is funny.
5. Helen Cutter fulfills many of my One True Character requirements.
6. Lester has all the best lines.
But now where are we? Lester still has all the best lines (he was great in last night's episode, and has been great all season, really. He gets to save the day, through vile cunning and backbiting!) There are still dinosaurs. Helen fulfills even more of my OTC kinks, now that we know that her opposition to Nick et al. is based on her knowledge that they will accidentally destroy the world in the future. (And what was the deal with Nick's response that you can't change the future? Of course you can -- he did it himself at the end of Season 1, when he created a world with Jenny rather than Claudia! What was that? If changing the past can alter the present, then changing the present can alter the future. Heck, for all I know, changing the future in Primeval can alter the past.)
BUT -- what makes a character like Helen interesting is her relationship to people she's opposed to -- to Nick and Stephen. (To give a different example: Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane would be a lot less interesting if they didn't have ties to Jack and Sydney.) And now Nick and Stephen are both dead, and it's really hard to see how they'll integrate Helen into the cast now: in fact I wouldn't be surprised to discover that she was retrospectively killed off right after killing Nick (which, also, how dumb was he in that scene? To say, "you're not as smart as you think you are" while Helen is pointing a gun at him? To go back for Helen, the arch-survivor, in the first place?). Then she would fit even more of my OTC characteristics. ::sniffle::
I also feel cheated of a whole season of Nick's guilty manpain over Stephen's death. Their love was so pure! But mostly, I feel cheated of at least a season of Helen making cryptic comments supposedly aimed at keeping Nick from accidentally creating killer bat-creatures from the future, but really intended to make him fall back in love with her. My relationship kinks are totally predictable, aren't they?
On the positive side, we do have Sarah the Egyptologist, of whom I thoroughly approve. She hit a dinosaur with a 2x4! Her job now is to discover the truth behind all myths everywhere! She is smart and funny! Well, smart for Primeval, which means she still often acts as if she hasn't got two brain calls to rub together. Obviously, if I cared at all about how my own field and closely related fields are represented on TV, I would be sad, but I don't: so what if she can do cryptography and read (I assume) every language ever written? And understand Nick's wacky 3-D timeline? And no doubt will end up having many other skills, as necessary.
At least Connor and Abby have grown on me. Especially Connor: I rather wish Abby had more storylines focused on her, really, because you can kind of see how and why Connor has changed through the show. He's still awkward and geeky, of course, even though now he can do every kind of science ever. Losing Jenny-not-Claudia at the same time was also kind of disruptive -- at least they didn't kill her off! -- as I was hoping that someday she might have a conversation with another female character that wasn't about her non-relationship with Nick.
As for the two new guys, neither of them has much of an impact: neither seems to have much character at all, although I guess Former Cop has his missing-through-an-anomaly brother as his not-so-secret sorrow. Perhaps the brother will turn out to have teamed up with Helen? I am kind of hoping that New Soldier gets some character development or backstory, since Former Cop doesn't interest me much. [Disclosure: I missed episode four, which I guess is the one where Former Cop breaks into the ARC and joins the team. Maybe he seemed more appealing then? He seems an OK action guy, but no Stephen. I miss Stephen, even if he was pretty dumb, even by Primeval standards.]
I'll certainly keep watching, if only for the unbelievable crack-addled nature of the whole thing, and of course for Lester and Helen. But there's a big hole where there used to be a protagonist, right now.
I'm sure I had other things to say, but I've been writing this in dribs and drabs all day, so it's a bit disorganized. And now I must go see what kind of mashed food I can make for Spartacus.
I am still enjoying the cracktastic nature of this show, although some of this season's changes sadden me. After all, I started watching for the following reasons:
1. Dinosaurs! In the Forest of Dean!
2. The one true love of Nick and Stephen
3. Stephen is pretty.
4. Nick's manpain is funny.
5. Helen Cutter fulfills many of my One True Character requirements.
6. Lester has all the best lines.
But now where are we? Lester still has all the best lines (he was great in last night's episode, and has been great all season, really. He gets to save the day, through vile cunning and backbiting!) There are still dinosaurs. Helen fulfills even more of my OTC kinks, now that we know that her opposition to Nick et al. is based on her knowledge that they will accidentally destroy the world in the future. (And what was the deal with Nick's response that you can't change the future? Of course you can -- he did it himself at the end of Season 1, when he created a world with Jenny rather than Claudia! What was that? If changing the past can alter the present, then changing the present can alter the future. Heck, for all I know, changing the future in Primeval can alter the past.)
BUT -- what makes a character like Helen interesting is her relationship to people she's opposed to -- to Nick and Stephen. (To give a different example: Irina Derevko and Arvin Sloane would be a lot less interesting if they didn't have ties to Jack and Sydney.) And now Nick and Stephen are both dead, and it's really hard to see how they'll integrate Helen into the cast now: in fact I wouldn't be surprised to discover that she was retrospectively killed off right after killing Nick (which, also, how dumb was he in that scene? To say, "you're not as smart as you think you are" while Helen is pointing a gun at him? To go back for Helen, the arch-survivor, in the first place?). Then she would fit even more of my OTC characteristics. ::sniffle::
I also feel cheated of a whole season of Nick's guilty manpain over Stephen's death. Their love was so pure! But mostly, I feel cheated of at least a season of Helen making cryptic comments supposedly aimed at keeping Nick from accidentally creating killer bat-creatures from the future, but really intended to make him fall back in love with her. My relationship kinks are totally predictable, aren't they?
On the positive side, we do have Sarah the Egyptologist, of whom I thoroughly approve. She hit a dinosaur with a 2x4! Her job now is to discover the truth behind all myths everywhere! She is smart and funny! Well, smart for Primeval, which means she still often acts as if she hasn't got two brain calls to rub together. Obviously, if I cared at all about how my own field and closely related fields are represented on TV, I would be sad, but I don't: so what if she can do cryptography and read (I assume) every language ever written? And understand Nick's wacky 3-D timeline? And no doubt will end up having many other skills, as necessary.
At least Connor and Abby have grown on me. Especially Connor: I rather wish Abby had more storylines focused on her, really, because you can kind of see how and why Connor has changed through the show. He's still awkward and geeky, of course, even though now he can do every kind of science ever. Losing Jenny-not-Claudia at the same time was also kind of disruptive -- at least they didn't kill her off! -- as I was hoping that someday she might have a conversation with another female character that wasn't about her non-relationship with Nick.
As for the two new guys, neither of them has much of an impact: neither seems to have much character at all, although I guess Former Cop has his missing-through-an-anomaly brother as his not-so-secret sorrow. Perhaps the brother will turn out to have teamed up with Helen? I am kind of hoping that New Soldier gets some character development or backstory, since Former Cop doesn't interest me much. [Disclosure: I missed episode four, which I guess is the one where Former Cop breaks into the ARC and joins the team. Maybe he seemed more appealing then? He seems an OK action guy, but no Stephen. I miss Stephen, even if he was pretty dumb, even by Primeval standards.]
I'll certainly keep watching, if only for the unbelievable crack-addled nature of the whole thing, and of course for Lester and Helen. But there's a big hole where there used to be a protagonist, right now.
I'm sure I had other things to say, but I've been writing this in dribs and drabs all day, so it's a bit disorganized. And now I must go see what kind of mashed food I can make for Spartacus.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 04:01 pm (UTC)Meh!
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Date: 2009-05-03 07:30 pm (UTC)My fondness for Lester really knows no bounds, though.
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Date: 2009-05-03 07:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 12:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 05:54 pm (UTC)But: I love how deeply, continually dumb these people are. If someone can be sent off alone to fetch something from a car while a dangerous predator roams loose, they will. And they have a fetching tendency to stand around/lean over water while a water beast floats through the canals. And how Helen is both also quite as dumb as the rest of them sometimes* has an ARMY OF CLONES. It's a pity it's not an army of Nick and Stephen clones, but you can't have everything.
* Seriously, how hard would it have been to say at the start: hey, Nick and Stephen you destroy the future of humanity. It was only after two seasons of winding them up and getting Stephen killed that she actually breaks out the truth. (My secret belief is that somehow she is also responsible for that in part, but won't admit it.) And she has a great evil smirk and the best push-up bra the Jurassic Era has ever seen.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 07:34 pm (UTC)I completely agree about the stupidity of pretty much everyone on the show, even Helen (her cunning plans usually leave me scratching my head a little). It's just... endearing. Like little rabbits that won't get out of the road when there are cars coming.
I have always liked the way Helen obviously uses her secret knowledge of anomalies to go back and forth in time to pick up eyeliner and facewash at Boots and keep her underwear in fashion.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 07:58 pm (UTC)Hee! And get good hair cuts! That woman has the best hair of any woman who fights dinosaurs/bat creatures from the future. Plus I love that she has also mastered the art of carefully ripping her clothes with her knife so that they show her to maximum effect. I wonder if there are classes in that in the future? In a world over run by bat creatures, you would totally be able to use that skill. As for her scheming I still have to work out what her plan with Leek was. Or if there was a plan beyond a desire to mess with Nick and Stephen. (I totally agree with you on Stephen's dimness. It is one of his most endearing qualities.) Either way I don't really have a problem.
Their glorious lack of intelligence delights me every episode. Normally I just wait in anticipation of what horrific mistake they are going to make. They never, ever disappoint.
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Date: 2009-05-04 12:38 pm (UTC)There was a plan to do with Leek? I had no idea. Actually, I don't spend much time trying to figure that kind of thing out -- it seems best to sit aback and let the madness wash over you.
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Date: 2009-05-03 05:57 pm (UTC)I am somewhat astonished that they killed off Cutter. I mean, I won't miss the Terrible Jackets, but he was purportedly the lead, wasn't he? Still, that does give Abby and Connor more room to develop.
Such a silly show.
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Date: 2009-05-03 07:36 pm (UTC)It is possible that the show is much better in company, when you can laugh at the amazing stupidity of it. Or with liquor, maybe?
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Date: 2009-05-04 11:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-05 12:36 pm (UTC)