Resurrection (Revenge)

Revenge
"Resurrection" (202)
Air Date: Oct 7, 2012

666 Park Avenue (Pilot)

666 Park Avenue
"Pilot" (101)
Air Date: Sept 30, 2012

"Henry and Jane take a new job as resident managers at an Upper Side apartment building."








We begin our tale with the symphony. The focus on is a violinist, first chair it appears who is disturbed to see that his fingers have actually begun to bleed as he is playing. He continues on, his eyes turned up towards the seats where an older gentleman and his wife (late 40s to 50s, very upscale) are watching.

The violinist returns home where he furiously packs a suitcase before smashing his violin into pieces. He races downstairs only to see the doors of the empty building lobby slam shut on their own, barring his path. An old style telephone begins to ring and the violinist picks it up. On the other end of the call is the older Gentleman (Terry O'Quinn) who informs the violinist that his contract is up. The violinist smashes his way outside and for a moment thinks he is safe. Only to be literally sucked back inside the building by an unseen force. The lightning of the rain store flashes on the building's sign 999 Park Avenue, only the shadow that appears actually reads 666 Park Avenue (creepy much)

Morning, a day or perhaps several later, a young middle class couple arrives at the building for a job interview. They cross paths with a young woman who knows they are at the building for a job interview (building gossip or something else?). Gavin Doran (O'Quinn) originally refuses them the job as live in managers only to be persuaded by Jane's spunk. Or was he? It quickly becomes clear that his refusal was a con and they are exactly who he wanted, the only question being why.

Jane and Henry (Taylor and Annable) settle in and Jane begins work as well as satisfying her curiosity about the building's history. We also meet several of the residents including Brian, a playwright who seems to spend more time spying on the woman in the building next door than writing. His wife, Louise, a rather self centered and high strung photographer on the verge of her big break. There's also John, who is seen furiously attempting to wash blood off his hands Lady Macbeth style, having apparently killed someone in a devil's deal to bring back his dead wife. And Nona, the girl from the lobby, who warns Jane that someone is stealing small items from apartments.

While doing a walk through of the building, Jane finds an old mosaic in the floor in the basement which she goes to research. Her research reveals references to an old 'brotherhood' and a door that has been since cemented over but so far little else.

Jane and Henry are invited to an upper class party by Gavin and his wife Olivia (Williams). Olivia even insists on taking Jane shopping for a dress (a very expensive dress). Gavin takes Henry to the putting range where they encounter the owner of a building Gavin is determined to buy. After the man refuses, Gavin tricks John into killing the man to keep his wife alive. But he can't do it and Mary jumps to her death again (an act witnessed by Jane but she thinks it was just a dream). John has his own sucked into the building moment. Louise has a freak elevator accident just days before her big shoot.

Despite her night of weird dreams, Jane and Henry sign their work contracts and lease and Jane accepts a request by Gavin to consult on remodel plans to update the building without destroying the original history (Jane's thing is historical building preservation). Even as they celebrate, Nona, having stolen Jane's favorite necklace, picks it up and has a vision of Jane being chased down a dark hallway before being attacked by someone with an ax.

A little soapy and over the top perhaps but well shot in a technical sense and while I'm not totally sold on the middle class innocence of Jane and Henry, or the allure of Olivia, Gavin gave me the creeps from the first moment. Whether he was being a charmer or a figure of darkness (devil incarnate or just high priest???), I felt an overwhelming need to wash everything after every scene. Terry O'Quinn was perfectly cast in this role. I'll keep watching as long as he keeps giving me the chills no matter how clique or soapy this could become.

Trivia fun: The series is based on a not yet finished book series by Gabriella Pierce, who helped create the tv show.

Links
Official Site

Get the season on iTunes
Get the books on iTunes

Destiny (Revenge)

Revenge
"Destiny" (201)
Air Date: Sept 30, 2012


We open on a nighttime search and rescue finding The Amanda with a male body (face not shown) on board. The presumption would be that it's Jack but after last season, it's very likely that it is in fact not. But we won't know for some time. Then again, after last year's double move not showing us it is Jack to make us think it is not Jack when it is in fact him would be right up the producer's twisted little alley

Would you pay to keep your favorite shows on the air?

As the new year begins we find ourselves reaching that point in the TV year known as Mid Season. For some shows that started late, this is the time they will be airing the rest of their initial pickup. That is if they are still around. This year has seen several shows flame out in only a handful of episodes (Playboy Club, Charlie's Angels etc) . And some that have aired their full 13 episode first run weren't picked up for a 'back 9' and have no real clue if they will get a second season (Terra Nova for example).

Once Upon A Time "Pilot"

Once Upon A Time
"Pilot" (100)
Emma Swan's birthday brings a surprising visitor with an unbelievable story about who she is and where she comes from.
Air Date: Oct 23, 2011

Project Watch: Charlie's Angels (ABC)

The upcoming pilot has found a director.

Marcos Siega has been signed to direct the remake pilot. Siega previously directed the pilot for Vampire Diaries as well as several episodes of Dexter, Cold Case and other shows.

Project Watch: Charlie's Angels (ABC)

Hello Angels.

ABC's pilot has found its trio of angels for their remake.

Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) and Rachel Taylor (Transformers) join Annie Ilonzeh (General Hospital) as the crime fighting hot babe trio.

Were you REALLY watching Lost

So the 6 season trek is over and the fall out has been going for about two weeks. And boy have folks been trashing the ending of the show Lost. Words like 'waste of time', 'utter crap' and a lot of WTFs are out there.

But one thing has stood out from these comments. The firm feeling that these folks weren't really watching the show they were given. They made assumptions about what the show was and are reacting to the fact they were wrong.

So what did they think the show was? Easy. They thought it was a fun filled sci-fi action show with a mysterious island that was either Atlantis, or some similar place that we would be told by the end of the movie. With monsters and magic that would all be explained at the end also. Someone would pop up and tell us that aliens were attracted to this place that could jump from spot to spot following leylines to points of convergence where the Earth's magnetic force was strongest, blah blah. That all that 'magic' stuff was really just way advanced alien tech. That this island was the fount of all the myths and legends from all the culturals of the world. Or some such.

Trouble is, none of that is really true. Okay that last point is a maybe. Because it fits with the actual story being told. Cultural anthropologists and such have already put forth the notion that all the various tales of the world are about the same thing just the details have been eroded over time like a massive game of 'gossip' (or you might have called it 'telephone' as a kid). So that point isn't too insane and fits with the notion of universality that is within the show.

So what, you curiously ask, was the real story of the show. Simple. It was about the very nature of life and the struggle of man to figure it all out.

We have a group of varied people from different walks of life, but ethically, financially etc whose personal journeys have converged at this point place and time. This is symbolic of how we encounter folks every day, be it the clerk at the gas station, or a future spouse. These particular folks are dead in a spiritual but not literal sense. Their lives are all topsy turvy and just plain messed up. They are so mired in all that stuff that they can't pull themselves out alone although they all perhaps tried (because they believed they had to).

The plane crash gives them a second chance. It wipes the slate clean (a tabula rasa). What happened in the past doesn't matter, only what they do. They can stay the same people or recreate themselves in this kind of spiritual limbo.

What is important isn't what happens but how they react to it. How the various events change them, mold them, teach them. How they learn that they are not each an island to themselves where what they do doesn't matter but in fact ripples out to affect others. Change them, for good or for bad. All the way until their very deaths. And on their journey they make such strong connections to these particular folks that even after death, their very souls reach out to find the connections again.

Now I know what you are saying. This is a load of crap. None of this is in the show. I'm just spinning it to justify wasting my time every week for the last 6 years. I contend that you are the one what is wrong. You got so wrapped up in your smoke monsters and conspiracies that you weren't paying attention to the vast number of clues hiding under the riddles. Because it was there.

Where?

Well for one, how about the names. John Locke, Rousseau, Hume to name a few. These were all philosophers and writers contemplating the human condition and the nature of society. Debates like whether society is good or evil and whether returning to the savage nature would be how you find the core of a person's true soul and personality. Do you think Christian Shepherd was chosen simply because it sounded good? Doubt it.

How about the myths and legends. Folks debated if the island was Atlantis, Eden, Mu, or even something predating all of those things and actually being the source of those stories. Religious references were drawn from both Western and Eastern sources. Even so called New Age sources. Mentions of things like "points of strong magnetic forces" draw to mind tales like the Australian legends of song lines and convergence points (which also appear in Native American tales). Mixing sources wasn't about the writers being sloppy or making things up as they went along but rather a goal of showing a universality the same as not having a white bread cast that all speaks English in perfect mid-west American accents.

Heck if you really look at the various character stories there are overlapping tales that fit (with varying degrees of perfection) into Joseph Campbell's monomyth of the hero's journey. According to Campbell, that journey is THE tale in mythology. The core story of understanding life itself.

And then there were hints within the show. Mentions of good versus evil, tabula rasa. Even the oft repeated "Live Together, Die Alone" mantra. These were not just bits of cheesy dialogue. The whole Dharma project, which was supposedly in part about understanding the trumped up Valenzetti Equation were about life, society and so on. The point of the equation was less about the values of the numbers and more about the idea that you could change the 'end of the world' by changing any of those values. Other parts of the Dharma project were about creating the perfect society, as part of changing that value in the equation as well as understanding the forces of the Island (which could be viewed as life itself and how sometimes those forces can change you for the better, or drag you down and destroy you)

I challenge everyone that threw up their hands in disgust at the ending of the show to stop and consider whether you were paying attention to all these such details or were just going from week to week waiting for them to name the Island or explain the numbers. And even perhaps to go back and watch the show again. Only this time REALLY watch the show. Ask yourself 'why that name?' and 'why those words'. 

And if you still think that it was just a load of utter crap that they made up from week to week with no clue where they were going with it like the hack no talent writers you currently think they are. Well we'll just have to put this on the list of things we agree to disagree about and never speak of it again.