Try watching the show, and then come back to give your opinion. The way you fumble the names of major characters suggest you've not watched the same show that I have.
Originally posted by Zombies Rise from the Sea
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Chained Heat
2.5/10
Spoiler:
Since this is a complex series with a complex mythology, there are a lot of things that have to be established, things such as the characters, premise and the world at hand and watching the pilot, some of that stuff is established but there's a whole lot more stuff to establish, henceforth, this episode can be seen as a continuation of the pilot; except it has more of a coherent plot.
The theme of this episode could be the winds the change and the attempts to break past the norm. Danny with his loner status, Charlie with her uncertain, worrisome nature and Rachel with her pictures of the past being confronted with the help she is provided, the willingness she goes to in light of her new views and the sense of hope that is given by another guy. It is certainly interesting how they look into all three, the type of stuff that they hint at with Danny in regards to his position and behavior and Charlie with her flashbacks that contrast the troubling situation of her past life with that of her situation at hand. They utilize it in almost impressive ways, showing the types of situations that justify their decisions, implementing those situations in both a plot and a character-wise way... It gives off a deepness that makes the plot something more, makes these characters almost engaging as they go about and grow within the winds; as Charlie faces off with a guy having to make the eventual choice, as Danny reluctantly accepts the help, as Rachel becomes hopeful of her situation, they prove dynamic in nature and show that they're serious about their characters.
Unfortunately, the acting behind the characters doesn't match up with the stories themselves. Much of what they do has to be reflected by many things; looks, words, reactions, the occasional off-beat action. When you see a guy breaking his neck and you want to utilize that to reflect some portion of the character, you have to actually look the part, reflect what the character is feeling and the characters here can't seem to do that, more often or not failing to sell the illusion of the world. Charlie in particular fails the most, this is supposed to be a character who's overly protected, surrounded by loss and wants to prove her worth yet she can't show any kind of emotion or impact; to her, disappointment equates a blank look, one that doesn't provide a window into her soul and anger equates to making her voice louder while throwing her voice off somewhat... She detracts from every scene when she attempts to act and it turns people away from her character, away from her story which is the better part of her character; in fact her younger self in the flashbacks manages to act better than her older self as she manages to show the kind of innocence, soul, emotion and character that she herself lacks in the future. I know, I'm surprised...
Just another day for the Militia.
Another theme is the expansion of the world that consist of this show, full of moral possibilities and immense depth throughout. It's impressive as to what is provided in terms of life, the various bazaars that they roam through filled with people roaming around, buying stuff while a religious nut shouts out stuff, the various bars that they go into are filled with the people playing games, almost seeming casual in nature... Though the Militia may seem like the evil empire from Star Wars you can see how their presence has an influence on life; their laws, their rules, their almost dominating presence, it makes us think about the militia and their ways, their various sociological structures and behind-the-scenes routines and it makes those thoughts have impact, more so than the actual reveals themselves. (although it is nice to see their routines, the way they deal with those who break the law, the way they take care of their dead...) These types of things are a trademark of J.J. Abrams series and this episode does a nice job at establishing that, showing that there's more to this show than just a rehashing of Star Wars but without electricity.
Certain flaws do dilute this theme though, for instance; we've been told that there's been a riot, that there's a situation for survival but ask yourself this, if you'd stumbled upon a grassy field with a brown circle in the middle, who would you assume did it; someone else or aliens? At this point in time we want to see how bad the situation is, I can understand budgetary concerns but this just takes weight out of the stuff said and further hurts it's premise. Every word has to have weight in order to be believable, they have to actually seem like these people are being controlled by a bunch of oddball rules, that there's a black market the likes of which we have never seen; if they can't have weight then where does it leave us? There are many chances to separate this world from the others, just to divert criticism and make more of it; granted it's the second episode but introducing "Rebels" isn't helping. Their talks about hope and freedom immediately reflect upon the Rebel Alliance and their hopes to overthrow the evil empire; while they do include some sophistication in there, it doesn't help to deflect comparisons. Additionally, the need to push out the mystery dilutes the immense depth throughout; we get that the blackout could be man made, we get that we can stop it; if the Writers don't have faith in us then what's the point in creating a complex mythology?
Their version of life.
The logistics of the series also interferes in many of what they're trying to do. There are many examples here, Rachel's emotional plot about her iPhone, Charlie's brother with the Milita...; in the case of the two they throw away common sense just to fit in the subtexts of the plot. The Milita makes many stops along the way despite the fact that there are chances for him to escape, Rachel explains that her iPhone contains every picture of their kids despite the options she had at the time; common sense would dictate many things like not stopping and saving your photos and it is those things that take people out of the plots, Rachel's struggle in remembering her kids, Charlie's brother uncertainty and fear in the hands of the militia; it's admirable in the amount of character that they try to provide but no one should be thinking about how those pictures would of been lost if anything happened to the iPhone and no one should be thinking about how many stops they're making. Additionally, they shouldn't have to try to cram in distracting, flashy, contradictory and unnecessary fight scenes The show should focus more on the characters than the action, it just throws everything off whenever they include them; the seeming lack of finesse, the perception of the characters... I want to like the show not question it.
This episode does expand further on the premise of the show, getting about the stuff the pilot didn't have a chance to do and it's slightly better than the pilot but it's also the same as the pilot as well. This episode does reaffirm one thing, that the various backstories, the various concepts, the various intricacies are more interesting than the actual results themselves. A good idea is one thing, it can span out for many miles and allow for many paths to be taken but there has to be people who are capable of exploiting that idea, people who can step up to the plate and satisfy demands; otherwise it's just an idea. The people here are incapable of exploiting that idea and as a result, we're left with an episode that's known more for it's possibilities than it's content.
The theme of this episode could be the winds the change and the attempts to break past the norm. Danny with his loner status, Charlie with her uncertain, worrisome nature and Rachel with her pictures of the past being confronted with the help she is provided, the willingness she goes to in light of her new views and the sense of hope that is given by another guy. It is certainly interesting how they look into all three, the type of stuff that they hint at with Danny in regards to his position and behavior and Charlie with her flashbacks that contrast the troubling situation of her past life with that of her situation at hand. They utilize it in almost impressive ways, showing the types of situations that justify their decisions, implementing those situations in both a plot and a character-wise way... It gives off a deepness that makes the plot something more, makes these characters almost engaging as they go about and grow within the winds; as Charlie faces off with a guy having to make the eventual choice, as Danny reluctantly accepts the help, as Rachel becomes hopeful of her situation, they prove dynamic in nature and show that they're serious about their characters.
Unfortunately, the acting behind the characters doesn't match up with the stories themselves. Much of what they do has to be reflected by many things; looks, words, reactions, the occasional off-beat action. When you see a guy breaking his neck and you want to utilize that to reflect some portion of the character, you have to actually look the part, reflect what the character is feeling and the characters here can't seem to do that, more often or not failing to sell the illusion of the world. Charlie in particular fails the most, this is supposed to be a character who's overly protected, surrounded by loss and wants to prove her worth yet she can't show any kind of emotion or impact; to her, disappointment equates a blank look, one that doesn't provide a window into her soul and anger equates to making her voice louder while throwing her voice off somewhat... She detracts from every scene when she attempts to act and it turns people away from her character, away from her story which is the better part of her character; in fact her younger self in the flashbacks manages to act better than her older self as she manages to show the kind of innocence, soul, emotion and character that she herself lacks in the future. I know, I'm surprised...
Just another day for the Militia.
Another theme is the expansion of the world that consist of this show, full of moral possibilities and immense depth throughout. It's impressive as to what is provided in terms of life, the various bazaars that they roam through filled with people roaming around, buying stuff while a religious nut shouts out stuff, the various bars that they go into are filled with the people playing games, almost seeming casual in nature... Though the Militia may seem like the evil empire from Star Wars you can see how their presence has an influence on life; their laws, their rules, their almost dominating presence, it makes us think about the militia and their ways, their various sociological structures and behind-the-scenes routines and it makes those thoughts have impact, more so than the actual reveals themselves. (although it is nice to see their routines, the way they deal with those who break the law, the way they take care of their dead...) These types of things are a trademark of J.J. Abrams series and this episode does a nice job at establishing that, showing that there's more to this show than just a rehashing of Star Wars but without electricity.
Certain flaws do dilute this theme though, for instance; we've been told that there's been a riot, that there's a situation for survival but ask yourself this, if you'd stumbled upon a grassy field with a brown circle in the middle, who would you assume did it; someone else or aliens? At this point in time we want to see how bad the situation is, I can understand budgetary concerns but this just takes weight out of the stuff said and further hurts it's premise. Every word has to have weight in order to be believable, they have to actually seem like these people are being controlled by a bunch of oddball rules, that there's a black market the likes of which we have never seen; if they can't have weight then where does it leave us? There are many chances to separate this world from the others, just to divert criticism and make more of it; granted it's the second episode but introducing "Rebels" isn't helping. Their talks about hope and freedom immediately reflect upon the Rebel Alliance and their hopes to overthrow the evil empire; while they do include some sophistication in there, it doesn't help to deflect comparisons. Additionally, the need to push out the mystery dilutes the immense depth throughout; we get that the blackout could be man made, we get that we can stop it; if the Writers don't have faith in us then what's the point in creating a complex mythology?
Their version of life.
The logistics of the series also interferes in many of what they're trying to do. There are many examples here, Rachel's emotional plot about her iPhone, Charlie's brother with the Milita...; in the case of the two they throw away common sense just to fit in the subtexts of the plot. The Milita makes many stops along the way despite the fact that there are chances for him to escape, Rachel explains that her iPhone contains every picture of their kids despite the options she had at the time; common sense would dictate many things like not stopping and saving your photos and it is those things that take people out of the plots, Rachel's struggle in remembering her kids, Charlie's brother uncertainty and fear in the hands of the militia; it's admirable in the amount of character that they try to provide but no one should be thinking about how those pictures would of been lost if anything happened to the iPhone and no one should be thinking about how many stops they're making. Additionally, they shouldn't have to try to cram in distracting, flashy, contradictory and unnecessary fight scenes The show should focus more on the characters than the action, it just throws everything off whenever they include them; the seeming lack of finesse, the perception of the characters... I want to like the show not question it.
This episode does expand further on the premise of the show, getting about the stuff the pilot didn't have a chance to do and it's slightly better than the pilot but it's also the same as the pilot as well. This episode does reaffirm one thing, that the various backstories, the various concepts, the various intricacies are more interesting than the actual results themselves. A good idea is one thing, it can span out for many miles and allow for many paths to be taken but there has to be people who are capable of exploiting that idea, people who can step up to the plate and satisfy demands; otherwise it's just an idea. The people here are incapable of exploiting that idea and as a result, we're left with an episode that's known more for it's possibilities than it's content.
2.5/10
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