Highlander: The Raven: Bloodlines
Jul. 10th, 2006 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccaelizabethHow lame is this episode? Let me count the ways...
Okay, first of all, in 3 episodes, they've had 2 Immortal assassins. And one where the plot wasn't focused on Immortals. So apparently Immortal=assassin now. Eesh. Get some variety! Have ideas!
2nd, Wolf. He is angry. I get this. He can do angry. Angry is definitely in this actor's range.
Other than that?
He isn't reacting right for a cop or for an ex-cop. As a cop, he shouldn't be breaking down doors, by boot or by crowbar. As an *ex* cop he should not be running around with gun drawn telling people to freeze, or having gun battles. And if he shoots someone, he should definitely be getting in a lot of trouble for it. Even if they were aiming a gun at him, he was aiming at them, and this tends to lead to being arrested and stuff.
Either way he shouldn't, god knows, be murdering people, even murderers. For a cop to cross the line, to add judge jury and executioner to the job description, is a major step. Cops arrest people. Wolf apparently decided that decapitating them was, what, morally equivalent? Convenient? Necessary? When did we see him decide that? Where was the moral choice presented, where was he thinking about it, how did he react, how did he decide? Why do we not know? This stuff is *exactly* where the heart of Highlander lay - conflicts between long held codes of honour and current situations. And yet, here, its just a plot moment.
Although there is one more possibility of course - that he didn't intend to decapitate the guy, it was a wild shot that knocked the glass down.
They should really, really, have made that clear. Because it is key and crucial to the character. So it should be crystal clear which happened.
If it was an accident, he should react to it.
He should react *at all*. In ways other than 'angry'.
That bit at the end where he decides that cops will have questions and he doesn't want to give answers... between the music and Amanda being cute, it was played like it was a cute relationship moment. The hell? Wolf is an *ex-cop*. That moment has to be the crystallisation of so many issues for him. He's fallen through the looking glass and he is in the process of discovering no one will believe him. That should be what this whole episode was about really, the emotional reaction to being the only mortal (he knows) in this Immortal world. Trying to apply the old cop learned rules to the new situation. Being isolated for trying to chase suspects the others believe are dead. And his apparent decision that, since he's the only one dealing with it, he has to play all the roles.
All the plot elements are there to tell a classic story, but it was so busy having the running shooting fighting parts that there was no character or story stuff around it.
Also, you may have noticed that the whole thing so far has been about Wolf, despite the series being called Raven. That would be because once again, we're riding Wolf's point of view to such an extent that the Amanda flashback felt jarring and out of place. How can we be seeing Amanda think when its obviously Wolf's story?
I can see the basic problem - they have 2 lead characters. One of them has a connection to Immortals, so can play any number of Highlander style stories. But she wouldn't get the other guy involved. So they have to start the story with the other guy, so he can get her involved instead. Its as if they set up Richie as the main character, and played the first few episodes out as Richie finding more and more about Immortals and running to Mac for help with them. (Which of course I'm suddenly getting plot bunnies for.) Since the only way Nick can know a character is Immortal is if they drop dead in front of him and get up again, or if he finds really old photos, that is what we're seeing happen. Even though the subsequent connection to Amanda is strange and coincidental, because it wasn't Amanda who found them, so her having connections is just writers saying she has.
And those connections aren't explored. This week, she was apparently dating the guy's adopted son. So what did she feel about the guy? Was he sort of paternal to her? She's a thousand years older than him, that would be weird. Did she fancy him? From her point of view they're all toyboys. Is that an issue for her? Does she fancy them only within a certain biological range, or are 80 year olds still sexy to her? We don't know. We don't know anything about the feelings. Her reactions are completely invisible. Because the story just has a whole bunch of things happen, and does nothing with character.
Theme or layers or morals or the remotest connection between flashback and present day beyond the obvious? Forget it.
The Quickening would be a very huge problem, except I read about it when it happened first time around, and I read the great relief when they went and made it vaguely explainable by what they did in the last episode.
What is frustrating me is I think I could take these characters and these plots and make much better stories with them. I'm not saying I'm a brilliant writer, I'm really not, but I'm saying that they've got a skeleton here and they just aren't using it.
Amanda remains pretty, but does not become Amanda. And Wolf is just... he could be pretty, but between the clothes and the weird camera angles and the slow motion running where his hair goes all puffy, not so very.
So three episodes in, I'm basically not feeling like watching the second disc.
And thats without even mentioning the weird sound problems I'm getting. I don't know if its just my discs, but the lip synch mostly isn't, and there's nasty echoey bits. Not cool at all.
All in all, very frustrating.
Okay, first of all, in 3 episodes, they've had 2 Immortal assassins. And one where the plot wasn't focused on Immortals. So apparently Immortal=assassin now. Eesh. Get some variety! Have ideas!
2nd, Wolf. He is angry. I get this. He can do angry. Angry is definitely in this actor's range.
Other than that?
He isn't reacting right for a cop or for an ex-cop. As a cop, he shouldn't be breaking down doors, by boot or by crowbar. As an *ex* cop he should not be running around with gun drawn telling people to freeze, or having gun battles. And if he shoots someone, he should definitely be getting in a lot of trouble for it. Even if they were aiming a gun at him, he was aiming at them, and this tends to lead to being arrested and stuff.
Either way he shouldn't, god knows, be murdering people, even murderers. For a cop to cross the line, to add judge jury and executioner to the job description, is a major step. Cops arrest people. Wolf apparently decided that decapitating them was, what, morally equivalent? Convenient? Necessary? When did we see him decide that? Where was the moral choice presented, where was he thinking about it, how did he react, how did he decide? Why do we not know? This stuff is *exactly* where the heart of Highlander lay - conflicts between long held codes of honour and current situations. And yet, here, its just a plot moment.
Although there is one more possibility of course - that he didn't intend to decapitate the guy, it was a wild shot that knocked the glass down.
They should really, really, have made that clear. Because it is key and crucial to the character. So it should be crystal clear which happened.
If it was an accident, he should react to it.
He should react *at all*. In ways other than 'angry'.
That bit at the end where he decides that cops will have questions and he doesn't want to give answers... between the music and Amanda being cute, it was played like it was a cute relationship moment. The hell? Wolf is an *ex-cop*. That moment has to be the crystallisation of so many issues for him. He's fallen through the looking glass and he is in the process of discovering no one will believe him. That should be what this whole episode was about really, the emotional reaction to being the only mortal (he knows) in this Immortal world. Trying to apply the old cop learned rules to the new situation. Being isolated for trying to chase suspects the others believe are dead. And his apparent decision that, since he's the only one dealing with it, he has to play all the roles.
All the plot elements are there to tell a classic story, but it was so busy having the running shooting fighting parts that there was no character or story stuff around it.
Also, you may have noticed that the whole thing so far has been about Wolf, despite the series being called Raven. That would be because once again, we're riding Wolf's point of view to such an extent that the Amanda flashback felt jarring and out of place. How can we be seeing Amanda think when its obviously Wolf's story?
I can see the basic problem - they have 2 lead characters. One of them has a connection to Immortals, so can play any number of Highlander style stories. But she wouldn't get the other guy involved. So they have to start the story with the other guy, so he can get her involved instead. Its as if they set up Richie as the main character, and played the first few episodes out as Richie finding more and more about Immortals and running to Mac for help with them. (Which of course I'm suddenly getting plot bunnies for.) Since the only way Nick can know a character is Immortal is if they drop dead in front of him and get up again, or if he finds really old photos, that is what we're seeing happen. Even though the subsequent connection to Amanda is strange and coincidental, because it wasn't Amanda who found them, so her having connections is just writers saying she has.
And those connections aren't explored. This week, she was apparently dating the guy's adopted son. So what did she feel about the guy? Was he sort of paternal to her? She's a thousand years older than him, that would be weird. Did she fancy him? From her point of view they're all toyboys. Is that an issue for her? Does she fancy them only within a certain biological range, or are 80 year olds still sexy to her? We don't know. We don't know anything about the feelings. Her reactions are completely invisible. Because the story just has a whole bunch of things happen, and does nothing with character.
Theme or layers or morals or the remotest connection between flashback and present day beyond the obvious? Forget it.
The Quickening would be a very huge problem, except I read about it when it happened first time around, and I read the great relief when they went and made it vaguely explainable by what they did in the last episode.
What is frustrating me is I think I could take these characters and these plots and make much better stories with them. I'm not saying I'm a brilliant writer, I'm really not, but I'm saying that they've got a skeleton here and they just aren't using it.
Amanda remains pretty, but does not become Amanda. And Wolf is just... he could be pretty, but between the clothes and the weird camera angles and the slow motion running where his hair goes all puffy, not so very.
So three episodes in, I'm basically not feeling like watching the second disc.
And thats without even mentioning the weird sound problems I'm getting. I don't know if its just my discs, but the lip synch mostly isn't, and there's nasty echoey bits. Not cool at all.
All in all, very frustrating.