Dear TV Shows: My Boyfriend's Back Edition

[retsuko]

As I blogged previously, both "V" and "Flashforward" went on five-months hiatuses (hiati?) to increase dramatic tension to build buzz (and let the writes do some tinkering to the scripts, I suspect). Both have recently returned, but only one has snapped up my attention from where it left off, while the other continues to flounder, a sad-eyed fish on the chopping board of my "whatever, I've got better things to do with my time" feelings.

Specifically, V proves that a little time off is a good thing by returning with a bang instead of a whimper. Furthermore, the things I found annoying about the show in its first installment have either been fixed or don't bother me as much. For example, the subplot of the budding romance between whiney teen Tyler and the girl from the V ship has been rounded out with a creepy edge--the V's want something from humans, and Tyler is their appetizer. Awesome Mom Juliet (still haven't memorized her character's name yet, but whatever) is suspicious, but she has bigger fish to fry, what with setting up the resistance movement and postponing the moment where she has to ditch her old life for as long as possible. Concerned Pregnant Therapist's plot has become a lot more interesting since we know now that she's having a SCARY ALIEN BABEH and are simply waiting for the consequences of her finding this fact out.

But most compelling of all is the idea that the V's want something that only humans have and the show appears to make no promises as to what this is. Could it be mental? We've see the V's digging through Tyler's memories, but to no real avail (or at least, not yet.) Is it something physical on Earth, and if it is, why not just take it? It's this question that's endlessly fascinating, and the show's plot is moving far more briskly along than before. In sum: worth the wait!

But in the meantime, FlashForward gets ever-more dull, and for reasons that I can't entirely fathom. This show should interest me: we have an end point (or at least a definitive mid-way point) that the plot is working towards, there are themes that I normally give a damn about, and there are several characters who I like and actively want to succeed. But it's still slower than molasses in January on a day in Antarctica. The problems of the characters still don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world, and the show is still fixated on its whiney main characters rather than its far more compelling side characters. I had originally said that I would watch until at least the end of this season, but as the weeks progress and I miss another episode but don't care, I don't think this will be the case.

In the case of both shows, I forgot the names of the minor characters entirely and am still trying to put them back together. However, in the case of FlashForward, when other characters used the missing names, I found they just weren't as good as the nicknames I'd mentally assigned while I attempted to figure out who was who. "Natalie" isn't as interesting as "Moon-Eyed CandyStriper" and "Bryce" isn't anywhere near as good as "Mr. Sensitive".

If you're interested, my mental names for the characters of the shows:
On V:
Awesome Mom Juliet
That Guy who was on The 4400
Conspiracy Theorist Dude
Secretly an Alien
Whiney Teen Tyler
Anna (she doesn't need a nickname. Trust me.)
Alan Tudyk
Anna's HAWT Daughter
That Supposedly British Guy Who Might be Cool
Concerned Pregnant Therapist

On FlashForward:
John Cho the Cool
Gabrielle Union the Hot
Whiney Mark
Whiney Penny from Lost
Moon-Eyed CandyStriper
Mr. Sensitive
Adorable Girl in Peril
TV-ly Austism Boy
The Boss Guy
Jerk Genius
Shadowy Bad Guy (Now Deceased)
Real Bad Guy (Never Around)
Janis the Ambiguously Awesome
Autism Boy's Sensitive Scientist Dad

Comments

[retsuko.livejournal.com]

In all honesty, I cannot remember what her character's name is! I feel rather bad about this... but only a little. ;p