Veronica Marred?
Oct. 11th, 2006 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sdelmonteFirst off, before we get to the show, a question...
We are having some big problems with our internet at work. And of all the sites I visit, the hardest to load is LJ. I remember a time when LJ was always fast-loading, and have to wonder if all the changes to the site and to the servers and to the company have done something to our beloved blog. Anyone have any insight into this, or is it just the random troubles of an overtaxed network?
Anyway, on to last night's VMars, which did something it's never done before. It was bad.
Yes, you heard me. We had three plots going on, and each was unpleasant but not all that interesting. The first involved Veronica being sent undercover by the school newspaper to a sorority that might be linked to the rapes. At the end, though, all we learn is that even college newspapers are scandal sheets. The sorority was just a sorority. The combination of cynicism with a rather tepid mystery did nothing for me. Neither did the sense that the show fell back on cliches about college life. And while this did sort of advance the bigger mystery, I don't find that engaging, either. Even though we are dealing with rape, the stakes seem rather small after the last two years' big mysteries.
The second plot had Logan and Wallace taking part in a sociology professor's experiment where some students are prisoners, some are guards, and the guards need to get information from the prisoners. This began as a very heavy-handed effort at some sort of commentary about torture and Abu Ghraib, and then just turned into something unpleasant to sit through. Never mind that I don't think colleges do this kind of thing, or that the internal logic of the plot fell apart to some degree. Only Logan's presence saved this in the least. Oh, and we got to see Dan Castelanetta (the voice of Homer Simpson) as the professor. His normal voice is nothing like Homer's.
And lastly, we had the mess Keith is in. I don't think we have an idea what's going on, and what we saw of it was completely unengaging. We learn what was in the briefcase - a Van Gogh - but don't learn why Kendall had it, or how Keith knew what it was. This subplot feels shoehorned in, and I really hope it goes away.
Hard to believe I am being so harsh about a show I usually love. But the longer I watched last night, the less I wanted to be there. After two weeks, I am concerned that we are seeing yet another TV show move to college without having anything to say about college that we haven't heard before. Remember Buffy in college? All the wonderful metaphor and subtext of high school vanished, and we had a very typical college (aside from the Initiative). Is the same thing happening again? I hope not, but the trailer for next week didn't inspire me with hope.
Still, every show is allowed an off-night. Let's hope that is all this was.
We are having some big problems with our internet at work. And of all the sites I visit, the hardest to load is LJ. I remember a time when LJ was always fast-loading, and have to wonder if all the changes to the site and to the servers and to the company have done something to our beloved blog. Anyone have any insight into this, or is it just the random troubles of an overtaxed network?
Anyway, on to last night's VMars, which did something it's never done before. It was bad.
Yes, you heard me. We had three plots going on, and each was unpleasant but not all that interesting. The first involved Veronica being sent undercover by the school newspaper to a sorority that might be linked to the rapes. At the end, though, all we learn is that even college newspapers are scandal sheets. The sorority was just a sorority. The combination of cynicism with a rather tepid mystery did nothing for me. Neither did the sense that the show fell back on cliches about college life. And while this did sort of advance the bigger mystery, I don't find that engaging, either. Even though we are dealing with rape, the stakes seem rather small after the last two years' big mysteries.
The second plot had Logan and Wallace taking part in a sociology professor's experiment where some students are prisoners, some are guards, and the guards need to get information from the prisoners. This began as a very heavy-handed effort at some sort of commentary about torture and Abu Ghraib, and then just turned into something unpleasant to sit through. Never mind that I don't think colleges do this kind of thing, or that the internal logic of the plot fell apart to some degree. Only Logan's presence saved this in the least. Oh, and we got to see Dan Castelanetta (the voice of Homer Simpson) as the professor. His normal voice is nothing like Homer's.
And lastly, we had the mess Keith is in. I don't think we have an idea what's going on, and what we saw of it was completely unengaging. We learn what was in the briefcase - a Van Gogh - but don't learn why Kendall had it, or how Keith knew what it was. This subplot feels shoehorned in, and I really hope it goes away.
Hard to believe I am being so harsh about a show I usually love. But the longer I watched last night, the less I wanted to be there. After two weeks, I am concerned that we are seeing yet another TV show move to college without having anything to say about college that we haven't heard before. Remember Buffy in college? All the wonderful metaphor and subtext of high school vanished, and we had a very typical college (aside from the Initiative). Is the same thing happening again? I hope not, but the trailer for next week didn't inspire me with hope.
Still, every show is allowed an off-night. Let's hope that is all this was.
(no subject)
Date: Oct. 11th, 2006 04:25 pm (UTC)And while colleges really do do this sort of thing (and so do high schools and middle schools, and I'm speaking as somebody who's both participated and facilitated), I can't think of any IRB form for that experiment that would pass the institutional IRB board -- and the professor did say that it was a study, which would require that form because it's human research.
Which doesn't mean I don't think certain aspects were implausible, or that some of the dialogue really needed work, or that trying to jam three storylines that disparate and intense into a single episode wasn't very wise.
(no subject)
Date: Oct. 11th, 2006 04:43 pm (UTC)I also thought evil guard (and maybe Horshack) was a plant. Only then nothing happened.
The only thing I can think that might make it come back someday is that Creepy RA mentioned that the experiment changed his life, and then he trailed off creepily, as he has a way of doing.
(no subject)
Date: Oct. 11th, 2006 05:14 pm (UTC)