Post by Lady Bones on Jan 7, 2015 13:53:23 GMT -5
"I've made my choice."
After raving about Charlie as a character for the last six episodes, it's frustrating that the first episode that fills out his background is middling in its execution. It tries to cover far too much ground for one episode, especially considering that the season has 25 episodes to go through, which weakens the impact of a lot of the back half, such as the portrayal of the start of his addiction, and the attempt at tragedy with the cutaway showing how he fell apart just as his brother put himself back together. That moment is still striking, in this case for the pain Charlie's going through, along with the burning of the heroin and especially Charlie willing to put his life on the line to save Jack, which fits with how much of the rest episode presents Charlie feeling that he is a burden on the group and useless generally. The episode's failure to sell those two particular, later moments lies partly in failure to present believable motivation; Charlie starts using because. . .he thinks he might as well, I guess?
It's hard to decipher, especially with it being right after his brother's worst mistreatment of him yet, which has been on display from the get-go without really selling their bond or him being able to grow the way he already has when we see him next. It'd make more sense if it portrayed his brother seducing him into the lifestyle more directly with the argument that it's harmless or comes with the territory, even if that would make the brother's shift even more of a struggle to sell than it already clearly was. All this being said, some of this storyline is quietly beautiful and quite compelling, such as Locke's speech on struggle giving us strength, which very much fits his character, and Charlie's heart to heart with Jack, which is by far the most emotionally effective moment in the faltering back half and provides a great parallel to the opening confession.* Now, as much as I like that Moth speech, underlining the episode's themes of choice and resilience, the Moth as a symbol is overdone after that initial moment, its presence in the cave and at the fire taking away from the moments' impact rather than being gracefully implemented. The ominous as ever figure that delivers said speech, Locke, is mostly used well here, in his sincere effort to help Charlie, and while his mysterious voice of the author schtick is still blatant, it's starting to work well enough to not bother me anymore. His assholish use of Charlie as bait at the beginning, though, definitely did bother me, especially with how what was really happening was so immediately apparent, and the tension with it falling so flat as a result.
That brings me to some efforts at tension that work better or aren't used at all, and for the better, and along with those scenes, the rest of the episode's plot. Sayid's efforts to track the mysterious signal are solidly done, albeit pretty much just basic plot stuff, and they ultimately provide us with a concerning and effective cliffhanger ending, as well as quite effective continued looks into the ideological perspectives of characters including Sayid, Kate and Sawyer, and the decision not to attempt to extract tension from Shannon launching the rocket, for which I am immensely grateful. Kate and Sawyer's interactions throughout the episode are very effective and got me even further into his character, and work well as set-up leading into the next episode, which I cannot wait to talk about.
Grade: B+
Side Observations:
*I really wish Charlie's faith and lapsed Catholicism was explored more here, or at least later on.
I did everything I could to not make comparisons to House of the Rising Sun to demonstrate this episode's issues in this review, and the one I had written down wound up not making it into the review. So I'm proud of myself.
Two bits that are really goofy even though they weren't meant to be: Charlie's brother yelling that HE IS DRIVESHAFT, and Charlie himself yelling at Jack causing the cave to rumble, which was so silly even with the show committing it to the consequences of it. Him being the cause of said cave-in admittedly fits really well as an externalized manifestation of his feeling that he drags the group down and general self-esteem issues, leading into the redemptive/martyring efforts later on.
The joke about the background characters being mistaken for each other was fucking hilarious. We need more moments like that.
The constraints of network television are really overbearingly present in the efforts here to handle drug addiction, withdrawal, and the general behavior of this typical sexed up band, further taking away from the resonance of it. I don't think at all that we need to see certain things that won't fly for ABC, but there's a way to gracefully and organically convey that these things are occurring rather than make it feel sanitized in a way that environment simply wouldn't be. Not to mention that a couple glimpses of heroin clutched in people's fists really does not at all convey the weight needed by these experiences portrayed and the substance consumed.
Tomorrow, we see Sawyer in his natural habitat as a "Confidence Man," and then on Friday, we meet the idealistic philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Or someone like that, while Sayid goes into "Solitary."
After those two, I will be doing one episode every other day as I had initially intended before fucking up on Monday due to my love for Dragon Age: Inquisition.
After raving about Charlie as a character for the last six episodes, it's frustrating that the first episode that fills out his background is middling in its execution. It tries to cover far too much ground for one episode, especially considering that the season has 25 episodes to go through, which weakens the impact of a lot of the back half, such as the portrayal of the start of his addiction, and the attempt at tragedy with the cutaway showing how he fell apart just as his brother put himself back together. That moment is still striking, in this case for the pain Charlie's going through, along with the burning of the heroin and especially Charlie willing to put his life on the line to save Jack, which fits with how much of the rest episode presents Charlie feeling that he is a burden on the group and useless generally. The episode's failure to sell those two particular, later moments lies partly in failure to present believable motivation; Charlie starts using because. . .he thinks he might as well, I guess?
It's hard to decipher, especially with it being right after his brother's worst mistreatment of him yet, which has been on display from the get-go without really selling their bond or him being able to grow the way he already has when we see him next. It'd make more sense if it portrayed his brother seducing him into the lifestyle more directly with the argument that it's harmless or comes with the territory, even if that would make the brother's shift even more of a struggle to sell than it already clearly was. All this being said, some of this storyline is quietly beautiful and quite compelling, such as Locke's speech on struggle giving us strength, which very much fits his character, and Charlie's heart to heart with Jack, which is by far the most emotionally effective moment in the faltering back half and provides a great parallel to the opening confession.* Now, as much as I like that Moth speech, underlining the episode's themes of choice and resilience, the Moth as a symbol is overdone after that initial moment, its presence in the cave and at the fire taking away from the moments' impact rather than being gracefully implemented. The ominous as ever figure that delivers said speech, Locke, is mostly used well here, in his sincere effort to help Charlie, and while his mysterious voice of the author schtick is still blatant, it's starting to work well enough to not bother me anymore. His assholish use of Charlie as bait at the beginning, though, definitely did bother me, especially with how what was really happening was so immediately apparent, and the tension with it falling so flat as a result.
That brings me to some efforts at tension that work better or aren't used at all, and for the better, and along with those scenes, the rest of the episode's plot. Sayid's efforts to track the mysterious signal are solidly done, albeit pretty much just basic plot stuff, and they ultimately provide us with a concerning and effective cliffhanger ending, as well as quite effective continued looks into the ideological perspectives of characters including Sayid, Kate and Sawyer, and the decision not to attempt to extract tension from Shannon launching the rocket, for which I am immensely grateful. Kate and Sawyer's interactions throughout the episode are very effective and got me even further into his character, and work well as set-up leading into the next episode, which I cannot wait to talk about.
Grade: B+
Side Observations:
*I really wish Charlie's faith and lapsed Catholicism was explored more here, or at least later on.
I did everything I could to not make comparisons to House of the Rising Sun to demonstrate this episode's issues in this review, and the one I had written down wound up not making it into the review. So I'm proud of myself.
Two bits that are really goofy even though they weren't meant to be: Charlie's brother yelling that HE IS DRIVESHAFT, and Charlie himself yelling at Jack causing the cave to rumble, which was so silly even with the show committing it to the consequences of it. Him being the cause of said cave-in admittedly fits really well as an externalized manifestation of his feeling that he drags the group down and general self-esteem issues, leading into the redemptive/martyring efforts later on.
The joke about the background characters being mistaken for each other was fucking hilarious. We need more moments like that.
The constraints of network television are really overbearingly present in the efforts here to handle drug addiction, withdrawal, and the general behavior of this typical sexed up band, further taking away from the resonance of it. I don't think at all that we need to see certain things that won't fly for ABC, but there's a way to gracefully and organically convey that these things are occurring rather than make it feel sanitized in a way that environment simply wouldn't be. Not to mention that a couple glimpses of heroin clutched in people's fists really does not at all convey the weight needed by these experiences portrayed and the substance consumed.
Tomorrow, we see Sawyer in his natural habitat as a "Confidence Man," and then on Friday, we meet the idealistic philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Or someone like that, while Sayid goes into "Solitary."
After those two, I will be doing one episode every other day as I had initially intended before fucking up on Monday due to my love for Dragon Age: Inquisition.
