Normal.
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| I call him 'Boy Band.' |
Who else really hates the character of Scythe? He reminds me of oily boy band members. I can find nothing likeable about him, not his motivations, his cruelty, or his apparent stupidity.
Eh.
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| 2.5 out of 5 stars |
This weeks episode, The Reaping, was really full of meh. There were some really good points, but they were often countered by the blatantly stupid use of cliches, and marked by the removal of a character I was actually coming to like. The death of a character I like, I can forgive. I read all of A Song of Ice and Fire before watching Game of Thrones, I'm inured to characters being eliminated. Oh, and yes, you can look forward to me reviewing Game of Thrones. I will.
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| More body bags, thanks to 'Boy Band.' |
Lets start with the cool stuff.
Hatake, the most awesome and bad-ass of all the characters is over 500 years old. He was born in 1501.I can only imagine him actually fighting in the Shogunate, maybe being around during the Meiji Restoration.
See that seems cool... and I just made it up. But those little details allow the viewer to imagine the kind of background he might have had. It's fun.
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| 'Boy Band' stares at Jules. He uses 'Creepy.' It's not effective. |
But the best line of the entire episode belongs to Sarah. In a conversation with Daniel / Miksa, she says, "Even monsters have their reasons." I like this. It shows that her character has not yet devolved into the stupid mind set of 'us or them.' That mindset, the whole 'us or them,' crap has really seeped into modern television, and it is truly offensive. It utterly dehumanizes the other side by treating those who are opposed as merely a 'them.' So, I was glad to see someone writing a character that had some intellectual depth. It was good. It needed to be... the rest of the episode was just filled to the brim with preidctable cliches.
Lets just list them:
- The Scythe, ie: Boy Band, is Sutton's son. Really... that is just crappy pathos for the sake of pathos. It's not even good pathos... because I hate his character, and really didn't care about Sutton.
- The 'If you truly love something, you have to let it go' speech was used. Seriously, this is just so cliche... I actually have no words for how banal and pointless the phrase is anymore. It is just trite and cliche and banal. Lets try going five or ten years without a Tv show, movie, or book using it.
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| Now that is good acting. |
And last, but certainly not least. The award of 'So Obvious You Can See It Coming From a Mile Away' goes to...
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| Best scene in the episode. Kicking the crap out of 'Boy Band.' |
- Mom in a Box. I had seriously turned to my friend before the reveal, and said. "By the way, you do know that is Jules Mom in there, right?" In just minutes my amazing powers of prognostication were able to prove their providential prowess. Box opens, and to no one's surprise, it was as predicted, Jules' mother. I threw my hands up in the air. What predictable tripe!
Please, next week... Helix, do not suck in any way shape or form. No one knows yet if you will ever have a second season (nor do I see how they would do that and keep show integrity... it is not a character driven show with a situation occurring in a location, it is a situation occurring in a location that drives the show with some added characters), so don't screw around. End big, or don't come back for a second season.
Please try to end well, end with dignity and if possible as few cliches as possible.
Previous Helix Reviews:
-Eps. 1 & 2: Pilot and Vector- Ep. 4: Single Strand
- Ep. 5: The White Room
- Ep. 6: Aniqatiga
- Ep. 7: Survivor Zero
- Ep. 8: Bloodlines
- Ep. 9: Level X
- Ep. 10: Fushigi
- Ep. 11: Black Rain
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| For no reasons, here's Benedict Cumberbatch. |
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