Melodrama

[bop_radar]

If my shows are allowed to have cheap melodrama, why can't I?

I'm so upset you guys! Two shows. MY TWO FAVOURITE SHOWS. At once. Destroying everything I love and hold dear about them. I am so upset I could cry. At first I was numb and snarky and bitter, and then I found humour briefly, but then I went back into rage, and now I think I'm reaching depression...

I'm halfway through a measured response to 'Requiem' to explain why I think it's the death of Smallville, but I keep getting distracted by the badness on Battlestar...

IT'S TOO MUCH!

They were both so amazing. Why did they have to throw it away? With SV I can rationalise that Al and Miles left... but with Battlestar? It's hard to understand how RDM could create this universe and then destroy it. Also, I feel way more alone in BSG because so many fans are clinging to hope still. At least in SV, we've more or less all been smacked in the face.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Requiem was TEN TIMES AS DREADFUL as BSG this week, but the BSG decline is more drawn out. Which is better? I don't know! *flails*

It's days like today it really sucks to be a completionist.

ETA: I don't normally quote TWOP. But it occurs to me that this sums up my position on both shows: So if you've ever loved the show and thought it was building to a fitting end for some of its major characters, congratulations. You got played. Go watch Friday Night Lights instead.

Comments

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Would you mind telling my why you're unhappy with BSG? Because I bailed on the show about a season ago, but since it's come back I'll I've heard have been squee.

(I found you via a friend's friend's list, btw.)

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Sure. I'm in a minority in finding BSG has jumped the shark now. Basically, I feel that RDM has got carried away and is a bit too in love with his own plotting and has lost his grounded character focus. There have been a lot of complicated and implausible plots in Season 4 and a LOT of things where he's basically handwaved and said he expected fans to 'go with him' despite the implausability. Perhaps I'd still be able to do so if the characters I loved were still behaving like the characters I fell for. But Kara in particular has been unfathomable all season. Lee, who is my favourite character, has been imho out of character for the last 4 eps.

The thing breaking me most of all is that RDM is more than ever casting 'good guys' against 'bad guys'. Only I'm finding the 'bad guys' far more sympathetic because they are the only characters expressing my own frustrations with the plotting (e.g. 'Why do we have to be friends with the Cyons now? Can I just get at least ONE SENTENCE of explanation on that?' *hero character screams in response and executes the questioner*) Does that give you an idea?

I think once the fannish euphoria that this show tends to inspire settles down and people view this season objectively, they'll see that its a long, long way from the clever, grounded, realistic show we started with, where no character was good or bad, and all characters were grey.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for that.

Honestly, if I were watching this show I have the feeling I'd be agreeing with you, and nothing kills a show like having the 'bad guys' more relatable than the good ones.

And it makes me sad that Kara is no longer being Kara anymore - I remember I was getting really frustrated when I stopped watching because what I loved most about her was that she was damn competent, regardless of how fracked up she was in the head. I'm sorry to hear that they never really got her right again.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yeah... even if the 'bad guys' were still treated as bad guys but caused maybe a flicker of a shift in understanding in the good guys, I'd feel more forgiving. But no.

With Kara, there have been flickers of the character I loved. My best friend is a big Kara fan and I use her as a barometer of when Kara's in character or out--and she bailed on the show this week. Basically Kara's in character only when it's useful for the plot, and even Katee cracked it at one point and said she had no idea what her character motivation was any more. RDM's response? 'That's what makes your performance so wonderful'. Um... I think it's a problem when your lead actress is saying she doesn't understand her character.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

asically Kara's in character only when it's useful for the plot, and even Katee cracked it at one point and said she had no idea what her character motivation was any more. RDM's response? 'That's what makes your performance so wonderful'.

Oh, damn. Oh DAMN. That... just says it all right there.

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Yeah.