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Lost
Interesting thing I've noticed about myself ... of all the indignities, cruelties and horrors that antagonists can perpetuate upon good guys in fiction, psychological manipulation, and the mental powerlessness that goes along with it, is probably the one that has the most powerful, visceral effect on me. I noticed this reading ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kodiak_bear's "It's Always Autumn..." story, too. If you want to really twist the knife in me, and most particularly if you want to give me the urge to see the bad guys DIE HORRIBLY SCREAMING IN PAIN, have them manipulate the protagonists' emotions. A prisoner who is forced to hold *themselves* hostage is probably the be-all and end-all of my scale of mental anguish. You know, it's not a conscious or logical thing, and if you asked me what I thought was the worst form of torture a human could experience, I'd answer immediately, "Having to witness harm being done to a loved one." But on TV, movies, etc., the one that gets that immediate stomach-twisting reaction from me is precisely this sort of psychological tyrrany.
And we're not talking a *good* kind of stomach-twisting, either. It's difficult for me to watch. I really don't like watching physical torture, either, but I can stomach it. This, though ... it kind of makes me sick.
Not that I didn't like the episode. This was certainly a fanservice-y episode ... and equal opportunity too! Something for every taste ... half-naked Sawyer bleeding and strapped to a table; Kate stripping off her shirt; Jack in emotional torment, between having to listen to Sawyer's torture and then having to precide over the death of yet another patient ...
I'm still really nervous about how the whole Jack/Sawyer/Kate dynamic is going to play out over the course of this season. Of all the characters on the show, those are probably the three that I like the best, and whose interactions are most interesting to me. Yet ... I really *don't* like the hoary old love-triangle plot, and I'm really *not* rooting for Kate to get together with either one of them. (Actually, it would be quite hilarious if Kate takes up with somebody else while Jack and Sawyer are posturing over her. "Oh, I forgot to mention I've been shacking up with Hurley for the last six months ... seeya!") I like the nascent friendships (or really, with Kate and Jack, not so nascent) between all three of them, and I'd hate to see a big ol' monkey wrench thrown into it, which I suspect is what's gonna happen this season, much as it did last season. I'm starting to wish this show would spend more time building things up and less time tearing them down. I don't *like* seeing characters constantly at each other's throats, not seriously anyway. Call me a big softie, but I get a lot of emotional catharsis out of reconciliation, cooperation and caring. The Lost characters are often just a little too ... isolated for me, maybe. There's a lot of crying, screaming, woobie eyes and melodrama, but at the end of the day, the gulf between them is still just as wide as it was before all of that.
kodiak_bear's "It's Always Autumn..." story, too. If you want to really twist the knife in me, and most particularly if you want to give me the urge to see the bad guys DIE HORRIBLY SCREAMING IN PAIN, have them manipulate the protagonists' emotions. A prisoner who is forced to hold *themselves* hostage is probably the be-all and end-all of my scale of mental anguish. You know, it's not a conscious or logical thing, and if you asked me what I thought was the worst form of torture a human could experience, I'd answer immediately, "Having to witness harm being done to a loved one." But on TV, movies, etc., the one that gets that immediate stomach-twisting reaction from me is precisely this sort of psychological tyrrany.And we're not talking a *good* kind of stomach-twisting, either. It's difficult for me to watch. I really don't like watching physical torture, either, but I can stomach it. This, though ... it kind of makes me sick.
Not that I didn't like the episode. This was certainly a fanservice-y episode ... and equal opportunity too! Something for every taste ... half-naked Sawyer bleeding and strapped to a table; Kate stripping off her shirt; Jack in emotional torment, between having to listen to Sawyer's torture and then having to precide over the death of yet another patient ...
I'm still really nervous about how the whole Jack/Sawyer/Kate dynamic is going to play out over the course of this season. Of all the characters on the show, those are probably the three that I like the best, and whose interactions are most interesting to me. Yet ... I really *don't* like the hoary old love-triangle plot, and I'm really *not* rooting for Kate to get together with either one of them. (Actually, it would be quite hilarious if Kate takes up with somebody else while Jack and Sawyer are posturing over her. "Oh, I forgot to mention I've been shacking up with Hurley for the last six months ... seeya!") I like the nascent friendships (or really, with Kate and Jack, not so nascent) between all three of them, and I'd hate to see a big ol' monkey wrench thrown into it, which I suspect is what's gonna happen this season, much as it did last season. I'm starting to wish this show would spend more time building things up and less time tearing them down. I don't *like* seeing characters constantly at each other's throats, not seriously anyway. Call me a big softie, but I get a lot of emotional catharsis out of reconciliation, cooperation and caring. The Lost characters are often just a little too ... isolated for me, maybe. There's a lot of crying, screaming, woobie eyes and melodrama, but at the end of the day, the gulf between them is still just as wide as it was before all of that.
no subject
I have to honestly say that the Jack/Kate/Sawyer dynamic is my very least favorite. As individual characters I like them fine, but this triangle is driving me NUTS. Hate it. Course I watch the show for Locke and Eko. I'm more interested in the island and the effect it has on those two than in J/K/S making pouty faces and puppy-dog eyes at each other.
I do think Kate should hook up with Hurley. That would ROCK. LOL! Hurley's such a freakin' teddy bear.
Didn't see last night's ep...have it on Tivo and will watch it later today.
Kam :)
no subject
I admit I lost a lot of sympathy for Locke last season (along with certain other characters I once liked), but Eko's fantastic. And I'm *still* bummed that they took off Libby. With the Libby/Hurley plot, this show FINALLY got a couple that I like watching (well, besides Jin and Sun, who I find enjoyable and believable as a married couple) ... and then she died, dammit! Why couldn't they kill Charlie instead?
no subject
Killing Libby was baaaad. Bad PTB, bad! *slaps them on the wrist* That couple was adorable. I like Jin and Sun too, they are probably the most realistic characters in the show. Comes down to it, I'd like to see a little more of that couple that was reunited, can't think of the names, the black woman and the white man that had crashed on the other side of the island. Just a reassuring cameo would be nice, there was something about those two that *worked*. Seems they are the only two on the island that knows who they are as people and have complete faith in each other. While that doesn't provide for much drama, I think it is necessary for grounding the show.
Kam :)
no subject
Yeah, I agree, and I like how they've developed slowly and believably over the last two years. And yet there's plenty of interest and drama to them as characters. I really wish that the show's writers didn't feel that they had to lean so heavily into soap-operatic melodrama in most of their plots. I can only take so much crying and screaming before I just want to kick them ALL off the island. ;) They've got a bunch of good actors and interesting, diverse characters (I don't really mean physically diverse so much as psychologically -- just very different people with lots of natural sources of tension between them), and it annoys me that they can't seem to just let the characters alone to be themselves -- they have to keep pushing and pulling at them with these ridiculous, high-drama storylines. A little adventure and action and angst is great, but the show pushes it so hard that it becomes almost laughable.