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And so disillusionment sets in
I ... I don't know how much more Carnivale I can take. I was really enjoying a lot of season one (and in super spoiler avoidance mode because of it) but I'm not really feeling that way anymore. For one thing, the only spoiler I have for season two (from one of Tim DeKay's interviews that I came across awhile back, before I started watching the show, which I now have context for) leads me to believe that the storyline and set of characters that I'm primarily interested in is probably never going to do anything other than repeatedly stomp on my heart with spiky boots. For another thing, I'm starting to suspect the writers don't have a plan other than a vague sort of "make the characters' lives suck as much as possible, and toss out clues about the Apocalypse every once in a while".
Carnivale is the sort of depressing that I can handle in a 2-hour movie, or in a book if it's well written, and heck, I would probably have enjoyed it a lot more when I was 15 years younger (in my gloomy, everything sucks, not-quite-Goth phase), but I'm seriously struggling with maintaining my enthusiasm over the course of an entire TV series. I really love the cast and a lot of the characters (well, okay, I laugh hysterically at almost every one of Clancy Brown's scenes because he is such a giant ham and the writers totally play to that), and, for a change, it's kind of nice to have a small, insular community of screwed-up individuals that doesn't come across as "found family" so much as "we basically can't stand each other and would leave if we could, except we're all flat broke so we're stuck with each other" (which is more how these things tend to play out in real life, in my experience). But, well, that's the problem, I guess -- this is the story of a bunch of people trapped with each other in the middle of nowhere making themselves and everyone around them miserable, and it's really starting to wear on me. There are some lovely grace notes in the middle of the misery -- those moments when the characters rise above themselves to be selfless or sweet -- and I think I'd enjoy the series a lot more if the balance was weighted a little more heavily in that direction than towards the much more frequent times when they are complete bastards to each other.
There have also been quite a few things that were, if not actually ragemaking, then at least made me very uncomfortable in how they played out. I started out with a lot of confidence in the writers to handle potentially skeevy or controversial material in a way that would satisfy me. I no longer have that confidence.
Basically I've started to emotionally disassociate from the show in a major way ... much as with "Lost" and a few other shows that were similar in that every moment of happiness meant that a MISERY BOMB had to be dropped on the same characters half an episode later, usually completely undoing whatever growth in their relationship they'd managed to achieve earlier.
(Husband also informs me that, according to the Internet, "Season Two is where it really goes bad", whatever that means. OH GOOD, SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.)
ETA: Actually, the way I'm reacting to Carnivale reminds me a lot of Lost ... the initial "Yay!" and the fun of following the twisty plot and large cast of interesting characters, followed by slowly having the enthusiasm ground out of me when the plot never goes anywhere and the characters' relationships never go where I want them to. *g*
Carnivale is the sort of depressing that I can handle in a 2-hour movie, or in a book if it's well written, and heck, I would probably have enjoyed it a lot more when I was 15 years younger (in my gloomy, everything sucks, not-quite-Goth phase), but I'm seriously struggling with maintaining my enthusiasm over the course of an entire TV series. I really love the cast and a lot of the characters (well, okay, I laugh hysterically at almost every one of Clancy Brown's scenes because he is such a giant ham and the writers totally play to that), and, for a change, it's kind of nice to have a small, insular community of screwed-up individuals that doesn't come across as "found family" so much as "we basically can't stand each other and would leave if we could, except we're all flat broke so we're stuck with each other" (which is more how these things tend to play out in real life, in my experience). But, well, that's the problem, I guess -- this is the story of a bunch of people trapped with each other in the middle of nowhere making themselves and everyone around them miserable, and it's really starting to wear on me. There are some lovely grace notes in the middle of the misery -- those moments when the characters rise above themselves to be selfless or sweet -- and I think I'd enjoy the series a lot more if the balance was weighted a little more heavily in that direction than towards the much more frequent times when they are complete bastards to each other.
There have also been quite a few things that were, if not actually ragemaking, then at least made me very uncomfortable in how they played out. I started out with a lot of confidence in the writers to handle potentially skeevy or controversial material in a way that would satisfy me. I no longer have that confidence.
Basically I've started to emotionally disassociate from the show in a major way ... much as with "Lost" and a few other shows that were similar in that every moment of happiness meant that a MISERY BOMB had to be dropped on the same characters half an episode later, usually completely undoing whatever growth in their relationship they'd managed to achieve earlier.
(Husband also informs me that, according to the Internet, "Season Two is where it really goes bad", whatever that means. OH GOOD, SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.)
ETA: Actually, the way I'm reacting to Carnivale reminds me a lot of Lost ... the initial "Yay!" and the fun of following the twisty plot and large cast of interesting characters, followed by slowly having the enthusiasm ground out of me when the plot never goes anywhere and the characters' relationships never go where I want them to. *g*
no subject
lol
I don't know this show though it always sounded and looked appealing; I might still check it out.
But yeah, I have trouble with relentlessly bleak stories as well. Even in movies, but much more so in tv when the misery can just go on and on.
One of the many things I loved about Buffy and Angel was that Joss Whedon managed a balance, with the shows being able show wacky hijinks or to be utterly sad and depressing, or creepy scary - sometimes within the same episode. When fiction can maintain that balance... love that!
no subject
And yeah, I love it when shows can manage that balance. It's hard to do, though! And very easy to fall off on one side or the other.