jqky

The whole season is a mash-up of different stories that have no clear beginning or end and lead the viewers nowhere. The characters are universally poorly developed and mostly unlikable. The writing is truly cringe worthy. Finn Jones acting sucks all life out of practically every scene in which he appears.

And I really wanted to like this show. I gave it every chance, watching all 13 excruciating episodes.

As the other Netflix Marvel series are all quite good I plan to return and give season two a try. Since Scott Buck was fired from the show after this season I will enter season two with a hopeful attitude.

I love Doc Savage stories. I won't pretend to have read all 180+ of them, anyone who has is probably obsessive, but I have read 15 or so, and will probably read at least that many more in the future. The stories are well paced, engaging and Lester Dent tried to pass on some new bit of "information" in each, most likely the topic he had studied up on in order to write the next monthly installment of Doc's magazine. In one story you learn a bit about blimps, something about Cairo in the next, then the Bermuda Triangle, and so on until you decide you have read enough Doc books for one lifetime. It was a good formula and Lester Dent made it work with this character for longer than any person could have expected. It was a real accomplishment.

The other element of charm contained in the Doc books are the characters. They are likable enough, but there is more to it than that. They are pure and good. Too pure, and too perfect, that is completely true. And Doc himself always took purity and perfection to the nth degree. But since the books were written in an earnest voice this quality came across as refreshing, perhaps even a bit inspirational. Each book I laugh a few times at the ridiculous feats Doc accomplishes due to his meticulous mental and physical training. His unblemished virtue brings out the same a few times. The thing is, it all works in the books because Dent was not winking at his readers. He obviously knew he was writing ridiculous material and creating impossible characters, but he sold it straight, and so while it can bring a smile to your face, it does not produce scorn or embarrassment. It is a world and people you want to be a part of, not mock.

I wrote the above to give those people who watch the Doc Savage movie more of a sense of how the movie got Savage wrong. There is quite a bit in the movie that works, and it is fun at points, and I think Ely is well cast, but too often it violates the essential spirit of Dent's books by refusing to give the audience the option of taking the characters or the adventure seriously. If the film went for "over the top" instead of "goof ball" in a few scenes I suspect it all would have worked. "Worked" at least well enough to let Doc Savage fans feel like they had seen the heroes they knew on the screen, and well enough to let the rest of the viewers feel they had seen an honest attempt at a retro-action serial. Instead we have a movie that we can probably best describe as a curiosity carrying more than a whiff of missed potential, but one ultimately defined by its poor choices.

If you are not a Doc purist, the movie is not horrible. One always wishes for more than such a bottom line.

This episode (6:16 T'ain't Misbehavin) seems a good example of what NYPD Blue became as an on-going series following the death of Simone.

For me personally, by this point none of the personal relationships within the main cast felt believable or authentic. Many of the conversations between them felt very forced, just overly stylized writing by Milch. The conversation between Sipowicz and Sorenson about his girlfriend's pregnancy was just hard to watch.

Sorenson: They told her she couldn't have a baby, her doctors. She went on their word.

Sipowicz: You were who was present. You're in a better position then me if she's shootin' you through the grease.

Sorenson: Yeah, . . . I don't think she's shootin' me through the grease.

Sipowicz: Fine, good, leave it at that. . . . So you thinking' a large ceremony?

Sorenson: We are not talking' marriage Andy. We're talking' me takin' proper responsibility.

Sipowicz: You takin' proper responsibility given the givens how she lays them out assumin' the assumptions.

Sorenson: Yes Andy, correct. Assumin' the assumptions, given the givens.

No actors could deliver such lines and appear to be actual human beings. Ricky Schroder's very limited range only served to emphasis leaden writing of this nature.

What saves this episode is a great performance by guest actor Ray McKinnon as Ted, the slow witted criminal. Without him this episode is lifeless and meandering.

I love NYPD Blue, and I love David Milch, but the show simply was not good by this point. Schroder had a very difficult task, trying to fill in for the departed Jimmy Smits, and I could blame the shows rapid decline on his sleep-walking single note portrayal of Sorenson, but that probably would not be fair. Schroder is who he is, and in the end he was only the most obvious problem of a show by now more defined by problems than qualities. It is a shame that Bochco and Milch did not push themselves harder at this point to maintain the series. It had been one of the best shows on television for five years, and I hated to see it implode like it did this season.

I loved the original series when I was young and had not thought of it in years until I saw the ads for this new version. I had a little free time over the holidays, and thought I'd watch the show for a smile and to maybe bring back some fond memories. Damn, but I was taken back on how well this mini-series was done. It has preserved most of the positive qualities of the original series, but made the whole story so much more thoughtful and intelligent. This mini-series is really the promise of the original series fully realized and updated for adults. Compare it to the updating Frank Miller gave to Batman comics in the 1990's, it is on that same level. If you enjoy science fiction, if you liked the original series, or simply, if you enjoy adult level dramatic action stories, do you self a favor and give this mini-series a few hours. It was a much fun as I've had in long while, and I am not one usually free with high praise.