Painkiller Jane - 1x03 - "Piece of Mind"
Apr. 28th, 2007 02:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fembuckAnd once again, the show continues to get better. It's not quite genuinely good yet, but it's improving and I have hope that one day I might be able to admit that I watch "Painkiller Jane" out loud.
One thing I wish the show would do is definitively state when the show takes place. We've gotten some half-assed references to it taking place in the future (ex. Jane mentioning that it was 2007 in those flashbacks when she was a kid, and this episode her voice-over on the general crapifiction of everything indicating that they're in some semi-dystopian future), but then the show as has references to "Brangelina" and all of the technology pretty much seems like what we have today only dirtier.
I know the "Dark Angel" references will probably get old really quickly, but I loved that we got a nice overview of the world that they were living in, how it happened, and an actual date (2019) in the first half of the pilot episode. If a show sets up a mythology immediately then they at least have a guideline to follow and at least you get some kind of continuity. Like I'm sorry, if the year for PKJ really is 2027, Jane wanting a threesome with a 60-something Pitt and a 50-something Jolie is ... well maybe a fetish we didn't need to learn about our main character so early on.
Seriously, give us some background information on the world that these people are living in and concretely establish a date so that you can avoid anachronistic references like Brangelina or at least qualify them.
Other than that...
I still have not idea what Jane's philosophical voice-overs at the beginning and end of the episode were about, but Lokinator's voice continues to be smooth as buttah.
I think McBride displayed an emotion tonight. Still boring as hell, and not pretty, but he smiled and that's a step that could possibly lead in the vicinity of the right direction.
I continue to not understand why they have a railway worker on the team, no matter how much he reminds me of my Uncle (and he does).
Maureen didn't make much of an impression this episode (although she did look super fine walking down that dingy in alley in her black jacket), but she didn't really bother me either. I feel as if the writers don't really know what to do with her right now though.
Riley, is now officially my second favorite character. And I feel for him with the ogling of half-naked Jane, because really Jane was half-naked and Jane is hot, and she was half-naked, and speaking in her characteristic growl, and half-naked with wet hair ... and really I commend him for being able to speak at all. I would have just stood there smiling, and nodding my head while thinking "giggity". Also, if Riley had been Amanda, Jane totally would have found a bottle of wine! And she totally wouldn't have put on that robe either.
The team actually seemed to use their brains somewhat. There was no moment in the episode where I yelled out "that is so fucking stupid!" Okay, there was the one time when they show reminded us how bad their security system is (is it just me, or does the entire "system" seem to consist of a long alley, and like one video camera?), but other than that there were no glaringly idiotic decisions (though I love that they had be given smarts by a neuro in order to execute a decent plan).
And even though they once again used Jane's power as a solution to their problem, I'm glad that she was resistant to do it and wanted them to think of another solution (although leaving the thinking up to the Ugly One probably wasn't such a genius plan). I like that she's cautious and not willing to do any stupid stunt because it might save time.
Also, Jane looked super cute in her butch plaid jacket and hat ensemble on the train.
The FoTW was actually kind of cool when he was first introduced, but the end to the storyline was really super lame. I really don't get why he was willing to go through all of that and risk people's lives for a painting. I thought that it was going to be medical supplies, or something that made sense, but I just didn't get what it was about even after he tried to explain his reasoning. As it stands he just kind of seems like jerk.
I did like the development that Jane is torn about how they are chipping neuros and essentially robbing them of something natural that is a part of them. And the fact that McBride feels the same way could provide a storyline for the character that might make him seem ... I don't know, alive.
Overall, some character development, better writing, a slightly interesting bad guy, moral ambiguity and a splash of humor (ex. Jane asking for a clothes budget) = a step in the right direction.
One thing I wish the show would do is definitively state when the show takes place. We've gotten some half-assed references to it taking place in the future (ex. Jane mentioning that it was 2007 in those flashbacks when she was a kid, and this episode her voice-over on the general crapifiction of everything indicating that they're in some semi-dystopian future), but then the show as has references to "Brangelina" and all of the technology pretty much seems like what we have today only dirtier.
I know the "Dark Angel" references will probably get old really quickly, but I loved that we got a nice overview of the world that they were living in, how it happened, and an actual date (2019) in the first half of the pilot episode. If a show sets up a mythology immediately then they at least have a guideline to follow and at least you get some kind of continuity. Like I'm sorry, if the year for PKJ really is 2027, Jane wanting a threesome with a 60-something Pitt and a 50-something Jolie is ... well maybe a fetish we didn't need to learn about our main character so early on.
Seriously, give us some background information on the world that these people are living in and concretely establish a date so that you can avoid anachronistic references like Brangelina or at least qualify them.
Other than that...
I still have not idea what Jane's philosophical voice-overs at the beginning and end of the episode were about, but Lokinator's voice continues to be smooth as buttah.
I think McBride displayed an emotion tonight. Still boring as hell, and not pretty, but he smiled and that's a step that could possibly lead in the vicinity of the right direction.
I continue to not understand why they have a railway worker on the team, no matter how much he reminds me of my Uncle (and he does).
Maureen didn't make much of an impression this episode (although she did look super fine walking down that dingy in alley in her black jacket), but she didn't really bother me either. I feel as if the writers don't really know what to do with her right now though.
Riley, is now officially my second favorite character. And I feel for him with the ogling of half-naked Jane, because really Jane was half-naked and Jane is hot, and she was half-naked, and speaking in her characteristic growl, and half-naked with wet hair ... and really I commend him for being able to speak at all. I would have just stood there smiling, and nodding my head while thinking "giggity". Also, if Riley had been Amanda, Jane totally would have found a bottle of wine! And she totally wouldn't have put on that robe either.
The team actually seemed to use their brains somewhat. There was no moment in the episode where I yelled out "that is so fucking stupid!" Okay, there was the one time when they show reminded us how bad their security system is (is it just me, or does the entire "system" seem to consist of a long alley, and like one video camera?), but other than that there were no glaringly idiotic decisions (though I love that they had be given smarts by a neuro in order to execute a decent plan).
And even though they once again used Jane's power as a solution to their problem, I'm glad that she was resistant to do it and wanted them to think of another solution (although leaving the thinking up to the Ugly One probably wasn't such a genius plan). I like that she's cautious and not willing to do any stupid stunt because it might save time.
Also, Jane looked super cute in her butch plaid jacket and hat ensemble on the train.
The FoTW was actually kind of cool when he was first introduced, but the end to the storyline was really super lame. I really don't get why he was willing to go through all of that and risk people's lives for a painting. I thought that it was going to be medical supplies, or something that made sense, but I just didn't get what it was about even after he tried to explain his reasoning. As it stands he just kind of seems like jerk.
I did like the development that Jane is torn about how they are chipping neuros and essentially robbing them of something natural that is a part of them. And the fact that McBride feels the same way could provide a storyline for the character that might make him seem ... I don't know, alive.
Overall, some character development, better writing, a slightly interesting bad guy, moral ambiguity and a splash of humor (ex. Jane asking for a clothes budget) = a step in the right direction.
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-28 07:33 pm (UTC)I thought the storyline was better this week overall... though like you, was disappointed in the lame safe payoff. But if this show wants to keep me viewing, it really needs to start flowing better. Or at least distract me after every commercial break with some subtext or a scantily-clad Jane. Both at the same time would be preferable.
no subject
Date: 2007-04-28 08:06 pm (UTC)Okay, even though I just said this is an ensemble show, I'm still only tuning in to watch Painkiller Jane. I think Loken is being a bit to generous in sharing the wealth. This is *her* show and I'm not in it to watch her reacting to the orders barked at her by Really Shitty Leader. It's like they want him to be Cancer Man but keep writing him as Skinner. Skinner worked as a supporting character.. not a co-lead. I'd like for Jane to be a bit more active in the world around her. I want her to be the *leader* of her band of Scoobies instead of just one of them.
There was no moment in the episode where I yelled out "that is so fucking stupid!"
Heh, my moment was when they mentioned that the World Famous Surgeon was operating on a patient when he lost his memory... and *no one* thinks to see either who he was operating on or who was in the operating room.
Oh, and I'd probably like
Computer Geek GuyRiley a bit more if he looked like he actually bathed!no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 03:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-29 04:47 am (UTC)Also, the Token Black Guy is really reminding me of Doc from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. I keep expecting for him to steal someone's bike.