Painkiller Jane Roundup (1x13 - 1x15)
Aug. 2nd, 2007 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fembuckSo, I've just caught up on the most recent episodes of the show, and while they have been better written than previous outings, with the exception of Jimmy Palmiotti's episode, they've left a bad taste in my mouth. And yes, it goes beyond the Mo is dead and there hasn't been a mention of her. It goes to one of the fundamental parts of the show, the teams mission which I'm beyond disillusioned with and am downright disgusted by. "The Amazing Howie" (episode 14) and "The Healer" (episode 15) highlight exactly what is wrong with the teams mission, and they show that the members of team, or at least Riley and Jane, KNOW that mission sucks but they go along with it anyway. But I'll comment on those in detail when I get to those episodes.
Episode 1x13 - "The League"
Written by: Jimmy Palmiotti
Good, solid episode that had the team fighting actual bad guys. I actually really loved the concept for this episode, with the five High School friends finding themselves with super powers and finding out what they ended up doing with those powers. The whole idea of childhood innocence being corrupted as we grow up, and the ideals the kids had shifting and changing under the weight of their abilities into something dark and destructive.
I also, really loved the main villain, Senator Grey. The actress that played her is one of my favorite Vancouver actresses (she also played Glynis on Blade the Series, and Devin on The 4400), she was great and had that awesome comic villain vibe like your Lex Luthor, Dr. Doom's. I was disappointed she got killed off in the end, because with a gift like the power of persuasion it would have been awesome to see where she could have gone.
There was a bit too much Connor, and McBride was a total douchebag (but I kind of liked that since I've always thought he was an asshole, so seeing him own it so that nobody could dispute how horrible he is was awesome), but I really liked this episode.
Episode 1x14 - "The Amazing Howie"
This episode aired the week "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was released, and was a bit of a tribute I suppose. And I have to say, that overall I really liked the majority of the episode until we got to the "Howie must be chipped" part which goes to what I was complaining about above.
I found the character of Howie really quite beautiful. He was a big child that never grew up and wanted to share wonder with everyone around him. He believed in magic, real magic and he wanted to share that gift and give people something beautiful and special to believe in. And that's what he did. He was a magician and he amazed people.
Howie was not a threat, he was not hurting people, and I don't care what bullshit they feed me about pressure on lobes of the brain causing a lose of morality or whatever. Howie was not a person that was dangerous, and the end of the episode with him escaping with Riley's help proves it. More than that, the fact that everyone was horrified at Jane threatening to chip herself shows that they realize there a good applications for extra-human abilities and that not everyone who exhibits abilities is a threat.
For the team to chip Howie was just cruel. They took away a fundamental part of him, something that he needed as much as his hands, or legs or whatever, and they KNEW it, because they couldn't handle the idea of doing something like that to Jane. They broke him when they did it, they nearly destroyed his spirit and all because he had the nerve to be born different.
What they did was a form of institutionalized rape, and it made me sick.
It doesn't matter that Riley saved Howie, the question is how many other Howie's have they chipped and sent to NICO? How many other harmless, innocent people have they punished to get the bad eggs? And the longer the show goes on, the more I'm thinking there are a LOT of Howie's in that facility.
Episode 1x15 - "The Healer"
Didn't so much love the execution of this episode, but it did have some interesting ideas in it. I like the idea of Jane mentally sabotaging the team because subconsciously she knows what they are doing is wrong. I liked that Jane was going to a faith healer, that it showed that she's been having a real problem with what the team is doing and with what has happened to her. And I liked that I thought (though the ending has made me wonder) that it was hinting at the fact that Jane is going to leave the team because of all of this.
But because the show is PKJ and it hates me, they fucked it all up.
The faith healer was a neuro, yes, but he was a neuro that was curing people of cancer and stab wounds and all sorts of other problems. He was helping people. How are you going to get morally superior over someone who cures cancer? I mean, honestly, WTF!?! He CURES CANCER! Who loses in this scenario? Certainly not anyone who has cancer!
And the team chips him because he's a neuro. What kind of black and white, illogical bullshit is that? I can't even fathom how you could be faced with a situation like that and have your response be "chip him". It's fucking inhuman.
But if it was Connor or something who did it, then whatever because at least we know Connor is an ignorant fuck. But to have Jane do the chipping, to have been told and shown throughout the episode and to have seen the episode before that Jane is having a real problem with her job and the teams mission, and then to just have her follow orders like a sheep at the end was disgusting.
I'm honestly at the point right now, where I want the neuros to win. To me they've shown very few neuros who are more disgusting and horrible than the 'heroes' of the show. And Team McBride isn't even fun to hate. They're just self-righteous, short-sighted, morally repulsive assholes. I mean, you all know that I love me a well-developed well-written bad guy (*waves at Irina Derevko, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sylar, Renfro, Helena Cain, Callisto, and a ton of others), but Team McBride is the scum of the earth.
And more than odd pacing, bad writing, and badly developed arcs, you have a real problem with a series, when viewers start thinking of the heroes of the show as the scum of the earth.
*sigh*
Episode 1x13 - "The League"
Written by: Jimmy Palmiotti
Good, solid episode that had the team fighting actual bad guys. I actually really loved the concept for this episode, with the five High School friends finding themselves with super powers and finding out what they ended up doing with those powers. The whole idea of childhood innocence being corrupted as we grow up, and the ideals the kids had shifting and changing under the weight of their abilities into something dark and destructive.
I also, really loved the main villain, Senator Grey. The actress that played her is one of my favorite Vancouver actresses (she also played Glynis on Blade the Series, and Devin on The 4400), she was great and had that awesome comic villain vibe like your Lex Luthor, Dr. Doom's. I was disappointed she got killed off in the end, because with a gift like the power of persuasion it would have been awesome to see where she could have gone.
There was a bit too much Connor, and McBride was a total douchebag (but I kind of liked that since I've always thought he was an asshole, so seeing him own it so that nobody could dispute how horrible he is was awesome), but I really liked this episode.
Episode 1x14 - "The Amazing Howie"
This episode aired the week "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was released, and was a bit of a tribute I suppose. And I have to say, that overall I really liked the majority of the episode until we got to the "Howie must be chipped" part which goes to what I was complaining about above.
I found the character of Howie really quite beautiful. He was a big child that never grew up and wanted to share wonder with everyone around him. He believed in magic, real magic and he wanted to share that gift and give people something beautiful and special to believe in. And that's what he did. He was a magician and he amazed people.
Howie was not a threat, he was not hurting people, and I don't care what bullshit they feed me about pressure on lobes of the brain causing a lose of morality or whatever. Howie was not a person that was dangerous, and the end of the episode with him escaping with Riley's help proves it. More than that, the fact that everyone was horrified at Jane threatening to chip herself shows that they realize there a good applications for extra-human abilities and that not everyone who exhibits abilities is a threat.
For the team to chip Howie was just cruel. They took away a fundamental part of him, something that he needed as much as his hands, or legs or whatever, and they KNEW it, because they couldn't handle the idea of doing something like that to Jane. They broke him when they did it, they nearly destroyed his spirit and all because he had the nerve to be born different.
What they did was a form of institutionalized rape, and it made me sick.
It doesn't matter that Riley saved Howie, the question is how many other Howie's have they chipped and sent to NICO? How many other harmless, innocent people have they punished to get the bad eggs? And the longer the show goes on, the more I'm thinking there are a LOT of Howie's in that facility.
Episode 1x15 - "The Healer"
Didn't so much love the execution of this episode, but it did have some interesting ideas in it. I like the idea of Jane mentally sabotaging the team because subconsciously she knows what they are doing is wrong. I liked that Jane was going to a faith healer, that it showed that she's been having a real problem with what the team is doing and with what has happened to her. And I liked that I thought (though the ending has made me wonder) that it was hinting at the fact that Jane is going to leave the team because of all of this.
But because the show is PKJ and it hates me, they fucked it all up.
The faith healer was a neuro, yes, but he was a neuro that was curing people of cancer and stab wounds and all sorts of other problems. He was helping people. How are you going to get morally superior over someone who cures cancer? I mean, honestly, WTF!?! He CURES CANCER! Who loses in this scenario? Certainly not anyone who has cancer!
And the team chips him because he's a neuro. What kind of black and white, illogical bullshit is that? I can't even fathom how you could be faced with a situation like that and have your response be "chip him". It's fucking inhuman.
But if it was Connor or something who did it, then whatever because at least we know Connor is an ignorant fuck. But to have Jane do the chipping, to have been told and shown throughout the episode and to have seen the episode before that Jane is having a real problem with her job and the teams mission, and then to just have her follow orders like a sheep at the end was disgusting.
I'm honestly at the point right now, where I want the neuros to win. To me they've shown very few neuros who are more disgusting and horrible than the 'heroes' of the show. And Team McBride isn't even fun to hate. They're just self-righteous, short-sighted, morally repulsive assholes. I mean, you all know that I love me a well-developed well-written bad guy (*waves at Irina Derevko, Bellatrix Lestrange, Sylar, Renfro, Helena Cain, Callisto, and a ton of others), but Team McBride is the scum of the earth.
And more than odd pacing, bad writing, and badly developed arcs, you have a real problem with a series, when viewers start thinking of the heroes of the show as the scum of the earth.
*sigh*
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-02 09:43 pm (UTC)And yeah, compared to Bellatrix and Callisto, there's very little to "like to hate" about Team McBride.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-03 01:23 am (UTC)Rewriting a non PG version of DH that fills in the story seems much more worthwhile :).