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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 4, 2009 3:24:31 GMT
I asked Tom East to recommend a TEN show to me and he said Caydem Falls, so away we go...
Episode 1
Right away, I had two problems. First, I rapidly lost track of who was who because we literally meet a dozen characters in just as many pages. This would be fine except there's no real introduction for any of them. The requisite ALL CAPS is there for the first appearance, but not a single iota of a physical description to be found among them. So I had Karl, Justin, and Mark mixed up almost immediately.
Second, the zombies. I assumed coming into this that they'd be the driving point of the narrative, being the cause for this apocalypse and all. So it was disappointing that, again, there's no fanfare in their introduction. I mean, at least an exclamation point and a separate line to sell the moment. Or maybe the first appearance of them is an act break? I dunno. Something. They're written to be unimportant, so I didn't care.
Amy's the only character that clicked right away, mostly b/c there's at least SOME context given to her plight. As opposed to the rapid cutting, ADD nature of every other scene, her stuff in the nursing home and plot point with her zombie'd grandmother is given some time and attention. Mercifully, it's the best part of the script.
I felt like I was reading act one of a greater story which is and isn't a compliment. I like that we're more or less thrown into the mix right away, but the whirlwind nature of meeting all these faceless characters stifles any opportunity for me as a reader to relate to any of them.
A solid thumbs in the middle for the effort.
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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 4, 2009 3:33:34 GMT
Episode 2
Karl's a complete and utter idiot. End of story.
It's a little disturbing and a nice touch that in the midst of all this evacuation and chaos, a prick like Vince is still just looking to throw his dick around like any good bully.
Nice little hero moment for Justin. He has the least amount lines and came off a lot better here than anyone else in his family (I'm waiting for Curtis to get eaten at this point). Wonderful little suckerpunch with him getting hit by a car at the end too. I'd like to think of it as karmic payback for being stupid enough to try to run away with his girlfriend. Ah, to be a retarded teenager again.
At this point, let me point out that I'm a little iffy on how underplayed the zombies have been. None of the act breaks, two episodes in, have been built around a zombie attack so it really feels like a plot contrivance to get the ball rolling and now we're in all this family stuff. Having said that, Amy's little adventure in the hospital continues to entertain (note it's the only zombie heavy activity thus far). I couldn't care less about Karl being stupid enough to go back for some weed kit in the middle of a mass evacuation. Deserves whatever he gets. But Amy's being chased around a hospital by the living dead and Justin saved four lives and got hit by a car. THAT stuff I care about.
Another thumbs in the middle. Karl's story, though I like the IDEA of Vince, was one of those instances of a character being a moron for the sake of the plot, stupidity normally reserved for garbage like Smallville. And since Karl's story dominates the episode, I have to rate it lower than I would've.
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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 4, 2009 3:42:03 GMT
Episode 3
Again, this show makes odd choices. We ended the ep on Justin getting hit by a car (oh no!) and Karl's fucking retarded ass going back to get a beating over a weed kit (ugh!). The episode opens... at the gas station? Mercifully it's resolved quickly, but I'm a little confused as to the logic behind that decision.
I forgot to mention Amy's 'Frank' being killed in the last episode. Loved that moment for the suddenness and randomness of it (just like Justin's car accident). I'm a little saddened to see Amy's adventures end because it's the only true zombie action we've gotten.
I should mention that I don't care one iota about the Andersons. Right now they all feel like superfluous characters. More a cheap deus ex machina to separate Justin from his family than anything. Nice touch using the family he saved as his saviors. Again, karmic payback. I question the logic of him riding a bike back to his house when he's got a bum shoulder and at least a mild concussion, but hey, teenage ignorance.
Karl's shit. Okay, I'm tired of it now. Really tired of it. Glad he got away so the show can move past it.
by the end of this one, everyone's together but Justin and that's a good thing, but act four feels like something from the worse of the WB/CW's family dramas. It's act FOUR! What's with all the talking? Flat ending to a decent episode.
Thumbs in the middle yet again.
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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 4, 2009 3:47:31 GMT
Episode 4
MORE TALKING! Guh. The little escapade at the neighbor's was a welcome break from all the drama, but nothing really happens in this episode and that's a real weakness unfortunately. Some incessant flirting with Amy, apparently tension with Tanya and Sarah, blah dee blah blah, I don't care. Ooh and a stupid neighbor that doesn't want to leave. Can you say cannon fodder?
This episode loses the pace of the first three and really feels like we're treading water now. It's amazing how petty these people are. There's a zombie epidemic sweeping the nation and Karl and Mark take time (a lot of time... and pages) to be cold to one another?
For that matter, why didn't Amy get into her little adventures? She just moves through the house like nothing changed (liked her killing the girl zombie though). This show's got a real problem with emotional resonance and context. All of the petty disputes seem to be more important to them than, oh I don't, the fucking ZOMBIES rampaging through town?
Thumbs in the middle, wavering towards down.
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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 4, 2009 3:52:45 GMT
Episode 5
Rather than me rip this episode to shreds, just let me say that
(a) I HATE flashbacks; FLASHBACKS DO NOT EQUAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT EVER!
(b) this episode had no plot whatever, just a half page of present day dialogue to lead into the next incredibly dull and uninteresting flashback I didn't care about; so Mark was fucking Tanya, when was I made to care?
(c) All the weed attention is starting to irritate; literally there's been more mentions of weed in this show thus far than the fucking ZOMBIES! it's irritating; there's weed in all but like two scenes and in one of them, Curtis's POINTING OUT that they're smoking weed in the other car. You get the impression the writer thinks weed is the greatest invention ever b/c there's more story on THAT (really... TWO flashbacks of Karl smoking weed and becoming a dealer... TWO of them... ridiculous) than... again, the zombies.
Thumbs down.
I hated this with a fiery passion. Flashback after flashback with no plot at all, filling in a bunch of blanks I really didn't care to have answered. Just awful, boring, terrible stuff.
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Post by Dex on Aug 5, 2009 18:24:34 GMT
Sucks that you're not digging the show or the characters but I appreciate the comments.
I guess the reason they spend so much time dealing with their personal issues is because them sitting around crying about the Zombies gets old and repetitive in a hurry. Especially since, for the most part, said Zombies haven't really gotten to their part of town yet. Same with the episodes not relying on a tense Zombie attack every week. The show was never made or billed to be an action or horror story but more how the introduction of Zombies has affected this family's world. I'm going for something more than an excuse to create cool new Zombie kills every episode.
I honestly did try to have more Zombie carnage in the series but more often than not it didn't feel organic at all. I found it better to tell a story than force in some pointless gore. The Zombie action does pick up quite a bit, though as they get closer to Caydem Falls. Episode Seven's probly got more Zombie action than the first six episodes combined.
It's funny all the different reactions the characters are getting. I assumed everyone would hate Karl from the get go but so far you're the only one. I think Amy's the only character that's consistently gotten the same response. And she's the only one who's gotten the response I expected.
All the weed is just an extension of me and the people I know. In my view, the casual pot smoking in the show is pretty tame compared to the real world. Well, apart from Pitt in "Tales from the Road".
Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing.
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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 5, 2009 22:01:05 GMT
There are tons of things I do in real life with my friends that I don't think are particular fun or interesting to read.
A bunch of people sitting around smoking weed and reminiscing on the past isn't compelling to me. At all. Not unless we're talking about That 70's show. Thus, ep 5 was intensely boring.
I guess the issue more than anything is a real lack of pace. Noone seems to be in a huge rush to do anything nor do they seem to be overly concerned about anything (except the two parents about Justin). And that's what the big letdown about the zombie stuff is. Amy was a couple of hours removed from the hospital ordeal and appears to be over it already.
If the zombies weren't in the show, aside from the pilot episode, not a whole lot would be different in terms of what happens. That's iffy for me.
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Post by Dex on Aug 5, 2009 22:59:27 GMT
Yeah, I get what you're saying and I agree where the flashback episodes are concerned. It was one of those things that I was kind of always on the fence about but once I started writing it all just came out so easy that I had a hard time disliking the idea.
Where they should have been a transition into the second (and more high paced) half of the season they instead killed the momentum and make things feel a little disjointed.
As far as Amy's concerned I don't think it's so much that she's over what happened, she's more or less just kind of avoiding. She wouldn't be much of a character if after all she's been through she just retreated into a corner and cried the rest of the day/season.
Her reaction to her mother's death was my subtle way of establishing the origin of her ability to keep her emotions to herself. The hospital stuff does come back up though.
In the end this is still the first season of my first series and very much a learning experience, so once again, the comments are very much appreciated.
NOTE: It says I modified your post but I swear I didn't. Somehow I hit modify instead of reply and didn't notice until it was too late and ended up replacing your post with my response to it. I was able to hit back enough times to get your original post and fix the mistake, though.
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Post by Michael Jay on Aug 6, 2009 1:50:19 GMT
Oh I totally get the figuring it out as you go mentality. Hell I've got three shows and I'm STILL learning. Hence reviews from assholes like me.
As a rule of thumb, I try to keep the more mundane aspects of 'real life' out of my work. I figure people go through that everyday, so they read my shit to be entertained. I try to make my plots entertaining, no matter the subject matter.
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Post by Dan Taylor on Aug 6, 2009 11:28:11 GMT
Life is a learning process. Anyone who says they're finished, is lying. Or an ass. Or both.
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