(no subject)

[selenak]

London: I was very relieved to find out all the Londoners on my flist were safe, and checked with all but one of my none lj-friends as well. The one I haven't heard back from yet is an old lady, though, and I'm worried. She left Germany with the Kindertransport at age 14 during the Third Reich and thus escaped the Holocaust and is one of the most gracious and optimistic and cheerful women I know.

Fannish stuff: a friend gave me the first season of 24. It's very well made suspense stuff, but some elements just disturb me the wrong way. To wit, the way two female characters were presented. I kept hoping against hope they wouldn't go for the Fatal Attraction route and make Nina the villain. But of course we can't have the (ex-)mistress being a sympathetic, brave and smart character the same way the wife is, can we? No, she must be an evil double (tm). And in addition, we've got Senator Palmer's wife, ambitious, ruthless and smart, so of course she must also be bad and heartless. Which leaves Teri and Kim as the two sympathetic female characters. Now, I liked them. But for most of the season, they were the victims, and if the nice women are the victims and the active, non-victim women are bad, that leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

Beyond these issues, the amnesia subplot felt artificial as well, and there was the bemusing question on why Serbians should talk to each other in English. On the bright side of things, as I said, the suspense was really very effective, and everyone's performances were good. Having seen Kiefer Sutherland as a teenage punk in Stand Bye Me and a troubled character in the only Joel Schumacher film I truly liked, Flatliners, I found him convincing as the heroic leading man here. All in all, I'm not sure whether I'll watch a second season, though. Poor demonized Nina will probably either be around for a Queen of Evil comeback or not at all. And Rick, who was about the only ambiguous character the first season came up with (well-meaning but weak, and his wavering between wanting to help Kim and save himself felt realistic) is unlikely to be there, either.

And in other fannish news, I wrote another response to the Alias "Secrets" challenge, this one featuring Dr. Barnett, spoilers for season 1-3 and the opening of season 4:

"Secret Keepers"

Comments

[merrymaia.livejournal.com]

She left Germany with the Kindertransport at age 14 during the Third Reich and thus escaped the Holocaust and is one of the most gracious and optimistic and cheerful women I know.

I hope she is okay.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

She has written now and yes, she's alright, and so is her family, though the daughter-in-law who works at the hospital where most of the dead and wounded ended up saw some terrible things, obviously.

[kathyh]

The one I haven't heard back from yet is an old lady, though, and I'm worried.

Whereabouts in London is she? If she wasn't travelling in to the centre today she's probably OK. Hope you hear good news from her soon.

Kim as the two sympathetic female characters.

Kim turns in to possibly the most irritating female character (with the exception of Lana Lang) ever seen on TV. The number of ways they find to put her in danger in season 2 & 3 went way beyond the ludicrous. I have actually rather enjoyed the Kim-less season 4, which got off to a very dodgy start but improved quite a bit. 24 isn't my favourite TV series by any means but it can be exciting and you do have to admire the scriptwriters ingenuity at times!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Good news: she's alright, and so is her family. The daughter-in-law was actually at the centre, though - she (the daughter in law) works at the Royal London Hospital.

Kim turns in to possibly the most irritating female character (with the exception of Lana Lang) ever seen on TV.

That's a pity. The only time during this first season when I got irritated with her was when she didn't escape once her mother arrived but went back, but hey, teenager and stressed out, hence judgement-impaired. But if this Kim as hostage thing becomes a regular gig, then I can see how it would be annoying. More and more do I become convinced I'm not going to watch the next seasons...

[kathyh]

Glad to hear she's OK, though her daughter-in-law must have had a terrible day. The emergency services did an amazing job with coping with the situation but having to deal with it at close quarters must have been horrible.

More and more do I become convinced I'm not going to watch the next seasons...

Oh, but you'll miss Kim and the cougar. A classic moment I assure you... Seriously, they would probably annoy you far too much so I think that's a wise decision.

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

I hope you hear good news on your friend soon. . .

I hear that the second season of 24 is by far the best. The only one I've really watched was the most recent -- which I think was 4 -- and I had to leave off about 2/3 through, because (1) the story got irredeemably silly and (2) the politics really started to piss me off.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I've heard from her now, and she's alright. Her daughter-in-law works at the hospital where most of the dead and wounded ended up.

24: I'm not surprised to hear about the politics...

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear about your friend -- though it must be awful for her daughter-in-law, to say nothing oft the victims (situations such as this require much stating of the obvious, I suppose).

Oy.

The most recent 24 season was awfully hard to watch in light of Abu Ghraib, being as it basically ended up casting Jack as the Dirty Harry of the CIA. Though I understand Dirty Harry was meant as a left-wing cautionary tale that was simply distorted by the right. I really can't make any such excuses for 24.

Example (general spoilers to follow, but nothing that should come as a surprise) -- there's a situation where a suspect is about to be tortured as The Only Possible Way to Prevent the Deaths of Millions of People. And an Amnesty International lawyer -- clearly the Stooge of the Bad Guy -- shows up in the dead middle of night to stop the torture. The audience is practically encouraged to boo and his, as the lawyer proceeds to trample all over Jack's pragmatic reasons, and the Bosses back him up (because apparently? these people are so rigid and uncompromising that they don't even care that they will likely be killed too, along with their families). The scenario is so staged and phoney that there's no room for any real complexity (as if, say, the human rights lawyer decided he didn't want to be blown up, either, and collaborated with/condoned the torture -- or otherwise gave some sign of human emotion). I mean, it's hard to even start with what's wrong with this setup.

The show also suffered in that I was watching it at the same time I was watching

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That's good to hear about your friend -- though it must be awful for her daughter-in-law, to say nothing oft the victims (situations such as this require much stating of the obvious, I suppose).

Oy.

The most recent <i>24</i> season was awfully hard to watch in light of Abu Ghraib, being as it basically ended up casting Jack as the Dirty Harry of the CIA. Though I understand Dirty Harry was meant as a left-wing cautionary tale that was simply distorted by the right. I really can't make any such excuses for 24.

Example (general spoilers to follow, but nothing that should come as a surprise) -- there's a situation where a suspect is about to be tortured as The Only Possible Way to Prevent the Deaths of Millions of People. And an Amnesty International lawyer -- clearly the Stooge of the Bad Guy -- shows up in the dead middle of night to stop the torture. The audience is practically encouraged to boo and his, as the lawyer proceeds to trample all over Jack's pragmatic reasons, and the Bosses back him up (because apparently? these people are so rigid and uncompromising that they don't even care that they will likely be killed too, along with their families). The scenario is so staged and phoney that there's no room for any real complexity (as if, say, the human rights lawyer decided he didn't want to be blown up, either, and collaborated with/condoned the torture -- or otherwise gave some sign of human emotion). I mean, it's hard to even start with what's wrong with this setup.

The show also suffered in that I was watching it at the same time I was watching <I.>Galactica</i> and the latest season of <i>MI-5/Spooks</i>. . . both lightyears ahead in their handling of similar issues.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

What a ghastly exercise in obviousness. I can understand why you quit watching at this point!

24

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

It was pretty awful.

and what's further depressing is that there was controversy in the media when the season first aired about a middle eastern family being depicted as terrorists -- to the point that the ads were aired with PSA's in which Keifer Sutherland solemnly looked at the camera and said something like, it's not OK to beat up your Turkish neighbor just because I do. Never mind that the family was actually portrayed with some empathy and nuance, unlike many of the season's "bad guys". Yet I didn't hear a peep about the rather obvious "torture is OK!" message that ran throughout the season. Then, media kerfuffles rarely center on controversies that actually require thought.

Re: 24

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yet I didn't hear a peep about the rather obvious "torture is OK!" message that ran throughout the season.

I think I saw something on lj (in an entry talking about the BSG episode as well), but not in the media. Boo, hiss on subtext declaring torture is okay and human rights lawyers just stooges for the bad guys, of course, and for the media ignoring it, but given that the designated attorney general of the country shares this view, I'm sadly not surprised.

Re: 24

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

oh, don't worry!

he'll be on the Supreme Court soon!

*headdesk*

off to mount my "Holland Manners for Chief Justice: When he says torture he means TORTURE" campaign.

[shezan.livejournal.com]

When I'm in Bamberg, you miust tell me about the old lady who left on one of the Kindertransport(en?). A very very English friend of mine only just discovered, upon his mother's death, that this was her history as well. She'd never told him or his brothers (or for all we know, her English husband.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

She wrote back now, and she's okay; and yes, I'll tell you about her story when you're visiting.