Elementary and Revolution pilots

[meganbmoore]

Via means both legitimate and not, the pilots for both Elementary and Revolution hit the internet this week.

Elementary: I should mention that I've never had a particular interest in Sherlock Holmes. (I've read a number of the stories over the years but never felt a need to seek them out so much as there were times when they were available and not much else was, I've seen the first RDJ movie and found it both entertaining and dull at the same time (don't ask me how that's possible) and suppose I'll see the second eventually. I've seen some of theo ld serials because my mother likes them, and i recall being quite fond of Without a Clue as a teenager. I've never seen a sinlge minute of Sherlock and nothing i've heard about it (either pro or con) makes me think I'd have any interest in it. The word "bromance" is, IMO, a strong argument in favor of genderswapping, and my only probalem with that is that they stopped at the halfway point. Like many on my list, my main interest in this was Lucy Liu. Moving on.

Despite Watson's backstory annoying me (do we REALLY think they would have done that with a male surgeon?) and the slomo extremely malegazey and objectifying murder scene at the beginning was a huge turnoff, I enjoyed it but have no deep thoughts. The script wasn't great but (at least once filmed and editted) wasn't as bad as I'd been expecting from other reports. Also, while this Holmes's behavior and treatment of others is still aggravating, i don't want him to get punched in the face for it every five minutes, mostly because he sometimes realizes that his behavior is wrong and unacceptable, and forces himself to appologize. (Also, if I can grow to quite like Cal Lightman over the course of the 1 4/5's seasons of Lie to Me that I've watched, I'm sure I can like this Holmes too, as I'm having the same reaction I initially had to Cal, and while i'm sure Cal is based on Holmes, this Holmes reminds me more of Cal than of the other Holmeses I've seen.)

Revolution: Set 15 years after a mysterious device made all technology stop working, focusing on a teenaged girl looking for her long-lost-uncle and her abducted brother, and whose family is connected to the blackout.

It really does have "doomed for cancellation on a cliffhanger" written all over it, but I enjoyed it, despite some of the dynamics of the inevitable romance and the race fail. (Which the show may be a bit better about in the long run than in the pilot, based on the last scene.) The premise isn't quite as absurd as some promotional things made it seem-gunpowder still works, firearms are just outlawed and have been confiscated by the militia, and there's nothing implying they can't eventually recreate the old technology-but still requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. But it was entertaining, and there's the potential for interesting surrogate mother/daughter conflict and bonding (and the surrogate mom carries around poisoned whiskey just in case they run into ruffians) and "slightly-permanently-drunk disgraced/loner warrior finds redemption via bonding with idealistic (probably wee and cute) stubborn person (probably much younger female, unless his name is Madmartigan)" is pretty well underway.

I enjoyed it and intend to watch more, despite not having a lot of love for the creators. (I will never disassociate Kripke from the treatment of women-and everyone but the Winchesters in general-in Supernatural, though I can see his hand in the family dynamics, and not in a bad way, and Abrams tends to create projects that seem perfect for me, yet my liking stays more on the passive side, more often than not). Also, that was the most ORDERLY blackout ever. All the cars on a crowded freeway apparently just gently coasted to a stop with no collisions or drivers freaking out. (Then they realized it was too calm and threw in a couple small domestic explosions.) The episode also basically started with a heavyhanded and eyerolly "too much tv will turn you into a zombie" moment.

Please register my annoyance at how Obligatory Bad Boy Love Interest rescues Charlie TWICE.  I mean, this is the first time she's been away from home and probably the fdirst time she's actually faced danger, but the first time it could have easily been Maggie's whiskey, and the second time  it could have been any of the other 3.  I know they needed to get him travelling with Charlie, Maggie and Aaron and to establish that he's with the bad guys but not evil, but I feel they're setting up that dynamic for Nate to always be letting Charlie get away because he has secret feeeeeeelings until he eventually switches sides.  (Which we just did over in Nikita not so long ago, but that had the past history to hold it up, and was still annoying at times.)  I don't dislike Nate-I...am disinterested but willing to change that?-just the way they seem to be setting things up.  (J.D.Pardo is also 15 years older than Tracy Spiridakos-which I probably just misspelled-even though he looks younger than that and I think Charlie is suposed to be 18-19 and Nate in his early 20s, and while i'm not really picky about age differences in paired actors usually, aside from the ageism that often crops up in how women can't be romantic leads after a certain point but men can when they're 70, in this case, she's 16, which could be awkward if they really do go the way the pilot implies with that.)

I'm betting Mama Matheson is alive, just missing?  Possibly she and Papa Matheson faked her death and she's behind the possible existing revolution, or whatever group/person that was at the end?  (Also, I know Andrea Roth was originally cast for the character, but even though they don't actually look alike, you could buy that she and Charlie were mother and daughter

I don't really care about Miles's history with Monroe, though you can see that coming from a mile away.  I feel about Danny pretty much the way I felt about Michael in Missing:  I hope he lives and I hope he stays a decent guy and doesn't become a douchebag, but that's because of Charlie, not him.  That said, they're obviously trying to appeal to Katniss fans with Charlie (I don't blame them, but I suspect that might backfire) and I wouldn't put it past these creators to kill him to give Charlie the maximum amount of trauma. 

I like Charlie a lot and am amused by Aaron, and i don't mind Miles but fear his past is going to take over the show, but Maggie (and her bottle of poisoned whiskey) is my favorite.

World Without End also debutted for realsies, but I haven't watched it yet.  Mostly because I watched the first episode of Pillars of the Earth when it first came out and liked it but wasn't compelled to watch more at the time, and forgot it until it was on DVD, so I want to have a few episodes on hand when I start just in case I have the same initial reaction.