The Marriage Plot is the latest effort from Pulitzer Prize winning author Jeffrey Eugenides. I was a huge fan of the prize winning novel Middlesex and was looking forward to this follow up written nine years later. To say I was disappointed with The Marriage Plot isn't really fair. I certainly didn't find it as engrossing or interesting as Middlesex, and that was a small let down, but there was plenty about the novel I found entertaining. Eugenides deserves a spot next to Jonathan Franzen and Michael Chabon on the list of the best authors of this era and while this book probably won't be held up as the perfect example of that placement, it has done nothing to hurt his standing.
Much like Middlesex, as well as Chabon's The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and Franzen's The Corrections, The Marriage Plot plays with time, constantly taking us back in time for long periods of text to fill in storyline in the present. It's a technique Eugenides seems to have perfected as the book is never more interesting then when it steps back into the character's past. It's where we are given the most from the characters, where we feel the most depth. I found the longer the book went on and the more the reader is fully established in the present, the more I found myself not caring. The novel as a whole seems to be a coming of age story, but I became annoyed with the characters transformed states and the decisions that got them there.
Even with it's shortcomings, there is something about the novel that keeps you reading. As annoying as the characters became Eugendies was still able to make the reader concerned with their outcomes. Eugenides spends time, including the title of the novel, talking about the Victorian idea of a marriage plot, and in many ways this novel is a modern take on the concept. The actual idea is outdated and wouldn't be accepted in this day and age, but Eugendies has tweeked it to the sensibilities of the world we now live in. If for nothing else, the need to see how he wraps up this modern marriage plot is compelling enough to keep one reading. The idea of carrying old ideas into a new post-modern world is also an important theme of the novel. How the characters deal with this dilemma, what to hold on to, what to let go, what to assimilate, is a high point of the work.
The Marriage Plot won't go down as one of my favorite novels of all time, it will probably have a hard time finding it's way on my Top 5 reads of 2012, but it isn't without it's worth or merit. If you enjoy literature, it's probably a must read, just don't go in looking for genius and you will probably be able to enjoy it for what it is.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Book Review: Brave Companions: Portraits in History (48 in 2012? #11)
So, March wasn't a great reading month. I got a little busy and fell behind the pace I need to maintain to get 48 books read. This book should have been finished a week ago, but what are you going to do. Things tend to slow down work wise during the summer, so hopefully I can make up some time in the middle months. Until then, here's book #11.
Brave Companions is a collection of essays written by David McCullough made up mostly of short character studies of little known yet important historical figures. McCullough is easily the most famous chronicler of American history and he didn't come by that reputation on accident. His work has that rare ability to be both informative and entertaining. McCullough has a way of not just reciting facts but bring the periods he writes about to life. Unfortunately, this collection doesn't really live up to the standard McCullough has set in his longer pieces. I'm not sure if it's just the limited space he had to write about his subjects, but most of these pieces weren't as interesting as McCullough's other stories. I was never really pulled into the worlds the subjects inhabited.
The best essays came in the last section of the book titled "On We Go." "Washington on the Potomac" is a wonderful ode to our nation's capital and all the many wonders within that any American should read. "Extraordinary Times" is a great essay on how much history has advanced since 1936. The crazy thing is it was written in 1986 and the theme is how fast things have started to happen, a theme that is almost out of date because of things accelerating even more since then. I would love to see him write a sequel essay on everything that has happened since 1986. "Recommended Itinerary" is an address to a college graduating class imploring them to travel abroad to get a better appreciation and understanding of American and its history. "Simon Willard's Clock" is about Congress and how neglected it is in many of our history books.
The one essay not in that final section that I enjoyed was "Steam Road to El Dorado." It talks about the building of the first transcontinental railroad in the Americas, the Panama Railway, and the role it played in the eventual Panama Canal. The completion of the railroad, when taken in context of the era it was built, is easily on of the greatest industrial accomplishments ever and is an incredibly fascinating story.
It's not the greatest collection of historical essays, but it's still McCullough and thus still informative. I may not have been pulled into every story, but there are enough gems here to make the book worth reading.
Brave Companions is a collection of essays written by David McCullough made up mostly of short character studies of little known yet important historical figures. McCullough is easily the most famous chronicler of American history and he didn't come by that reputation on accident. His work has that rare ability to be both informative and entertaining. McCullough has a way of not just reciting facts but bring the periods he writes about to life. Unfortunately, this collection doesn't really live up to the standard McCullough has set in his longer pieces. I'm not sure if it's just the limited space he had to write about his subjects, but most of these pieces weren't as interesting as McCullough's other stories. I was never really pulled into the worlds the subjects inhabited.
The best essays came in the last section of the book titled "On We Go." "Washington on the Potomac" is a wonderful ode to our nation's capital and all the many wonders within that any American should read. "Extraordinary Times" is a great essay on how much history has advanced since 1936. The crazy thing is it was written in 1986 and the theme is how fast things have started to happen, a theme that is almost out of date because of things accelerating even more since then. I would love to see him write a sequel essay on everything that has happened since 1986. "Recommended Itinerary" is an address to a college graduating class imploring them to travel abroad to get a better appreciation and understanding of American and its history. "Simon Willard's Clock" is about Congress and how neglected it is in many of our history books.
The one essay not in that final section that I enjoyed was "Steam Road to El Dorado." It talks about the building of the first transcontinental railroad in the Americas, the Panama Railway, and the role it played in the eventual Panama Canal. The completion of the railroad, when taken in context of the era it was built, is easily on of the greatest industrial accomplishments ever and is an incredibly fascinating story.
It's not the greatest collection of historical essays, but it's still McCullough and thus still informative. I may not have been pulled into every story, but there are enough gems here to make the book worth reading.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Top 5: Movie Soundtracks
This seems like a pretty standard top 5 list, but I haven't taken a stab at it on the blog, so I thought I would give it a try. It combines a couple of passions of mine, watching movies and listening to music. The right music used at the right moment in a movie can make a poor movie memorable and a mediocre movie great. I tried to pick soundtracks that had songs that became iconic moments because that's what truly makes a soundtrack special. Also, I stayed away from movie musicals, it didn't seem fair since the songs were written specifically to create moments, plus top 5 movie musicals could be a whole other list. So, here are my Top 5 Favorite Movie Soundtracks...
5) Dirty Dancing
Yes, you read that right, I love the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (and yes, it took me a while to write that sentence because it's so damn embarrassing). Or to be more accurate, I loved the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. I haven't listened to it in years but when I was 12 I wore my tape out. It's a great mix of old classics (Be My Baby, Stay, In The Still Of The Night) and new hits written specifically for the movie (Hungry Eyes, She's Like The Wind). This soundtrack had two iconic song moments. The first was Jen Grey and Patrick Swayze lip-syncing to "Love Is Strange" as they crawl across the dance studio floor. The second being the huge closing number when Swayze pulls off the lift of Grey during "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life." As embarrassing as it may to be to admit, this soundtrack holds up to most soundtracks out there.
4) Saturday Night Fever
This goes pretty much without explanation. I was going to keep it off the list because I'm not really a fan of the music, but I'm not sure there are more iconic movie song moments then in this movie, so I split the difference and put it near the middle of my list. The Bee Gees pretty much defined a moment in American history with this soundtrack. The opening of the movie, John Travolta walking down the street carrying a bucket of paint to "Staying Alive," is easily one of the coolest scenes in movie history (another top 5 list?). The other iconic moment is usually forgotten wrong. When most people dance to "Staying Alive" they recreate the famous Travolta dance move of pointing to the sky and thrusting out one's hip, but that famous dance was done to "Night Fever" in the movie. The lining dancing scene done to "Night Fever" is probably one of the most spoofed scenes of all time. There is no doubt that this is one of the best and important soundtracks ever made.
3) Singles
This is the only movie that I can't pick out an iconic music moment for. The movie itself was extremely forgettable, but it did help capture a musical scene that defined a generation. Singles was set right in the middle of the Seattle grunge explosion and while it wasn't about the music or the bands that made up the scene, the music and the bands set the tone of the movie and helped make the movie as much about setting as it was the characters. The soundtrack was a who's who of Seattle grunge, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, with many tracks that you could only get on this album. It was one of the first soundtracks that used the idea of putting new tracks by current artists on the cd to help sell it. Cameron Crowe has always used great music in his movies, but this soundtrack went beyond creating great movie moments and helped define a music genre.
2) Swingers
This soundtrack had both iconic movie music moments and helped create a national music movement. Swingers took a local Los Angeles retro music scene and made it a national craze as all of a sudden swing music became all the rage once again. It introduced us to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and opened the door for other swing bands like Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Squirrel Nut Zippers to be national relevant music acts. Swingers was all about the illusion of cool and nothing helped set that tone more then the amazingly cool songs listed on the soundtrack, "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You", "King Of The Road", "Groove Me", "Pick Up The Pieces", "Knock Me A Kiss." The two moments I would list as iconic would be using "Pick Up The Pieces" in a slow-mo group walk scene and John Favreau and Heather Graham swing dancing to "Go Daddy-O." The "Pick Up The Pieces" scene was a take (or rip off) on a classic scene from my number one soundtrack that made fun of a more iconic moment and yet made it it's own. The swing scene was the breaking point of the movie as we finally see Favreau's character break threw his issues, yet perfectly encapsulated the new-swing movement at the same time.
1) Reservoir Dogs
I know some people would list Pulp Fiction as both Quentin Tarantino's best movie and his best soundtrack, but for my money nothing will ever beat Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction just built off everything Reservoir Dogs had already established. This soundtrack was filled with iconic moments and was one of the first soundtracks to include dialogue from the movie. Nothing could have been greater to 16 year-old me then having the Madonna speech on a cd for me to que up at any moment. No current movie maker is better at using music in his movies then Tarantino. He knows exactly the right song to use to lift any given scene in his movies and this soundtrack is the perfect example. The opening credit scene, the slow-mo group walk scene that Swingers stole with "Little Green Bag" playing over it is hands down the coolest scene in movie history. It just oozes cool out of every pore. The use of "Stuck In The Middle With You" during the cop torture scene seemed to add to the horror of the moment. I've never been able to listen to that song since without thinking of Michael Madsen talking into a severed ear. "Hooked On A Feeling", "I Gotcha", "Magic Carpet Ride", and "Coconut" are all great 70's songs that perfectly set the tone of the film. For me, this is the soundtrack that all others should be compared to. It set the standard for everything a soundtrack should be.
Honorable Mentions: Clerks, Dazed and Confused, Forrest Gump, Last Action Hero
5) Dirty Dancing
Yes, you read that right, I love the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (and yes, it took me a while to write that sentence because it's so damn embarrassing). Or to be more accurate, I loved the Dirty Dancing soundtrack. I haven't listened to it in years but when I was 12 I wore my tape out. It's a great mix of old classics (Be My Baby, Stay, In The Still Of The Night) and new hits written specifically for the movie (Hungry Eyes, She's Like The Wind). This soundtrack had two iconic song moments. The first was Jen Grey and Patrick Swayze lip-syncing to "Love Is Strange" as they crawl across the dance studio floor. The second being the huge closing number when Swayze pulls off the lift of Grey during "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life." As embarrassing as it may to be to admit, this soundtrack holds up to most soundtracks out there.
4) Saturday Night Fever
This goes pretty much without explanation. I was going to keep it off the list because I'm not really a fan of the music, but I'm not sure there are more iconic movie song moments then in this movie, so I split the difference and put it near the middle of my list. The Bee Gees pretty much defined a moment in American history with this soundtrack. The opening of the movie, John Travolta walking down the street carrying a bucket of paint to "Staying Alive," is easily one of the coolest scenes in movie history (another top 5 list?). The other iconic moment is usually forgotten wrong. When most people dance to "Staying Alive" they recreate the famous Travolta dance move of pointing to the sky and thrusting out one's hip, but that famous dance was done to "Night Fever" in the movie. The lining dancing scene done to "Night Fever" is probably one of the most spoofed scenes of all time. There is no doubt that this is one of the best and important soundtracks ever made.
3) Singles
This is the only movie that I can't pick out an iconic music moment for. The movie itself was extremely forgettable, but it did help capture a musical scene that defined a generation. Singles was set right in the middle of the Seattle grunge explosion and while it wasn't about the music or the bands that made up the scene, the music and the bands set the tone of the movie and helped make the movie as much about setting as it was the characters. The soundtrack was a who's who of Seattle grunge, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, with many tracks that you could only get on this album. It was one of the first soundtracks that used the idea of putting new tracks by current artists on the cd to help sell it. Cameron Crowe has always used great music in his movies, but this soundtrack went beyond creating great movie moments and helped define a music genre.
2) Swingers
This soundtrack had both iconic movie music moments and helped create a national music movement. Swingers took a local Los Angeles retro music scene and made it a national craze as all of a sudden swing music became all the rage once again. It introduced us to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and opened the door for other swing bands like Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Squirrel Nut Zippers to be national relevant music acts. Swingers was all about the illusion of cool and nothing helped set that tone more then the amazingly cool songs listed on the soundtrack, "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You", "King Of The Road", "Groove Me", "Pick Up The Pieces", "Knock Me A Kiss." The two moments I would list as iconic would be using "Pick Up The Pieces" in a slow-mo group walk scene and John Favreau and Heather Graham swing dancing to "Go Daddy-O." The "Pick Up The Pieces" scene was a take (or rip off) on a classic scene from my number one soundtrack that made fun of a more iconic moment and yet made it it's own. The swing scene was the breaking point of the movie as we finally see Favreau's character break threw his issues, yet perfectly encapsulated the new-swing movement at the same time.
1) Reservoir Dogs
I know some people would list Pulp Fiction as both Quentin Tarantino's best movie and his best soundtrack, but for my money nothing will ever beat Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction just built off everything Reservoir Dogs had already established. This soundtrack was filled with iconic moments and was one of the first soundtracks to include dialogue from the movie. Nothing could have been greater to 16 year-old me then having the Madonna speech on a cd for me to que up at any moment. No current movie maker is better at using music in his movies then Tarantino. He knows exactly the right song to use to lift any given scene in his movies and this soundtrack is the perfect example. The opening credit scene, the slow-mo group walk scene that Swingers stole with "Little Green Bag" playing over it is hands down the coolest scene in movie history. It just oozes cool out of every pore. The use of "Stuck In The Middle With You" during the cop torture scene seemed to add to the horror of the moment. I've never been able to listen to that song since without thinking of Michael Madsen talking into a severed ear. "Hooked On A Feeling", "I Gotcha", "Magic Carpet Ride", and "Coconut" are all great 70's songs that perfectly set the tone of the film. For me, this is the soundtrack that all others should be compared to. It set the standard for everything a soundtrack should be.
Honorable Mentions: Clerks, Dazed and Confused, Forrest Gump, Last Action Hero
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Book Review: If You Were Here (48 in 2012? #10)
Let's just start this off by making one thing clear, I am not Jen Lancaster's audience. Nothing she writes is aimed at 30 year-old educated meat eating male sports nuts (male being the key point where I veer away from her audience). I entered a Goodreads giveaway for my girlfriend and then felt obligated to read and review the book when I ended up winning because that's what they ask from winners and I would like to keep getting free books. The point being, take whatever I have to say about this book with a grain of salt. I think that Jen Lancaster has a gift for writing witty sarcastic prose and I can see why she has the fan base that she has, but this book just isn't my cup of tea.
The book is called a novel, but it reads exactly like the memoirs Lancaster has put out in the past. From the little bit of have read of her other works, if it didn't say novel on the cover I would have assumed this was just another wacky story from her life. She claims she wanted to stretch her creative muscles by writing a fiction book but this was the equivalent of someone trying to touch their toes and only making it to their waist. As funny as some passages are and as much as I would like to connect to Lancaster's Gen X sensibilities, the novel is flat and poorly structured. All the characters were either caricatures of real people or seemed to speak from the same voice. As much as I found some of their antics funny, I couldn't have been less sympathetic to the main characters and their upper middle class problems. Much of the conflict is brought on by their own stupidity. Much of the draw to Lancaster's other work is the fact that the people she writes about are real and you think, how could someone say that or do that to another person, but with the characters and situations being fictitious, it just didn't have the same appeal. The plot is super second act heavy with the third act resolution jumping out of nowhere and wrapping everything up in a neat little bow. We spend two hundred plus pages dealing with the main characters looking for a house to purchase and then trying to fix the money pit they end up with to have all the conflict and problems solved in matter of pages by a character that gets pulled out of nowhere. It felt much to rushed and forced.
Lancaster is obviously a talented writer who can tell humorous stories, but if this is the best effort she can muster when it comes to fiction she's better off sticking to the memoirs that made her so popular in the first place.
The book is called a novel, but it reads exactly like the memoirs Lancaster has put out in the past. From the little bit of have read of her other works, if it didn't say novel on the cover I would have assumed this was just another wacky story from her life. She claims she wanted to stretch her creative muscles by writing a fiction book but this was the equivalent of someone trying to touch their toes and only making it to their waist. As funny as some passages are and as much as I would like to connect to Lancaster's Gen X sensibilities, the novel is flat and poorly structured. All the characters were either caricatures of real people or seemed to speak from the same voice. As much as I found some of their antics funny, I couldn't have been less sympathetic to the main characters and their upper middle class problems. Much of the conflict is brought on by their own stupidity. Much of the draw to Lancaster's other work is the fact that the people she writes about are real and you think, how could someone say that or do that to another person, but with the characters and situations being fictitious, it just didn't have the same appeal. The plot is super second act heavy with the third act resolution jumping out of nowhere and wrapping everything up in a neat little bow. We spend two hundred plus pages dealing with the main characters looking for a house to purchase and then trying to fix the money pit they end up with to have all the conflict and problems solved in matter of pages by a character that gets pulled out of nowhere. It felt much to rushed and forced.
Lancaster is obviously a talented writer who can tell humorous stories, but if this is the best effort she can muster when it comes to fiction she's better off sticking to the memoirs that made her so popular in the first place.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
How I Met Your Mother: The Broath
Season seven has lowered the HIMYM bar so low that "The Broath" may be considered a great episode. For what we can only hope isn't one fleeting episode the HIMYM writers have figured out what made the show fun to watch and strung it all together. I'm starting to see a trend, this episode, like many of this season's winners were written by Carter Bays and Craig Thomas, the shows creators. It may very well be that they are the only ones on the writing staff that truly understand the show. Which is a problem unless the two decide to start writing all the episodes.
"The Broath" is far from the funniest HIMYM episode, but it had all the elements of what I would consider a solid episode. All the episodes storylines were connected in some way and had purpose; there weren't three or four different random forced storylines that seemed to be in place just so everyone had something to do. There were call backs to past moments that supported the funny instead of overshadowing or rehashing it. There were poignant moments that didn't push the comedy aside but worked together to add depth to the stories. This is the type of entertainment I watched HIMYM for.
It's been so long since I've watched a HIMYM episode that didn't make me cringe or throw things that I'm willing to ignore a few things that bothered me. I wasn't crazy about the reveal that Barney and Quin were acting the whole time. I get how it shows the two characters are perfect for each other and quickly sets up the impending marriage, but it took the stuffing out of the more emotional moments in the episode. I also didn't find anything laugh out loud funny. There was some funny stuff, I chuckled more then once, but a lot of the jokes were forgettable.
I hope this is a sign of things to come for the rest of the season. A strong run here at the end will go a long way to restore my faith in the show and what it can accomplish. "The Broath" was the first sign of life the show has had in months. Let's hope things continue to get better! 5-12-2
"The Broath" is far from the funniest HIMYM episode, but it had all the elements of what I would consider a solid episode. All the episodes storylines were connected in some way and had purpose; there weren't three or four different random forced storylines that seemed to be in place just so everyone had something to do. There were call backs to past moments that supported the funny instead of overshadowing or rehashing it. There were poignant moments that didn't push the comedy aside but worked together to add depth to the stories. This is the type of entertainment I watched HIMYM for.
It's been so long since I've watched a HIMYM episode that didn't make me cringe or throw things that I'm willing to ignore a few things that bothered me. I wasn't crazy about the reveal that Barney and Quin were acting the whole time. I get how it shows the two characters are perfect for each other and quickly sets up the impending marriage, but it took the stuffing out of the more emotional moments in the episode. I also didn't find anything laugh out loud funny. There was some funny stuff, I chuckled more then once, but a lot of the jokes were forgettable.
I hope this is a sign of things to come for the rest of the season. A strong run here at the end will go a long way to restore my faith in the show and what it can accomplish. "The Broath" was the first sign of life the show has had in months. Let's hope things continue to get better! 5-12-2
The Walking Dead: Beside The Dying Fire
"Beside The Dying Fire" was everything you could want from a season finale. It started with tons of action and tons of gore, it moved on to resetting of everything that had occurred this season and then ended with a foreshadow of what is to come next season. After a horrible fight with a gigantic flock of walking dead that functioned to force our main characters out of their secure surroundings and to kill off a few superfluous characters that we never really knew, we find everyone out in the new wilderness with no fuel, very little supplies, and no security but the guns they carry. The reset button has been pushed and the survivors find themselves having to start all over again from scratch.
For those of us comic geeks, this episode delivered in spades. Though not an exact replica, the first image of Michonne welding her katana and dragging two zombies behind her on chains brought back thoughts of her first appearance in the comic and the cover of issue #19. It was probably my favorite moment of the episode and made me more than a little giddy. I still wonder how long the writers are going to spend getting her and Andrea back to the main group, but excited for what she is going to bring to season three.
The second tip to the comic geeks was that final image of the season, the jail yard up on the hill. Not only did it function as a nod to the fanboys and gals, but set up the start of season three. I'm not sure what the writers have in store for the jail, but you know it will play an important role. Either it will be the next camp site for the group, like in the comics, or maybe it will be the home of the Governor, who we know has to be somewhere on the horizon.
All in all, season two delivered everything you could want from a zombie show. Some may argue that the first half played out to slow, but it had to. It had to lay down the ground work for the gigantic pay off of the last three episodes. The world of a zombie apocalypse can't be all wall to wall action or you're left with a tale as preposterous as 24. As much as I didn't like the death of Dale, the writers have recovered well and as desperate a situation as we find the group in, there is a small hope of a new beginning. Rick as the bad ass, guiding his people to safety, is filled with new hope and the possibility of new tragedy. Things look bright for season three.
For those of us comic geeks, this episode delivered in spades. Though not an exact replica, the first image of Michonne welding her katana and dragging two zombies behind her on chains brought back thoughts of her first appearance in the comic and the cover of issue #19. It was probably my favorite moment of the episode and made me more than a little giddy. I still wonder how long the writers are going to spend getting her and Andrea back to the main group, but excited for what she is going to bring to season three.
The second tip to the comic geeks was that final image of the season, the jail yard up on the hill. Not only did it function as a nod to the fanboys and gals, but set up the start of season three. I'm not sure what the writers have in store for the jail, but you know it will play an important role. Either it will be the next camp site for the group, like in the comics, or maybe it will be the home of the Governor, who we know has to be somewhere on the horizon.
All in all, season two delivered everything you could want from a zombie show. Some may argue that the first half played out to slow, but it had to. It had to lay down the ground work for the gigantic pay off of the last three episodes. The world of a zombie apocalypse can't be all wall to wall action or you're left with a tale as preposterous as 24. As much as I didn't like the death of Dale, the writers have recovered well and as desperate a situation as we find the group in, there is a small hope of a new beginning. Rick as the bad ass, guiding his people to safety, is filled with new hope and the possibility of new tragedy. Things look bright for season three.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The Walking Dead: Better Angels
"Better Angels" was the episode that we've been heading towards for a season now. As surprising as the ending may have been, unlike last weeks twist, this one fit the tale the writers have been telling. This haven't been going well the Shane and the group since the hunt for Sophia began and, as a mentioned a few reviews ago, had gone far beyond what seemed reasonable for Rick and the group to put up with. Shane had to go and the question left was will the writers kill him off like the comics or will they have him just break off from the group, left to cause trouble another day.
My question is, why have Carl kill Zombie Shane (and why did Shane change so much faster then Dale or anyone else)? I'm not sure what was trying to be said. They have been trying to paint Carl as heading down a dark road, but isn't killing zombies just a reality of life now, not a sign of dark or deviant behavior? Carl isn't some sick serial killer in the making because he shot Zombie Shane, he's a survivor. We'll ignore the fact it would have been impossible for him to shot Shane with Rick standing between them and Carl being a foot or two shorter then Rick and just focus on the fact that he did. I think it would have been much more powerful to have him actually shoot Shane dead like he did in the comic. In fact, with the relationship the show has built between the two and the way they have been painting Carl of late, I think it would have been more powerful then the comic. I find it an interesting choice to have him just shoot the zombie and in all honesty think they sold the moment emotionally short.
The rest of the episode tried to deal with much of my criticism of the last episode. The survivors will try to use the loss of their comrade to re-purpose their lives and you could feel them trying to regain the humanity he stood for. You could sense that the torch may be passed to Glenn and we will have to see if his guilt with his own actions will lead him to become more vocal in the group like Dale was. I still don't buy Andrea's sudden shift back to normal, which this episode seemed to move even more towards. And what was with the group attack on the zombie that started off the episode. It looked like an homage to Office Space and their attack of the copier, it felt shot for shot the same, except Office Space was funny and The Walking Dead is the opposite of funny. I didn't know how to react to that.
I not exactly sure what to expect from the season finale now. I'm guessing we will finally meet the governor, but is that going to be enough to fill a season finale? What other surprises and emotional tolls do the writers have in store for us?
My question is, why have Carl kill Zombie Shane (and why did Shane change so much faster then Dale or anyone else)? I'm not sure what was trying to be said. They have been trying to paint Carl as heading down a dark road, but isn't killing zombies just a reality of life now, not a sign of dark or deviant behavior? Carl isn't some sick serial killer in the making because he shot Zombie Shane, he's a survivor. We'll ignore the fact it would have been impossible for him to shot Shane with Rick standing between them and Carl being a foot or two shorter then Rick and just focus on the fact that he did. I think it would have been much more powerful to have him actually shoot Shane dead like he did in the comic. In fact, with the relationship the show has built between the two and the way they have been painting Carl of late, I think it would have been more powerful then the comic. I find it an interesting choice to have him just shoot the zombie and in all honesty think they sold the moment emotionally short.
The rest of the episode tried to deal with much of my criticism of the last episode. The survivors will try to use the loss of their comrade to re-purpose their lives and you could feel them trying to regain the humanity he stood for. You could sense that the torch may be passed to Glenn and we will have to see if his guilt with his own actions will lead him to become more vocal in the group like Dale was. I still don't buy Andrea's sudden shift back to normal, which this episode seemed to move even more towards. And what was with the group attack on the zombie that started off the episode. It looked like an homage to Office Space and their attack of the copier, it felt shot for shot the same, except Office Space was funny and The Walking Dead is the opposite of funny. I didn't know how to react to that.
I not exactly sure what to expect from the season finale now. I'm guessing we will finally meet the governor, but is that going to be enough to fill a season finale? What other surprises and emotional tolls do the writers have in store for us?
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