| hopeless romantic |
08-11-2017 04:06 PM |
Not only is this the only show I feel so rabid about, but this is probably the only show I've ever watched that has changed the way my mind works so profoundly and has made me challenge everything I hold to be true.
I was a huge fan of The X-Files before David Duchovny left (the post-Mulder episodes forever soured it for me unfortunately, since the show definitely jumped the shark somewhere between seasons seven and the Doggett years), but no matter how much I liked the thrill ride, I was always able to watch and break down the episode according to whether it was a Monster of the Week episode or a "mythology" episode. I could predict various stages within each episode, according to when stuff was going to get stressful and when there was going to be a bit of light relief and when the conclusion was coming. Even saying that, The X-Files was one of the more intelligent series that's been on TV, and managed to keep up a high standard for longer than some other stuff I enjoy to at least some degree, almost all of which is at least equally predictable (which is to say that, on most shows, even if the individual plot-lines are novel within an episode, once you get used to the formula of the rhythm of the show, you can usually look at your watch and know approximately what to expect).
I've never been able to do that with Orphan Black. I'm always too deeply immersed to have a sense of time, and frequently there's so much going on that I have to watch a second or even a third time to see if... "wait, did what I thought happened really happen?" "Was that flicker of expression on that character's face really there, and if it was, what did it mean?"
And, without me being able to explain how they did it, the show has made me re-examine all of my moral beliefs. Well, that's not entirely true. I know how they did it. They somehow made me feel like everything I've watched has been real.
In an example as a way of stark contrast, I recently re-watched something I hadn't seen for a very long time (the Timothy Dalton version of Jane Eyre -- don't bother (the only reason I did is that there's not a lot that's good on the tele in August, lol), if you have any affection for the book, which is one of my favorites, do yourself a favor and watch the Toby Stephens/Ruth Wilson version instead) and couldn't help noticing just how bad the acting was. It felt horrifically like Timothy Dalton thought that yelling and emoting was the same thing as conveying emotion (the writing was equally horrific since the third act seemed to involve the writers deciding that the book had been badly written, but that's just another complaint). I bring said excrescence (which nonetheless has passionate admirers) up merely as an example of how little acting tics on most shows usually make me very much aware that I'm watching television.
Was Claire Danes good in the initial couple of episodes of Homeland? Yeah. She definitely deserved her Emmys. Did Mariska Hargitay earn her Emmy for Law & Order SVU, well, she's arguably the main reason that the show is still running after... brace yourself -- 19 seasons. I could add more examples, but I think I can guarantee that anyone who ever watched those shows never found themselves forgetting, in the back of their minds, that the front of their mind was playing a game of "let's pretend."
So how much am I going to miss OB?
On the one hand, I'll probably just turn to watching stuff that only engages the front of my mind and occasionally makes me a bit misty around the eyes.
On the other hand, I'll probably never again watch something that can reduce me to weeping -- still! -- every time I think of the word, "chickens."
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