I knew LOST was in trouble halfway through the second season, when they dumped most of the key characters from the first season down the hole and left them pressing a button. At the same time, they added a slew of new characters, advanced the main story arc at a snail’s pace (if at all) and generally lost (heh) all of the sense of mystery and urgency and dread that permeated the first season. I dropped LOST from my viewing after too many button presses, and it seems that many other viewers did the same thing.
Luckily, HEROES showed up to fill the void (and I’ll talk about that after the first season is completed). In the meantime, the other big genre show, Battlestar Galactica, also began to struggle.
Yes, I’m sounding the death knell again. Season three of BSG is dying on the vine after a promising premise at its beginning. Viewers will recall that we started this season on New Caprica, and some (including myself) were expecting a full story arc built on this situation.
No such luck. Instead we got a bunch of sorry Webisodes. Moore and Eick tried to make up for it with the rousing rescue, which was the highlight of the season, but everything since then has been unremarkable.
I often criticize shows that dispense with good character development, but what BSG has is an overemphasis on too many characters and the mysticism that has somehow permeated everything about the show, and a loss of the handle on the various story arcs. Sure, we care about relationships, but don’t try to flesh out ALL of them. Pick two or three important ones, and plow the rest of the show’s time into the story. Whole episodes wasted on things that can be established with short 3-minute sequences don’t keep people interested (the grating “boxing episode”) and peripheral characters (the Cat episode) seem like wheels are spinning.
Important things like Baltar’s trial get one episode, and it’s more about Lee Adama than it is about Baltar? Eh. The whole Starbuck dies fiasco? That was extremely clumsy handling of an event that should have had some kind of buildup. There was almost no emotional impact. Losing Kara Thrace should have been a huge deal, but the way it was executed, it was “ah, she’ll be back” without a second thought.
The revalation that BSG was being written on the fly was unsurprising. You can see it in the storytelling. The Gaeta and Helo character twists alone are ludicrous. Now, Moore has painted himself into a corner by tagging Tigh, Tyrol, Sam and the previously-insignificant aide of Roslin as Cylons. He’s got one offseason to write himself out of this one, but I have very low expectations.
So. Heroes, the show that’s already written and will definitely end in three seasons and seems to be the model of balance between story arc pacing and character development, is now the best thing on genre television. We’ll talk about that in a few weeks.
We’re still enjoying BSG, but I agree that there’s criticism to be levelled at the latest season. We felt that they were alternating episodes; it seemed that one writing team wrote the odd-numbered episodes, another the even-numbered episodes, with little to no communication between them.
Hi Mel! Yes, it’s a sign that they didn’t write the entire story arc out early, and are now winging it. Season 4 should be the final season. If they write as if they’re expecting the series to go longer, then it’s probable that the quality will suffer enough for regular viewers to drop the show. Much like Lost is experiencing now.