Pen-Elayne on the Web

Yankees 3, Angel 0

I haven't talked about baseball on the blog lately - or, hey, at all - but let me get this week's Angel out of the way first, for those few Pen-Elayne readers among you who might still be watching this pseudo-drek. Tonight's episode was particularly cringe-worthy, as it displayed at least three elements that make me want to hurl a pillow at the television - an idiot plot (is there a point to this Connor character other than to be dumb as a post thus allowing stuff to happen that wouldn't if he actually behaved like someone with a triple-digit IQ?); the characters pretty much commenting on how they feel like characters (some "pieces on a chessboard" remark); and the writer - hence the uber-people involved - insisting that everything that has happened story-wise throughout the show's entire run has been deliberately leading up to this one plotline, nothing has occurred by chance, it was all a set-up from the beginning! A patently ridiculous claim given real-life goings-on among the cast members (a first-season actor's unexpected firing/departure, a current actor's pregnancy, etc.) and, I dunno, it just felt kind of condescending to the viewer. Like, "yes, we had a plan all along, you just weren't in on it, aren't we brilliant!" when in fact what they're doing is trying to tie stuff together that never needed it. It reminded me of an anal comic book writer saying, "Well, in issue 6 of UglyMan we see a glimpse of his uncle twice-removed, but we never see him again so I need to do a 12-issue maxi series explaining why!" It's very fannish, and very anti-story. I'm trying to figure out why I'm still watching the show; part of it is my familiarity with the actors (certainly not the characters, all of whom seem to change personalities at will from month to month) but I think part of it is also that I'm curious as to whether the powers that be (Whedon & co.) can actually stitch together a silk purse out of this sow's ear after all. Gina Torres is, as she always is, a good start. (I even watched the crap that was Cleopatra 2525 'cause she starred in it.) Anyway, I'm typed out for now; baseball tomorrow, Comedy (Central) tonight.