Life...

[fajrdrako]

In these long dreary days before series 2 Torchwood and series 4 Doctor Who and the next season of Battlestar Galactica begin, I have taken to watching Life. Without feeling the least little bit fannish about it, I'm enjoying it very much - and it seems that each episode is better than the one before it.

The premise: it's a cop show about a cop, Charlie Crews, who, twelve years earlier, was convicted of the murder of his friend and business parter. He went to jail for the murder, where he was beaten and abused by other prisoners. He got himself through by reading about zen. Eventually his lawyer proved (from DNA evidence) that he was totally innocent of the murder. He got his freedom, a large monetary settlement, and a job on the police force. His new partner is a woman named Dani Reese, a recovered drug addict. Crews wants to know who framed him for the murder.

Crews reminds me a little of David Creegan of Touching Evil though he isn't brain damaged. He's a guy who spent twelve years in a brutal prison, and has to readjust to the world - but who has his own perspective on things. He shares his house with his personal accountant, Ted, whom he met in prison - Ted was guilty of insider trading.

Like Veronica Mars, each episode features a case. And - this is subtler - each episode has a theme or visual image as a motif. "The Fallen Woman", for example, is about a prostitute who was killed when thrown from a high window, wearing angel wings. Angels become a visual and conceptual motif.

And each episode brings in a new clue about the twelve-year-old murder.

The things I like about it are:

1. Detective Dani Reese: I think she's clever and gorgeous and I love her deadpan delivery of clever lines. And the way she has of squinting as she stares into the distance, like Clint Eastwood.
   
   Dani reminds me of three characters I have loved, two from comics, one from a novel. One is Danielle Moonstar from Marvel comics - maybe because she was also called Dani, but she was also a smart, dark-haired, physically capable hero.
   
   The next two are both created by the same author, Greg Rucka, whose stories I like - particularly his female protagonists. One is Renee Montoya of the Gotham City Police Department. The other is Bridgett Logan, female lead of several of Greg Rucka's novels in the Atticus Kodiak series - Bridgett is a private eye and bodyguard who used to have a drug problem.



2. The zen themes - sometimes presented seriously, sometimes ironically. Giving a slightly different view of the mean streets than we're used to.



3. Ted Earley, Crews' financial adviser and prison pal, played by Adam Arkin with just the right touches of humour and intelligence.



4. Constance Griffiths, Crews' lawyer - she's beautiful and Crews owes his freedom to her, and there's great sexual energy between them. But she's married.



I've watched six of the eight episodes aired so far - and there was another one tonight. I'm looking forward to the rest, and hoping that the show isn't cancelled, or that the writers' strike doesn't do it in.

Comments

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

I am fannish about it. There are two episodes next week, and then I think they've used up the pre-WGA strike work.
a nice fan video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1180469137771821085

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What a great vid!

I hope the strike is over soon. I'm not even through watching the episodes I have now, and I want more!

If this show had slash potential anywhere, it would be more than perfect. As it is, I'm turning into a Charlie/Dani shipper.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Charlie and Dani in the short term have opportunities (that they take) for anonymous sex. What they really need in their lives is someone they can trust
to be there under any circumstances, without judgment. That's what they've found in each other(allowing leeway for Dani's sardonic remarks), in addition
to working towards a common goal (justice, which they amazingly enough still believe in). They really are partners, although not particularly friends. I don't expect them to be lovers, but I think that the intensity of their relationship might interfere with any romances that either of them might embark upon.

I think the most interesting character is their boss. She can't stand Charlie, she wants to be the politico that her job requires her to be, but she also is really interested in solving cases and can't push aside her detective instincts enough to get rid of Crews while he's doing such a good job, or to stop herself from doing bits of work with them. I don't trust her, but she's surprisingly successful at walking a fine line that others might not be able to manage.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Charlie and Dani in the short term have opportunities (that they take) for anonymous sex.

Which, I must confess, I rather like - both that the sex is anonymous and that it isn't particularly meaningful/fulfilling. In most TV shows (except soap operas, and even them to some extent) protagonists are either celibate or monogamous and faithful, and the days of womanizing heroes have faded away with other sexist notions. But. Human sexuality isn't so simple and there's a certain lack of either realism or imagination in television when everyone acts the same.

But of course they need emotional (and intellectual) as well as physical connections and that's one of the reasons the relationship between Charlie and Dani is so much fun - however you play it. They can be on each other's side.

And the relationship between Charlie and Constance is fun because it's so sparky and charged and significant in ways that go infinitely beyond the sexual, and is still impossible.

Their boss interests me less (so far) but you're right, she is interesting, and I'm hoping she will come to defend Crews in the long run. Even if against her better judgement.