Life: Fill It Up...

[fajrdrako]

I watched Life episode 11 this evening. What a great show. So full of surprises, with a plot that fits together well, good pacing, good lines, such coherence..... I am thrilled and delighted.

Loved the scene where he was tormenting Hollis with the plum in the fruit packing place. And then again when he was wordlessly digging the hole. And I love it that the whole metaphor/situation of digging holes and truth and so on were set up explicitly in the previous episode. And.... the pacing.

What an intelligent show.

Comments

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

So all my friends-list timeshifts their TV shows? (James Nicoll commented on the show tonight too, and I got very puzzled, because I was sure it was on last night, when I couldn't see it.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It all got a little confused because this week they changed the schedule (for reasons unknown, or at least unknown to me) and Life was shown on Monday as well as Wednesday, a new episode each time, so it was on twice this week. I watched last week's episode on Tuesday, Monday's episode on Wednesday, and Wednesday's episode last night.... Is that confusing enough for you?

At least I'm caught up now - and eager, eager for new episodes, but it might be ages till we get them.

[mommimus-prime.livejournal.com]

According to hubby (he works for NBC for those who wonder where I get my information) Life was put on after Heroes to try and get more people to sample it and Journeyman wasn't doing so well in the ratings. It seems to me to appeal to the Heroes audience. I watched it for the first time and quite enjoyed it.

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

God, wasn't the whole episode fantastic? Seriously, it's... I have fallen in love with this show.

Charlie was so on the edge I didn't know which way he was going to go but I loved that in the end he was still a cop.

I also loved Reese and Stark finally getting the opportunity to clear the air, they're never going to like each other but at least now, there won't be this edge whenever they interact.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

wasn't the whole episode fantastic? Seriously, it's... I have fallen in love with this show

Yeah, me too. It's so well written, so very clever, and in so many ways.

Charlie was so on the edge I didn't know which way he was going to go but I loved that in the end he was still a cop.

I didn't know either. I loved the way he handled it. He was on the edge but he never went over the edge and I think he was very, very aware of exactly where he was in the process, and how precise he was going to have to be in not just going to the line, but appearing to go over the line, and yet - keeping his head. Now, there you have serious control issues.

I also loved Reese and Stark finally getting the opportunity to clear the air

I am totally in love with Reese, but thought in the beginning that I would hate Stark. Yeah, yeah, I was set up. I fell for it totally. I thought Stark was in on the anti-Crews conspiracy. I was wrong, unless he's just pretending innocence now - which I actually don't believe. I have come to like Stark as a character and even as a person - and I loved the way his conversation showed as much abouther character as his. I also loved the whole theme of the snake eating the gun.

they're never going to like each other

I'm not sure of that - I think it's clear they have something in common - a concern for Crews. She is motivated by loyalty. He by guilt. But it does give them a common purpose and that may lead to mutual respect - or at least a sort of alliance.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

Avoiding spoilers for your other time-shifting friends (I hope they record it - I find that the watch again thing on NBC usually breaks down a few minutes into an episode) - wasn't it obvious almost immediately who Hollis's daughter would turn out to be? I found myself filling in the spaces with correct dialogue lines part of the time as well. I've probably been spending too much time watching this show and thinking about it.
I love the whole fruit business thing. It was set up casually, with Ted offering a variety of investment opportunities and Charlie talking to Dani about missing fruit while in prison, but now I expect it to keep re-appearing like a vaudeville joke - two of the past three episodes have featured fruit that he "grew."

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I find that the watch again thing on NBC usually breaks down a few minutes into an episode

Faugh. I tried to watch it. You have to wait through their loading process to be told "You live in the wrong place to watch this." I wish they'd have a message on the web page to say, "If you're not American you're SOL here buddy, don't even try". Sorry, I'm just mildly bitter - !

wasn't it obvious almost immediately who Hollis's daughter would turn out to be?

I confess that I didn't think of it myself, but I was watching it with maaseru who almost immediately said, "I bet that's Rachel," and I thought, "Yeah, that sounds right" and it was.

I love the parallel with the kid in "Serious Control Issues" who had come to love the kidnapper as his father. A weird relationship but a strong one.

As for the fruit - I love it because it has so many levels of meaning to Crews. He seems to see fruit as a symbol of freedom and of power and control. Traditionally it's a symbol of knowledge (as in "fruit of the tree of"). It's just so very Crews-like.

now I expect it to keep re-appearing like a vaudeville joke

One of the things I love about this show is that, way beyond the basic plot points, themes and events and characters of one episode have meaning in another - so it all escalates. The Hollis-Rachel thing echoing "Serous Control Issues" is one. The digging-a-hole-and-filling-it-up thing is another. Would we have fully understood the digging scene in "Fill it Up" without the explanations in another context in "Digging a Hole"? Things are intricately set up and subtly layered theme upon theme so it gets extra meaning - but it isn't done in such a way that a newcomer coming in cold would have no idea what was going on.

What clever, clever writing!

[mommimus-prime.livejournal.com]

I ended up going to Bittorrents to get episodes of Heroes because the NBC viewer sucks. Freezes up after about half an episode. I guess if I want to watch Life, I'll end up doing the same thing though I'm sure it's going into repeats pretty soon.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Repeats would be good. I wouldn't mind seeing it all again, just because I enjoyed it so much. What a wonderful surprise this show has been.

News you maybe could use

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I have Verizon Fios as my cable carrier, and if you push their little pay-per-view/DVR button on the remote, you will find, among the folders of shows & movies you have to pay for, folders of FREE shows put there by ABC and CBS (not NBC, who I think prefer to stream their own online.) Life has a folder of the last 5 shows that aired. There are very few commercials in the eps you find in the free folder, mostly PSAs. This is also how I caught up with NCIS, which I'd been missing for House.

Re: News you maybe could use

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

Oops, maybe it's NBC and CBS, not ABC that puts shows on Verizon Fios... it's two out of the big three networks, in any case.

Re: News you maybe could use

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I never remember which American network is which because I watch most of these shows on Canadian networks. And if there is a pattern of which Canadian network shows which US shows, I've never figured it out. I don't think there is a pattern.

I know Heroes is NBC because I often go to their website for their graphic novels.

I get confused about BBC and ITV and Grenada in the UK too, but at least I know that Torchwood and Doctor Who are BBC. And I think Eastenders too - ?

Re: News you maybe could use

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

This does sound similar to something which Rogers Cable TV offers - they're my carrier - I don't know if they still do. I should explore.

Also, I was griping because the Heroes NBC website shows the episodes but blocks them to Canada. And presumably all non-US locations. But, in compensation, Global TV (which airs Heroes in Canada) started showing the same thing on their webpage, so Canadians can access it.

Maybe they'll do it with Life, too.

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Um, if you're still wondering what to send me for my brithday, well, Life is starting to sound extremely promising. If you already have the episodes in a convenient format, that is, or can get hold of them... :)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'll see what I can do about this. Something may be arrangeable. Copyable. Mailable.

I'm really ... as you may have noticed ... enjoying the show.

Damn writers' strikes anyway. Why don't they all just shower the writers with their collective hearts' desires, the way they should, so we can all get on with our favourite shows?

[rosiespark.livejournal.com]

Yay! That would be fantastic, if you could. :)

Your enthusiasm about the show is one of the main reasons I'm interested in watching it. Even though we don't always agree - I'm still not too impressed with Torchwood, frex. *g*

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I'm so much impressed with Torchwood as in love with it. I am well aware of its innumerate flaws! But that doesn't stop me from enjoying every moment on a purely irrational basis.

Life is much better put together. Better crafted. Better designed in terms of pacing, wittiness, multiple layers of symbol, meaning and characterization, and plot. More polished. And so on. I don't love it with the same happy fuzzy sort of passion with which I love (and sometimes sort of hate) Torchwood, but I admire it much more.