The Eleventh Hour...

[fajrdrako]

I'm so happy to have found a new show I love. On the strength of the first episode, anyway. That's The Eleventh Hour, "Resurrection". I watched it primarily because I have been a fan of Rufus Sewell since I first saw him ride onscreen as Fortinbras in Branagh's Hamlet.

And here he's playing an American. Who'd have guessed?

What I loved most about the story (besides intelligent, suspenseful writing and an interesting plot) was that Rufus Sewell plays a genius who is not dysfunctional in any way I could see. He isn't quirky, antisocial, or rude. He may have his flaws (and no doubt we'll get to see them) but he's smart, insightful, kind, brave, and even wise. Humanist values that matter to him. A heroic hero - I love the concept. A genius who isn't crazy - I love it even more.



Other thoughts: The show kept reminding me of other shows, in good ways rather than derivative ways.

• The styles of Dr. Jacob Hood (Sewell) and his bodyguard/partner Rachel Young (Marley Shelton) reminded me of Mulder and Scully in the prfessional dynamic and the way she dresses.
  
• Her visual style reminded me of Rebecca Locke in The Inside, definitely not a bad thing, though I don't find either of them particularly compelling in looks - just interesting. I like it that she's the fighter, he's thinker; and that she's the type that thugs would underestimate.
  
• The plot seemed to me more like Century City than X-Files, in that it relied on a scientific-style crime and new scientific advances rather than spookiness and weirdness.
  
• I really liked the cop on the murder case. I thought his name was McNeill but it seems to be (from IMDb) Officer McEachern, played by Andrew Hedge. He reminded me both of James Spader in The Watcher (though maaseru didn't see it) and Crewes' new boss Captain Tidwell on Life.

Nice setting. Took me a while to twig that it was Seattle. Cool. Seattle is one of my favourite American cities. I'm so glad they aren't in a fictional place.

Bring on the second episode!

Comments

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

I really wanted to like this, because I love Rufus, but I couldn't finish watching the first ep because of all the American weirdness about abortion that was in the pilot (every time someone said "baby" in the first fifteen minutes and looked at Rufus like he was from Mars because he was trying to be calm and sensible about this, I wanted to kill something). I hope the second ep will be less unpleasant.

I deeply fear that books and fic are making me too smart to watch TV, except for Numb3rs and House.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hee - I didn't even notive the 'baby' looks. Didn't find it unpleasant, I'm happy to say, but then I have no political stakes in the abortion controversy (mostly the attitude I see here is "what controvesy?") so I didn't even notice that American politics were being referenced - a function no doubt of my almost-complete ignorance of American politics. Hmm, occurs to me that this is a downside of the LMB list's ban on the subject - I often don't even know what the issues are, let alone what people think of them.

One of my reactions was that here at last was a show with nothing annoying in it!

Why do you like Numb3rd and House? Actually, The Eleventh Hour reminded me quite a bit of Numb3rs - with 'science' in the place of 'math'.

[ataniell93.livejournal.com]

Um. I love watching Charlie twitch and Don shoot things and be a total slut? (It amazes me that Don Eppes only got 3 votes on the skank poll, I can't think of the number of times he's cheated on a girl or taken a call from one while in bed with another--but I think they're so interchangeable sometimes that people don't realise they're all different people!)

Actually there are things on both shows that annoy the crap out of me, but they don't overshadow the whole. Mostly, the characters on Numb3rs and House have personalities that change slowly and in response to events and I am not asked too very often to hang my disbelief by the neck until dead rather than simply suspending it.

I am also liking True Blood these days. And Mad Men, and Dexter.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I love watching Charlie twitch and Don shoot things and be a total slut?

LOL - that makes sense.

So do your other comments.

maaseru and maaboroshi are both very much enjoying True Blood because it is 'different'. I saw the first three episodes and while I agree that it's different and has things I like it in, I didn't like any of the characters and had an only mediocre enjoyment factor. I'm a hard sell on TV shows, obviously!

I watched some of first season Numb3rs and ditto House, and liked the characters in both, but the plots didn't hold me. I find that I only watch things if they really, really excite me - which is maybe one or two shows every couple of years. It's not that I mind watching them, necessarily, just that I'd prefer to be doing something else, and I might at any point go back to watching Numb3rs and House.

But I'm always looking for recommendations of shows, and you're the second person in three days who has recommended Dexter.

I don't even know what Mad Men is - don't think I've heard of it.