Day Two Hundred and Fifty-one - Trigun: Badlands Rumble, "Guns a'blazing, space-western comedy, Anime mediocrity."

Okay, so I lied... it wasn't Hellraiser or Zack & Miri that I went to after Prohibition... it was the familiar and the safe.

It was Anime.

Trigun: Badlands Rumble is the companion movie to the late 90's (early 2000's, in America) Scifi Anime of the same name... well, the Trigun part, anyway. Set in the distant future, where humanity scrapes a living on a desert planet with extremely limited resources, both the series and the movie embody themes of humanity at its worst with rare peeks of it trying to be at its best... all amidst wacky, highly improbable gunplay.

The main character of Trigun is the demigod Vash the Stampede who is a neigh immortal, pacifist gunslinger who has lived for hundreds of years and become a legend on his planet for all the wrong reasons. Yes, that whole "pacifist gunslinger" bit sounds weird, but his goal in life is to mediate and limit death and carnage on this desert world so that humanity may survive. Unfortunately, making it so everyone survives often requires a lot of destruction and mayhem, for which his is always blamed.

In Badlands Rumble, his personal story arc is sidelined in favor of the one-off villain, Gasback, and the beautiful woman tracking him for personal revenge, Amelia. Gasback is basically a rehash of Brilliant Dynamite Neon (no, I'm not making that up) from the series, a crook who savors the thrill of the heist, not its actual monetary gain. Amelia is a very obvious spurned daughter, whose "mysterious past" is easy to figure out almost right from the start. Her inclusion as a possible romantic interest for Vash isn't unusual as he often spent every waking moment swooning after beautiful women in the series, but because of that history, we know he isn't serious.

And that's kind of the problem with the movie. It has absolutely no bearing on the overall arc of the series or its characters. In order to overcome that, it needed to be tremendously worthy in terms of action and drama (like its cousin-film Cowboy Bebop:Knockin' on Heaven's Door). Sadly, I don't think it did.

All of the familiar players are there: Vash, Wolfwood, Millie and Meryl... but they're just in demo-mode, never really expressing anything interesting emotionally/philosophically and just barely being interesting action-wise. Heck, Millie and Meryl disappear for pretty much the entire third act and Wolfwood? As much as I love the character, his forced "mourning" period during the beginning of that act rings false because we all know... just know that it's impossible for Vash to be dead. It's one of those silly false trails that, even if you didn't know the fate of everyone in the series ahead of time, is just too convenient a plot twist to be true.

That's not to say it's all bad.

As an overly large, higher production quality episode of Trigun, it's alright. It has your basic self-contained story elements that quite a few of the early series episodes did and handles itself decently when it comes to its occasional gunplay... but it drops its character quirks like they never existed for more than the single joke they support and, on the whole, the movie doesn't live up to the better examples that exists out there in the nether (namely the Cowboy Bebop movie and Ghost in the Shell:SAC). I do like the out there character designs, but only just so... it's all mediocre style and trite frontier existentialism.

If you're a fan of the series, it's okay... but for first-timers and the general Netflix-going populace, I'd say stay away.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day Two Hundred and One - Firefly: Episode 14, Objects In Space, "Well, Here I Am."

Still needing the comfort of the familiar and pleasing, but not quite so desperate that I can't handle a little heartbreak and longing, today's entry was easy to decide on... being the last episode of Joss Whedon's ill-fated and much beloved Firefly.

There's so much to love about this universe. It's a Western, but Science Fiction. It isn't bothered by its space-faring trappings and strictures, instead using them to great effect when necessary and, the grand majority of the time, not even bothering... choosing to tell quiet, human stories of grit and perseverance.

Objects In Space doesn't spend a lot of time with the actual crew, a rarity for final episodes, instead spending most of its effort on the guest character, Jubal Early (Richard Brooks whom most folks would probably recognize from his work in the early seasons of Law & Order).

I like Jubal... he's an interesting foil.

Obviously a psychopath, Jubal has a calm, mellow charm that is offset both by his odd questions/musings and his stark shifts from friendly to threatening.

Most psychopaths portrayed on television are done so severely, showing their threatening nature with heavy violence and tense soundtracks. Jubal is much more interesting due to his systematic and rational takedowns of the crew and subsequent negotiations with River/Serenity.

For me, all the joy and interest in the character comes from his thought process. I mean, honestly, the "Am I a Lion?" scene with Simon is pure brilliance in its awkwardness... and the only rough parts come from the quick madness cuts while River dresses Jubal down over the comm system.

Objects In Space is also great thanks to all the callbacks to previous episodes. Whether it's the assault on Niska's Skyplex or Jayne getting slashed, it's always good to have a show that doesn't live on stand alone episodes, like Star Trek does for the most part as an example. Rich, organic, self-referencing continuity makes for often tremendous television.

It's sad to see a favorite series end, even though I've been here with Firefly many times before... and even though it does continue with the film Serenity... I just mourn for all the grand potential the series had yet to explore and never rightly got to, even with the movie and the comics. Hell, especially because of the movie, since many compromises had to be made to give the film enough oomph worthy of both a feature and a sendoff.

If you haven't yet become a Browncoat, I definitely recommend the series. It was one of the greatest scifi shows to air in recent years and was cut tragically short by the network.

But the dream lives on in all of us Browncoats out here, subsisting on Netflix and DVDs and Blu-rays.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Ninety-nine - Longmire: Season 1, Episode 5, "Well, they can't all be good, I guess."

I was really starting to enjoy Longmire there, for a while... but with today's entry it seems that the quality has fallen off quite a bit, in different ways than I was expecting.

Surprisingly, Lou Diamond Phillips isn't one of them. In fact, he's probably at his least annoying for the entire series up to this point, being the Sheriff's faithful sidekick and go-between with the Natives and all.

No, mostly, the problem I have with Longmire is that, even though the series tries to treat its Native population even-handedly (which, for the most part, it does), even while acknowledging the tensions between rival cultures and governments, there's still a little too much blanket racism and reactionary behavior going around this episode.

Maybe it's just my perspective, living in a Rez border town myself, that makes it feel a little off... or maybe I'd just like to think that we've come farther than the events in Dog Soldier present, as a society. Or, maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part.

In any case, the grand majority of the episode just felt awkward.

While I'm thankful that the showrunners didn't pull any cheesy spiritual shenanigans that other shows (like BONES) have been known to do, it just felt that there was still a bit too much hokum being implied even if they don't outright say it in the duration. It also felt a bit disingenuous to connect it to the season arc mystery of the Sheriff's flashbacks and what they mean.

I mean, honestly, just freaking deal with it, already. Stop seeding us the clues if you're going to waste them like this.

Also, everything was way too connected in the episode. The Sheriff's daughter, the Native bruiser, the slick politician, the pedophile, the scammers... I know that this is the West and all, but it was just a bit too convenient to have so many people revolving around one issue. I'm fine with the drama they're trying to insert with Branch and Cady, but does she have to show up every episode to chime in on a case?

Most disappointingly, the theatrics of the prologue only have a brief bit of lampshading and a small denouement scene to explain things... and precious little action to tide me over for the remaining forty minutes. The mystery itself was pretty darn weak and the red herring was cheap stereotyping.

Story aspects aside, I still dig the cinematography. I really like the way the director switches between static shots and handheld work. It gives a nice impression of actually being in the room for these conversations while not becoming overly noticeable or giving me motion sickness.

And I really love the act transition with the blood spatter. Very catchy hook. 

Overall, I can't rightly say that I enjoyed today's entry, but I'll give Longmire the benefit of the doubt and finish a few more episodes before bailing. Here's hoping things get better and Dog Soldier was just an off episode.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Seventy-six - Longmire: Pilot, "See this, Umpteen Generic Network Procedurals... THIS... is how you do a cop drama."

Of course, that's not fair... I've seen plenty of and reviewed several actually decent procedurals, no small percentage of which are actually available on Netflix right this very moment. It's just that I get so bitter and cynical over titles like BONES that I can't help but jump up and down and wave wildly at good catches like Longmire.

Sure, it has a fair share of it's own cheese, be it the kooky Rez vs. Whitefolk conflict and Lou Diamond Phillips as the debonair Tonto to Longmire's Kemosabe, but there are far too many pluses that cancel out said minuses.

For one thing, it's got a great supporting cast in the Sheriff's Office, including Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase, and Adam Bartley, who all insert just the right amount of grit, pluck, and naivete that make for a great, combustible combination.

For another, series lead Robert Taylor is perfect as the gruff cowboy sheriff with hidden depths. Whether its his obsession with his wife's ashes, the measured way he annoys his subordinates to try and bring out the best in them, or just his general swagger, Sheriff Longmire is the perfect protagonist to carry a modern day western. I honestly think only Jeff Bridges could do it better.

The pilot episode revolves around a murder discovered when Longmire's deputy, Vic (Sackhoff), calls him in for a dead sheep. From there the main mystery expands into a tale of prostitution, fatherhood, and jumps to conclusion that threaten Longmire's relationship with his best bud, Henry Standing Bear (Lou Diamond Phillips).

LDP definitely annoys me the most in this role. He has too much presence to be a supporting actor in this way, being much more suited to a lead gig. It's just too distracting to have him as the convenient foil for Longmire.

Of secondary issue are the tribal parts. Whether they're the tribal police, the bus boy, or the gun dealer... most of the Native actors feel a bit under-prepared for their roles. It's distracting, to say the least.

Granted, it could be much worse (see pretty much every other mainstream depiction of Native Americans in just about all media. There are quite a few exceptions out there, but I've yet to see it here in Longmire.

If you're a fan of Westerns or well done Cop Dramas, I think you're pretty safe with Longmire. I look forward to checking it out more as time goes by.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Day One Hundred and Sixty-three - Firefly: Episode 13, Heart of Gold, "Poor, poor Inara."

There is a reason that Firefly has become the go-to series for the internet and its geeks (of which I am one).

For one thing, it has tremendously simple, yet deviously charismatic and witty dialogue. For another? It's just so damn fun.

I had personally given up on the Space Western in the 80's when Ice Pirates and Battle Beyond the Stars hit, the (only) Star Wars Trilogy having been wrapped up rather neatly and Scifi as a genre banking more on grand, sweeping visions of the future where the trials and tribulations of man are all alien based instead of centered on more human stories.

When I heard Joss Whedon, creator of my favorite camp horror show of the late 90's/early millenium, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was making a new series on FOX, I was on board... and avidly supported the show as best I could, watching it (out of order and with episodes missing) and posting to the forums as often as I could.

The inevitable happened and, like most of my favorite shows, it was cancelled.

But... you're on the internet. Odds are you know this story. Odds are, you're probably a Firefly fan. Even if you're not, I'm still going to assume you are for the rest of this article because, unlike many of the other series I've watched for the blog, I'm going to skip ahead to the penultimate episode of the series.

Not the pilot. Not three or four in. No, I'm going for the gold... the Heart of Gold, as it were: episode 13... where Mal gets laid for the first time we've rightly seen and Inara? Well, poor Inara puts on a brave face, but it's a conundrum of her own design.

On the surface, Heart of Gold is your typical Western tale where the salt of the earth types hire gunman to protect their meager assets, but when you dig a bit deeper, the episode is more about Inara and Mal and the inevitable conclusion of their mating dance.

Having been hinted at passive-aggressively and with stolen, sleepy kisses in the past, Heart of Gold brings things to a head when Inara brokers Mal and the crew of the Serenity to help an old former Companion friend of hers. Seems an easy to hate villain wants to force his patrimony and misogyny on a Bunny Ranch that won't truck his control. In the process, Mal & Co. are hired as bodyguards and Inara all but thrusts Mal into the arms of her lusty friend. Not ever getting a kind word from Inara, Mal allows himself to be reluctantly seduced... and it all ends in tears for Inara.

I love this episode for that simple fact... it forces a confrontation of feelings for both characters, perhaps moreso for Inara, but you can't tell me that Mal isn't constantly reminded of just how much he desires and cares for his passenger, only to be rebuffed by her time and time again.

It's weird to me how much viewing pleasure I get from Inara's breakdown. I'm not happy that she's hurt (other than glad to see her admit, even in private, to her real feelings), it's just that there is such a surge of emotion inspired in me because of it. To see her so distraught when she is normally so prim and composed creates that extra emotional oomph that is a delight to see, no matter how sad I am because of it.

Aside from that juicy bit of drama, there are plenty of other cast interactions to please: Kaylee needles Simon about their own unresolved chemistry, River acts wise and naive in her delightfully quirky way, Jayne gets lucky (keeping him happy), Wash and Zoe argue over babymaking, and the Shepard... oh, his look when several girls relay how the last preacher to visit their whorehouse acted is just priceless.

The actual plot is weak and one-dimensional, which is disappointing when you consider the episode just before it (The Message) was very strong... but the dialogue and crew drama for the episode are just divine. It ranks very highly in my book, in spite of its weaknesses... but the whole series pretty much does that.

If you haven't watched Firefly yet, DO IT. Don't mince, don't dally or dither or some other d-word (like "delay," for instance). It's well worth it... and is one of my acid tests for "mah kind'o'people."

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~