In the Flesh

Leave it to the Brits to shake up the zombie genre. I don't know why I'm surprised, after all, it was Brits that brought us Shawn of the Dead, which is arguably responsible for the re-popularity of the genre as a whole. It also seems that British television is just....well, better. But I confess that I was doubtful about another zombie show. Was there really anything interesting left to say about zombies??

Turns out, yes. Yes, there is.

In the Flesh, a three episode series that recently aired on BBC America, tells a very different story than your typical zombie show. There's no rag-tag group of survivors fighting their way through an apocalyptic landscape, trying to survive in a world gone mad. This also isn't the story of one brave man (or woman) living in a world dealing with a zombie outbreak.

Instead, In the Flesh deals with what happens after. And guess what guys? We won! Zombies didn't overrun the world and eat everyone! Instead, we found a way to treat the disease that caused the dead to rise and are now working to integrate them back into their previous lives so they can become useful members of society. Go Team Living!

(record scratch)

Yes, you read that right. We beat the zombies. There's no real apocalypse in this story. Sure lots of people died, but luckily in the universe, the bite of a zombie doesn't turn you into one. Instead, you just die. And now, with regular doses of a drug that stops you from turning into a rabid fleshhound, your undead life goes on. But if you happen to be one of the reanimated dead that has to return to the community you once feasted upon....things get a bit dicey.

And you thought YOUR teenage years were awkward.

From wikipedia:

In the Flesh is set in the fictional village of Roarton (Lancashire, England) after The Rising, in which teenager Kieren Walker was re-animated along with thousands of people who died in the year 2009. After months of rehabilitation and medication, the zombies (now referred to as partially deceased syndrome (PDS) patients by the government, but commonly known as "rotters") are judged ready to return to their homes and families. They are given cosmetics and contact lenses to conceal their decayed appearance, and must maintain a strict programme of medication to avoid going "rabid" again. Many are haunted by returning memories of the atrocities they committed while rabid. In the extremist village of Roarton, PDS sufferers face prejudice from the villagers upon their return.

In the Flesh has a lot of heavy themes. There is, of course, the idea of Kieren as an "other" separate from the traditional English village society. There are obvious parallels between the PDS patients and minority groups that have traditionally been subject to hate and bigotry. Things are a bit more complicated in this circumstance though, since the PDS peeps did actually feast on the flesh of their neighbors when they were untreated. So, you know, the fear is not entirely unfounded.

Kieren is also dealing with an overwhelming sense of guilt and shame from his prior brain-crazed state. I won't give you any big spoilers, but suffice it to say he killed people and now has to deal with the trauma. Finally, there's a lot of people lying to themselves in this show and refusing to acknowledge the reality of the current situation. It's a normal human reaction...but it never ends well.

In the Flesh is a gripping human drama. Which is pretty amazing considering it deals with zombies. You really care about the characters and what will happen to them, and I have to give props to Luke Newberry for really infusing Kieren with life and pathos--despite the fact that most of his interactions with others are quiet and uncomfortable. Oh, and that he's a freakin zombie. He does a lot of soulful staring...which could have gotten really boring really fast, except you always know there is some turmoil under the surface. There is also a lot to his character that you discover gradually throughout the series; I can think of two gasp-worthy revelations right off the bat.

There's no release date for the DVDs of series 1 that I can find, but be sure to check this one out from Netflix or on DVD when you get the chance. Oh, and there will be a second series, hurray!

Teen Dreams

I am a 33 year old woman. I am a lawyer with a mortgage and other adult responsibilities. And yet, my favorite network is The CW--a network that unapologetically targets teen girls and guys with their programming.

What can I say? I guess I am young at heart. Or I relate to the problems of impossibly pretty young people in ridiculous situations.

(It's definitely not the later.)

Anyhoo, the networks have been presenting their Fall television schedules at the Upfronts all week, and I have to say that I am most excited about The CW's. Sure, we've got Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D coming up over on ABC and I admit to being intrigued about Sleepy Hollow on FOX , but can either of those compare to the amazingness of what will be Reign, a drama about the teen years of Mary Queen of Scots in France? No way, Jose. It's going to be like The Tudors meets Pretty Little Liars. Bring. It. On.

Entertainment Weekly has a pretty good break-down of The CW's new Fall shows (as well as all the other networks' offerings), and there are some other bright spots.  The Tomorrow People looks like a teen X-Men and possibly a better version of the flame-out that was Heroes--and stars the hottie cousin of the current star of Arrow. And of course, The Vampire Diaries is getting it's own spin-off in the form of The Originals when Klaus and company wave goodbye to Mystic Falls and take to New Orleans for their own show. Juries out on this one, but The Vampire Diaries has become one of the best dramas on tv (seriously) so I have high hopes.

Maybe this kind of fare isn't your thing, but if you look around at the other networks' offerings I'm betting you'll find something that looks exciting. In many ways, this is my favorite time of year for television. We get tantalizing views of what's to come without having to worry about the reality of the shows. I mean, let's be honest--Reign is going to be pretty terrible, right? But on paper it sounds amazeballs! It's like shopping for shoes on the internet; you get to look at all the pretty pictures without worrying about whether they'll pinch your toes or or run narrow.

So what are you all looking forward to from the Fall 2013 television season?

Vampire Diaies: WOAH.

This post contains mild spoilers for the Vampire Diaries season finale, but has far more senseless fan gushing than spoiling.

"Well, I didn't see that coming."

Those were my words after the last shot of the Vampire Diaries season finale, "The Departed." Though to be perfectly honest, it's possible I have uttered them during or after almost every episode, because it seems like this show blind-sides me at every turn with another plot twist.

Sometimes I feel like I am shouting into the ether when trying to get people to tune in. "Watch it," I cry. "It's awesome!" And you respond, "but it's about vampires...and it's called the Vampire Diaries....and it airs on the CW."

Here's the thing. Remember a little show called Buffy and the Vampire Slayer? It was about vampires, had a goofy name, and aired on the WB. And yet it was completely and totally awesome.

Now I am not saying that Vampire Diaries is as remarkable as Buffy. Sure, they're both in the same teen vampire genre, but Vampire Diaries' awesomeness comes from a different place. Its cleverness derives from the plotting (not to say that Buffy didn't have clever plotting, but you know what I mean). With each season the show has deepened its mythology, introduced new characters, killed off old characters, and kept the stakes high. Pun intended. And then there is just twist after twist...

And this year's season finale was not exception. Without giving too much away, let's just say that the show went to a place that I frankly was not expecting (at least not for a few more years) and set up a TON of juicy stuff for next season. I really can't think of another network drama that is as consistently surprising, well-acted, and well-plotted as this one....

And of course, there is a love triangle in the mix. A really good one at that.

Another thing that the Vampire Diaries excels at is making those twists matter. You actually care about what happens on this show because there are consequences. Remember how terrible Heroes got because we didn't care when someone was killed because they always magically came back? That doesn't happen here. Sure, sometimes a ghost will pop by for a chat, but for the most part (at least with respect to secondary characters) what's dead stays dead. There are consequences for the characters on this show. Which is frankly lacking from a lot of other drama, especially those in the fantasy genre.

So trust me when I say that this kind of situation isn't going to end well.

Just one word of caution: please don't judge the series by the pilot. While still entertaining, I would say it's the weakest hour of the show by far. Stick with it and by the middle of the first season you will be hooked. I'd stake my life on it.

Is The Finder a keeper?

There's a midseason replacement on Fox, called The Finder. It's a spin-off of the popular (at least with this reviewer) Bones. It's pilot was actually an episode of Bones late last season, and it survived in mostly its original form until it was picked up in January.

The show isn't bad. I've seen the first three episodes, and there's good stuff there. The main character is "quirky" but actually manages to pull it off without being annoying or trite. Who knows how long it will take until it gets old, but it hasn't yet (and the quirkiness of Temperance Brennan from its parent show has yet to stop amusing me). The mystery and the twists aren't bad. Here, however, are the weaknesses that the show is going to have to overcome.

It's incredibly formulaic. Not quite as bad as House, but bad. Thus far, it's been a little "fairy tale" with its happy endings. And then there's Willa.

Teen angst. Apparently "in" this year.

What I don't get about Willa is that she doesn't seem to be a part of the actual show. Every other character plays some role in the eponymous "finding." Willa tends to wander off and do her own little storyline and occasionally get some advice from the main characters. She's not, in my opinion, particularly likable. Objectively, her life isn't as bad as they treat it like it is, and I simply lack sympathy. She strikes me as the boring genre of tragic heroine whose flaw is that she simply goes with the flow and does what's expected of her and what's easiest so she doesn't have to think or make any decisions. I know far too many people like that in real life, and talking with them makes me want to smack them one. Why would I watch that in a TV show?

A big draw is the love interest, Isabel, a Deputy US Marshal. Refreshingly unpretentious, she and The Finder are already in a relationship of casual sex when the series starts. I could be alone, but I am bored with the traditional "will they/won't they" and I'm grateful for the change-up. She also pulls off that difficult trick of being very powerful without giving up one iota of femininity. Her squeal of glee at getting a beautiful pair of designer shoes increases to a cackle of delight when she discovers that they are knock-offs, and she'll be able to bring in the counterfeiter. There's also something else I like about her, but I'm having trouble putting it into words...

...personality?

In short, I'm gonna keep watching it for a while. It's good, and I definitely recommend watching the Bones pilot and the three episodes that are currently available on hulu.com (just search for The Finder, and the Bones episode will pop up, too). I'm just not holding out a ton of hope that it'll really draw me in.

Best Christmas Movies: Tim Burton Edition

Tim Burton is probably most known for his visual style, typically mashing up twisted and frightening images with the mundane world of American suburbia. Given the prevalence of ghosts, demons and creepity critters, Halloween is obviously his thematic holiday of choice, however it doesn’t take much digging to see that the guy has a major thing for Christmas. Almost all of his movies set at least some part of their action around the holiday season, so while he doesn’t make “Christmas” movies, per se, you can still find some truly innovative classics showing up around this time.

For my money, the best Christmas-ish movie that he’s done is Edward Scissorhands. I admit a certain amount of nostalgia blinds me a bit on this one – without going too far into the Ghosts of Clovis’ Past, I confess that the first date I ever went on was to see this movie. It also hits my sweet spot of showcasing characters that are essentially damaged beyond repair, but still trying to be something more than what they are.

Edward Scissorhands is a fairy tale about change and how to become something better, more beautiful. Edward, played by Johnny Depp, is a not-quite finished creation of a dead inventor, played by Vincent Price in his final role. Edward is shy and unsure, but has developed a talent for using the scissors he has for hands to make beautiful sculptures out of plants, bushes and ice. He’s trying to convert the loneliness and darkness of his life into something beautiful. Likewise, Winona Ryder’s Kim starts off as the “cool kid” cheerleader dating the controlling and violent Jim. Kim comes to love Edward after seeing beyond what’s on the surface and grows as a person because of it. But the most obvious example comes from the movie’s epilogue, where (spoilers!) an aging Kim tells the story of Edward to her young granddaughter on a cold winter night, explaining that before Edward came down from his mountaintop castle, it never snowed and afterwards it did, showcasing an entire community the manages to change and evolve after its involvement with someone new.

I’m a sucker for the visuals of the movie. Winona Ryder dancing in the snowfall created by Edward’s gigantic ice sculptures while Danny Elfman’s angelic score plays is easily the movie’s most iconic scene and absolutely the one that I look forward to every single time I watch it. I think I was lucky to see the movie as a very young teenager. The illustration of the simple and sweet love between Edward and Kim, uncomplicated by messy adult reality of the same emotion, is pretty much perfect for someone that age. Add in a very unsubtle dash of angst about connection and the inability to touch and hold someone, made literal by Edward’s hands, and you’ve got the perfect preteen emotional cocktail.

I'm 33 years old and this still melts my sad, bitter heart.

As such, it’s easy to see how Burton isn’t exactly hiding that this movie is a fantasy of himself and his own childhood. The nondescript suburban community tracks nicely with his own childhood in Burbank, California and Edward himself, wild-haired, shy, misunderstood artistic marvel that he is, is an obvious placeholder for how Burton sees himself. It’s that kind of nostalgia that so easily brings this movie into the Christmas movie pantheon, and not just because the final act is set on Christmas Eve. It aims for (and, largely, hits) all the same themes that traditional Christmas movies employ – innocence, family, love. Even Christmas cookies play a role.

The lessons and themes of Edward Scissorhands are not overly complex, but that doesn’t make them any less entertaining. Christmas movies are largely stuffed to the gills with sentimentality, from Dickens’ miserly Scrooge to modern family holiday flicks where everyone lives in a large country house and there’s always snow on the ground. We watch these movies to feel sentimental; to hope for, as Bing Crosby sang, a Christmas “just like the ones I used to know.” For me, who first saw this movie a few weeks before Christmas at age 13, it exactly fits the bill.

And even though it’s been over 20 years since I first saw this movie, I still listen to the Danny Elfman soundtrack every single bloody time it snows.