bsg season two and three recaps

[jlh]

So this is what happened:

I started watching 2.01, and I wasn't grabbed by it, probably because there was a lot of action in the episode.* So I thought I might read some recaps.

Jacob's recaps at TWOP were very specifically dangled in front of me by Ziggy and S____ as a reason to watch the show. Unfortunately for me, he didn't start recapping until halfway through season two, so I read Strega's recap for 2.02 and I wasn't grabbed by it either, though probably for the same reasons, as 2.02 was mostly about people running around. And then at the start of the 2.03 recap, Strega said:

Credits. 47,862 survivors. I would have liked it if there were more casualties from last week. Not hundreds, but a few dozen wouldn't have been unreasonable.

and I thought, oh Strega, your narrative priorities are not mine.

I decided to skip ahead to Jacob's recaps and found that I could figure out what had happened in the intervening few episodes pretty well, and settled in to read them and posted my intention to do so. Shortly after this I was informed, through channels, that this path was VERY UNWISE.

Now, here I'll note that the first thing of BSG I ever saw was Razor and when the crowd assembled to watch it found out, after it was over, that I hadn't watched any other BSG yet and had spoiled myself, or something, I had a room of about 20 people shouting at me that I had committed a grave sin. As a general rule, I like to avoid roomfuls of people shouting at me, and this incident plus comments from other people certainly set up for me that there is very much a RIGHT way and a WRONG way to watch BSG, and it behooves me to watch it in the RIGHT way in order to avoid more shouting.

In that light, I searched for season 2 recaps and they were actually difficult to find. EW doesn't start recapping until season 3. I found a website that had some recaps, but also had a lot of ads for Saw V, which threatened to freak me out. (Yes, I am so much of a girly wimp about horror films that I have to avert my eyes from the ads for them; a look of horror on someone's face will definitely give me nightmares. Talk about being in the wrong demo for a show.) Finally wordplay told me to try the BSG wiki.

I read the recaps there the other day, and I've started season 3, and I'm not sure I feel like I have all that much to say.

• I can't find a character to really like—or, I'm afraid to like them because then I'll be sad when they die, and you will all point and laugh at me—and it's hard for me to care a lot when I can't really like anyone. I want to put Baltar and Tigh in an airlock. I want Lee Adama to stop wibbling. I want Starbuck to stop fighting absolutely everyone and everything.
  
• I'm annoyed that priestess chick died, but the only episode I really want to watch live is where they put the arrow in the statue because the religious stuff I find to be pretty cool.
  
• The political allegories have become a little clunky, I think. The time jump at the end of the season makes me nervous about narrative priorities because it feels very "let's skip the period of hope and happiness and get back to the harrowing despair, because that's what this show is all about!"
  
• I'm glad I was spoiled here and there for who the new Cylons were (ie, Lucy Lawless) and OMG, how tiresome was that episode? Like, didn't we see the conceit of "let's show the crew through the POV of a reporter" in an episode of M*A*S*H? Also, given the state of the fourth estate in this country, I find it almost irresponsible in a show that's supposed to be some sort of allegory to cast an actual investigative reporter—that is, a reporter who might actually be doing their fucking job—as a Cylon traitor. I mean, Jesus.
  
• I think every new character introduced in season 2 was a Cylon. I certainly have begun to assume that if anyone new shows up, they're totally a Cylon.

So the new plan is to continue to read the recaps on the wiki because they're really fast, and then go back and read the Jacob recaps because even if they're WRONG, I enjoy them, because they talk about the stuff I care about, and I'm used to Jacob and his endless blah blah blah from his Idol recaps, and I actually love him for it. I think this is another reason I'm doing it WRONG? So please avoid shouting at me about it. I'm doing the best I can here.

*I've always been reluctant to say that I don't like something that I know other people like; it seems rude, somehow. Also, I've had something I really like be either dismissed summarily, or get the "everyone knows it sucks" treatment, and been sad. So I'll put it this way: I don't really care for action very much, as such. It is not enough to carry my interest. I've tried very hard to get interested, but I'm just not, and I apologize to all for my girly non-geek mainstream lameness.

Comments

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think that maybe there is an issue of different narrative priority? I certainly don't want to shout at folks who don't like BSG, but maybe it depends on what you're willing to do. Ex: I like the fact that I have to be scared that characters will die. It makes me love them more. But I understand that it might not for you.

There's also always a lot of action in the episodes, which is sort of unavoidable - it being a show about fighter pilots in a war (although that isn't always true). So again, just an issue of what kinds of things you like? Nothing wrong with that.

As for the time jump, I actually felt like it skipped over the worst misery and hopelessness. New Caprica is a pretty awful place (or so we are led to believe) and I don't think it would actually be a good thing to watch the characters' hope slowly die. But again: that's an emotional response based on how I engage with characters on my TV, and I'm sure it isn't the same for everyone.

Eh, just my 0.02.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of character death in and of itself, but what makes me more nervous about it actually is the way that others react if you're upset by a character death, you know? Remember all that carping over Sirius's death in HP fandom, and how people were like, "it's just a book" and "more characters should die" and all of that? I find that the more time I spend around geeks, the less I want to reveal any kind of emotional reaction to or connection with any canon lest I become the object of ridicule.

Interesting re New Caprica. I guess I was feeling that way because so many characters settled down and had children and relationships and whatnot, and I thought, well, surely these people must have been happy at some point, right?

[flourish.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I never ran into that. I guess maybe the people I was talking to had different reactions than the ones you were? Most of my friends seemed to be incredibly distraught over it. Although I think that in general I maybe make emotional connections less easily, because I wasn't that torn up over Sirius' death (although I was torn up over Snape, and that was literally years after I stopped being a rabid fangirl, so obviously I make emotional connections with some characters...)

I do remember some of that stuff, but it just didn't really impinge on my flist that much, so.

I think they were happy at some point - but I also definitely felt like getting to see that happiness and then taking it away would be way more cruel. Which is not to say that I think that BSG likes happiness - far from it, I think that BSG is one of the most drama! tragedy! drama! drama! kinds of TV shows I've ever seen! But that isn't something I initially reacted to...

[jlh.livejournal.com]

My own personal reaction to Sirius's death was that his character arc was unsatisfying. This was before I knew that despite having the framework of a coming-of-age story, no one was going to have a proper character arc, and therefore, my concerns didn't matter. It got confused with the disparate reactions to OotP in general? But the people who were more concerned with the plot and less concerned with character were pretty open about not caring about Sirius and finding it ridiculous that anyone was upset by the death. That included people that I knew, unfortunately. But I've learned since then that there are people who really don't get invested in characters as such, but as players in a plot, and they might be angry about weird plot holes that I don't care about as long as the character arcs are satisfying.

Which is not to say that I think that BSG likes happiness - far from it, I think that BSG is one of the most drama! tragedy! drama! drama! kinds of TV shows I've ever seen!

It is absolutely this, that worries me and keeps me from really committing to it. I ask that question and people say, "But it's fantastic, it's so deep" etc and I reckon I just have to suck it up and not be looking for like, people being happy in a tv show, whatever, wuss.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

Well, I do think that BSG is deep, but I definitely wouldn't tell you that that means it has to be the show you love OMG. There are definitely movies that I just can't watch that I'm sure are deep and wonderful (ex: "Pan's Labyrinth") because there is simply no way for me to enjoy them because I am absolutely not in that mental place. So maybe you're in the minority for not being into BSG because it isn't where you're at - to quote some immortal words, just brush your shoulders off. :P

Wordy McWordster on that character arc note, by the way.

[longtimegone]

Well, maybe the wiki thing will work out. :))

You sound like me with SPN though, and we talked about that the other day. I just...didn't care, and didn't want to care, and after ten episodes? I felt that I had given it a good enough try to say that with some authority. So when I get the inevitable "you don't know what you're missing" or whatever the pitch is that week, I can say "Yes, I do know what I'm missing, and I've made my peace with it. Enjoy the show!" and move on.

I hate that you feel like you are "doing it wrong" though. I mean that with all sincerity. If you don't like BSG (or shows like it), you don't like it, and that's...not wrong. At all. It makes me upset that you are putting yourself through something you clearly loathe. I mean, you can obviously do what you want, and it's not something I'd yell at you about at all...

I apologize to all for my girly non-geek mainstream lameness.

Dude, do NOT apologize. All I ever listen to, seriously, is Top 40 radio. :)) My mainstream non-adventurous music lameness is epic, let me show you it. Fandom is the only reason I've heard of certain bands. My favorite song of the moment is Rihanna's "Disturbia". *waits for eyerolling from the intarwebs* ahahahahaha

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

Dude, do NOT apologize.

SECONDED

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I like Disturbia. I just wish it had more than one word in the chorus, or changed up the chorus, or had a bridge, or something, because it gets a little monotonous.

You know, the funny thing is, I keep feeling like I should care, but not in the way that I care about things. Maddy above was saying that she cares about the characters more knowing they might die, but that just reminds me of how mean people are when they find out you're sad that a character died. And it isn't just fanboys, either. Remember all that wank when Sirius died and people were sad? I just don't want to be in that place again. I basically don't want to put myself in any of the many positions in which people in HP fandom got to be cruel to me, ever again.

I don't loathe it; there are things I like about it. But I feel like every time I find a way to consume it that might work for me, someone else shows up to tell me that I'm DOING IT WRONG and sometimes the only reason I'm watching this show in the first place is so people will stop shouting at me.

[longtimegone]

Honestly, I think the only thing you might be possibly "doing wrong" is trying to shove aside YOUR preferences/desires/expectations for those of all those people you refer to as always shouting at you.

I would tell all "those people" to fuck off, I think, but maybe that's not very helpful or productive in the long run.

But seriously, it's not like you don't KNOW that you have totally different narrative priorities than this show does, and fundamentally, that it will NEVER satisfy you. If someone I called a friend truly ignored that about me and shouted at me to the point that I felt genuinely bad about it, and then ignored that? At the end of the day, I would be looking at THEM as problem, not my own "geek cred".

But that's me and my experience, and I'm not you with your experience, so take from that what you need and ignore the rest. <3

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Own your awesome taste!

I have never watched this show (but laughed heartily at a joke involving it on The Office last week) but have seen it take over a lot of my flist. I had the same experience with SPN as referenced above, though this season I'm tentatively interested in stuff going on so I'll see how that goes.

One thing I had to say though was that OMG, I can't stand Jacob's recaps. The blah blah blah makes me want to smack smack smack him. He makes every show sound exactly the same--and they all sound like him and his issues and his rhetorical flourishes.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

What else is Jacob recapping?

I admit, his deep love for Ryan and support of Ryan and Simon's great love go a long way with me, but I do like the way he brings cultural stuff into the AI recaps. He definitely gets carried away and I wish he had an editor, but I know how to skim him and still get what I wanted out of it. But I absolutely understand him being a bit much of a much!

Oh tentative interest, you fickle, unrewarding thing.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I first remember him for one of the most cringe-worthy recaps ever, which was an ep from The Office. (I don't think he was their usual recapper, but this recap was just...wtf?) He turns it up to 11 in recapping Weeds, and I was just yesterday checking something on TrueBlood and he was doing that too. It's bizarre when those 3 shows all sound the same!

Though I remember reading an Idol recap of his once that didn't bother me as much, I think because on Idol his commentary isn't competing with the tone of the show. He's just talking about real people in a singing contest so it's more like him just giving his view of life instead of interpreting some other writer/actor's meaning into his style, if that makes sense. AI is real life so it's got less of a voice or a tone of its own? I mean, obviously the show is put together in its own style and it does have its own narratives, but as a reality show it has less of a voice of its own.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

What an interesting distinction you're making! It will be different when reading his take on an actual narrative rather than a reality show that isn't even edited into a narrative as such.

His recaps really are about him half the time, but I'm ready for that, and in a way I know what that means for him, so I can control for it. But hopefully they won't all sound the same. Though interesting that he's doing True Blood.

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

There's no "wrong way" to consume media -- people may give advice in an attempt to be helpful, and some people are asses about it and you know, people are asses about a lot of things. But ultimately you can consume the media however you damn please, and if reading Jacob's recaps makes you happy and tells you what you want to know, then go ahead and read them!

I will admit that if someone told me they were reading the Earthsea books but were doing so in a completely haphazard order, I would tell them that was perhaps not the best way to enjoy that series. But you know...provided they weren't dismissive of ME for caring about continuity, ultimately they're gonna do what they're gonna do and I can't let it bother me. And in this case, it sounds like reading Jacob's recaps (and crossreferencing them with the wiki when confused) may be a way for you to consume this series and actually enjoy it. So do so! You're frankly already accommodating your fan friends by bothering with this show at all, despite finding a lot of things about it so unpleasant.

[jlh.livejournal.com]

I just want people to not be able to say anything to me anymore about it, to not be able to object to what I'm doing, because there's been so much of that from the very beginning and it's so tiring, every time I find something I like I feel like I'm doing it wrong again, and I'm tired of being wrong and people being all OMG WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO WATCH / OMG DON'T DO IT THAT WAY. I want to get through this show so people will stop saying that to me.

Maddy was saying above that the character deaths make her like the characters more, but that just makes me think of (1) HP fandom and how mean everyone was after Sirius died and (2) a comment someone said about how they would be perfectly happy if the series ended with everyone dead. Like, if they all could die, I don't want to get emotionally involved--as Carrie said, I'm sensitive, unfortunately.

I had this horrible thought this morning that I'm actually Kasukabe from Genshiken and everyone will start to hate me when they realize I'm not Ohno or Ogiue.

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

1) Katsukabe is my favorite girl on Genshiekn.

2) I think she more meant that being genuinely worried about the character's safety made her care more about them and more invested in the show, but you know, tomaytoh tomahtoh. You're not the only one who doesn't enjoy such things. I've never read Romeo and Juliet for a reason, and I don't even LIKE those kids!

3) Sirius dying fucking sucked and people were assholes about it. Just to be clear.

[flourish.livejournal.com]

You got it in one, Ali. It's not that I like it when they actually do die (except in a sort of weird, cathartic way) but I find it really hard to get into a show if I don't feel like I've got something at stake, yknow? But then I also like heights and doing dangerous things, and I know that that's either (a) weird or (b) acquired, so I don't think that it necessarily means that everybody should be like me. Either in liking heights or in liking characters who might die.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think part of that is that people who love a show--and it seems like this is particularly true when it's a sci-fi show and the people are geeks!--are so worried that you won't like it and they will have failed the show by making you hate it that they need fall-backs. Like if you didn't like it it was obviously because you watched it in the wrong order! I'll bet if you were like, "OMG, I love the show so much! And I started from the middle and I'm reading recaps to catch up but man, I wish I'd seen it from the beginning because it's obviously even better that way!" they might be less likely to be worried about it. But maybe even your sounding neutral makes them nervous enough to be like NOOOO you're going to ruin it and not share in my love!

I mean, of course sometimes there is a difference. If part of what you love about Avatar is Zuko's fake heel-face turn it's hard not to think somebody's going to miss that if they start from the finale. But the show still has to stand on its own eventually.

It's funny because I'm trying to think of times when somebody has talked me into liking a show and...I don't know. I don't think they've ever been able to do it when they were trying to do that. I've gotten into a show by just hearing people talk about it because they want to with each other. Like before I watched the premiere of SPN I read this essay on Wincest that made that aspect of the show a bit more interesting to me than it had been--though I'd known about it before. But the point of that essay wasn't at all trying to make people see that SPN was awesome. I'd read stuff like that and it didn't make me like it any more.

[oneangryrabbit.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's rude to say that you don't like something if you go the route of It didn't work for me. instead of That show sucks diseased donkey balls., though I can't really imagine you saying the latter. Life eats away enough time with crap you have to do (job, commute, cleaning, etc.) that you shouldn't let anyone else dictate how you spend your free time. Please don't ever apologize for not liking the same things as other people. Follow your bliss, etc.

[tropes.livejournal.com]

Man, Jacob's bsg recaps are the only thing I read on that site anymore. I love them. Whatever, do what you want. There is no right or wrong way to approach media. <3

[sisterpandora.livejournal.com]

Eh, read or watch as you like, and I say this as a fan, it'll all come out in the wash... or watch.