Continuing The Roundup/Further Impressions

Following the TV roundup post from the beginning of the month, my impressions of a couple of the shows are shifting slightly.

This is most noticeable for Orphan Black, the alleged Sci-Fi show featuring a bunch of doppelgängers. Introducing us to the killer the way they did could have provided plenty of shock and intrigue... if only they hadn't tied her to some weird religious cult which - wouldn't you know it? - considers a bunch of clones to be a despicable heresy unto the Lord, which must be scourged from the Earth. That has to be the most tired plot twist ever in the history of television, and it drags the show further from its self-professions of Science Fiction. Now it's just becoming a knock-off Dan Brown 'thriller'. Further clichés include the small fact that Sarah's daughter can tell the ostensibly identical doppelgängers apart without any effort, and that the killer's motivation is a pack of lies fed to her by the folks who recruited her. The show is revealing some of its secrets, albeit clumsily, as in the conversation between Sarah and Alison, where the latter seems surprised that Sarah has a natural daughter, but it's still dragging its heels in the main plot. I've read the write-up to this week's episode, and it sounds as though things may start to hot up... but a quick side-trip to IMDb sent a chill down my spine for all the wrong reasons: there's already a Season 2... meaning, most likely, no questions truly answered by the end of this season, and an annoying cliffhanger.

Under The Dome, too, continues to play into clichés and stereotypes with the clash of wills between 'Big Jim' and Ollie over the fate of the town, both assuming the Dome will remain forever, and both determined to make the most of it. There is one interesting hint that the Dome is maintaining some kind of equilibrium - just as a baby is born (somewhat prematurely due to the mother's contact with the Dome) another character dies 'of natural causes'... Though the idea of 'a life for a life' doesn't quite jibe with the bodycount thusfar...

I didn't even bother watching the second episode of Atlantis, despite being intrigued by the trailer introducing Medusa in a decidedly un-Gorgon-like state... And the write-up for this week's episode almost left me weeping. The BBC needs to figure out what its target audience is for these shows. If they're aiming for the same 'family group' that watch Doctor Who, a bit more authenticity and a bit less utter stupidity would be welcome.