Lyon's Den
Sep. 28th, 2003 11:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenygal*bouncing gleefully* Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's what I wanted, even if I didn't know it...
I showed up because, well, Rob Lowe. Anybody watching it for any other reason? Right, that's what I thought. And he's good, really, and while there's an undeniable resemblance to a Certain Other Guy (not much to be done about that when the concept is "idealistic lawyer in Washington") Jack Turner really is a different character, and hopefully that will get more pronounced as time goes on. (Points off, mind you, for the bit where he says he's "a lawyer, not a PR consultant." It doesn't even make sense in context, and believe me, Rob, you're better off not breaking the fourth wall specifically to remind us of West Wing, even if the message you want to get across is that this isn't that. Just show us, eh?) But the thing is, it isn't the Rob Lowe show. Oh, he's major, no question, and has been put in a position that will land him in the middle of everything, but there are all sorts of other players with their own dramas and subplots running around. I like that, I like that a lot.
And I should mention that I'd been immersing myself in![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
treksoap posts right before I sat down to watch, and so I was in the most receptive mood you can imagine when--about the time the blonde's hidden agenda was revealed, I think--I started going "Jeez, it's a soap opera! Nobody told me!"
And oh boy, is it ever. Utterly, shamelessly so; we've got sex, we've got murder, we've got scandal, we've got a dysfunctional family, we've got Evil Scheming Bastards assisted by a Mocking Manipulative Bitch, we've got flirting and fistfights and alcoholism and dark plots. We've even got a pair of twins in this episode; I'm just waiting for someone's illegitimate child to show up. ;) And for a minute there I actually thought we were going to have a chase scene, which is admittedly less soap and more cop-show, but the way they handled it was both sensible and theatrical. And most importantly, we have all sorts of ongoing plots and subplots which don't look to be resolved any time soon, headlined by a murder investigation (said investigation being conducted by Robert Picardo, just in case I should need anything else to add to my enjoyment).
This is the sort of thing that ought to be classed as a guilty pleasure, except I feel no guilt at all. I just wanna plunk myself down in front of the next episode and watch all the schemes simmer and the subplots careen on their merry carwreck way and Rob get in deeper and deeper...
(Okay, yes, I'm aware that there were some rather more serious things buried in there. A good soap will have that, too, and I thought they were dealt with reasonably well--although a bit more of an explanation why the pardon made any difference, then, would have been nice--and I hope we can get followup.)
I showed up because, well, Rob Lowe. Anybody watching it for any other reason? Right, that's what I thought. And he's good, really, and while there's an undeniable resemblance to a Certain Other Guy (not much to be done about that when the concept is "idealistic lawyer in Washington") Jack Turner really is a different character, and hopefully that will get more pronounced as time goes on. (Points off, mind you, for the bit where he says he's "a lawyer, not a PR consultant." It doesn't even make sense in context, and believe me, Rob, you're better off not breaking the fourth wall specifically to remind us of West Wing, even if the message you want to get across is that this isn't that. Just show us, eh?) But the thing is, it isn't the Rob Lowe show. Oh, he's major, no question, and has been put in a position that will land him in the middle of everything, but there are all sorts of other players with their own dramas and subplots running around. I like that, I like that a lot.
And I should mention that I'd been immersing myself in
treksoap posts right before I sat down to watch, and so I was in the most receptive mood you can imagine when--about the time the blonde's hidden agenda was revealed, I think--I started going "Jeez, it's a soap opera! Nobody told me!"And oh boy, is it ever. Utterly, shamelessly so; we've got sex, we've got murder, we've got scandal, we've got a dysfunctional family, we've got Evil Scheming Bastards assisted by a Mocking Manipulative Bitch, we've got flirting and fistfights and alcoholism and dark plots. We've even got a pair of twins in this episode; I'm just waiting for someone's illegitimate child to show up. ;) And for a minute there I actually thought we were going to have a chase scene, which is admittedly less soap and more cop-show, but the way they handled it was both sensible and theatrical. And most importantly, we have all sorts of ongoing plots and subplots which don't look to be resolved any time soon, headlined by a murder investigation (said investigation being conducted by Robert Picardo, just in case I should need anything else to add to my enjoyment).
This is the sort of thing that ought to be classed as a guilty pleasure, except I feel no guilt at all. I just wanna plunk myself down in front of the next episode and watch all the schemes simmer and the subplots careen on their merry carwreck way and Rob get in deeper and deeper...
(Okay, yes, I'm aware that there were some rather more serious things buried in there. A good soap will have that, too, and I thought they were dealt with reasonably well--although a bit more of an explanation why the pardon made any difference, then, would have been nice--and I hope we can get followup.)
