I watch a lot of TV shows and movies and while I let a lot of things go, I also enjoy when things make some kind of logical sense and flow nicely within the canon the creators laid out for us. But as shows get older or sequels roll out, sometimes things just start falling apart.
One term for this is “jumping the shark”, named after the now-infamous episode of Happy Days where Fonzie jumps a pool full of sharks on his motorcycle. This is the pivotal point in a TV show’s run where it has turned a bad corner and there’s no going back.
But sometimes good shows just have bad episodes. They don’t necessarily “jump the shark”, but just serve up a nugget that leaves a bad taste in the mouth of real fans. Maybe one of the stars decides to try their hand at writing and/or directing, maybe there’s a writer’s strike, who knows… it can happen for many reason. Hell, maybe the geniuses just had a bad day or got behind on their work and pull some tired ass premise out of their ass and basically ‘punted’ that week.
Whatever the reason, it happens to almost every show that’s not a sitcom. Sitcoms are nearly immune to this situation, since it can usually be dismissed as just a new, hilarious, situation.
I’m not going back over everything I’ve seen recently, but just a few that come to mind:
Heroes, season 4
When Peter borrows the Haitian’s powers to fight Sylar. He gets Nathan to re-emerge, but how the hell does he negate all of Sylar’s powers EXCEPT the polymorphism that allows Nathan to show through? Is that just supposed to be metaphorical? Like he still looked like Sylar, but was talking as Nathan? Then why did they do that shimmering face thing? And then Nathan jumps off the building.. and Peter lets him… knowing full well that as soon as he’s outside of Peter’s power’s range, he turns back into Sylar, with healing ability and all? Totally weak.
True Blood, season 2
When the Stackhouse’s return to Bon Temps and everything’s a mess and Jason says he’s going into town to deal with it all, like a one-man army, it’s like a scene from from Red Dawn. I expect a little more from True Blood after season 1.
Bill has become a lot weaker too. I know there are more powerful vampires, but pretty much everyone has bitch slapped Bill into submission at some point or another.
And Sukie’s Sookie’s “cute country girl” thing is turning into “holy crap she’s dump as a stick and is more trouble than she’s worth”.
My last gripe about True Blood, and maybe this was different in the books (but we’re not talking books here), is that season 2 seems to be more intent on pulling out all the stops and just throwing every gimmick at the viewers as possible. Why not go at least two seasons just focusing on the humans, vampires, maybe a little shapeshifter action. Why bring in multiple shapeshifters (with multiple forms), a ‘maenad’ taking over the whole town, another mind reader, The Fellowship of the Sun, vampire politics, etc. It’s like they don’t think they’re getting a third season, so they’re just going over the top in a desperate bid to get people’s attention. What do they plan for season 3? Seizure inducing plot switches? The whole pantheon of mythological creatures all at once? You can’t really go full bore then go back to plain old vampire stuff. Season 2 should have been more character development, history, maybe the Fellowship of the Sun as an antagonist. In this case, I think jumping the shark may be an appropriate call.
I may not post a lot… with any luck, the stupidity won’t be too thick, but there’s bound to be plenty to rant about in the future.
