By John Keegan
Visit Critical Myth for an archive of John's TV Review archives, with more than 1100 entries.
This series continues to be another pleasant surprise for the 2007 Fall Season, especially given its consistent ratings and demographics. It’s hard not to focus on the numbers after so many critics panned the show from the very beginning. This may not be a runaway hit, and it hasn’t gotten the full season order quite yet, but it’s holding its own on a night known for its challenges. Steady numbers are a lot better than a slow but steady decline.
This particular episode sheds light (no pun intended) on the vulnerabilities of the vampires in this version of the myth. Mick mentioned that prolonged exposure to sunlight was a bad thing, but this helps to establish limits. Apparently they can endure quite a bit of sunlight, and as long as they feed well enough and quickly enough, they can recover in a very short period of time.
Getting to that point in the story required a bit of plot convenience, particularly once Mick was getting himself out into territory that he knew would be threatening. The cell phone coverage seemed to disappear whenever the story required it, for example. I’m also not sure that Mick would endanger himself to such a degree without getting word to Josef that he might need help. Perhaps that thought comes to mind because Josef is such an enjoyable presence on the show, and his absence was palpable.
Then again, the story was designed to get Mick and Beth into a particularly compromised situation, and it was worth some of the contrivance necessary to get there. Every episode seems to bring Beth closer and closer to Mick’s unusual existence, binding them together, and it works surprisingly well. This is creating a nice bit of tension between Beth and her boyfriend, who already seems expendable, existing only to ground Beth in the “real world”.
Beth also seems to be far more comfortable with Mick’s nature than he would like, and that will no doubt play a part when Coraline inevitably appears on the scene. I say inevitably because it would be the natural complication to introduce within the next few episodes, if the show is following the typical “paranormal romance” model.
The bottom line is that this series continues to be a solid hour of vampire entertainment, despite its first season flaws. The scripts can be a bit shaky, especially in terms of dialogue, and Sophia Myles is still getting the hang of her character and accent, but it’s still a lot of fun. I hope that the additional scripts give the writers a chance to tighten things up a bit. |
