frelling_tralk (
frelling_tralk) wrote2015-09-28 12:11 pm
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Dark Angel seasons 1 and 2
I'm really enjoying Dark Angel on re-watch, I know that it had its cheesy moments, but I just really enjoy the world-building and the characters I suppose, especially Max, Logan, Original Cindy, and Lydecker from the first season, then Alec and Joshua from the second. I enjoyed that the drive of each episode in season 1 was usually always about Max resolving her past and tracking down her siblings, and of course the flashbacks to Manicore. I always get much more emotionally invested in shows that keep most episodes focused on their main characters emotional journeys, rather than on a case of the week format
I was a shipper for Max and Logan, I thought they had a really great dynamic in the first season with him being the rich idealist and Max being the streetwise harder-edged character, although I must admit that it didn't really carry over to season 2 for me, I was shipping Alec and Max by then :P From what I've heard it was actually originally planned for Alec to be Max's new love interest, but the actor who played Logan objected and used his influence with Jessica Alba to change that? The virus storyline in season 2 lasted waaaay too long and the Logan/Max ship was completely played out for me in the second season quite honestly, they should have just got Logan and Max together in season 2 and done something different with them if they were determined to stick with them as the main romance of the show, the whole virus storyline didn't do much for their chemistry IMO
I really don't get why season 2 seems to have such a bad rep though, I know that even Jessica Alba has been really down on this season, but it wasn't that drastic a drop in quality to me at all? The realism was stretched more granted when they wanted to suggest that a secret government agency was also creating vampires and mermaids, but well that aside lol. I really liked the ensemble cast they had that year, both Alec and Joshua were really fun additions, and I tended to enjoy the subplots with them a lot more than the comic-relief B plots they had with Jam Pony in season 1 tbh. It was a shame how underused Original Cindy was once the focus switched to the Manticore characters instead though, there were quite a few episodes where I thought they could easily have thought of ways to incorporate her in the main plot more as she was Max's best friend and someone in the know, but season 2 did seem to focus mostly on Max working either with Logan, or with Alec
Alec and Joshua had really good chemistry together as friends, and you could tell that the actors enjoyed working together. I enjoyed their friendship a lot more than the way that Max tended to baby Joshua actually, I kind of felt like she would have found a way around it if it was her or Logan who had the facial deformities and couldn't go outside, but with Joshua she seemed to fall into a very rigid idea of you must NEVER go outside and it's all for your own good. She basically had him swap one basement for another without even trying to look into any alternatives, but then the Halloween episode did have Max admit to herself that a lot of it was about hiding Joshua away as a dirty little secret because she feared people looking at her differently more than anything
I wasn't a big fan of Agent White, he came across as such a generic screaming bad guy at first, and so I was never really convinced by the backstory they tried to give him to make him more interesting, they kind of lost me there actually with the breeding cult and the snakes! I much preferred Lydecker as a bad guy, I was surprised at how quickly they faded him out in early season 2 and barely bothered to resolve his story, it made him wonder if there were personal issues with the actor? I thought it was really weird that they didn't even credit the actor as a "special guest star" in his season 2 episodes, and that he didn't get any kind of memorable exit
I guess that season 2 must edge out the first season as a favourite for me as I have a lot more to say about the characters that year and the dynamics between them, even if season 1 is considered the ~technically superior~ season. I guess that some of the season 2 episodes were of dodgier quality (the vampire episode for one!) and things did get a little silly at times, but I thought that the opening three episodes were stronger than anything from the first season, same with the final stretch of episodes from season 2.
And now I'm off on holiday for this week, will be back on Friday!
I was a shipper for Max and Logan, I thought they had a really great dynamic in the first season with him being the rich idealist and Max being the streetwise harder-edged character, although I must admit that it didn't really carry over to season 2 for me, I was shipping Alec and Max by then :P From what I've heard it was actually originally planned for Alec to be Max's new love interest, but the actor who played Logan objected and used his influence with Jessica Alba to change that? The virus storyline in season 2 lasted waaaay too long and the Logan/Max ship was completely played out for me in the second season quite honestly, they should have just got Logan and Max together in season 2 and done something different with them if they were determined to stick with them as the main romance of the show, the whole virus storyline didn't do much for their chemistry IMO
I really don't get why season 2 seems to have such a bad rep though, I know that even Jessica Alba has been really down on this season, but it wasn't that drastic a drop in quality to me at all? The realism was stretched more granted when they wanted to suggest that a secret government agency was also creating vampires and mermaids, but well that aside lol. I really liked the ensemble cast they had that year, both Alec and Joshua were really fun additions, and I tended to enjoy the subplots with them a lot more than the comic-relief B plots they had with Jam Pony in season 1 tbh. It was a shame how underused Original Cindy was once the focus switched to the Manticore characters instead though, there were quite a few episodes where I thought they could easily have thought of ways to incorporate her in the main plot more as she was Max's best friend and someone in the know, but season 2 did seem to focus mostly on Max working either with Logan, or with Alec
Alec and Joshua had really good chemistry together as friends, and you could tell that the actors enjoyed working together. I enjoyed their friendship a lot more than the way that Max tended to baby Joshua actually, I kind of felt like she would have found a way around it if it was her or Logan who had the facial deformities and couldn't go outside, but with Joshua she seemed to fall into a very rigid idea of you must NEVER go outside and it's all for your own good. She basically had him swap one basement for another without even trying to look into any alternatives, but then the Halloween episode did have Max admit to herself that a lot of it was about hiding Joshua away as a dirty little secret because she feared people looking at her differently more than anything
I wasn't a big fan of Agent White, he came across as such a generic screaming bad guy at first, and so I was never really convinced by the backstory they tried to give him to make him more interesting, they kind of lost me there actually with the breeding cult and the snakes! I much preferred Lydecker as a bad guy, I was surprised at how quickly they faded him out in early season 2 and barely bothered to resolve his story, it made him wonder if there were personal issues with the actor? I thought it was really weird that they didn't even credit the actor as a "special guest star" in his season 2 episodes, and that he didn't get any kind of memorable exit
I guess that season 2 must edge out the first season as a favourite for me as I have a lot more to say about the characters that year and the dynamics between them, even if season 1 is considered the ~technically superior~ season. I guess that some of the season 2 episodes were of dodgier quality (the vampire episode for one!) and things did get a little silly at times, but I thought that the opening three episodes were stronger than anything from the first season, same with the final stretch of episodes from season 2.
And now I'm off on holiday for this week, will be back on Friday!
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We got to see more of his brooding side, which he was always hiding with Max (from what I remember).
:nods: Yeah it seemed like Max was always a bit too standoffish and determined to believe the worst of Alec, so it was good that he had Joshua in his corner as a friend, although by the end of season 2 Max was closer to Alec as well
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I'm surprised actually at the general consensus being that season 2 was just really ridiculous and campy, granted there were a few episodes like that, but I thought that the episodes at the beginning and ending of that season were actually pretty dark. The blind girl being shot, Alec being forced to kill transgenics, Max being tortured at Manicore, the police hunting them down etc
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Well that and it's one of the first shows I watched Jensen Ackles on*g*
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And I'm with you on the shipping thing. I liked Max/Logan too but I was way more into Max/Alec!
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And Max and Alex would have been such a hot couple, too bad that it never came to pass :(
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(You see, I was a Flipper aficionado...)
I've never been too much of a fan of the show, and I left in season two- way too stretched, even for a sci-fi shpw, and even for someone who, likes me, has geown with the x-files. And I've never been too much of a shipper, even if Jessica Alba and Michael Wetherly were dating back them. At a certain point, I even started NOT liking him too much (and I even considered NOT watching NCIS because he was on, because I imagined that he would ahve enver been able to make me like a character).
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And I get why the realism would be harder to buy in season 2, they definitely started getting really out there with throwing any kind of creatures and mutants they could into the show, which was a pretty far cry from the original premise of creating one type of super soldier
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We'll just never get to see that 3rd season. I remember wanting a barcode tattoo on the back of my neck.
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I much prefer season 2, mainly due to Alec.
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I love it. Love season 1 for the one arc eps, the Logan/Max relationship, Jam Pony. Season 2, well, Alec, Joshua, Original Cindy (though less), the Alec/Joshua friendship of awesomeness. The Alec/Max potential.
It got too deep in that cult/snake thing and Max being the all that the more the show advanced. I much preferred Lydecker as a villain. He was but he wasn't at the same time, you know.... he basically just wanted his kids back... Renfro was something else in comparison. White was too much of the villain... and they picked the guy that more than looks the part, too.
Alba and Weatherly were dating so when came time of season 2, Weatherly picked a major fit anytime there was mention that Max (Jessica) would get closer to another character. Came in Alec and, let's face it Jensen Ackles is a babe!) and hello jealousy up to the roof. I was a Max/Logan shipper in season 1 but I became a Max/Alec shipper pretty fast. The whole virus thing might have helped... I don't know... something changed and I didn't like Logan as much...
When I think of what they were leading us towards if season 2 hadn't been cancelled and what season 3 could have been... MAN!!!! I don't know if you heard or read but Max/Alec would have actually became a thing. She would have been the leader and Alec her second or whatever also. Logan would have become so addicted to the transgenics blood it would have caused a riff between Max and him. There was more but I don't quite remember it all.
There were books made out to kinda finish what season 2 was. I had one book. No idea if it was actually part of those but I didn't even finish it... I don't think. Unless I did and it's the second one I couldn't finish. I don't quite remember. Oh wait, no. It was 1 book from before the show (that I didn't like and didn't finish) and 2 to finish season 2 that I didn't get because I couldn't find them anywhere.
I love that show. I'll have to do a rewatch (and better screencaps) soon.
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And it's weird isn't it, something definitely changed for me too with Logan in season 2, even though I can still go back and enjoy his character with Max in season 1, so I'm not sure what happened in the second season! I did read a lot of commentary on TWOP about what the writers were planning behind the scenes, and it's so frustrating that season 3 never came to pass when they were such big fans of Alex and would have done a lot more with his character. I remember them saying that the actor for Logan was kind of a jerk, and would do things like insist that scripts were changed so that Logan won in the pool game against Alec, or Logan coming to Alec's rescue in the finale lol
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Sometimes, I wish there would be a reboot of it. Most times I don't however. Other times, I wish they would do a reunion season or whatever. Kind of like a "where are they now? what's happening now?" after the second season finale. A season or even a movie... but I really don't see that happening for some reason... one of them being the actors are busy elsewhere...
Like I said "the little show that could but didn't quite get there". Too many things happening in season 2. Too many hints of too many things... They should have kept something for a third season. Worked on one thing first and do a season with that with small hints throughout anyway and then the following season, giving us more from the hints from the previous.
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