On The Road Again [3.5.2007]

[hyemew]

To back up what Milo said, in the episode where Jonas is in the attic (or one of those...) Daniel writes in the description how it happened a few days ago, which probably means we have to believe it happened in a more concentrated amount of time than it seemed. Still... I think the characters' emotions have a half-life of about two hours, meaning that in the next episode or two Jonas will have completely forgotten about/gotten over Bree's desire to kill him and they'll be all cool again.

Also, with Daniel having hated Jonas, Bree having hated Daniel, Daniel having hated Bree, Bree having hated Jonas, and now Jonas having hated Bree, well they're running out of permutations in the who-hates-who drama that has been running the show since Jonas appeared. And that's all the drama has been, this story has just been watching 2 minutes of about 6 minute mini-dramisodes, after which they pick up and are later onto the next. There is an overarching metas-toryline built back there somewhere, but as of late there's just been delay after delay by drama keeping us from getting there in a timely manner, essentially just a way to lengthen it as much as possible.
I see so much of what has gone on in the past two months to have been utterly unnecessary to the plot.

[wixy15]

Guys, I got to a point where I lost interest and so stopped watching. I am now back in the loop, as you know, if you are getting bored annoyed with it then just stop watching. We have got to accept now that it won't ever be like it was 'once upon a time.' The series has moved on, and we have to too if we want to enjoy it. I think it's bareable at the minute, although the videos tend to leave big chunks out, and even I can pick holes in the thread of the plot and why they neglect certain elements is beyond me. But seriously though, just moaning isn't great for anyone, analysis is one thing but just bitching does get tiresome.

[flwright]

milowent said:

snip
Good point, there, it means we know Jonas' last name begins with a W.
snip

We've known that for ages:
From The New Cove Times

flwright said:

FIRE DESTROYS RAPPER’S MANSION
by Noanna Singer, Star Reporter
Malibu Beach isn’t the only Californian town to feel the wrath of fire borne by the recent Santa Ana winds. It started innocently enough when an effort to save Mount Mauao National Park’s famous Natural Rose Thicket from a severe aphid infestation.

Operation Aphid included a small controlled burn to clear infected plants and renew the soil. The burn got out of hand and soon a brush fire was racing towards the mansions in the Wales Point section of town. Wales Point is named after one of the founders of Anchor Cove, Captain Jonas Nathaniel David Wales II, who built the mansion which bears his name and is still in the family. The Point has become a popular spot for vacation homes and mansions for the rich and famous trying to escape the spotlight of celebrity in nearby LA.

The Wales Mansion was spared as the fire swept through the Point to the sea, but Rapper Jay Henry’s home was not as lucky. The fire left little more than charred wood and memories. Fortunately, Jay Henry aka Jay Hank aka P Diddy aka Puff Daddy aka Sean John Combs was not at home (see related article below). Like most Covians, he was away for the holidays. He will be away a little longer as the mansion is rebuilt.

Mayor Brooke personally apologized to Mr. Henry over the phone. “We might’ve been able to get there sooner with emergency services, but we’ve been distracted by the Gangs from Hollywood who’ve been tagging the buildings on Main Street with the word ‘Paul’.”

[brianmpei]

Milo's time compression perspective HAS to be accurate.
Terry, I gave up expecting realistic, or even reasonable, responses/consequences since the Beast's breaking and entering episode. But your point is absolutely solid.
Hye, I think the plot is to increase viewership, not to tell a cohesive story.
Wixy, you've never shouted at the referee at a football match?

[Smashing]

Good point, Milo, about breeniverse time. Continuing my theory of how the creators conceptualize the show at this point, I think it's clear they see it as a traditional TV drama crammed into the vlog format like a square peg in a round hole. Because of this, there will always be those spaces around the edges that are not filled in. Namely the characters' motivation for filming (see the discussion of "Is He Out There"), but the lack of real time is another. They have a choice of dropping the vlog pretense all together or making a realistic vlog, and they obviously don't want to do either. For all we know, there were conflicts between the multiple writers behind the scenes that led to this weird compromise. In the meantime, as long as the views numbers stay up they don't have motivation to change. Personally, I've come to accept this, as the alternatives, stop watching or be angry, don't suit me.

[wixy15]

brianmpei said:

Wixy, you've never shouted at the referee at a football match?

Yes, but I don't moan at *every* decision that goes against my team. I am able to see why the decision was given, even if I don't agree with it...

Moaning is fine, when you are making a half decent point but moaning just because you don't like it or don't agree is tiresome.

Like I say, if you don't like it, don't watch...simple.

[slainte]

I just give up (again)

[hyemew]

wixy15 said:

Yes, but I don't moan at *every* decision that goes against my team. I am able to see why the decision was given, even if I don't agree with it...

Moaning is fine, when you are making a half decent point but moaning just because you don't like it or don't agree is tiresome.

This is like saying if you see 100 absurd things, you should only moan at 10 of them to be fair. Well what if there are 100 moan-worthy things? I don't think there is a need to limit the number of complaints if each of them is warranted.

[Smashing]

When you're fed up and feel like posting that dramatic "goodbye" message, I suggest doing what many of us have done and take a break from watching. Skip 10 episodes. If something lures you back, it lures you back. You'll probably get back into it and eventually go back and watch the episodes you missed. If not, fine. Taking a break every once in a while is I think important. It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

[wixy15]

hyemew said:

This is like saying if you see 100 absurd things, you should only moan at 10 of them to be fair. Well what if there are 100 moan-worthy things? I don't think there is a need to limit the number of complaints if each of them is warranted.

Well, if I moaned about 10 things on the same subject I would give up with it.

Seems silly to me, to keep watching it if you don't enjoy it. I felt let down by LG and the creators so stopped watching for a few months.

Perhaps you should try it and give those enjoying the series a rest of your moaning.

[hyemew]

I mean, I guess since the Creators wouldn't come here anyway, our moaning falls on deaf ears so maybe it's not productive.. I just hate that so much promise and such a fun chapter of our lives (Aug-Sep) is being squandered and imploding like such.

[wixy15]

I understand what you mean Hye, I really do! It could have been brilliant. But we really must stop the 'what if-ing' and 'if only-ing.' We won't ever go back to what we had, we must move on and evolve with the series.

Perhaps we think the creators have made or even are making bad decisions, but I can sometimes see why they are making the choices they are.

[slainte]

no no no please don't misunderstand smashing. I already did my dramatic exit, followed by a relatively short humble return.

This episode reminds a great line in the movie "Misery" based on Kings novel...Kathy Bates is bemoning the way the serials cheated there way out of difficult cliffhangers by just glossing over things; she goes into a maniacal rant ending with the line "We were cheated! HE DIDN'T GET OUT OF THE COCK-A-DOODY CAR!!!!"

[curiousgeorge]

terryfic said:

I am beyond disappointed that the resolution to the Jonas interrogation storyline was unsatisfying as pretty much every other plot point. Jonas’ pretending he can’t hear Bree is how someone childishly (and somewhat jokingly) retaliates against someone when they steal the last piece of pie you were saving, not when they conspire to end your life. The fact that Jonas is still hanging out with them is beyond ludicrous. <snip>

My guess is that we are yet again seeing the behind the scenes reality (budget) at work. They probably only had access the mountain "mansion" for a limited amount of time and probably shot a lot of the eps in short amount of time. Soooooo, if they ran out of time and had to get out of there then that probably truncated their filming schedule. Sooooo, the Bree/Joan/DB confrontation that is so jarringly missing (and probably would have been pretty good drama fodder) is just kinda ignored because that had to have taken place in the mountain mansion. Which may have been impossible.

It is very awkward, whatever the reason...

[trash180]

Sooo...I don't mind the video so much, but it does feel like there's a video missing. I was hoping for the overlap of time with Daniel's side of the video leading up to a confrontation in the attic and the discovery of the book. All we get is the aftermath, and them telling us some stuff. Not even really explaining what happened. We're missing the reveal. That's an important connection with the book...and I have no problem with the direction, but why not show the discovery?
Hell, I'd take a time-lapse of them reading it...

This episode is fine except that I feel like I missed one and I'm trying to catch up.

Awkward is right, CG.