Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

I think I was one of the original fans who actually gave the latest movie, I Want to Believe, a thumbs-up. It was smart enough and surprisingly subtle. It was so subtle that a lot of people missed the plot points and the intended narrative. Huh, a light touch from The X-Files?

The last movie allowed me to reconnect with the series, the characters, and my past addiction. So when I read about this news about a possible third installment of The X-Files movie franchise, I didn’t go screaming down the hall while tearing my hair out. I don’t even want to hurt Chris Carter.

It’s an interesting and alien (groan) sensation.

Tags: Movies, TV by Ms.
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This is another post courtesy of the beauty of Netflix. I just finished Dexter Season 2 and am officially hooked. Dexter, as a character, grew on me.

I am not completely bought into his psychosis yet but I am vested in whether he gets caught or not. In the middle of season 2, I realized that I was watching a well-told reverse thriller.

It’s a reverse thriller because in most cases, a thriller follows the path of the people trying to catch the criminal—cops, Feds, military, etc. Usually, we are given a rookie or an outsider (reporter, civilian consultant, etc.) as a story surrogate. Through this character’s eyes, the audience experiences the chase.

In Dexter, we follow the chase through the eyes of the criminal. The puzzle solving, the race against time—these elements are all reversed. He plays out the story from the other side. While I’m not fully pulling for him, I am always intrigued in how he’s going to escape.

Season 2 has a lot of what I love about Battlestar Galactica—just when you think that things can’t get any worse, they do. And that had me burning through the discs in a hurry.

One of the reasons why I can’t be fully on Dexter’s side is that the traditional cop side is also so strong. In Dexter’s pursuers, there is the rookie for whom we can root. As a bonus, the brilliant rookie is also Dexter’s sister. Her complicated character is good enough to catch him, but we also know that it is better for her if she never does. The longer she fails though, the more she doubts herself. Oh, the angst!

The push and pull of this show makes for a really meaty viewer experience.

Tags: TV by Ms.
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Previously, I wrote about the high regard in which I hold the television series The Wire. This week, I finished watching its final season.

Until the last episode, the season was almost unbearably depressing. Everyone was on a downward trajectory where everything was going to fall apart.

It speaks to the heart and just how much substance there is in this series that the final episode made me smile and uplifted my spirit. I realize that I am twisted for feeling this way.

Give me this ending at the end of a previous season, and it would be a punch in the gut. Have I become so immersed in the world painted by this series that I would rather see it cycle rather than see it crash and burn?

The ending makes me feel that I’m not really going to lose the characters I’ve come to know. It’s comforting but it’s also somehow wrong. I feel unsettled about my satisfaction.

But I know that I am better for having watched this show. I’ve learned a lot and thought about issues in completely new ways. The Wire has challenged me as an artistic creation and as social commentary. I know I’ll be thinking and referencing this series for years to come.

Tags: TV by Ms.
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