Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

Caution: spoilers for “Daybreak, Part 2 (4.20)

Disclaimer: These are my initial reactions only. I suspect that my feelings are going to change after a few days’ thought and a second viewing. My first experience with the episode was while I was brimming with anticipation and impatience. All through the ninety-six minutes, my brain operated in hyper-awareness and mass-calculation mode. That’s hardly the state in which to think clearly.

But I wanted to log this, so here we go:

I’m a fan who tried to stay optimistic in the lead-up to this series finale.

After the first viewing though, I must admit that I feel a bit lost and unsure. It was a presentation that I never would have expected from this team.

I can’t remember a multi-parter or a season finale that was less than good. I didn’t think them capable of creating a below-par outing.

But … for this series finale, I expected them to fall a little short—

• because they focused too much on certain aspects and didn’t hit other story lines at all.
• because some questions never got satisfactory answers.
• because they tried to shoot too high and missed their ambitions.

All this is falling short but not, necessarily, producing a bad episode.

But none of these things happened. This episode fell short, in my humble opinion, because—

• they didn’t have enough story.
• they didn’t trust my intelligence.
• they didn’t give enough time to any of the characters, even at the expense of others.
• they lapsed into Sci-Fi by the numbers rather than continuing to transcend the genre.

Certainly there were great moments. Just off the top of my head, I would say:

• Roslin and Cottle
• the space battle
• the playing out of the Opera House sequence

I’m not going to say this finale was bad. Whatever it is I do want to say, I’m going to withhold until after another viewing of the episode.

Whether or not I come to see this ending any differently though, I have loved the run of this show.

It has challenged me, both as a viewer and a person. It was a show of unbelievable quality, and they kept it up for four years. Scripts. Acting. Special effects. Scenery. Music. And everything else.

Other shows have absolutely no reason to cry about how hard it is to sustain excellence over time.

Thanks, Galactica folks. It’s been an unforgettable journey.

Tags: TV by Ms. SP
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Here are my favorite reads from the past week:

• Found out from FlickFilosopher that there is going to be a MacGyver movie. Mac was my first TV boyfriend. He was so smart and nice and had a magic Swiss Army knife. I loved his leather jacket and didn’t know any better about the mullet. I hope the movie makers don’t mess this up.
• Bear Stearns: 1 Year Later. Interesting read with some what-if elements.
• The 7 New Rules of Financial Security. I’ve been very thankful that this financial mess came during this period of my life and not later. If everything skated along until my retirement, I never would have internalized some very important lessons. This article does a good job of simplifying ideas and putting them all in one place.
• Netflix Pays the Price for Free Streams. As someone who will be downgrading my cable and relying more on Netflix, I appreciated this look at the numbers behind the services.

Tags: Recommendations by Ms. SP
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It’s time to report on last month’s book club reading. Just as I was surprised at the unexpectedly rich experience of rereading Animal Farm, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn also brought forth unforeseen shock.

To be frank, I didn’t expect it to be as boring as it was. At times, the plot really dragged. This is not how I remembered Huck’s and Jim’s grand adventure to be.

The book feels like a series of short stories strung together by the river, and many of the short stories went on way too long. I thought the last one was especially trying. For goodness sakes, could somebody please just slap Tom Sawyer and let the rest of us get on with it!

OK, I know what I just said—

The book feels like a series of short stories strung together by the river [...]

I do get the merits of the book. In fact, it’s been on my mind consistently from when I last closed the covers. But before I get into why, I’m saddened to report that I couldn’t whole-heartedly recommend Huck Finn to an adult who has not read it before. I feel that there are other books that are better worth his/her time.

Now that that’s in print, let’s move on to why the book stays on my mind.

During these times of unease, when we’re all wondering about who we are as a country and where we’re going, I marvel at a time when principles such as capitalism and individuality were not as yet set in stone for the United States.

Today, these ideas are so sacred that everyone is afraid to even think about how the encroachment upon them may be necessary just to survive.

Huckleberry Finn, however, helped define our America today. When reading it, I think everyone can feel the mythic quality of the West and the allure of the rugged individualism that is associated with it.

I’m not a kid anymore, but I still think it is cool that Huck and Jim were able to float down practically the entire country relying on limited resources and just themselves. I dreamed about such a trip as a girl, and I still do today. (Although today, I like the idea more than the execution because now, I know about mud, mosquitoes, and the blessing of clean bathrooms.)

Back then, people lived in towns that were separated by hours if not days from the rest of the world. It was up to each town to define themselves, govern themselves, and make things work.

Twain brought all that onto the page.

He also brought forth a hero who was young and Of Nature. Huck tries to learn the rules of society and religion, but they feel wrong in his guts. His God given power to reason brings him the “right” answers, and better yet, he chooses the “right” rebellious actions time and again—defying hell as he does them.

Huck is a boy trying to find his way. Though he has a propensity to trust and admire those more civilized, more educated, and more respectable than he is, Twain lets us see all the flaws in these others that Huck can’t just yet.

But he gives us hope that Huck one day will. And then he’ll realize that his way of thinking in just as good if not superior to everyone else’s. And at that time, he’ll know that he is godly too.

For a young United States, I can see how this book would have mobilized identity. So much of our romantic notions (and I don’t mean that negatively) are shown in this work. The messages still resonate.

Tags: Books by Ms. SP
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