caffienekitty | Harper's Island mini reaction

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Harper's Island mini reaction

Very short reaction to Harper's Island Episode 1

-Needs more Beaver. Sorry, sorry, I had to say it, even though loads of other people probably will too. :-D

-There was quite a bit of expository clunk in the script, but they're trying to establish 25 characters, and their inter-connections, and the beginnings of motive for most of them, plus the island setting, plus assorted other things. It could have been smoother in spots and still accomplished that, but it did alright, I think. I've certainly seen worse. Also apparently they've got background content for characters and so forth at the website, which would spread out the character establishment duties a bit.

-Holy crap, how awesome was Katie Cassidy?! o.O I remembered at the last minute that she and the guy who played Ron are in this too, and Katie Cassidy seriously rocked. The character the guy who played Ron was playing was a lot like Ron but with friends, so I kept getting Ron vibes from him, but he was adorable too. (I'm also betting his character'll be dying at some point. He has a doomed feel to him.)

-That scene between the Sherrif (Jim Beaver's character) and his estranged daughter in the police ~~car~~ SUV? I don't know if I can adequately explain exactly how very much I loved Jim Beaver's performance there. With Bobby, there's a kind of surface spikiness and roughness to him, no matter what's going on, kind of a defensive bristling. With the Sherrif in that scene, there was... like a quiet hesitation, and a kind of awkward emotional vulnerability that is so very different from Bobby, and the admittedly limited other roles I've seen Jim Beaver in. It was very much a widowed father trying to figure out how to re-establish some kind of connection to his adult daughter, and it was fantastic! Yay Jim! \o/

-The gore level was surprising, and a leeeeettle unrealistic. Seriously, chopping through a guy's entire torso takes a lot more effort and possibly power tools. It did make me hope that TWoP might tap Demian for a one-off recap and he'll drag Raoul along. GOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!! Hee.

-Other than that, yay for seagulls with a sense of dramatic timing! Yay for creepy little girls! Yay for BC locations that don't have to fake too hard to be parts of Washington State! Yay for totally awesome freaky death trees! \o/

It's gonna be tricky swapping tapes quickly when new episodes of Supernatural start up again, but I think I'll be taping this series. *nods*

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Sounds interesting! I might have to download this and check it out, if only for all the SPN alums. :D

It's certainly well-populated!

don't forget Gina Davis from "Windigo" ... she played Haley on SN and is Katy Cassidy's older sister here!

she was the first SN Alum I recognized (took FOREVER to find Cassidy with the dark hair lol)

and OMG that was why i recognized "Ron"!!!! I couldnt figure out HOW I did though!

and yes i LOVED Jim Beaver and I completely agree with the "MORE" ;)

don't forget Gina Davis from "Windigo"

I thought she looked familiar! It's been far too long since I've re-watched season 1.

took FOREVER to find Cassidy with the dark hair lol

I know! I kept going "Is that her? Is that her?" And then she smiled and that was the giveaway for me. :-)

OMG that was why i recognized "Ron"!!!!

Those sideburns really don't do him any favours. I really like him as a 'buddy of the groom' even though he's likely going to die eventually. I kind of alternately hope he doesn't have any big, dark secrets and is entirely innocent, or has really huge dark secrets and is secretly evil.

i LOVED Jim Beaver and I completely agree with the "MORE"

Hee! He's going to get drawn in a lot more once the deaths start coming to light and the ivestigations start up.

*nods* i actually quite like Gina Davis... she was in Blood Ties and yeah quite like her :)

and yes Jim Beaver will get drawn in more and that makes me happy.. i just hope he sticks around for the long haul!!

I hope that one way or another he's clear of the death pool too.

I wanted to give this show a try because I want to support Jim Beaver. So I watched for about 20 minutes. By the time they got to cousin Ben or whoever that was strapped to the bottom of the boat I realized this was not the show for me. I can't handle that level of gore and inevitable death.

However, I think Katie looks spectacular as a brunette. And, in the little I saw, I thought she was adorable with Christopher Gorham who I've loved since Popular; so different from Ruby. Sadly, Jim, Katie, Chris and poor doomed Ronald and even a former Power Ranger were not enough to keep me involved.

Yeah, there does seem to be some graphic random death going on. It won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Myself, besides Jim Beaver and Katie and the rest, I think the concept seems like it might be drawing on Agathe Chritise's "Ten Little Indians" which is my favourite of all her novels. Plus I seem to have developed a higher gore tolerance from somewhere. Either that or gore gets to a certain point and I just see special effects, or laugh because it's so over the top. :-)

Creepy and atmospheric rather than graphic would have been really cool though.

I actually saw about 2 minutes of it, because my upstairs TV will *not* get channel 6 in any decent form whatsoever (something about the broadcast frequency interfering with the cable or...I don't know) and I kept trying to wrestle with the cable cord until I got all sweaty and dusty and frustrated. But I did see Katie and she's stunning with dark hair. Will perhaps try to watch it online somewhere.

They've got a website set up for it over at CBS. I haven't tried it yet, but I suspect half the content is US-only accessible. They probably have the episode streamed there as well.

Thanks! I found it on CBS.com and watched it last night. Thought it was pretty decent. I agree with you about the subtleties of Jim's performance - he was *excellent*. Thought Katie was good, and the gore seemed to be at a S1-SPN level, so I didn't mind it. I did kind of wonder if *all* the female characters are going to be required to perform in their underwear.

I'm definitely onboard for episode 2.

if your in Canada, it looked like Global will be streaming it online :)

Thank you! I found it on CBS.com (I'm in the US).

oh no problem!

This whole show was a big SPN reunion! You've got original Ruby, Haley from "Wendigo," Ron from "NightShifter," the Pride demon from "The Magnificent Seven," and Bobby!

I've read that though the show starts soapy, it gets more serious and dark as it goes, so I'll most likely be sticking with it (it's only 13 eps total, after all).

I did like Katie Cassidy in it, and I'm glad - I had posted once that though I didn't think she had the chops for Ruby, I thought she'd do fine in another role.

the Pride demon from "The Magnificent Seven,"

Gah! That was who he was! I knew I recognized him but I didn't know from where, and I figured it was just the 'Vancouver Production" effect. Someone needs to write crossover AU fic where everybody is actually their SPN characters, maybe. :-)

I've read that though the show starts soapy, it gets more serious and dark as it goes

Oh yay! Serious and dark I can do. Soap, not so much. :-)

so I'll most likely be sticking with it (it's only 13 eps total, after all).

It's more like a mini-series in that. All self-contained and complete. It's not like watching a WIP. :-)

I did like Katie Cassidy in it, and I'm glad - I had posted once that though I didn't think she had the chops for Ruby, I thought she'd do fine in another role.

I haven't been a Katie fan. Although I preferred her Ruby over Genevieve Cortese's by miles, I was still far less than enthralled by her performance on SPN. Here, she rocked!

I saw Katie on The Bonnie Hunt Show last week and she was already blonde again (and stunning). I miss her Ruby so much it makes me sad. At one point Bonnie said something like, "We had your buddies from your other show on here and they had very nice things to say about you", and that is not verbatim, but the gist of it.

And yeah, the "halving" of the dude from Veronica Mars was what put me off. I can't take actual guts and that was sort of graphic. The freaking closed captioning went something like this, "squishing thud AHHHHHHH!three squishing thuds" Oh man, it was so gross!

I'll be tuning in though. As someone else said, it is only 13 episodes.

I miss her Ruby so much it makes me sad.

I wasn't keen on her Ruby, but I'd take hers over the current one any day.

At one point Bonnie said something like, "We had your buddies from your other show on here and they had very nice things to say about you", and that is not verbatim, but the gist of it.

Awww. :-)

And yeah, the "halving" of the dude from Veronica Mars was what put me off. I can't take actual guts and that was sort of graphic. The freaking closed captioning went something like this, "squishing thud AHHHHHHH!three squishing thuds" Oh man, it was so gross!

I need to watch with the CC on! That's hilarious! XD I didn't mind the gore; I seem to have developed a higher gore tolerance from somewhere *looks disingenuous* and mainly found it so over the top I just laughed at it and picked it apart for technical detail.

It did kind of throw me out of the story a little with that sudden level of violence and graphic gore, but I think that particular death was intended to be a shock for the audience to set up the remainder of the series, since most of this episode was establishing the characters and social situation and not so much the murdering.

If nothing else, it should be a summer cheesefest with Jm Beaver and the rest of them. :-)

So I enjoyed it, and I agree--more Beaver:) I am sure we will get that soon. Gore didn't bother me, but I am sure you knew that;) I think they did do a decent job introducting the characters, but yes, no way could you hack through someone's torso in that short a time without--a chainsaw or something..lol Definitely has promise though--and that little girl has the creepy factor going on(poor snail). Oh and as a side note, if you see it at the store--Midnight Meat Train was actually well done. Based on a Clive Barker Books of Blood story--Cthulhu-reference;)

Hugs
Sharon

Hm, I'll keep an eye out for it, although it will end up in the 'to be watched' pile if I find it. :-/

I figured it might end up on the pile..lol But I thought since it was Cthulhu, I had to tell you:)

Hugs
Sharon

Just watched it on the CBS website, since it wasn't up for download on iTunes. I didn't recognize Katie for about 10 minutes. I'd have been so much happier with Ruby if they'd let her have dark hair. Girl can act! Very pleased with her in this one.

Wanted more Jim, but loved the little bit he did get.

Was sorry to see Uncle whatever/Harry Hamlin go so soon...he amused/annoyed me on Veronica Mars. That ravine wasn't that deep...why didn't he just slide on through the bridge into a controlled fall? Then he'd have had his gun when the mystery killer appeared. I thought his legs got chopped, which might have been a little bit easier than cleaving his torso. But the CBS feed was hard to pause for a closer look.

Scenery is beautiful, and makes me want to visit the Vancouver area even more. I'll be watching again, but not the night it airs. After SPN, I don't want to watch anything else. Just want to come home to my computer and find people to discuss the episode with!

Was sorry to see Uncle whatever/Harry Hamlin go so soon...he amused/annoyed me on Veronica Mars.

I hadn't been aware that Uncle Whatever had been played by someone relatively 'known'. I saw something where one of the showrunners said they killed him off right away to let the audience know no one was safe from getting killed off.

That ravine wasn't that deep...why didn't he just slide on through the bridge into a controlled fall?

Stuck on broken boards? *shrug* More likely "Because the script says so." :-)

I thought his legs got chopped, which might have been a little bit easier than cleaving his torso.

Not really. Leg bones in non-avian critters are really solid, because they have to bear the critter's weight. Definitely need power tools. Cutting him in half at the abdomen would probably be easier, since the only bone at that level is spine, but still, power tools would be necessary to get through that fast, because the bone and cartilage is still bone and cartilage, and the muscle and sinew in that area is most likely really tough because of the whole 'keeping the body upright' thing.

ETA:
Scenery is beautiful, and makes me want to visit the Vancouver area even more.

I love Vancouver. I've been a Vancouver fangirl since I was about five.

I'll be watching again, but not the night it airs. After SPN, I don't want to watch anything else. Just want to come home to my computer and find people to discuss the episode with!

Yeah, it'll be a bit of a challenge swapping the tape over right after, and not re-watching SPN right away, but I doubt it'll be 'as it airs' for me either, while Supernatural is in new episodes. Good to know it's available online via Global for Canadians, but my home system can't even play youtube vids anymore, so unless I stay after work on fridays and watch it on the work system, catching up online won't be an option for me. :-/

"Needs more Beaver" was exactly what I was thinking too! Other than that, I enjoyed it. Katie Cassidy must have stepped up her game for this because she's acting better than she did on Supernatural. And yeah, I can't believe they cut off Harry Hamlin's torso. That was kind of awesome.

"Needs more Beaver" was exactly what I was thinking too!

I made an icon. ;-)

Ha ha, awesome!

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Harper's Island mini reaction

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