caffienekitty (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
caffienekitty) wrote2009-07-11 06:26 pm
caffienekitty) wrote2009-07-11 06:26 pm
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Reaction: Harper's Island Finale
Okay, now that it's begun to air in the US if my time zone calculations are correct, here's a short reaction to the Harper's Island finale.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SERIOUSLY??!! Okay, Henry being the son of Wakefield was my second option, but also being a secret serial killer all along, training as daddy's protege, and doing it all for his childhood summertime sweetheart/half-sister because of something she said on a beach once when they were kids... SERIOUSLY???
I kind of love it. It's like random plot twist salad, with chunky little croutons of "lol WHUT?" I sat through the entire end grinning like a loon just because it seemed like just such a load of Jekyll-Hyde cracktasticness. They did explain just about everything, sort of point-form, and I'm rather dissapointed Uncle Marty didn't have his own secret plot going on, but oh well, the money got explained (he was going to rescue Malcolm's brewery and be the big hero, aw.)
I'm kind of tempted to rewatch the whole thing for any script hints of it being Henry all along. I think Jim Beaver said in an interview somewhere (Winchester Radio?) that the rest of the actors were not told if they were the killer or when their character was going to die before they got the script for each day, so I wonder if they did the same with the guy who played Henry, or if that actor was given a little more direction. The revisitation of the wedding video at the end was really "ha ha ha I see what you did there!"
It's like shiny sparkly unexpected!psycho serial-killer candy-floss. It's still rotting my brain two days later. Oh, and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tigriswolf? If you haven't been watching the series, I think you might want to track down and watch the finale regardless. Father and son serial killer team? ;-)
There. Now. That was the last bit of 'appointment/taping TV' I had for the summer. My VCR is no longer flashing at me to be fed a blank tape. Maybe now I'll make some actual progress on Summergen, hmmm? :-P
But first, Nathan Fillion is forcing me to buy bean dip. Evil bastard.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! SERIOUSLY??!! Okay, Henry being the son of Wakefield was my second option, but also being a secret serial killer all along, training as daddy's protege, and doing it all for his childhood summertime sweetheart/half-sister because of something she said on a beach once when they were kids... SERIOUSLY???
I kind of love it. It's like random plot twist salad, with chunky little croutons of "lol WHUT?" I sat through the entire end grinning like a loon just because it seemed like just such a load of Jekyll-Hyde cracktasticness. They did explain just about everything, sort of point-form, and I'm rather dissapointed Uncle Marty didn't have his own secret plot going on, but oh well, the money got explained (he was going to rescue Malcolm's brewery and be the big hero, aw.)
I'm kind of tempted to rewatch the whole thing for any script hints of it being Henry all along. I think Jim Beaver said in an interview somewhere (Winchester Radio?) that the rest of the actors were not told if they were the killer or when their character was going to die before they got the script for each day, so I wonder if they did the same with the guy who played Henry, or if that actor was given a little more direction. The revisitation of the wedding video at the end was really "ha ha ha I see what you did there!"
It's like shiny sparkly unexpected!psycho serial-killer candy-floss. It's still rotting my brain two days later. Oh, and
tigriswolf? If you haven't been watching the series, I think you might want to track down and watch the finale regardless. Father and son serial killer team? ;-)There. Now. That was the last bit of 'appointment/taping TV' I had for the summer. My VCR is no longer flashing at me to be fed a blank tape. Maybe now I'll make some actual progress on Summergen, hmmm? :-P
But first, Nathan Fillion is forcing me to buy bean dip. Evil bastard.
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Yeah, I not only call shenanigans, I call...ridiculous horseshit. The only thing I'm curious about at this point is whether my dad manages to sit through the whole thing. I only got through the first hour because I was playing about 157 rounds of a computer game.
Thanks, CBS, for 12.25 hours of my life I can't get back.
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Aside from that, the reveal wasn't quite as ridiculous as 'water is toxic to aliens' but it wasn't anywhere near as good as most of the theories floating around would have been.
It provided a bit of brainlessness to watch while trying to wind down from work on Thursdays once Supernatural went on hiatus, and was successful in that for me, so I don't begrudge it the time it took to watch. :-)
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Almost wish the annoying child hadn't survived. If she'd told them it wasn't the sheriff that locked her in the tunnels, and that Wakefield had help, maybe a few of them would have survived. Still...it was fun as a bit of mindless entertainment.
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I know! He did quite well with the affably evil persona and blending it into the way he was originally playing the character. I think the directors kind of shot themselves in the foot a teeny bit by not telling him he was the killer at the start so he could work with it more.
Almost wish the annoying child hadn't survived.
Towards the end I wanted them to just sit the kid down and get her to tell the truth about everything that happened since she got to the island. She met Wakefield right off the bat, too. I don't know why anyone ever believed what she said voluntarily. She lied, often at the direction of others, what, three, four times? Still, it was pretty certain she'd survive. They're leery of killing off kids on prime time tv in north america.
Still...it was fun as a bit of mindless entertainment.
Indeed. :-D
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I still wanted that kid to bite the dust. By the ending, even her mom wanted to smack her senseless.
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YAY!!! I'm not the only one that wanted the kid dead! LOL!
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I still wanted that kid to bite the dust.
She really needs an education in telling the truth, for one thing.
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was kinda disappointed in the ending/last hour (every time I thought 'it must be over' there was more :( ) - it seemed a little predictable (but really, it's a slasher flick :) ).
Did think the guy playing Henry did a really good job with his heel turn though :) Especially given his ultra-lame reasons for doing it.... I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had an inkling, or maybe it was just in the writing because Henry always seemed just a little....off....to me. The 'another kid' reveal did explain why they had sooooooo many people at the start who were kind of hard to tell apart though :)
Abby....annoyed me at the end - she went from decently strong and proactive to 'oh help oh help'.... I mean I get the 'too much has happened and I'm completely overwhelmed and unable to do anything but follow and react', but it doesn't make good tv :)
the ending....honestly, I was hoping it would end at the point where Henry locks Abby back in the room after she's seen Jimmy :D all sorts of ambiguousness there, especially because we've seen the kid again by then (I think)
the kid....is my best bet for a Season 2, don't you think? :D
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If they'd stretched it to two hours and made it less exposition and more creepy-stalkery, or slipped the exposition into ambush mode earlier in the series, like mention Henry's adopted. Show the Abby and Henry as kids scenes earlier, because until he's revealed as the murderer, that's just a cute kid thing, some kind of sign of discontent in Henry before then. Too much stuff was squished into the last hour.
Did think the guy playing Henry did a really good job with his heel turn though :)
Oh yes. He did the house scenes very well, with basically, still being the henry we've knwn the whole show, except burbling on happily about insane murdery stuff. Happy evil is creepy.
The 'another kid' reveal did explain why they had sooooooo many people at the start who were kind of hard to tell apart though :)
Very true! XD
the ending....honestly, I was hoping it would end at the point where Henry locks Abby back in the room after she's seen Jimmy :D all sorts of ambiguousness there, especially because we've seen the kid again by then (I think)
I think since they know this is all there's going to be, they wanted to close it off completely. If it had done better in the ratings there might have been a more open ending.
the kid....is my best bet for a Season 2, don't you think? :D
Oh yeah. She was a bit tweaky before the whole 'my secret serial killer friend' and seeing everyone die and so forth. She's Abby the next generation.
ETA: Abby....annoyed me at the end - she went from decently strong and proactive to 'oh help oh help'....
Yes! I can see that the whole "I killed all these people for you and have been plotting this since I was seven or something" would be overwhelming, but that doesn't mean she can't still take action to help herself. Even counter-productive action taken in panic at first. She wasn't as helpless and ineffectual as she might have been though.
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heck ya! just have another couple of the friends be adopted too (they all look alike anyway, so who'd know? :D)
and we saw "camping" flashbacks with Jimmy and Abby's scrapbook with pics of them younger, so why not pull us in and show us how good of friends Abby & Henry were rather than just telling us? Give it to Abby instead and we're all good!
Too much stuff was squished into the last hour.
definitely. I know it's the payoff hour and all but still....I guess it's the disadvantage of the 'no one knows what's going on' method of filming....you'd think clever editing could take care of that....but hey, who knows :)
Happy evil is creepy.
yes, yes it is :D I hope he gets some good work out of this :)
I think since they know this is all there's going to be, they wanted to close it off completely. If it had done better in the ratings there might have been a more open ending.
hadn't they finished filming before it even started airing though? I guess happy endings are kind of expected in slasher things to offset all the scary maybe?
She was a bit tweaky before the whole 'my secret serial killer friend' and seeing everyone die and so forth. She's Abby the next generation.
I was kinda pegging her as the next Wakefield actually :)
[Abby] wasn't as helpless and ineffectual as she might have been though.
this is true :) most of the girls were pretty good (though Chloe annoyed me at the bridge) - heck, even Trish only fell because of her long dress.
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Yep. More clue trails. The group of buddies could all be adopted and that might be what introduced them to each other, or something. Although I think between the reason for Henry going nuts as being lied to about his adoption and that movie coming out 'Orphan', adoption advocacy groups are going to be a wee bit pissed off.
why not pull us in and show us how good of friends Abby & Henry were rather than just telling us?
Yes, exactly. They've got the kid actors, show it!
I guess it's the disadvantage of the 'no one knows what's going on' method of filming
I vastly prefer Kripke's "Mean DM" method of only telling the actors what their character knows. That way they have the right mental picture to work from.
I guess happy endings are kind of expected in slasher things to offset all the scary maybe?
I don't know. Most of the few I've seen were notably open-ended or in some cases quite blatantly "They didn't escape after all, the bad guy's still out there slaughtering around, ha ha!"
even Trish only fell because of her long dress.
Which is why you never, ever, no matter how safe you think you are, put on any clothing that restricts your movement before you are surrounded by safe people and in a different time zone from the killer.
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And I was sort of annoyed at the ending myself. I almost felt sorry for Henry at the very end, the big jerk. Ah well. At least the damn thing is over. Heh.
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The ending was indeed annoying, and I wish they had found some way of supporting Henry's level of disconnect/sociopathy. The whole "I murdered all these people for you so we could be happy together forever! Why aren't you dancing with joy?" thing was awesomely played by the actor, and he's so enthusiastic and happy about succeeding that it's almost infectious except for the whole killing people thing, but it really needed more overt support in the script to really fly.
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Well, the show was enjoyable up to the reveal. Must go compile my own post now. :)
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