Cupid Bow Mouth

In two words: You. Can't.

From the beginning, The Passage has functioned under a sense of inevitability. Not just because we all know the direction this show has to go in considering the nature of the beast, but also because the creators have done a great job of creating layers of remove, connection, and intent. The humans were never really in control and the more screen time given to the Virals the clearer that has become. After Paulson's reveal last week that the Virals were going to escape, but that the humans were going to be the ones to let them out, the clock has been ticking down to the ill-fated clusterfuck of an experiment conducted by the egregiously idiotic Dr. Pet.

( Spoilers )

So that just turned things up to 11.

Why do I feel like all of this is really bad science? Dr. Pet is lazy and smug and destined to be lunch. His continued dismissivness in regards to the Virals is astonishing in light of the fact that you contributed to creating this new species but show no real interest in studying them to the fullest extent. Plus! nobody has obviously ever watched a horror movie because, dude, all with the secrets and lies. When characters start going crazy and then start clamming up that's when you know that things are about to go to shit.

( Spoilers! )

To be fair, I don't know how objective I can be about the CW "reboot" of Roswell. The original series was one of my first fandoms. I wrote my first crappy fanfic about the tragic love affair of Max Evans and Liz Parker. Hulu is streaming the original series, so if you haven't seen it, you might want to do yourself the favor. It's silly and cheesy at times, but it's also the ultimate story of star crossed lovers. Acting is solid (hey, Katherine Hiegl totes got her start here plus there's William Sadler). There's a lot of angst and drama and chemistry between all of the cast ... perfect for a show set in a high school. And, I loved it.

Roswell, New Mexico has fast forwarded the series and the characters are now 10 years out of high school. There's obviously going to be tons of drama and angst, but outside of the political commentary surrounding immigration and illegal aliens (an easy and understandable target given the show's setting and the current political climate). Whether all of those things will work well together filtered through the prism of a story originally crafted around high schoolers remains to be seen. So far Roswell, Mexico is lacking the sweet, easy charm of Roswell, the palpable sense of yearning and loneliness in the beginning, the awesome sense of camraderie and relationship that was demonstrated at jump street.. Still, there are things that this new iteration does right (or at least well):

( Spoilers Behind the Cut )
We'll see hos this grittier, aged up version of Roswell goes. I'm open to it. Why not?

I found myself sitting through the first episode of Hulu's The Handmaid's Tale on Sunday afternoon, and in an unexpected confluence of the stars, the following Wednesday I stumbled on a Yale Courses lecture on YouTube about Queer Theory and Gender Performativity which reminded me of my affection for the theories of one Judith Butler. It's an interesting bit of timing that one thing happened and then the other, but definitely fitting as my thoughts upon listening to the lecture immediately had me circling how ideas of gender and sex have been appropriated and re-written in The Handmaid's Tale, and how survival in this universe requires unflagging commitment to performing an identity that has absolutely nothing to do with the individual and everything to do with a prescribed archetype created for the benefit of the top 1% of the population. In other words, it's like real life!

Elizabeth Moss is gold in the performance and the running interior monologue throughout the episode beautifully depicts the duality of June as Offred (reality vs function), offering entre into the world and creating immediate empathy or the character. It also provided quite a bit of backstory quickly and efficiently, highlighted Offred's peril, and ratcheted up the tension while maintaining the calm, orderly yet sinister veneer that Gilead is working so hard to maintain. Without that I never would have made it through the hour and trust me when I say that there were moments when I was ready to call it a day. My commitment to watching THMT flagged considerably at times and I was convinced that I wasn't going to be able to watch this series, except that a wealth of friends advised me that it's worth watching. The advice, offered consistently by everyone: don't try and binge it.
( My name is Offred. I had another name, but it's forbidden now. So many things are forbidden now. )