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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Marcel may be an irritating twerp, but it's been fascinating to see the violently negative response he's gotten from the other contestants. Much was made of his declining to help Sam with the service of his course, but throughout the season, and despite the scorn that's been heaped upon him, Marcel has been shown repeatedly offering to help the other chefs with their service.
But because he's somewhat reclusive, the dominant clique (first led by Betty and supported by the passive-aggressive Sam and the smug "joiner" Ilan) has taken great joy in castigating him. They relish inclusion and popularity, and the zeal with which they torment Marcel ends up saying a lot more about them than him. He may not be the best chef on the show (Sam and Cliff seem to be further along), but he makes no bones about the fact that he's just there to compete.
My only other observation is that Gail Simmons is an ice queen goddess....
This article describes exactly what it is that had made 24 lose its fun side: The fact that the show dispenses with all the little touches that originally played off of its real-time novelty.
In the first couple seasons, Jack would interact with the bit-part people in a way that you could imagine actually happening. Now the show is trying so hard to top itself with action and torture, the writers don't ever stop to just let a scene have some little unusual quirk or dimension. In season 1 there's a scene where Jack explains his problem to a stranger and she takes him in, only to turn him in once she has a chance to get away. That was interesting because there was tension over whether she believed him or not. Now Jack would just whack her behind the neck so she'd pass out -- problem solved, but in a boring violent way.
I also miss the pains the early seasons went to to make the "real time" novelty authentic. They'd use the other split-screen boxes (when going into and out of commercials) to show that other characters were eating meals, bathing, and doing things that people do during the less-exciting moments of an exciting day. Now the writers have given up on details and artistry. The show is all meat (the action and excitement), no vitamin-rich veggies (those little things you savor and remember afterward).
Also, does Kiefer Sutherland's character have to be so humorless? I know stopping imminent terrorist destruction and conspiracy isn't lighthearted work, but couldn't they give the man more problem-solving options than "shout in a hoarse voice," "give suspicious temporary buddy a gun with no bullets," "broadcast cell-phone image of gunmen's position," and "throttle attacker repeatedly"? In "North By Northwest," Cary Grant gets away from bad guys at an auction house by pretending to be the most obnoxious auction bidder of all time. It was suspenseful and funny all at once. "24" has lots of cliffhangers, but all the parachutes are the same 3 colors.
I'm glad for every ounce of personality in the peripheral characters like Chloe. I wish "24" would invest more in taking chances with tone and approach. They seem to have distilled everything that works until it's so pure, it's monotonous.
...that Heather Havrilesky was secretly a snide little bully, and now her excuses for Cliff's attack of Marcel seem to prove it. Jesus, how dimwitted must you be not to recognize that forfeiting a game show because you COMMITTED ASSAULT AND BATTERY is not in the same league as getting voted off "Survivor" (much less comparable to a sibling squabble)? Do you not actually comprehend that Cliff committed a criminal offense against Marcel? No matter how irritating Marcel's been -- and the more I watch the show, the more I think Marcel's primarily guilty of being socially awkward more than anything else -- there is NOTHING that justifies what Cliff did to him while the others egged him on.
What would you say if it had been a woman dragged out of bed, held on the floor, and threatened with having her shaved by a man twice her size -- all while others stood around hooting with approval? Would that have been "interesting" to you as well? (Meanwhile, over in England, everyone's been just terribly nasty to that poor little Jade Goody on "Celebrity Big Brother," haven't they? It's "interesting," too, isn't it, that she and uses racist taunts against a housemate, causes an international incident, and gets kicked off? Spin that one for us, too, Heather!)
Jesus. It's clear Havrilesky doesn't have the critical thinking skills to be utterly embarrassed by her two-bit reductive bullshit, but I would hope someone at Salon, at least, does.
I was never a big Cliff fan, but Top Chef got it wrong in this scenario, and they've gotten it wrong before. Cliff being dismissed left a bad taste in my mouth (although he had no right to lay hands on someone), but only because he carried the entire blame. As far as I could see, the entire group was a part of the assault on Marcel--assault is never just physical. That Cliff was dismissed and the others rewarded with a trip to Hawaii made me sick.
The show is supposed to be about acheiving through merit. Yet they allow sabotage to influence decisions. The other black chef, Mia, was pressured to quit, set up to be the fall guy. The judges should never have allowed that. I remember during the first season a cast member wanted to quit--the vegetarian cook--so that another chef could stay, and the judges refused to accept it. But they seemed to have no problem with Mia's resignation.
On another reality show, Bad Girls, I've noticed that the two black women on the show, both whom have tried to join in and attend clubs with their white housemates, have been excluded. They were left behind because one of the girls said that the black women didn't want to go. Now the black women go to black clubs and the white women to white clubs. When a new housemate asked why the black women don't join in, she was told that "well, they've been distancing themselves all along."
Well, these are reality shows, after all. And the racial issues do reflect reality. I've always had a cultural array of friends, but few white friends who would go to a primarily black club with me.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
