Dark Angel rewatch

[dangermousie]

Anyone who was on my flist around fall-early winter last year would have seen me go nuts for the post-apocalyptic, gritty and OMG!worthy show Dark Angel. Well, it's time for a rewatch.

And I am rewatching the Pilot and it's just as good the second time around. I love the cynical, world-weary attitude of both Max (the heroine) and the story as a whole. I like the reimagining of US as a third-world country, not evil but rife with corruption and poverty and lawlessness, something like a North American version of Nigeria or former USSR. It's striking (and much as I enjoyed the second season, I am sorry that theme got derailed, even if understandably so, in the post 9/11 world).

I lovee Max. She is gorgeous, but she is also somewhat world weary, with a cynicism that is partially put on because despite it all she wants to hope, but also is a result of school of very hard knocks. She is tough and fun and messed up. And she is afraid to open up or believe. Her meeting and involvement with Logan and his causes gradually changes all that, and one of the pleasures of the show is watching her transform, but she never loses the slightly hard edge. Logan is the dreamer, the idealist. Max is the voice of pragmatism.

And that brings me to Logan. I love him. Idealist intellectual revolutionaries are a rarer scifi breed than manly tough-jawed heroes, but are as a catnip to me. Max/Logan is an OTP that not only has unholy levels of angst (a Max/Logan-centric ep in S2 is one of the very few TV eps that made me bawl), but also has a thing a lot of my OTPs have: a more practical girl and a more idealistic guy. And a girl who is tough enough to rescue the guy AND kick his ass if she wanted to. But Logan is no Gary Stu, far from it. He has his own issues and flaws and he is entirely too reserved and too proud and too prickly and too bitter about his handicap (and how much do I love that the romantic lead of this show is in a wheelchair?) ax and Logan are both very unique, very messed up people who fit together. And Jessica Alba and Michael Weatherly have one of those really rare things: scorching hot chemistry. I love their meeting in the Pilot: she is robbing his house and when they lock eyes, you feel something on the TV screen. I like the way the ship is written throughout, true. But no writing could be substitute for that spark. (And I love that he is really arresred by her when she talks about the statuette she stole, the Goddess Bast and quotes her descriptions from the Egyptian texts. He is caught not just by the incongruity but by her brain. He's a keeper).

I love Normal and Original Cindy (if I were a lesbian, I'd do her) and, as dtissagirl pointed out, the unusual use of language. I am going to have fun rewatching this.

But never fear, I am still going to rewatch the rest of Veronica Mars and continue with Supernatural. Multitasking rocks.

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

S2 did mutate (hee, pun, I slay me!) into a Buffyish-style horror, and I prefer the first, snarkier, darker season. But considering 9/11, I can see why the studio had them rework the formula.

As to Max/Logan? Sigh. One of my all time fave OTPs. The virus thing did get solved in the authorized book sequel (yes, I am pathetic enough to have bought those). I guess they didn't know they'd get cancelled. Ironically, Fox cancelled it because of Firefly (another great show) which they cancelled double quick too. Sigh.

[vanimy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I liked S1 better too. Oh the virus thing got solved in a book sequel? Mmh... Interesting, I'll look for it. :)

[ewanspotter.livejournal.com]

Those books were pretty aweful. I know I read the one where they cured him, but I forgot what happened.

Did you ever read the virtual season three? I know fans wrote it, but I liked the way they resolved it.