Life Unexpected

So, how about last night’s season (series?) finale of LUX?  I have to say, I think that last night’s episode was probably the best of the season–I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen and I kept waiting for the standard TV cliches that LUX tends to go for and in general, they didn’t happen.  Maybe they WILL hit their stride if there’s a season two.

That doesn’t mean I’m letting it totally off the hook.  No way–you guys know me better than that.  So let’s just go ahead and get it out of the way.  For as strong an episode as this was, I thought everything with Baze and his dad was REALLY heavy-handed.  And you know, especially given that the last time we saw his dad was the turtle races episode, it all just kind of came out of nowhere.  Actually, until they acknowledged the turtle races, I thought they had just made a huge continuity error.  So weird.  And so many melodramatic man tears.

But otherwise, things were good.  Lux didn’t get on my nerves once, which might be the first time that’s happened all season (with the possible exception of the pilot).  I kind of love her relationship with Ryan, mostly because she’s generally not a total bitch to him and you can tell she genuinely likes him and cares about him and knows he’s good for Cate.  I liked that she managed to have an honest conversation with him without it being a brutally honest conversation, if that makes sense, and that he was willing to put her first, even if it hurt.  BUT he wasn’t going to let her off the hook and he made her go talk to Cate.  Ryan really is awesome.

Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, so obviously I’m not TOTALLY caught up yet–I’m working through a backlog of shows from my cable drought but I’m getting there.  I’m trying to catch up on shows on the night they air, so it’s like little mini-marathons, which is kind of fun.

But I am finally all caught up on Life Unexpected, or as it’s known in my house, “Ohmygod, This Fucking Show.”  And you know, Billy makes a good point, that when we watch this show and Parenthood as closely together as we have been, it really does make Parenthood look better and LUX look worse, but when bullshit like the State Farm plug happens, it’s hard to argue that “Ohmygod, This Fucking Show” is a title without merit.

Billy also loves making incest jokes, and I think he’s a Baze and Lux shipper (in a sarcastic way only), which is unspeakably gross.  God, you guys–if you could hear the commentary while we watch this show … I hate to think how much less you’d think of me as a person.  Or how much all of your suspicions would be confirmed.

Anyway, I suppose this episode was an improvement in that I don’t think I called Lux a fucking bitch during the entire episode, and I did enjoy them rocking out in the car on the way back, and yes, I know it makes me a total cheeseball, but I really enjoyed the corndog stop, mostly because it totally REEKS of something I would do, right down to the matching sweatshirts.

Read the rest of this entry »

God, you guys.  I don’t know what it is with this show.  It genuinely annoys me and I especially am just in a state of constant hatred with Lux, which is a problem since she’s kind of a main character and sort of what the show is named after, but I also genuinely enjoy watching it and it’s not really losing me at all.  I’m not like, ugh, I’m so fed up with this show, I’m never watching again!  It’s more like, Life Unexpected!  Bitch bitch bitch, but I really, unironically enjoy it too.  I know.  I don’t understand either.

Well, I understand a little bit, because … Baze in a pea coat.  Yes.

Also, I continue to love Ryan, and I actually don’t hate Cate all the time.  And Jones has really grown on me surprisingly quickly.  (I think it was The Blaine Epiphany.)  Plus, I thought he did a great job playing hurt at the dance, and also … I am ALWAYS a sucker for dances.  But maybe that’s because I never pouted in the hallway outside of one.  (Seriously, is that as universal an experience as TV and movies would have me believe?  Because I would think if it were that the hallways would be fucking full.)

Read the rest of this entry »

So last night, I had a total LUXathon, since I still had that episode to watch from last week, and I will say that I did enjoy watching them together like that.  They were both about Ryan and Baze trying to figure out their relationship with each other, and I liked that and liked that they were doing it with all the info out there.  Which of course, meant things weren’t going great for Cate.

Listen, you guys, here’s what I can say about this show.  It’s not good.  That doesn’t mean I’m not going to watch it, because I totally am.  And that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have good moments, good lines, and good characters, because it totally does.  But it also has a LOT of problems and right now the sum of the parts aren’t adding up to “good”, mostly because as the show goes on, Lux becomes more and more of a bitch, and Cate becomes more and more of a screeching harpy.  And I do just find it a little disappointing that a show with a female showrunner has done such a spectacularly bad job of making any sort of sympathetic female character.  I mean, god, the closest thing to a likable female that we have is Math.  And that … is sad.

Read the rest of this entry »

Hey guys, mentioned it on my Twitter and just wanted to let you know here too–LUX got preempted here for some Chicago Bulls, and honestly, who watches the NBA anymore?  But yeah, they’ll be showing it here on Wednesday so I’d say look for the review on Thursday.  Although there is always the off chance that I’ll catch it online, but no guarantees.  Sorry if anyone is disappointed!

Alright, I think things are finally picking up for me with this show.  Yay!  I’m still not fully on board with Lux or any of her storylines (which we’ll get to), but I am pretty entertained with the whole Cate/Baze/Ryan love triangle.  So let’s get down to business, shall we?

I think that Kerr Smith is actually much better casting than I would’ve believed in the beginning.  He’s so good at playing a lot of emotions, and I love him as the nice guy who is getting annoyed and also getting totally screwed (but also never getting screwed).  I like that he has a good bullshit detector, and I like that he isn’t a total pushover.  I mean, he’s KIND of a pushover, but you definitely get the sense that he has a limit.

And Cate is DEFINITELY pushing it.  I mean, more than anything I guess I’m a fan of not cheating on your significant other (even with the lame WE WERE ON A BREAK! excuse), but if you DO go that route, I’m also a fan of ripping off the band-aid.  And also, I am just a terrible, terrible liar.  I’m not good at it and I hate doing it and so I’m basically just incapable of it.  In fact, to the shock of absolutely no one, I tend to go the other way and overshare.  Still, I find this preferable and at the risk of sounding totally judgmental, lying just grosses me out.  I think it’s one of the least attractive things a person can do.

I mean, that said, I like that Cate’s character has some pretty serious flaws, and I like that they’re trying to flesh out her backstory a little bit, although … I don’t know, sometimes I think I like this show less when I think about it more, which doesn’t necessarily bode well for the future of recapping it, but like I said, I’m sticking it out at least until the end of the season.  But in some ways, for as entertaining as this show is, it feels really amateur sometimes.  And honestly, I don’t know if that will get better.  In some regards, it seems like it could end up being a slave to its own concept, but in others, it just feels like inexperienced writing.  Oh, I’m sorry.  “Writing Inexperienced.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, so maybe the lack of new TV shows is going to my brain, or maybe it’s all the spandex in the Winter Olympics, but I actually enjoyed this episode a lot, probably close to as much as I enjoyed the pilot.  I mean, there was a Yoda cookie jar, a three-legged turtle named after Usain Bolt, and actual drama that didn’t revolve around NO ONE! LOVING! LUX! FOR SIX! TEEN! YEARS!  Praise Jesus.  Or at least the masterminds behind “So You Think Me and My Plus 8 Kids Can Dance.”  Same basic difference.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was cheese, and lots of it.  Probably the worst cheese offender for me, week in and week out, is the theme song.  You guys … it’s so bad it makes me feel kind of embarrassed on the inside, like a vicarious embarassment almost, but without anywhere to direct it.  At first I wanted to say it was totally 90′s, but that’s not really true.  When I tried to come up with 90′s songs to compare it to, like Breakfast at Tiffany’s or Sex and Candy, or hell, even Two Princes, they all just seemed to awesome to be valid.  And then I realized that it isn’t like a 90′s song at all.  It’s like an early 2000′s song, old enough to be dated but not old enough yet to be cool.  It’s certainly no Party in the USA, I can tell you that.

But you know, some of the cheese was actually really sweet.  I kind of loved Baze and his dad, even though I knew they were totally preying on my emotions.  Well congratulations, are you happy now?  It worked!  And dammit all if I wasn’t totally touched by the tripod turtle.  I love animals so much.  Man, this show knows the way to my heart.

Read the rest of this entry »

Alright, you guys … I’m thinking this week’s episode was a good thing.  I felt better about it.  Of course, that could be because it was a more adult-centric episode this week, but still, we got to see some heat between Cate and Ryan, Lux at least somewhat admitted to being a bitchy little bitch, Baze showed some career initiative (love him), and … SPARKLY DRESS!  Seriously, that dress was balls.  I loved it.

Okay, so let’s start with Lux, because I still hate her.  I’ve decided to be unashamed about that, because anything less at this point would be lying to you, and really, what’s the point?  I mean, I know they need her around for the premise of the show, but I kind of wish that Cate and Baze had just accidentally adopted a puppy together or something, because that would be SO much cuter, right?  Totally it would.  Anyway, the whole time she was stomping around, bitching about how everyone thinks she’s a liar, I was like, it’s because you ARE a liar, bitch!  So I was kind of relieved to hear her admit that because it means there might be hope for me to like her at some point in the future.  I’m also just really sick of the whiny, repetitive, “For SIXTEEN YEARS, NO ONE WANTED ME!” schpiel.  Dude, we get it.  Now someone does.  Shut up now, please.

And that speech about people watching them play through the chain link fence like picking out puppies … I know that was supposed to be emotional, and maybe that’s even how it works (although I always imagined more paperwork, because, you know, I have a colorful imagination like that), and I even STARTED to feel a little emotional, but then it just reminded me of how much I want to get a puppy friend for my dog, and I started picturing fat little puppies, and any pity I felt for children in group homes turned into one giant internal squee for puppies.  Am I a horrible person?  Maybe.  But I’m an HONEST horrible person who really, REALLY loves puppies.

Read the rest of this entry »

You guys, I think we need to have a serious talk about LUX.  And about Lux.  We’re three episodes in now and I feel like it’s at a point where I possibly need to adjust my expectations, although possibly since it’s still so early in the story set-up, things will shake out and the show will end up being a little different than it is now.  And I guess at that point, I can readjust.

I think that the real problem for me is that especially in this episode, I found one character particularly unlikable (we’ll get there), and I’m not sure exactly what is in this show for ME.  Who am I supposed to identify with here?  What am I supposed to get out of this?  Because say with a show like The Office, you identify with the drone of your choice, or you like Parks & Rec because it’s funny, or with shows like Vampire Diaries and Chuck, they’re enough NOT like real life to be escapist fun.  And you know, people watch American Idol because they want to picture themselves as a star, or Biggest Loser because they like to imagine losing weight, or WHATEVER.  The point is this–this show isn’t a comedy, and it’s enough like real life that it’s not an escape.  I’m much closer in age to Cate and Baze than Lux, so theoretically I should maybe identify with them, but not only have I never been through their very unique situation, but I also have never had a kid, so the entire thing is just foreign to me. 

The thing is, I do enjoy watching this show.  I just wonder about my long term interest in it.  I don’t have a good feel yet for what the takeaway is.  I mean, I am all for a 30-year-old coming-of-age tale with a sixteen-year-old for comparison story.  This seems, so far, like way more of a parenting/responsibility story, and lots of people are parents and I think it’s probably much more relatable to them.  I’m just … not.  I am going to keep watching it though, at least through the end of the season, because like I said, I do think it’s entertaining enough, and I think it’s good enough that once the dust settles, I might like it more.

The other thing is … I don’t think I like Lux-centric episodes.  For me, Cate and Baze interacting with their families (even if their families did stress me out a little) were what made the episode.  I find I could give a shit about Lux’s friends, mostly because we get so innundated with telling-not-showing about them.  I am COMPLETELY ambivalent toward Bug, and can only really muster up mild irritation for Tasha when I feel anything at all. 

Lux, on the other hand … Lux has been kind of an asshole, especially in this episode and while it’s all very teenage of her, I’m finding her increasingly difficult to like.  I mean, she’s still cute with Baze, but they really have more of a big brother vibe going on.  And I’ll give her a pass with Baze’s dad, because he was putting out an asshole vibe himself and I’m sure she’s grown up distrustful of adults.  But the way she acts toward Cate is totally inexcusable, and Cate is obviously a better person than I am (and it’s no doubt a good thing I DON’T have kids, much less teenagers) because I would’ve slapped a bitch already.

I mean, I get that having a parent is an adjustment for her (kind of) and I get that she was pissed about the school thing.  But how much of a bitch she was about the cell phone annoyed me, and the yanking up of the pullstring was annoying too.  And then dropping a “you’re not my family” bomb on Cate, who has done nothing but bend over backward for her bratty ass?  Please. 

Hmmm … maybe that’s the takeaway for me–don’t have kids, you won’t deal well with teenagers.

You know, I think I just realized that what I really want is for this show to be soapier.  I want the Lux stuff to be less Boxcar Children Street Tuffs and more Dawson’s Creek and I want the grown up stuff to be more angsty, even though 32-year-olds are arguably too old for angst (although if you ask me, NEVER!).  That’s why I liked the pilot so much–pretty hair, sleeping around, sassy radio show …  Now that Guiding Light is gone, I have to get my fix.  (KIDDING–I quit watching Guiding Light in high school.  But seriously.  More of that.)

What do you guys think?  Now that we’re starting to get more into it, do you have a better idea of what how you feel about it?  I know I was kind of a Debbie Downer here, but I’m sure many of you enjoyed the ep so what were your favorite lines?  Things you identified with?  Other thoughts?  Lay it on me in the comments!