Terra Nova Season Finale Tonight!

Today, I’ll take a break from writing about David Marshall’s Jesus and the Religions of Man, and instead I will write about Terra Nova, a show that is on Monday nights, on Fox. The two-hour season finale of Terra Nova is on tonight!

I have liked some episodes better then others and have found the romantic dialogue to be hokey and cheesy, to say the least. Also, I am not incredibly attracted to most of the characters (in contrast to, say, LOST). But I have enjoyed this series overall, and there are a variety of reasons for this. First, I like the character of Commander Nathaniel Taylor (played by Stephen Lang) because he is melodramatic and takes himself too seriously, somewhat like General Hammond on Stargate SG-1, and yet Commander Taylor sometimes demonstrates a softer side. Second, I enjoy shows and stories that have such elements as conflicts between powerful personalities, mystery, and redemption. And, third, remember the movie, The Fugitive, where we admire and like Tommy Lee Jones as the cop who is pursuing Dr. Richard Kendall (played by Harrison Ford), and yet we are still rooting for Kendall to escape because he’s an innocent man who was framed? I really liked it when Tommy Lee Jones finally found out that Dr. Kendall did not kill his wife and became his ally rather than his pursuer. Well, Terra Nova had a theme like this in last week’s episode.

I’ll give some information here about the plot and characters of the series, but I don’t want to get overly bogged down in details, such that writing this post becomes a chore. Essentially, Terra Nova is about people from a futuristic earth going back to the dinosaur times (in an alternate timeline, so as not to affect the future) in order to provide humanity with a fresh start, since the futuristic earth is plagued with problems such as overpopulation and pollution. There is the Terra Nova colony, which is led by Commander Taylor. And there are Sixers, another colony, which is led by Mira. There is tension between these two groups. For a while, we wonder if we can really trust Commander Taylor, and if Mira is actually one of the good people, but what we have learned is that Mira is on the side of Taylor’s estranged son, who is developing another portal to allow developers from the future to come back to the dinosaur period and to plunder the land. Mira and the Sixers are not exactly evil, though, for Mira is a mother who wants to see her daughter again. Like the Others in LOST, the Sixers appear to be enemies, but they are actually complex people, with complex motives, like many of us.

Throughout the series, Taylor is aware that someone is spying for the Sixers, and we are wondering who that spy is. It turns out that the spy is Skye, a teenaged girl to whom Taylor is a sort of father figure, since she has supposedly lost her parents. But Skye is not a spy out of sinister motives, for she is spying for the Sixers because they have her sick mother. What reminded me of The Fugitive was that Terra Nova’s security chief, Jim Shannon, figured out that Skye was spying for the Sixers against her own will, for she wasn’t giving the Sixers any information that could actually harm Terra Nova. Commander Taylor was ready to hang her (figuratively speaking), but Shannon was a moderating influence.

The theme of redemption has occurred in this series a couple of times. There is Shannon’s son, Josh, who wants to bring his girlfriend from the future back to Terra Nova, and he has secretly cooperated with the Sixers in an attempt to bring this about. But his father found out, and Josh learned his lesson. There is a guy who killed a man in Terra Nova, and Taylor expelled him from the colony. At one point, Taylor gave a dramatic speech about how the colony is humanity trying to start afresh, and how things like murder is what people came to Terra Nova to escape—-even though we learn that Taylor himself has killed important people in his own attempt to protect the colony from future developers (or so he tells us). But the expelled murderer ends up redeeming himself when he spies on the Sixers and brings Skye’s mother safely to the Terra Nova colony. Taylor tells Jim Shannon that it’s good when someone has a chance to redeem himself, as he reflects on his own mistakes, which led to his alienation from his son.

I’m looking forward to the season finale tonight, and it would be nice if the show could be renewed for a second season. Lately, I’ve looked forward to watching it on Monday nights!

Jittery, Fresh Start, Not Jesus, Keep It Cool

I have four items for my write-up today on Stephen King’s Needful Things:

1. Nettie Cobb is a woman who killed her abusive husband and spent time in an insane asylum afterwards. After her release, she worked at Polly Chalmer’s sewing shop as part of a program. Nettie is really jittery around people, even when they try to be extra friendly to her on account of her nervous disposition. But Leland Gaunt, the owner of the new store in town, manages to win her confidence through his soothing and charming personality, beginning with his compliment of her for a cake that she made. I can somewhat identify with Nettie, not because I am insane, but rather because I myself have had a nervous disposition in the past, especially around people. I’m glad when there are people who take that into consideration and are still friendly to me, but, often, me being nervous makes other people nervous, or they don’t know how to interact with me. But I will say that my nervousness has gone down over the past couple of years.

2. Hugh Priest is the town drunk. At one point in the book, he actually contemplates getting a fresh start in life: becoming part of AA, having “no more paydays spent in terror that he would find a pink slip in his envelope along with his check” (page 73), etc. But he quickly abandons that dream and concludes that he has no future, for he is fifty-one years old, and that is an age to run from the avalanche of one’s past, not to have dreams about the future. I found this part of the book to be intriguing, since I know (or know of) people who become sober late in life, and the twelve steps are considered to be a way both to have a good future and also to deal with the wreck of the past. Why would one ever be too old to get a fresh start and to pursue a quality of life, in whatever number of years one has left?

3. Sheriff Alan Pangborn gets into a slight argument with Reverend William Rose (who is played in the movie by Don S. David, of Stargate SG-1 fame). Rose wants Alan to put a stop to a Catholic raffle (or something like that), for he considers that to be gambling. But Alan says that the Catholic church is breaking no laws and that living in a democracy means that we sometimes have to put up with things that we don’t like, since people in a free society will do some things that rub us the wrong way. Rose then appealed to the example of Jesus, who drove out the moneychangers defiling the temple, implying that he was about to do something similar. But Alan responds, “Yes…but you’re not Him.” That’s how I feel about many Christians who appeal to Jesus driving out the moneychangers to justify their own douchiness: they’re not Jesus. In my opinion, they’re not even in the same ballpark as Jesus.

4. Alan is dating Polly, who is gushing about how Leland Gaunt is a dream-boat and will be attracting the women in Castle Rock. Alan jokingly remarks that his jealous muscle is starting to twitch! Alan may not feel that Leland Gaunt is serious competition, since Gaunt is rather old. But some dating gurus have suggested that we do what Alan did (though they don’t mention Alan) when a woman we like seems to be interested in someone else, or when someone else is interested in her: keep it cool, be light and funny, be easygoing, etc.

Oh My God

I just saw the documentary Oh My God, which my friend Felix mentioned here a while back. It’s about a film-maker who travels the world to ask people who God is. You can watch the trailer on Felix’s page to get the gist of the movie. I’ll just make three points about it:

1. The illusionist David Copperfield said that he could probably replicate the “miracles” of the Bible, and yet he still believes in a higher power. (Those weren’t his exact words, but that’s what I got out of what he said.) That reminds me of Erich von Danicken’s statement that he believes in God, even though he argues that Ezekiel saw alien spaceships. I’ve been watching Stargate SG-1, and its premise is that religions are based on aliens who visited earth.

Does anything have to threaten my faith in God? People may rip apart the Bible and inserts seeds of doubt about its inerrancy or reliability. But why’s that mean that I have to abandon my belief in a higher power who made everything and everyone around me, and who loves me?

2. There was a good scene about Islam. A fundamentalist Muslim quoted a Quranic passages that said (according to him) that non-Muslims won’t go to heaven. Then a moderate Muslim offered an alternative interpretation of that very same passage, saying that it said those who are closed to the truth—whether they be Jews, Christians, pagans, or Muslims—will not enter heaven. His definition of “truth” may be a belief in God and morality, for he referred to the Quran passage that said that those who believe in God, including Jews and Christians, will go to heaven.

I liked this scene because it dealt with two interpretations of a specific passage of the Quran. Usually, I hear the debate between fundamentalist and moderate Muslims expressed in terms of generalities rather than exegesis, so it was refreshing to get a taste of the latter.

3. The documentary leaned strongly towards the view that we are all God, and we should help one another. I have problems with reducing religion to that, as someone who has problems fitting in with people. One reason I like the Bible is that it presents people who rely on God and his goodness, even as they are marginalized by humanity. I think here of the Psalmist, the prophets (particularly Jeremiah, but also Moses), and Jesus.

Losing Their Edge?

I had a hard time feeling inspired by Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters just now. I taped them so that I can watch them again this week and see if I feel inspired after a second viewing. Otherwise, I’ll wonder if the shows have lost their edge.

I have watched a lot of TV this weekend, and part of my problem may be TV fatigue. I’ve been going through the first season of Stargate-SG1 with Netflix, while doing reading or homework, of course. So far, the characters crack me up, especially that serious general, but they don’t strike me as having that much depth. Some of the characters are over-the-top. I’m thinking of the villains here. But I do get a comfortable feeling when I watch the show. Plus, I think it’s interesting how it handles religion (people see aliens as gods).

Regarding Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters tonight (or last night, since, technically, it’s now Monday morning), I just had a hard time caring for the characters. They were like cardboard cutouts. I’m not sure if it has to do with my mood, for I watched a couple of Brothers and Sisters from Season 1 last night, and they inspired me. I’ve been watching Season 1 episodes of Desperate Housewives whenever ABC has presented them on Saturday nights, and I’ve relished them. For some reason, I didn’t have that good feeling tonight. Are the shows losing their edge?

But it could be me. I remember when Season 6 of Desperate Housewives was going on, and I felt nothing the first time I watched the episode in which the characters shared their memories about Eedie, who had died. But I enjoyed the episode when I saw it again a year or so later.

On Desperate Housewives tonight, I liked Felicia Tillman saying from her jail cell that she has friends in Wysteria Lane who will deal with Paul Young. As I said in my last post, I was afraid that we’d see a rehash of Seasons 1-2, in which Paul Young and Felicia Tillman were at each other’s throats. Indeed, it does appear that they’ll be in conflict this season, but there will be a different plot-line demonstrating that conflict. Felicia will somehow get her revenge from jail, and we’ll have to wait and see how that will pan out.

Another thought on the episode tonight: I have a hard time getting used to Carlos without a beard! He always looked so manly with his beard.

And what was with Tom’s social faux pas tonight?

Regarding Brothers and Sisters, Justin looked buffer and grayer after his time in Iraq or Afghanistan, and he appeared to have his act together, which is rare for Justin. I liked how he was encouraging the family to talk to each other and get things out in the open, for, after the car accident that closed off last season, they were hiding from their feelings and their problems. Kevin had given up his dream to adopt, and he was pouring himself into pro-bono work, without really listening to his clients. Sarah was making a deal to sell Narrow Lake and to move to France with her French boyfriend (who, alas, is still around, but, I have to admit, he is a source of stability and wisdom in Sarah’s life). Kitty is holding out hope that her comatose husband, Robert (the Rob Lowe character), will come out of his coma. And Nora, who’s ordinarily a concerned, busybody mother, is not getting involved in her kids’ problems. As Justin said, it’s like they all went to their own rooms after the accident.

I admired how Justin was strong enough to take Kitty’s verbal-thrashing. Justin wanted his family to be honest with each other, and he was willing to take the consequences of that. But I had problems with how he was telling Kitty that Robert had no chance to come out of his coma, and was encouraging her to pull the plug. I admired Kitty’s devotion to her husband, and how she was holding out hope for his recovery. For her to ditch that devotion for her own self-fulfillment struck me as, well, kind of shallow—not that I judge those who may choose to pull the plug on a comatose relative and allow him or her to die with dignity.

Those are my scattered reactions for tonight.