I know I’m not really ready to write a story when I find myself going back over the section I’ve already written, editing it to death, without adding much new to the text. That’s the way things were with my work in progress this week. I don’t even have a title for the thing yet, which is never a good sign. However, I made one strong step forward during yesterday’s writing session, so I’m heading in the right direction, I hope. I have a few weeks to get this thing whipped into shape.
I finished The Providence Rider by Robert McCammon this morning. Much to my surprise, the story has nothing to do with Rhode Island and very little to do with horses. I’ll write my review later but, although there were lots of exciting things happening, not many of them really mattered and some of them had confusing, conflicting or no motivation. It’s the sort of book that might have used a strong editorial hand, where someone would come back to the author and say, “Yes, but why?” Next up: The Last Kind Words by Tom Piccirilli.
Last weekend, my wife, daughter and I watched all six episodes of the BBC series Sherlock. I’d seen them all before, but I thought it was something they’d enjoy and I was right. It sucks that we’re going to have to wait a long time to get any more of them, given that the two leads are involved with The Hobbit and Cumberbatch is doing Star Trek, and everything else. It’s a very clever modernization. I was even more favorably inclined toward the middle episodes of each series, which I’d found comparatively weak the first time around. I think the second series debuts on BBC America this week.
We started Downton Abbey last night. I didn’t know much of what it was about, but it had the Merchant-Ivory vibe that we like, and my wife is a big fan of Maggie Smith. I was so exhausted, though, that I fell asleep during the last half of the first episode. I don’t take that as a reflection on the series, though. I’m going to go back and watch what I missed so we can pick up where we left off tonight. I’m not 100% sure we’ve given up on The Sopranos late in Season 4, but I think my wife has lost interest in the series so I might have to finish it off by myself.
I had hopes that Kat would go farther in Survivor than she did. She did her best to win that immunity challenge and in doing so she guaranteed that the others would perceive her as a threat. Even though she hasn’t won one before, she has performed fairly well in challenges, so I think they were right to fear her. However, what really seemed to seal her fate was her ill-advised choices of companions in the reward challenge. If she had done the sentimental thing and taken Tarzan and Christina, she might have scored some brownie points. It’s always fun, though, to see someone get absolutely blindsided. She was clueless that she was in jeopardy, which speaks to her naïveté. That had to be one of the weepiest walks of shame I’ve ever seen. She was so distraught and ashamed that Tarzan and Christina outlasted her in the game.
It wouldn’t be the end of a season without another Red John appearance on The Mentalist. Looks creepy. It was fun seeing a glimpse into Lisbon’s past this week. I was sure the culprit was going to turn out to be the old flame’s wife, but that would have been the easy path. I wonder what happens to all that gold?
Another story with wacky motivation was this week’s Criminal Minds. Identifying the culprit as the bus driver seemed like a stab in the dark, but it was stated with such certainty. And how did a bus driver manage to gain access to a maximum security inmate to have him stabbed? And would anyone really pick victims based on four locations that sorta kinda look like a heart if you draw the right connections between them on a map? That was pretty lame.
I spent most of this week’s episode of CSI thinking the woman oil executive driving the cross-country race car was Shawnee Smith, who co-starred with Ted Danson on Becker. I was impressed by her range. Then I figured out it was someone who bears a passing resemblance but is a much better serious actor.
