Round 2

SURVIVOR’S REMORSE

VS 

GRACEPOINT

Follow the bracket here!!!

Just as I start to realize that this tournament is setting television writing back decades, and giving no shows their proper due, it dawns on me why this tournament might actually work. The vast majority of new fall shows are stamped with a big red “suck,” only to be forgotten as soon as the networks will allow us to. It’s almost a habit at this point. We’re supposed to check our baggage at the door, and review each new piece of media with an open mind, but we’ve been conditioned to equate “new fall show” with “shitty,” and sometimes forget to take a second look. The bracket has allowed/forced me to do something I would have never done otherwise, watch the second episodes of Survivor’s Remorse and Gracepoint, and I have to say that I kind of enjoyed myself, something that isn’t said very often when it comes to pilots.

Well…”enjoyed myself” might be a little strong when talking about Gracepoint, yet another show about a dead kid (hey, at least there’s no fat, bearded, ginger sidekicks). Although the first episode definitely had its rough, lingering moments, the second episode allowed the plot to take over a little bit, and things are starting to move. The list of suspects has started to grow, and although there’s a good chance that none of them are the killer, at the very least they’re all weirdos, and it’s hard to not want to find out just how weird they are. It’s the binge-iest of binge shows, which I should have realized right after the pilot. Although more and more members of the PF staff are speaking out against binging, Gracepoint doesn’t really apply. If you binge Breaking Bad, you’re not really appreciating each episode as its own unique thing, and it’s just too much information for one brain to handle. You’ll lose some awesomeness. Gracepoint, however, is no Breaking Bad. The episodes do not seem to reward viewers with self-contained themes and tones. It’s just a long ass story, and thrives on you needing to see the next episode. Gracepoint isn’t awful, but if you’d rather wait for a Netflix-fueled sick day, as opposed to going week-to-week, more power to you. If you decide to that, though, please be warned: this show stars David Tennant.

I’ve never seen Doctor Who. Maybe he was good on that show. Maybe he’s good in almost everything he does, but the writers just decided to fuck him by creating one of the most hackneyed characters on TV. It doesn’t matter. Through two episodes, he has tanked this show so hard that Survivor’s Remorse could be half as good as it is, and still move on to Round 3. Tennant feels like he got lost on his way to some cheesedick Miami Vice ripoff, wound up on the Gracepoint set, and just decided to stay. This show would be fine if Breaking Bad-alum was the sole detective on the case, or if it decided not every show needs a god damn antihero. Attention networks: you don’t need more drama in a show about a murdered child. That should provide so much drama, in fact, that it deems boring, prickish, antiheroes completely unnecessary.

Survivor’s Remorse has become my favorite Cinderella story of the bracket so far (sorry A to Z). What started as a decent, if not amateurish, pilot has grown into a pretty compelling ensemble dramedy. It isn’t really that funny, but since it’s 30 minutes long, we’ll go with dramedy. Within the first five minutes of the second episode, the mother of the main character, young NBA star Cam Calloway, has told a reporter that she used to whoop her kids, and then we predictably, but rewardingly, go from there.

In two episodes, creator Mike O’Malley (that same one) has already removed all Entourage comparisons, and even if Survivor’s Remorse never hits the dizzying mediocrity of that show in its heyday, it still offers something that Entourage never cared about: compelling characters. Welcome to the Elite 8, Survivor’s Remorse.

– Ryan Haley

 

TOMORROW:

JANE THE VIRGIN AND MARRY ME ENTER THE TOURNAMENT!!!