This is probably going to be a bit of a late post. I would have started sooner but I was distracted by a silly crossword game I just downloaded... I'm very easily pleased.
It's been a bit of a strange week. It feels like another year has passed since my last post and I haven't done a thing! I've been playing a few games, watching a few things and catching a few Pokémon but that's about it. In my defence, I fell ill on Saturday and I'm still a little out of it.
[CN: depersonalisation/dissociation]
Thankfully, it's been quite a while since I was ill like this, I absolutely loathe it. It's a strange mix of flu symptoms and completely dissociating. It puts me in a very dream-like state, which isn't as nice as it sounds. One of the questions that I always hear when I get a new doctor/psychiatrist etc is 'do you have trouble knowing what is real?' and I always answer no. When I'm in this state, my answer is still no but not in the same way. My problem isn't that everything, including hallucinations etc, seem real, it's that everything seems rather unreal. I have conversations with people and when I finally come out of it, I have to check that they actually happened because I can never be sure at the time. It's quite scary when even the most mundane things feel like they could be some kind of trick or dream and I'm going to realise I'm in my bed at any second. There's always a sense of 'well, I can just wake myself up if I do something wrong' but then... what if I can't? What if what I'm seeing right now is waking life?
The best way I can think to describe it is sitting in a room with ten tv screens all showing different films. One of those films is actually a live recording of what you'd see if you left the room... but which is it? It gets very busy in my head and no 'story' seems more solid or tangible than any of the others. That's the part that scares me, it feels like I'm losing my grip on reality. Rationally, I know that there is nothing to worry about as a common 'side effect', if you will, of depersonalisation disorder is feeling that you are going mad. I don't think there is a single recorded example of someone with the disorder actually having a psychotic break, it's just the way it makes us feel.
[/CN]
I think the above is a large part of why I reacted the way I did when watching the Syfy series of Van Helsing (available on Netflix) which aired late last year. I hadn't seen it advertised anywhere it just popped up while I was browsing for something to watch and I do love me some vampires. This series, if you don't already know, is based on the graphic novels Helsing about distant descendant of Abraham; Vanessa Seward. I won't post major plot spoilers but I will be discussing character development and some lore so there will be minor spoilers.
She never actually wears this outfit
[spoilers]
The show begins well into the apocalypse, known as The Rising, when vampires took over as the dominant species on the planet. Think Buffy episode The Wish with more pollution and dust. There are a lot of parallels to the Buffyverse - super powered chick who fights vampires but is kind of from vampires too, vampire hierarchy where younger vamps work for the older, gothic/leatherclad fashion sense and two distinct 'breeds' of vampire similar to vampires and ubervamps. It took me a few episodes to get into the show as I found most of the script/acting pretty bland. It does improve as it goes and there's less backstory to fill in but I don't see that as much of an excuse - I was with you when you said it was the apocalypse. That's all I needed.
Not to mention, I am so tired of the whole 'to show they're vampires we'll make them all gothy and into BDSM' thing. I don't mind it so much in Buffy because there's a balance of that with vampires driving round in cars and drinking coffee etc. You can't tell me that out of the millions of vampires that were turned in 2013, not a single one said 'this sewer is great, lads, but I sure do miss watching cat videos on youtube and I haven't sent an annoying dickpic in weeks.' It makes absolutely no sense for them to completely refuse every kind of modern advancement when every reason for them to hide in the shadows (sunlight & being massively outnumbered) has been removed.
Anyway, the thing that kept me going through all of that is the relationship between Sam and Mohamed. Sam is a deaf older gentleman who becomes friend and father figure to the younger Mohamed. They have the sweetest friendship, they always look out for one another and I'm really glad to see more and more deaf characters showing up in tv. Sam is played by Christopher Heyerdahl who left a very strong impression on me when he played the deliciously devious Alistair in Supernatural. He's not deaf in real life, but given the way the plot looks like it's going, I think a hearing actor may actually be needed for the role. He has wonderfully expressive eyes and I was so pleased to see more of him. He and Mohamed (Trezzo Mahoro) bounce off each other so well and there were genuinely tearful moments between them. Their relationship and it's portrayal is definitely the best thing about the show.
As I mentioned before, my mental health led to a particular reaction to a certain storyline within the show. At one point, we are introduced to a character who is a psychopath. The character is shown to be both caring and thoughtful and a cold-blooded killer. I appreciate the fact that the character is fully realised, because too few people realise psychopath =/= murderer, but of course they do still kill people. Paradoxically, I find myself empathising quite strongly with the psychopath. I feel like my brain is split into two halves in a more definite way than most peoples. I know that left-brain function is logic and reasoning, right-brain is creativity and, for the sake of my analogy, emotions. Some days I am designed by a steampunk engineer and others I am taken over by one of Brendan Fraser's characters in that dreadful Bedazzled remake who just can't get over that darn sunset.
Killing people is a completely plausible step to the murderer and, though I have never gone to such extremes (or have I???), I have had experiences where people haven't understood what seems like a perfectly logical thing to do to me.
[/spoilers]
On the whole, there are some interesting and unique characteristics to the Helsing vampires and a complex web of subplots holding the main story together. I am intrigued to see where season 2 will be taken. However, I do find the acting hit and miss, especially from series lead Kelly Overton, who seems to do very well on her own but switch off in group scenes when it's not her line. Part of me thinks they cast her because she genuinely looks like she just stepped out of a graphic novel herself.
I was running out of space on my Xbox so I decided to play through a couple of games and delete the ones I didn't like to free up some space. By sheer coincidence, the games I chose were The Cave and The Secret of Monkey Island which are both tongue-in-cheek side scroller puzzle games. Both have a real sense of fun and great replay value (especially The Cave as you choose three characters to play out of seven), and there's a real sense of achievement when you figure out what the hell you're supposed to do.
On the whole, I found The Cave a much easier play through. I don't think the puzzles were easier exactly, they just made more sense to me. A few times in Monkey Island I had to refer to a walkthrough and I'm glad I did because I would never have figured out what I was supposed to do. It's the difference between A + B = C and Z + Q = Narwhal. Still, it made a nice change from my usual 'fighty shooty games', as mum calls them,
The Cave features a sarcastic Morgan Freeman type voiceover as you play three characters plundering a mythical cave for their heart's desire. Each character has their own little section of cave to work through to claim their prize and each character is a little shit. I think you can play with friends if you wish but the game allows you to switch between characters in my favourite kind of co-op play - the kind you do alone.
Monkey Island is a remastered 1990 point and click game about a young man named Guybrush Threepwood who wants to be a pirate. It really requires you to remember every little detail as you figure out what needs doing and who needs talking to and in what order. The fights are based on insults more than swordplay, the cannibals are watching their figures and there's a liberal sprinkling of self awareness and fun. For me, this is the longer game purely because it took me much longer to figure out, however, I find The Cave would have a higher replay value because there's more to do the second time around.
I did finish watching Scorpion a few weeks ago but I kept forgetting to mention it. I have to admit I was getting a bit bored of the 'will they, won't they' of not one but two different couples. The episodes also get very formulaic, much like the later episodes of House.
Cabe: Guys, the government want you to do The Thing but they won't help you at all.
Happy: *frowns*
Walter: Sylvester, hack The Thing.
Sylvester: Ok, I've tried to hack The Thing but I am experiencing Technical Difficulties.
Walter: That is because you are AN IDIOT and not super super clever like me
Happy: *frowns*
Sylvester: I will rehack The Thing... I have hacked The Thing
Toby: That man itched his left eyebrow WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE
Happy: *frowns*
Walter: Oh no, we did The Thing and now The Bad Thing is going to happen and now I am going to die two minutes before the end of the show!
Happy: Not good. *frowns* I have built Mechanical Thing.
Walter: I will use Mechanical Thing backwards and save the world from the Bad Thing at the last possible second!
Paige: (psst I luv u)
Happy: *frowns*
Toby: (psst I luv u)
-THE END-
Seriously, I don't know if they genuinely believe that they're ratcheting up the tension with all these near-death things? We all know he's gonna have a brainwave when the bomb has 0:00002 seconds left.
I do still quite like watching it though, because I find that I relate to them quite a lot with the whole 'I use logic not feels' thing. It's somewhat ironic but feeling akin to these characters actually makes me feel even lonelier. I feel disconnected because I feel connected to them. It's quite bittersweet. Not that I for a second believe I'm anywhere near as intelligent as they are!
There was also a very awkward episode where The Brits came to visit in their tweeds and bow ties, one of them was even called Cromwell! I feel like they need reminding that the star of the damn show is an English actor!
Criticisms aside, there are some touching moments, some well written moments, and some hilarious moments. I can get past the formulaic episode structure because I still enjoy the characters. Also, Penn Jillette has a fantastic little bit part for a couple of episodes which had me howling.
I watched a few other things with mum, including the fantastically hilarious and well-timed Peter Pan Goes Wrong. I would have loved to have seen it live but I had great fun watching it with mum and a hot chocolate instead. The actors are simply superb, playing actors playing characters with all these little subtleties crammed into the OTT raucous show. Not dissimilar to Noises Off and Acorn Antiques but with a classic story that everyone knows. Great fun.
I think I should stop reviewing things now before you all die of boredom! Hopefully I'll do something worth mentioning next week!
Xx
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