Life 1x06 Powerless

[oyceter]

Dani Reese is TEH AWESOME.

Hrm, maybe I will watch some more. Crews is still somewhat annoying in here, but nowhere near the levels of "Agggh! Hit it! Hit it with a big stick!" I was a little annoyed with him talking to the rape victim and being all "Oh I totally grok it," until the slip about prison, which made it less him-as-savior and more him-as-messed-up-dude. I am also more and more disturbed by the use of Zen Buddhism in the show; it feels like they're adopting it as a philosophy and forgetting that it's an actual religion people practice.

I wouldn't have that much of a problem with this, given that it's pretty clear Crews' take on Zen Buddhism is taken from a book, if only I thought that a) the writers were more aware of this, b) Reese's brief take on it in the end of this episode, and c) the fact that I don't think there are competing takes on Zen Buddhism in the US. I am wary that most people watching will have gotten most of their knowledge of Zen and Zen Buddhism from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, the 1960s, and the fetish for all things Asian and "spiritual." And I can't think of a good example of a conflicting view of Zen Buddhism as a living religion, not an enlightened philosophy, in pop culture, at least not off the top of my head.

I also had some qualms about the big Dani episode being all about rape. But I'm very glad that it wasn't about Dani's hidden sexual trauma and extremely glad that it ended up examining not her sexuality, but rather, her addiction and her strength and how she scraped herself off the bottom.

I especially love that Dani basically got to take out Skanky Evil Guy by herself before backup came in. Yeah, Crews had a part in it, which was great, but I love love love that it wasn't them saving her. She was definitely in charge the whole time, and it was ten kinds of awesome that Crews had no problem with following her lead.

I am completely bored by white-collar crime guy and his angst.

Maybe I will hang in there for a few more episodes and just knit and ignore all the times Reese and the Lt. are not on screen.

Comments

[nestra.livejournal.com]

which made it less him-as-savior and more him-as-messed-up-dude.

I think the show is just barely starting to scratch the surface of exactly how messed up Charlie is. It fascinates me (and I think this is indicated more in Lewis' performance and less in the writing) that there are only tiny glimpses of the real Charlie, because as the audience, I think we're used to knowing our characters, even if the other characters on the show don't know them.

But Charlie has so many defense mechanisms in place, of which the Zen is one. He uses it to push people away, to irritate them, to deflect them from getting anywhere close to the person he's become.

[oyceter]

*nods* Yeah... I probably am not getting most of it, since I watched the first two eps. and then skipped ahead to six, but I can see hints. I am really really really wanting more looks at how messed up Dani is too.

[vonnie-k.livejournal.com]

I figured you'd at least like this episode. (Yay!) That scene at the house with the rapist scumbag, my God. The devastating, quiet strength in her just blew me away. This ep also made me love Charlie more because of how he quietly offered his support to Dani all along the way. And like nestra says, I consider Charlie's Zen kind of pastede on yay as a defense mechanism, cobbled together to help him survive in prison. Because of this, its appropriation doesn't bother me personally, although I understand everyone has different trigger points for things like this.

For most of the season, it seems the writers didn't really know what to do with Ted (the white-collar crime guy), but he does get better integrated into the story later on.

[oyceter]

Dani is so awesome! I love her downing the vodka with that look in her eyes, and then her low voice as she tells the scumbag exactly what he doesn't know about her. She is so awesome.

I think Charlie's Zen would bug me less if there were other portrayals of Zen around, except most of the ones I've seen are of the pastede on yay variety =(.

I suspect I will keep watching and knit through all the non-Dani sections, hee.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

There an episode involving a quantum physicist, and what he said, and Charlie's intepretation and repetition of it seemed pretty garbled. I suspect something similar is happening with the Zen Buddhism. On the other hand, it seems to serve Charlie pretty well, keeping him sane in prison and calm now that he is out.

[oyceter]

Yeeeah. And I know quantum physics is generally not represented well in pop culture, but the whole spirituality aspect tends to bug me in particular, especially because it goes into the whole "mystical East" thing.

[ginny-t.livejournal.com]

Just watched this episode this afternoon. I liked it. I did not like that Dani finally got a home just so that she could be in danger in it. I did like that she got to be the person who saved herself (by playing along with creepskank and beating him at that while she was at it) with a little bit of help. I like that she saved herself but did it with a little help that she asked for. (I didn't quite explain this coherently. I blame it on a chocolate rush. La!)

[oyceter]

Hee, yes and yes. I think I totally missed the home thing, since I skipped ahead to this episode. But oh man, Dani. So much love!