Dark Angel final analysis -- X-PHILES WORLD-TV Watchers Room

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Date Posted: 09:12:03 10/06/06 Fri
Author: BDM
Subject:

Dark Angel final analysis

I have now seen every episode and I think it was a good show overall, not a great one. I would have welcomed a third season at least to try and tie up some loose ends and get to some of the plans they had which are mentioned on the commentaries during Freak Nation on the S2 DVD set. I'm sure it was an expensive show to make & with the ratings not being stellar they took it out. Plus they had Joss Whedon's new show coming which they had high hopes for only to pull the plug on that mid-season. 2 shows that deserved to have respectable runs killed too early, thanks Fox.

I gotta disagree with most of you and say I liked season 2 alot. S1 was almost not a sci-fi show, most of the villains were simply criminals that Max & Logan take out. I liked the eps with other X5s and Lydecker was a good baddie but Max always getting away made it repetitive. They try to personalize the conflict by saying Max looks like Lydecker's wife (strange how he didn't notice her the first time they met) so they are kinda related. They did this with White in S2. Wanting to make the conflict more personal I guess. I bet they would have brought Lydecker back at some point as his body was never found.

The Jam Pony side of the story got old fast. With them not knowing who Max is, with the exception of Cindy, they don't have much to do. I was so glad Freak Nation ended that. I don't know if Normal could continue on but it seemed Cindy & Skechy could as allies in the Transgenic cause. I love how Max was always under the threat of firing by Normal & it never happens. She did save him once or twice so maybe he was gratful & let her absences slide but they never mention this.

I liked the break out from Manticore that started S2. All that military jargon & gestures were cool. I suppose some thought the animal-men were corny and some were. Joshua is either loved or loathed it seems. I liked him although some eps got to be too much like him painting or getting stoned or loving a blind girl. Alec was a great addition. Josh & he added some much needed comic relief to the seriousness of Max/Logan.

The disease storyline did grate after awhile but it doesn't ruin the show for me. I like action & sci-fi elements, the romance is nice but secondary to me. Also, Logan getting his legs back, then losing them, then getting them back got tiring. I started to forget & wondered if I missed something when he walked again. The super legs were a nice idea that was under used. Logan did get to kick butt in the last ep finally & in that S1 ep that was a Straw Dogs rip off.

I noticed that Max didn't have seizures anymore in S2 nor go into heat. Going into heat was funny & I wished they had done that again. I recall that Max was told that the woman who gave birth to her was a good person who wanted to keep her & Max had said she wanted to find her. That could have been a neat story but looks like it was dropped with lots of other potential stories.

Now mid-season 2 did hit some snags as each ep became the new wacky Manticore creature of the week. But then the last few eps built a momentum that could have carried into S3. The whole Transgenics fight for their rights story mirrors many X-Men stories. Thats my favorite comic & the movies can't scratch the surface of what the comic is so I had hopes that DA could present it better. The siege of Terminal City would have kicked off S3 & Max would even go for non-violent resistence to get the public to accept them. A thinly veiled stand in for racial harmony.

Now, what I didn't like was the Breeding Cult, the Familiars. We already have all these Transgenics, why do we need another group thats beyond Manticore? I guess so the 2 groups can fight like they did in Freak Nation and would again in S3. But why not have some Transgenics go bad & have Max fight them with the good ones? They add this whole wacky cult/end of the world back story to have a mythology like the X-Files or Buffy. I was happy having DA not have one of those. Be more of a straightforward show & not another conspiracy show. And if White is some kind of superhuman, why was he always shooting at Max & not using his powers on her?

Sandeman (the Father) would have been a nice bit if played well. He was supposed to show up in S3 & give up the explainations. Getting way too "family" with it all. Max as the saviour, as destiny-girl. Too Buffy or Alias like. It's Max's show so she should be special but why the predestined saviour cliche?

So overall, I saw stuff to like & to not be thrilled about. I suppose S3 might not have been that good but they could at least have been allowed to try. I liked Alba's hair curly in S1, the straight hair in S2 not as appealing but better than now when she's a blonde.

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Replies:

Re: Dark Angel final analysis -- CW, 08:10:22 10/18/06 Wed