(no subject)

[cactuswatcher]

I think that the key phrase in my review of Ringer the other day was "wider audience." shadowkat67 made a pretty good argument last night about why people who like good soap operas would like Ringer. But I have to completely disagree with her conclusion that you'd have to like soap operas to like Ringer. Danielle Steele and Jackie Collins make my skin crawl. But I'm liking Ringer. Instead of trying to convince you that it's not a soap opera, which is most likely a mistake, I'll just say that it's more than that.

What is Ringer like to me? I was having a hard time comparing it to anything till it dawned on me after last night's episode. It's a new twist on the classic show The Fugitive. Where Dr. Richard Kimble wanted nothing more to be able to stop running, Bridget wants nothing more than to run away. In both cases the detective chasing after them knows exactly what they look like. In Kimble's case he has to keep running from his detective. In Bridget's case her best strategy is to hide in plain sight, talk to the detective when he insists, and be mildly uncooperative, which happens to fit the "disguise" she's using perfectly. Kimble ends up helping strangers in his search for the person who might be able to clear him. Bridget ends up helping people who mistakenly think they know her.

Ringer is far from the best show on TV, but it is entertaining and at least for now intriguing.

I watched the premiere of Unforgettable last night. Unremarkable might be a more accurate title. There's nothing wrong with it. There will be people who'll like it a lot. Unfortunately it's about as copy cat as you can get. Yet another crime drama with a tough, smart female lead with a male partner who's sweet on her if not already in love with her. She's got a superpower, if not a supernatural power. You can name the things it's derivative of for yourself. The writing is not special. The setting isn't eye-popping. The female lead is kind of ordinary looking, unless you've got a serious thing for red-heads. The male lead is a cross between ruggedly handsome and broken-down shabby. If you love murder mysteries where you have little chance of solving the mystery yourself, it may be the show for you. I wouldn't flee screaming from more episodes myself, but I think I'll probably turn the TV off rather than bother to switch channels to watch it.

Comments

Re: Spoiler here

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

LOL! Thought much the same thing..."Siobhan, hon, don't you think someone can track you if you are taking money out of a discretionary account set up in your own name and through your bank?" (Which is another reason this screams soap opera, because they do stuff like that all the time. With soaps? Logic really doesn't apply.)

What they should have done was have her set up an account under her twin sister's name or another alias, and take it out under that alias.
Of course then they wouldn't have that scene.

Re: Spoiler here

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

If you want to fall off the radar, you have to figure out how to pay for it. Moving all your money into an account with an alias would look suspicious, if only because someone emptied out your regular account the day before you died or whatever.

There are ways to make it look like it was stolen by a third party or *something* (I am not the devious type who knows these things, but you hear about them...)

So, yeah, logic is not in high supply here.

; )

Re: Spoiler here

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Good point. I'm trying to remember how the thrillers by David Baldacci, Robert Ludlum and those guys did it, but it's been a while since I've read one. In Girl with a Dragon Tattoo...she electronically
moved it around, but Siobhan is hardly a hacker.

Dlgood is right, it does remind me a great deal of those old Bette Davis style melodramatic thrillers, which were a lot of fun.

Re: Spoiler here

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

In Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, it wasn't her money to begin with, it just "mysteriously disappeared" when the business man/gangster whose money it *was* died. People could assum he faked his death and withdrew his own money, but no one would suspect Lisbeth unless they could photo ID her on the bank camera doing the leg work for the withdrawal. She was not tied to the gangster in any way.

Re: Spoiler here

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Plan C: Wiley Coyote (um, Siobhan) wants to frame the Road Runner (well, Bridget) so she purposely sets up the account to nail Bridget. Figuring Bridget will clean out the checking account, Siobhan reasons that Bridget will then immediately leave town. Siobhan waits for a beat, then someone who looks like Bridget will withdraw all the money from the new account in Paris. Police are then sure Bridget did in Siobhan for the money, arrest her and Siobhan lives happily ever after in her new life. However Wiley Coyote doesn't notice the anvil hanging above. The Road Runner hasn't run off but has tripped the anvil onto Wiley Coyote's head.

Re: Spoiler here

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

One can only hope for an episode in which both twins are chased by the rest of the cast through a hallway composed of nothing but doors, at increasing rates of speed, while Yakety Sax plays on the soundtrack...

Re: Spoiler here

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

You have to assume absolute greed on the part of your twin sister, which isn't a big stretch if you're greedy and they have all the same genes as you, but she didn't factor in Bridget masquerading as her and using the money like a regular account, 'cause who would want Siobahn's life? Not Siobahn.