Severance has already fumbled season 2. It's not bad per se, but it feels unfocused. They keep drifting away from the interesting characters and ideas to noodle around in the margins. I'm not hopeful for the future.
The mystery box is always more exciting when you don’t know what’s inside it. JJ Abrams has talked about this. No matter what is in the box, the mystery inside your head is better.
He might be right about this, but I'm not sure. I think the key would be to have the mind-blowing reveal in mind FIRST, and then create the scenario that hides the reveal second. But for the reasons described in the article, as far as I can tell, it's always been done the other way around.
A good example of how to do this is Mad Max. Before Fury Road, George Miller built an elaborate backstory for everything. How did Immortan Joe take over the aquifer? What was the Green Place like? How did Furiosa lose her arm? What's with all the symbols branded onto the people painted white? etc.etc. etc.
The viewer wouldn't be able to answer any of those questions, but George Miller could. And he could write a story that relied on those answers. This allowed the world to seem cohesive, even if you never see what was holding it together. In contrast, if there's no underlying explanation for the mysteries, they're just random. Might as well watch people shuffle cards.
In my opinion, The Americans not only stuck the landing but knocked it out of the park. It was the best possible ending; we were wondering how it would end and when it ended, I thought: of course this is the only way it could have ended.
I get nervous when a show like Severance does ostentatiously weird things, like staging a waffle party with masked erotic dancers, or revealing the existence of an indoor goat ranch. Are the writers slowly uncovering a strange yet cohesive world that will eventually be revealed to the audience, or are they just screwing around? I, too, remain concerned that in Severance's case it will be the latter.
One of the few things I've unambiguously loved about this season of Severance is that the reveal about what's going on with Gemma and the Testing Floor is so, so much better (and darker, in an Office Space satire kind of way) than any of the fan theories.
I didn’t read this in case there were spoilers for S2 but I’m inclined to agree with the title. I’m thinking of another show which built up a huge mythology which was the new Battlestar Galactica and going into the final episodes they had these promos that literally had lettering on the screen saying “ALL WILL BE REVEALED” which was true except what was revealed was dumb and also all was not actually revealed. It’s easy to build up, hard to deliver
Ron Moore has admitted that the famous Cylon "plan" that was teased before every episode never, in fact, existed. It's a shame, because BSG didn't really need an underlying mystery in order to be a good show; what we actually were given on screen was already excellent. They set themselves up for disappointment for no good reason.
The infamous "plan" was forced on them by the network, who wanted a hook before each episode. Personally I think Moore et al should have forseen the need to actually come up with one once the networked asked, but....
Thanks, I didn't know that. It does seem like they could, and certainly should, have actually come up with a plan at the time; even something as simple as "the Cylons want to find Earth, too, and are hoping the humans can lead them there" would have sufficed!
That's exactly what I assumed the Cylons were up to for the first two seasons, up until "Lay Down Your Burdens" made the idea unworkable. They appeared to be playing cat and mouse with the Colonials so I assumed they were trying to herd them somewhere.
It would have fit with the religious themes too; the Cylons want access to be promised land but believe themselves unworthy of notice by the human gods, so they're going to trick them. Could have been a grand Homer-esque tale of hubris and tragedy.
I love where the show ended up – I think I'm one of maybe twelve people who adores season 4 and the finale – but it took a rough road to get there. Parts of season 3 are nearly unwatchable. That said, once they hit "Maelstrom" and the Baltar trial, man, it cooks.
I'm one of the other twelve, I liked the finale too! Among other things, I thought the whole "the Colonials were our ancestors" angle was a very satisfying callback to the original BSG and its opening voice-over, that began "There are those who believe that life here began out there..."
I thought the idea that we are descended from the Cylons and Colonials was cool too but they completely muddled it up by having the earth already inhabited by another human species when they arrived. So now we’re descended from the Cylons and colonials and another race of humans that we just introduced with like 20 minutes left in the series?
Ive been hesitant to even start S2. S1 was so good, but ended in a way that made me think that there’s no way they can maintain that immaculate vibe from S1. I hope we’re both wrong.
I think Season 1 is neon platinum awesome and Season 2 is gold awesome. It’s not quite as good as season one, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s still a show that I watch every week when the episode drops, and am slightly angry I can’t keep binging for another week!
I know it’s a cliche, but the St. Elsewhere snow globe ending blew my mind back in the 80s. My personal choice for the ninth circle of TV-ending torment are the makers of Life on Mars. The Brits and Americans. I like Severance, but I’ve been burned before.
St. Elsewhere is an interesting case because, IIRC, that show was just a bog-standard hospital drama (that is, there was nothing mysterious or fantastical about it) until the twist finale. Newhart did the same thing in the same era, using its finale to retcon the entire show as a dream by a different Bob Newhart character. With the explosion of shows we've had during the streaming era, I'm a little surprised that approach to twist endings hasn't been revived at least a few times.
I think the comment is talking about the endings to both the British and the American versions of the show “Life on Mars”, not the show “The Americans”.
Lost was the first show I was aware of that was heavily written about on blogs, and some of the theories about the shows mysteries—delving into quantum physics and obscure DARPA projects—were pretty fascinating. It’s the first and last time I went down that rabbit hole. As the show progressed and the revelations about the world’s secrets were revealed (or not) I began to wonder if Lindelof and Abrams deviated from their blueprint in reaction to the fan predictions (which may have been onto something), because many of those early explanations were more interesting than what the show eventually delivered.
I recall there is video of George Lucas visiting the set of Lost and talking to Lindelof about the underlying plot threads of the show and how viewers assume the writers/creator know exactly where the show is going while the writers/creators are pretty much making it up as they go along and have no idea what the final product will look like.
Lindelof learned his lesson from Lost. The Leftovers never tried to solve the initial mystery, and he made it clear in interviews that he wouldn't, which freed him up to create one of the best series with a satisfying conclusion. (And for one season, the theme song was Iris DeMent's "Let the Mystery Be.")
Twin Peaks: The Return, also stuck the landing. I think the trick is not to try and answer every question. But if that's what you want, I recommend Six Feet Under, a rare instance where you got to see how everyone's story ended.
Severance has already fumbled season 2. It's not bad per se, but it feels unfocused. They keep drifting away from the interesting characters and ideas to noodle around in the margins. I'm not hopeful for the future.
Sorry to say that I agree. “Unfocused” is a good word. I’m still in, though.
See also: my sudden lack of interest in keeping up with Yellowjackets.
I am 100% convinced the Yellowjackets writers have no idea what’s going on
The mystery box is always more exciting when you don’t know what’s inside it. JJ Abrams has talked about this. No matter what is in the box, the mystery inside your head is better.
He might be right about this, but I'm not sure. I think the key would be to have the mind-blowing reveal in mind FIRST, and then create the scenario that hides the reveal second. But for the reasons described in the article, as far as I can tell, it's always been done the other way around.
Unfortunately, that seems to be the case.
What if “what’s in the box” is a *head* inside of which is a mystery?
A good example of how to do this is Mad Max. Before Fury Road, George Miller built an elaborate backstory for everything. How did Immortan Joe take over the aquifer? What was the Green Place like? How did Furiosa lose her arm? What's with all the symbols branded onto the people painted white? etc.etc. etc.
The viewer wouldn't be able to answer any of those questions, but George Miller could. And he could write a story that relied on those answers. This allowed the world to seem cohesive, even if you never see what was holding it together. In contrast, if there's no underlying explanation for the mysteries, they're just random. Might as well watch people shuffle cards.
I love it when you can tell that a creator knows the world and the characters’ backstories from the very beginning.
The mystery box was done a lot on Alias. Often the cliffhanger to an episode was someone literally opening a box.
Still, the writers need to know what's in the box.
Totally. That’s where they went wrong with Lost. They built a cool mystery box with nothing inside.
In my opinion, The Americans not only stuck the landing but knocked it out of the park. It was the best possible ending; we were wondering how it would end and when it ended, I thought: of course this is the only way it could have ended.
Yes, an outstanding ending to an outstanding show, IMHO. Of course, that wasn’t a “tease a big reveal” show.
True, it wasn't that kind of show. It's also the only show that got better as it moved into later seasons.
The Leftovers stuck the ending. Possibly the only one that did.
It stuck the ending the only way anyone knows how: by leaving it ambiguous and wholly up for interpretation.
But yeah, Damon Lindelof worked on both shows and he said the failures of Lost taught him to do that better when he did The Leftovers.
I get nervous when a show like Severance does ostentatiously weird things, like staging a waffle party with masked erotic dancers, or revealing the existence of an indoor goat ranch. Are the writers slowly uncovering a strange yet cohesive world that will eventually be revealed to the audience, or are they just screwing around? I, too, remain concerned that in Severance's case it will be the latter.
Another modern problem is that the fandom/reddit hivemind can often come up with better explanations than the actual writers.
On behalf of the Writers Guild of America, we hereby contest this point.
One of the few things I've unambiguously loved about this season of Severance is that the reveal about what's going on with Gemma and the Testing Floor is so, so much better (and darker, in an Office Space satire kind of way) than any of the fan theories.
I didn’t read this in case there were spoilers for S2 but I’m inclined to agree with the title. I’m thinking of another show which built up a huge mythology which was the new Battlestar Galactica and going into the final episodes they had these promos that literally had lettering on the screen saying “ALL WILL BE REVEALED” which was true except what was revealed was dumb and also all was not actually revealed. It’s easy to build up, hard to deliver
No spoilers.
Ron Moore has admitted that the famous Cylon "plan" that was teased before every episode never, in fact, existed. It's a shame, because BSG didn't really need an underlying mystery in order to be a good show; what we actually were given on screen was already excellent. They set themselves up for disappointment for no good reason.
The infamous "plan" was forced on them by the network, who wanted a hook before each episode. Personally I think Moore et al should have forseen the need to actually come up with one once the networked asked, but....
Thanks, I didn't know that. It does seem like they could, and certainly should, have actually come up with a plan at the time; even something as simple as "the Cylons want to find Earth, too, and are hoping the humans can lead them there" would have sufficed!
That's exactly what I assumed the Cylons were up to for the first two seasons, up until "Lay Down Your Burdens" made the idea unworkable. They appeared to be playing cat and mouse with the Colonials so I assumed they were trying to herd them somewhere.
It would have fit with the religious themes too; the Cylons want access to be promised land but believe themselves unworthy of notice by the human gods, so they're going to trick them. Could have been a grand Homer-esque tale of hubris and tragedy.
I love where the show ended up – I think I'm one of maybe twelve people who adores season 4 and the finale – but it took a rough road to get there. Parts of season 3 are nearly unwatchable. That said, once they hit "Maelstrom" and the Baltar trial, man, it cooks.
I'm one of the other twelve, I liked the finale too! Among other things, I thought the whole "the Colonials were our ancestors" angle was a very satisfying callback to the original BSG and its opening voice-over, that began "There are those who believe that life here began out there..."
I thought the idea that we are descended from the Cylons and Colonials was cool too but they completely muddled it up by having the earth already inhabited by another human species when they arrived. So now we’re descended from the Cylons and colonials and another race of humans that we just introduced with like 20 minutes left in the series?
Ive been hesitant to even start S2. S1 was so good, but ended in a way that made me think that there’s no way they can maintain that immaculate vibe from S1. I hope we’re both wrong.
Its amazeballs. S2 E7 needs all the OSCARS (yes, I said that).
I think Season 1 is neon platinum awesome and Season 2 is gold awesome. It’s not quite as good as season one, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. It’s still a show that I watch every week when the episode drops, and am slightly angry I can’t keep binging for another week!
Best TV show ending: Six Feet Under.
Worst: Dexter (original series, still loved the ride, though. It’s worth it for “Surprise, Motherfucker” memes alone).
Let’s hope that in this case “you might be wrong” but I share your apprehension.
I know it’s a cliche, but the St. Elsewhere snow globe ending blew my mind back in the 80s. My personal choice for the ninth circle of TV-ending torment are the makers of Life on Mars. The Brits and Americans. I like Severance, but I’ve been burned before.
St. Elsewhere is an interesting case because, IIRC, that show was just a bog-standard hospital drama (that is, there was nothing mysterious or fantastical about it) until the twist finale. Newhart did the same thing in the same era, using its finale to retcon the entire show as a dream by a different Bob Newhart character. With the explosion of shows we've had during the streaming era, I'm a little surprised that approach to twist endings hasn't been revived at least a few times.
That Newhart ending was the GOAT.
I don’t know if we’ll get banned for talking about specifics, but what was wrong with The Americans’ ending? I thought they pulled it off pretty well.
I think the comment is talking about the endings to both the British and the American versions of the show “Life on Mars”, not the show “The Americans”.
Lost was the first show I was aware of that was heavily written about on blogs, and some of the theories about the shows mysteries—delving into quantum physics and obscure DARPA projects—were pretty fascinating. It’s the first and last time I went down that rabbit hole. As the show progressed and the revelations about the world’s secrets were revealed (or not) I began to wonder if Lindelof and Abrams deviated from their blueprint in reaction to the fan predictions (which may have been onto something), because many of those early explanations were more interesting than what the show eventually delivered.
I recall there is video of George Lucas visiting the set of Lost and talking to Lindelof about the underlying plot threads of the show and how viewers assume the writers/creator know exactly where the show is going while the writers/creators are pretty much making it up as they go along and have no idea what the final product will look like.
I’m still sore about GoT.
I’ve learned not to get my husband started on that or his Kung Fu nerddom.
Lindelof learned his lesson from Lost. The Leftovers never tried to solve the initial mystery, and he made it clear in interviews that he wouldn't, which freed him up to create one of the best series with a satisfying conclusion. (And for one season, the theme song was Iris DeMent's "Let the Mystery Be.")
Twin Peaks: The Return, also stuck the landing. I think the trick is not to try and answer every question. But if that's what you want, I recommend Six Feet Under, a rare instance where you got to see how everyone's story ended.
International Assassin may also be the greatest episode of television ever written, exceeded perhaps only by S2E7 of Severance