LogFAQs > #883173555

joe40001 posted...

So far my issue is that you seem adverse to pointedness. 15 million merits hit hard because it hit hard. I can not think of a more intellectually dark moment than the guy being forced to watch a porn preview where the dreamer girl sings her hopeful song as she has sex, looking drugged up and dead inside that was just so fucking dark.

Why undercut that by just alluding to it. The cinematography on the episode was so beautiful why not show it in all it's full intensity?

By criticizing a show for being effective as being "too unnuanced" it's like criticizing a boxer for punching too hard. That it hits it's marks so well is what makes this such a great episode, same point about San Junipero

I think you're misinterpreting what I'm saying. The scene you mentioned in 15 Million Merits is perhaps my favorite scene from the episode.

When I say I prefer episodes with a little more subtlety, I don't mean "just imply stuff!!!!" Oftentimes, showing is the most brutal and effective way. I'm talking grand scheme; overarching, conceptual subtlety. The foundation of the episode being "the world has turned into American Idol and only like two people have any sort of problem with it whatsoever" still makes for awesome dystopia, but I wouldn't say it makes for the most thoroughly believable episode. It's almost more like an extremely, extremely dark satire.

If there's an aspect with my perspective for you to take issue with, I think it'd be that I (mostly) favor episodes that strike deep at things I genuinely fear could or will come to pass in the relatively short term. That's not a sweeping rule, but it's why Merits wasn't my favorite despite it being objectively great.

I'm not sure what you're getting at about San Junipero, though -- my main critique there was that the ending skipped a step. I wanted MORE pointedness, not less.
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-Shred