The 'mysterious' drawings by the brothel madam of the figure in the hazmat suit are like alien drawings from the X-Files and her recollections of being laid out in a lab-type setting recall alien abduction scenes from the X-Files as well. Likewise, a sequence where the ingénue has a flashback, staring up into (and lit by) a bright, cool light and recalling alien-looking men in hazmat suits also brings to mind an X-Files type of treatment. And then, yet again, an X-Files conspiracy-type sequence where a little girl drops an alien-looking hazmat-suit toy figure and the brothel madam then has an X-Files-style abduction flashback. It's the kind of method that could theoretically be used in the creation of a cult fan base - after all, it worked once before. But it's really just plug-n-play recycling.
Some writers and producers don't actually have good ideas of their own (despite falsely producing the impression that they do); they just try to find easily formulated and cheaply repeatable methods to get viewers to respond to their shows with FANatical zeal. To make things easy they exploit the material of other shows and movies, video games, writers' work, people's lives, etc. in an attempt to make their shallow work a quick and easy FANtastic success that can quickly and easily be spun off into FANtastic sequels which will be received with the same FANatical zeal. In the end, it's really just manipulative plug-n-play recycling that doesn't serve the audience but instead serves the Greatness of the Authors, fueling their public image and financial success. The only limit here is their imagination.
Speaking of limited imagination, the pyrotechnics just being off-handedly approved on demand by the team back at headquarters for a prison break by the man in black is cheap and annoyingly facile, and every time the man in black wins a gunfight it's boring. He's only theoretically menacing. Every time I see him do anything I'm disappointed and vaguely pissed off.
Speaking of vague, the actor playing the outlaw being freed in the prison break looks like he's wearing color contacts. I've seen a particular profucer use this before as a superficial trick that could theoretically give an appearance of depth in a character/player. It always accomplishes the opposite effect by masking the true depth that exists in the player's eyes with a muddy veneer of fakeness, making it difficult to become involved in the action or what the character is saying and feeling. I just think "he's wearing color contacts... he's wearing color contacts... he's wearing color contacts..." I think that a lot of the time when I see people in real life wearing them too. It's distracting and it makes people look vague and monotonous. The problem here is that although there are a couple times when it's a legitimate technique due to theatrical necessity, when used otherwise it becomes a gimmicky override of the actors' natural craft and presence.
Excess self-tanner/makeup distances me even further with a mucky orange layer of fakeness.
Although the female who plays the safe-stealing outlaw's accomplice is fully clothed and firing guns in the shootout scene, she's not actually empowered. Having a woman enacting a shooter game (Red Dead Series, Assassin's Creed...) in this supposedly very socially aware show really just looks like a false attempt to show support for women's strength by having her gun down virtually an entire town of mostly unarmed people, unarmed women included. She's no strong character, and she's a traitor to her own kind. (What 'artists' would just recycle video games in their show to begin with? That is just petty... (it's not art, it's fake art - Fart, if you will)) This worn-out device of just putting a gun in a woman's hand and having her rage on with extreme prejudice is really just a quick fix to avoid having to work to create something interesting and truly inclusive. It's easier to drop the character into a stereotypical male mold (overgeneralized even to males), having her basically just enact sociopathic behavior, than it is to develop her. They'll compensate for this later by having her homicidal motivation be revenge for the gruesome killing of her mother, so then we'll be expected to believe it's all really in service of the meaningful relationship of mother and daughter. Then the further insult within the already-insulting 'apology' will be that they also made some of the more conscious viewers accept their description of the heinously sadistic murder of her mother by associating it with a 'maternal bond' and a theme of retribution. What they do here is so 'complicated'.
When we're finally actually introduced to this character, she's being leered at by the man in black while bathing topless. Respect is supposedly restored to her when the captive-sidekick of the man in black disavows any interest in her, saying that the "only thing she's ever mounted are dead-heads on sticks", and the man in black then appears impressed with her based on her capacity for brutality. This 'apology' is meant to accommodate the gratuitous nudity by bolstering her impressiveness in a domain of violence. But violence isn't impressive in itself, being impressed isn't the same as having respect, she's still being considered in categorically sexual terms, and the nudity is still being used to satisfy a certain segment of the audience.
Speaking of recycling, the shootout by the safe-stealing outlaw and his team largely looks like recycled footage set to different music. There are differences, but this recycling method is built into the repetitive story lines and will theoretically save the production a lot of time, money, and creative effort. It's potential to become a mechanism for filling time has been proven several times now, and I expect it will only get worse.
Speaking of getting worse, the brothel madam cuts her abdomen open with a knife and experiences severe pain when she has the outlaw dig his fingers forcefully inside her wound (after first flirting with him). The 'apology' comes in advance this time, when the outlaw refuses to do the cutting (proven frivolous by the fact that he'll dig his fingers into her wound). This bloody mess is punctuated dissonantly by a sensuous kiss between them during which her face is smeared with his bloodied hand, all set to an intrigue/adventure music track. It's theoretically meant to be passionate but it's actually revolting.
And so I revolt.
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