I’ve been binging Alias with the hopes of getting some joy out of it and a fuller sense of the story JJ Abrams is trying to tell. Well, I am getting joy out of it. JJ Abrams feels like the ultimate fanboy in many ways. He is the writer I am afraid to become–someone who is intimately familiar with structure and history of storytelling but doesn’t have anything to say himself. That is what I’ve learned through 17 episodes of Sydney Bristow running around the globe. And I do mean running.
She runs a lot. She runs in heels and boots and sneakers and, generally speaking, anything form-fitting. She runs into trouble and we are reminded that this is a fun show as she kicks her way out of that trouble. Once that is over we are introduced to a complication that usually reveals itself right before a scene or even episode break. Thus is the way of the Abrams. This way of suspense is both engaging and infuriating, yet I find joy in it somehow. That is why the man stays in business. He clearly knows what he is doing and he is very good at dragging us kicking and screaming into his mystery. That’s the part of him I want to become. The part where it feels hollow at the end is the part I want to avoid.
Perhaps you can have one without the other?
Some Thoughts:
- I’m getting more and more excited about the move and anxious as well. I want it to be happening. I want to finish the base layout of the space and focus on aesthetics.
- I wish I had the funds to make the backyard wonderful and to by a Jugs machine,
- I really want that Jugs machine.