Uptown Gene

I didn’t quite make it to the end of the short story in progress this weekend, but I’m almost there. About 500 words left to go, tops. Tomorrow, no doubt, unless I get bogged down revising what I’ve already written, which is always a possibility. I did get my Storytellers Unplugged essay finished, though. It’s about the agent panel I attended at the Houston Writers Guild conference on Saturday.

I wasn’t at all sorry to see the all-female team get U-Turned and ousted on The Amazing Race. They seemed surprised that Caite held a grudge over the way they mocked her from day one of the race, even as they continued to mock her some more. Kudos to the teams that managed to master that complicated drum set. I don’t think I could have done it.

Tom Piccirilli posted elsewhere that he was concerned Walt is becoming too unlikeable on Breaking Bad. He sure is in a downward spiral. Not fired, just on indefinite sabbatical. Barging into his wife’s lover’s workplace and trying to heave a potted plant that weighed as much as he did through a reinforced window…and failing at that, too. Even getting mad at Jesse for using his formula to cook a batch of meth. He wants to be out of the biz, but he doesn’t want anyone else to tarnish his image by producing inferior product. I sort of like the private detective or whatever he is–the guy who bugged Walt’s house. He’s something of a wild card. The show has the weirdest camera angles and shots of any program since Twin Peaks. I love the static wide shots that have action at the periphery.

It’s interesting how they’re bringing Sam Tyler back into Ashes to Ashes without actually having John Simm. Also fascinating how Alex is now jammed squarely between Gene Hunt (who did a very funny bit in a recreation of Billy Joel’s Uptown Girl video in a dream sequence) and the new DNC (discipline and complaints) officer, Jim Keats. Each one is whispering in her ear, planting seeds of distrust concerning the other. Where will her investigation of Sam Tyler lead, that seems to be the dramatic question for this series.

“This isn’t going to be big on dignity,” says the Doctor as he and Amy slide down a garbage chute. It’s confirmed that Amy Pond was about to be married before she jumped ship to be with the good Doctor. We know nothing about the bloke, only that Amy is having second thoughts. “I’ve been dead for centuries,” she realizes in The Beast Below. “You’re a cheery one,” the Doctor responds. Once again, the Doctor is dealing with the Queen of England, though this is no stodgy Queen Victoria. This is the ultramodern Liz 10. “I’m the bloody Queen, mate,” she proclaims. “Basically I rule.” What she rules is a world reminiscent of the one in Gridlock, with lots of levels and something nasty at the bottom.  Yay to the producers for traipsing Amy around in her nightie for a full episode, though it appears from the previews that she’s going to finally make it into the closet before next week. She asks the Doctor a telling question: Are you a parent? He manages to change the subject without replying. I wonder if we’ll get to see the Doctor’s daughter again. Hope so. Yes, the Doctor does what he always does (“stay out of trouble…badly”) but fresh eyes see a solution to the problem that eluded even him. His solution was the best of a bad situation, but for some reason the Doctor seemed blinkered to the situation. In case we missed the point, Amy pounded the parallel between the sea whale and the Doctor home a couple of times, which was a bit of overkill, I thought, but it was a fun episode. Amy is going to be one to watch, though I hope she doesn’t turn out to be a Wesley Crusher, coming to the rescue all the time.

Speaking of Will Wheaton, he’s back on The Big Bang Theory tonight. And Hugh Laurie directs tonight’s episode of House.