brotherhood thoughts

If I were still doing disclaimers in here, I'd warn you in advance that this is gonna be one of those posts that's interesting only to me. And if I were doing truth-in-labeling, I'd admit that this is a procrastination post, because I've either got to go out and finish my Xmas shopping today or I need to stay home, vacuum the whole house, clean the bathrooms, finally put those new curtain rods up that have been sitting in a box for three months and steam the drapes that are going on them, but writing nonsense from the comfort of my loveseat is looking far more appealing than either of those two options.

Be that as it may. I'm still struggling through the first season of Brotherhood and waffling about whether to just send the DVDs back to Netflix unfinished. I still can't give a crap about any of the characters. It's not just that I don't like any of them (well, except maybe Declan) but that I don't hate any of them either. I just don't care. They're not real people to me. The motivation for any of their actions remains opaque beyond the gross surface level, so I have no empathy for any of them. (Not sympathy [which I don't have either], empathy.)

Now, I could perhaps blame it on the acting, because, ohmygod, those RI accents still burn my delicate ears, but the acting isn't that bad or that flat. I must blame the writing. And it occurs to me that I'm probably very, very spoiled, and just judging everything by Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men standards wherein fabulous writing is capable of making one empathize with characters who are, in many instances, doing very very bad things. Not approve of, not condone, but understand. I'm finding that's the mark of great writing for me, personally: the ability to create characters who become real to me, whose actions are not only within the realm of possibility, but *exactly* what they should be doing for who they are. And you know *who they are*, beyond a collection of stereotypes and stock character.

(Does that make any sense to anyone but me? Sigh. Also? I recognize that there are other types and marks of great writing: the beautiful turn of phrase, the perfectly crafted sentence, the flawless execution of pacing that makes the reader/watcher keep turning pages/stay glued to video long after they should have gone to bed, to name just a few. But it's the multi-layered characterization that does it for me personally. Because, you may have noticed, watching people and trying to figure out who they are and why they do what they do might just have a certain draw for me. Again, sigh.)

So, finish watching this show or not? The jury's still out.