I can’t describe how much I liked this week’s episode of “Lost.” No exaggeration, it’s one of my favorite episodes of the entire series, and maybe even one of my favorite episodes of any television series. It’s like Darin Morgan “X-Files” good.

The reason I thought of Morgan is because “Exposé” does the same for “Lost” what Morgan’s episodes did for “The X-Files.” They’re darkly comic, they work on a bunch of different levels, and they make fun of the series and its format without being too heavy-handed or breaking out of the show’s mythology. Here’s some of the ways “Exposé” worked:

As its own story: The more cynical in the audience can object, but watching this show I lost track of how many times it surprised me; there were at least four twists in the first ten minutes alone. Every single reveal worked for me. Each one either genuinely surprised me, made me laugh (intentionally) at the implausibility, or just impressed me with how clever it was. Towards the end I, like I’m sure most of the audience, started to piece together what really happened, but there was still one last gruesome twist I hadn’t seen coming. And to go from the cameo at the beginning to the really creepy ending — that’s just plain good TV. And in just an hour, they had more character development than some of the regulars have after three seasons.

As part of the larger story: Sure, it started to drift into Zelig territory, seeing as how Nikki and Paolo were at even more of the major events of the island than Jack, Kate, or Sawyer. But it took a lot of balls to force them into so many places, and they all worked. I really couldn’t tell what was filmed new and what was taken from existing footage. No, there weren’t any huge revelations, but this series has had enough — what’s been lacking is fleshing out existing storylines and tying up loose ends. And all of them, from Juliet and Ben’s appearance, to the mention of Mr. Eko’s mysterious line after he encountered the monster, to Locke’s line about secrets, to Sawyer’s change of character, to Paolo and the toilet; just worked.

Did they have this planned from the first introduction of these characters? Hard to tell, but almost certainly not. Does it matter? Not one bit. In a way, it’s even more impressive that they had to work backwards and still managed to make everything fit together.

As commentary on the series: This was heavy on the self-referential humor, but never too heavy-handed. The comment about “you know what happens to guest stars” started it off, and it ended up being the most blatant one. (Well, except for the obvious joke of the whole episode, that they’re the characters nobody knows and nobody likes.) They poked fun at the implausibility of what happened to Boone, Locke’s nonsensical behavior, the reunion of dead characters, and Shannon’s over-the-top bitchiness at the beginning of the series.

If I remember correctly, Juliet reacted with disbelief when she heard about Ben’s “master plan.” That struck me as a great way to retroactively shoe-horn a “we meant to do that all along” rationalization for the convoluted plot of the second to third season, and at the same time poke fun at how convoluted it was. All with just one expression from Juliet.

As a reminder of “Lost”’s potential: The series has been so dry lately, it’s easy to just remember what happened in earlier episodes but forget why it seemed like such a big deal at the time. At the end of the pilot, the show had already introduced a horrible plane disaster, flashbacks, numbers stations, a monster, a burgeoning love story, a jungle, and hints at mysticism, all on top of the marooned-on-a-desert-island concept. And it seemed like it could go anywhere from that.

As the show’s progressed, it’s taken some pretty big risks more than a few times, but has also settled into a pattern and a formula. Even big plot-revealing episodes (or at least as close as we ever get on this series) are still mostly straightforward. This episode showed that the series can be formulaic, and still have as much potential as an anthology series. Really, what other series on TV can show a black comedy film noir set on a tropical island?

It’s tough being a dog person and living in the city. Even if I had an apartment that allowed dogs, it just doesn’t seem right to me having one without a big back yard — not just for the dog’s benefit, but so I can just let him run around without my intervention if I’m busy doing something else. Nintendogs get old after about five minutes, tops. And although the Roomba does mess up wires and drag dustballs all over the place, just like a real pet would, it’s just not the same.

So I got a cat from the local shelter. He’s about a year old, according to the authorities. The photo up there is the best I could manage to get; the damn cat just can’t pose for pictures. At the shelter, he was spazzing out quite a bit, so I expected more of the same. Instead, he’s all clingy and weirdly affectionate. I can’t sit down anywhere without him jumping on me and curling up in my armpit, around my neck, on the back of my chair, wherever he wants. And then he starts with the kneading my face with his deadly sharp claws. Every time I try to take a picture, he pushes up against the lens, or moves out of range to get back in my lap. I thought cats were supposed to be stand-offish.

Anyway, I’m stuck with him, and he’s pretty cute, and it looks like he’ll be good for dusting. (He’s been crawling into all the small spaces around the apartment, then jumping on me and getting dust balls all over the place.) We’re currently working on a scheme where he stays off the damn computer while I’m using it, but he’s winning.

At the moment, his name is Pazuzu, although that’s been contested by my peer group. (For what it matters. He doesn’t listen to me anyway, and his name will likely end up being “Dudecutitoutalready!”) Other candidate names were:

• Cat
• El Gato Diablo
• Bakeneko
• Dennis
• Lando
• Admiral Whiskers Von Furrybottom
• Azazel
• Belial
• Jean-Claude
• Bob
• Werner
• Phillip Michael
• Lamont
• Nyarlathotep
• Dog Substitute

Feel free to make suggestions or votes in the comments. I’ll show him the website periodically and see if he latches onto any suggestions in particular.

The internets are way way too big for only six links. I waste enjoy at least four hours a day looking at stuff on the computers, I’ve got a lot more stuff to recommend.

Making Light: I got in trouble a while ago for calling this site a hotbed of liberal propaganda. When the country isn’t being run by corrupt morons, the blog has a great mix of general interest stuff and insight into the writing and publishing process. Plus, it’s got some of the most literate comment threads you’ll see on a blog (next to this one, of course — thanks, Cory!)

You Don’t Know Jack: They’ve been running daily DisOrDat games for a while; now they’ve got whole seven-question episodes. Awesome, and topical! The YDKJ series are the best-written videogames ever — any time anybody tries to trot out that nonsense that videogame writing can’t measure up to TV or movies, just show them YDKJ: Movies and that’ll shut ‘em up. (My favorite joke in a game, ever, is one of the question titles from the Movies edition: “I Said CHISOLM Trail!”)

Fashion SWAT: Somethingawful.com isn’t a new discovery; most people who like it at all have already read it and the Comedy Goldmine/Photoshop Phriday. But I’d never seen the Fashion SWAT section until recently, and it’s without exaggeration some of the funniest stuff you’ll find on the internets. I have a hard time believing that it’s as extemporaneous as they make it out to be, because it would just be unfair on a cosmic level if people can come up with sudden-bladder-release-threateningly funny material without preparation.

RiffTrax: I guess this technically doesn’t count, since it’s more of a store than regularly-updated content, but I’ve got to mention it as much as possible. The ex-”MST3k” guys making fun of reasonably current movies, what could be better?

The Comics Curmudgeon: Newspaper comic strips ruthlessly mocked. I never realized how relentlessly depressing “Funky Winkerbean” is.

The Slumbering Lungfish: The blog of Lore Sjöberg, co-creator of the Brunching Shuttlecocks comedy site, author of The Book of Ratings, and now contributor for game reviews and various other projects. If you don’t look at anything else in this post, at least see my favorite “Bad Gods” entry.

The season 3 finale of “Battlestar Galactica” aired tonight. According to the SciFi channel, season 4 doesn’t start until 2008. Word on the street is that there’ll be a two-hour movie “bridging” the season, not continuing from the finale, but introducing things that’ll be resolved in season 4.

In my whole history of watching things, I can’t remember when or if I’ve ever had such a hard time deciding if I liked something. My gut reaction throughout was “oh hell yeah.” But there was just as much “what the hell is going on here?” I really can’t say whether I thought it was unbelievably, unacceptably cheesy; or was one of the coolest things I’ve seen on a TV series. Which means, I guess, that it was the latter.

It goes without saying that big stuff follows, so don’t read the rest unless you want to have the finale (and maybe the whole season) ruined for you…

Read the rest of this entry »

One of the life lessons that I keep learning, and keep ignoring, is that you should always keep your career separate from your hobbies. In retrospect, I could’ve saved a lot of time and effort if I’d just bought the sequels to Monkey Island and SimCity instead of flying all the way out here to get free copies.

A corollary to that is that if you’ve got to have a weblog, you should keep your personal one separate from your professional one. The reason I started this thing was to have an outlet to pontificate about things of trivial importance like movies and TV shows and comic books and videogames. And I’ve been a fan of Sam & Max since I was a sophomore in college, and I got into the comics because of adventure games. So it’s pretty obvious that as soon as I heard about Telltale’s Sam & Max games, I would’ve scampered off to the internet to write about them. But a while ago I outed myself as having worked on a few of them. And it’s just not cool to respond to a review of something that you worked on.

Luckily, I’m a guy who writes on the internet about movies and comic books and videogames. I gave up any pretense of being cool a long time ago. So I can just make this disclaimer — I don’t represent Telltale in any way; my opinions most likely don’t reflect their own; and I’ve just done dialogue writing for a few of the episodes, with no hand in the game design whatsoever — and we’re all set.

Preamble aside, I’m not really interested in responding to the reviews. I’m pleased with how Episode 4 came out. Since they’re still art and not product (yet), reviews of videogames are inherently subjective. And I sure as hell am not going to comment on whether people thought it was funny or not; the only objective truth about being funny is that Dane Cook isn’t. I just want to comment on two statements from the reviews and what they say about adventure games in general.

Eurogamer’s review (a pretty negative one) had this line:

…being able to easily carve through each episode makes for a far less satisfying gameplay experience, because there’s a notable lack of achievement. To a certain extent you’re playing an interactive graphic novel with mildly diverting puzzles. A deeper analysis would suggest that the intrinsic desire to play through an adventure game gets lost by reducing the puzzles to little more than mining dialogue trees and using the right object when the context presents itself.

And Joystiq’s review (they liked it) said this:

The thing is, the puzzles in Sam & Max aren’t strictly, well, puzzles. They’re jokes. And you get to make them!

As far as I can tell, they’re both saying basically the same thing. But I like the way the Joystiq guy says it a lot better. And it hits on my master theory of adventure game puzzles: they almost universally suck.

I’ve already said on here that I just don’t like adventure game puzzles. I always assumed I did, because when I first got into games, adventure games were all I played. Every time I tried a non-LucasArts adventure though, I ended up disappointed. For a while I thought it was just that I don’t like non-comedy games, since in comedy games you can make jokes about how stupid the puzzles are. But there are exceptions (Fate of Atlantis and the non-LEC game Broken Sword) that put that theory to rest.

Of all the adventure games that I’ve played, there are only 1.05 that got the puzzles right. That’d be Day of the Tentacle, and the “something of the thread” puzzle from Monkey Island 2. All the other games that I’ve played and still liked, I’ve liked in spite of the puzzles, not because of them.

And what the successes have in common isn’t that they’re comedy or non-comedy, or from LucasArts or not; it’s what drives the focus of the game: Adventure games work when the story drives everything.

I haven’t just offered up an insightful analysis that’s going to blow the lid off the industry; adventure games are story-driven by definition. You play them by advancing the story, and you “win” when you see how the story turned out.

It’s so obvious, in fact, that I’m surprised when people keep trying to turn adventures into puzzle games. And I’m surprised when players are disappointed by a game that “only” delivers a well-written, engaging, funny or dramatic or scary story. It’s all about the puzzles, we hear. (After the most recent GDC, there’s a big deal being made now about whether developer-created stories have any place in the great next generation of games, but that’s a topic for another post. For now, just stick with me on the assumption that adventures and other story-based games are worth keeping around.)

Now, if somebody were telling me a story, and after every plot advancement, he spent a couple of hours describing the main character trying to open a locked door, or manipulating a sliding-block puzzle, I think I’d end up pretty disappointed. But that’s exactly what a lot of adventure games (I would say most) do — put pointless complications into an otherwise interesting story. Instead of having the player interact with the game by advancing the plot, the player’s interaction with the game is doing some nonsensical thing. His “reward” is getting to watch the plot advance afterwards. And every time over the past decade you’ve heard somebody talk about the death of adventure games, there’s a maze or idiotic locked door puzzle standing over the body.

So it sounds like I’m pushing for the resurgence of the interactive movie, right? No, because even the most linear, predictable adventure game has a level of interaction and engagement that you can only get from a videogame. And that Joystiq review sums it up: to paraphrase, it’s a story that you get to tell.

The puzzles that I liked so much from Day of the Tentacle worked because the player could see the joke set-up, he had the pieces to make it happen, and he just had to put everything together. You’ve got a cat, some white paint, a fence, a bunch of people you need to get out of a room, and a childhood spent watching Pepe LePeu cartoons. The cutscene that follows isn’t the reward; the moment that you understand what you have to do is. Same with using a bucket of mud and a door in Monkey Island 2 — you don’t just get the joke after it’s been told to you; you’re the one who gets to tell it.

So I don’t think adventure games are dead, necessarily, just that they’ve been picked apart and cannibalized by everything else. Role-playing games can have big cinematics, dialogue trees, and even sliding block puzzles, but on top of a game mechanic that’s often fun on its own. Half-Life and Dark Forces proved that even first-person shooters can be story-based, and No One Lives Forever proved that they can be funny. And developers still love playing around with the format, doing hybrid genres (I’m looking forward to Bioshock more than I can describe), and episodic content.

Adventure games reinforce the idea that there’s room for story, and comedy, and real character interaction, in videogames, and that the level of interaction you can get from a videogame — that feeling when you and the developers are in sync and you get to say or do exactly the right thing to deliver the next big step of a cool story — is impossible in any other medium. (And it’s impossible in “create your own story” games like The Sims et. al.)

Now, if it can reinforce that idea without my ever having to do another thinly-disguised Sudoku or chess puzzle, or put together a string of nonsensical objects to use in a completely counter-intuitive way, then all the better.

TVSquad forwarded along a New York Post story, which is pretty much completely unsubstantiated speculation quoting from an anonymous “tipster,” that the producers of “Battlestar Galactica” want to end the series after the fourth (next) season. This is similar to the claims the “Lost” guys have made that they’ve got an ending in sight and are figuring out how to bring the series to a close after “one or two” more seasons.

It’s a good idea in both cases, and I’m not saying that just because I really really want to see “Galactica 2009.” I can’t think of any series that maintained its quality after four seasons, and with high concept series with a definite premise (finding Earth, getting off the island), it just makes it all the more clear that you have to have an end in sight.

By all rights, the most recent “Lost” episode, “The Man From Tallahassee,” should have had me jumping up and down making awkward grunting sounds. It was exactly the kind of stuff I’ve been wanting to see in the series. Real answers to questions, including one that’s been around since episode 1. A flashback that mattered, and had a really shocking scene in it. Hints at something larger, with a mysterious power about the island. Strong performances all around. A big explosion.

And a sign that they knew what they were doing, and Locke’s actions a few episodes ago weren’t just unmotivated idiocy. He had a plan, and we’re only seeing now what his real motives were.

I read a review of the episode that complained this development just made it clearer that the writers are making it up as they go along, and now they’d written themselves and excuse to pull any plot development they wanted out of their asses. (Or their magic boxes, as the case may be).

I had the opposite reaction. I thought this was the first in a long while that really showed steps towards tying things together. Jack’s dad, Kate’s horse, Eko’s brother Yemi, and now Locke’s discovery — they’re all connected, and Ben has seen this kind of thing happening on the island and is trying to explain it. Not only were the characters brought back to focus with this episode, but the events were as well.

Still, it ended with my feeling pretty unimpressed. I’ve been saying for a while that the “feel” of the show is more important than the answers. That anything the writers could possibly come up with to explain everything is going to feel like a let-down, because the hints at greater mysteries are by definition more interesting than the explanations. Now I’m having to back up that claim, and it’s tough. Myst-like hatches full of antiquated video monitors and mail slots that lead to nowhere, and underground bunkers with secret UV messages and record collections and secret serums, are always going to be more interesting than bright yellow compounds with swingsets and pool rooms.

And they’re already getting a diminished return on investment with their shocking revelations. I can guarantee you that had Locke’s flashback shown in seasons one or two, it would’ve been horrifying and exciting. But last night, it was just a brief flash of interest, like any other instantly forgettable TV stunt. After another season of this, they’re going to have to bring out the big guns to be satisfyingly shocking and relevatory.

In preparation for next week’s “Battlestar Galactica” finale, and the long hiatus until the next season, I’ve been going back through and watching the DVDs, starting with the miniseries. I came to the show late, so I always had the impression that the series was much larger than what I was aware of. That some of the events of the series had more impact to those who’ve been watching all along, seeing more than just the glimpses shown in the “previously on…” bits.

I’ve been surprised by two things: First, that I’ve seen more of the series than I remembered. I’d somehow seen the entire miniseries and first several episodes, apparently, and there are just four or five from the second half of the first season that I’d missed.

Second, that they covered so much in the first three hours of the miniseries. I’d thought that they’ve been building layer on layer of intrigue over the past couple of years, but 90% of what’s going on now (minus New Caprica and the Occupation) was established at the beginning. That’s both good and bad — good that they have had solid ideas of the characters and the central drama since the beginning, bad that they’ve kind of been coasting on that for so long.

I think BSG would do well to have a clear ending in sight, explaining what really motivates the Cylons, what is this plan we hear about at the beginning of every episode, and perhaps most importantly, finally explaining exactly what the hell is going on with Baltar and his visions of Six. I don’t know if they could do all that in one season, but in the past they’ve shown they can. Whatever the case, a fifth season would most likely kill the show.

And I guess I’ve realized a third thing about “Battlestar”: the value of subtext. My memory of the series was that it was just overwhelmingly, unrelentingly dark and depressing. Watching the miniseries again now reminded me that it’s not, really; in retrospect, it’s even a little bit manipulative and melodramatic. Obviously, now I know what’s going to happen, so the surprise is gone.

But more than that, I’m watching to see specific plot developments instead of just the “feel” of the show. They communicate that feeling so well, without having to repeatedly state it directly. It makes the more recent episode seem all the more heavy-handed and deliberately obtuse by comparison. The best thing I can say about the series is that at least in the early days, it doesn’t overstate its message. During the miniseries, you’d get a line of dialogue like, “It’s the end of the world, Lee,” and that was enough. Lately, it’s been more “It’s the end of the world, and that is why we need to maintain strict demands on fuel production and remain anti-labor in spite of our push for democracy, and it is this kind of thing that shows what a gray moral area we now live in.”

Thanks to the Sam & Max games, Google searches by friends from back East, and the fact that for the first time in recent memory I have friendly neighbors, a lot of new people are discovering this website. I feel obligated to point out that there are a lot more interesting places on the interwebs that you could be.

The sidebar still has links to friends & other interesting sites; the del.icio.us section has what I’ve been looking at recently. In addition to that, here’s my favorite internet stuff of the moment:

TV In Japan: If you liked the video of Pan the Chimpanzee and James the Bulldog exercising, here’s a whole website full of stuff like that.

Achewood: Not just my favorite webcomic, but possibly the best thing on the internet ever. The strips don’t generally work out of context, so you’ve got to spend some time getting caught up. And if you’re offended by naughty words or adult situations involving cartoon cats, then it’s probably not for you.

Dave’s Long Box: A funny guy writes about his comic book collection. If it is possible for a non-comic book geek to enjoy any weblog about comics (I’m skeptical), this is the most likely one. It’s totally f@#$ing Airwolf.

The House Next Door: Frequently long-winded and often pompous posts about TV, movies, and other things of trivial importance. It’s also pretty well written, though, and usually has more insight than other reviews.

Drawn!: The Illustration Blog. Daily links to some great artists’ websites and projects going on around the internet.

Wil Wheaton Dot Net: In Exile: An always-interesting blog about geek stuff from the former “Star Trek” actor.

And via Kotaku, my other favorite video of the week.