Lost, Arrow, The Handmaid’s Tale… do flashback episodes ever get you down?
This article comes fromDen of Geek UK.
Weve all been there, havent we?
But as the intro fades, something seems amiss, out of place and out of time.
More appropriately, the third rule of creative writing is show, dont tell.
Was the Smoke Monster made up of nanobots?
Do the showrunners actually have an ending in mind?
As it turns out, the answer to all of the above was a resounding nope.
In particular, the Sun and Jin-centric episodes felt particularly arduous.
Now, thats all good and well, but what about the Islands nefarious inhabitants the Others?
Why is everyone hallucinating?
How come Hurleys still so… husky?
Sorry, but youre not finding out this week.
Excessive character detail regularly filled episodes with only occasional and arbitrary links to the big questions.
Or at the very least characters who are integral to the narrative?
The Handmaids Taleis a case in point.
Here, we began to see plans put into place for the fight back against the patriarchy.
It was masterful use of the technique which enriched the protagonists character, conjuring pathos from the viewer.
What did we get in Episode 7?
Seen only in flashbacks throughout the series, why should the viewer care?
Ah, perhaps hes going to make an appearance in the finale and save our poor, defenceless Offred.
The thing is, were not talking about single scenes either; were talking about nearly half an episode.
Havent any of us got anything better to be getting on with?
To tenuously but gratuitously quote Al Pacino inHeat;Dont waste my motherfucking time!
Queens five year flashbacks are being dropped in favor of possibly developing shudder other characters.
Lets hope they dont fail the city.
Except when Ross and Rachel were all will they, wont they?
I still havent got over her getting off the plane.
Any momentum the narrative once had is long-since lost and the episode feels thoroughly throwaway.
And again, likeLost,later seasons fall to the law of diminished returns.
So what do we want?
The royal we want flashbacks that are worth our while.
Its perhaps not the best example, but even the last season of24was only 13 episodes.
Flashback: What was it my English teacher used to say?
