Won't Get Fooled Again

Hi everyone!

This was a very tough episode to review, for a variety of reasons. Not only did I have to deal with trying to review an acid trip, but my own personal life got in the way of doing this. Fortunately I had a lot of time to do nothing but think this week :-) This review is going to be a bit different then my normal layout, but I figure that’s only fair considering how different this episode was! Anyway, it will contain some spoilers, and all the ideas are my own thanks. :-)

Overall: (sit down, this could take a bit)

• It appears that camp was divided on this episode, you either loved or hated it. I find myself in the middle...to explain how I felt about this episode I need to tell you a small story.

  This past April I had my 23rd b-day. It was a stressful time; it was the end of my last year of Graduate School, and not only did I have classes and have to play for a master class on by b-day, but the next day I had my recital. I decided to have a HUGE party after the recital to celebrate it all being over, and at that party for the first time EVER I got drunk. Full on plastered.

  For the first few hours it was...well, fun is not quite the word, but I did enjoy the sensations and feelings I’d never had before. And even though I knew that I would regret it later, I went nuts and had a blast.

  Then, around 2am, I got very sick. We’re talking worst case alcohol sickness...puking, dizziness, headaches, stomach ach, you name it I had it. I lay in the bathroom for an hour, then crawled into bed and passed out.

  I woke up the next morning and decided that although I’m very glad I had the experience of being drunk, and in some ways it was fun, I will never do it again.

  And that is exactly how I felt about "Won’t Get Fooled Again." It was an experience that I mostly enjoyed, that was hysterical for a while and then so gut-wrenchingly painful in the end, and overall so surreal that I’m glad I had the experience but I never wanted it to happen again.

Crichton:

• Captured and horribly tortured by a Scarren...and then killed and revived by the chip in his head. This gets a Death Number 2 rating.
  Well...guess there is always next week. *sigh*

The Good: Here I usually list all the fun, exciting, well done stuff I enjoyed. Since there are too many jokes, too many quotes, and far to many thing that need to be seen to truly enjoy, I’m just going to mention 2 things:

• The feel of this episode was like a runaway train on acid. It just got stranger and faster and you had not choice but hang on and enjoy the ride or fall off. The one moment of peace, when ScorpyChip gets to give an explanation for what was really going on, was perfectly placed to give us a brief moment to breath before we crashed. Thanks Mr. Manning!
• The performances. I have this mental picture of Ricky handing out the scripts, telling everyone how they can go nuts and have fun...except Ben Browder, who has to try and rip the audiences guts out every five minutes. Cudo’s to Anthony, Claudia, Gigi, Virginia, Lani, Wayne and everyone behind Pilot and Rygel for giving us the most warped visions of their characters possible. And someone nominate Ben for an Emmy, because if any performance deserves an award it’s this one! This whole acid trip is worth it for the scene’s between John and his Mom...some of the most powerful acting I’ve seen.

The Bad:

• My only outright complaint is that I hate episodes that "don’t happen" and this almost falls into that category. I’m talking about episodes where stuff that appears on the screen never ends up happening...like a lot of the future realities Crichton saw in BBBF. 99% of this episode will only be remembered by Crichton...and between the state of mind he was in and how much the ScorpyChip erased at the end, who knows how much even HE remembers!

The Nitpicky:

• Since this was all an acid trip, there can be no true nit-picks. But I will say I look forward to the episode where someone or something decides to frell with someone’s mind OTHER then Crichton...both for the novelty *grin* and the chance to see Ben have as much fun as everyone else gets to have!

"You look like you just need a hug from mom." - Crichton’s Mom
Lauren (OboeCrazy)
SACCer #1: The Most Vocal Defender