By The Numbers: 3

[Guest Snapper]

This is getting ugly, I'm starting to seriously question my love for the show. Anyway, you know the drill.

Vote!

[Guest Chascarrillo]

"Dead Letters" is quite good. There's nice depth to the story of a cop in a similar situation to Black's and near-approaching a nervous breakdown. Thumbs up.

"Sense and Antisense" is just a disaster. Seriously, it's nothing more than a rejected X-Files script with the names changed. The only thing it has is some superior acting, but the writing makes every attempt to nullify those positives, and succeeds.

"TEOTWAWKI" strikes the balance between the two episodes above; it's just murky enough that you can't tell whether it's actually decent or not. In the end, I think it just scoots in under "okay."

[Guest chrisnu]

I actually like "Sense And Antisense". However, "Dead Letters" is much better. One of the best episodes in the entire series, in my opinion.

[Guest se7en]

...Sense and Antisense was an enjoyable bit of fluff with some good humorous scenes. It was a real difficult picking between Dead Letters-(M&W when they were still cohesive, valid storytellers.)- and the amazing Teotwawki. I love and enjoy both trememdously but in the end i have to give the VERY slight edge to "Teotwawki." It's a taut, tense script that drips with the Y2K fears and paranoia abounding at the time. i, personally, find the prospect of a man killing his own son to be more horrifying than anything in the great Dead Letters.

~se7en

[Guest se7en]

This is getting ugly, I'm starting to seriously question my love for the show.

.............HUH?

[Guest Snapper]

.............HUH?

Heh.

I was just exagerating a little. However, it is interesting that there's so few memorable (in my opinion) episodes at the beginning of every season; that might be a reason why the series failed to capture new viewers each year. Had there been an equivalent to The Mikado or The Thin White Line early on a season, the show might've been a hit (i'm kidding myself, i know, but still).

[Guest se7en]

LOL! oh,okay! just making sure there. i was starting to worry.

i know this may come off sounding weird but these days i tend judge more by the overall effect a season has on me. for instance,story-wise,for me, NOTHING can touch the exhaustively researched S1. and while S3 had exquisite sorytelling of it's own i love it as much as S1 for the overall season-long journey that Frank and to a much lesser extent,Jorden,Emma and Peter went through. i see S3 as Frank's true "trial by fire" season. and i was riveted by it!

~peace,

se7en

[Guest chrisnu]

However, it is interesting that there's so few memorable (in my opinion) episodes at the beginning of every season; that might be a reason why the series failed to capture new viewers each year.

I will agree that the show faltered at the beginning of the second and third seasons, especially S3. However, I thought that Season 1 had great episodes from the get-go, and faltered a little in the middle of the season, whereas Seasons 2 and 3 were at their peaks. All IMHO.

[Guest se7en]

...YUP. Season-1, for me, was the most consistently strong season, script-wise. ...and while S2 started just a tad underwhelming i have to admit to being hooked on it's new, wacky-vibe-thing it had going for itself. -(but still, there was too much unfunny/forced humor. I don't beleive the character of Frank Black is built for tossing-off one-liners.

I liked the addition of humor much more when it was events or circumstances HAPPENING to Frank rather then forcing the character to utter one-linners that sounded as unconvincing as you can get!)

...for me, the weak-"er" -(i still can't quite call the eps completely weak)- start to S3, with the first 2-episodes, was more due to me figuring out where the character of Frank was going in this season. I knew right off that i enjoyed and liked Emma-(and not for one second do i buy the whole Mulder/scully comparisons-ARRRGH!-lol. thier relationship was completely different in every way. -but that's another debate!- )- I thought it was the correct idea to get these characters as far away from seattle as possible after,well,you know,what happened the previous season.-(though i had hoped the season or the series would end with them back up there eventually.)- And while even i admit the first 2-eps of S3 could have addressed the,err, events in the ending of S2 better i really don't think the road they chose was any more improbable than the events in "4th-horseman/time is now" .

---i really do beleive. based on lots of things, that henriksen "may" have walked away and washed his hands of the show had S3 continued in the same vein as the ending eps of S2. I think that's part of the reason C.C. was practically tripping over himself to keep saying that they were going to tone down the hyper-religious aspects and bring back in more elements of S1 while also focusing on the comming Millennium.

...Frank Black's incredible journey of redemption and an almost spiritual awakening of sorts, and by extension S3 itself, was finally made clear to me when, just after the season started C.C. quoted,when asked what the major underlying theme(s) of the season would be, as saying-(and i'm paraphrasing here)- "...it's going to be about bad things, very bad things, happening to good people. It's going to be about ethical dilemas and the consequences of difficult choices in times of chaos."

...once i read that, while no light bulbs went off, per say, I, at least, had an idea of where the character was going that season. And as i've said and hinted at at various times here on the board late/98 and most of 99 my life was spinning out of control in ways i had ZERO control over and that truly alowed me to jack into the whole vibe of the seaason in ways that astonished me; in a way that i never thought possible. The inspired decision to physically manifest the toll of Frank's lonely quest-(the use of less hair-dye to bring out his naturally grey/white hair, the use of less makeup,etc. was a very brave choice for Lance to make)-only made it that much more intense for me.

...so,yeah, the pilot very strongly outlined what was to come whereas the other 2-seasons did take a little time in finding thier collective legs/voices.

...but, for me, all the different and varied writer/producers/themes that made up each season turned into one of the happiest, most brilliant accidents of greatness ever in television.

~se7en

[Guest MillenniumIsBliss]

Well, I have no brilliant thoughts here. I leave that to the creators of the show as well as some of the more intelligent and knowledgeable posters here. I have to go with "Dead Letters", simply because it is incredibly good, is well written, and has some great actors/characters, such as Frank's partner in this episode. His name escapes me right now.