Sunday, March 2, 2008

Detailing

I love detail. Character elements that give mega information in byte-sized packages. I think they're marks of a good creation - a character who has more life than can be breathed out in a single exhale.

Like Johnny writing music on prison walls. I had enjoyed his story about sitting at the piano and making his father smile. His escape into music was a cute element of a troubled childhood. But the amplification of what could have been a simple memory into Johnny's figurative escape from a mental hospital prison.....lovely, perfect, enchanting...in my opinion. My Tivo is permanently paused on minute 51 so that I can listen to Debussy and watch Johnny draw music notes on padded walls.

Minute 53 wasn't bad either, as the subtext for Patrick and Robin exploded into concrete language. The statement, you can lean on me, was rich in unspoken truth - and I applauded the writers for not doing Baby Jake part deux but instead writing a moment where two people came to mutual understanding with hesitation and confusion.

Two minutes of television - that's all it was. But two minutes of excellent storytelling wherein a few solitary details told more story than a thousand pictures or a hundred word soliloquy.

1 comment:

Nancy Wetmore-Mathews said...

Amen.

That Johnny sequence was amazing and I was so happy to see them give a character such depth. It's so rare these days.