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Forum URL: http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi
Forum Name: Undocumented Features General
Topic ID: 2254
Message ID: 0
#0, 109 - Outward Trajectory (cont.)
Posted by Meagen on Dec-30-07 at 09:28 PM
Hm...

Well, it was good. It had plenty of good bits. I don't want to say I'm disappointed, but... yeah, okay, I'm disappointed. A little.

I suppose part of it is that Upward Mobility was so very enjoyable that the bar was set pretty high and the wait drove expectations even higher. That's only to be expected with works released episodically by people who have more important things to do during the holidays.


The general feeling of stress and fatigue plaguing the team (which I could definitely relate to, with my midterm exams looming) seemed to affect the pacing of the story itself. It constantly meandered around and got distracted by various asides. (Nick's Lens! Burger joint robberies? Talking Polar Bears!) It wasn't *hitting* plot points as much as just sort of stumbling into them.


The handling of Sara's powers feels off. With a three-episode arc that kicks off with her accident, you'd expect her new abilities to play a *pivotal* role of some sort in the finale. Instead, she... saves a guy, who turns out to be a dupe, of another guy, who is actually just someone *pretending* to be the guy, who turns out to be working for Agent A, who is... Clarissa Broadbank! Which we (the readers) already knew. Sara's part is just kind of buried in the chain of events there.

The place in the story where I'd *except* Sara to make a dramatic contribution is taken up instead by the revelation that Grissom's a Jedi. Which is *nifty*, but...

It just seems like kind of a shoddy construction, plot-wise. Unless you look at the whole "Sara gets Speed powers" as just a device to usher the Sara/Ben arc along. In which case, the construction is fine (the conclusion of that arc being Sara arriving at Ben's house), but the thematic part suddenly becomes very eyebrow-raising. ("Okay, we've taken care of problem #11 with the relationship, Sara Doesn't Have Superpowers. Moving on to problem #12, Gryph Feels Like He's Betraying Kei.")


I enjoyed the banter between Geoff and Catherine, and just about any scene with Geoff in it. Who knew the man had so much Deadpan Snarker in him? But then, the IPO culture seems to bring out hidden humor potential in anybody.

Klingon bank robbery: priceless! Janice's arc through the Symphonies was pretty low-key compared to Utena and Kate's tribulations, but I have to say the Ragolian redread and her crew have been growing on me since, oh, The Revolution Will Be Televised or so.

So Catherine's getting a Lens *in addition* to whatever the "toybox" contains? Suggestive.

Overall a good story, but it makes me wish for a little less new set-up and a little more actual *closure*.