Spoiler space for first two New Amsterdam eps:
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In article
<be9cd652-ac61-44d9-b053-b777de43ce79@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
"Shomeret " <JDChronicler@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> spake thusly:
> Re New Amsterdam--Well, there was the obvious HL oriented line "What
> if someone cut off your head?" I did laugh when he said in response
> "That hasn't happened yet."
Yeah, nice nod there.
I also liked the scene where John is forging a birth certificate.
Possible nod to the first HL movie, although presumably, any immortal
character would have the same issue.
Another possible nod is the use of characters who are children of the
immortal while appearing to be physically older. Although NA-style
immortals are apparently not sterile; unlike HL's adopted Rachel, NA's
Omar appears to be a natural child. [It's not clear if the secretary
from the NA WWII-era flashback was John's child or step-child.]
> There's a presumed Joe equivalent--a bartender who's known Amsterdam
> a long time, knows he's immortal and seems to have some connection
> to music. So far I'm unimpressed by the character, but I may change
> my mind.
New Amsterdam's Omar character bears a surface similarity to Joe
(bartender, musician, knows John is immortal, appears a lot older but
is actually a lot younger, goes to John for help cleaning his messes,
and even has trouble walking.) But the nature of their relationship
is very different. Joe is a watcher, who should be avoiding DM, but
admires him and choses to associate with him. Omar is John's son.
IMHO, this somewhat limits the possibilities for interesting dramatic
development. The forbidden nature of DM+Joe's friendship was a
recurring source of drama and plot in HL, while Omar and John's
friendship appears to be perfectly acceptable in the present.
NA had some good music, but didn't seem to put it in the right places.
Where HL would have used some Who Wants to Live Forever or Dust in the
Wind, NA had some forgettable instrumentals. The better music was in
scenes that seemed less emotional.
The references to "the one" were funny, when viewed from the
perspective of movies such as "The Matrix" or "The One." Of course,
the intent was as in the romantic expression "I'm looking for the
one," but it was still funny.
NA works in part as a cop show where the main character's immortality
is a source of trivia to help solve crimes. But I still have doubts
that it will work as a story about an immortal. The major obvious
choices for upcoming eps about immortality are: (1) partner discovers
John is immortal; and (2) John discovers true love and becomes mortal.
After those two, the show is over.
So I think the show needs to do something like: (3) John discovers a
bunch of "other" immortals who are bad and fights them; or (4) John
discovers a bunch of "other" bad supernatural creatures and fights
them. I don't think the show will last, otherwise. But it's still
early, and maybe they're taking their sweet time.
- Morty
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