Kevin Nauta (prydonia@accn.org)
Fri, 10 Oct 1997 18:43:16 -0400
Back in August, Renee and Belinda did a nice job summarizing Season
Five. I'm going to take a crack at that myself later, but here's some
thoughts on the fourth season from the dubious pen of yours truly.
Worst episode: Picking the best wasn't easy. Picking the worst was.
Day Dreams was a great waste of what could have been a great idea:
Lynda being forced to re-examine her own life by a look at what the
future has in store. The only good parts are the ending, where Lynda
loses Spike, only to be given a second chance in reality, and the scene
where Lynda eavesdrops on Julie & Tiddler in a future Junior Gazette
newsroom. Dickens did this a hell of a lot better.
Funniest episode: In the Picture, for the hotel scene between Colin,
Judy Wellman, and Judy's actor soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend; and the Gazette
scenes between Lynda and Katherine Hill.
Most poignant: Love and War. Except for a very obnoxious Colin plot
that isn't well
defined, this could have been the best episode of the season. As it
is, it is a rare look at Spike and Lynda not playing games with each
other for once, and their moments of candor are refreshing. This might
be Dexter Fletcher's best PG performance, and the directing is
excellent. Honorable mention in category to Un"x"pected, for a
thoughtful and touching ending and a great performance by Michael
Jayston.
Best episode: I think you could make a case for several stories, but I
narrowed it down to two. Bad News has a lot of fun poking fun at the
world of PG and of television as a whole, and it is great fun to watch
Lynda and Spike's tempestuous reunion, and Colin's exploitation of it to
save the Junior Gazette. This reminded me of the chemistry that
Bruce Willis and Cybill Shephard had on the old Moonlighting tv series,
as well as some of the blurring of the lines between tv characters on a
tv series and the medium itself. As for the runner-up in category,
She's Got It Taped has what might be the best script and a fabulous
performance by Kelda Holmes as Sarah. As it lacks much input from the
supporting cast, it isn't as memorable, but might be just as good.
Kevin Nauta
prydonia@accn.org
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