Venice Thoughts: Episodes 1 - 8, The Great Re-Watch

[jaina47]

So, since the first season of Venice ended I've been dying to go back and watch all of the episodes at one time and tonight I thought I finally had the time. Unfortunately I underestimated the necessary load time and only managed to get through the first eight episodes before I called it a night. Hopefully I'll be able to finish watching the rest tomorrow night.

Here are my random thoughts on the things that I watched. It was interesting the things that struck me differently this time around. Needless to say there are spoilers here.

• Owen and Gina: I actually found myself liking Owen more this time around than I had the first time, more nuanced, and less just some big loud mouthed guy. I have two brothers and I guess in the beginning Owen reminded me of a certain type of friend of theirs who just irritates the ever-living crap out of me. I got a different impression of him this time around and I think I probably ended up liking him better than Gina so far. 
• Which brings me to Gina: While I still think that Crystal Chappell is one of the most gorgeous women to walk the planet and an awesome actress I really haven't liked the character of Gina and from what I can tell I'm not alone in that one. Re-watching the show, and seeing her character in the first episode reminded me of what I had really loved about both the character and the show. The first, what, three and a half minutes of that first episode are head-and-shoulders above most of the rest of the season - and I don't mean because they were in bed making out. The rest of the episode was boring, but that first part...they were really onto something there. If they can bring even more of that in the second season...oh yeah. :D But back to Gina. I tried to pin it down and I think what I disliked about the character is her complete obliviousness to how she hurts other people. It's not that she hurts other people. People do that to each other every day. It's more than she does it blindly without even realizing what she's done and she still thinks she's the injured party in it all, when she's actually the asshole. I know people like that in real life, and it's not okay. But in that first episode, with Ani, there's some regret. You can almost see something in her that would inspire the depth of feeling and loyalty that Ani has towards her. Skipping ahead to the end, I think the reveal that they were friends before they were lovers actually explains a lot about why Ani sticks with her, because Gina seems like a much better friend than girlfriend. I'm sure we won't get it but I would love a flashback about how they first got together. I think that would be a really interesting story too.
• Tracy's Incredible Disappearing and Reappearing Accent retroactively bothers me less than it did in the final episode because while it wasn't as pronounced in the first episodes, I did catch a few weird vowels here and there. That somehow made it less annoying than it just appearing in the finale. I think all the background noises made it easier to miss before, at least for me. But as far as I'm concerned, she could just lose it all together.
• Episode Seven was my favorite. I had somehow forgotten that but got reminded tonight. First that beach scene and then the "break-up" even though they're already technically way broken up. It's probably also my favorite because why Gina doesn't fully get it, she also shows that she has a heart, again. I like that. That last moment where Ani snaps the photo of them with the camera...every time I watch it, as I'm watching it, it makes me start writing fic in my head. One of these days, I might even put it on paper, but that's almost not even the point. When a show makes me care enough to want to write fic, then it's doing something right.
• It's kinda cool as I go through and re-watch, looking for clues to see if I can figure out anything else about the presumably dead person in the Colonel's house in the finale. Not that I was watching unobservantly the first time, mind you, but that argument with Mike and his instructions to meet around ten do take on a whole 'nother interesting turn.
  
• I'm really not invested in Tracy and Gina's relationship, but I'm trying to reserve judgment on it until I finish watching the whole thing again. At the moment, I kind of feel like both too much time was spent on it and that it was also underdeveloped. I don't know. I guess it just doesn't make sense to me, story-wise, especially with the introduction of that Logan chick who was supposed to have broken Gina's heart and damaged her or whatever, because with the introduction of her, then Ani's the one who was different to her but that's the role Tracy is supposed to be playing, the one Gina is supposed to be finally willing to change for. Whatev's. Doesn't make sense, so I'm reserving judgment until I get more information. Yay, Season Two!

I feel like I've been criticizing the whole time and I really don't mean it that way. I think Sami and Owen were very cute together, sharing their blind-date war stories and I really enjoyed Owen and Gina's sibling banter. The workout in particular cracked me up. I like Gina and Ani. I like Lara and Ani. I really like Lara and Ani. It's maybe a tie in my head, which I like more. I guess, despite having the whole first season behind us, I still don't feel like I have enough information to really know how I feel about the show. I do know I'm looking forward to Season Two though!

Comments

[ralst.livejournal.com]

I found the Gina/Tracy storyline very bland and unbelievable. If they're trying to make Tracy 'someone special' in Gina's life, for me, they failed miserably, because I didn't sense any chemistry or real feeling between them. Admittedly, there was something about watching them together on screen that made me not pay the closest attention (Tracy is meant to have an accent? I'm not great at distinguishing American accents, it's true, but I didn't notice) but if they're continuing with it in season two it will take a lot for me to get behind the relationship.

The Gina and Ani scenes had all the chemistry and depth that the Gina/Tracy ones lacked. I agree with everything you said about Gina and hope that next season we'll get to see more of the woman Ani fell for, because at the moment it's hard to see why someone like Ani would have been so invested in their relationship.

I'll save the Ani, Ani/Lara talk until you've re-watched the rest of the eps *g*.