Sea Patrol

[John]

I watched the first episode of Series 2 of Sea Patrol last night. It seemed to be much faster paced than the first series and then there was the inimitable Lisa McCune. I will give anything she is in a watch. I've put it on my record list for the moment. The scenery was quite stunning filmed in the Whitsundays.

At the risk of seeming mundane I fell in love with the new boat.!?

Did anyone lese see it??

[Luc]

Yaeh, I saw it, but I didn't find it as good as the Season 1 premiere, like you said, it has a much faster pace, which gives it a new feel, I'll get used to it, I guess.

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

I enjoyed the way its building up it's story arc the way it did last year: every episode (except Irukandji) had some relevance to the Bright Island mystery. I hope we find out more about the Hungarians. I'm also glad to see Alan Dale back in Australian TV - but does he have to be yet another amoral millionaire? Caleb Nichol, Bradford Meade, Charles Widmore. I like the new Hammersley, too, and I think the writing's getting better.

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

The script tonight was better than last week and definitely better than most of last years (I'm looking at you, "Through the Storm"). Bomber's definitely being developed well, and the snake scenes were pretty tense. I'm eager to find out the link between Walsman, the Hungarians and Samaru. It's not obvious yet the way Bright Island were (although reusing the water bottles were a nice touch).

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

Since there's no thread for Season 1, I may as well ask this here. Anyone have a favourite episode from Season 1? Mine are Precious Cargo (a great instance of character development for Dixon, plus a major turning point in the Bright Island mystery), Chinese Whispers (villain played by Callan Mulvey and one of Swain's best moments) and the two part season final, Deep Water/Cometh the Hour (makes every other episode worth watching). My least favourite was Through the Storm, for Oscar's senseless actions for dramatic effect.

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

That was the best episode since Fortune Favours: Kate's best scenes yet, the return of the Hungarian merc, the culmination of Charge's PTSD, Spider's lovebites, the continuing feud between Swain and Dixon. And above all, the fact that the threads introduced in the premiere are finally starting to be connected.

The only weak points were Mike's badly delivered response to the death of the Beltane's captain, and Buffer's continually wooden delivery. The show would be better off without him.

Anyone else want to comment on the Season so far?

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

Man, am I the only one with an opinion anymore?

The finale was exciting and it wrapped everything up but I think it's somehow brought the entire season down. The problem is that the story arc built up the suspense and intrigue for weeks, leading to a series of plot twists in the final weeks that I saw coming in about episode 2 or 3. And unlike last season, I don't feel like I've got much to look forward to, given that they haven't lost anyone who'll need replacing (except possibly ET, if David Lyons is sticking around on ER). And it doesn't help that they didn't take the opportunity to kill off Buffer, the one character the show could most do without. The character has no personality and the actor has no talent: the last time I saw him do anything close to acting was when he found out that Spider had given away his cigarettes. And whenever he does anything exciting, I just know that Swaino or even Spider would do a more entertaining job of it.

So anyway, I hope that next year they do a better job of balancing the action and the story development.

[Haymaiden]

It was so sad when ET died in the first episode of the third season! It was really cute when he proposed to Nav. NAE forever! My favourite in season 1 was Cometh the Hour. I hated Under the Hammer because Nav and ET were at loggerheads and I love those two together. That's what NAE stands for.

[Haymaiden]

Anyone else say NAE forever?

[Formerly Known as FKAJ]

Yeah, Nikki and Josh were a great couple. This is the worst possible way they could have written him out though. Why couldn't they just transfer him again like they were supposed to at the end of the first series.

After watching the first episode, I have concerns. The first season had weak writing in nearly every episode but managed to build up a compelling seasonal mystery, kind of a jigsaw puzzle plot. The second season had consistently better writing but the resolution to the Coup storyline was totally predictable from about episode 2, and also, Gallagher was a better villain than Walsman. It remains to be seen whether Red Gold will strike the right balance, but it already has a weak point - I suspect they're already hinting at a relationship between Nikki and Buffer, and that is the one thing that could make ET having a bridge dropped on him worse than it already is.