DISCLAIMER: IF YOU HAVEN’T WATCHED THIS EPISODE OF DEFYING GRAVITY YET, TURN AWAY NOW. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND LOAD THIS SITE’S FEED INTO GOOGLE READER (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR AVID INTERNET USERS) AND THEN KEEP THIS POST UNREAD and/or GOLD STAR IT AND COME BACK TO IT LATER. I CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR RUINING THE EXPERIENCE OF GETTING TO WATCH THIS EPISODE AND EXPERIENCING TELEVISION THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE EXPERIENCED. EPISODES FOR THIS SHOW CAN BE FOUND ON HULU.COM.

THE RUN-DOWN SUMMARY: it’s halloween. re-attached thumb girl is recovering from last week’s tragedy well. several of the crew members (as well as those on earth who have encountered the extraterrestrial object) seem to be getting sick and/or seeing hallucinations. meanwhile, everyone is preparing to film a commercial for a sponsor of their mission (comet candy). as they get closer to the point of making it outside to film the commercial their hallucinations become so intense they aren’t able to function properly. they cancel the commercial, the advertiser is a dick and gets angry. berger (technically his name is maddux on this show but i shall use berger instead as a tribute to his SATC days) and zoe talk about their dreams and realize they have been having the exact same one. and then it ends. this week’s flashbacks centered around the period of time after zoe’s miscarriage/hysterectomy and how she deals with getting back into the swing of things having rushed through recovery so quickly.

THE RUNNING COMMENTARY: first of all, peer feedback on this show hasn’t been very good. nobody else i know seems to be watching it and the person or two who has, really don’t like it. i have no idea why people wouldn’t like it because i think this show is pretty freaking awesome. i highly suspect that’s because it’s so heavily scifi-based. on the flip-side, that is probably the reason people who i know have seen it don’t like it. to each their own i suppose but i’m terribly afraid this show has a good possibility of being cancelled.

if there’s one thing i can’t stand it’s airing a season/holiday themed episode for the first time more than 10 days prior to that holiday in real life. this episode takes place during halloween and we’re clearly still nearly two months away from that. strike one for this episode.

sadly, as much as i like the show, i can’t stand all the flashbacks. while i appreciate the backstory and character building they provide, having them take up 30-50% of the show (total guesstimate) is becoming rather bothersome. i would prefer more of that time be dedicated to building the core storyline.

i’m intrigued by this episode being centered around them filming an outer-space commercial for an advertiser. i know that people would inherently be against something like this but what a clever idea. if advertising went to support programs like space exploration i would be even more in favor of it. i suppose my advertising background gives me a huge bias though. although, sadly no advertiser would ever want to sacrifice any part of their marketing objectives in lieu of supporting something like this where they would lose any part of control over their messaging.

the more and more i watch this show, the more and more i fear that it’s not a good fit for primetime network broadcast. this would be much better suited for cable where it could find a niche audience. it’s sad that scifi shows can’t make it big on primetime network television. x-files, fringe, heroes, and lost are perhaps the only few that i can readily think of. although if  you have to applaud ABC for branching out into new genres though and taking their ownership of primetime dramas into a sci-fi drama.

the hallucinations are definitely becoming increasingly freaky. my only hope is they start revealing why everyone seems to be having them. you see, that would be a bit better use of the flashback time.

all these stupid spock ears that keep popping up on people in this episode is driving me crazy. not clever at all. although, i suspect me being annoyed is stemming from my intense dislike of halloween. i just can’t stand that “holiday”. i have no interest in dressing up and therefore have no interest in halloween, sadly.

i am painfully wanting to be sarcastic and clever as i watch this show but i just don’t think it’s possible. it’s so much harder to do with serious dramas.

AWESOME METER VERDICT: 5 out of 10 awesomes. it’s definitely building up to something, i’m just afraid i’m going to be letdown when we get to that big “AHA” episode.