Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Sometimes It's Worth Turning On

Miss Marple

I was watching PBS Mystery -- Miss Marple, The Murder At the Vicarage. Miss Marple has been knocked down and so is on a cane. The police inspector, who has not met her before, isn't sure how to take the help she is giving him (is she right? is she nuts?) and he says, "I don't know whether to buy her a box of chocs or kick her stick out from under her."

Smallville

In junior high and high school, I was a big Superman fan. Loved Lois and Clark when it was on TV. But, somehow I had never watched Smallville, although my brother Forrest has not only recommended it, but when I was in California for two months last summer lent me the DVDs, which I then didn't watch. So, this weekend I watched one of the shows from the first season.

It is actually very good. Not what I expected -- no cape and tights, no flying. He isn't going around being Superboy. Full of inside jokes like Clark Kent has a crush on Lana Lang, who is dating somebody else. Lex Luthor seems to be a good guy at this point and claims Clark as his best friend. Clark makes a comment about not knowing what he wants to do when he grows up, but he knows he doesn't want to put on a suit everyday and fly around.

The best part was at the end when Clark told his father that the kid who had been the sort-of-villain that week, having the superpowers transferred to him for a short time, "didn't get the most important gift I did. You and mom as parents."

How about that! The writers of Smallville recognize that how a kid turns out may depend on how his parents raise him! How cool is that?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh how I wish it was that simple. Three of mine have turned out just fine. The second oldest gave in to peer pressure and joined the drugs culture, which unravelled all my hard work yet leaves me feeling somehow responsible. Sometimes, no matter what we do, our plans get derailed.

Maya's Granny said...

Sadly enough, how a kid turns out doesn't happen in a protected environment, and there are other influences. However, as long as the child is alive, the story isn't over. The hope has to be that the good work you did will be there to serve your child as a bedrock in the road back. And I have worked with parents of kids who were in trouble, and I have seen a lot of kids come back.

J said...

Ted likes Smallville, too, though he usually forgets to watch it.

goldenlucyd said...

Jane Hickson is my hands-down favorite Miss Marple, though I love them all. I'm not sure why I like Brit coms better than the domestics but I prefer "Keeping Up Appearances" and "As Time Goes By" TV.
I loved your Labor Day post. So glad you're here!

Maya's Granny said...

Lucy, I love As Time Goes By. I haven't seen much Keeping Up Appearances, as I didn't know about it when it was running up here, but when I visit my mother in California I watch it with her. In return, she watches Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis with me.

I really like the current Miss Marple, but they have all been very, very good. Agatha Christie is just so good.