Ibsen Day 7

Breakfast: Meh. I don’t know why I have big expectations for continental breakfasts, but I do. I’ve nearly given up on coffee.

Drove a couple hours to Baxter

The Jams: constant searching stations on the radio. I hate commercials. And that new Pink song.

The Reading: A Touch of the Poet  by Eugene O’Neill. Boy, these plays are hard to begin. It’s getting easier, and I think I’m training my play-reading muscles to work more efficiently. I read plays pretty quickly. It’s easy to want to skim, or skirt across the text, but then you miss critical information. Plays don’t have the luxury of painting a setting like novelists do (or movies). Anything a character says informs the action for the next thing.  I know nothing about this play, and although it was a bit of a slog to uncover, I’m enjoying it (and rooting for poor Sara!).

The food: Applebees. Tall Honeyweiss and the Cajun shrimp pasta plate. It was tasty.

The Killing – AMC was plugging the pilot for this new murder mystery show. It piqued my interest. Their marketing is pretty effective. First of all, it’s AMC. So they remind you that this is the station that brings you Mad Men and Walking Dead (which, if you remember, I was just hooked on a couple nights ago). And then they say: Twin Peaks asks who killed Laura Palmer…now you’ll be asking who killed Rosie Lawson?) The cut scenes don’t look all that remarkable in the previews. I don’t recognize any of the actors (which is a good thing, actually).

I’m hooked. Maybe I’m sucker. Maybe it’s because the Internet was down, but I was completely engaged with the mystery, the intrigue, and these characters. They’ve set up the show and relationships in a fine way. No one is blameless in this show. I can already tell. Even the mother of the daughter has something strange about her.

Note: this isn’t a procedural, formulaic crime drama. I get the sense this whole season is going to be about tracking down the killer.

I don’t normally follow any programs as they air on TV, but I’m definitely inclined to do so with The Killing. So here’s my endorsement. We’ll see if it sticks and what others have to say. It’s kind of fun to be a part of the thrill as it’s happening.