MovieChat Forums > Cedar Cove (2013) Discussion > Whine fest

Whine fest

posted 10 years ago by Jenny-628
3 replies | jump to latest

Last season featured some actual character development and plot points. This season seems to have devolved into talking heads whining and crying. Am I off the mark?

[–] Rpdsf 10 years ago

No not at all. I feel the same way. Seems like the scenes jumped around much more this year than last. I was very disappointed overall about how season 2 evolved and ended.

[–] TeOfLeDiKi 10 years ago

It felt rushed. I was disappointed that Jack wasn't a stronger character. It's one thing to try to portray a recovering alcoholic succumbing to the addiction again, but the way they did it was kind of trite. The Jeri character is just awful. She was so manipulative, immature, and selfish that I had a hard time buying that Jack would want to spend any time with her at all. Once the "gratitude" for the introduction to his new job was over, he really didn't have any obligation to be around her. In real life, of course, that would mean that he WANTED to be around her, which doesn't fit into the character they tried to craft for him. At least, IMHO.

Now. Justine is an AWFUL character. I was actually happy that they got rid of Mary Ellen. Both daughters are so wooden, so selfish, so clueless! Justine kept trying to claim the high ground with Luke, but really, if she wanted to be in a relationship with him, she should have just put us all out of our misery and done it already. There was a snippet of dialogue when Justine said, I have a boyfriend, and Luke answered, who isn't here. Well, dearie, Luke had a point. Justine-and-Seth never really rang true as a good relationship, anyway.

Let's see. Grace and Cliff. Too obviously a fish-out-of-water type relationship. Grace is way too self-absorbed with fashion and frivolity to be realistic with a guy like Cliff. And no, I don't really think Alex is a good character, either.

I feel like they just need to focus on Olivia more. Yeah, Andie MacDowell is a terrible actress but I've had a soft spot for her ever since she was the Calvin Klein girl. She was cool back then - so cool we all wanted to be like her.

Ok. I'm not making any sense any more. I'll keep watching Cedar Cove only because of that soft spot for Andie. But I don't expect it to get any better. Yep. Too many loose ends that tied up rather stupidly this past season.
neat . . . sweet . . . petite

[–] DavidTSG 9 years ago

The biggest thing that I noticed is the lack of consistency. It's like they have no "bible" that they use to make sure that the characters and situations stay true to themselves. I don't expect my TV to mirror reality, especially a family drama that needs conflict every week to keep folks tuning in, but a show should at least stay true to itself. The writers just seem to roll the dice each week and hope no one notices that they've completely changed characters and plot points for little or no reason.

***Spoilers***
Grace is the worst example. In the first season, she is feisty, determined, and stubborn. She's also a bit judgmental, which actually fits into the small town America scene the show is setting. I almost didn't like her because she was so overly opinionated. In the second season, she's a quivering mass of indecision and a damsel in distress.

In the early days of season 2, Grace is about to lose her shirt on her house. This was a major plot point for several episodes; she even took the ex to court over it. Then, a few episodes later, she just decides to stay in her house and all of her money problems disappear because she called the bank to refinance. Really? That whole time she was on the verge of losing her house, neither she nor her brilliant best friend thought to pick up the phone and call the bank?

Eric was about crazy at the thought of giving up the baby at the beginning of season 2, to the point he was going to hire a lawyer to fight for his rights, meaning custody. 2 episodes later, his girlfriend leaves and takes the baby to Seattle, and not only doesn't he go with her (back to the city where he was living just a few weeks before and working a good job, btw) but he's perfectly fine with her leaving and makes no attempt to visit his child for weeks after.

I could go on, but I'm turning into the whine fest that is the topic of this thread. I really liked the first season, as I like many of the actors in the series, and I thought they did a reasonable job on the characters and plot, especially for a lower budget cable family drama. But the second season went downhill and fast. I haven't started watching season 3 yet. Hoping that the writers graduated 8th grade before they started on this one.