So I caught a cold, ended up watching Granite Flats for want of something better to do
It’s set in a little Colorado town in the early 60s. There’s a military base and a VA hospital nearby. I thought it was going to be a kid’s show, because some of the protagonists are 12–a sort of Cold War Nancy Drew. It’s actually darker than that; the adults have a fair amount of screen time, which allows for subplots about espionage, questionable medical experiments, and vague yet menacing government agencies.
The opening theme–a rather sedate song by Skeeter Davis–goes:
Why does my heart go on beating
Why do these eyes of mine cry
Don’t they know it’s the end of the world
It ended when you said goodbye
Which takes on a deliciously unsettling tone when paired with a show set during the nuclear paranoia of the Cold War.
I finished season 1 (surprisingly, as I’m finicky as hell when it comes to TV shows). I liked:
Wallace. At first, when he was introduced, I thought he was going to be that generic bully character who exists to make life difficult for the new kid. Nope! He got a bunch of character development, and was written pretty sympathetically. Which brings me to–
Nurse Regina Clark. She takes Wallace in after his (alcoholic, abusive) father gets put in jail. I love Regina. She’s so empathetic. She cares about Wallace, and is probably the first adult ever to give him that kind of attention and support. Watching her help him prepare for his science fair project was adorable, and I I loved how she backed him up against that crazy lawyer. She’d be a stellar parent in any era, though she shines with particular brightness against the lackluster parental efforts of her fellow townspeople.
The investigateens! Ok, I know they’re not called that. Arthur, Madeline, and Timmy. I liked that their map of the trajectory of the “comet” was legitimately helpful to the adults; the sheriff, who had collected the first couple pieces of debris after several people called in to report vandalism, didn’t think to look further, while the FBI did know to look further, but showed up after the pieces had been collected. The kids were the only ones who both knew where the pieces were found (because Timmy is the sheriff’s son) and knew to look for more pieces (because Arthur saw something fall out of the sky). They drew the map, plotted the probable trajectory, and then found more pieces to confirm their hypothesis.
John Sanders and Ezekiel Scott. Am I the only one who finds it adorable how quickly they took to each other? This has to be the most chill cooperative investigation between the FBI and a local sheriff in TV history.
There were some elements I did not like. I did not like that Madeline was basically Hermione (though her personality did start to make some sense when her adoptive parents are introduced). I did not like that the women did not go to each other for support, instead electing to go to men (like their pastor). Why aren’t Regina and Nurse Beth Milligan (Arthur’s mom) better friends? Why do Arthur’s mom and Timmy’s mom barely know each other? Timmy bit Wallace’s ear in support of Arthur! They should be inviting each other over for dinner and stuff!
Also, Arthur’s got a sullen, insensitive streak to him. He can be pretty mean to Madeline and Timmy. I understand why they haven’t dropped him, though; they both have trouble keeping friends, too. Madeline has been indoctrinated by her parents, who worship at the altar of cold, condescending scientific rationality (don’t get me wrong–I like scientific rationality, but they use it to justify their inhumane experiments so…there’s something definitely off about them). And Timmy. He reminds me (rather painfully) of my own little brother who, when young, was outgoing, talkative, and annoyingly tone deaf to social cues. He had trouble making connections with people because he would overwhelm them with a wave of cheerful chatter. His father’s confused inability to relate to him hurts, because I’ve seen my own father react the same way to my brother.
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