Stitchers - General Discussion

[AudienceofOne]

I actually wound up enjoying this. There's a ton of cheese, but it seems to be FUN cheese. Make no mistake... this isn't top shelf entertainment, but it's a decent bit of silliness with a new angle that hasn't been done to death before now.

 

 

I came for the actors involved and stayed for the possiblity that they may get these elements to click with a few episodes under their belt.

 

The first two were frankly terrible - not just cliched and badly scripted but also outright nonsenical. But the writers seem like they might be just self-aware enough to make the silliness work in their favour once they can get over moving their pieces around - badly - to set up the show's structure. As long as I can stop myself from putting my eyes out over the dialogue or the juvenile plotting, I might stick around long enough to see if it gets better.

Edited June 10, 2015 by AudienceofOne

[Jack Kerouac]

This series is so stupid it's almost incredible. A super secret base 200 floors below a Chinese restaurant? Are you kidding me?

The main actress is also horrible. I might actually find the character interesting if she was played by a better actress. And they have already apparently had a serious medical emergency with the last stitcher, but after this one passes out, they send her home with the lead (apparently 21 year olds) scientist. Who then put her in his bed where he sleeps over the covers? And then the girl who had no emotions gets angry enough to slap him in the face about it?

And I'm not even going to mention how moronic it is to let their ONLY stitcher and their LEAD scientist do field work. I don't think this show could get any stupider if it tried.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Jack Kerouac

[Humbugged]

 

 

Head canon is that it's a Eureka/ Warehouse 13 sequel and they're using a benign artifact to get into dead people's minds.

 

Wonder how long it'll be till somebody writes fanfic, a crossover with Warehouse 13 is practically pre-written for you.

 

 

 

Maybe Fargo will turn up .Him and Claudia had a thing together during the crossovers ..

 

But Warehouse 13 finished with a flashforward of Claudia being the NuMrs Frederic 20 odd years in the future.

Well I imagine this won't last more than a season no matter what. It's too far out from ABC Family's normal demographic. Kyle XY was probably the last show they had this far out on a limb, and Kyle XY was still kind of a teen show, at the very least. This one isn't.

Nine Lives Of Chloe King was on a couple of years ago for a one and done .

People still moan about the cancellation

 

I liked this episode a lot better. I like that they found a way to incorporate the roommate and the cop into the Stitcher program storyline. The white lab guy needs to tone down his adorkable factor because he's really just annoying. 

 

A couple other stray thoughts during the show:

Do people actually say "woof" when they see someone attractive? Seriously?

Do people still go to raves? That whole scene seemed like it was straight out of the early 2000s. 

Don't know but it gave us a chance to see Allison in the tiny shorts

[Lady Calypso]

It's not a great show, but for a summer show, I guess it could be worse.

 

I think the one major thing I will give them props for is the fact that there are almost no secrets; they were all pretty much spilled with these two episodes. The detective is in on the secret, Allison was part of the Stitchers program to spy on Kirsten and Camille definitely knows SOMETHING about Ed. I do think she willingly let his brain die so Kirsten couldn't see into it, because the whole contrived 'we need to solve Lisa Keller's murder first' before knowing it was a murder was definitely too contrived for me. 

 

Cameron got marginally better, though I really REALLY hate the continuation of 'look how OTP Kirsten and Cameron are!!' because it feels too forced and I dislike it. 

 

Too many adorkable guys (and there's really only two) but the females are definitely stealing the show. 

[In2You]

People still go to EDM parties that are like  raves but they don't call them raves . Anyway the whole case just seemed like an excuse to get the girls in short shorts.

Edited June 11, 2015 by In2You

[Bort]

Cameron got marginally better, though I really REALLY hate the continuation of 'look how OTP Kirsten and Cameron are!!' because it feels too forced and I dislike it. 

It doesn't help that Kirsten has way more chemistry with the cop.

[In2You]

The i09 review was not good

http://io9.com/stitchers-is-one-of-the-most-fascinatingly-horrendous-t-1708852744

[BkWurm1]

How many of them are women? I don't watch izombie so I have no reference is the main character like that: the ones I know are male and so I am interested in a female.

Temprance Brennen on Bones is the female character I think of that doesn't understand emotions but is super smart blah, blah, blah. 

 

I'm going to give this show a few more chances and I adore New Claudia and her BFF the taser but the lead is kind of a mess.  At this point I don't know if it is just the writing that is ALL over that place or the writing AND the actress.  They seem to have already dropped her time awareness problem (which would be a shame since it was actually something new) and she seems to be very cued in to some very subtle reactions when she's being abrupt at the lab but I'm supposed to still believe she doesn't understand emotions?  Even the flashback seemed to be a contradiction about her been stoic and unemotional.  Oh, and her getting her feelings all hurt when she finds out her roommate spied on her.  Doesn't match up with who she was supposed to be.  

 

Plus there is no way a woman that just spent time in the brain of the girl who had just been at a rave wouldn't have observed how people dressed at the rave.  And that incredibly lame and painful storyline about the girl being held captive by her drug deal boyfriend because...why?  Huh?  One moment she's all he's going to take care of me and the next "you never told me you were a drug dealer" . Well everytime we saw her she seemed to be high so I found her objections surprising.  Weak, weak writing. 

 

Oh and why was the cop threatening them with a taser?  Isn't the show set in California.  Don't they also use guns?  I'm not saying he should have pulled a gun, but the taser was sooo weird. Him detaining them was completely weird.  He had no reason to.  And then they all got on the ground only to get up a second later was totally pointless.   I'm glad there just isn't anyone left for Kirsten to tell because I think while it was amusing the first two times, it would get old fast.

 

This show is trying way too hard to be funny with non funny lines.  Like that clunker between Cameron and his friend, something to the effect of "did you imagine this was how your day was going to go?"  "nope"  NOT FUNNY!! But the camera lingered on them like they were delivering comedic gold.  The whole episode was heavy on the cheese.  The blatant set up for her notfather's brain to expire was telegraphed a mile away.  The supposedly inspiring speech about giving the dead a voice one more time.  The dumb line about "where would so and so be if you hadn't stiched into her"....umm, still very dead.   

 

Honestly, this was about the worst episode of television I've sat through in a long time.  The pilot was so so but this was a mess.  I'm trying to hope that it was so messy because they didn't have a great way to naturally bring in the cop and the roommate.  The sudden announcement that she'd been a spy felt like a big fat retcon but since I already was loving her, I don't care.   The problem is I have a feeling that unless there is a vast improvement in the next episode, I will start actively HATING the lead actress.

 

I don't mind Cameron but not sure why he would want to have anything to do with Kirsten.  They also need to work on making the stitching sequences less cringe worthy.  Not so much the flash backs but the part where she comes into the room where the cat suit and gets into a fish tank.  I am usually very easily to please with faux science stuff, but so far those scenes just yank me out of the story and all I can do is wonder if the tank is heated and pity all the hours the actress has to spend with pruny fingertips.  Oh and please work hard on having Kirsten say her lines consistently in and out of the stich.  Her tone every time was off when she'd say the same line from the lab viewpoint and then again inside the stitch.  Again, just yanks me out of the scene and shouts THIS IS A TV SHOW.

 

Re: iZombie.  These two shows may have gone into development around the same time but iZombie is based off a comic so I assume that means they win when it comes to the idea of utilizing memories of the dead to solve crime.  It really doesn't matter since they are such different shows with leads that are in NO way alike.  If both were well written I wouldn't have a problem watching them both but pretty much the only reason I'm going to watch a third episode of Stichers is because I have nothing better to do. 

[Kromm]

 

The blatant set up for her notfather's brain to expire was telegraphed a mile away.

Well of course.  We knew it from the first second she got interrupted.  

 

I find myself wondering if that was supposed to be the point--that it was made blatantly obvious to us intentionally that Boss Lady was just a lying liar who lies.  If so, where the heck are they going with this?  It takes the intelligence of a cucumber to figure out she was stalling it on purpose, so of course for the show to have any credibility at all you have to play out on screen this being a source of conflict.

[SonofaBiscuit]

I thought that this episode was really bad compared to the pilot.  In particular, I had a lot of second hand embarrassment from the entire rave scene.  And yeah, I thought it was stupid that Kirsten didn't know how to dress for the rave even though she should have observed what people were wearing when she was doing her stitching thing at the beginning of the episode.

 

I'm trying to figure out if the cop is going to be a love interest for Kirsten or Salli Richardson-Whitfield's character.  If forced to choose (cause you just know they're going to pair Kirsten up with one of the guys), I guess I would pick the cop or Linus, but it looks like Linus will probably end up with Allison Scagliotti's character.  Really, I'm not seeing a whole lot of chemistry from any of the possible love combos, but I realize that it's only the second episode.   

[Texasmom1970]

Second episode in and I am asking why am I watching this cheesy trainwreck?! Must be due to lack of other shows being summer, or I am just an idiot.

I am mid 40s and never been to a rave, but do they really dress like that, it was like a bad costume party to me. The fist bumping and moronic jokes between the two tech guys is really grating. Not sure if I can make it through any more episodes.

[SonofaBiscuit]

Saw a "this season on Stitchers" type of preview during Baby Daddy, and Oded Fehr will be in a least one episode, I guess, and Kirsten's ex will also show up.

[In2You]

Second episode in and I am asking why am I watching this cheesy trainwreck?! Must be due to lack of other shows being summer, or I am just an idiot.

I am mid 40s and never been to a rave, but do they really dress like that, it was like a bad costume party to me. The fist bumping and moronic jokes between the two tech guys is really grating. Not sure if I can make it through any more episodes.

I never went to one but I did go to college and a big one used to come to town once every semester. I remember a lot of neon short shorts and sports bras and cut up white tees for the girls. The guys also wore neon colored shorts  and white shirts unlike what the guys were wearing here.

[GaT]

I can't decide how I feel about this show, it's not horrible, but it's not great. I guess I'll keep watching.

[Bort]

Yeah, this is one of those instances where the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. I find myself eyerolling through lots of it, yet I still like it? I don't understand why, really.

I like Camille. I like Kirsten. And I still think Kirsten and the cop are giving each other do-me eyes.

[AudienceofOne]

What was that about stabbing my eyes out over the dialogue? This is truly terrible. I watched because I thought they might manage gleefully terrible but there's nothing deliberate or joyful about how terrible it is. It feels like it was written by a 14yr old fan fiction writer. Is it possible they created this show as some sort of writer training wheels?

The fact that Cameron vomited after the line "Thunderbirds Are Go" seemed appropriate.

Edited June 17, 2015 by AudienceofOne

[dgpolo]

My DVR cut off right after Kirsten put the tape in the machine, what, if anything was on it?

[AudienceofOne]

My DVR cut off right after Kirsten put the tape in the machine, what, if anything was on it?

 

 

What he said it was - stories. It was him reading the tale of Sleeping Beauty. So of course the first stitcher woke up at the end of it.

[TimetoShine]

There is a LOT of over acting on this show. A lot, a lot, a lot. And a lot of fast speaking. I think CW shows from 4 years ago are better than this one, so far.

[In2You]

What was that about stabbing my eyes out over the dialogue? This is truly terrible. I watched because I thought they might manage gleefully terrible but there's nothing deliberate or joyful about how terrible it is. It feels like it was written by a 14yr old fan fiction writer. Is it possible they created this show as some sort of writer training wheels?

The fact that Cameron vomited after the line "Thunderbirds Are Go" seemed appropriate.

I was falling asleep on the last episode and didn't even try and stay  up for the ending.

[mrsnolatron]

 

My DVR cut off right after Kirsten put the tape in the machine, what, if anything was on it?

 

While Ed is VO'ing the story of how the king and queen in Sleeping Beauty always longed for a daughter, the show cuts to Maggie (the boss lady) taking the other half of the torn photo out of an envelope, and she herself is the missing person in the picture.  The show then immediately cuts to Marta in her hospital bed while Ed goes on to say the evil fairy cursed the daughter so she'd prick her finger at age 15 and die.  The moment he says that, Marta wakes up.  The heavy implication is that Marta is Ed and Maggie's daughter, and that she and Kirsten were both "bred" to be stitchers by their crazy scientist parents.

[dgpolo]

Thank you so much mrsnolatron!

[AmandaPanda]

I didn't hate this most recent episode! Maybe I've just lowered my standards so far that anything would seem okay, but I almost kind of liked it. I love the roommate character. I feel like the show is maybe starting to find its stride.

[Lady Calypso]

I guess I've resigned myself to the fact that this show isn't going to be good in any way, so might as well accept it and enjoy it for what it is. I was really surprised, and thankful, that the husband was actually innocent. I was afraid that he was going to be in on it somehow. Also, I like that actor (Wendall on Bones when I used to watch that show) and sure, he went over the top, but it was a good over the top and kind of natural.

 

Oh look, Camille and Linus hooked up. What a surprise. I hope they're the only couple, though. I like Cameron a lot more this episode, but I still don't buy him and Kirsten at all. I enjoy that the male lead isn't some macho, alpha guy. It's a reversal of typical tropes. Still a trope, nonetheless, but less typical.

 

Of course Maggie and Ed supposedly have Marta as a daughter. Because this show would go there. And....so Cameron is in love with Marta, it seems? I would be fine if that happened, now that Marta's awake. 

[Lady Calypso]

I really can't with this constant Cameron/Kirsten tease. I've finally liked them both individually but as a couple? Um, no thank you. I'd rather have creepy kitchen girl with Cameron. 

 

Speaking of....what's up with Cameron and his long scar and weird eyes? As if he's a robot or undead or something like that. Is he some kind of zombie cyborg? 

 

Ok, and Linus? Stop pestering Camille on second dates or second hook ups. When she says no, she means no. Stop before I hate you, because I'm already annoyed that you feel obligated for her to hook up with you again. Stop it. She owes you no explanations, and she's made herself very clear. I am going to be super pissed if she ends up starting a relationship after he continues to pester her about it. He knows no boundaries and it could end up to be borderline harassment if he keeps it up. Hopefully he stops now that she's had to tell him in three different scenes that she's not interested in anything more.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Lady Calypso

[Bort]

I really can't with this constant Cameron/Kirsten tease. I've finally liked them both individually but as a couple? Um, no thank you. I'd rather have creepy kitchen girl with Cameron.

Cosign.

Pleeeease let them put Kirsten with the cop. He was totally checking her out, by the way, while she was looking through the telephoto lens.

This was actually a pretty strong episode. I only cringed a couple of times from bad dialogue, mostly it was Cameron's. At least Camille called him out on his high-strung behavior. He really needs to dial it down a few… hundred notches.

Edited June 24, 2015 by kariyaki

[GaT]

Not a bad episode, but I thought the end between Cameron & Kirsten was a little strange.

[Free]

Not a bad episode, but I thought the end between Cameron & Kirsten was a little strange.

 

I assume it's supposed to be the start of their romance/her starting to have feelings or whatever, but it was so awkwardly done it was hard to tell.

[jaytee1812]

I couldn't tell whether the ending was suppose to show Kirsten's romantic interest or get our interest in that gigantic scar on Cameron's chest.

[Free]

I couldn't tell whether the ending was suppose to show Kirsten's romantic interest or get our interest in that gigantic scar on Cameron's chest.

 

That's exactly what makes it so awkward.  XD.

[tennisgurl]

So...this show has kind of grown on me. What? Its kind of fun, the acting is pretty good, and its something light to watch in the background while I do other stuff. 

[AudienceofOne]

Yes I watched it. Yes it was bad. Really bad. I'm done.

 

Actually, my biggest gripe with it is that everything is played for melodrama. Everytime she stitches, every dumb countdown, every ZOMG, it's SO DANGEROUS. I just start laughing. And they're trying for relationship melodrama between the characters and it's mostly just boring. Strip all of that out and the show may have been watchable. As it is, it's so laughably juvenile I can't.

 

Bye bye Stitchers - I'd say it was fun but complaining about how bad you were was more fun than the actual show itself.

 

Ok, and Linus? Stop pestering Camille on second dates or second hook ups. When she says no, she means no. Stop before I hate you, because I'm already annoyed that you feel obligated for her to hook up with you again. Stop it. She owes you no explanations, and she's made herself very clear.

 

 

Romance! From the generation that brought you sparkly vampire stalkers.

Edited June 30, 2015 by AudienceofOne

[Free]

Stitchers just feels awkward: the interactions, the oddly dropped in references, the attempts at witty banter, etc.

[AudienceofOne]

Stitchers just feels awkward: the interactions, the oddly dropped in references, the attempts at witty banter, etc.

 

 

Yes, that's what it is! Awkward. Like it's TV Write by Numbers. You get a TV show out the other end but the whole thing just seems forced. Last week I said it felt like was invented as writer training wheels.

[Texasmom1970]

At least I can say a couple positive things about the latest episode. First Oded Fehr, love him! Linus also looked cute with his hair all messed up from sleeping/or romping in the bed with Camille.

I wish they would give us more information about the cop, I find him much more interesting than a lot of the other characters.

[GaT]

The biggest thing I got from this episode is that they changed Kirsten's hair. It went from an all brushed back high ponytail to a side part low ponytail. This must mean something :-)

[Ariah]

The biggest thing I got from this episode is that they changed Kirsten's hair. It went from an all brushed back high ponytail to a side part low ponytail. This must mean something :-)

 

It means she's willing to let her hair down... Ha! Get it? Her hair down?

 

(Sorry, that was my puny attempt at simulating a banter exchange from the actual series)

 

But frankly, I don't know what is happening to me - I am actually sort of maybe enjoying myself while watching this. It's so cliched it hurts, the acting couldn't be more wooden, and still - it makes a good background tv. If you miss a minute or ten, it doesn't affect the plot comprehension at all. Such a silly, silly show.

 

Too bad they've gotten rid of Martha so soon (or did they? we never saw the body!). Too bad they're forcing the chemistry-lacking romance between Cameron and Kristen (I'd prefer the detective, thank you). Oded Fehr could not be Kristen's long-lost father, I hope? That would not make much sense...

[txwatcher]

Yeah I'm bummed Marta got killed off too. I'm really surprised Kristen didn't cajole Cameron and the gang to somehow Stitch into her anyway. Especially after what happened with Ed. I mean these are supposed to be cutting edge rebel-nerds. And if K and C get shipped, that would be trite. Although I'm not the target audiences for this show,I'm still watching because it is summer. Yes KyleXY and 9 Live were good SciFi programs ABCFamily produced.

[Free]

 

Too bad they've gotten rid of Martha so soon (or did they? we never saw the body!).

 

Shame either way as she seemed like a character with far more promise and storyline potential, oh well.

[GaT]

This whole conspiracy thing is boring me, & for some reason, I find Kirsten's new hairstyle really distracting.

[cynic]

Oh my, this show is so so bad. It's almost unbelievable how terrible it is. It all sucks, from the writing, to the direction, to the acting. Why does everything look and feel like a bad Saturday morning kids show from the 80's/90's? Why does everyone talk so fast and overact so much? And most of all, why is Emma Ishtar (who is laughably bad) the lead when Allison Scagliotti is RIGHT THERE?

[In2You]

Oh my, this show is so so bad. It's almost unbelievable how terrible it is. It all sucks, from the writing, to the direction, to the acting. Why does everything look and feel like a bad Saturday morning kids show from the 80's/90's? Why does everyone talk so fast and overact so much? And most of all, why is Emma Ishtar (who is laughably bad) the lead when Allison Scagliotti is RIGHT THERE?

I don't see AS as the lead in this show but Emma Ishta is horrible and I have no clue how the hell she got cast. Someone in casting must've had a crush on her. I agree that the show looks and feels dated.

[Free]

This whole conspiracy thing is boring me.

 

Same here, I don't care about Kirsten's family drama at all.

 

 

Oh my, this show is so so bad. It's almost unbelievable how terrible it is. It all sucks, from the writing, to the direction, to the acting. Why does everything look and feel like a bad Saturday morning kids show from the 80's/90's? Why does everyone talk so fast and overact so much?

 

Agreed, it's a dated, awkward mess.

[Bort]

I don't think Emma Ishta is so bad. The whole point of the character is for her to be flat and emotionless (in fact, there are times when I feel she's too animated). I recall Anna Torv and Rachel Nichols getting similar criticism for their portrayal of that type of character on their shows (Fringe and The Inside, respectively) and they turned out to be pretty good actresses.

Granted, Emma Ishta has a very short credit list on imdb and she could very well turn out to be terrible but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt since that's how the character is supposed to be. The writing is certainly doing no one any favors, even Alison Scagliotti isn't coming off very well.

[cynic]

I don't have a problem with the lack of emotion of the lead character. I don't feel like Ishta's wooden or lacks affect. I just think she's flat out bad, like drama club I'm just going to stand here waiting for the cue for me to spit out my line with attitude and then I will vacillate between doing nothing and overacting like I'm on a bad Disney sitcom bad.

But yeah, she's only the most egregious case in a terribly acted show. The "banter" scenes with Cameron are especially awful. It's like they're being directed to be that bad. And Scagliotti is no fine thespian herself (particularly here), but I think she has some natural dryness and toughness that would work in better in the lead character than whatever Emma is trying to do. Admittedly, that's a very low bar. Seriously though, Ishta makes Charlie from Revolution look like an Oscar winner.

As for wooden, people kept telling me that Stephen Ammell wasn't wooden, that his character was supposed to be that way. Well, Oliver isn't supposed to be emotionless now (and wasn't supposed to be in the flashbacks even in the beginning of the series). Dude is like wood. I enjoyed Anna Torv from the beginning of Fringe. I only know Rachel Nichols from Continuum, but she's fine. A reserved or even "sociopathic" character doesn't have to equal wooden. See Cumberbatch and Miller as Sherlock Holmes.

[Free]

 

The "banter" scenes with Cameron are especially awful. It's like they're being directed to be that bad.

 

Is that what those scenes were supposed to be?  XD.

[that one guy]

 

At first, I thought they might be going for an Asperger's vibe with her, but she was definitely sarcastic at times, so that likely rules out Asperger's and autism.

This is a myth. Asperger's/Autism Spectrum Disorder are terms used for pervasive developmental impairment that effects social interaction much more severely than cognitive functioning. This is expressed as a pattern or constellation of symptoms - not everyone diagnosed with ASD presents in the same way, and not everyone has all symptoms associated with ASD. It's true that some people with autism don't understand sarcasm or irony, but that particular symptom is not necessary for a diagnosis to be made. Some people with ASD are quite funny, or at least I'd like to think so.

 

Kristen is one of two TV characters on the spectrum I've been watching the past few weeks, the other being Elliot on Mr. Robot. Elliott is much more impaired, but he has crushing anxiety, paranoia and chemical dependency issues, which can frequently exist alongside autism but don't have to. Kristen is an unusual representation for TV because she has her shit together and is portrayed as heroic, competent and attractive while also not being neurotypical. It's refreshing to see a portrayal this positive anywhere in popular entertainment.

[33kaitykaity]

Will keep watching just for Oded Fehr, although I wish they would color his hair up a bit and not keep going for the older gray distinguished gentleman thing.  And in keeping with the superficial nature of this post, god damn, Kirsten, have a fucking cheeseburger already.  Whenever I look at her, all I see are skeletal shoulder blades.  

[giovannif7]

Stitchers has been renewed for Season 2 by ABC Family, according to TVLine.

[GaT]

Still getting distracted by Kristen's change of hairstyle, which should give everybody a clue as to how good the writing & acting is.