surface

So when I find an actor I like and I’ve got some free time, I’ll take advantage of my Netflix subscription and load my queue with that particular actor’s filmography.

After becoming reinfatuated with Gossip Girl around the end of December, I decided I’d check out what Leighton Meester’s done. I saw her in 24 — she was the American girlfriend of the teenaged member of a terrorist sleeper cell who was ultimately smothered with a pillow by the scariest mother in the world — and as Carrie Bishop in Veronica Mars, and as the high school girl obsessed with seducing Dr. House, but that was about it.

She’s done a lot of TV guest roles, a few horror movies, and apparently has a recurring role on Entourage. I’m not a fan of horror movies, and it took exactly two episodes of Entourage to convince me I’ve seen enough, so I went with Surface.

Carter Jenkins, Eddie Hassell, Leighton Meester

Surface was one of the triumvirate of sci-fi/supernatural shows the networks debuted the season after Lost premiered in hopes of finding their own answers to ABC’s juggernaut. I never watched it, but I did try Invasion and Threshold for a while before ultimately losing interest.

It was canceled after just 16 episodes — I’m not sure any of the three made it to 22 episodes — and after having just finished the series this afternoon, I’m sorry it didn’t get a full season pick-up.

Toward the end, the plot started getting a bit jumbled, and I assume it’s because the producers knew they had a premature end date and were trying to get as much of the story told as possible. Like any show dealing with conspiracies and cover-ups, I’m not sure Surface would’ve ever done well beyond a season or two at the most, but I really wish they’d been at least given the final six episodes of their first season to complete the story. As with Freaks and Geeks and Firefly, I found myself wondering, “But what happens next??” At least Firefly got Serenity.

Anyway, I definitely recommend Surface. The cast — Lake Bell, Jay R. Ferguson, Carter Jenkins, Leighton Meester, Linsey Godfrey — was good, and once you agreed to suspend disbelief, the way you have to with all sci-fi/supernatural shows, the plot was decently woven together.

While I found the “science” and the conspiracy stuff that mainly involved the characters of Bell and Ferguson interesting, I preferred the story centered around 14-year-old Miles Bennett and his family.  It humanized what was otherwise kind of a Jaws-like plot. Only with weird, 100-ft. lizard-like things. The storyline between Miles and Caitlin was cute, too.

Linsey Godfrey, Carter Jenkins

With the exception of a few episodes of Numb3rs and Shark that should be here early next week, I think I’ll end my L.M. educational experience here, without subjecting myself to horror movies (ew) or Entourage (an even bigger ew).