Endless Recycling

This is Steven Petrick posting.

Once more I have been penalized by my age when watching entertainment.

Several recent shows have had plots that I was, from my long years of having watched shows, plots that I knew where they were going, and even who the villain was in some cases, long before the plot line intended them to be revealed.

I know that it has been said that all plotlines are just rehashes of the same plotlines that were used in the plays that were put on by the Greeks before even Rome arose.

But, somehow it seems they should be able to come up with something new that is not an endless recycling.

With that being said, I will admit that the one thing in "Ascension" that did take my surprise was the death of the female investigator. Sure, I knew her "ally" was a villain before that point, but only just before that point because I picked up on the "butcher" comment. Still, I thought from that point that the investigator would somehow disarm her and escape.

It was, however, pretty much the only thing that surprised me in the last month or so of shows, the only thing I did not see coming. (The escape of the "Stroh" character in "Major Crimes" did not come anywhere close being telegraphed the first time Stroh got control of the compressed air can and dropped the pen, if not the exact sequence of how he would do it.)

Still, I am watching a lot of shows in hopes of something new. At least "Castle" continues to be amusing for example. But I would like to see something different now and again.