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shadowkat1. Just finished watching The Sleepy Hollow season premiere. As an aside, is it just me or are there a heck of a lot of commercials? It took me forever to watch it, I kept trying to fast-forward through the commercials and fast-forwarded through the show instead - which resulted in rewinding and seeing the damn commercials twice.
Anyhow, the episode was surprisingly good. Neat twisty mislead at the beginning, and
rather decent job of the characters banding together. I rather enjoy the framework - Lt. Abby, her badass sister, Jenny, and Icabod. Katrina still does little for me. But the actor playing Headless has a great chest. Also, Timothy Busfield who plays Benjamin Franklin has not aged well, just saying - then again he was playing Franklin. Rather liked that twist as well. The writers are having a heck of a lot of fun revising or re-invisioning American History from a supernatural perspective.
2. The Good Wife - also had a plot twist at the beginning, which I did not see coming and should have. It was built rather well over the course of four seasons. Suffice it to say - Carey, Alicia, and Diane's relationship with Lemond Bishop has come back to bite them in the ass. Courtesy of Will Gardner - who got them involved with the illustrous Bishop to begin with.
It's ironic who gets railroaded...considering Carey was the only one who questioned their involvement with Bishop and attempted to distance himself. Equally ironic that he's relying so heavily on Kalinda and Diane's help to get out of the problem - considering he was balking at both joining the firm.
Diane is busy trying to fool her partners at Lockhardt & Gardner - that she is retiring, when in fact she's retiring in order to join Florick - Argos as an equal partner. Of course Carey is not quite on board yet. And Diane insists that Kalinda come with her. I figure now that Carey is stuck behind bars due to his legal involvement with Bishop - he'll have no choice but go along for the ride. Which may be why the writers plotted this - it neatly backs Carey into a wall. He's dependent on these three women saving his ass.
Carey got indicted on drug trafficking charges. Apparently one of Bishop's men told the cops that Carey had legally advised them on heroine trafficking on Oct 25. Carey insists he said nothing and the guy is lying. Kalinda talked to Bishop's crew and determined Carey was just there and hadn't said anything. But Bishop stopped her from investigating it further - stating he'd take care of it. He took the additional step of having one of his crew approach and intimidate Cary in prison - cutting Cary's hand, so Carey wouldn't make a deal with the DA. The DA is rail-roading Cary to catch Bishop.
Bishop is another of Will Gardner's finds. Gardner's ghost continues to haunt them and in a wonderfully nasty way. I rather like how the writers have dealt with that. They have him die heroically, and everyone remembers him as a hero...or as a great guy. Then they have to deal with his horrific decisions and the fallout. Bishop being amongst the various things inherited via Will.
Meanwhile, Eli is busy spinning his wheels to get Alicia to run for State's Attorney. Because he's figured out that Alicia's ability to get elected is better than anyone vying for the position and Alicia would be favorable to Peter. Alicia says no. Eli ignores her. Peter says no. Eli spends the episode manipulating Peter until he says yes. While his daughter looks on, Eli's not Peter's, and wonders if she can learn what her father does for a living.
So far a rather fun season. Although Cary getting thrown into the slammer was admittedly frustrating. I feel very sorry for Cary.
3. Doctor Who
Interesting episode. The series is continuing the thread of the Doctor being insecure and hating himself. Despising himself actually. The things he's done...are consuming him with guilt. In many ways this is a throw-back to the Ninth Doctor.
I am confused though. Was the female villain the same woman with big glasses from the first two episodes? Missy? Or just a look-a-like? Possibly a clone of her. She had a lot of clones.
She got old and didn't regenerate - so clearly not a Time Lord.
4. Madame Secretary - this disappointed me. And I found the set-up difficult to buy, possibly because I'd seen the first three episodes of S1 of House of Cards the night before. Which also deals with Washington, DC and Federal Government but is far more realistic about it - if a tad more pessimistic.
Basically the President, an Ex Chief of the CIA, appoints his former CIA analyst, now a Professor as Secretary of State. We neatly skip over the Senate Hearings and right to her first week as Madam Secretary. As a result her character isn't built well - and it's hard to root for her. I agree with the critics - I wish the show borrowed more from House of Cards and the Good Wife, and less from Homeland and Covert Affairs.
It falls into a lot of cliches and I found my attention wandering during most of it.
Don't know if I'll stick with it or not. Unless it improves dramatically - I don't see it lasting more than one season if that.
5. House of Cards - possibly amongst the best written and directed of the series that I've seen to date. Small wonder considering it was directed by David Fincher (The Social Network, Seven, etc...). Not to mention acted. But no one is likable, compelling yes, likable - no. By the end of first three episodes - I wanted to throttle Robin Wright's character. Kevin Spacey is just fun to watch no matter what he does.
It's one of those series, much like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Sopranoes, etc...that you watch knowing full well that no one in the show is redeemable. The character are intriguing just not people you want to spend a lot of time with.
Anyhow, the episode was surprisingly good. Neat twisty mislead at the beginning, and
rather decent job of the characters banding together. I rather enjoy the framework - Lt. Abby, her badass sister, Jenny, and Icabod. Katrina still does little for me. But the actor playing Headless has a great chest. Also, Timothy Busfield who plays Benjamin Franklin has not aged well, just saying - then again he was playing Franklin. Rather liked that twist as well. The writers are having a heck of a lot of fun revising or re-invisioning American History from a supernatural perspective.
2. The Good Wife - also had a plot twist at the beginning, which I did not see coming and should have. It was built rather well over the course of four seasons. Suffice it to say - Carey, Alicia, and Diane's relationship with Lemond Bishop has come back to bite them in the ass. Courtesy of Will Gardner - who got them involved with the illustrous Bishop to begin with.
It's ironic who gets railroaded...considering Carey was the only one who questioned their involvement with Bishop and attempted to distance himself. Equally ironic that he's relying so heavily on Kalinda and Diane's help to get out of the problem - considering he was balking at both joining the firm.
Diane is busy trying to fool her partners at Lockhardt & Gardner - that she is retiring, when in fact she's retiring in order to join Florick - Argos as an equal partner. Of course Carey is not quite on board yet. And Diane insists that Kalinda come with her. I figure now that Carey is stuck behind bars due to his legal involvement with Bishop - he'll have no choice but go along for the ride. Which may be why the writers plotted this - it neatly backs Carey into a wall. He's dependent on these three women saving his ass.
Carey got indicted on drug trafficking charges. Apparently one of Bishop's men told the cops that Carey had legally advised them on heroine trafficking on Oct 25. Carey insists he said nothing and the guy is lying. Kalinda talked to Bishop's crew and determined Carey was just there and hadn't said anything. But Bishop stopped her from investigating it further - stating he'd take care of it. He took the additional step of having one of his crew approach and intimidate Cary in prison - cutting Cary's hand, so Carey wouldn't make a deal with the DA. The DA is rail-roading Cary to catch Bishop.
Bishop is another of Will Gardner's finds. Gardner's ghost continues to haunt them and in a wonderfully nasty way. I rather like how the writers have dealt with that. They have him die heroically, and everyone remembers him as a hero...or as a great guy. Then they have to deal with his horrific decisions and the fallout. Bishop being amongst the various things inherited via Will.
Meanwhile, Eli is busy spinning his wheels to get Alicia to run for State's Attorney. Because he's figured out that Alicia's ability to get elected is better than anyone vying for the position and Alicia would be favorable to Peter. Alicia says no. Eli ignores her. Peter says no. Eli spends the episode manipulating Peter until he says yes. While his daughter looks on, Eli's not Peter's, and wonders if she can learn what her father does for a living.
So far a rather fun season. Although Cary getting thrown into the slammer was admittedly frustrating. I feel very sorry for Cary.
3. Doctor Who
Interesting episode. The series is continuing the thread of the Doctor being insecure and hating himself. Despising himself actually. The things he's done...are consuming him with guilt. In many ways this is a throw-back to the Ninth Doctor.
I am confused though. Was the female villain the same woman with big glasses from the first two episodes? Missy? Or just a look-a-like? Possibly a clone of her. She had a lot of clones.
She got old and didn't regenerate - so clearly not a Time Lord.
4. Madame Secretary - this disappointed me. And I found the set-up difficult to buy, possibly because I'd seen the first three episodes of S1 of House of Cards the night before. Which also deals with Washington, DC and Federal Government but is far more realistic about it - if a tad more pessimistic.
Basically the President, an Ex Chief of the CIA, appoints his former CIA analyst, now a Professor as Secretary of State. We neatly skip over the Senate Hearings and right to her first week as Madam Secretary. As a result her character isn't built well - and it's hard to root for her. I agree with the critics - I wish the show borrowed more from House of Cards and the Good Wife, and less from Homeland and Covert Affairs.
It falls into a lot of cliches and I found my attention wandering during most of it.
Don't know if I'll stick with it or not. Unless it improves dramatically - I don't see it lasting more than one season if that.
5. House of Cards - possibly amongst the best written and directed of the series that I've seen to date. Small wonder considering it was directed by David Fincher (The Social Network, Seven, etc...). Not to mention acted. But no one is likable, compelling yes, likable - no. By the end of first three episodes - I wanted to throttle Robin Wright's character. Kevin Spacey is just fun to watch no matter what he does.
It's one of those series, much like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Sopranoes, etc...that you watch knowing full well that no one in the show is redeemable. The character are intriguing just not people you want to spend a lot of time with.
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Date: 2014-09-24 07:30 am (UTC)Noooooo. She was Keeley Hawes. (She is in things like Spooks, Upstairs, Downstairs, and Line of Duty.) Missy is played by Michelle Gomez. Michelle Gomez is Scottish and completely mad. (Well, her characters are, at least. Also, you should watch Green Wing. Because everyone should. First episode here! *g* Plus, I just realised that the crazy (in a good way) woman at work reminds me of Michelle Gomez. THANK YOU.)
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Date: 2014-09-24 02:46 pm (UTC)I only watched it because football threw the schedule off, so it was running when I turned the TV on and I didn't want to turn it off only to miss the start of The Good Wife.
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Date: 2014-09-25 12:17 am (UTC)My advice? Rent "Political Animals" with Sigourney Weaver and Cirian Hinds instead - or just watch "House of Cards".
Madam Secretary just didn't work on multiple levels.