Television Round-Up....Sort of
Nov. 8th, 2014 08:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Am behind on Sleepy Hollow - it's not all that compelling this season. I agree with the critique that part of the problem is too much emphasis on the Crane family dynamic/love triangle and not enough on the Mills/Irving characters. Because let's face it the only interesting character in the Crane family is Icabode, and he's only interesting when he's interacting with Mills and the weird stuff in present day.
I think the show needs to get rid of Katrina. War can stick around as a bad guy, but less focus on him please.
2. Also behind on Arrow - haven't seen it yet this season.
3. Caught up on How to Get Away with Murder - and I think I figured out who did it, but may be wrong. Still watching because two-three characters have sparked my interest.
4. Doctor Who - finally saw last week's episode. I need to stop reading my flist's response to these episodes. I wasn't spoiled. But they said it was REALLY GOOD. I was quite disappointed. So far, flist/DW fandom and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on Doctor Who. They love the new Doctor, I'm..ambivalent. They loved this episode. I was rather bored for a portion of it. Although that's pretty much been the case for most of this season. The only episode I've really enjoyed was "Listen".
That said, there were a few interesting tid-bits in it. And a reveal that most fans predicted months ago. The most interesting portions of the episode focused on Clara and Pinkman, which has been the case for most of this season. The least interesting parts focused on well, everyone else.
I don't understand the Clara hate that was reported on various media outlets and fan boards by people on my correspondence list. I honestly liked Clara better in this episode than the Doctor. Fandom is goofy.
* Clara's actions made sense to me. She was overwhelmed by grief. And the Doctor has been treating time travel sort of like a toy. A fun game.
Old as he is, he still comes across as a little boy in a phantom tool booth that pops around through time and space at his will.
I could identify with the pain she felt, the need to see Pink, to change things.
That beginning section was beyond painful. And quite good.
* Then we did the whole hooky afterlife bit - which isn't really an after life at all, but some weird space created by the Master (uh, now the Mistress). Apparently the Master regenerated as a woman. (Which explains the misogyny claims reported online. Honestly, it's misogynistic to have a bad guy regenerate as a female? OR is it misogynistic to not allow Doctor Who to regenerate as a female? Considering the writers have considered it - but have been told not to by the network and crazy fan base, I'm not so sure you can claim the writers are the misogynists in this scenario so much as commenting on the fan base and the network. We may not like the mirror's reflection, but it is silly to blame the mirror.)
All that said? I'm not fond of the villain. Last season's villains were more interesting. So were the previous two season's. The Master has never interested me all that much. A bit too on the nose or obvious - the evil version of the Doctor.
And Davies' take on The Master was a tad more complex than Moffat's appears to be.
Which is saying something, because I tend to be more of a Moffat fan, generally speaking.
I was bored during the afterlife bit. The cliche scene with Pinkman and the little boy, who he killed in the WAR, followed by the Doctor and Clara wandering through the afterlife mortuary, only to discover that it is a hoax, filled with cybermen...lying in wait to devastate London and then the world.
The only part that I thought was interesting was the interactions between the Doctor and The Master, and Clara and Pinkman.
So overall? A so-so episode. This season of Doctor Who just isn't quite working for me. It reminds me a lot of S2, which I gave up on mid-way through. My favorite seasons are S4, S5, and S6. With a handful of episodes in S1 and S3.
5. TVD (aka Vampire Diaries)
Elena is annoying me this season, which is a shame - because I actually found her interesting and somewhat likable the last two seasons. First she goes off the rails, becomes a drug addict and goes on a killing rampage, slaughtering innocent kids in the woods, like a bad movie take on various urban folk legends (which was actually funny if you know the legends), then she decides, oops I killed all these people, I need to do something about it. Oh, I know, I'll just have Alaric wipe all my good memories of Damon - so I can forget I ever loved him and become a happy go-lucky college kid again.
Coward.
Jeremy is actually handling Bonnie's death a whole lot better. Granted he gets drunk a lot and screws a lot of women, but he hasn't killed anyone, become an addict, or made himself forget.
Stefan...I'm liking this season. He's a much more interesting character without Elena.
And I loved how he called her on it. He's trying to move on. Elena had her memories magicked away because she was too weak to handle it. Stefan, granted, did run away from his problems too - but he's actually making amends. Not so much Elena. Who is responsible in part for Trip and his associates targeting the crew in Whitmore.
As is Stefan - for capturing Enzo and placing him in Trip's clutches, not that Enzo didn't push Stefan.
Good news? They decided not to kill off Enzo, Damon or Alaric again. Which was a relief, since I like those characters. Now if they could just bring Bonnie back.
New Additions? Not that interesting. Outside of maybe Jo. Alaric was more interesting as a vampire though - if a tormented one. Now, it's almost too easy.
Liam needs to die, he's not an interesting addition. I'm guessing he'll be dead before the end of the year or gone. Ivy had more potential. And I really miss Bonnie. Actually, I'm currently rooting for Bonnie and Damon to hook up, leave the whiny Gilbert kids in the dust.
Other pairings that I'm rooting for? Enzo and Carolyn, I also like Stefan and Carolyn, but Stefan's been a doofus.
6. The 100
Turning into a gripping sci-fi action adventure survival tale. Actually four sci-fi action-adventure survival tales. Much better than last season.
Really enjoying this series and all the characters, who are rather complex and unpredictable. Amongst the best sci-fi series that I've seen in a while, with a strong ensemble cast, and strong female characters.
I think the show needs to get rid of Katrina. War can stick around as a bad guy, but less focus on him please.
2. Also behind on Arrow - haven't seen it yet this season.
3. Caught up on How to Get Away with Murder - and I think I figured out who did it, but may be wrong. Still watching because two-three characters have sparked my interest.
4. Doctor Who - finally saw last week's episode. I need to stop reading my flist's response to these episodes. I wasn't spoiled. But they said it was REALLY GOOD. I was quite disappointed. So far, flist/DW fandom and I are not seeing eye-to-eye on Doctor Who. They love the new Doctor, I'm..ambivalent. They loved this episode. I was rather bored for a portion of it. Although that's pretty much been the case for most of this season. The only episode I've really enjoyed was "Listen".
That said, there were a few interesting tid-bits in it. And a reveal that most fans predicted months ago. The most interesting portions of the episode focused on Clara and Pinkman, which has been the case for most of this season. The least interesting parts focused on well, everyone else.
I don't understand the Clara hate that was reported on various media outlets and fan boards by people on my correspondence list. I honestly liked Clara better in this episode than the Doctor. Fandom is goofy.
* Clara's actions made sense to me. She was overwhelmed by grief. And the Doctor has been treating time travel sort of like a toy. A fun game.
Old as he is, he still comes across as a little boy in a phantom tool booth that pops around through time and space at his will.
I could identify with the pain she felt, the need to see Pink, to change things.
That beginning section was beyond painful. And quite good.
* Then we did the whole hooky afterlife bit - which isn't really an after life at all, but some weird space created by the Master (uh, now the Mistress). Apparently the Master regenerated as a woman. (Which explains the misogyny claims reported online. Honestly, it's misogynistic to have a bad guy regenerate as a female? OR is it misogynistic to not allow Doctor Who to regenerate as a female? Considering the writers have considered it - but have been told not to by the network and crazy fan base, I'm not so sure you can claim the writers are the misogynists in this scenario so much as commenting on the fan base and the network. We may not like the mirror's reflection, but it is silly to blame the mirror.)
All that said? I'm not fond of the villain. Last season's villains were more interesting. So were the previous two season's. The Master has never interested me all that much. A bit too on the nose or obvious - the evil version of the Doctor.
And Davies' take on The Master was a tad more complex than Moffat's appears to be.
Which is saying something, because I tend to be more of a Moffat fan, generally speaking.
I was bored during the afterlife bit. The cliche scene with Pinkman and the little boy, who he killed in the WAR, followed by the Doctor and Clara wandering through the afterlife mortuary, only to discover that it is a hoax, filled with cybermen...lying in wait to devastate London and then the world.
The only part that I thought was interesting was the interactions between the Doctor and The Master, and Clara and Pinkman.
So overall? A so-so episode. This season of Doctor Who just isn't quite working for me. It reminds me a lot of S2, which I gave up on mid-way through. My favorite seasons are S4, S5, and S6. With a handful of episodes in S1 and S3.
5. TVD (aka Vampire Diaries)
Elena is annoying me this season, which is a shame - because I actually found her interesting and somewhat likable the last two seasons. First she goes off the rails, becomes a drug addict and goes on a killing rampage, slaughtering innocent kids in the woods, like a bad movie take on various urban folk legends (which was actually funny if you know the legends), then she decides, oops I killed all these people, I need to do something about it. Oh, I know, I'll just have Alaric wipe all my good memories of Damon - so I can forget I ever loved him and become a happy go-lucky college kid again.
Coward.
Jeremy is actually handling Bonnie's death a whole lot better. Granted he gets drunk a lot and screws a lot of women, but he hasn't killed anyone, become an addict, or made himself forget.
Stefan...I'm liking this season. He's a much more interesting character without Elena.
And I loved how he called her on it. He's trying to move on. Elena had her memories magicked away because she was too weak to handle it. Stefan, granted, did run away from his problems too - but he's actually making amends. Not so much Elena. Who is responsible in part for Trip and his associates targeting the crew in Whitmore.
As is Stefan - for capturing Enzo and placing him in Trip's clutches, not that Enzo didn't push Stefan.
Good news? They decided not to kill off Enzo, Damon or Alaric again. Which was a relief, since I like those characters. Now if they could just bring Bonnie back.
New Additions? Not that interesting. Outside of maybe Jo. Alaric was more interesting as a vampire though - if a tormented one. Now, it's almost too easy.
Liam needs to die, he's not an interesting addition. I'm guessing he'll be dead before the end of the year or gone. Ivy had more potential. And I really miss Bonnie. Actually, I'm currently rooting for Bonnie and Damon to hook up, leave the whiny Gilbert kids in the dust.
Other pairings that I'm rooting for? Enzo and Carolyn, I also like Stefan and Carolyn, but Stefan's been a doofus.
6. The 100
Turning into a gripping sci-fi action adventure survival tale. Actually four sci-fi action-adventure survival tales. Much better than last season.
Really enjoying this series and all the characters, who are rather complex and unpredictable. Amongst the best sci-fi series that I've seen in a while, with a strong ensemble cast, and strong female characters.
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no subject
Date: 2014-11-09 02:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-09 11:55 am (UTC)Capaldi is a great actor, but perhaps there's a similar issue. They don't know what to do with him. (I mean, he was incredible in the "Children of Earth" Torchwood series.) Stephen Moffat is getting a lot of hate, but I cannot help but feel that perhaps he's burning himself out. When he was just one writer amongst many, he'd come out with some wonderful one-off episodes. When he took over as showrunner, he came out with an incredible fifth series for NuWho. Now he's been showrunner for three more series and he's not able to keep up the pace at anything like the same level of quality. I think he's elevated the show from where it was when it started. It feels like there's more ambition in the way it's put together now, even if the final product isn't perfect. But I think he needs to find someone to take over. The show needs new blood.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-09 02:24 pm (UTC)Did you see the "Listen" episode - it's the one with the kids worrying about the monster under their beds? That was an interesting episode.
Reminiscent of a Chinese Puzzle Box in its plot structure.
And then the afterlife stuff is just...I don't know. I found it largely dull -- and it doesn't actually matter anyway, because it's the netherspace created by the Master or the Cybermen and not any actual afterlife. Which is for the best in some respects -- I'm not convinced it makes sense to introduce the actual-afterlife as part of a season-ending cliffhanger, which is in some senses too big a topic for the show's admittedly all-over-the-place mythology to take.
I think part of my problem with it - is I admittedly do not like that story trope or plot device. It's a problem I have with a lot of series that heavily reference Judeo/Christian mythology. The afterlife trope does not quite work for me.
Partly because tv shows rarely pull it off. Buffy sort of did, by keeping it vague. And Angel by putting a dark twist on it. But those mythologies lent themselves to the trope better. Doctor Who is better off not addressing it directly...it's too all over-the-place in its mythology to begin with (what with the multiple show-runners).
no subject
Date: 2014-11-09 02:41 pm (UTC)I guess I can sort of see why fans might think Clara was an Amy Pond replacement, except the characters are completely different. Clara is a teacher, and doesn't appear to have a family, she's more solo. And while Danny Pinkman may feel similar to Rory - he really isn't, he's a solider and war traumatized, while Rory was a nurse. There really aren't that many similarities. So that's...puzzling. Reminds me a little bit of the Martha Jones hate after Rose Tyler, which I also fond puzzling mainly because I was largely ambivalent towards Rose Tyler and rather liked Martha Jones. (I preferred S3 to 1 and 2.)
I like the actor, Capadali, but not sure he works for me as Doctor Who. But I'm also not an old school Who fan.
As for writers? Eh. I like Moffat a lot as a writer - seen almost all of his television series. So the Moffat hate is puzzling as well. But keep in mind, I wasn't a huge fan of Davies, I liked Torchwood, and Children of Earth, and a few Davies Who episodes, but his plot arcs struck me as a wee bit on the silly side and I just wasn't captivated. So I'm puzzled by the Davies love too. LOL!
no subject
Date: 2014-11-09 05:54 pm (UTC)When Clara was first introduced, she wasn't a teacher.
I understand what you say about Clara being more solo, but while Amy's got Rory, she's still pretty capable to handle things one-on-one.
Yeah, Davies' end of series finales drove me up with the wall, so I'm in the same camp on that front. It's taken a long time for me to get even close to being fed up with Moffat.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-10 02:19 am (UTC)I haven't seen the second part of the finale (yet). I agree about the problems with the afterlife as a trope. It bothers me too. I can enjoy works that have a built-in afterlife, movies and novels and whatnot, but somehow introducing the afterlife into a very long-running series. With Buffy and Angel, the way they avoided it is partly by keeping it vague doing their twist on it as you said, and also partly because the circumstances in which afterlives showed up were designated in-story as very particular -- Buffy's death being different because it was a mystical death resulting from her dying from huge bursts of mystic energy, that Spike's being sucked into hell turns out to be not the global experience, but specific to Pavayne the restless spirit haunting W&H. In "The Body," it's made pretty clear that, as in our world, when death happens in a "usual" way, there are no concrete answers that everyone agrees with each other on about what happens.
With Who, it's hard for me not to get a little annoyed at the Doctor just saying, well, I've just never gotten around to checking out the afterlife! I get that it was meant as a slightly jokey way of acknowledging the weirdness of the fact that he's never dealt with this before, but hanging a lantern on the problem doesn't really make it go away. If the Doctor is willing to try to visit the afterlife because Clara wants him to, would he really never have considered it before? Not when the Time War apparently wiped out his entire species? I think it only makes sense for the Doctor not to visit the afterlife it it exists and he has the power to go there if there is some pressing "rule" that prevents him doing so -- and if so, I don't think he'd casually break it for the first time here and no other times, no matter how important Clara is to him, and do so with the casualness with which he does it.