Caprica, Project Runway

[shadowkat]

Another difficult work week finally draws to a close.

Watched tv tonight, was quite busy last night - so no time. My DVR is at 66% capacity again.
This is ridiculous. I have too many tv shows and no time to watch them. Oh, well at least two are ending next week - Mad Men (which I will miss) and Project Runway (which I really won't).

Project Runway surprised me. And not in a good way. EW called it a circus. True. And the only designers that interest me at all or I like are Mondo and Andy South.

They actually chose a dress as a winner that I thought was boring, derivative, unimaginative and looked like someone took their black curtains, including the cord and draped it over a models body, cut a slit up the leg, and cut a hole in the back and said - done. And yes, I've seen it before in mags - so apparently that's in at the moment, go figure. Which may well explain the judges rave reviews. Actually I think Michael Kors created a similar number...that was shown in the Metro around September sometime...Kors, egotistical and vain? Nah. Felt sorry for Christian Sireno (sp?) - a S4 winner, who was innovative and interesting and did create art, as opposed to something I'd throw together. (I can't sew.) Meanwhile Mondo and Andy South who created interesting dresses that I had not seen before. South's wet look - which did surprise me - because his first try was not good at all (Gretchen did him a favor). And Mondo's patterned look. I also liked Gretchen's leather jacket and rumbled skirt. Her clothes are wearable and chic. I see them in NY. April's wasn't that bad either, granted it was repetitive but it didn't look like a curtain.

I think I may be done with this show. For the first time - I was yelling at the judges on the tv set and fast-forwarding through the judging scenes. The only judge that delivered constructive criticism was Christian (possibly because he actually knows what it is like to stand up there and doesn't give a fig about ratings), the others basically insulted the gowns or raved, providing highly personal and somewhat nasty critiques - I did not blame Gretchen and April for bursting into tears. Anyone would. It was manipulative and stupid. I found myself cringing.

When Nina asked Gretchen what happened to your ability, my response was Nina - what happened to your taste - you just raved about a dress that looks like a modernized toga and all black. Michael C might be a nice guy, but he is the worste designer in PR history to make it to the final four.
And that's saying a lot.



Saw Caprica - and I can't decide who I feel more sorry for at this point, James Marsters or James Marsters fans? The man barely had a role. Although his makeup was better this week - hair darker, he looked younger not as old as he did last week. Maybe it's the lighting? He was somewhat interesting and good enough in the role- but his and Lacy's story felt a bit rushed, and underdeveloped. Also he was hardly on long enough for me to tell if he was good or not. All together his appearances on this show added up to half an episode. Reminded me a little of his guest gig on Without a Trace. He actually got more to do on both Smallville and Torchwood. Proof that being a professional actor is not easy. But I already knew that. Friends with quite a few frustrated professional actors in my lifetime - all of whom could act circles around some tv stars that shall remain nameless for the sake of your blood pressure and mine. ;-)


Lacy seemed to jump from new convert to terrorist rather fast. And I was never quite sure what Baranbas was up to, why he was doing it, and what he planned to accomplish - or for that matter what the relationship was between him and Clarice (there appeared to be more than just a rivalry, but can't be certain). He was supposed to be crazy - but we only got snippets. Homicidal maybe, crazy? Also why his kids started abandoning him - didn't totally work for me. The buildup wasn't quite there. And no, that's not just because I wanted more of Marsters, anyone could be playing that role and I'd think the same thing. It was a pivotal role that was far too truncated - a flaw with Caprica that BSG handled better. BSG didn't truncate stories to such a degree or at least not that I remember, haven't watched BSG since it ended, so could be wrong about that. At any rate - I didn't care if Barnabas lived or died. Or that much about Lacy either. I did want to see Clarice dead - that character is starting to grate on my nerves. So they are doing a presentable job with Clarice, but I feel as if the STO storyline is a little too one-sided? It feels very cliche to me, somehow. That said - what lifts it above cliche is the nifty twist, in that the terrorists are followers of the One god or monothesist, while the good guys or non-terrorists and civilized souls are pagans or polythesist.


Perhaps what this week's episode was lacking was Zoe and Tamara, who I'm starting to realize are the core of the show. Daniel Graystone is the other main anchor - whenever Stolz is on - I'm riveted. My attention wanders a bit during Clarice's storyline. Although kudos for developing some strong and multifaceted female characters.

They appear to be building two story threads or rather three at once. Clarice's = where she wants to achieve her apothesis, Amanda Graystone - who has figured out that Clarice was behind what happened to her daughter (finally) and is planning on taking Clarice down, Daniel who wants his business back and to finish his experiments - hoping to refind his daughter along with his power, and of course Joseph Adama, who sort of wants the same thing. We got strange bedfellows - Amanda in be with the woman who killed her daughter, Adama in bed with the man he blames for his wife and daughter's deaths. Then there's the two daughters - trapped in cyberspace - the space that ironically all the adults are striving to obtain or achieve. The girls want to live a real life, the adults want to live the fake eternal one, to escape.

Overall? A lackluster episode. Preferred last weeks. But a solid B gradewise, assuming we're giving grades.



Best show watched tonight? Still Grey's Anatomy - everyone had something to do, the stories entwined nicely, along with the theme. My only quibble - the show is too noisy, I can barely hear the dialogue over both music and voice over and hospital sounds. Sound-editing and looping must be a nightmare. But they are doing a nice job with the Post Traumatic Stress arc and the interpersonal relationships. This season is turning out to be the best to date. And sigh, Cristina, my favorite female character on tv right now. Love her. Must find a Cristina icon. (It's nice to watch a few shows that do not contain violence (well outside of the finale episode of last season), rage, or serial killers. I've discovered that outside of Dexter, I can't watch tv shows about serial killers any longer or murder mysteries. I've gotten tired of seeing dead bodies on tv all the time. Gothic shows with vampires or monsters or science fiction tv show violence doesn't bug me that much. It's not as disturbing or painful to me. But criminal procedurals and violent cop shows? I just can't seem to watch any longer. I don't know why. Been trying to figure that one out for quite some time now.

Feeling icky. Going to take shower, then bed. Difficult week.

Comments

[rogin]

I'm hoping for a big Zoe/Tamara episode soon.

Clarice annoyed me a lot but Amanda spying on her could become very interesting. Also I liked her pulling force this episode.

Barnabas is dead, but the character wasn't all that interesting, even if JM plays him, but since he's shooting a show of his own now, I'm not gonna morn for the actor and the role wasn't all that great.

I think Lacy's development was ok, she was an almost terrorist from the first episode on, she just switched from Clarice to Barnabas in the internal fight.

I think Barnabas was just a traditionalist, a true believer if you will,who was about killing the infidels and sending people to paradise. The whole homemade heaven idea must be blasphemous to him, + he wanted to be in charge of the Caprica STO. The kids running away was due to him being too brutal and also not effective. After the botched bombing they feared for their lives and then Clarice killed them, Barnabas did neither kill them himself not protect them. He was pushed over and lost authority accordingly.

[shadowkat]

Agreed. And I knew what he was up to, I just felt it was stereotypical and one-dimensional. Barnabas was not that interesting a character - fairly stereotypical. I had hoped for more from the show - but they've been painting the terrorists and STO as fairly one-dimensional in scope. Marsters take on the character in interviews was more interesting than what we ever saw on screen. (ironic - his take on Spike in interviews is less interesting than what we see on screen, and his take on Barnabas is more interesting than what we see on screen.) In one of his interviews - he hinted that Barnabas had a torturous past and that had motivated him to get rid of those he believed caused the world to go so sour. Far more interesting and less black and white than what was depicted on screen.

I wouldn't say Lacy is a terrorist. She got involved with Barnabas to rescue Zoe. My difficultly was most of it happens off-screen, we're told what is happening, a lot of telling in the Lacy/Barnabas/Clarice story, not much showing. They did a far better job building Lacy's relationships with Clarice and Zoe last year. They needed to spend more time evolving Barnabas than they were willing to do. Instead they basically said - see - crazy terrorist, your boilerplate religious freak. Ta-Da. (Sigh. Bored now. ;-) They did a better job with the terrorists depicted on BSG - in particular - Richard Hatch's character, who in some respects reminded me of Barnabas, but was far better crafted and multi-faceated. Same with Leoben and Dean Stockwell's priest - also far better crafted.)

I like the Amanda/Clarice relationship and where they are going with Amanda.

Regarding Marsters? I'm not mourning for the actor...exactly. (Don't really care one way or the other to be honest) Just find it interesting that he can't get a long-term role or even a major supporting role in a more mainstream piece to save his life. The closest he's gotten may be Smallville, which well...wasn't notable. There's no guarantee that his new show will actually get picked up. Although - SyFy appears to want to go with humorous, a la Eureka, so we shall see.

[maeve_rigan]

I'm way behind on watching shows I follow, so haven't seen latest Caprica, but I did watch Project Runway. Week before was such a trainwreck, that I hoped for something--maybe--better this week. Agree with you that I the judges were seeing something I was not in Michael C's dress. Maybe because black doesn't always come through well via TV? I don't know. Nevertheless, I wan't unhappy to see him get some vindication, after he's been the whipping boy so often. Probably means he'll be eliminated before Fashion Week, though, unless he pulls off something amazing in the interim. April, however, had to go. She definitely has potential & Christian saw that, but the other judges were right--she's pretty much been creating versions of the same black negligee every time. A little time to mature & she'll be brilliant, and maybe more colorful. Gretchen's design was maybe a bit understated for the challenge, but otherwise, at least it was DESIGNED, and well-made. She's kind of a pain, but her previous winning pieces were good, so I look forward to seeing her collection. And Mondo's of course--no doubt he does deserve to win.

[next_to_normal]

Hahaha! Apparently, I skipped an episode of Caprica and didn't notice until I starting reading people's thoughts. (For some reason, On Demand didn't have the first new episode, but had the second episode up before it aired. So when I went to catch up, I watched the wrong one.)

That doesn't bode well for my interest in this show.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Other than the episode of Eric Stolz daring his Cylon daughter to kill their dog, Caprica has just bored me to tears. I actually did enjoy JM's appearance on Smallville tonight though. He looked good, and even though I don't watch Smallville with the Superman mythos being pretty much known to everyone it wasn't difficult to follow Brainiac dumping Clark at some time in the future to see that Clark and Lois are happy together and that he becomes Superman, so it was actually rather more enjoyable than other Smallville eps I've watched in the past.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Hee, perhaps this would not be a good time to let you know that I like Smallville and think it is much better written than Vampire Diaires? Nah, probably not. ;-)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Heh. Don't worry about it. I don't actually think that TVD is very good. There are many, many things about it that are just not done well. It is pretty, however. And it does move along fairly fast. But I'm very easily distracted from it, and if anyone asked me to explain the plot in any detail, I'd probably give them a blank look. But... it is pretty. :)

And I'm not insulting Smallville. I just never got into it.

[ann1962]

whenever Stolz is on - I'm riveted

It freaks me out when he chops vegetables. The angles on the knife, and then they cut to his angry face. I think he only cooks when he is plotting something.

I liked Clarice more when she had a sense of mystery about her. Now that they are sharing, I'm not sure she's living up to the mystery.

On PR, Mondo said at one point, he wished they could all go to fashion week. For a few minutes after that, I thought they might actually do that.

I didn't mind Michael C's dress. It was technically superb, but really boring. Working pleats like that is really hard. None of the final outfits did a thing for me. Overall, Mondo comes closest, maybe Andy too. But there is little art, and that is what I think runway should be. Christian Siriano, Santino or Daniel Vosovic, stuff like theirs. (Though Santino's new show can't be doing his design career any favours.)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed, this season really has no art. The closest may be Mondo, but if he had been on an earlier season and up against some of those earlier contestants? He wouldn't have made it.

I liked Clarice more when she had a sense of mystery about her. Now that they are sharing, I'm not sure she's living up to the mystery.

Agreed. She's the weakest link in this story, I think. A character that could be interesting, but is hollowly played and written.

And hee, on Stolz. Turning into quite the tv director too. He directed last week's Caprica and this week's Glee.

[fangfaceandrea.livejournal.com]

My only quibble - the show is too noisy, I can barely hear the dialogue over both music and voice over and hospital sounds Yes! what is up with that? at some point I had to turn on the subtitles cause I couldn't hear.. and when they are in surgery and wear the masks it's even worse.
And I've adored Christina the whole run of the show But know she just kills me dead :) And Arizona going out with Mark was cute too.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yes! what is up with that? at some point I had to turn on the subtitles cause I couldn't hear.. and when they are in surgery and wear the masks it's even worse.

LOL! Me too. I turned on the captioning/subtitles on in the beginning because I couldn't figure out what Cristina was saying.
And had to rewind five times at the end, because I couldn't hear what they were saying.

It's almost as if the show is trying to do too much with sound.
They have a voice over and a song to set the mood - we only need one.

And I've adored Christina the whole run of the show But know she just kills me dead :) And Arizona going out with Mark was cute too.

Yes, so much. Cristina can make me sob. And I adore her relationships with Meredith and Owen.

Also agree on Arizona.

[embers-log.livejournal.com]

I was actually surprised that Michael C. won, because I thought that that winning dress was exactly like (or similar to) the first dress he won a competition with... I've searched and I cannot find it, but that one also looked like a beach cover-up.
The judges seem to have selective memories, and I thought that April's dress (although Heidi might be sick of black asymmetrical dresses) was distinctive from her other work (as distinctive as Mondo's repeated use of herringbone fabric...)

But regardless I do think it will be interesting to see what these people do for their fashion lines, I don't think any of them are as talented as last season's top three... Maybe Mondo is, I do like his work and I think he'll come up with some great stuff....

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed - most of the designs, except possibly Gretchen's and Andy South's looked repetitive. They, for some reason, are in love with Michael C (who has perfected the art of asskissing, a plus in the glamour biz - they loooove asskissing.) If it had been me? I'd have kicked Michael C off and kept April, with Andy South getting the win. But there's a reason I'm not in fashion. Hee.