(no subject)

[shadowkat]

1. Sense 8

Well, finally saw the season finale of Sense8 and...I was disappointed in it. It felt a bit cluttered, which I guess is to be expected considering they had to cram a season's worth of stories into four hours. But, the show had some of the same problems it had in the second season, which was overly convoluted plotting, pacing issues, and too many subplots for the time involved. Also, it felt bit too much like fan-service in places? There were bits that just didn't quite work or felt contrived.

I liked S1 a lot better in some respects.

That said, enjoyed most of it. And I do recommend it. It's the most innovative sci-fi series I've seen in a while.

2. Great British Baking Show -- this is another season of the British Baking Show that most likely aired in Britain about three-four years ago. I hadn't seen it, because it hadn't aired in the States yet, and wasn't accessible. It's not the most recent, because we still have Mary Berry, Sue and Mel involved.

It's comforting. I need comforting.

3. The worst thing about the current immigration situation is...the realization that there are people out there who have no empathy or soul.

I made the mistake of reading a comment to the Governor of New York's post on FB about how he'd written to Pence about ending this horrible situation, and not separating or hurting anymore children. And oh dear the comments..one woman actually posted, along with several others, who loved her comment -- "That these were undocumented immigrants, illegals, and therefore criminals. And not honest folks who paid their entry fee through Ellis Island. So deserve whatever they get."

My blood pressure went up. And I jumped back on the fanboard, where we are just arguing over who the body is that a mobster character buried.

When I read comments like that, I....have no words that are printable on this page. That's the line I draw in the sand. Those who continue to support and enable the actions of Monsters are Monsters themselves.

Comments

[dar_vidder]

It felt to me as if Lana went with theme over character and plot

YES. That's it exactly. It suddenly felt, especially in the final minutes of the show, as if Sense8 became about Making a Statement instead of giving closure to these particular characters we'd come to love. And when shows care more about What their show is about than Who, I tend to lose interest.

As an aside, another bit from the finale I still don't understand the point of was the reveal that Wolfgang's mom was his 'sister.' First of all, I don't think there needed to be some new secret reason why Wolfgang killed his dad and uncle. The abuse was reason enough. But second of all, why go there if you're not really going to go there? By making his dad the *stepdad* of Wolfgang's mom, instead of the biological dad, that meant that Wolfgang and his mom weren't technically related beyond mother/son. And Wolfgang wasn't raised to believe his mom was his sister so really, who cares? The reveal only let us know that his dad was a rapist who preyed upon his teenage step-daughter which was exactly the kind of man we already would've guessed he was. Am I missing something?

[shadowkat]

And when shows care more about What their show is about than Who, I tend to lose interest.

Exactly. It's a problem with the sci-fi genre and speculative science fiction writers, they have a tendency to get too into the "what the big message is" and forget the plot and characters. Why so many creative writing profs caution amateur writers not to even attempt it until they can figure out how to build character.

The Wachowski's have fallen into that trap more than once -- with the Matrix sequels, and a few other things.

And yep, I lose interest as well. I think you're better off if you are just writing the story without any theme in mind.

As an aside, another bit from the finale I still don't understand the point of was the reveal that Wolfgang's mom was his 'sister.'

I think my attention wandered during that whole section. (I probably should have re-watched the series from the beginning before watching the finale. Because it took me a while to figure out what was going on. The series assumes the viewer is going to rewatch it all from the beginning.) Because I didn't pick up on that bit at all. (Whoosh right over my head.) They did a lot of things in the finale episode that seemed to come out of nowhere or didn't make a lot of sense, while letting other stories sort of just sit there. I mean Rajan pops up seemingly out of nowhere, and so does Muni. Then Bug does. Then Puck. Then the Scottish Guy. And I'm like...okay, so the gang's all here? And what are we doing with the gang? Not all that much apparently.

I got a bit lost. (Again probably should have re-watched the whole thing from the beginning.) Took me a while to figure out what Wolfgang was flashing back on -- appeared to be his mother and father? But not his father? And his revenge scheme to kill his father because of what he did to his mother -- yet it wasn't really his true father, or it was? And his mother was his sister and mother (a la Chinatown...famous scene: "You're my sister!" Slap.. "You're my mother!" Slap.)

I think unnecessarily convoluted. I mean it's not like the series wasn't convoluted plot wise, already, but ...apparently Lana felt the need to make it even more so? (Sigh.)

Anyway I don't understand why they felt the need to do that either.