(no subject)
Nov. 25th, 2019 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. I've decided I have some non-bacterial version of bronchitis. Co-worker, who has the same first name that I do, has it as well. We compared notes. Cough all night. No green or yellow phlegm, phlegm is clear or doesn't come up at all.
It's getting better -- well from my point of view. I'm not hacking all day. Just for about fifteen - twenty minutes periodically. I go long periods not coughing. Also nose isn't running constantly. Nor am I constantly blowing it.
My co-workers, on the other hand, think that I'm sick.
Went hunting for Cherry Herring...my Granny's cure-all for wicked coughs. Tastes like cough syrup. But when I went into the liquor store -- they'd never heard of it. So I got brandy instead -- which according to my mother, cherry herring is basically cherry brandy.
Did buy my rock cornish game hen for Thanksgiving, although I'm wondering if I'll be in the mood? Forgot to pick up the sweet potatoe, may not, and just go with green beans. I used to do wild rice, but I'm supposed to stay away from rice. Considering buying a pre-made gluten-free pie from Union Market on the way home from work either tomorrow or the next day, if I'm up to it. Also, Chicken Soup from Trader Joes and Almond Muffins. Union also has good pre-made soups.
Still need to get blistix (my lips are severely chapped from the cold from hell. And more kleenex. Managed to go through two huge boxes in four days. Among other things.
Have sinus headache tonight that I still need to get something for. What is the question? Trying to avoid too many drug interactions.
Wales (Former BFF) is begging me to do Thanksgiving with her. But I don't want to. I just want to crawl into a hole (the hole being my apartment) and binge-watch tv while drinking broth. She may have to deal.
2. All caught up now on Prodigal Son -- which I'm watching more for the insane relationship family drama than for the procedural elements, well that and the cast -- in particular the lead -- who I think is hot. I also like shows with a brilliant profiler who figures things out via patterns, observations, and empathy. Yet is socially awkward. I find the character relatable on some level.
Plotwise -- it's not that surprising. I can pretty much see where it's going and the plot works. If the plot works -- I can predict it, when the plot doesn't quite work, I can't. There are exceptions but not many. It's why I don't really watch shows for plots -- all I really care about regarding plot is: 1) does it make sense or is it troll logic, 2) does it put character first or some theme, 3) is it about furthering character arcs or shocking the audience with inane plot-twists that seemingly come out of nowhere?
Here -- I'm almost positive that the backstory is the father (the serial killer) attempted to turn his son into a serial killer or a surgeon, but the kid is too empathetic to do that and a masochist not a sadist. So he just traumatized him. While his daughter, who had been protected from that, is the one who takes after Daddy and is a borderline sociopath. I got an inkling of that is the last episode.
I also think the Mother was far more involved and aware than she lets on.
The Prodigal Son title is a misnomer -- it means he can come home or back to Dad's business. But I don't think he can. I could be wrong of course. But that's the indication.
Again not watching for the procedural elements, which I'm hand-waving, but the relationship drama. Nor do I think the writers are all that interested in the procedure. Most of these shows aren't -- mainly because what they know about criminal procedure could be put in thumb tack. Also criminal procedure is boring and takes a lot of time and patience, and can feel bureaucratic. We have laws in place that prevent people from just breaking into apartments, etc. And DNA evidence isn't as reliable as you think, nor does it survive all environmental conditions. Fingerprints can't be taken from any and all surfaces. Makes it hard to plot one of these things...if you have to worry about the nitty gritty.
4. Stumptown - still enjoying it. But the writers want me to ship Dex and Gray and I'm really not. They have a brother/sister dynamic going on there. The idea of them sleeping together sort of...jars me. Sorry, writers, there's no sexual chemistry or tension there. Dex and Cop, on the other hand, have a bit more -- but seriously I thought she had the most sexual chemistry with the female punk rocker. Both guys are almost too tame for the character.
I don't know, I'm not interested in Dex's love interests (frankly they leave me cold), and a love triangle or quadrangle isn't interesting me all that much. Weirdly this is the opposite of Prodigal Son, I'm watching this for the case of the week and procedural not the relationship drama (which I don't think is working and is a definite weakness, it works better when we have the Native American tribes involved. Also, I kind of wish Benji had survived, he sounded interesting.) Also the relationship drama feels very cliche and sort of phoned in by the writers (not the cast who is trying to sell it, but doesn't have much.)
The mystery of the week on the other hand are fun, as are Dex's struggle to figure them out without landing in the hospital, the morgue, or jail or letting her PTSD get in the way.
So here, good procedural, bad relationship drama.
Very odd.
5. I'm almost done with all the shows on the old DVR. So I've decided to binge watch shows on Netflix, Amazon and HBO during the holiday. I'm saving His Dark Materials, Watchmen, Kominisky Method S2, Modern Love, and The Crown for Thanksgiving. Also thinking of renting - Spiderman Far From Home and Toy Story 2.
It's getting better -- well from my point of view. I'm not hacking all day. Just for about fifteen - twenty minutes periodically. I go long periods not coughing. Also nose isn't running constantly. Nor am I constantly blowing it.
My co-workers, on the other hand, think that I'm sick.
Went hunting for Cherry Herring...my Granny's cure-all for wicked coughs. Tastes like cough syrup. But when I went into the liquor store -- they'd never heard of it. So I got brandy instead -- which according to my mother, cherry herring is basically cherry brandy.
Did buy my rock cornish game hen for Thanksgiving, although I'm wondering if I'll be in the mood? Forgot to pick up the sweet potatoe, may not, and just go with green beans. I used to do wild rice, but I'm supposed to stay away from rice. Considering buying a pre-made gluten-free pie from Union Market on the way home from work either tomorrow or the next day, if I'm up to it. Also, Chicken Soup from Trader Joes and Almond Muffins. Union also has good pre-made soups.
Still need to get blistix (my lips are severely chapped from the cold from hell. And more kleenex. Managed to go through two huge boxes in four days. Among other things.
Have sinus headache tonight that I still need to get something for. What is the question? Trying to avoid too many drug interactions.
Wales (Former BFF) is begging me to do Thanksgiving with her. But I don't want to. I just want to crawl into a hole (the hole being my apartment) and binge-watch tv while drinking broth. She may have to deal.
2. All caught up now on Prodigal Son -- which I'm watching more for the insane relationship family drama than for the procedural elements, well that and the cast -- in particular the lead -- who I think is hot. I also like shows with a brilliant profiler who figures things out via patterns, observations, and empathy. Yet is socially awkward. I find the character relatable on some level.
Plotwise -- it's not that surprising. I can pretty much see where it's going and the plot works. If the plot works -- I can predict it, when the plot doesn't quite work, I can't. There are exceptions but not many. It's why I don't really watch shows for plots -- all I really care about regarding plot is: 1) does it make sense or is it troll logic, 2) does it put character first or some theme, 3) is it about furthering character arcs or shocking the audience with inane plot-twists that seemingly come out of nowhere?
Here -- I'm almost positive that the backstory is the father (the serial killer) attempted to turn his son into a serial killer or a surgeon, but the kid is too empathetic to do that and a masochist not a sadist. So he just traumatized him. While his daughter, who had been protected from that, is the one who takes after Daddy and is a borderline sociopath. I got an inkling of that is the last episode.
I also think the Mother was far more involved and aware than she lets on.
The Prodigal Son title is a misnomer -- it means he can come home or back to Dad's business. But I don't think he can. I could be wrong of course. But that's the indication.
Again not watching for the procedural elements, which I'm hand-waving, but the relationship drama. Nor do I think the writers are all that interested in the procedure. Most of these shows aren't -- mainly because what they know about criminal procedure could be put in thumb tack. Also criminal procedure is boring and takes a lot of time and patience, and can feel bureaucratic. We have laws in place that prevent people from just breaking into apartments, etc. And DNA evidence isn't as reliable as you think, nor does it survive all environmental conditions. Fingerprints can't be taken from any and all surfaces. Makes it hard to plot one of these things...if you have to worry about the nitty gritty.
4. Stumptown - still enjoying it. But the writers want me to ship Dex and Gray and I'm really not. They have a brother/sister dynamic going on there. The idea of them sleeping together sort of...jars me. Sorry, writers, there's no sexual chemistry or tension there. Dex and Cop, on the other hand, have a bit more -- but seriously I thought she had the most sexual chemistry with the female punk rocker. Both guys are almost too tame for the character.
I don't know, I'm not interested in Dex's love interests (frankly they leave me cold), and a love triangle or quadrangle isn't interesting me all that much. Weirdly this is the opposite of Prodigal Son, I'm watching this for the case of the week and procedural not the relationship drama (which I don't think is working and is a definite weakness, it works better when we have the Native American tribes involved. Also, I kind of wish Benji had survived, he sounded interesting.) Also the relationship drama feels very cliche and sort of phoned in by the writers (not the cast who is trying to sell it, but doesn't have much.)
The mystery of the week on the other hand are fun, as are Dex's struggle to figure them out without landing in the hospital, the morgue, or jail or letting her PTSD get in the way.
So here, good procedural, bad relationship drama.
Very odd.
5. I'm almost done with all the shows on the old DVR. So I've decided to binge watch shows on Netflix, Amazon and HBO during the holiday. I'm saving His Dark Materials, Watchmen, Kominisky Method S2, Modern Love, and The Crown for Thanksgiving. Also thinking of renting - Spiderman Far From Home and Toy Story 2.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 02:43 pm (UTC)**************
I think the reason I'm sticking with Prodigal Son instead of just leaving it to my wife (who is also into the hotness of Malcolm Bright) is the show's morbid sense of humor.
Here we have a white, upper class family, 2%-ers, with a glamorous mom, a brilliant, handsome son and a gorgeous tele-journalist daughter--and they're a fucking mess. Martin has screwed them out of any hope of a normal life. Jessica is angry and paranoid (not without reason), Ainsley (as you noted) is a budding sociopath, and Malcolm.... poor Malcolm. Night terrors, hallucinations, repressed memories--he should have women like Eve mobbing him, but he's just too damaged, and he'll probably get MORE damaged as the series progresses and we peel back the layers of his family's dysfunction.
(Eve actually came back after Malcolm hoodooed her with his profiler mojo? Something's weird about that girl.)
It should all be unbearably horrific, but Malcolm has the "you gotta laugh to keep from crying" attitude that makes it tolerable. I think the mood is also lightened by Gil's squad of detectives, who react to Malcolm like they're MST3King an episode of Criminal Minds....
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 04:33 pm (UTC)Yeah, doing the tea, herbal, the honey (have to get more of -- thanks for reminding me), the chicken soup, the mucinex DM, sigh...looking forward to four days to rest.
Appears, you, me and your wife are all watching Prodigal Son for the same reasons more or less, with some slight differentiations.
leaving it to my wife (who is also into the hotness of Malcolm Bright).
So, not just me then? ;-)
Here we have a white, upper class family, 2%-ers, with a glamorous mom, a brilliant, handsome son and a gorgeous tele-journalist daughter--and they're a fucking mess. Martin has screwed them out of any hope of a normal life. Jessica is angry and paranoid (not without reason), Ainsley (as you noted) is a budding sociopath, and Malcolm.... poor Malcolm. Night terrors, hallucinations, repressed memories--he should have women like Eve mobbing him, but he's just too damaged, and he'll probably get MORE damaged as the series progresses and we peel back the layers of his family's dysfunction.
Yep. It's a really fun and morbid relationship drama. And the characters are crunchy. I adore the forensics expert who is crushing on Malcolm. And I'm guessing Eve is the gal seeking Jessica's donation to her anti-human trafficking campaign? I love the female cop from the Bronx, who has her own baggage. And Gil. They team is really fun, and they fact that none of them know what to make of Malcolm makes it all the more so.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 05:24 pm (UTC)You also have Lou Diamond Phillips as 1980s generation eye candy. Lucky you.
(On the male gaze side, Ainsley would be hot... if she didn't scare me to death.)
**********
Stumptown really, REALLY needs to stop dangling Grey and Hoffman as love interests, because neither works. (DEX doesn't even seem to be interested in Hoffman even as they're having sex.) I'm more entertained by Camryn Manheim and the taco chef.
I think Grey's new love interest is a mole for one of the show's power players. Let's amp up the moral ambiguity and PI-based noir skulduggery! More Hammett, less romance!
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 06:14 pm (UTC). I think Malcolm has that Scruffy Wes/Julian Bashir facial structure and "wounded intellectual" appeal.
It's the wounded/damaged male savoir trope that appeals. He looks like a wounded feral cat. Also the high cheek bones and big eyes? Wounded Spike/Bashir/Wes..
.You also have Lou Diamond Phillips as 1980s generation eye candy. Lucky you.. And yep...him too. I watched Longmire mainly for Lou Diamond Phillips (he had more to on that series), well also for the lead, and Katee Sackliff (Starbuck on BSG).
(On the male gaze side, Ainsley would be hot... if she didn't scare me to death.)
Hmmm...I'd have thought the tough female cop from the Bronx, Jessica, or Eve.
Stumptown really, REALLY needs to stop dangling Grey and Hoffman as love interests, because neither works. (DEX doesn't even seem to be interested in Hoffman even as they're having sex.) I'm more entertained by Camryn Manheim and the taco chef.
The relationship drama isn't working here at all. Agreed - I'm more interested/entertained by Camryn and the food truck chef. Hoffman is hot and easy on the eyes, but there's nothing there. He has no story. He's just sort of there. And she seems to be having sex with him as just something to do, like she went bowling as just something to do -- there's no sexual tension or energy and there should be. And the problem is we don't know enough about him. We actually have more information on the taco truck chef and Camryn, then Hoffman. And his scenes lack energy. It's not the actor, it's the writing.
I agree we need more Chandler or Hammett and less Nora Roberts here. The comic is supposed to be dark and gritty -- it's not like they don't have source material.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 07:10 pm (UTC)In the climactic scene, Karadian/Kodos' daughter has been revealed as the killer, and she gives the big speech about how her daddy will illuminate the universe with his talent, and you can literally see the crazy glistening in her eyes.
Yeah, Ainsley is warming up for one of those speeches.
Eve is not quite my type. Dani IS my type, but she hasn't been given the chance to really shine here. I thought she might have been into some bondage with Malcolm--but alas, it was not to be.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 07:58 pm (UTC)There's two very good scenes that show that there's something not quite right with Ainsely, which I thought were both subtle and rather clever -- because you can sort of interpret them the other way.
After Ainsley convinces them to let her father save Jim (the cameraman) life, she picks up the camera and starts filming. That can be looked at one of two ways...that she's trying to distract herself and doing a mundane task or the latter, that she wants to reap something from it -- such as a story and is all career, or that she is sort of getting off on the whole thing, but justifying it as one of the two former. When Malcolm appalled asks what she is doing, she says "my job, now do yours" - he leaves. The fact that he's appalled tells us something about him as well. Also they parallel his reaction to doing the surgery and hers.
In the next episode -- when Ainsley is at the hospital, she's obsessively watching the footage, with a smile and editing it. Then Jim sees it and the detail of the close-up and appalled promptly breaks things off with her.
Those were well written moments. Add to that her struggle to see her father in a positive light, and like her father -- she gets aggressive and upset, when he attacks her, puts her down, or seems to prefer someone over her. And picking up on the fact that her father is the same way -- she plays him with Malcolm in the same way.
It's deftly done.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 08:27 pm (UTC)"Good on you, Jim! Get out while you still can!"
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 01:47 am (UTC)Meanwhile, I was thinking poor Ainsely, you just managed to survive a serial killer poking about where you shouldn't and your boyfriend dumps you because your more interested in editing the footage of his surgery than well his welfare.
But he's a camera-man, and so he knows that the footage she took was ultra-creepy.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-26 09:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 04:26 pm (UTC)After thinking about it for awhile, I realized what they're trying to do with Dex and Hoffman, and why it's not working....
In classic WWII era detective movies and fiction, there's usually a scene where the male PI has just finished making love to the local flower girl (or something) and he's sitting at the side of the bed, his face enveloped in cigarette smoke and shadow. "Sadie," he says to the girl, "you're a good woman. You should get out of this town, find a good man, and have a bunch of kids." Sadie tries to protest, plead her case for their future, but he's already gone, swallowed by the shadows.
I think that's what they're going for with Dex's rejection of intimacy with any of her sexual partners. Classic noir detective "loner" trope. The problem here is that Dex isn't a classic noir loner. She has her brother and her friends to keep her anchored to humanity, and despite her PTSD and general air of cynicism, she still has faith in the basic goodness of people. because she always seems to be shocked when people act like crap.
The classic noir detective approach to sex isn't working, because Dex isn't strictly a classic noir detective. She'd have to be two levels deeper on the Existential Despair Scale, and I don't think the show wants to send her that far down in the abyss...
no subject
Date: 2019-11-27 05:36 pm (UTC)I'm not sure they are going full-noir here. It's hard to do that on television successfully. And you're correct there's lot of things that are pulling the show out of that trope -- one of which is Dex's relationship with her brother, her platonic friendship with Grey (seriously can we keep that platonic?), etc. Also, Hoffman isn't the pretty girl you are describing -- he's a cop, who lost a key witness back in the day. And outside of that we know nothing. And Hoffman is part of the main cast and the only POC and attractive male in the cast. But they aren't utilizing him well at the moment, he should be darker or edgier.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 01:54 am (UTC)No, but I agree, he is pretty.
All seriousness aside, Hoffman isn't really a 21st century analog to that detective story cliche, but he DOES fit the role of the relatively normal person who tries to form a relationship with the PI, but can't get through his (or her) issues. Remember, the punk rock GF told Hoffman, "You could spend a lifetime figuring out women like us."
(Dex's version of the speech in my last post might be: "You're a good guy, Hoffman. You should find a nice lady cop and make yourselves a little SWAT team.")
I do think the writers need to dig a little deeper as to why Dex is still closed off emotionally. It's been a decade(?) since her fiance died. What's holding her back?
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 02:25 am (UTC)Well, how to explain this? It's not as if her fiance died in a car crash or from cancer. Nor was it someone she'd dated for a year and got engaged. No. Benji was the love of her life. They had a star-crossed romance for the ages. They fell in love as teenagers, his parents forced them apart because he was supposed to marry someone in the tribe. He did, was miserable, had a kid, even more miserable. Dex enlisted to deal with her misery. He felt she enlisted because of him, and he was going to lose her forever -- so he divorced his wife, grabbed the engagement ring, and enlisted - to find Dex in Afghanistan. (I think Afghanistan). He finds her unit, he proposes and then tragically is killed by a bomb right in front of her eyes.
Not only does she see him die. He dies because of her. It's her fault. He wouldn't have come over there -- if it weren't for her.
That's not something people get over. That's the sort of thing that gives people nightmares for life. And Dex hasn't had any counseling that we are aware of.
Her fiance's death and her PTSD are combined. Also, her relationship with Benji was screwed up from the start -- we get that in the very first episode of the series. Where Benji's mother pretty much holds Dex personally responsible, yet at the same time feels responsible for her.
It was interracial romance that was not approved by Benji's parents. And Dex was considered from the wrong side of the tracks.
It's classic noir -- the PI loses the love of his/her life via something he/she did -- either it was a case, something...at any rate they feel responsible for the person's death, and that they are poison. So they hunt people who are safe -- friends with benefits. No strings.
And if that's not enough for you? Dex has serious Daddy issues. As was brought up in the Donal Logue episode, where we find out that her father left her at an early age, and was untrustworthy and worthless. And her mother not all that much better.
Add to all this, she's responsible for a brother with down's syndrome.
What else do you need to know?
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 02:36 am (UTC)I do know that he's not a guest character like Liz, so not disposable. And in the main credits -- which means not a disposable love interest. And he wants more with Dex and is willing to fight a bit for it.
I also know that they'll lose some of the audience if they go Grey/Dex over Hoffman/Dex, because Grey isn't appealing as a romantic lead for multiple reasons. And there's less they can do with Grey from a conflict perspective. Hoffman conflicts more and we know less about him. He seems normal, he may not be. We don't know.
no subject
Date: 2019-11-28 04:22 am (UTC)