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shadowkatStill suffering from the inability to come up with decent titles.
Or title-block.
At any rate, after coming home from work - I vegged in front of TV, with ice on my back (until I finally figured out how to fix my chair and computer station to my liking). Saw some good shows this week, outside of maybe Nip/Tuck, nothing that made me lean forward in my chair and think like BTVS and ATS often did. But that may not necessarily be a bad thing. (Also, watched that reality show with Trump, because a couple of people at work watch it and it gives me something to talk to them about outside of work.)
Tried Jack and Bobby on Sunday. And was disappointed. Don't understand why everyone praised this show. TV Guide literally raves about it. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. Too emotionally manipulative and far too issue-oriented for my taste.
My difficulty with Jack and Bobby was partly that it didn't surprise me. Too predictable. Too by the numbers. Single Mom with two sons. Single Mom has a drug problem (in this case pot) which causes her to have friction with her sons. But it's not too big of a problem to actually alienate her from the school or lose custody. Single Mom is liberal. Sons are Conservative. Then we
have all these future testamonials by older versions of certain characters about one of the sons, Bobby, who is running for and eventually becomes President. Nice idea on paper, but sort of grating for me on-screen.
Moving on...watched Gilmore Girls premiere on Tuesday. Quite good. I'm really enjoying Loreli's story this season. Rory still grates on my nerves though.
That said Loreli had the best line of the week:"Isn't it a little late for the rebellious teen stage? IF you storm in your room now and play goth music, you'll just scare your roommates." (She said it better, I can't remember lines to save my life.)
Then Nip/Tuck which I found engrossing. Yes, the plot at times seems a tad over the top, but I love the metaphors. Even the theme song: "give me a perfect face, a perfect soul, a perfect body, a perfect mind, a perfect life..." The theme of Nip/Tuck is about reaching a certain stage in life, looking around, and realizing, shit - is this it? Where did I go wrong? And how the heck do I fix it? Is it even possible this late in the game? Or should I be content with what I have? After all I have more than most? Or rather mid-life crisis.
This week's episode dealt with the extremes people go to for desire or gratification.
The episode started with a woman asking for plastic surgery. She had a broken nose. She wanted it fixed. Turns out it was broken by an abusive husband. And is a constant reminder of her son's death. Her husband killed the boy with a similar punch. The doctor's fix it. Then she returns with the husband, who has gotten out of jail, because they want to change his face as well, so they can forget the past. Just as her broken nose was a constant reminder. Her husband's face is recognizable as the man who beat up and killed his son. They believe that by erasing these external reminders the past event and what caused that event will evaporate. Towards the conclusion of the episode, the woman returns with a broken nose - pleading with the two doctors to fix it,
so she can breath, yes, her husband did it. And yes, she'll go back, again.
Through-out the episode we see people engaged in abusive relationships, from oddly enough the abuser's pov. Starts with Scean, who is using Kimbar to make himself feel better, sexier. But he feels guilty about it. When she starts complaining about their relationship not going anywhere, he hunts for ways out.
But feels guilty to break it off or find a way. So instead he whines to Christian. Christian has a similar problem, he's in a wonderful relationship with blind Natasha, a woman who appreciates him for his soul not his looks, but
he hates himself and he hates trying to be good, and he is shallow. Natasha isn't shallow - she wants their love to be more than about looks or things. But Christian can't go there. And he hates himself for it. So when Kimbar comes to the office to get stitches taken out of her hand for a recent bit of plastic surgery they did (it was to lengthen her heart line on her palm - if I lengthen the line she tells Scean, we'll have a chance, I'll have love, if I change an external measure it will work out). He flirts with her and Kimbar
jumps his bones. Scean of course walks in on them, since it is in his and Christian's office. Christian goes back to his apartment, but does not shower, deliberately allowing Natasha to smell Kimbar on him.Both Christian and Kimbar (currently with people who are less shallow and kinder then they are) destroy their own relationships.
Meanwhile we have Ava and her relationship with her son (who turns out to be adopted). A boy she seduces and discards, while continuing to have a relationship with Scean/Christian and Julia's son - Matt. She uses both boys to make herself feel better, to feel less old, less insecure, more in control.
And she controls both with sex. Or the allure of it. Manipulating them and those around her. She doesn't love, but she requires it from others. Requires the external validation.
The episode ends with Scean and Christian fixing the abused woman's nose, without anesthia, because she is pregnant, so it is localized. The two men discuss over her their sex lives. Scean mentions going out afterwards with Christian, now that they are both single, for steaks and beers and watching a game. Christian says he has plans. With Kimbar of all people. Scean scowls.
Christian says look if you want to play hide the pickle with Kimbar, I can call her up and step aside. The Kimbar/Christian relationship is one of the most abusive relationships I've seen on TV. Makes Buffy/Spike look tame in comparison. No, says Scean, I don't want Kimbar back. Then they discuss Julia. Who now, Scean suddenly decides he wants back. Now that Julia is dating again.
Meanwhile, Matt who had planned to walk out on Ava after finding out about her relationship with her son, ends up kissing her again.
The circular aspect of the plot did a wonderful job of demonstrating how people
will do anything for desire, for gratification - even if the relationship they keep going back to is a destructive one.
On Wedensday I tried out Lost and Veronica Mars. Both of which have potential. Was pleasantly surprised. Lost reminds me a great deal of that old 70s series with Roddy McDowel and Ike Eisenmen, called Fantastic Journey, but scarier and with better acting and special effects. I also liked how the writer/director framed the episode.
We start with the guy on the ground - in fact I came in two-five seconds late and was worried I'd missed something. Nope. We get the plane crash after the first or second commercial break - as a flashback. Abrams like Whedon, likes to blend genres and steal from others - watching Lost - made me think of
Stephen King's The Langolier's, Mysterious Island (an old 1960s sci-fi movie - about a bunch of people who get stuck on an island populated by giant creatures), Fantastic Voyage, and Airport 1974. It was new and innovative and surprised me. Also sort of fun. Now, it probably helped that I came in with low expectations - and just wanted to have fun.
The characters seem interesting. I like Mathew Fox's doctor, the character Dominic Monanhan (??) plays. And the brunette - who I can't remember the name of, seems okay. My only annoyance is all the women seem to have walked off the pages the a fashion magazine, leggy, skinny, pretty models, while the guys are a good representation of everyone. We need more woment
directing and writing these shows.
Enter Veronica Mars which people keep touting as the new Buffy.
It's not. Too guy centric to come close.
It does remind me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in some ways, or rather what the show would have been if you stripped away the horror/gothic metaphors and it was written by Dashielle Hammett or whomever wrote Nancy Drew. We have the cute teenage guys who rule the roost - the Angel/Spike team. The biker boy who rules the streets and intimidates the cute teenage boys. The cute teenage boys hate our heroine - because of a girl's death. The girl (think Drusilla) is one boy's sister and the other's girl-friend. The heroine's sheriff daddy still believes the girl's father killed her. The father is the hero of the town (think the Mayor or the MAster in BTVS). Veronica - in flashbacks - was date-raped by one of these boys in retailation for her father's misdirection on the murder and accidental publication of it on a streaming video website. She doesn't know which or remember that night. But in the flashbacks she is wearing Buffy's white prom dress from Prophecy girl. Or a close replica. And looking as drugged as Buffy did when the Master bit her. I felt like I was watching a reinterpretation of that scene without the metaphors. Weird.
I like Veronica Mars, but it differs from Buffy in one very important way - there's only one woman in the main cast so far. Buffy had a single Mom, a best friend named Willow, a bitchy/ditzy nemesis named Cordelia, and a teacher named Jenny. So far this has a single Dad (who doubles as a Giles character), a male principal, male sheriff, male nemesis Cordy character, male Willow character, male biker character, male damsel - okay does this girl have any female friends outside of the one we saw in flashbacks??
That said. I give it credit, it's more mulitcultural than BTVS was. One of BTVS's draw-backs was it wasn't multi-cultural. It looked more like a public school in Johnson County, Kansas than in Southern California to be honest. Neptune California - looks like a school that would be located in California where 65% of the population is non-caucasion. I like the diversity of the school and the show. I just wish it extended to female characters. So far, it seems Veronica is going to an all male school. We need a few more women to fill out the cast here. Granted in noir - you don't tend to have many women, outside of one Nancy Drew type (Veronica), one femme fatale (The dead best friend's mom), one uncertain femme fatale (Veronica's Mom), but...if you want me to believe this is a high school, give Veronica a few female friends or adversaries? The lack of female characters outside of the pretty blond lead, the dead best friend, the absent mother, the sheriff's receptionist, and the dead best friend's mother...is grating. What Buffy did right - is it appealed to women and teenage girls and guys were an after-thought. Whedon set it up as a "girl show". I don't see this show appealing to women or girls in the same way. No cute guys. No other women to relate to. It's too testrone heavy. Plus none of the characters outside of Veronica grab you. I liked Kristen Bell who played Veronica, but everyone else sort of faded. The guy who plays her father had better chemistry on Just Shoot Me - I really enjoyed him there. Here? I barely notice him. It's not his fault. It's the writing and direction - I think, while nice and dark and spooky, it doesn't grab you by the throat or make you laugh or make the actors shine. Instead they seem to disappear in the background. I'll continue watching it on Tuesdays...until House Calls the new Hugh Laurie series appears in November. Then I may switch to that one.
Yes it's all men, but hey, at least it's honest about it. ;-)
Ended the week with Joan of Arcadia, which I was completely lost during the first half of it.
Having missed the last seven episodes, I found it confusing to suddenly be plopped down with a Joan who no longer believed in her visions and an Adam who did. Last episode I'd seen Adam didn't even know about her visions and she was fine. Now she apparently had lyme disease and was sent to crazy camp? Ugh. This is why we have "previouslies" or reruns the weeks before the new season premieres. Dang it. What happened to that? Did the networks nix it in favor of reality shows? Yes, I'm nostaligic for the good old days of TV.
I also saw ER this week, but it was boring and hardly worth discussing in much detail. The Apprentice was actually more entertaining - which is scary.
Or title-block.
At any rate, after coming home from work - I vegged in front of TV, with ice on my back (until I finally figured out how to fix my chair and computer station to my liking). Saw some good shows this week, outside of maybe Nip/Tuck, nothing that made me lean forward in my chair and think like BTVS and ATS often did. But that may not necessarily be a bad thing. (Also, watched that reality show with Trump, because a couple of people at work watch it and it gives me something to talk to them about outside of work.)
Tried Jack and Bobby on Sunday. And was disappointed. Don't understand why everyone praised this show. TV Guide literally raves about it. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. Too emotionally manipulative and far too issue-oriented for my taste.
My difficulty with Jack and Bobby was partly that it didn't surprise me. Too predictable. Too by the numbers. Single Mom with two sons. Single Mom has a drug problem (in this case pot) which causes her to have friction with her sons. But it's not too big of a problem to actually alienate her from the school or lose custody. Single Mom is liberal. Sons are Conservative. Then we
have all these future testamonials by older versions of certain characters about one of the sons, Bobby, who is running for and eventually becomes President. Nice idea on paper, but sort of grating for me on-screen.
Moving on...watched Gilmore Girls premiere on Tuesday. Quite good. I'm really enjoying Loreli's story this season. Rory still grates on my nerves though.
That said Loreli had the best line of the week:"Isn't it a little late for the rebellious teen stage? IF you storm in your room now and play goth music, you'll just scare your roommates." (She said it better, I can't remember lines to save my life.)
Then Nip/Tuck which I found engrossing. Yes, the plot at times seems a tad over the top, but I love the metaphors. Even the theme song: "give me a perfect face, a perfect soul, a perfect body, a perfect mind, a perfect life..." The theme of Nip/Tuck is about reaching a certain stage in life, looking around, and realizing, shit - is this it? Where did I go wrong? And how the heck do I fix it? Is it even possible this late in the game? Or should I be content with what I have? After all I have more than most? Or rather mid-life crisis.
This week's episode dealt with the extremes people go to for desire or gratification.
The episode started with a woman asking for plastic surgery. She had a broken nose. She wanted it fixed. Turns out it was broken by an abusive husband. And is a constant reminder of her son's death. Her husband killed the boy with a similar punch. The doctor's fix it. Then she returns with the husband, who has gotten out of jail, because they want to change his face as well, so they can forget the past. Just as her broken nose was a constant reminder. Her husband's face is recognizable as the man who beat up and killed his son. They believe that by erasing these external reminders the past event and what caused that event will evaporate. Towards the conclusion of the episode, the woman returns with a broken nose - pleading with the two doctors to fix it,
so she can breath, yes, her husband did it. And yes, she'll go back, again.
Through-out the episode we see people engaged in abusive relationships, from oddly enough the abuser's pov. Starts with Scean, who is using Kimbar to make himself feel better, sexier. But he feels guilty about it. When she starts complaining about their relationship not going anywhere, he hunts for ways out.
But feels guilty to break it off or find a way. So instead he whines to Christian. Christian has a similar problem, he's in a wonderful relationship with blind Natasha, a woman who appreciates him for his soul not his looks, but
he hates himself and he hates trying to be good, and he is shallow. Natasha isn't shallow - she wants their love to be more than about looks or things. But Christian can't go there. And he hates himself for it. So when Kimbar comes to the office to get stitches taken out of her hand for a recent bit of plastic surgery they did (it was to lengthen her heart line on her palm - if I lengthen the line she tells Scean, we'll have a chance, I'll have love, if I change an external measure it will work out). He flirts with her and Kimbar
jumps his bones. Scean of course walks in on them, since it is in his and Christian's office. Christian goes back to his apartment, but does not shower, deliberately allowing Natasha to smell Kimbar on him.Both Christian and Kimbar (currently with people who are less shallow and kinder then they are) destroy their own relationships.
Meanwhile we have Ava and her relationship with her son (who turns out to be adopted). A boy she seduces and discards, while continuing to have a relationship with Scean/Christian and Julia's son - Matt. She uses both boys to make herself feel better, to feel less old, less insecure, more in control.
And she controls both with sex. Or the allure of it. Manipulating them and those around her. She doesn't love, but she requires it from others. Requires the external validation.
The episode ends with Scean and Christian fixing the abused woman's nose, without anesthia, because she is pregnant, so it is localized. The two men discuss over her their sex lives. Scean mentions going out afterwards with Christian, now that they are both single, for steaks and beers and watching a game. Christian says he has plans. With Kimbar of all people. Scean scowls.
Christian says look if you want to play hide the pickle with Kimbar, I can call her up and step aside. The Kimbar/Christian relationship is one of the most abusive relationships I've seen on TV. Makes Buffy/Spike look tame in comparison. No, says Scean, I don't want Kimbar back. Then they discuss Julia. Who now, Scean suddenly decides he wants back. Now that Julia is dating again.
Meanwhile, Matt who had planned to walk out on Ava after finding out about her relationship with her son, ends up kissing her again.
The circular aspect of the plot did a wonderful job of demonstrating how people
will do anything for desire, for gratification - even if the relationship they keep going back to is a destructive one.
On Wedensday I tried out Lost and Veronica Mars. Both of which have potential. Was pleasantly surprised. Lost reminds me a great deal of that old 70s series with Roddy McDowel and Ike Eisenmen, called Fantastic Journey, but scarier and with better acting and special effects. I also liked how the writer/director framed the episode.
We start with the guy on the ground - in fact I came in two-five seconds late and was worried I'd missed something. Nope. We get the plane crash after the first or second commercial break - as a flashback. Abrams like Whedon, likes to blend genres and steal from others - watching Lost - made me think of
Stephen King's The Langolier's, Mysterious Island (an old 1960s sci-fi movie - about a bunch of people who get stuck on an island populated by giant creatures), Fantastic Voyage, and Airport 1974. It was new and innovative and surprised me. Also sort of fun. Now, it probably helped that I came in with low expectations - and just wanted to have fun.
The characters seem interesting. I like Mathew Fox's doctor, the character Dominic Monanhan (??) plays. And the brunette - who I can't remember the name of, seems okay. My only annoyance is all the women seem to have walked off the pages the a fashion magazine, leggy, skinny, pretty models, while the guys are a good representation of everyone. We need more woment
directing and writing these shows.
Enter Veronica Mars which people keep touting as the new Buffy.
It's not. Too guy centric to come close.
It does remind me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in some ways, or rather what the show would have been if you stripped away the horror/gothic metaphors and it was written by Dashielle Hammett or whomever wrote Nancy Drew. We have the cute teenage guys who rule the roost - the Angel/Spike team. The biker boy who rules the streets and intimidates the cute teenage boys. The cute teenage boys hate our heroine - because of a girl's death. The girl (think Drusilla) is one boy's sister and the other's girl-friend. The heroine's sheriff daddy still believes the girl's father killed her. The father is the hero of the town (think the Mayor or the MAster in BTVS). Veronica - in flashbacks - was date-raped by one of these boys in retailation for her father's misdirection on the murder and accidental publication of it on a streaming video website. She doesn't know which or remember that night. But in the flashbacks she is wearing Buffy's white prom dress from Prophecy girl. Or a close replica. And looking as drugged as Buffy did when the Master bit her. I felt like I was watching a reinterpretation of that scene without the metaphors. Weird.
I like Veronica Mars, but it differs from Buffy in one very important way - there's only one woman in the main cast so far. Buffy had a single Mom, a best friend named Willow, a bitchy/ditzy nemesis named Cordelia, and a teacher named Jenny. So far this has a single Dad (who doubles as a Giles character), a male principal, male sheriff, male nemesis Cordy character, male Willow character, male biker character, male damsel - okay does this girl have any female friends outside of the one we saw in flashbacks??
That said. I give it credit, it's more mulitcultural than BTVS was. One of BTVS's draw-backs was it wasn't multi-cultural. It looked more like a public school in Johnson County, Kansas than in Southern California to be honest. Neptune California - looks like a school that would be located in California where 65% of the population is non-caucasion. I like the diversity of the school and the show. I just wish it extended to female characters. So far, it seems Veronica is going to an all male school. We need a few more women to fill out the cast here. Granted in noir - you don't tend to have many women, outside of one Nancy Drew type (Veronica), one femme fatale (The dead best friend's mom), one uncertain femme fatale (Veronica's Mom), but...if you want me to believe this is a high school, give Veronica a few female friends or adversaries? The lack of female characters outside of the pretty blond lead, the dead best friend, the absent mother, the sheriff's receptionist, and the dead best friend's mother...is grating. What Buffy did right - is it appealed to women and teenage girls and guys were an after-thought. Whedon set it up as a "girl show". I don't see this show appealing to women or girls in the same way. No cute guys. No other women to relate to. It's too testrone heavy. Plus none of the characters outside of Veronica grab you. I liked Kristen Bell who played Veronica, but everyone else sort of faded. The guy who plays her father had better chemistry on Just Shoot Me - I really enjoyed him there. Here? I barely notice him. It's not his fault. It's the writing and direction - I think, while nice and dark and spooky, it doesn't grab you by the throat or make you laugh or make the actors shine. Instead they seem to disappear in the background. I'll continue watching it on Tuesdays...until House Calls the new Hugh Laurie series appears in November. Then I may switch to that one.
Yes it's all men, but hey, at least it's honest about it. ;-)
Ended the week with Joan of Arcadia, which I was completely lost during the first half of it.
Having missed the last seven episodes, I found it confusing to suddenly be plopped down with a Joan who no longer believed in her visions and an Adam who did. Last episode I'd seen Adam didn't even know about her visions and she was fine. Now she apparently had lyme disease and was sent to crazy camp? Ugh. This is why we have "previouslies" or reruns the weeks before the new season premieres. Dang it. What happened to that? Did the networks nix it in favor of reality shows? Yes, I'm nostaligic for the good old days of TV.
I also saw ER this week, but it was boring and hardly worth discussing in much detail. The Apprentice was actually more entertaining - which is scary.