OUAT - Season 5.1, The Dark Swan

Anyone still watching this show but me? Did last season alienate everyone?

Not a bad episode. Although their twists are getting a bit predictable. Mainly because television writers post 2001, seem to like to go to that dark place with their characters. Instead of showing a story where the hero successfully wards off evil, they go the opposite direction and show how the hero becomes consumed by it or gives in to it, and the consequences of that. Which the first time it happens, whoa, can't believe you did that. Now, oh they are so going to do that. Note to writers, the plot arc of the hero going evil has been done to death now.

OTOH...I like the trope and am rather interested to see how they get there, and what the results are.
OUAT has interesting narrative structure, albeit not the best execution. That's the problem with playing with narrative structure, if you aren't a master - then well it feels clumsy. But hey, broadcast television, I have low expectations going in. Also at this point, the series has become so insanely plotty, that I'm ignoring the plot holes.

It feels like the writers are doing a mash-up of Swan Lake (the white swan devolves into the black swan due to betrayal, pressure, and manipulation by others, losing her mind to madness), Sword in the Stone, and Brave (the Disney film about a Girl's relationship with her Bearish mother).
( vague plot spoilers )

Oh this plot recap is hilarious.

(no subject)

1. So, I had a discussion about the horror genre with my mother, over the phone tonight. This was sparked by a response to a prior post regarding whether Doctor Who was "horror" or not, which frankly bewildered me. Because honestly I thought the show was obviously horror, horror sci-if, but still.

Me: I don't understand how anyone can't see Doctor Who as horror? Maybe they just define vampires as horror--
Mother: Vampires aren't horror.
Me: Uhmm...Wait...WHAT? Of course they are.
Mother: Not always.
ME: Uhm...horror is something that is frightening, unsettling, terrifying, or disturbing involving monsters or things that normally would scare you.
Mother: But I don't always find vampires to be scary.

Me:Okay, approsx 98% of science fiction tends to be horror.
Mother:No it's not. I never considered Space 1999 to be horror for example. It had monsters, but not horror.
Me: It didn't always have monsters, but frankly it scared me. And had scary things most of the time.
Mother: It didn't scare me. So not horror.
Me: Just because it doesn't happen to scare you, specifically, doesn't make it not horror. (It's the intent behind it - did the writer intend to horrify? Also doesn't necessarily need to be scary, can just be horrifying. Whether the writer is successful or not...( I didn't get to say that last bit by the way because she cut me off, and we changed the subject.)

It should be noted that very little on television, in books or in the movies scares my mother. While my brother and I (at the ages of 12 and 14) were watching Poltergeist and Jaws through our fingers, my mother was poking fun at it. She doesn't understand how you can be afraid of something that is clearly not real. Heights and crossing bridges on the other hand - she's scared of. At any rate, I managed to have not one but two bewildering conversations about the horror genre. Proving that yes, people think differently, even if they are closely related and talk every night on the phone.

2. Quantico - not bad, possibly amongst the best pilots that I've seen to date, or rather the most compelling. Kudos for casting people who don't look exactly alike, not to mention diversified casting. Plus, I really like the lead - who is a former Bollywood actress and actually very popular in India (think Angelina Jolie popular).

The set-up? A Quantico FBI recruit wakes up in the middle of a terrorist bombing in NYC. She's taken into custody and told that one of her classmates was the terrorist, possibly more than one. And the feds in charge of the investigation have decided that she's the most likely suspect -- the evidence all points to her. Except for her boss and recruiter, who believes she's innocent. The guy who thinks she's guilty, had her followed and watched from the beginning by a Marine, he'd recruited to spy on her. This guy is the former partner/boyfriend of the headmistress. The headmistress helps her escape, believing she's innocent and the best person to find the real culprit. So, she has a limited time to uncover which of her classmates planned and carried out a terrorist attack. So in flashbacks we see the recruits at Quantico, and their backstories, as the audience and our hero attempt to figure out who did it.

It's actually easier to follow than How to Get Away With Murder. And has a decent cast. Plenty of action. A bit predictable in places, possibly because, I've seen too many tv shows like this, although this one is admittedly a bit different than most. Casting of a POC female character is a definite change of pace (normally they are white guys or gals). And the set-up is slightly different, haven't done an inside the FBI Academy series in a while.

So far the most compelling of the new series. (Not that that is saying much.)

3. Indian Summers - Not bad, but not great either. "Jewel of the Crown" or "The Raj Quartet" this isn't. Nor "Passage to India". Which were top-notch British costume dramas. This is sort of the weak third cousin of both.

Also two of the actresses look alike. I'm having difficulty telling them apart. No, wait, four of them look alike. All are white. Short brownish hair, and long thin necks and thin bodies. Ugh. The Brits are usually better at this sort of thing.

Wasn't compelling. Sort of disappointing actually. Didn't really like anyone. Didn't dislike them either. Sort of ambivalent. Okay not true, I liked the Doctor, his assistant (at least I think she's his assistant), the Indian Secretary who got shot and is in love with the Hindu girl. But they appear to be secondary characters.

Will stick with it for a few more episodes to see if it gets any better...but if it continues to bore me, I'll give up.