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shadowkatHaven't done much the last few days, outside of knee exercises and binge watch television shows.
Finished Stranger Things S5 - which provided an apt and satisfying finale to the series. I don't really see it continuing after it. The finale did a good job of completing all the character arcs. And allowed for some nice character moments - specifically Will Byers coming out that he's gay (so is the actor apparently). That was actually moving.
It's definitely not for everyone? But nothing is? I enjoyed it - it was off beat, and nostalgic. I liked it a lot better than Alien: Earth - which I gave up on rather quickly. What it excels at - that a lot of others don't - is the blend of inter-generational arcs. We've the adults, the teens, and kids - and the series follows all of them without focusing too much on just one, or undermining any. This is rare in the genre, often one or the other is short-sighted, and neither was here. Is it flawed in places? Yes. I mean it does rely heavily on the classic "evil mad scientist government conspiracy trope", which admittedly was popular in the 1980s. The US Military and the US Government being portrayed as sociopathic bad guys throughout, probably was a bit over the top, but other than that? I enjoyed it. It does drag at times and gets a little too into nerdy 1980s references, but that's also part of the fun.
To say much more would spoil everybody, and we can't have that. While I enjoyed the series? I don't foresee myself rewatching it, analyzing it, writing meta on it, joining the fandom, or reading fanfic. It was fun, but there's not a lot there to analyze. The general theme - if there is one - is that differences should be celebrated, and people who are different, even have conflicts, can come together and become the best of friends given the right circumstances and motivation.
Have gotten more or less to the game changer episodes in Angel S3 ("Lullaby") and Buffy S6 ("Tabula Rasa"). After those two episodes the dynamic of both series changes dramatically, as does the character relationships and plot lines. So it's a good place to pause. I liked "Lullaby" more than I remembered - and it does a rather good job of completing Darla's arc, and defining how Darla and Angelus view love and why they don't think vampires can love. It's not necessarily true of all vampires (as exhibited in various episodes with other vampires) but it is true of these two. It is also an entertaining episode - mainly due to the interactions between the other characters - Wes, Gunn, Cordy, Lorne, and Fred with Darla and Angel.
It also finally brings in a new villain, who is a bit more interesting than previous villains, since this one isn't a demon, isn't working for the forces of darkness per se, and mainly wants justice (vengeance since justice is not to be had at this point) against the vampires who destroyed his family. He's not quite sure what to make of the fact that one has a soul, and one just had a human child and staked itself to birth it.
Interesting takeaway - Angel and Darla sneer at other vampires romantic love and caring for each other. And they have an odd relationship to each other - neither believes they love the other, and neither believes a vampire can love without a soul. Yet, it's not clear that's true of either them, or anyone else - the showing and the telling don't quite match up.
Making one wonder what the writers are getting at here - or if they even know? The showing - shows they do care and do love one another. Darla does show up to save Angelus in flashbacks, and he does protect her from Holtz.
Also, the vampires they travel with and sire - tend to be romantically inclined and can't be without each other. They don't care about other human beings - but does that mean they don't love each other? Probably doesn't matter. But the writing is fairly ambiguous - which makes the series a lot more interesting. It's almost as if they want a nice neat black and white verse - but alas, can't quite bring themselves to write that? Because boring, also not all that realistic. Nothing in life is that absolute no matter how much people want to make it so.
Regarding "Tabula Rasa - Episode 7 (?) of Buffy S6 - is kind of a fun episode. Willow does a spell - everyone within the boundary of her spell loses their memories. She'd only intended Buffy and Tara forget the bad bits, but being Willow, she idiotically left the bag of lethe's bramble (the flower of forgetting) next to the fire - so her spell got augmented and took out everybody. This only served to prove Tara's point - that Willow is abusing magic and relying on it to serve her and solve all her problems. Although she's admittedly been doing it since possibly S4, and Tara should have picked up on it a lot earlier - she does in S5, but gets distracted by being brain sucked by Glory. You'd think she'd have pointed it out to Willow during the summer months - but I guess she thought it was needed then? I have more issues with Giles, who completely handwaves it as not his problem, and something Buffy should take care of or Willow should.
[Giles is proof that the Watcher Council is kind of irrelevant. I mean, Buffy has him reinstated as her Watcher with back pay in S5, so it's not like he wasn't being paid. Buffy's not being paid - and Buffy is actually doing all the work. She's kind of his...slave? He gets paid to tell her what to do or how to behave? And when she ignores him or doesn't? He leaves, yet still gets paid? He has an estate and horses in S7. I mean come on.]
Tabula Rasa also gets across that Buffy is really only connecting with Dawn and Spike at this point. Xander and Anya have serious issues, and are clearly not going to make it. Anya actually works better with Giles - and I think that realization upsets both characters in a major way. Willow and Tara also have serious issues - and clearly Tara isn't long for this world, run Tara run - preferably far far away from Willow. (Also wardrobe and hairstyling didn't like Willow and Tara this season. Gellar brought in her own clothing - so managed to get around wardrobe, as did Marsters. Giles clearly didn't - we're back to the sleezy oversized sweaters. And Xander appears to have become pudgy - it's the alcohol. Anya, Buffy, and Spike have the best wardrobe.)
What's interesting is Spike is completely unaware of being a vampire or of his demon without a memory. Also Buffy keeps saving him.
Buffy: Things would be so much easier if I would stop saving him.
Me: Curious, why don't you? (I've been wondering this for a while now, so too have the writers and Spike, apparently.)
The difficulty with Spike - is he's a cool character. They don't want to kill him. But how do you explain that in the verse - without breaking the rules of your verse? You make the verse more ambiguous, and the character ambiguous as well. It definitely made the series more interesting to me.
YMMV.
I honestly think the writers on both Angel and Buffy were playing with what it meant to be a demon, and what is really good or evil, and the idea of love. Also the concept of redemption. Could they redeem someone like Angel - who they'd written as the absolute worst vampire that ever lived? And what about Spike who is more ambiguous evil - who can love, if unwisely, and unwell? Can you redeem him without a soul - without screwing up Angel's arc or Darla's or upending the verse? Part of the reason these series still resonates, and is still studied in various sphere of academia long after it ended is that the writers actually wrestled with these questions and didn't just go the standard formulaic route or rigid rules of the verse route that you see in most television series and science fiction and fantasy. Sometimes questioning the rules of your own verse - pays off. It did here.
Think about it? People are still debating various aspects of these series years later, I'm not sure this is true of all television series. And I certainly feel no inclination to do it with Stranger Things, Slow Horses, Andor, or various others that I've watched and enjoyed over the years. YMMV of course. I'm willing to admit - we all perceive and enjoy things differently - and that makes life cool and at times challenging.
Finished Stranger Things S5 - which provided an apt and satisfying finale to the series. I don't really see it continuing after it. The finale did a good job of completing all the character arcs. And allowed for some nice character moments - specifically Will Byers coming out that he's gay (so is the actor apparently). That was actually moving.
It's definitely not for everyone? But nothing is? I enjoyed it - it was off beat, and nostalgic. I liked it a lot better than Alien: Earth - which I gave up on rather quickly. What it excels at - that a lot of others don't - is the blend of inter-generational arcs. We've the adults, the teens, and kids - and the series follows all of them without focusing too much on just one, or undermining any. This is rare in the genre, often one or the other is short-sighted, and neither was here. Is it flawed in places? Yes. I mean it does rely heavily on the classic "evil mad scientist government conspiracy trope", which admittedly was popular in the 1980s. The US Military and the US Government being portrayed as sociopathic bad guys throughout, probably was a bit over the top, but other than that? I enjoyed it. It does drag at times and gets a little too into nerdy 1980s references, but that's also part of the fun.
To say much more would spoil everybody, and we can't have that. While I enjoyed the series? I don't foresee myself rewatching it, analyzing it, writing meta on it, joining the fandom, or reading fanfic. It was fun, but there's not a lot there to analyze. The general theme - if there is one - is that differences should be celebrated, and people who are different, even have conflicts, can come together and become the best of friends given the right circumstances and motivation.
Have gotten more or less to the game changer episodes in Angel S3 ("Lullaby") and Buffy S6 ("Tabula Rasa"). After those two episodes the dynamic of both series changes dramatically, as does the character relationships and plot lines. So it's a good place to pause. I liked "Lullaby" more than I remembered - and it does a rather good job of completing Darla's arc, and defining how Darla and Angelus view love and why they don't think vampires can love. It's not necessarily true of all vampires (as exhibited in various episodes with other vampires) but it is true of these two. It is also an entertaining episode - mainly due to the interactions between the other characters - Wes, Gunn, Cordy, Lorne, and Fred with Darla and Angel.
It also finally brings in a new villain, who is a bit more interesting than previous villains, since this one isn't a demon, isn't working for the forces of darkness per se, and mainly wants justice (vengeance since justice is not to be had at this point) against the vampires who destroyed his family. He's not quite sure what to make of the fact that one has a soul, and one just had a human child and staked itself to birth it.
Interesting takeaway - Angel and Darla sneer at other vampires romantic love and caring for each other. And they have an odd relationship to each other - neither believes they love the other, and neither believes a vampire can love without a soul. Yet, it's not clear that's true of either them, or anyone else - the showing and the telling don't quite match up.
Making one wonder what the writers are getting at here - or if they even know? The showing - shows they do care and do love one another. Darla does show up to save Angelus in flashbacks, and he does protect her from Holtz.
Also, the vampires they travel with and sire - tend to be romantically inclined and can't be without each other. They don't care about other human beings - but does that mean they don't love each other? Probably doesn't matter. But the writing is fairly ambiguous - which makes the series a lot more interesting. It's almost as if they want a nice neat black and white verse - but alas, can't quite bring themselves to write that? Because boring, also not all that realistic. Nothing in life is that absolute no matter how much people want to make it so.
Regarding "Tabula Rasa - Episode 7 (?) of Buffy S6 - is kind of a fun episode. Willow does a spell - everyone within the boundary of her spell loses their memories. She'd only intended Buffy and Tara forget the bad bits, but being Willow, she idiotically left the bag of lethe's bramble (the flower of forgetting) next to the fire - so her spell got augmented and took out everybody. This only served to prove Tara's point - that Willow is abusing magic and relying on it to serve her and solve all her problems. Although she's admittedly been doing it since possibly S4, and Tara should have picked up on it a lot earlier - she does in S5, but gets distracted by being brain sucked by Glory. You'd think she'd have pointed it out to Willow during the summer months - but I guess she thought it was needed then? I have more issues with Giles, who completely handwaves it as not his problem, and something Buffy should take care of or Willow should.
[Giles is proof that the Watcher Council is kind of irrelevant. I mean, Buffy has him reinstated as her Watcher with back pay in S5, so it's not like he wasn't being paid. Buffy's not being paid - and Buffy is actually doing all the work. She's kind of his...slave? He gets paid to tell her what to do or how to behave? And when she ignores him or doesn't? He leaves, yet still gets paid? He has an estate and horses in S7. I mean come on.]
Tabula Rasa also gets across that Buffy is really only connecting with Dawn and Spike at this point. Xander and Anya have serious issues, and are clearly not going to make it. Anya actually works better with Giles - and I think that realization upsets both characters in a major way. Willow and Tara also have serious issues - and clearly Tara isn't long for this world, run Tara run - preferably far far away from Willow. (Also wardrobe and hairstyling didn't like Willow and Tara this season. Gellar brought in her own clothing - so managed to get around wardrobe, as did Marsters. Giles clearly didn't - we're back to the sleezy oversized sweaters. And Xander appears to have become pudgy - it's the alcohol. Anya, Buffy, and Spike have the best wardrobe.)
What's interesting is Spike is completely unaware of being a vampire or of his demon without a memory. Also Buffy keeps saving him.
Buffy: Things would be so much easier if I would stop saving him.
Me: Curious, why don't you? (I've been wondering this for a while now, so too have the writers and Spike, apparently.)
The difficulty with Spike - is he's a cool character. They don't want to kill him. But how do you explain that in the verse - without breaking the rules of your verse? You make the verse more ambiguous, and the character ambiguous as well. It definitely made the series more interesting to me.
YMMV.
I honestly think the writers on both Angel and Buffy were playing with what it meant to be a demon, and what is really good or evil, and the idea of love. Also the concept of redemption. Could they redeem someone like Angel - who they'd written as the absolute worst vampire that ever lived? And what about Spike who is more ambiguous evil - who can love, if unwisely, and unwell? Can you redeem him without a soul - without screwing up Angel's arc or Darla's or upending the verse? Part of the reason these series still resonates, and is still studied in various sphere of academia long after it ended is that the writers actually wrestled with these questions and didn't just go the standard formulaic route or rigid rules of the verse route that you see in most television series and science fiction and fantasy. Sometimes questioning the rules of your own verse - pays off. It did here.
Think about it? People are still debating various aspects of these series years later, I'm not sure this is true of all television series. And I certainly feel no inclination to do it with Stranger Things, Slow Horses, Andor, or various others that I've watched and enjoyed over the years. YMMV of course. I'm willing to admit - we all perceive and enjoy things differently - and that makes life cool and at times challenging.