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shadowkat1. Once Upon a Time...last night's episode, Whatever Happened to Frederick?
My difficulty with Once is three of the lead characters are starting to grate on my nerves. They are Mary Margaret, David, and Regina. I want to shake them for different reasons. And I want Emma to smack each and every one of them upside the head.
Once suffers from some of the same narrative structural issues that LOST did. I wanted to shake Jack, Kate, and Ben for some of the same reasons. Although Ben was a lot more entertaining than Regina. It's a pacing issue. They are spending a lot of time explaining who each character is and what motivates them - so there is actually more going on in the fairy tale world than the real world.
This was true about LOST as well. Often nothing would happen on the Island. Or they'd almost get off, only end on it again. Or almost get a signal out...only to have someone destroy the signal. Or almost figure out what the monster was. Or almost figure out what was inside the Hatch. It took forever for anything to actually happen on the Island. Because - the focus was on the back-story, or flashbacks. How did the characters get to this place, why were they the way they were, and how did their current situation contrast with the previous one. All very interesting questions, but it's really hard to explore the back-story in depth, if you don't stall the front story. Move too quickly on the front story - or what is happening in Storybrook, you can't do that parallel structure.
It's a double-edged sword. I love the structure, because it basically turns both the B and A plot lines into serials, twisty, and develops characters in both versions. As opposed to having one plot line be episodic mystery or monster or fairy tale of the week, we have both be serialized. But..the problem with doing it that way is you have to keep both narrative lines parallel to each other...and the metaphors parallel, and keep track of both. In short, I think the writers may have bitten off more than they can chew. But hey, better than same old, same old..eh?
At any rate, Regina still does not get it. You can't buy Henry's love. You have to earn it. And to do that, you have to do something that is selfless, which I don't think Regina is capable of. Which means she's lost the game already, and can we just kill her off and let Rumple be the villain, he's more interesting and less predictable. I'm finding Regina awfully dull and a bit annoying.
If we ignore Regina and the Mary/David/Catherine triangle in Storybrook - and focus on everything else in the episode, it was actually a pretty good episode. Catherine/Frederick romance was a nice twist on the Midas legend. In the original legend - Midas turns his daughter to gold. Here - it's her one true love, Frederick (who I've seen somewhere before, the actor not the character). I rather like that in the real world Frederick appears to be a teacher at the school with Mary Margaret (at least I hope he's a teacher and not a student...could not tell). Also Catherine admits in fairy tale land that she doesn't love James (PC), she loves Frederick (Golden Knight). So James goes off on a quest to save Catherine's true love. He does it with healing water from a magical lake.
Meanwhile in Storybrook, writer August W. Booth (yes, he has a name now - I don't think he lied, why would anyone pick that name if they did?) hascopied added to Henry's Once Upon a Time Book the old fashioned way. [ETA: Momster came up with a really cool idea - that Booth had added the Frederick story to the book, when before it wasn't there and he was rewriting the stories. Which provides a really interesting layer to the series that is quite innovative and brilliant.] Then he takes Emma to the local wishing well, where they drink of its magical waters and Emma gets the book back (it's floated to her car in a box). She gives it back to Henry who is thrilled, more so than with the video game that Regina gave him. Bad choice that - considering Emma has played it and knows more about video games than Regina. Not sure where they are going with AW Booth and Emma. But I wished they'd pick up the pace a bit. I'm beginning to wonder how far these writers have plotted this story out and if they have a bigger game plan than let's defeat the evil queen and return everyone to the fairy tale world (because that's sort of dull and I'm not sure I can stick around for several seasons of that.)
Once James gets the water and saves Frederick, Catherine and Frederick help him escape his pursuers to go and find Snow White - who he believes at the moment doesn't really love him, but he's not going to give up that easily. Any more than he gave up on helping Catherine and Frederick and courageously faced the enchantress of the Lake - who seeks to drown anyone who attempts to take her healing properties.
Now if only David, James' Real World Counterpart, had as much courage or even an iota of that courage. This boy is a world-class wimp. Doormat. How hard would it have been to tell Catherine the truth? He'd have freed them both. Courage seems to be a big character flaw. Rumple and now David both destroy their lives due to a lack of courage. Rumple's made more sense. David's makes no sense whatsoever. I'm beginning to root for Mary Margaret to take up with the Doctor played by David Anders again, who has regrettably disappeared. He was interesting, also sort of hot.
Frak Prince Charming, whose not so charming in Storybrook.
At any rate - as a result of Regina's actions...David doesn't get Catherine's note, and Catherine has a car accident and disappears - attempting to leave Storybrook to pursue a law degree in Boston. Because no one can leave Storybrook and live a good life. That would break Regina's curse. With friends like Regina who needs enemies. Regina's one saving grace, her odd friendship with Catherine, sort of went out of the window.
I'm hoping they pick up the pace in March.
2. The Good Wife - far better paced series than Once. It's also admittedly better written.
Although I found this episode a bit slow. And the case rather uninteresting and sort of sentimental. The show's at it's best when it plays on the political entanglements of its characters. At any rate, I'm happy with the resolution of the Will storyline, didn't expect them to do that. The previews lead me to believe they'd go in the opposite direction. Was just a tad disappointed they hadn't. But not overly so - it will open up things a bit more, and shake certain things up. Good Wife unlike other tv series that have a procedural angle, does evolve its characters and change things continuously.
At any rate, not nearly as much fun as the previous episode, but still great tv.
3. Downton Abbey...I sort of agree with kristin cahshore's post about Downton, which I now have to locate for you. Here: It's all about writing characters.
I agree. That's my problem with Downton as well. Too many leaps in time and narrative. I'm losing the characters.
Mary goes from being opportunistic to being incredibly nice...and it feels a bit like it happened overnight. Downton isn't fast-paced, it just...well tells more than it shows.
As a result, I've lost a few characters here and there. Mary and Matthew I lost. I didn't understand why Matthew proposed to Lavina or how they fell in love. Or if they did. And Mary's courtship of Sir Richard is never really shown - so it's hard to feel too much sympathy one way or the other. Same with Daisy and William - it's hard to see that relationship evolving. I could see Daisy's point - I don't love William, we were just becoming friends. The only relationship they did well was Anna and Mr. Bates, also Mrs. O'Brien and Thomas worked. Those felt organic. The others I felt like we missed a whole book in there somewhere.
That said? I still liked the final episode quite a bit.
The Daisy/Cook/Williams Father story arc worked quite well. Through the ouja board, the cook manipulates Daisy into going to see William's father at the farm. Which Daisy does and discovers that the old man needs her as much as she needs him. Neither has anyone in the world. And he gives her good advice, ignore Shaw (the nasty ladies maid) and approach the cook directly asking for a promotion. The Daisy bit made me cry.
Mary/Sir Richard and Matthew was a bit silly. And frustrating. At first I couldn't remember if Matthew knew about the Turkish guy. Then I couldn't remember if the father knew. Apparently neither did. The mother told the father and Mary finally confessed to Matthew. Both took the news much better than the women expected them to. Richard though was being a bit of a putz. I mean seriously it's not like these people read a lot of papers or are in government. So what if you tell the world about Mary's involvement with a Turkish diplomat over five years ago? And really, don't you think it's a bad start to a marriage if you have to blackmail your wife into it?
Then Matthew who kept insisting that he and Mary deserved to be miserable for poor Lavina who died heart-broken. Oh please. Martyrdom doesn't suit you. I rather loved Mrs. Crowley and the Dowager's reactions. Mrs. Crowley - "There wasn't a mean bone in Lavina's body. She wouldn't want this.
And don't you dare invoke her name again in regards to it." Or the Dowager in response to Richard's comment "I doubt we shall meet again", "Promise?" LOL! Both were looking at Mary/Matthew and Richard and thinking they were being quite silly. Too true.
Poor Mr. Bates and Anna. They just can't catch a break. A bit tragic that. But hey at least he's not being executed and they have a chance. Will S3 be all about getting Mr. Bates out of prison?
For a while I thought it would be about Mary's adventures in NY and Matthew chasing after her there. Rather glad they didn't go that route. Also glad Matthew and Mary finally ended up together - although that was rather predictable.
Downton Abbey was good this season but not quite as enjoyable as last season, it just felt a bit off...due to how the characters were developed.
My difficulty with Once is three of the lead characters are starting to grate on my nerves. They are Mary Margaret, David, and Regina. I want to shake them for different reasons. And I want Emma to smack each and every one of them upside the head.
Once suffers from some of the same narrative structural issues that LOST did. I wanted to shake Jack, Kate, and Ben for some of the same reasons. Although Ben was a lot more entertaining than Regina. It's a pacing issue. They are spending a lot of time explaining who each character is and what motivates them - so there is actually more going on in the fairy tale world than the real world.
This was true about LOST as well. Often nothing would happen on the Island. Or they'd almost get off, only end on it again. Or almost get a signal out...only to have someone destroy the signal. Or almost figure out what the monster was. Or almost figure out what was inside the Hatch. It took forever for anything to actually happen on the Island. Because - the focus was on the back-story, or flashbacks. How did the characters get to this place, why were they the way they were, and how did their current situation contrast with the previous one. All very interesting questions, but it's really hard to explore the back-story in depth, if you don't stall the front story. Move too quickly on the front story - or what is happening in Storybrook, you can't do that parallel structure.
It's a double-edged sword. I love the structure, because it basically turns both the B and A plot lines into serials, twisty, and develops characters in both versions. As opposed to having one plot line be episodic mystery or monster or fairy tale of the week, we have both be serialized. But..the problem with doing it that way is you have to keep both narrative lines parallel to each other...and the metaphors parallel, and keep track of both. In short, I think the writers may have bitten off more than they can chew. But hey, better than same old, same old..eh?
At any rate, Regina still does not get it. You can't buy Henry's love. You have to earn it. And to do that, you have to do something that is selfless, which I don't think Regina is capable of. Which means she's lost the game already, and can we just kill her off and let Rumple be the villain, he's more interesting and less predictable. I'm finding Regina awfully dull and a bit annoying.
If we ignore Regina and the Mary/David/Catherine triangle in Storybrook - and focus on everything else in the episode, it was actually a pretty good episode. Catherine/Frederick romance was a nice twist on the Midas legend. In the original legend - Midas turns his daughter to gold. Here - it's her one true love, Frederick (who I've seen somewhere before, the actor not the character). I rather like that in the real world Frederick appears to be a teacher at the school with Mary Margaret (at least I hope he's a teacher and not a student...could not tell). Also Catherine admits in fairy tale land that she doesn't love James (PC), she loves Frederick (Golden Knight). So James goes off on a quest to save Catherine's true love. He does it with healing water from a magical lake.
Meanwhile in Storybrook, writer August W. Booth (yes, he has a name now - I don't think he lied, why would anyone pick that name if they did?) has
Once James gets the water and saves Frederick, Catherine and Frederick help him escape his pursuers to go and find Snow White - who he believes at the moment doesn't really love him, but he's not going to give up that easily. Any more than he gave up on helping Catherine and Frederick and courageously faced the enchantress of the Lake - who seeks to drown anyone who attempts to take her healing properties.
Now if only David, James' Real World Counterpart, had as much courage or even an iota of that courage. This boy is a world-class wimp. Doormat. How hard would it have been to tell Catherine the truth? He'd have freed them both. Courage seems to be a big character flaw. Rumple and now David both destroy their lives due to a lack of courage. Rumple's made more sense. David's makes no sense whatsoever. I'm beginning to root for Mary Margaret to take up with the Doctor played by David Anders again, who has regrettably disappeared. He was interesting, also sort of hot.
Frak Prince Charming, whose not so charming in Storybrook.
At any rate - as a result of Regina's actions...David doesn't get Catherine's note, and Catherine has a car accident and disappears - attempting to leave Storybrook to pursue a law degree in Boston. Because no one can leave Storybrook and live a good life. That would break Regina's curse. With friends like Regina who needs enemies. Regina's one saving grace, her odd friendship with Catherine, sort of went out of the window.
I'm hoping they pick up the pace in March.
2. The Good Wife - far better paced series than Once. It's also admittedly better written.
Although I found this episode a bit slow. And the case rather uninteresting and sort of sentimental. The show's at it's best when it plays on the political entanglements of its characters. At any rate, I'm happy with the resolution of the Will storyline, didn't expect them to do that. The previews lead me to believe they'd go in the opposite direction. Was just a tad disappointed they hadn't. But not overly so - it will open up things a bit more, and shake certain things up. Good Wife unlike other tv series that have a procedural angle, does evolve its characters and change things continuously.
At any rate, not nearly as much fun as the previous episode, but still great tv.
3. Downton Abbey...I sort of agree with kristin cahshore's post about Downton, which I now have to locate for you. Here: It's all about writing characters.
And it's not that characters can't change. It's only that we need to understand what made them change. Otherwise they stop being characters and become tools for advancing/manipulating the plot.
I agree. That's my problem with Downton as well. Too many leaps in time and narrative. I'm losing the characters.
Mary goes from being opportunistic to being incredibly nice...and it feels a bit like it happened overnight. Downton isn't fast-paced, it just...well tells more than it shows.
As a result, I've lost a few characters here and there. Mary and Matthew I lost. I didn't understand why Matthew proposed to Lavina or how they fell in love. Or if they did. And Mary's courtship of Sir Richard is never really shown - so it's hard to feel too much sympathy one way or the other. Same with Daisy and William - it's hard to see that relationship evolving. I could see Daisy's point - I don't love William, we were just becoming friends. The only relationship they did well was Anna and Mr. Bates, also Mrs. O'Brien and Thomas worked. Those felt organic. The others I felt like we missed a whole book in there somewhere.
That said? I still liked the final episode quite a bit.
The Daisy/Cook/Williams Father story arc worked quite well. Through the ouja board, the cook manipulates Daisy into going to see William's father at the farm. Which Daisy does and discovers that the old man needs her as much as she needs him. Neither has anyone in the world. And he gives her good advice, ignore Shaw (the nasty ladies maid) and approach the cook directly asking for a promotion. The Daisy bit made me cry.
Mary/Sir Richard and Matthew was a bit silly. And frustrating. At first I couldn't remember if Matthew knew about the Turkish guy. Then I couldn't remember if the father knew. Apparently neither did. The mother told the father and Mary finally confessed to Matthew. Both took the news much better than the women expected them to. Richard though was being a bit of a putz. I mean seriously it's not like these people read a lot of papers or are in government. So what if you tell the world about Mary's involvement with a Turkish diplomat over five years ago? And really, don't you think it's a bad start to a marriage if you have to blackmail your wife into it?
Then Matthew who kept insisting that he and Mary deserved to be miserable for poor Lavina who died heart-broken. Oh please. Martyrdom doesn't suit you. I rather loved Mrs. Crowley and the Dowager's reactions. Mrs. Crowley - "There wasn't a mean bone in Lavina's body. She wouldn't want this.
And don't you dare invoke her name again in regards to it." Or the Dowager in response to Richard's comment "I doubt we shall meet again", "Promise?" LOL! Both were looking at Mary/Matthew and Richard and thinking they were being quite silly. Too true.
Poor Mr. Bates and Anna. They just can't catch a break. A bit tragic that. But hey at least he's not being executed and they have a chance. Will S3 be all about getting Mr. Bates out of prison?
For a while I thought it would be about Mary's adventures in NY and Matthew chasing after her there. Rather glad they didn't go that route. Also glad Matthew and Mary finally ended up together - although that was rather predictable.
Downton Abbey was good this season but not quite as enjoyable as last season, it just felt a bit off...due to how the characters were developed.
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no subject
Date: 2012-02-20 08:28 pm (UTC)That did make me laugh out loud.
And yes, simply no effort at character development and huge plot gaps. Enjoyable as fluff but not as good as Season One.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-20 10:00 pm (UTC)The only character arcs that sort of worked for me were Mrs. O'Brien and Thomas...
no subject
Date: 2012-02-20 10:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-20 11:53 pm (UTC)The only problem I had with the Bates story was the whole bad wife bit was so cliche. Other than that - his relationship with Anna and everyone else worked for me.
The servants arcs worked for me better than their employers. I'm not sure the writer understood the aristocrats arcs...because they felt more cobbled together.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 12:51 am (UTC)I really wanted to smack Matthew a few times. I mean the whole "we should be miserable thing" particularly after the war and the flu when people should realize that life is short...Also, when he asked if she loved the Turkish guy and was acting a little ashamed at what she had done, I was like, " dude, it was 6 freaking years ago...come on." Are we really to believe that Matthew is a virgin? If he had remained a solicitor and married, would his new wife have been expected to be (by him?) Saying all of that, I am glad that they got together in the end, but I wonder what heinous thing will befall them next series.
I was kind of surprised that they did not resolve the Mr Bates thing more. I mean he is in prison, but I kind of figured they would give us more hope that he was going to get out.
The highlight for me is the Dowager Countess. I adore Maggie Smith and look forward to every moment she is on screen. I hope her character is not lessened or made cartoonish with the arrival of Cora's mother (Shirley McClain) next series.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 02:25 pm (UTC)Once Upon a Time was particularly disappointing this last Sunday, mostly because I really missed Rumplestiltskin (he is the only one I'm watching and caring about at the moment... well that isn't totally true: I still care about Emma).
no subject
Date: 2012-02-21 05:23 pm (UTC)Snow/MM , PC/David and EQ/Requina - I'm about ready to kick. The episodes featuring those three are always over the top and a bit silly.
Also it's getting increasingly difficult to like their Storybrook counterparts. David and MM are tepid representations of the fairy tale characters they were (not sure this is because they have no memories or what) and Regina is just annoying, while the EQ is at least a little fun.