So Project Runway, Vampire Diaries and Nikita...(enuf angst, time to talk guilty pleasures)

[shadowkat]

TV slut returns, well sort of. Quiet day is mocking my desire to hibernate with its beauty. It'll probably rain tomorrow - when I have to go to church and check out flats. Stupid, uncooperative weather. Oh well, at least it's pretty for the block party outside - which I'm soo not in the mood for.

1. Project Runway - I clearly have different taste than the judges. The baby doll punk look I thought was unflattering and a little silly. Adored Andy South's bathing suite gown - purple and white, absolutely stunning. That should have won. But did not mind at all Casonova's pants. Granted it's not resort wear. But I'd buy them. This. This. Is why I'm not in the fashion world. That said, I was admittedly relieved that Valerie and Mondo were saved. NY1 mislead me into thinking the insane Casanova and Ivy would make it to Fashion Week - and no, just no. Neither are that interesting as designers. I rather like Gretchen. "Michael D is in the top 3? Ohhh. There's going to be some drama." Does Gretchen know Ivy or what?? And hee, no one likes Michael C or thinks he can design worth shit. It's hilarious. But Mondo is smart, smarter than Ivy, and plays diplomat, biting his tongue. Also is it just me or do the designers who get to leave look incredibly happy and relieved, and the one's who win sort of flabbergasted? (What?? ME??? REALLY???WOW?) LOL! This show has gone downhill. And Michael Kors...can the guy get a bigger ego? Bitchy show. Last season was so much better.


2. Vampire Diaries - okay is it just me or do the female leads both villains and heroines in vampire gothic romances have the worst taste on the planet when it comes to men?

Seriously, every vampire show I watch the female lead goes for the brooding, self-hating, somewhat whiny vampire with no sense of humor. Basically Anne Rice's Louis. Even Anne Rice knew Louis was boring. Honey? The Edgar Allen Poe routine gets old after a bit, trust me. Go for the guy with a sense of fun, adventure, and that can make you laugh. Also if you have to date a vampire - at least make it an interesting vampire. You'll die happy.

But I get why the writers do this. If the female lead went for the hot vampire right off the bat, there'd be no conflict. Everyone would be happy. And we'd be bored. But one does wonder about these feckless heroines. They can't all be this romantically challenged.

I'm rather in love with Ian Sommerland's Damon, no shock there. Do I have archetypal trope or what? Bad Boy with a heart of gold and a snarky sense of humor, get me every time. I like the hero who is unpredictable, not the guy who whines about how guilty he is every five minutes.
(This is in fantasy. I avoid both in real life, which ahem, may explain why I'm still single - far too picky. ) Not that I dislike Stefan. Wesley Paul is actually growing on me. He's quite good with Damon.

Not sure I'm up for the Werewolf story, but at least they hired a hot guy for the Uncle. Potential love interest for Aunt Jenna? Or is that still Alaric. I miss Alaric - looking forward to him coming back soon.

Felt for Damon is this episode. Katherine and Elena are rather harsh. Particularly after he said what he did to Katherine (who he thought was Elena) last season, before she kissed him.
Note - what Elena doesn't realize is he poured his heart out to someone that he thought was her, and she kissed him. He merely kissed back. Kudos to Katherine for playing such an intricate mindgame. Damon had allowed himself to care, to feel remorse, to worry if he could be a good person - if it was in him, and Katherine played on that emotion and then let the real Elena and Stefan destroy it. All she had to do to make this happen? Kiss him. Elena's comment to Damon - why would you think I'd kiss you back? Ouch. Hon. Ouch. And Katherine's ? I never loved you, only Stefan. Then why did you turn Damon into a vampire or seduce him? For kicks?
But both Elena and Katherine are playing this game...which is interesting. Maybe they think they should be in love with Stefan - because he's the one everyone expects you to be in love with - the Romeo guy? And are in deep denial? Otherwise I just don't get it. Had the same problem with Buffy actually...yeah, yeah, Angel's cute and all, but honey aren't you sick and tired of the patriarchial/whiny/brooding shitck? Don't you want to laugh? I mean angst gets old, people.

Knew Damon was going to snap after he got rejected by both Katherine (who he'd carried a torch for) and Elena. Can't say I blame him. If I were Damon? I'd want to make Stefan pay. Take everything Stefan cares about away from him. Course that's probably Katherine's game. She
went after Stefan, he rejected her. So she rejected Damon by saying she loves Stefan.
LOL! I actually think Elena's rejection hurt him more...but it's hard to tell.

Then he jumps up and snaps Jeremy's neck. Oh no, Jeremy's dead! Not. We should be so lucky.
No one dies on these shows. It's so annoying. How am I supposed to take you seriously show if you don't kill off anyone?? Okay, you killed off Vicki and the Mayor, and that reporter, plus the teacher...but I mean major characters. Jeremy was for a bit growing on me. But he got whiny again. For a bit I wondered if he'd come back as a vampire. But no, that appears to be Caroline - which is exactly what Bonnie deserves for making Damon give Caroline his blood for Elena's sake. Hee. Turns out Jeremy was wearing his father's ring - so is safe. Not sure why Uncle Jack didn't give his daughter his ring, you'd think he'd worry more about her welfare than his own?
Then again, he's in more danger. Damon's right, if Katherine wanted Elena dead, she'd have killed her. No, she wants to play with Elena. Great twist to have the century old vampire that Elena is the spitting image of - still alive, still kicking and in town.

I love this show. I can make fun of it, snark at the tv set, and there are all these hot young guys for me to lust after. It's so much fun! Talk about guilty pleasures. Kevin Williamson and Julie Pleci rock. Williamson has a bit of a tongue in cheek sense of humor regarding horror - which came out during the Scream films.


3. Nikita - I should let you know before I do this review - that I've literally seen all the Nikita versions. There's about five of them to date, not including the two movies. Luc Besson's original French film - La Femme Nikita, and the American remake - with Bridget Fonda, which I can't remember the name of but was horrifically bad. See the original. As an aside, a friend asked Momster a while ago why they would make an American versions of the books - Girl with a Dragon Tatoo, when the Swedish films had gotten such high praise. Well, Americans like to remake popular foreign films, and make them their own. We do it constantly. Why not with Swedish films. Plus, hey, no subtitles, so people who hate to read their movies, can see an English non-dubbed version. Lazy, us? Nah. We've remade the Vanishing (really good Swedish film) Infernal Affairs (The Departed, the original film is better I'm told), Let the Right One in (Let Me In), amongst others. At least making one into a tv show is halfway innovative.
Well, not if you do it five times, but hey whose counting?

1. Peta Wilson version - La Femme Nikita (it used the same title as the French film) and had a hot and interesting Canadian/British cast. Low budget. High tech sets. And ground-breaking cult hit. Different than most shows on. Alias borrowed heavily from it, as did Whedon's Dollhouse.
It was actually in some respects edgier than the film, and had a more intricate mythology.
Plus Michael was hot. This version unlike the new version - was a remake of the film. It chronicled Nikita's adventures in "Section", her attempts to escape, Michael's attempts to escape either with her or help her do it, and then how she ends up taking over Section and runs it. In this version unlike the film, Nikita is framed, she didn't actually kill a policeman, the original she'd killed a policeman. And she falls in love with Michael not an outside cover.

2. Alias - basically La Femme Nikita for the PG-13 set. It's watered down version of the Peta Wilson and French film. It contains similar plot arcs and elements from both. Father runs the organization - check. Mother is mysterious spy - check. They have a weird relationship - check. She falls for her handler - which in this case turns out to be a nice guy CIA agents. Where it varies - is Syndey's cover, her friends, the whole mythology bit, and at times convoluted and insane plot. Petra Wilson version was actually better written, better plotted, better directed,
and had a more satisfying and twisty ending.

3. Covert Affairs - this is by far the nicest and least sexist of the versions. It's okay.The plotting is fairly simple. They've done a piss-poor job of building the A or serial plot-line though. I'm not buying the person they've set up as a potential villain. They needed more build than they gave it. But it is fun. And by far the least sexist. The leader of the division is female. She does report to her husband, in a way, but it is realistic. And none of the women are dressed in skimpy dresses, bikin's or sex kitten outfits to fight lots of baddies, they actually wear what a real operative would be wearing if this happened and real people clothes, not clothes that men would put on us so we look hot to them while we do it.
By far the most believable of the versions and the least sexist. Also it has hot guys in it. Clearly written for a female viewer, not just a male one.

4. Dollhouse - the most sci-fi of the versions and the least coherent. It's Nikita vs. Zombies and Mind control. I'm betting that was the pitch - La Femme Mikita meets Resident Evil. (I'm wondering if Whedon plays the Resident Evil video game in his spare time - and watches the films, would explain why Mila Jovonich played Sam and talked like Alice from Resident Evil, as well as the plot of that season 4 Angel episode with WRH zombified as a security mechanism.) Except Resident Evil and Le Femme Nikita - weren't into sex games and escort services, well not that obviously at any rate. So, methinks Whedon forgot he was on network television and ahem, not on HBO. Plus, Dollhouse of the five had the least appealing and least sympathetic heroine. But it had great casting in all the other roles - the female head and the tech guy were by far the most interesting here. Great supporting cast. But sloppy writing.

Now finally, the fifth version entitled simply Nikita. This version unlike all the others, takes place after the original film - La Femme Nikita ended. In the original film, Nikita leaves Division after they kill her boyfriend (who was meant to be her cover.) Now I don't remember if this was deliberate or an accident or who did it. She did not in the film have a romantic relationship with Michael so much as a father/daughter - mentor relationship, bit like Giles/Buffy. Here? Appears to be more romantic. But unfortunately they picked the lacklustre Shane West to play the part. He's okay. But bland. I didn't like him on ER either and he had more to do there - got to play a guy who lost both legs and everything. Anyhow, this one is possibly the closest to the original Luc Besson film that I've seen to date. It seems to follow directly from it and all the characters look and act a lot like they did in the film.
If you want her back story? All you have to do is rent the film.

They do give you flashbacks here and there. And Maggie Q who plays Nikita is quite good in the role, that was not exaggerated. She brings a gravitas that not all actresses can carry off well.
Plus she's Asian not white, which is a plus and possibly a first for American TV. Gotten a bit tired of the blond white heroine trope. Nice to see we're moving past that. However - I wish they'd stop dressing her up as male eye-candy. This is clearly written and marketed for men who want a male version of well The Vampire Diaries. Pretty women to lust after that kick butt,
little romance, and a lot of cool guys that look like them racing about trying to figure out how to catch the pretty girls kicking their butts. The set up reminded me a lot of the Jason Bourne films except with a petit female heroine.

Is it fun? Sure. I enjoyed it. And it has some nice twists. Rather like Alex, the other female lead, who is Nikita's partner. But, I'm on the fence about the rest of it. They need a good male lead and I'm not sure West is it. But we shall see. Then again, maybe they don't need one.
It is nice to see a tough gal taking down the system for a change, with no guys bossing her around. And Nikita is highly capable, outsmarting her pursuers with aplomb.

If you like action, don't mind violence, and enjoy gritty film - this may be for you. Plus tough yet highly attractive female heroine.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Oh lighten up. ;-)

I was making fun of a silly tv show that I enjoy watching. It wasn't a serious post.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

My apologies. That was presumptuous of me. My comprehension & communications skills clearly require improvement... :-)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Thank you. ;-)

And no worries...I'm guilty of much the same thing, more often than I'd like to admit, unfortunately. ;-)