Trueblood and Wire commentary..
Jul. 17th, 2011 11:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatForgot to DVR tonight's episode of Boardwalk Empire - but may give up on it anyhow. Can't quite get into it for some reason. Don't you love it when every critic says a tv show or book or film is amazing, the best thing ever! And you try it and think, uh, okaay, are they all deeply stoned or what? This is boring. Which I guess just proves we aren't lemmings right? And are blessed with different tastes.
The Wire commentary had some fun bits - 1)apparently they don't tell actors on the Wire what they are planning on doing to the characters any more than they did on Buffy. Ibris Elba was really surprised to learn his character was being killed off and a bit pissed. But, David Simon planned it in S1, they knew they were killing off Stringer when they decided to wrap up and close the Barksdale case after three seasons. And the end of that character arc was Stringer's death. According to the producer, Ibris figured it out before he read it in the script. So anyhow... actors don't know they are going to die at the end of a season until they literally get the script. Talk about cold. I mean think about it - you don't know you don't have a job until literally hours before you have to act it. Also you get the script literally just a few hours before you have to act it. Ugh. On Buffy - the actors apparently read their scripts backwards. The reason for this is to make sure that the actor performs it more realistically, more raw, and less prepared. Because film is a reactive media - it picks up real. 2) Denis Lehan, a writer, has a bit part in the last episode of S3 - he's the guy reading the porn comic at the place they get the transitor device to track cell phone numbers. 3)The whole Barksdale/Marlo war was meant as an allegory on Iraq or the War on Iraq (this took place in 2004). The writer seemed surprised that not many people picked up on that. I sort of did - but it is admittedly a weak analogy. The stronger analogy is the war on drugs in truth has become a war on the underclass. (The Rockerfeller drug laws were still in effect in 2004, I believe they were appealed in 2009 or 2010 - those laws did place the war on drugs squarely on the shoulders of the underclass.) 4)The whole theme of the Wire is that using pure capitalism as social policy does not work.
True Blood is such a soap opera. I considered fast-forwarding over certain bits. Soap Operas always have story sub-threads that bore me. Sam and his whole white-trash shifters in the dog-fights storyline, I really wish Ball would just drop. The difference between shows like the Wire and Game of Thrones (ensemble television novels) and True Blood (soap operas) is one is tightly written, every characters story interconnects, the themes interconnect, and there's nothing wasted. Soap Operas are about as loosely written as you can get, the characters stories seldom connect, and half the stuff is throw-away, also they talk things to death.
That said? True Blood was hilarious in places again. The Eric/Sookie storyline is comedy gold.
The Eric/Sookie scenes...
A drunk Eric: I want more...
Sookie: you can't have more, you already drank one whole fairy...there isn't any more.
Eric leers
Sookie: No, Eric, you'll kill me.
Eric stops: I'd never hurt you Sookie.
Poor Eric. Those vampire cravings are killing him.
In some respects this is a lot more realistic than the books were. When I read the book, what kept bothering me was why Eric never tried to bite Sookie. I mean hello he's lost his memory but he's still a vampire. If anything he'd have less control over his urges. Yes, I know suspend disbelief, but there's a limit.
While the Eric/Sookie scenes are hilarious....everything else is either slow or creepy scary.
Well, except for Tara, Lafayette, Marnie and Jesus, who I also find highly entertaining and hilarious.
Poor Bill is out of his depth. I honestly don't see the appeal of Bill. He's scrawny like a chicken. And Moyer has a bit of a pinched look to his features with tiny beady eyes. Not that attractive. Plus a southern accent that makes me cringe. I personally think there's more chemistry between Sookie and Alcide, Alcide is also sort of funny. (Sookie - Alcide stop making that sound. Me - you mean the growl or the flex of the muscles...guessing the former. Because he sort of does both at the same time.
Also got to love a show that shows naked men prancing about, as opposed to naked women's breasts like all the other shows on HBO.) Sookie tries to break up a naked Alcidie and naked Eric fight, but the sunlight does it for her. Female heterosexual audience and gay male audience in disappointed unison, aww...
Ball - we already have too many annoying characters as it is, why did you add Debbie Pelt and Tommy's white trash parents to the mix, again?
On the bright side? At least Felton is dead now, and Jason finally got out of Hotshot. I don't blame Jason for telling crazy Crystal to go to hell. I would. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't kill her.
It's not like he didn't have just cause. The scene with woman - Jason: why are you crying?
I'm the one who is being raped, here. Woman - usually I'm pushed down and told not to move while he sticks his thing in me, you're the best I've ever had. Ewww. Just Ewww. Was this storyline really necessary? (See - this is the problem with soap operas, you get wacky storylines like this one that you really wish did not exist.) Crystal to JAson: Just wait - you'll be back in Hotshot soon.
Jason: Not likely.
Go Jessica!! Jessica and Hoyt save Jason, who has passed out on the road. For a bit I was worried that he'd end up getting his head run over by a car. Was quite thankful that did not happen.
What? Do you trust Ball? I don't.
Creepy baby gets creepier, by writing with red magic marker on the wall - Baby is Not Yours. At least we think it was creepy baby, it could very well have been creepy voodoo baby doll covered in mud.
Poor Pam. I rather like Pam. Did not particularly like the spell they cast on her. Although she admittedly deserved it. They were actually trying to help...when she got all nasty. And can you really blame Tara for hating vampires or Lafayette for that matter? This storyline is the least gross and creepy as is the Sookie/Eric storyline.
I could do without the Sam storyline completely - it's boring and annoying. Two for one deal.
Considered fast-forwarding during it. And I so don't care what happens with Tommy. Not sure Sam should either for that matter. Sam has his own problems, he's hooked up with a shifter who has a relationship with an abusive werewolf. Sigh. And here I thought Luna was going to be skinwalker and a powerful female character, not another beaten wife in a domestic violence situation - don't we have that already with Hotshot, and Sam's parents...I mean how many of these storylines do we need?
And finally it is revealed that the Bellefleurs are Bill's distant relations or his great great great great great grandkids. Was waiting for that. Does explain Andy a bit. (the actress who used to be on Soap and Who's the Boss plays Bill's great great great grandkid.) He promises he won't tell Portia, but we all know how great Bill is at keeping promises. Not the most dependable vamp on the planet.
Poor Bill still can't locate Eric. He's looked everywhere. Except Sookie's house. And to look in Sookie's house requires not trusting Sookie which ...well would be hypocritical, and when it comes to Sookie, Bill is well not quite himself. So he decides not to be hypocritical asshole we all know and love, and actually honor her wishes. Good Bill. We want more Eric and Sookie scenes and you'd only screw that up.
Can't quite decide if I want Eric and Sookie sex...sort of already got that in dream sequences. Granted they are hot together. But I'm happy with the dialogue and sexual tension. (It probably should be noted that I don't care what happens to Sookie. Very ambivalent. Neither hate nor like nor love the character. Just like her banter with Eric, as long as she has playful sexual banter with Eric I am entertained. She's boring with Bill and Alcide, there's no playful funny banter, just boring whining.)
Also Sookie is an incredibly oblivious character. She's not noticed that Jason is missing at all.
Or thought about Tara or Lafayette or anyone else. It's all about the vampires who have the hots for her. Or all about Sookies crotch. This is actually consistent with the books - the books had the same problem, Sookie thought with her crotch in those too, and didn't seem to care about anything else.
Hey, I'm all for a healthy sex life...but seriously. Then again, as long as I get the funny banter with Eric...I don't really care.
Now, if we could just unleash Eric on Hotshot and Sam's family...get rid of some of the annoying characters, life would be swell.
The Wire commentary had some fun bits - 1)apparently they don't tell actors on the Wire what they are planning on doing to the characters any more than they did on Buffy. Ibris Elba was really surprised to learn his character was being killed off and a bit pissed. But, David Simon planned it in S1, they knew they were killing off Stringer when they decided to wrap up and close the Barksdale case after three seasons. And the end of that character arc was Stringer's death. According to the producer, Ibris figured it out before he read it in the script. So anyhow... actors don't know they are going to die at the end of a season until they literally get the script. Talk about cold. I mean think about it - you don't know you don't have a job until literally hours before you have to act it. Also you get the script literally just a few hours before you have to act it. Ugh. On Buffy - the actors apparently read their scripts backwards. The reason for this is to make sure that the actor performs it more realistically, more raw, and less prepared. Because film is a reactive media - it picks up real. 2) Denis Lehan, a writer, has a bit part in the last episode of S3 - he's the guy reading the porn comic at the place they get the transitor device to track cell phone numbers. 3)The whole Barksdale/Marlo war was meant as an allegory on Iraq or the War on Iraq (this took place in 2004). The writer seemed surprised that not many people picked up on that. I sort of did - but it is admittedly a weak analogy. The stronger analogy is the war on drugs in truth has become a war on the underclass. (The Rockerfeller drug laws were still in effect in 2004, I believe they were appealed in 2009 or 2010 - those laws did place the war on drugs squarely on the shoulders of the underclass.) 4)The whole theme of the Wire is that using pure capitalism as social policy does not work.
True Blood is such a soap opera. I considered fast-forwarding over certain bits. Soap Operas always have story sub-threads that bore me. Sam and his whole white-trash shifters in the dog-fights storyline, I really wish Ball would just drop. The difference between shows like the Wire and Game of Thrones (ensemble television novels) and True Blood (soap operas) is one is tightly written, every characters story interconnects, the themes interconnect, and there's nothing wasted. Soap Operas are about as loosely written as you can get, the characters stories seldom connect, and half the stuff is throw-away, also they talk things to death.
That said? True Blood was hilarious in places again. The Eric/Sookie storyline is comedy gold.
The Eric/Sookie scenes...
A drunk Eric: I want more...
Sookie: you can't have more, you already drank one whole fairy...there isn't any more.
Eric leers
Sookie: No, Eric, you'll kill me.
Eric stops: I'd never hurt you Sookie.
Poor Eric. Those vampire cravings are killing him.
In some respects this is a lot more realistic than the books were. When I read the book, what kept bothering me was why Eric never tried to bite Sookie. I mean hello he's lost his memory but he's still a vampire. If anything he'd have less control over his urges. Yes, I know suspend disbelief, but there's a limit.
While the Eric/Sookie scenes are hilarious....everything else is either slow or creepy scary.
Well, except for Tara, Lafayette, Marnie and Jesus, who I also find highly entertaining and hilarious.
Poor Bill is out of his depth. I honestly don't see the appeal of Bill. He's scrawny like a chicken. And Moyer has a bit of a pinched look to his features with tiny beady eyes. Not that attractive. Plus a southern accent that makes me cringe. I personally think there's more chemistry between Sookie and Alcide, Alcide is also sort of funny. (Sookie - Alcide stop making that sound. Me - you mean the growl or the flex of the muscles...guessing the former. Because he sort of does both at the same time.
Also got to love a show that shows naked men prancing about, as opposed to naked women's breasts like all the other shows on HBO.) Sookie tries to break up a naked Alcidie and naked Eric fight, but the sunlight does it for her. Female heterosexual audience and gay male audience in disappointed unison, aww...
Ball - we already have too many annoying characters as it is, why did you add Debbie Pelt and Tommy's white trash parents to the mix, again?
On the bright side? At least Felton is dead now, and Jason finally got out of Hotshot. I don't blame Jason for telling crazy Crystal to go to hell. I would. Actually, I'm surprised he didn't kill her.
It's not like he didn't have just cause. The scene with woman - Jason: why are you crying?
I'm the one who is being raped, here. Woman - usually I'm pushed down and told not to move while he sticks his thing in me, you're the best I've ever had. Ewww. Just Ewww. Was this storyline really necessary? (See - this is the problem with soap operas, you get wacky storylines like this one that you really wish did not exist.) Crystal to JAson: Just wait - you'll be back in Hotshot soon.
Jason: Not likely.
Go Jessica!! Jessica and Hoyt save Jason, who has passed out on the road. For a bit I was worried that he'd end up getting his head run over by a car. Was quite thankful that did not happen.
What? Do you trust Ball? I don't.
Creepy baby gets creepier, by writing with red magic marker on the wall - Baby is Not Yours. At least we think it was creepy baby, it could very well have been creepy voodoo baby doll covered in mud.
Poor Pam. I rather like Pam. Did not particularly like the spell they cast on her. Although she admittedly deserved it. They were actually trying to help...when she got all nasty. And can you really blame Tara for hating vampires or Lafayette for that matter? This storyline is the least gross and creepy as is the Sookie/Eric storyline.
I could do without the Sam storyline completely - it's boring and annoying. Two for one deal.
Considered fast-forwarding during it. And I so don't care what happens with Tommy. Not sure Sam should either for that matter. Sam has his own problems, he's hooked up with a shifter who has a relationship with an abusive werewolf. Sigh. And here I thought Luna was going to be skinwalker and a powerful female character, not another beaten wife in a domestic violence situation - don't we have that already with Hotshot, and Sam's parents...I mean how many of these storylines do we need?
And finally it is revealed that the Bellefleurs are Bill's distant relations or his great great great great great grandkids. Was waiting for that. Does explain Andy a bit. (the actress who used to be on Soap and Who's the Boss plays Bill's great great great grandkid.) He promises he won't tell Portia, but we all know how great Bill is at keeping promises. Not the most dependable vamp on the planet.
Poor Bill still can't locate Eric. He's looked everywhere. Except Sookie's house. And to look in Sookie's house requires not trusting Sookie which ...well would be hypocritical, and when it comes to Sookie, Bill is well not quite himself. So he decides not to be hypocritical asshole we all know and love, and actually honor her wishes. Good Bill. We want more Eric and Sookie scenes and you'd only screw that up.
Can't quite decide if I want Eric and Sookie sex...sort of already got that in dream sequences. Granted they are hot together. But I'm happy with the dialogue and sexual tension. (It probably should be noted that I don't care what happens to Sookie. Very ambivalent. Neither hate nor like nor love the character. Just like her banter with Eric, as long as she has playful sexual banter with Eric I am entertained. She's boring with Bill and Alcide, there's no playful funny banter, just boring whining.)
Also Sookie is an incredibly oblivious character. She's not noticed that Jason is missing at all.
Or thought about Tara or Lafayette or anyone else. It's all about the vampires who have the hots for her. Or all about Sookies crotch. This is actually consistent with the books - the books had the same problem, Sookie thought with her crotch in those too, and didn't seem to care about anything else.
Hey, I'm all for a healthy sex life...but seriously. Then again, as long as I get the funny banter with Eric...I don't really care.
Now, if we could just unleash Eric on Hotshot and Sam's family...get rid of some of the annoying characters, life would be swell.