![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat[Figure I'm just going to sleep in, clean my apartment, read and watch tv the next few days - until my workplace decides to make it possible for me to go back to work. LOL! It could be worse - I could not have any remaining personal days, comp days or vacation or sick time remaining. To clarify: I work for a mass transit system, I don't drive, and my only way to work is the mass transit system. The mass transit system has decided to shut down completely for the next two days due to hurricane Sandy. Broadway Shows are cancelled, etc. But hey, the NYC Stock Exchange plans to be open - considering where it's located, I find that blatantly hilarious. They are evacuating the area it is located in.]
1. Nashville - it's getting better. This week's episode was the best of the three to date. The music was better showcased, less overlapping of dialogue, and the writing more realistic and less cliche/soapy. It actually surprised me. I thought they were going to write the Jonathan Jackson character as a bad boyfriend, but he turned out to be quite supportive this week. Plus we got a little more development of Rayna's relationship with her father. Apparently he has issues with Rayna because she reminds him too much of her mother - so as a result was never really there for her - except financially. Nice contrast - Rayna's wealthy father vs. Barnes Doped out Mom. Also the class issues are examined in an interesting and layered manner. Barnes resents Rayna's wealth, thinking Rayna had everything handed to her, when the reality in the music biz...is it's never that easy - as Deacon attempts to point out. Also Deacon didn't just jump on Juliette Barnes bandwagon, he flirted with it, slept with her, recorded the song...but he's sticking with Rayna - which makes Deacon somewhat interesting and multi-faceated.
2. Arrow - this is also improving as it goes. Best episode of the three to date. And it's moving the story forward. Time was the back-story or A plot thread would move at a snail's pace, while the B one would get all the focus, the B being the mystery or monster or problem of the week. But in today's world there's so many choices and so much competition, that you can't afford to drag things out (well, not unless you are Stephanie Meyer and part of the Twilight franchise, apparently).
This week, we got a lot of information provided quickly, along with a rather deadly and cool villian that did a good job of paralleling the hero's own moral dilemma. Currently, Arrow is my favorite new series. And I thought I was burned out on the super-hero trope.
* Oliver Queen's sister outs Tom and Laurie's affair during a party. Which in actuality outs Oliver - who doesn't even bother to pretend that he did not know about it already. Laurie - to give the character credit - picks up on the fact that he already knew rather quickly and refuses to defend herself. (Why should she? Turn-about is fair play after all.
Oliver boinked her sister on board his ship, resulting in her sister's untimely death - while he was still in a relationship with her. All she did was sleep with his best friend after he had been declared dead. As Oliver points out to Tom - I was dead. You thought I was dead.) I rather like Laurie. Laurie also manages to take out Max Fuller (who for a minute - I thought was John Barrowman, he's not.) with a few quick kicks and rather deft martial arts moves. Stunned, Oliver and Tom comment on it. "What? My father's a cop, he insisted I learn how to defend myself."
* Speaking of Laurie's Dad, I rather adore her Dad, who is played by the sexy Paul Blackthorn. This show has not one but three hot guys in it - Paul Blackthorn, Oliver's Body Guard, and Oliver. Tom's not bad on the eyes either. They also all move well.
Dad is not a dumb cliche cop - he's rather bright. He figures out right off the cuff that the Arrow is not behind the murder in the pool - doesn't add up and seeks more info.
Also, when Arrow gives him information and requests help - he doesn't shrug it off with stupid pride - he does his job. He's pragmatic like his daughter with a disarming sly wit.
Kudos show for making the cops realistic and smart.
* Body Guard is no dummy either. And I loved that Oliver saves him and reveals himself to the guy at the end - has a nice parallel structure to Oliver's relationship with the guy who saves him on the island.
* Speaking of the island - apparently it's not deserted? There's ninja warriors on it?
Or black ops? Who speak Russian? And how did Oliver get those tattoos...and check out as a Captain in the Russian Mob?? Did he join the mob while on the island to survive?
Rather love the island flashbacks - depicting how Queen went from a wet-behind-the-ears college play-boy who dropped out of four colleges and just played, taking nothing seriously to a rather bright and smart vigilante.
* Vigilante. That's the moral dilemma the series wrestles with. Where does Olivier draw the line? Deathshot accuses Oliver of being no better than he is - a vigilante, a killer.
But Oliver insists that he's in it to help people, while Deathshot is in it for himself.
Is this true? Oliver appears to kill Deathshot - arrow through the eye. (I've watched too many of these things, I kept waiting for Deathshot to jump up and attack him - rather pleased he didn't.)
Enjoying this show quite a bit. It tells you just enough to keep you satisfied and leaves just enough mystery to keep you intrigued, without being annoyingly predictable.
3. Vampire Diaries - if you want to appreciate Vamp Diaries (or even True Blood for that matter) - go rent Twilight. Twilight is basically JUST the Stefan/Elena relationship with actors who are either really stoned or too stiff. It lacks all the other cool and funny bits. In fact if you think Vamp Diaries should JUST be the Stefan/Elena show or you thought BTVS should just be the Buffy/Angel show or TrueBlood just the Bill/Sookie show...with the gal capitulating completely to the hot guy vampire - go rent Twilight.
It will either get you over that particular inclination...or convert you entirely to a whole new vampire series.
At any rate, I watched Vamp Diaries right after Twilight, and found it very enjoyable, even the sappy romantic bits.
* Rather like the team up of Damon and Klaus. They make a good buddy team. More please.
Damon: I've decided to take out a vampire hunter, want to come?
Klaus: Well, Tyler won't be able to make it. I, on the other hand...
Unfortunately, Klaus makes Damon look like a white knight in comparison. Klaus meets Vampire Hunter, discovers he has a tattoo and is one of the five...and decides to do what exactly? Adopt him? Which begs the question...a)is Klaus nuts? (doubt it) b)who are the five and why does Klaus care?
Perhaps this may shed some light on the issue?
Damon: Perhaps you can shed some light on this ...the good Reverend states that a great evil is coming to town..and see, here I already thought we had that in the shape of Klaus.
Klaus: Yes, you don't get more evil than me.
Vamp Hunter: Wouldn't know about that...
Klaus examines wooden bullet and sees symbol: Wait you are one of the five...
Okay, not that much light on it. I'm guessing he's one of the five horsemen of apocalypse, what? all the cool kids are doing that storyline at the moment...something to do with this being the end of days, because the Mayan's never got around to adding more years to their calendar after 2012...hey, you got to stop somewhere. Bloody exhausting making calendars.
* Stefan/Elena on the other hand do not make an entertaining buddy team. Getting rather tired of the mutual moodiness and attempts to play the Wild One by Stefan. Stefan, honey, if you're heart ain't in it - it won't work. Elena on the other hand is aching for the chance...unfortunately that requires hurting people - although I tend to agree with Damon, if she doesn't take blood from the vein in in moderation - she'll go on a binge. (Is this a metaphor for alcoholism or binge eating/aneroexia? Not that I'm complaining, much prefer the addiction metaphor/binge metaphor to the disadvantaged minority.)
Poor Elena just as she's beginning to enjoy life...she gets sick with the werewolf venom that her beer was spiked with. Got to hate that vampire hunter.
* Meanwhile Damon is getting reamed by Doctor Meredith for moping over his loss of Elena to Stefan. Also gets reamed by Stefan for not taking it like a man. Damon just wants to leave town.
Stefan: That's hardly polite, to leave town without saying goodbye or working things out.
Damon: No, leaving town prior to killing the vampire hunter would be impolite. I plan on eating him first then leaving town.
* Caroline and Stefan are trying to be a buddy team...and are incredibly sweet.
Stefan:How did you get so cool with the vampirism?
Caroline: Because of you, you taught me.
Me: Awww...now if you can just teach Stefan, Elena and Damon all will be hunky dory.
* While Elena gets to continue to be damsel of the week. Seriously, you'd think once she became a vampire they'd ditch that. But no, the writers continue to tease us with the possibility of Elena's death. Writers? We're on to you. We know you won't kill Elena. Stop teasing us already. Make someone else damsel of the week..oh, I know, how about Tyler or Rebecca..
Which they admittedly toy with. Matt being a big old meanie (although really who can blame the living and walking vampire suck toy) decides to sick the vampire hunter on Rebecca.
Unfortunately this back-fires on him - since Elena also drinks the spiked punch. Doesn't do much to Rebecca except make her sick and give her life-altering visions - resulting in a possible friendship between April and Rebecca. The minister's daughter and the original vampire...what are the odds? And how long do we really think April will survive?
Wait, she's Rebecca's friend not Elena, Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy or Stefan's...she may actually make to the end of the season.
* Klaus decides to save Elena and the Vampire Hunter - since both are useful to him. Why, we've no idea. But we can speculate. Probably has something to do with the 5 and vengeance.
Overall, fairly entertaining. In some respects more so than the previous week which was a bit on the sappy side - saved by Damon's grave=yard chat with Alaric, which was quite good. Damon keeps saving Vamp Diaries from becoming Twilight take 2.
They really should stop giving Damon all the best lines...bound to give Ian Sommerhandler a complex. Starting to feel rather sorry for the other actors, notably Tyler, Stefan and Elena.
1. Nashville - it's getting better. This week's episode was the best of the three to date. The music was better showcased, less overlapping of dialogue, and the writing more realistic and less cliche/soapy. It actually surprised me. I thought they were going to write the Jonathan Jackson character as a bad boyfriend, but he turned out to be quite supportive this week. Plus we got a little more development of Rayna's relationship with her father. Apparently he has issues with Rayna because she reminds him too much of her mother - so as a result was never really there for her - except financially. Nice contrast - Rayna's wealthy father vs. Barnes Doped out Mom. Also the class issues are examined in an interesting and layered manner. Barnes resents Rayna's wealth, thinking Rayna had everything handed to her, when the reality in the music biz...is it's never that easy - as Deacon attempts to point out. Also Deacon didn't just jump on Juliette Barnes bandwagon, he flirted with it, slept with her, recorded the song...but he's sticking with Rayna - which makes Deacon somewhat interesting and multi-faceated.
2. Arrow - this is also improving as it goes. Best episode of the three to date. And it's moving the story forward. Time was the back-story or A plot thread would move at a snail's pace, while the B one would get all the focus, the B being the mystery or monster or problem of the week. But in today's world there's so many choices and so much competition, that you can't afford to drag things out (well, not unless you are Stephanie Meyer and part of the Twilight franchise, apparently).
This week, we got a lot of information provided quickly, along with a rather deadly and cool villian that did a good job of paralleling the hero's own moral dilemma. Currently, Arrow is my favorite new series. And I thought I was burned out on the super-hero trope.
* Oliver Queen's sister outs Tom and Laurie's affair during a party. Which in actuality outs Oliver - who doesn't even bother to pretend that he did not know about it already. Laurie - to give the character credit - picks up on the fact that he already knew rather quickly and refuses to defend herself. (Why should she? Turn-about is fair play after all.
Oliver boinked her sister on board his ship, resulting in her sister's untimely death - while he was still in a relationship with her. All she did was sleep with his best friend after he had been declared dead. As Oliver points out to Tom - I was dead. You thought I was dead.) I rather like Laurie. Laurie also manages to take out Max Fuller (who for a minute - I thought was John Barrowman, he's not.) with a few quick kicks and rather deft martial arts moves. Stunned, Oliver and Tom comment on it. "What? My father's a cop, he insisted I learn how to defend myself."
* Speaking of Laurie's Dad, I rather adore her Dad, who is played by the sexy Paul Blackthorn. This show has not one but three hot guys in it - Paul Blackthorn, Oliver's Body Guard, and Oliver. Tom's not bad on the eyes either. They also all move well.
Dad is not a dumb cliche cop - he's rather bright. He figures out right off the cuff that the Arrow is not behind the murder in the pool - doesn't add up and seeks more info.
Also, when Arrow gives him information and requests help - he doesn't shrug it off with stupid pride - he does his job. He's pragmatic like his daughter with a disarming sly wit.
Kudos show for making the cops realistic and smart.
* Body Guard is no dummy either. And I loved that Oliver saves him and reveals himself to the guy at the end - has a nice parallel structure to Oliver's relationship with the guy who saves him on the island.
* Speaking of the island - apparently it's not deserted? There's ninja warriors on it?
Or black ops? Who speak Russian? And how did Oliver get those tattoos...and check out as a Captain in the Russian Mob?? Did he join the mob while on the island to survive?
Rather love the island flashbacks - depicting how Queen went from a wet-behind-the-ears college play-boy who dropped out of four colleges and just played, taking nothing seriously to a rather bright and smart vigilante.
* Vigilante. That's the moral dilemma the series wrestles with. Where does Olivier draw the line? Deathshot accuses Oliver of being no better than he is - a vigilante, a killer.
But Oliver insists that he's in it to help people, while Deathshot is in it for himself.
Is this true? Oliver appears to kill Deathshot - arrow through the eye. (I've watched too many of these things, I kept waiting for Deathshot to jump up and attack him - rather pleased he didn't.)
Enjoying this show quite a bit. It tells you just enough to keep you satisfied and leaves just enough mystery to keep you intrigued, without being annoyingly predictable.
3. Vampire Diaries - if you want to appreciate Vamp Diaries (or even True Blood for that matter) - go rent Twilight. Twilight is basically JUST the Stefan/Elena relationship with actors who are either really stoned or too stiff. It lacks all the other cool and funny bits. In fact if you think Vamp Diaries should JUST be the Stefan/Elena show or you thought BTVS should just be the Buffy/Angel show or TrueBlood just the Bill/Sookie show...with the gal capitulating completely to the hot guy vampire - go rent Twilight.
It will either get you over that particular inclination...or convert you entirely to a whole new vampire series.
At any rate, I watched Vamp Diaries right after Twilight, and found it very enjoyable, even the sappy romantic bits.
* Rather like the team up of Damon and Klaus. They make a good buddy team. More please.
Damon: I've decided to take out a vampire hunter, want to come?
Klaus: Well, Tyler won't be able to make it. I, on the other hand...
Unfortunately, Klaus makes Damon look like a white knight in comparison. Klaus meets Vampire Hunter, discovers he has a tattoo and is one of the five...and decides to do what exactly? Adopt him? Which begs the question...a)is Klaus nuts? (doubt it) b)who are the five and why does Klaus care?
Perhaps this may shed some light on the issue?
Damon: Perhaps you can shed some light on this ...the good Reverend states that a great evil is coming to town..and see, here I already thought we had that in the shape of Klaus.
Klaus: Yes, you don't get more evil than me.
Vamp Hunter: Wouldn't know about that...
Klaus examines wooden bullet and sees symbol: Wait you are one of the five...
Okay, not that much light on it. I'm guessing he's one of the five horsemen of apocalypse, what? all the cool kids are doing that storyline at the moment...something to do with this being the end of days, because the Mayan's never got around to adding more years to their calendar after 2012...hey, you got to stop somewhere. Bloody exhausting making calendars.
* Stefan/Elena on the other hand do not make an entertaining buddy team. Getting rather tired of the mutual moodiness and attempts to play the Wild One by Stefan. Stefan, honey, if you're heart ain't in it - it won't work. Elena on the other hand is aching for the chance...unfortunately that requires hurting people - although I tend to agree with Damon, if she doesn't take blood from the vein in in moderation - she'll go on a binge. (Is this a metaphor for alcoholism or binge eating/aneroexia? Not that I'm complaining, much prefer the addiction metaphor/binge metaphor to the disadvantaged minority.)
Poor Elena just as she's beginning to enjoy life...she gets sick with the werewolf venom that her beer was spiked with. Got to hate that vampire hunter.
* Meanwhile Damon is getting reamed by Doctor Meredith for moping over his loss of Elena to Stefan. Also gets reamed by Stefan for not taking it like a man. Damon just wants to leave town.
Stefan: That's hardly polite, to leave town without saying goodbye or working things out.
Damon: No, leaving town prior to killing the vampire hunter would be impolite. I plan on eating him first then leaving town.
* Caroline and Stefan are trying to be a buddy team...and are incredibly sweet.
Stefan:How did you get so cool with the vampirism?
Caroline: Because of you, you taught me.
Me: Awww...now if you can just teach Stefan, Elena and Damon all will be hunky dory.
* While Elena gets to continue to be damsel of the week. Seriously, you'd think once she became a vampire they'd ditch that. But no, the writers continue to tease us with the possibility of Elena's death. Writers? We're on to you. We know you won't kill Elena. Stop teasing us already. Make someone else damsel of the week..oh, I know, how about Tyler or Rebecca..
Which they admittedly toy with. Matt being a big old meanie (although really who can blame the living and walking vampire suck toy) decides to sick the vampire hunter on Rebecca.
Unfortunately this back-fires on him - since Elena also drinks the spiked punch. Doesn't do much to Rebecca except make her sick and give her life-altering visions - resulting in a possible friendship between April and Rebecca. The minister's daughter and the original vampire...what are the odds? And how long do we really think April will survive?
Wait, she's Rebecca's friend not Elena, Damon, Bonnie, Jeremy or Stefan's...she may actually make to the end of the season.
* Klaus decides to save Elena and the Vampire Hunter - since both are useful to him. Why, we've no idea. But we can speculate. Probably has something to do with the 5 and vengeance.
Overall, fairly entertaining. In some respects more so than the previous week which was a bit on the sappy side - saved by Damon's grave=yard chat with Alaric, which was quite good. Damon keeps saving Vamp Diaries from becoming Twilight take 2.
They really should stop giving Damon all the best lines...bound to give Ian Sommerhandler a complex. Starting to feel rather sorry for the other actors, notably Tyler, Stefan and Elena.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-10-29 03:41 am (UTC)And yes, absolutely agree about the Damon-Alaric graveyard conversation being the best part of that particular episode, and that Damon (bless him!) gets all the best lines. I'm also with you on being done with the attraction of Elena as damsel in distress. She needs to hang out more with Damon and learn to handle blood-drinking from the vein in moderation, the way Damon FINALLY taught Stefan to drink in moderation and not go all Ripper last season
(and Stefan SO needs to get over the whole possessive, 'do it my way and drink Bambi's blood, because you can't possibly handle drinking human blood any better than I did for my first 150 years, Elena' thing). :)
no subject
Date: 2012-10-29 07:43 am (UTC)