OUAT marathon continues...
Sep. 1st, 2013 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatHaven't done much this weekend outside of farmers market, playing Flutter which is weirdly soothing, doctor's appointment, cleaning here and there, and marathoning OUAT S1, which is also oddly soothing. Say what you will about this series - it's incredibly creative and well, soothing. I'm procrastinating a few things...which are better left unsaid. Decided not to try and wander about Manhattan to meet up with new people. The foot needs to be carefully taken care of - so I can safely rehabilitate it. Frustrating, but it is what it is.
Last group of OUAT episodes hasn't been all that great (Skin Deep through Dreamy or 1.12-1.14 -
1) In part because we are now stuck in the quagmire known as the Katherine/David/Mary Margaret love triangle - manipulated and destined for failure by Regina and her curse. What's become interesting to me is how much of this story has been taken out of a 1950s B movie or soap opera. Mary Margaret is considered a "harlot", "tramp" or scarlet woman for seeing David. Note they've never slept together or we've never actually seen it, they just hang out, and have kissed a few times. But Regina implies that they have and tells Katherine they are having an affair. Katherine freaks out and rails at Mary Margaret at her school in typical B movie fashion - we've seen and read this tale before. And of course, Katherine tries to leave town only to run into problems - because that's what happens when any Storybook character attempts to leave Storybrook.
I felt a bit sorry for Katherine. Poor gal can't catch a break. Also in this episode she gets her happily ever after in FTL but not in Storybrook. I've noticed a pattern emerging here - the people who find happiness in FTL are destined for misery in Storybrook, and the people who can't find happiness in FTL, find it in Storybrook - almost as if the curse was designed with that intent. Makes sense that it would be if you consider Rumple and Regina are behind it - and are miserable in FTL and hate everyone who is happy in FTL. Of course ironically, they can't find happiness in Storybrook either.
Katherine makes the mistake of becoming friends with Regina - with friends like Regina, who needs enemies. Regina basically has one goal - keep David and Mary Margaret miserable and apart at all costs - either Katherine stays in town or something horrible happens to her which Regina can cleverly blame on David or Mary Margaret.
Ironically Emma is the one stuck figuring it out - and Emma is their daughter, also Emma is a detective and wickedly smart - smarter than Regina, who is clouded with emotion and doesn't always think rationally or logically (actually she rarely does), while Emma thinks rationally and logically 98% of the time. Plus Regina underestimates Emma - mainly because she has no idea who Emma is - and to her knowledge Emma isn't connected to anyone besides Henry in Storybrook. Regina has no idea at this point that Henry is connected to three of her nemesis by blood ties. She sees Emma as just another...person from the real world outside of Storybrook, with no powers, and no hidden talents.
The reason the story doesn't quite work is well...the deliberate pile-up of cliches, and the fact that it is a bit hard to buy the town ostracizing Mary Margaret, but not being upset with David. Although that is the trope. And I do believe it is deliberate. They even put in little touches like the book Anna Karenina which the two characters are reading - and the scene in which he states - I picked up the book, and he's in the table near but not next to her's is from the flick The Shop Around the Corner or You've Got Mail - where they meet in a coffee house and talk across tables. Each mistake David makes is classic romantic comedy mistakes. Wrong valentine card. Etc. But here it is written as tragic.
2) Belle/Rumplestilskin love story - which doesn't work as well for me as it does for other fans, mainly because of the insane age difference between the actors and characters. And the fact that Belle comes across as wee bit niave and wet-behind-the-ears, while Rumple is world-weary. But I'm also ambivalent. I don't really ship the romances in this story - at least not that hard. I generally speaking don't tend to - soap opera watcher. You learn not to ship romances too heavily when you watch soap operas - it's just painful. Besides serials aren't really designed for happily ever after romance. Shipping friendships and familial relationships - I've found to be far safer and more soothing. Plus they tend to be better written and far more interesting over the long term - you can do more, it's less about the SEX and the LOVE. (I know I've read a lot of romance novels recently - there's a limited amount of stuff you can do with romance).
What I found interesting about the story was Regina and her dance with Rumplestilskin.
A dance that continues throughout the next two episodes. The two actors play well off each other.
3.) Dreamy and Nova ...were cute but not all that interesting. I never quite understood why they were kept apart. Clearly a metaphor for Mary Margaret and David.
I checked out S3 spoilers and found one thing that interests me a great deal and isn't really a spoiler. They are splitting the series into two 11 episode contained arcs. One arc takes place in the fall - Sept 28-Dec. The other arc takes place in the Spring, March 9th (hey my birthday, although may not be here at the time) - May. This way they can focus the story better, without any interruption in the flow - ie. the winter break. SCANDAL did this last year and it worked beautifully. As did Mad Men and The Walking Dead. It's actually a great idea - to set it up as a mini-series. American Horror Story does somewhat the same thing. This way you can plot a tighter arc, have less filler episodes, and it's less jarring.
I'm thrilled.
I also learned that the action is not going to just take place in one world, but three. Storybrook, FTL and Neverland. Yippee. This is wildly creative series, the most creative television series I've seen in a long time.
Last group of OUAT episodes hasn't been all that great (Skin Deep through Dreamy or 1.12-1.14 -
1) In part because we are now stuck in the quagmire known as the Katherine/David/Mary Margaret love triangle - manipulated and destined for failure by Regina and her curse. What's become interesting to me is how much of this story has been taken out of a 1950s B movie or soap opera. Mary Margaret is considered a "harlot", "tramp" or scarlet woman for seeing David. Note they've never slept together or we've never actually seen it, they just hang out, and have kissed a few times. But Regina implies that they have and tells Katherine they are having an affair. Katherine freaks out and rails at Mary Margaret at her school in typical B movie fashion - we've seen and read this tale before. And of course, Katherine tries to leave town only to run into problems - because that's what happens when any Storybook character attempts to leave Storybrook.
I felt a bit sorry for Katherine. Poor gal can't catch a break. Also in this episode she gets her happily ever after in FTL but not in Storybrook. I've noticed a pattern emerging here - the people who find happiness in FTL are destined for misery in Storybrook, and the people who can't find happiness in FTL, find it in Storybrook - almost as if the curse was designed with that intent. Makes sense that it would be if you consider Rumple and Regina are behind it - and are miserable in FTL and hate everyone who is happy in FTL. Of course ironically, they can't find happiness in Storybrook either.
Katherine makes the mistake of becoming friends with Regina - with friends like Regina, who needs enemies. Regina basically has one goal - keep David and Mary Margaret miserable and apart at all costs - either Katherine stays in town or something horrible happens to her which Regina can cleverly blame on David or Mary Margaret.
Ironically Emma is the one stuck figuring it out - and Emma is their daughter, also Emma is a detective and wickedly smart - smarter than Regina, who is clouded with emotion and doesn't always think rationally or logically (actually she rarely does), while Emma thinks rationally and logically 98% of the time. Plus Regina underestimates Emma - mainly because she has no idea who Emma is - and to her knowledge Emma isn't connected to anyone besides Henry in Storybrook. Regina has no idea at this point that Henry is connected to three of her nemesis by blood ties. She sees Emma as just another...person from the real world outside of Storybrook, with no powers, and no hidden talents.
The reason the story doesn't quite work is well...the deliberate pile-up of cliches, and the fact that it is a bit hard to buy the town ostracizing Mary Margaret, but not being upset with David. Although that is the trope. And I do believe it is deliberate. They even put in little touches like the book Anna Karenina which the two characters are reading - and the scene in which he states - I picked up the book, and he's in the table near but not next to her's is from the flick The Shop Around the Corner or You've Got Mail - where they meet in a coffee house and talk across tables. Each mistake David makes is classic romantic comedy mistakes. Wrong valentine card. Etc. But here it is written as tragic.
2) Belle/Rumplestilskin love story - which doesn't work as well for me as it does for other fans, mainly because of the insane age difference between the actors and characters. And the fact that Belle comes across as wee bit niave and wet-behind-the-ears, while Rumple is world-weary. But I'm also ambivalent. I don't really ship the romances in this story - at least not that hard. I generally speaking don't tend to - soap opera watcher. You learn not to ship romances too heavily when you watch soap operas - it's just painful. Besides serials aren't really designed for happily ever after romance. Shipping friendships and familial relationships - I've found to be far safer and more soothing. Plus they tend to be better written and far more interesting over the long term - you can do more, it's less about the SEX and the LOVE. (I know I've read a lot of romance novels recently - there's a limited amount of stuff you can do with romance).
What I found interesting about the story was Regina and her dance with Rumplestilskin.
A dance that continues throughout the next two episodes. The two actors play well off each other.
3.) Dreamy and Nova ...were cute but not all that interesting. I never quite understood why they were kept apart. Clearly a metaphor for Mary Margaret and David.
I checked out S3 spoilers and found one thing that interests me a great deal and isn't really a spoiler. They are splitting the series into two 11 episode contained arcs. One arc takes place in the fall - Sept 28-Dec. The other arc takes place in the Spring, March 9th (hey my birthday, although may not be here at the time) - May. This way they can focus the story better, without any interruption in the flow - ie. the winter break. SCANDAL did this last year and it worked beautifully. As did Mad Men and The Walking Dead. It's actually a great idea - to set it up as a mini-series. American Horror Story does somewhat the same thing. This way you can plot a tighter arc, have less filler episodes, and it's less jarring.
I'm thrilled.
I also learned that the action is not going to just take place in one world, but three. Storybrook, FTL and Neverland. Yippee. This is wildly creative series, the most creative television series I've seen in a long time.
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-02 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-02 01:48 pm (UTC)Actually, you can get around the ageing problem in another way - keep in mind we are in a magical world - that provides various possibilities.