"What kind of a man have I become, Sol?" "I don't know, the day ain't fuckin' over."
I was going to have a deadline tomorrow, and now I no longer have a deadline, so clearly it is time to post to LJ instead!
Last night I dreamed about snuggling with Adam Brody. It was awesome. I think this was brought about by the Seth/Summer clips in greensilver's super-fun new multifandom vid, and the surprising force with which I still LOVE THEM OMG. (I still do not entirely understand how I can WHOLEHEARTEDLY ship Seth/Ryan and also WHOLEHEARTEDLY ship Seth/Summer, but I'm very glad I can. Multiple branching universes FTW!)
Things You Should Check Out:
sadiane's gorgeous pictures from the Kane show
sdwolfpup's guaranteed-to-make-you-happy-unless-you-hate-joy-and-puppies Obamas vid, Say Hey (I Love You)
greensilver's guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-unless-you-have-a-soul-of-steel West Wing vid, American Tune
And those are all the VVC vids I have seen, because I am still really tired and I fell asleep at 8 pm last night. [Insert typical "I'm getting too old for this shit" revelation here. Someday I will actually listen to this revelation and make responsible decisions accordingly. Apparently Sunday was not that day. But these opportunities may not come again, how am I supposed to say no?]
I have, however, recently finished the first seasons of both Merlin and Deadwood (how's THAT for an odd couple?) and I have some things to say about those.
Merlin S1 first:
So, for the most part, I REALLY enjoy the characters on this show, and it is lots of fun and shiny and slashy and very often team-y and all that good stuff. But… I wish they wouldn't keep alluding to the ultimate very sad ending to this story, because it makes me wish that the show was different than it is. What I mean by that is that for a while, with Mordred and with the thing about how Uther wasn't supposed to wield Excalibur and all of that, I sort of thought they were going to an interesting place where the angsty end of the story was going to be the result of a lot of small moments early on, and a lot of well-intentioned small moments, people doing what they thought was right at the time. But then I got to the finale, and… seriously? NO ONE died besides Nimueh, Merlin got out of that completely? And also, in that earlier ep, Uther KILLED GWEN'S FATHER FOR BASICALLY NO REASON, and Gwen didn't seem particularly upset at him and Morgana was REALLY upset for like half an episode and tried to kill Uther, but then they hugged it out and it never came up again? Really? I am hardly an angst-muffin and I really, actively dislike the A Heavy Price Must Be Paid For Heroism school of storytelling (I AM LOOKING AT YOU, JOSS WHEDON), but I do feel like if you're going to tell an epic story, there have to be some consequences to the characters' decisions along the way. And everything is just too easy for Merlin, especially-he fixes everything with magic, and it just feels unsatisfying to me. Even though he was willing to die for Arthur in the finale, I knew he wasn't going to die, and I don't know, for some reason Merlin just comes off to me as very impulsive and teenager-y and immature (though I think he's adorable, okay, I just think he has some lessons he needs to learn and I'm not sure the show is aware of that). I just feel like the show is trying to have it both ways, have the big epic story and also have the silly fun wacky good times story, which I think is possible, maybe, but it's really not meshing for me in this case.
And I think that's one of the reasons that the character I've responded to by far the most strongly is Arthur. Because Arthur does have consequences for his actions. He doesn't have an easy out, he doesn't have special powers, he just has to make a lot of difficult decisions, all the time, and he tries SO HARD to do the right thing, and y'all know how I feel about characters who try really hard to do the right thing. He's so responsible! He cares so much about his people! He feels the weight of his duty so keenly! *dreamy sigh* (Also, the way he says "Guinevere" is really hot, for some reason.) And he's also dorky! And he and Merlin are adorkable together! So… it IS possible to have both the wacky and the meaningful, I just think that principle has yet to be applied to the entire show. (And since Merlin is actually the main character, it would help a lot if it were applied to him more consistently.) In the meantime, though: ARRRRRTHUUUUR I LOVE YOU.
But really, the reason I think it's bugging me so much is that I really WANT to love the show. They've got some great stuff going on with the characters, and some really lovely moments/episodes-I LOVED the Ealdor episode, for example, because I am a huge sucker for the "everyone bands together to help one of the group" episodes, AWWWWWW. (Plus Merlin and Arthur's little sleepover chat was RIDICULOUSLY adorable.) And I loved Merlin's farewell scenes to everyone in the finale. And I love what they're building with Arthur and Gwen, and I love the periodic glimpses of Uther's humanity, and I love Morgana's refusal to take shit from anyone, and I love Gwen's good heart, and I LOVE the father/son relationship between Gaius and Merlin, and I really love the idea of seeing all of these people when they're so young and full of promise and determination. I don't even mind if the show is going to somehow avoid the angsty ending (though I think that would be hard to pull off; the best way I can see at this point would be to just end the series before they get there, but I could maybe be persuaded otherwise if it were done well), but if that's the case, then I wish they would STOP ALLUDING TO IT, because it throws off my expectations.
Basically I want the show to be more like seperis' fic, which kind of makes me want to die with how much I love it. Do you think I should just contact the writers and tell them THAT? Heeee. Or possibly I am just cranky, I don’t know.
And then Deadwood S1:
OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH. I really cannot get over how much I love it. The language ALONE makes me swoon and grin pretty much continuously, and the narrative is so carefully constructed, and the world is so vivid, and they manage to show how brutal that world is in such a way that it makes the moments of decency and goodness and humor shine even brighter, and highlights them for the gifts that they are. Really, when I watch this show, I feel EXACTLY like Seth, just going around feeling REALLY INTENSELY ABOUT SHIT ALL THE TIME. Heeee. (I LOVE YOU SETH.)
And I love pretty much ALL the characters, and I did not believe I could ever possibly love AL FUCKING SWEARENGEN, and yet. I cannot BELIEVE how much I love him now-his unexpected moments of (even brutal) kindness and humanity are just, wow. And I'm actually genuinely upset that he and Trixie are estranged. WHAT THE HELL. HE ALMOST KILLED HER, and I spent most of the season being TERRIFIED for her safety if she got within range of him again. And yet! The look on his face at the end of the finale! And the way she smiles up at him! ... And yet I also totally want Sol to take her away from all this! And yet selfishly, I kind of don't, because what would I do without Seth and Sol's little porch chats in my life? (OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM. And they both seem like they're about half a breath from cracking up most of the time, I can't even deal with it-the affection between them is just SO PALPABLE, I completely believe they've been friends forever.) And man, Doc KILLS me--the way he cares so DEEPLY for people, in his hilariously profane way, is AMAZING. And Charlie starting his own business, aww! And Joanie! I LOVE JOANIE. And Jane breaks my heart, I hope we haven't seen the last of her! And I really, REALLY love that Seth and Al have actually come to some sort of rueful mutual understanding (because seriously! They have to deal with a lot of idiots! At least they both have brains!). And also, hi, SETH. I want to climb him-possibly with the aid of his hotass gunbelt-like a repressed, tangled-up, snarky, intelligent, irrepressibly justice-y tree. And I also VERY MUCH appreciate that he is not too justice-y to have really really REALLY REALLY hot sex with Molly Parker. YOU ARE JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF JUSTICE-Y, SETH BULLOCK. (Though, as crazy hot as the making out and the corset-taking-off was, I must admit, I wish that scene had gone on a bit longer. IS THIS HBO OR WHAT, PPL? I WANT THE DIRTY SEXING. Ahem.)
I just. I love them, I love the way they're all so richly drawn, I love watching them bounce off each other in interesting ways, I love how the narrative threads are so cleanly woven together, I LOVE IT ALL SO MUCH. And the finale it wasn't even insanely depressing, which was kind of what I was expecting! (I know from Wikipedia-oops, but hey, I got carried away in my excitement that they were all based on actual historical figures, and I didn't think about potential spoilers-that the hardware store burns down at some point, historically speaking, so I am sort of on pins and needles waiting for that. Heh. I was expecting that for the finale, honestly, since they keep talking about fire in these little subtle ways, and I thought that was what would push Seth into accepting being sheriff, so when it all ended with dancing and a lot of longing gazes, I was pleasantly surprised! Hee.)
So. I LOVE IT. And I know there are two more seasons, and I know they are not quite as good (in a lot of people's opinions), but right now I just kind of want to roll around in S1, because wow. Have I mentioned I love it? I want to go back and watch it for the first time again! But since I can't do that, rewatching will have to do. Which I am ALL OVER, as soon as I have the opportunity. PERHAPS TONIGHT. *flailyhands*
And now it is time to go home! WOO.
Last night I dreamed about snuggling with Adam Brody. It was awesome. I think this was brought about by the Seth/Summer clips in greensilver's super-fun new multifandom vid, and the surprising force with which I still LOVE THEM OMG. (I still do not entirely understand how I can WHOLEHEARTEDLY ship Seth/Ryan and also WHOLEHEARTEDLY ship Seth/Summer, but I'm very glad I can. Multiple branching universes FTW!)
Things You Should Check Out:
sadiane's gorgeous pictures from the Kane show
sdwolfpup's guaranteed-to-make-you-happy-unless-you-hate-joy-and-puppies Obamas vid, Say Hey (I Love You)
greensilver's guaranteed-to-make-you-cry-unless-you-have-a-soul-of-steel West Wing vid, American Tune
And those are all the VVC vids I have seen, because I am still really tired and I fell asleep at 8 pm last night. [Insert typical "I'm getting too old for this shit" revelation here. Someday I will actually listen to this revelation and make responsible decisions accordingly. Apparently Sunday was not that day. But these opportunities may not come again, how am I supposed to say no?]
I have, however, recently finished the first seasons of both Merlin and Deadwood (how's THAT for an odd couple?) and I have some things to say about those.
Merlin S1 first:
So, for the most part, I REALLY enjoy the characters on this show, and it is lots of fun and shiny and slashy and very often team-y and all that good stuff. But… I wish they wouldn't keep alluding to the ultimate very sad ending to this story, because it makes me wish that the show was different than it is. What I mean by that is that for a while, with Mordred and with the thing about how Uther wasn't supposed to wield Excalibur and all of that, I sort of thought they were going to an interesting place where the angsty end of the story was going to be the result of a lot of small moments early on, and a lot of well-intentioned small moments, people doing what they thought was right at the time. But then I got to the finale, and… seriously? NO ONE died besides Nimueh, Merlin got out of that completely? And also, in that earlier ep, Uther KILLED GWEN'S FATHER FOR BASICALLY NO REASON, and Gwen didn't seem particularly upset at him and Morgana was REALLY upset for like half an episode and tried to kill Uther, but then they hugged it out and it never came up again? Really? I am hardly an angst-muffin and I really, actively dislike the A Heavy Price Must Be Paid For Heroism school of storytelling (I AM LOOKING AT YOU, JOSS WHEDON), but I do feel like if you're going to tell an epic story, there have to be some consequences to the characters' decisions along the way. And everything is just too easy for Merlin, especially-he fixes everything with magic, and it just feels unsatisfying to me. Even though he was willing to die for Arthur in the finale, I knew he wasn't going to die, and I don't know, for some reason Merlin just comes off to me as very impulsive and teenager-y and immature (though I think he's adorable, okay, I just think he has some lessons he needs to learn and I'm not sure the show is aware of that). I just feel like the show is trying to have it both ways, have the big epic story and also have the silly fun wacky good times story, which I think is possible, maybe, but it's really not meshing for me in this case.
And I think that's one of the reasons that the character I've responded to by far the most strongly is Arthur. Because Arthur does have consequences for his actions. He doesn't have an easy out, he doesn't have special powers, he just has to make a lot of difficult decisions, all the time, and he tries SO HARD to do the right thing, and y'all know how I feel about characters who try really hard to do the right thing. He's so responsible! He cares so much about his people! He feels the weight of his duty so keenly! *dreamy sigh* (Also, the way he says "Guinevere" is really hot, for some reason.) And he's also dorky! And he and Merlin are adorkable together! So… it IS possible to have both the wacky and the meaningful, I just think that principle has yet to be applied to the entire show. (And since Merlin is actually the main character, it would help a lot if it were applied to him more consistently.) In the meantime, though: ARRRRRTHUUUUR I LOVE YOU.
But really, the reason I think it's bugging me so much is that I really WANT to love the show. They've got some great stuff going on with the characters, and some really lovely moments/episodes-I LOVED the Ealdor episode, for example, because I am a huge sucker for the "everyone bands together to help one of the group" episodes, AWWWWWW. (Plus Merlin and Arthur's little sleepover chat was RIDICULOUSLY adorable.) And I loved Merlin's farewell scenes to everyone in the finale. And I love what they're building with Arthur and Gwen, and I love the periodic glimpses of Uther's humanity, and I love Morgana's refusal to take shit from anyone, and I love Gwen's good heart, and I LOVE the father/son relationship between Gaius and Merlin, and I really love the idea of seeing all of these people when they're so young and full of promise and determination. I don't even mind if the show is going to somehow avoid the angsty ending (though I think that would be hard to pull off; the best way I can see at this point would be to just end the series before they get there, but I could maybe be persuaded otherwise if it were done well), but if that's the case, then I wish they would STOP ALLUDING TO IT, because it throws off my expectations.
Basically I want the show to be more like seperis' fic, which kind of makes me want to die with how much I love it. Do you think I should just contact the writers and tell them THAT? Heeee. Or possibly I am just cranky, I don’t know.
And then Deadwood S1:
OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH. I really cannot get over how much I love it. The language ALONE makes me swoon and grin pretty much continuously, and the narrative is so carefully constructed, and the world is so vivid, and they manage to show how brutal that world is in such a way that it makes the moments of decency and goodness and humor shine even brighter, and highlights them for the gifts that they are. Really, when I watch this show, I feel EXACTLY like Seth, just going around feeling REALLY INTENSELY ABOUT SHIT ALL THE TIME. Heeee. (I LOVE YOU SETH.)
And I love pretty much ALL the characters, and I did not believe I could ever possibly love AL FUCKING SWEARENGEN, and yet. I cannot BELIEVE how much I love him now-his unexpected moments of (even brutal) kindness and humanity are just, wow. And I'm actually genuinely upset that he and Trixie are estranged. WHAT THE HELL. HE ALMOST KILLED HER, and I spent most of the season being TERRIFIED for her safety if she got within range of him again. And yet! The look on his face at the end of the finale! And the way she smiles up at him! ... And yet I also totally want Sol to take her away from all this! And yet selfishly, I kind of don't, because what would I do without Seth and Sol's little porch chats in my life? (OH MY GOD I LOVE THEM. And they both seem like they're about half a breath from cracking up most of the time, I can't even deal with it-the affection between them is just SO PALPABLE, I completely believe they've been friends forever.) And man, Doc KILLS me--the way he cares so DEEPLY for people, in his hilariously profane way, is AMAZING. And Charlie starting his own business, aww! And Joanie! I LOVE JOANIE. And Jane breaks my heart, I hope we haven't seen the last of her! And I really, REALLY love that Seth and Al have actually come to some sort of rueful mutual understanding (because seriously! They have to deal with a lot of idiots! At least they both have brains!). And also, hi, SETH. I want to climb him-possibly with the aid of his hotass gunbelt-like a repressed, tangled-up, snarky, intelligent, irrepressibly justice-y tree. And I also VERY MUCH appreciate that he is not too justice-y to have really really REALLY REALLY hot sex with Molly Parker. YOU ARE JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF JUSTICE-Y, SETH BULLOCK. (Though, as crazy hot as the making out and the corset-taking-off was, I must admit, I wish that scene had gone on a bit longer. IS THIS HBO OR WHAT, PPL? I WANT THE DIRTY SEXING. Ahem.)
I just. I love them, I love the way they're all so richly drawn, I love watching them bounce off each other in interesting ways, I love how the narrative threads are so cleanly woven together, I LOVE IT ALL SO MUCH. And the finale it wasn't even insanely depressing, which was kind of what I was expecting! (I know from Wikipedia-oops, but hey, I got carried away in my excitement that they were all based on actual historical figures, and I didn't think about potential spoilers-that the hardware store burns down at some point, historically speaking, so I am sort of on pins and needles waiting for that. Heh. I was expecting that for the finale, honestly, since they keep talking about fire in these little subtle ways, and I thought that was what would push Seth into accepting being sheriff, so when it all ended with dancing and a lot of longing gazes, I was pleasantly surprised! Hee.)
So. I LOVE IT. And I know there are two more seasons, and I know they are not quite as good (in a lot of people's opinions), but right now I just kind of want to roll around in S1, because wow. Have I mentioned I love it? I want to go back and watch it for the first time again! But since I can't do that, rewatching will have to do. Which I am ALL OVER, as soon as I have the opportunity. PERHAPS TONIGHT. *flailyhands*
And now it is time to go home! WOO.