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I’ve been seeing ads for Red Widow and normally, I would be so interested in such a show because of the main female character who has to learn to cope after her husband dies. Usually, I think female characters are more interesting as characters after their husbands are fridged than male characters are when their wives / girlfriends / children (usually daughters) are fridged. Also, this show is supposed to take place in my city; though let’s be real, it’ll prolly be filmed in Vancouver.
But for a mysterious reason - mysterious to me - I haven’t been interested . . . I think it’s because I’m already watching Arrow which already has such a character, albeit she is a secondary character and Arrow is all about Oliver. But Melissa Rosenberg was last Executive Producer on Dexter which she left to finish the adaptations of the Twilight books into screenplays. Considering how much I liked the first three and part two of the last movies - relative to the books anyways - and I have heard good things about Dexter, okay, I’ll tune in for at least the first few episodes.
Speaking of Arrow, under the cuts is my TV of the week.
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Arrow, “Dead to Rights”
To get a tiny niggling off, from Mandarin speaking communities in Silicon Valley to Cantonese speaking communties in San Francisco / Oakland / Berkeley, my ear especially hears just how American Ollie sounds. At best he can pass as a Chinese-American, but as Chinese-born? Hahaha. No.
But putting that aide, this was a great way to break for the mini hiatus. Last week, I screamed that Moira was actually plotting against Malcolm. And of course, we know that Malcolm has to live for the sake of the story but, when you are dealing with characters who are already pre-destined, the joy is in the turbulent ride. I love the little montage preceding the assassination attempt - Oliver contemplating, Felicity trying to crack the phone, Moira’s shaking hands, Tommy contemplating family.
Honestly, I don’t think that Oliver was as pressed to reveal himself as the situation could have been - he could’ve simply pointed that he saved their lives in the hallway and then if that hadn’t worked I would have believed Oliver would have felt pressed. It could work as a characterization issue if Oliver hadn’t been so pressed but that flies against a later scene when Oliver admits that he would never have told Tommy.
And all my feels for Tommy here. As I mentioned above, his contemplation of family before the awards and the double irony in his choosing to be with his father at the awards ceremony. I don’t doubt that Rebecca Merlyn’s death was a blow to the family and that Malcolm had deep feelings for her and has deep feelings for Tommy. But, that doesn’t negate that the show is strongly hinting that after her death, he went all The Dark Knight: Batman Begins (Nanda Parbat) and instead of emerging a dark hero, he emerged a villain, especially one that Oliver will have to reckon with if Starling City is to be a more just place.
And here is where I’m going to critique Oliver’s platitudes to Tommy at the restaurant - their experiences of their fathers were vastly different. Tommy grew up feeling abandoned by his father while Oliver, and Thea, grew up idolizing his. Oliver’s feelings betrayal comes from the lies and the façade that have burdened him with a difficult adulthood as he cleans up his father’s legacy while Tommy’s feelings of betrayal come from having lived a lonely and miserable childhood.
As for Tommy’s adulthood, that is an open question isn’t it? He’s already going to feel betrayed that Oliver would never have trusted him with the secret. Whereas, well, Malcolm too has his own secrets and Tommy is only now just getting a peek into those. I guess the thing to develop is: Who is going to betray Tommy harder? And that man will be the antithesis of who Tommy will become. Already pre-destined but, you know, it’s not about the ending.
Small scream #1: Deadshot! Remember the third episode when Green Arrow shot him in the head and omg, you killed Deadshot! and omg, it’s too soon! and omg, why would do f--king do that already!? I dunno how he survived an arrow to the head, but mkay. HE’S NOT DEAD!
Small scream #2: Felicity! Martial arts training!
Small scream #3: Black Canary! But why did Sarah have it and not Dinah Lance? Tell me! Especially if it has to do with Sarah being alive.
Small scream #4: Moira! It was really interesting when Malcolm referred to the traitor as a “he,” considering what we’ve seen of the Board consists of Frank Chen and an anon man and Moira and an anon woman. Please tell me the show isn’t going to dumb down Malcolm. Please. Because -
Small scream #5: Social Justice! Okay, it’s a small scream still stuck in my throat. But I love how Malcolm’s speech not only displayed anger at the men who killed Rebecca but at the entire Glades district itself. He’s after revenge. I’ll wait and see whether or not he thinks he’s after justice but, his feeling of “accomplishment” at the deaths of thousands of innocents tells me he’s not.
Anyways, every now and then, this show is very much about rich white people problems - remember that episode when people freaked that Thea wasn’t too keen on accepting a plea bargain to stay out of jail? But, every now and then, the show burdens characters with idea that justice without social justice isn’t justice.
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Supernatural, “Remember the Titans”
Only a few shallow thoughts here. But I really really like what Prometheus and Artemis - though bless her wooden actress’ heart - bring to the story. One of the consistent themes of the story is free will, but in particular, free will for humans and a big chunk of that is about letting those puny creatures determine their own destinies.
So I love that this week’s story is about Prometheus - a very big deal because fire, that thing that gave us independence from the gods, is a big deal. So much so that Zeus’ ego was so hurt, he doomed Prometheus to an eternity of dying. But let’s talk about Artemis taking sides with Prometheus. I wish she were played by a better actress so then I could more fully discern if she was siding with Prometheus, siding with Prometheus ideas because of Prometheus, or siding with Prometheus and his ideas are merely part of the package. However, what she did in shooting Zeus, her own father, was take a stand against the injustice and cruelty Zeus would have inflicted on Prometheus and his son for all future eternity.
I think it’s easy to see a Castiel parallel between him and Artemis however, where the parallel breaks down is that Artemis is acting against her father whereas Castiel doesn’t know if he is acting for or against his. We, us audience viewers, know because we have met Chuck Shurley and already seen how proud he is of Castiel. And I think the show would be a smarter show if it went the route of Castiel fighting for free will even if he believed it went against God’s wishes - because what is more freeing than acting for what is right no matter who is against it?
