Random Dish on TV shows: Blindspot, Agents of SHIELD, Supergirl, The Flash
Quick comments on:
Okay, when Joe said "What is it with you and Iris and my partners?" I know he meant "Why is my partner always ending up with one of my kids?" but what I heard was that Barry, Iris, and Eddie were in a triad together, and now Barry is yet again getting with Joe's partner.
I LOVE Dr. Stein's relationship with them, especially with Caitlin and Cisco.
So... the bad guy was bad, but didn't he mostly attack the people who turned him into an uncontrollable fireball? Anyone with anger issues might be upset if some scientist promised them superpowers and instead made it so they turned into an unintentional arsonist every time they got mad - not that I think he was a good guy, but indefinite imprisonment to make sure he doesn't talk seems a bit unheroic for a show that likes to play in the light.
The latest ep had too many plotlines, but I am very interested in seeing who Iris' brother is actually, even though the cliched plot about Iris' mother has been predictable and not something I'm looking forward to - and also, wow, does keeping major secrets run in the family or what? Joe has a right to know!
Jemma kicked ass and broke my heart both.
Is it wrong that I already ship Fitz/Jemma/Will? I hope canon doesn't mess up my headcanon.
I LOVED the lines that were about Jemma and Will agreeing to balance each other out with hope vs. negativity, and Jemma saying "Look, this arrangement is working out already" and the other saying "No, it's not." It like took me a second to get, but I really love that.
I really enjoyed the pilot and I'm looking forward to seeing more. I think the actor who plays Kara does a great job. And surprisingly, she actually does look pretty different without her glasses. I like the actor who plays Jimmy Olson, though of course it was obvious he knew, but I'm glad this actor will get to play a good guy because I really like him but I've seen him as a baddie too much.
LOL Dean Cain and Helen Slater as the parents. Is this a thing now? Did Smallville start this with the casting of Martha Clark? I can't think of anyone who did it before then. And now there's The Flash and the actor who plays Barry's dad. Is this like a requirement of new shows about superheroes who have already had shows? I like it lol, I just thought it was funny to see it again.
If I were to really nitpick:
I'm definitely a feminist but I thought they did a little too much emphasis on sexism and how nobody thinks she can do things because she's a girl. I'm all for addressing sexism, but the writing of it somehow made it seem clunky and heavy-handed rather than actually insightful about sexism. I also didn't enjoy the boss' speech about how "girl" is not sexist at all, because while one could argue that the show was being ambiguous or self-aware since the boss is morally ambiguous and a self-justifier, the whole speech just felt too much like preaching to the audience that if they object to the title they're just sexist because girls can be badasses and therefore "girl" isn't sexist, and honestly that kind of "you have no right to be offended, audience" exposition bothers me a lot more than calling a hero a "girl" ever would.
That said, the Bechdel test passing is going to be epic on this show. Sister to the rescue, boss, nemesis, all badass women. I'm excited.
And general thoughts on Blindspot (spoilers ahead for the first few eps- I'm not caught up, so please don't tell me the latest):
I am really enjoying the show! I love the lead character and Jaime Alexander does a great job. So this is not a criticism but something I've been thinking about:
I do notice that although the promos are calling her a female Jason Bourne, the show is really, really gendered. Would Jason Bourne be found naked and would he have all these scenes of emotional vulnerability and need all the time and would he be trembling so much? (Okay, in the series John Doe, the guy was found naked, but he was paired with a by-the-book set of cops and never portrayed as being in the same level of emotional need). And honestly, this is actually a really good thing about the show, because even a tough trained person would be that emotional and scared and confused if something like this happened, but it seems weird that this realism and fragility is only emphasized this much when the action hero amnesiac (which is a genre now I guess) is a woman. So I think it would actually be really interesting to see the premise of the show slightly differently. So if this is the premise:
Character A is found naked, amnesiac, and terrified, with Character B's name tattooed on their body. Character B is incredibly protective of Character A, and later believes that Character A is a childhood friend that went missing, and so Character B is all "You came home to me." All Character B's coworkers are worried that Character B is too emotionally attached to be objective about Character A.
It would be really interesting to see what it would be like if Character A were male and Character B were female. This wouldn't be a Bourne movie dynamic at all - it would be just like Kurt and Jane but with genders reversed. A guy has a woman's name tattooed on his back and doesn't know why - she has been obsessed with finding him for decades, it may turn out. He trembles out of anger and fear a lot, and sometimes she holds him. Would a mainstream show have this plot?
How about if both Kurt and Jane were male? Would NBC have a show about a guy who's like "Why is this other guy's name tattooed on my back? We must be connected in some deep way!" And how about if both characters were women? (That would be AWESOME!)
None of this is a knock against the show. I'm just finding the portrayal of gender interesting - not bad, since there are lots of good things about the female badassery on the show. Basically, I am really enjoying the show but now I have to go find ALL the genderswap fics for it.
Okay, when Joe said "What is it with you and Iris and my partners?" I know he meant "Why is my partner always ending up with one of my kids?" but what I heard was that Barry, Iris, and Eddie were in a triad together, and now Barry is yet again getting with Joe's partner.
I LOVE Dr. Stein's relationship with them, especially with Caitlin and Cisco.
So... the bad guy was bad, but didn't he mostly attack the people who turned him into an uncontrollable fireball? Anyone with anger issues might be upset if some scientist promised them superpowers and instead made it so they turned into an unintentional arsonist every time they got mad - not that I think he was a good guy, but indefinite imprisonment to make sure he doesn't talk seems a bit unheroic for a show that likes to play in the light.
The latest ep had too many plotlines, but I am very interested in seeing who Iris' brother is actually, even though the cliched plot about Iris' mother has been predictable and not something I'm looking forward to - and also, wow, does keeping major secrets run in the family or what? Joe has a right to know!
Jemma kicked ass and broke my heart both.
Is it wrong that I already ship Fitz/Jemma/Will? I hope canon doesn't mess up my headcanon.
I LOVED the lines that were about Jemma and Will agreeing to balance each other out with hope vs. negativity, and Jemma saying "Look, this arrangement is working out already" and the other saying "No, it's not." It like took me a second to get, but I really love that.
I really enjoyed the pilot and I'm looking forward to seeing more. I think the actor who plays Kara does a great job. And surprisingly, she actually does look pretty different without her glasses. I like the actor who plays Jimmy Olson, though of course it was obvious he knew, but I'm glad this actor will get to play a good guy because I really like him but I've seen him as a baddie too much.
LOL Dean Cain and Helen Slater as the parents. Is this a thing now? Did Smallville start this with the casting of Martha Clark? I can't think of anyone who did it before then. And now there's The Flash and the actor who plays Barry's dad. Is this like a requirement of new shows about superheroes who have already had shows? I like it lol, I just thought it was funny to see it again.
If I were to really nitpick:
I'm definitely a feminist but I thought they did a little too much emphasis on sexism and how nobody thinks she can do things because she's a girl. I'm all for addressing sexism, but the writing of it somehow made it seem clunky and heavy-handed rather than actually insightful about sexism. I also didn't enjoy the boss' speech about how "girl" is not sexist at all, because while one could argue that the show was being ambiguous or self-aware since the boss is morally ambiguous and a self-justifier, the whole speech just felt too much like preaching to the audience that if they object to the title they're just sexist because girls can be badasses and therefore "girl" isn't sexist, and honestly that kind of "you have no right to be offended, audience" exposition bothers me a lot more than calling a hero a "girl" ever would.
That said, the Bechdel test passing is going to be epic on this show. Sister to the rescue, boss, nemesis, all badass women. I'm excited.
And general thoughts on Blindspot (spoilers ahead for the first few eps- I'm not caught up, so please don't tell me the latest):
I am really enjoying the show! I love the lead character and Jaime Alexander does a great job. So this is not a criticism but something I've been thinking about:
I do notice that although the promos are calling her a female Jason Bourne, the show is really, really gendered. Would Jason Bourne be found naked and would he have all these scenes of emotional vulnerability and need all the time and would he be trembling so much? (Okay, in the series John Doe, the guy was found naked, but he was paired with a by-the-book set of cops and never portrayed as being in the same level of emotional need). And honestly, this is actually a really good thing about the show, because even a tough trained person would be that emotional and scared and confused if something like this happened, but it seems weird that this realism and fragility is only emphasized this much when the action hero amnesiac (which is a genre now I guess) is a woman. So I think it would actually be really interesting to see the premise of the show slightly differently. So if this is the premise:
Character A is found naked, amnesiac, and terrified, with Character B's name tattooed on their body. Character B is incredibly protective of Character A, and later believes that Character A is a childhood friend that went missing, and so Character B is all "You came home to me." All Character B's coworkers are worried that Character B is too emotionally attached to be objective about Character A.
It would be really interesting to see what it would be like if Character A were male and Character B were female. This wouldn't be a Bourne movie dynamic at all - it would be just like Kurt and Jane but with genders reversed. A guy has a woman's name tattooed on his back and doesn't know why - she has been obsessed with finding him for decades, it may turn out. He trembles out of anger and fear a lot, and sometimes she holds him. Would a mainstream show have this plot?
How about if both Kurt and Jane were male? Would NBC have a show about a guy who's like "Why is this other guy's name tattooed on my back? We must be connected in some deep way!" And how about if both characters were women? (That would be AWESOME!)
None of this is a knock against the show. I'm just finding the portrayal of gender interesting - not bad, since there are lots of good things about the female badassery on the show. Basically, I am really enjoying the show but now I have to go find ALL the genderswap fics for it.