Southland 2x01 and Spartacus 1x07
Are you guys watching Southland on TNT? You totally should be, not just for the Cudlitz, but for the awesome Regina King, who is kicking ass as an LAPD detective. I love her so much. The run of new episodes started this past Tuesday, and there are five to go -- if the ratings are good, I think TNT is going to pick them up for an additional season, or...more of the second season...I'm not really sure how that works, since "season two" was made at NBC. Signs are positive. OH I HOPE SO.
There are two things I primarily love about this show right now: Regina King as Lydia Adams, who is one of the most competent and three-dimensional female cops on TV ever, with a life and complicated emotions of all sorts; and Michael Cudlitz as John Cooper, who is really good at his job, and also gay in canon, and one of the most realistic cops ever seen on my TV. One of my pet peeves/sore points is lame portrayals of law enforcement - cops that can't handle their weapons correctly, or who don't use proper field procedure, etc. Southland avoids all that, for the most part, unless they are making a point about a bad cop. These cops bullshit and make dark jokes like real cops, and they cut corners believably (and not, at times) like real cops, and I am FEELING THE LOVE.
On the flip side, there is Chickie, who embodies everything I loathe in a female character AND in a law enforcement character. I mean, look at her *name*; that says it all. She's spineless, she's whiny, she gets walked on by her male partners, she's awful at her job because of traits one through three, and I can't stand her. When she's on screen, I feel like changing the channel. So I'm hoping she fades into the background as time goes on. She's superfluous. (So was her first partner, C. Thomas Howell, who is still chewing up the scenery in every scene he touches. Sigh. But he's gone now. At least, for the moment.)
There's another pair of male detectives, too, but their storylines are not exciting to me, so I won't go on about them at this moment.
In conclusion: COOPER. LYDIA. Oh, and that juvenile delinquent kid that was on the OC, too. He's not so bad. *g* He plays Ben Sherman, a rookie partnered with Cooper. I slash them like crazy. I pine for good fic for this pairing, which I have not yet found. (Which is to say, I have found some of what is out there, but it didn't suit me.)
And now, Spartacus. You know, I'm completely infuriated by this latest episode, while at the same time there were things I loved.
I am so beyond pissed that both Barca and Pietros were killed off. Seriously, show?? Was it necessary to give us a positive gay relationship and then KILL THEM BOTH OFF within two episodes of each other, after having Pietros get raped and beaten a few times for good measure? DO NOT WANT. Honestly, when Spartacus rounded that corner and saw Pietros hanging there in the cell, I felt like breaking my TV, so I was a tiny bit gratified when Spartacus immediately went and killed the perpetrator because he was enraged by Pietros's needless death. I mean, there are things about this plotline I want to like -- Crixus understanding that his friend Barca would never leave Pietros because he loved him, and Doctore becoming suspicious of the whole Barca-buying-his-freedom thing for this same reason, made me very happy, as did Spartacus giving a damn about Pietros without having an interest in the kid sexually - but COME ON SHOW. Killing them off was bullshit.
Killing off Sura could have been an interesting plot point, because it let us see how evil Batiatus is, and it got rid of the whole Spartacus-pining thing that was dragging the show down, and it caused Spartacus to embrace being Spartacus, in his new life as a slave and gladiator. But I wish she hadn't existed, more or less, just so she could be killed to further the storyline of two male characters. Ugh, I'm conflicted. I *hated* the pining. But. Conflicted.
On the positive side of things, the acting continues to improve by leaps and bounds. The friendship between Varro and Spartacus is getting more interesting as Varro is fleshed out some as a character, and I still love Doctore, and I'm really growing to hate Batiatus, in the good way. And Spartacus embracing his new identity is exciting, because it signals a shift in him. Also, Crixus talking about honor and brotherhood to Spartacus, instead of posturing, is making me love him a lot.
The disgusting gore quotient, however, has been going through the roof. I wish the show wasn't such a mixed bag of good stuff and issues that make me want to throw things.
There are two things I primarily love about this show right now: Regina King as Lydia Adams, who is one of the most competent and three-dimensional female cops on TV ever, with a life and complicated emotions of all sorts; and Michael Cudlitz as John Cooper, who is really good at his job, and also gay in canon, and one of the most realistic cops ever seen on my TV. One of my pet peeves/sore points is lame portrayals of law enforcement - cops that can't handle their weapons correctly, or who don't use proper field procedure, etc. Southland avoids all that, for the most part, unless they are making a point about a bad cop. These cops bullshit and make dark jokes like real cops, and they cut corners believably (and not, at times) like real cops, and I am FEELING THE LOVE.
On the flip side, there is Chickie, who embodies everything I loathe in a female character AND in a law enforcement character. I mean, look at her *name*; that says it all. She's spineless, she's whiny, she gets walked on by her male partners, she's awful at her job because of traits one through three, and I can't stand her. When she's on screen, I feel like changing the channel. So I'm hoping she fades into the background as time goes on. She's superfluous. (So was her first partner, C. Thomas Howell, who is still chewing up the scenery in every scene he touches. Sigh. But he's gone now. At least, for the moment.)
There's another pair of male detectives, too, but their storylines are not exciting to me, so I won't go on about them at this moment.
In conclusion: COOPER. LYDIA. Oh, and that juvenile delinquent kid that was on the OC, too. He's not so bad. *g* He plays Ben Sherman, a rookie partnered with Cooper. I slash them like crazy. I pine for good fic for this pairing, which I have not yet found. (Which is to say, I have found some of what is out there, but it didn't suit me.)
And now, Spartacus. You know, I'm completely infuriated by this latest episode, while at the same time there were things I loved.
I am so beyond pissed that both Barca and Pietros were killed off. Seriously, show?? Was it necessary to give us a positive gay relationship and then KILL THEM BOTH OFF within two episodes of each other, after having Pietros get raped and beaten a few times for good measure? DO NOT WANT. Honestly, when Spartacus rounded that corner and saw Pietros hanging there in the cell, I felt like breaking my TV, so I was a tiny bit gratified when Spartacus immediately went and killed the perpetrator because he was enraged by Pietros's needless death. I mean, there are things about this plotline I want to like -- Crixus understanding that his friend Barca would never leave Pietros because he loved him, and Doctore becoming suspicious of the whole Barca-buying-his-freedom thing for this same reason, made me very happy, as did Spartacus giving a damn about Pietros without having an interest in the kid sexually - but COME ON SHOW. Killing them off was bullshit.
Killing off Sura could have been an interesting plot point, because it let us see how evil Batiatus is, and it got rid of the whole Spartacus-pining thing that was dragging the show down, and it caused Spartacus to embrace being Spartacus, in his new life as a slave and gladiator. But I wish she hadn't existed, more or less, just so she could be killed to further the storyline of two male characters. Ugh, I'm conflicted. I *hated* the pining. But. Conflicted.
On the positive side of things, the acting continues to improve by leaps and bounds. The friendship between Varro and Spartacus is getting more interesting as Varro is fleshed out some as a character, and I still love Doctore, and I'm really growing to hate Batiatus, in the good way. And Spartacus embracing his new identity is exciting, because it signals a shift in him. Also, Crixus talking about honor and brotherhood to Spartacus, instead of posturing, is making me love him a lot.
The disgusting gore quotient, however, has been going through the roof. I wish the show wasn't such a mixed bag of good stuff and issues that make me want to throw things.