Thought-dump, fannish edition
Summer TV roundup!
Rizzoli and Isles is, alas, not enough to hold my attention. I so WANTED it to, really, but I'm deathly bored by cop shows even if I do get Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon passing the Bechdel test every ep, and even if I am starting to adore Lee Thompson Young a lot. The fact is that I just don't care who comitted the murder, you know? On a really fundamental level. I tend to care about defeating the Wraith hive ship, or escaping the rift in the space-time continuum, or uncovering the shapeshifter, and frequently I even manage to care about diagnosing the patient or pulling off the heist, but I just cannot care about solving the murder. I don't know why this is, but I keep gamely trying with cop/detective shows, and they rarely stick.
Speaking of which, not even the sheer blinding pretty of Matt Bomer, OR the awesome of Diana's return, is enough to keep me watching White Collar more than very intermittently. Because... well, I care about corrupt politicians and bank robbers a little more than I care about murders, but... not very much. My lack of ability to care for any length of time about crime shows makes me a little sad, honestly.
Royal Pains is like a little ball of cuteness in a wrapper of cute and then covered in cute frosting with cute chocolate sprinkles on top. (Also, how much do I love Divya?)
In Plain Sight was a lot less interesting to me this year than last, simply because Mary has become steadily more and more unlikeable. Which is weird, since last year I thought her characterization was an absolute coup of writing, really. But it may be the House syndrome- it's fascinating to watch these deeply unlikeable but also fundamentally sympathetic and interesting characters get drawn in the first place, but less pleasant to continue living with them after you have them figured out. Plus, Marshall with an unrequited thing for Mary is much less interesting to me than Marshall the platonic and slightly queer-pinging enigma. (I think Frederick Weller did a really extraordinary job with the character, though. It's not his fault the writers took that turn) BUT! Joshua Malina. Also Allison Janey. So there's that.
For the last three years the hard-SF curmudgeon in me has wanted to say (and, intermittently, said) cutting things about Eureka because, let's face it, Eureka utterly fails as SF. It doesn't make any attempt to be consistent or systematic in the level of or use of technology available in Eureka, it doesn't try to extrapolate social consequences for any of the huge and frankly destabilizing bits of technology it throws around so casually, it doesn't try to deal realistically with the social or political relationship between Eureka and the outside world...
So for a long time I've been perpetually disappointed, because there's an excellent hard SF show hidden in the basic premise of Eureka and I would have LOVED to see that show. But By the end of last season I had finally come around to the realization that, as sad as I am about the lack of the show that Eureka isn't trying to be, the show that it is trying to be is really damn fun. The characters are good, the actors are good, the sense of "wacky close-knit community" is pleasing. The one-off plots are generally crap, and even the good plots are backed by a particularly crappy kind of technobabble, but that's secondary to a really pleasing little show.
I do think Eureka has done some really good plots (the alternate timeline with Henry, Henry's arrest, Henry's ship... okay, everything with Henry, really) and been both brave and deft in its willingness to change up the configurations of the main cast and introduce new characters (getting rid of Stark, introducing Thorne and Zane and Tess &tc) Jo and Henry are dynamite-good characters, and Fargo and Vincent and Allison and many others are very good as well, and the show consistently does rocking-fun guest-star spots, so basically once I let go of my expectations I loved it a lot.
All of which is to say: the start of Eureka season 4? WIN WIN WIN. More brave cast reconfigurations! Henry married! Kevin exists! Jo angst! Possibility for Fargo character growth! Also, James Callis! So good! So much better than I thought he would be! And so much character potential, though so far they aren't leaning on him too hard! Wil Wheaton! Felicia Day! OMG, how is this show that I used to be so down on making me so happy these days?
Lastly, Leverage, which basically just owns me. Leverage is fun because it requires no suspension of disbelief- no, I happily just disbelieve my way through the whole damn thing, and that somehow doesn't diminish the fun at all. (Attempting to suspect disbelief, on the other hand, just won't work and can lead to some pretty bad fannish crash-and-burn) In that way, Leverage is hitting a lot of the same surrealist/wacky pleasure buttons that Due South and Pushing Daisies hit, and that's fun.
Plus, Eliot! And Hardison! And Eliot&Hardison! And Parker! And Hardison/Parker! Everything about all three of them in every combination is total love, and episodes that show them off are just wonderful, and the show has been so kind to us letting all three of them be competent and sexy and bantery and close.
Anyway. Leverage! Win!
And recs!
Happy, which is SGA John/Rodney amnesia. Amnesia is a big thing for me, and this hits all the buttons that make it good- AND manages to include a good plot and Ronon and Teyla interaction. But beyond that, I adore how obvious this plot is, to us-as-slash-readers. Sometimes reading a story that gives you exactly what you want from a slash trope is very satisfying, and this one handles the dramatic irony well- crysothemis does such a great job keeping the story emotionally interesting even though we figure out early on exactly what's going on, and makes me totally believe that it takes John 30k words to stop being an idiot, and makes me want to watch every minute of it.
Aground upon the sands by
minglingcrab, rec via
seperis, Adam/Kris AU
This is absolutely extraordinary.
I'm reccing it for exactly the opposite reason from Happy, which is that it's amazing for being not at all the story I thought it was going to be. It starts out with a premise that is just crackity crack crack (I won't even tell you what it is), and sets up to be a cute crack AU romcom, ending in a declaration of love and a sex scene.
Except, not so much. Instead, I spent the entire story running to catch up with what it actually was, which was immersive and imaginative and unexpected and breathtaking. It's the best bit of fantasy worldbuilding I've read in quite a while, and I can't get over what a BIG story it is. In less than 15k words, she paints a massive fantasy world, a conspiracy intrigue, a political thriller, and a revolution, all just barely glimpsed lurking around the edges. This feels like a tiny back window onto a thousand-page fantasy novel, just one little chapter of a story that is huge and original and glorious, and it was utterly unexpected from the crack-AU setup, and I have NO IDEA how she did it in 15k.
I always forget how many frogs you have to kiss to find the good stuff during Big Bang season, not to mention that I forgot that Kradam Big Bang even existed at all (I have so many more to get to!). This fic reading binge has involved lots of back-button usage and a huge backlog that I will eventually give up on, but it sure has been fun.
This entry was originally posted at http://dragojustine.dreamwidth.org/122719.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Rizzoli and Isles is, alas, not enough to hold my attention. I so WANTED it to, really, but I'm deathly bored by cop shows even if I do get Sasha Alexander and Angie Harmon passing the Bechdel test every ep, and even if I am starting to adore Lee Thompson Young a lot. The fact is that I just don't care who comitted the murder, you know? On a really fundamental level. I tend to care about defeating the Wraith hive ship, or escaping the rift in the space-time continuum, or uncovering the shapeshifter, and frequently I even manage to care about diagnosing the patient or pulling off the heist, but I just cannot care about solving the murder. I don't know why this is, but I keep gamely trying with cop/detective shows, and they rarely stick.
Speaking of which, not even the sheer blinding pretty of Matt Bomer, OR the awesome of Diana's return, is enough to keep me watching White Collar more than very intermittently. Because... well, I care about corrupt politicians and bank robbers a little more than I care about murders, but... not very much. My lack of ability to care for any length of time about crime shows makes me a little sad, honestly.
Royal Pains is like a little ball of cuteness in a wrapper of cute and then covered in cute frosting with cute chocolate sprinkles on top. (Also, how much do I love Divya?)
In Plain Sight was a lot less interesting to me this year than last, simply because Mary has become steadily more and more unlikeable. Which is weird, since last year I thought her characterization was an absolute coup of writing, really. But it may be the House syndrome- it's fascinating to watch these deeply unlikeable but also fundamentally sympathetic and interesting characters get drawn in the first place, but less pleasant to continue living with them after you have them figured out. Plus, Marshall with an unrequited thing for Mary is much less interesting to me than Marshall the platonic and slightly queer-pinging enigma. (I think Frederick Weller did a really extraordinary job with the character, though. It's not his fault the writers took that turn) BUT! Joshua Malina. Also Allison Janey. So there's that.
For the last three years the hard-SF curmudgeon in me has wanted to say (and, intermittently, said) cutting things about Eureka because, let's face it, Eureka utterly fails as SF. It doesn't make any attempt to be consistent or systematic in the level of or use of technology available in Eureka, it doesn't try to extrapolate social consequences for any of the huge and frankly destabilizing bits of technology it throws around so casually, it doesn't try to deal realistically with the social or political relationship between Eureka and the outside world...
So for a long time I've been perpetually disappointed, because there's an excellent hard SF show hidden in the basic premise of Eureka and I would have LOVED to see that show. But By the end of last season I had finally come around to the realization that, as sad as I am about the lack of the show that Eureka isn't trying to be, the show that it is trying to be is really damn fun. The characters are good, the actors are good, the sense of "wacky close-knit community" is pleasing. The one-off plots are generally crap, and even the good plots are backed by a particularly crappy kind of technobabble, but that's secondary to a really pleasing little show.
I do think Eureka has done some really good plots (the alternate timeline with Henry, Henry's arrest, Henry's ship... okay, everything with Henry, really) and been both brave and deft in its willingness to change up the configurations of the main cast and introduce new characters (getting rid of Stark, introducing Thorne and Zane and Tess &tc) Jo and Henry are dynamite-good characters, and Fargo and Vincent and Allison and many others are very good as well, and the show consistently does rocking-fun guest-star spots, so basically once I let go of my expectations I loved it a lot.
All of which is to say: the start of Eureka season 4? WIN WIN WIN. More brave cast reconfigurations! Henry married! Kevin exists! Jo angst! Possibility for Fargo character growth! Also, James Callis! So good! So much better than I thought he would be! And so much character potential, though so far they aren't leaning on him too hard! Wil Wheaton! Felicia Day! OMG, how is this show that I used to be so down on making me so happy these days?
Lastly, Leverage, which basically just owns me. Leverage is fun because it requires no suspension of disbelief- no, I happily just disbelieve my way through the whole damn thing, and that somehow doesn't diminish the fun at all. (Attempting to suspect disbelief, on the other hand, just won't work and can lead to some pretty bad fannish crash-and-burn) In that way, Leverage is hitting a lot of the same surrealist/wacky pleasure buttons that Due South and Pushing Daisies hit, and that's fun.
Plus, Eliot! And Hardison! And Eliot&Hardison! And Parker! And Hardison/Parker! Everything about all three of them in every combination is total love, and episodes that show them off are just wonderful, and the show has been so kind to us letting all three of them be competent and sexy and bantery and close.
Anyway. Leverage! Win!
And recs!
Happy, which is SGA John/Rodney amnesia. Amnesia is a big thing for me, and this hits all the buttons that make it good- AND manages to include a good plot and Ronon and Teyla interaction. But beyond that, I adore how obvious this plot is, to us-as-slash-readers. Sometimes reading a story that gives you exactly what you want from a slash trope is very satisfying, and this one handles the dramatic irony well- crysothemis does such a great job keeping the story emotionally interesting even though we figure out early on exactly what's going on, and makes me totally believe that it takes John 30k words to stop being an idiot, and makes me want to watch every minute of it.
Aground upon the sands by
minglingcrab, rec via
seperis, Adam/Kris AU
This is absolutely extraordinary.
I'm reccing it for exactly the opposite reason from Happy, which is that it's amazing for being not at all the story I thought it was going to be. It starts out with a premise that is just crackity crack crack (I won't even tell you what it is), and sets up to be a cute crack AU romcom, ending in a declaration of love and a sex scene.
Except, not so much. Instead, I spent the entire story running to catch up with what it actually was, which was immersive and imaginative and unexpected and breathtaking. It's the best bit of fantasy worldbuilding I've read in quite a while, and I can't get over what a BIG story it is. In less than 15k words, she paints a massive fantasy world, a conspiracy intrigue, a political thriller, and a revolution, all just barely glimpsed lurking around the edges. This feels like a tiny back window onto a thousand-page fantasy novel, just one little chapter of a story that is huge and original and glorious, and it was utterly unexpected from the crack-AU setup, and I have NO IDEA how she did it in 15k.
I always forget how many frogs you have to kiss to find the good stuff during Big Bang season, not to mention that I forgot that Kradam Big Bang even existed at all (I have so many more to get to!). This fic reading binge has involved lots of back-button usage and a huge backlog that I will eventually give up on, but it sure has been fun.
This entry was originally posted at http://dragojustine.dreamwidth.org/122719.html. Please comment there using OpenID.