It wasn't all bad
I didn't hate everything on TV this summer. In fact I liked a lot of it and this post is about things I enjoyed (the things I loved will get their own posts).
I like this season of Dominion even better than the first one. It's still cheesy in many ways but it also pretty entertaining, has good visuals, nice twists and I like this new thing of ending episodes on a cliffhanger. I pretty much like all the characters' story arcs but especially Claire and Noma.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Claire learning how to rule - she is still idealistic but she also can be ruthless - bombing Gabriel's place, discrediting David, shooting Zoe - and pretty good politician - she still alive and in power despite everyone trying to get her. Her ability to listen to the advice of others but then make her own decisions is probably the most important qualities a leader should have. She also learnt a lot from Arika - even more now after her sudden but inevitable betrayal (but then who didn't Arika betrayed?).
And I just simply love Noma. She is probably my favourite character (there is this thing who keep the chose ones alive that makes them more badass and interesting - like Sarah Connor) and if they kill off Noma (I'm a little worried about the long term effects of ripping her wings off) I will drop this show. It also amuses me that the surname of the actress who plays Noma is Engelbrecht - seems strangely appropriate for someone playing fallen angel (I feel like they had to hire her just for that). And I'm sure we are all glad Alex finally learnt to do something useful with his markings. I also like the current pairings of Alex/Noma and Claire/Gates than I liked Alex and Claire together (I'm also fine with miscarriage).
The only thing I hated was how the killed off Uriel off-screen. This made the Michael and Gabriel the only archangels and they could do angst at each other without any other siblings to spoil the dynamic. The only thing that would made it better would be if that was a fake out like with William (I knew he wasn't dead - David always underestimated him). I hope Uriel knew about the attack from Arika and she faked her death to secretly take over Gabriel's army while he runs around after Alex. That would be awesome.
I like this season of Atlantis. I was bored with last one and gave up but then started watching again after Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell and it was better. It wasn't as good as Orphan Black or the JS&MN miniseries but not many things are and it was certainly better than Olympus (Olympus made no sense at all with the random character and pairing changes that made no connection to anything we saw in the plot). [Spoiler (click to open)]I liked that Jason finally learnt about Parsiphae being his mother, that we had explanation for his special abilities and that he and Ariadne finally go with the whole being together thing no matter what other people say (or lie). I loved that they killed Parsiphae - both that Jason decided it had to be done and that his friends did it for him (even though harpies resurrected her for some reason). I like Pythagoras and Icarus romance and the consequences of Icarus betrayal - that Pythagoras understood the reason but still couldn't forgive it. It surprised me that I started to care but I did. And now it's over (it cancelled back in January).
I also saw some non-SFF things.
The second season of Halt and Catch Fire was pretty dramatic. It's starts with the time jump and the lives of everyone changed a lot and then they change even more during the series.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Gordon's sickness was hinted last season - I remember thinking oh no this is toxic but then it seemed like everyone forgot but they didn't and here came the consequences. He's unravelling pretty bad (the whole parking lot thing was scary and made me grateful for cell phones) but it doesn't really justify cheating. They made good for now but Donna has her own secret and they may not survive both. I'm still shocked Donna did go through with abortion - I think that's like the third time I saw that happen on television (most shows would never go there - that's decision that almost always has only one answer).
Cameron was slowly turning into Joe this season and it was awful but the way she used him to hack the company of his lying cheating father in law was glorious. However, being shitty to people and using them to get ahead and blaming them for your mistakes didn't get Joe far so I'm glad she stopped before it was too late to mend fences with Donna and the team (but Tom not getting on the plane hurt - might've been too late for that).
It makes me sad that the only thing Joe learnt is that he shouldn't try to be decent. After all - all that happened to him is the result of him burning all the bridges and screwing everyone. No wonder no one believes him when he tells the truth and no one trust his intentions even when they are really good. He is a visionary - all he said about the future is right but the way he goes about trying to built it is making everyone abandon him faster than rats abandon a sinking ship. I felt almost sorry for him couple of times (and sometimes he behaved like a normal person) but then he goes and does something shitty again and I can just shake my head.
I also enjoyed the new seasons of The Fosters and Major Crimes. Even if the interpersonal drama in the first one got a little over the top ([Spoiler (click to open)]especially Callie's love life) it was still pretty good (also they recast Jesus!). In the second I liked Rudy's quest to find Alice's identity but I hope they'll go back to the big bad on the loose pretty fast (Zoo is horrible - please come back to Major Crimes).
I like this season of Dominion even better than the first one. It's still cheesy in many ways but it also pretty entertaining, has good visuals, nice twists and I like this new thing of ending episodes on a cliffhanger. I pretty much like all the characters' story arcs but especially Claire and Noma.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Claire learning how to rule - she is still idealistic but she also can be ruthless - bombing Gabriel's place, discrediting David, shooting Zoe - and pretty good politician - she still alive and in power despite everyone trying to get her. Her ability to listen to the advice of others but then make her own decisions is probably the most important qualities a leader should have. She also learnt a lot from Arika - even more now after her sudden but inevitable betrayal (but then who didn't Arika betrayed?).
And I just simply love Noma. She is probably my favourite character (there is this thing who keep the chose ones alive that makes them more badass and interesting - like Sarah Connor) and if they kill off Noma (I'm a little worried about the long term effects of ripping her wings off) I will drop this show. It also amuses me that the surname of the actress who plays Noma is Engelbrecht - seems strangely appropriate for someone playing fallen angel (I feel like they had to hire her just for that). And I'm sure we are all glad Alex finally learnt to do something useful with his markings. I also like the current pairings of Alex/Noma and Claire/Gates than I liked Alex and Claire together (I'm also fine with miscarriage).
The only thing I hated was how the killed off Uriel off-screen. This made the Michael and Gabriel the only archangels and they could do angst at each other without any other siblings to spoil the dynamic. The only thing that would made it better would be if that was a fake out like with William (I knew he wasn't dead - David always underestimated him). I hope Uriel knew about the attack from Arika and she faked her death to secretly take over Gabriel's army while he runs around after Alex. That would be awesome.
I like this season of Atlantis. I was bored with last one and gave up but then started watching again after Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell and it was better. It wasn't as good as Orphan Black or the JS&MN miniseries but not many things are and it was certainly better than Olympus (Olympus made no sense at all with the random character and pairing changes that made no connection to anything we saw in the plot). [Spoiler (click to open)]I liked that Jason finally learnt about Parsiphae being his mother, that we had explanation for his special abilities and that he and Ariadne finally go with the whole being together thing no matter what other people say (or lie). I loved that they killed Parsiphae - both that Jason decided it had to be done and that his friends did it for him (even though harpies resurrected her for some reason). I like Pythagoras and Icarus romance and the consequences of Icarus betrayal - that Pythagoras understood the reason but still couldn't forgive it. It surprised me that I started to care but I did. And now it's over (it cancelled back in January).
I also saw some non-SFF things.
The second season of Halt and Catch Fire was pretty dramatic. It's starts with the time jump and the lives of everyone changed a lot and then they change even more during the series.
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Gordon's sickness was hinted last season - I remember thinking oh no this is toxic but then it seemed like everyone forgot but they didn't and here came the consequences. He's unravelling pretty bad (the whole parking lot thing was scary and made me grateful for cell phones) but it doesn't really justify cheating. They made good for now but Donna has her own secret and they may not survive both. I'm still shocked Donna did go through with abortion - I think that's like the third time I saw that happen on television (most shows would never go there - that's decision that almost always has only one answer).
Cameron was slowly turning into Joe this season and it was awful but the way she used him to hack the company of his lying cheating father in law was glorious. However, being shitty to people and using them to get ahead and blaming them for your mistakes didn't get Joe far so I'm glad she stopped before it was too late to mend fences with Donna and the team (but Tom not getting on the plane hurt - might've been too late for that).
It makes me sad that the only thing Joe learnt is that he shouldn't try to be decent. After all - all that happened to him is the result of him burning all the bridges and screwing everyone. No wonder no one believes him when he tells the truth and no one trust his intentions even when they are really good. He is a visionary - all he said about the future is right but the way he goes about trying to built it is making everyone abandon him faster than rats abandon a sinking ship. I felt almost sorry for him couple of times (and sometimes he behaved like a normal person) but then he goes and does something shitty again and I can just shake my head.
I also enjoyed the new seasons of The Fosters and Major Crimes. Even if the interpersonal drama in the first one got a little over the top ([Spoiler (click to open)]especially Callie's love life) it was still pretty good (also they recast Jesus!). In the second I liked Rudy's quest to find Alice's identity but I hope they'll go back to the big bad on the loose pretty fast (Zoo is horrible - please come back to Major Crimes).