Debbie Downer
I have not overall liked a single episode this season.
It makes no freaking sense.
Nate is a fugitive, yet he is hanging out at his apartment/local pub? WTF?
They are now solving the perceived problems of entire other countries? (Middle-Eastern and African countries, of course, which is NOT AT ALL offensive.)
Random "only when we feel like talking about it" blackmail plot?
They actually have meaty stuff like Hardison wanting to run his own crew someday, and Nate totally fucking emotionally wrecking him, but that gets a few seconds of screen time, and we get a whole episode of jealous!face Parker. Which, yeah, I still dislike that character a lot. Why is she only crazy when it's cute/funny or used as a plot device? And when the actors have chemistry (which they do), you don't have to FORCE it. (Also, why is Parker wearing so much more pancake garish makeup this season?)
So I remember back in the day, when the S1 finale aired, and I made that Artie/James post saying, "OMG more romantic than most of the slash fic I have ever read".
OMG SEASON 2! SO MUCH MORE, EVEN. AUGH. If you are a shipper who watches the show & don't slash Artie/James, I am totally judging you right now. (If you don't do ships, I'm obviously not gonna judge you for that.)
And, actually, the latest episode was the first time I really, really liked a bit of Pete/Myka interaction -- when they were doing a goofy parody of Shakespeare & Pete kissed her hand.
And, oh, okay, Pete grabbing the slices of pie to go was adorbs. (I may be finally warming up to him.)
EVERYTHING else, though.
The disclaimer I have to say here is that I have pretty much disliked Claudia from the moment she came onscreen. I totally hate her now.
Here is the rundown: a young, white, female suspect -- against whom they had video evidence -- fled the Warehouse, and when the white, male agent sent to contact her (not necessarily even retrieve her/capture her), she ASSAULTED HIM. Still, she was presumed innocent, forgiven, and immediately taken to a high-clearance facility where there are lots of important things to steal.
A young, female person of color was a suspect -- against whom they had no evidence -- and when she was interrogated by the female agent, also a person of color, she was attacked with no warning and throttled with extreme violence on the suspicion that she might have an artifact implanted in her ear that even she didn't know about.
Not awesome.
I was unhappy that they seemed to make Leena a villain in the S1 finale; I am even more unhappy that they chose to make her a mind-rape victim in S2. At least being bad means she had a choice, some agency in the story. Instead, the writers turned her into a puppet, an object for someone else to use.
And now we have the entitled brat Claudia story line, who is whining about "worst case of identity theft" and totally failing to do her job because she is hung up on her personal issues. SEE ABOVE ABOUT LEENA BEING MIND RAPED AND TURNED INTO AN OBJECT. It is not okay for Claudia to be belittling her and sniping at her, and for everyone else to be okay with that. (And I am not using the word "rape" facetiously, I mean it in extreme gravity. Leena had no control over her body; there was no way she could have said no, or stopped what was happening to her. Her free will was completely ripped away.)
There are other issues. (Why make H.G. Wells a woman, when there are so many REAL awesome women in history to focus on?) I don't really have time or energy or will to address them right now. (Whyyyyyyy would you ever put on "trunks" that you bought at a yard sale? SO GROSS.) Also, they are trifling compared to the Leena thing. (See above re: Leverage having meaty material & not using it. Sean Maher & Jewel Staite are first-rate actors. They coulda knocked this one totally out of the park, except they were given a generic storyline, while screen time is given to some random side bit about how the comic book store owner wants to flirt with Myka. But I think this is an ongoing problem with W13, not a new one. These artifacts are at the center of incredibly intense emotions, but rarely do we get to see a truly unique and interesting story there.)
It makes no freaking sense.
Nate is a fugitive, yet he is hanging out at his apartment/local pub? WTF?
They are now solving the perceived problems of entire other countries? (Middle-Eastern and African countries, of course, which is NOT AT ALL offensive.)
Random "only when we feel like talking about it" blackmail plot?
They actually have meaty stuff like Hardison wanting to run his own crew someday, and Nate totally fucking emotionally wrecking him, but that gets a few seconds of screen time, and we get a whole episode of jealous!face Parker. Which, yeah, I still dislike that character a lot. Why is she only crazy when it's cute/funny or used as a plot device? And when the actors have chemistry (which they do), you don't have to FORCE it. (Also, why is Parker wearing so much more pancake garish makeup this season?)
So I remember back in the day, when the S1 finale aired, and I made that Artie/James post saying, "OMG more romantic than most of the slash fic I have ever read".
OMG SEASON 2! SO MUCH MORE, EVEN. AUGH. If you are a shipper who watches the show & don't slash Artie/James, I am totally judging you right now. (If you don't do ships, I'm obviously not gonna judge you for that.)
And, actually, the latest episode was the first time I really, really liked a bit of Pete/Myka interaction -- when they were doing a goofy parody of Shakespeare & Pete kissed her hand.
And, oh, okay, Pete grabbing the slices of pie to go was adorbs. (I may be finally warming up to him.)
EVERYTHING else, though.
The disclaimer I have to say here is that I have pretty much disliked Claudia from the moment she came onscreen. I totally hate her now.
Here is the rundown: a young, white, female suspect -- against whom they had video evidence -- fled the Warehouse, and when the white, male agent sent to contact her (not necessarily even retrieve her/capture her), she ASSAULTED HIM. Still, she was presumed innocent, forgiven, and immediately taken to a high-clearance facility where there are lots of important things to steal.
A young, female person of color was a suspect -- against whom they had no evidence -- and when she was interrogated by the female agent, also a person of color, she was attacked with no warning and throttled with extreme violence on the suspicion that she might have an artifact implanted in her ear that even she didn't know about.
Not awesome.
I was unhappy that they seemed to make Leena a villain in the S1 finale; I am even more unhappy that they chose to make her a mind-rape victim in S2. At least being bad means she had a choice, some agency in the story. Instead, the writers turned her into a puppet, an object for someone else to use.
And now we have the entitled brat Claudia story line, who is whining about "worst case of identity theft" and totally failing to do her job because she is hung up on her personal issues. SEE ABOVE ABOUT LEENA BEING MIND RAPED AND TURNED INTO AN OBJECT. It is not okay for Claudia to be belittling her and sniping at her, and for everyone else to be okay with that. (And I am not using the word "rape" facetiously, I mean it in extreme gravity. Leena had no control over her body; there was no way she could have said no, or stopped what was happening to her. Her free will was completely ripped away.)
There are other issues. (Why make H.G. Wells a woman, when there are so many REAL awesome women in history to focus on?) I don't really have time or energy or will to address them right now. (Whyyyyyyy would you ever put on "trunks" that you bought at a yard sale? SO GROSS.) Also, they are trifling compared to the Leena thing. (See above re: Leverage having meaty material & not using it. Sean Maher & Jewel Staite are first-rate actors. They coulda knocked this one totally out of the park, except they were given a generic storyline, while screen time is given to some random side bit about how the comic book store owner wants to flirt with Myka. But I think this is an ongoing problem with W13, not a new one. These artifacts are at the center of incredibly intense emotions, but rarely do we get to see a truly unique and interesting story there.)