I know what I know
Oh, TEEVEE. So much of you! I am watching fully seven shows this season, with the addition of Glee to my regular rotation (not without reservations! but it's there), which is far, far more than I've ever watched as they air. Most of my shows are light fluffy stuff, but I'm glad to have things like Dollhouse and Supernatural to balance them out. I can't wait until Friday Night Lights comes back. I want to cry every week!
Anywhoodle. Some thoughts on this week in television before I crash into bed.
But before I get started, I has a new layout!! :D --> exsequar I needed something Dollhouse-y, because after this season premiere I know I'm just gone. And it needed to be Topher. I happened to find a high-def screencap of this moment, which actually snatched my breath away when it first happened. Completely unexpected, and utterly moving. Topher is my most complete favorite, and to have his depth acknowledged in such a quiet, poignant way... yeah. ♥ And I took advantage of some of the gorgeous stylistic touches of the show itself, using the images of the five sleeping pods and the memories whisking away. I'm rather pleased with it! I've also changed up my journal title and what have you, but no one ever notices that stuff anyhow. :)
So here we go! There's space between each review so you don't have to be too worried about spoilers.
Dollhouse 2x01 - Vows: Dollhouse was PHENOMENAL. It pretty much completely blew my face off. I LOVED and was completely intrigued by the complicated Saunders-Topher conclusion to season 1, but I never dreamed it would become half of the season 2 premiere! I have always loved Topher with reckless abandon, and noted every nuance of his character, and the idea that he had designed an imprint that he would be around every day to hate him was so poignant and awful and heartbreaking that I didn't know what to DO with myself. And THEN, Joss blows my mind by revealing that he actually DIDN'T do that, and Topher's kind of in shock from these waves of hostility and hatred rolling off of Claire, but you can tell he kind of feels he deserves them, and it's just one big delicious mess of angst and existential crisis! Fran Kranz and Amy Acker were absolutely phenomenal. I've always known Fran was talented, and Amy is Amy (ILLYRIA, ANYONE?), so it was a complete treat to see the two of them really get to flex their muscles and bust out a scene of such intricacy and anguish that it had tears in my eyes.
I think that Eliza ate her acting wheaties, because she did a fantastic job this week. (I love that girl, but Echo has not been as good a fit for her as Faith was - good to see her growing into the role, which we already saw some of in Omega). She and Jamie Bamber were the most exquisite duo, both when dancing oh so sweetly at their wedding and when fighting in the study - that scene was so intense and moving and well done, wow. Two of my most favoritest TV actors come together! THANK YOU JOSS. I was deeply grateful for everything Jamie is, from British accent to broad shoulders and piercing blue eyes, nom nom nom nom. I hope he comes back!
Sierra and Victor are very intriguing, and I hope they get more much-deserved screen time this season. Both of them are simply powerhouses of acting potential, and it's a shame that the Echo-centric concept doesn't let them flourish as much as I'd like. One of my only complaints about this episode, but it already felt chock full so it's okay! Just, more in the future plz. :)
I like that Paul continues to be completely faily and creepy, and that Adele calls him out on it. He was set up as the knight in shining armor, and he's turned out to be possibly the least-likable character on the entire show. Just another example of Joss brilliantly subverting expectations, especially with an actor capable of such warmth as Tahmoh.
ALEXIS DENISOF YAY. Gimme moooore. *grabbyhands*
This episode was very close to Joss at his best. I am insanely excited for the rest of this season, and right now I am declaring Dollhouse my favorite show of Fall 09. :)
The Big Bang Theory 3x01: OMG OMG OMG EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDD
Ahem. I mean. YAY! How often does your OTP get brought together in such a thoroughly adorable and sweet way?? SHE LEAPT INTO HIS ARMS. ASfsdkf;lksdf;lksjdf. And his sweet baffled and super pleased face! "Um, hi!" "HI!" :DDDDD And he gave her a SNOWFLAKE. From the NORTH POLE. And explained the POLYMER HE USED. And she CUT HIM OFF WITH A KISS. How long has she been wishing she could do that?! (Well, not terribly long, cause she's a silly girl, but I KNOW I HAVE.) I have watched all their smoochy snuggly scenes like 10 times since I first saw it. THEY ARE SO CUTE AND A LITTLE AWKWARD AND OH MY GOD MY HEART. And the last scene was hilarious. "Leonard?" "Yeah?" "It's weird." "Yeah." Awwww, precious faily children. <3333 GET OVER IT, STAT. AND CONTINUE TO BE ADORABLE AT ME.
In conclusion: :DDDDDDDDDDDDD and I can't wait to download tonight's episode!!
Bones 2x02 - This was a pretty good episode. The plot was way too melodramatic and filled with "Dun dun DUNNNNNNNNN" music for my tastes, but as usual the character throughlines more than made up for it! Everyone being so flaily and faily about Wendell leaving was just too sweet. I would have preferred they kept Adorable Random Trivia-Knowing British Guy of the interns, but Wendell would have been my next choice, so I'm down with this. :) The last scene where they told him he could stay totally made me get all teary, awwwww. I love how Hodgins has a bit of a mancrush on him. I also ADORE Cam and her motherly instincts. I hope we get to see her with that girl she adopted!!
The plumbing scene was completely adorable, and made up for Bones pissing me off for most of the episode.
Merlin 2x01 and 2x02: As glad as I was to have Merlin back, I thought 2x01 was even MORE faily and ridiculous than this show usually is. Arthur's personality seemed to have been erased back to pilot levels of pratdom, and Merlin was even more spectacularly incompetent than he usually is. Storming into Arthur's chambers and declaring creepily "Cedric is possessed by an evil wizard" is TOTALLY GOING TO WORK!!! *facepalm* Why not share the, I don't know, EVIDENCE that Cedric was the only one with access to Arthur's keys?! SIGH. And then there was the truly horrible attempts to "fight" the gargoyle(s?) by the "knights" of Camelot, better known as the Pansies of Camelot, christ. Just - the whole thing hit a cheese note that really grated after episodes like To Kill a King. I think the appropriate conclusion is: MOAR MORGANA.
2x02, sadly, did not have more Morgana but it was a better episode by far. Arthur still seems to be taking memory-erasing pills and treating Merlin like less than a piece of dirt he found on the bottom of his shoe. But his storyline with Gwen was sweet if frustrating. I loved how she stood up to him, I love her passion and her gumption and her big brown eyes, omg. (She looked RADIANT this whole episode, oh Angel!! <3) My biggest problem with this episode is that IT WAS A KNIGHT'S TALE. It blatantly stole enormous part of the film, from the style of shooting the jousting to a peasant pretending to be a knight to a POINTED LANCE DISGUISED BY A SCULPTED FIST, WHAT. It was all just so blatant that I couldn't believe what I was seeing. That is not homage, that is thievery! But I suppose there are worse things to steal from, so *hands*. Overall, I was entertained, which is par for the course for Merlin The Ridiculous.
Next week: MOAR MORGANA. FINALLY.
Glee 1x02-1x04: Okay, this show is growing on me. As they take time to give each of the characters their moment in the spotlight, they're starting to actually reveal some characters instead of caricatures. I still don't actually like almost anyone, except for Kurt (omg the dancing, omg the football, OMG COMING OUT TO HIS DAD, omg my HEART), Mercedes, Emma, and sometimes Will (though when he ran off to do Acafellas at the expense of his kids in Glee? I was SO angry at his selfishness). But sometimes when I'm just getting comfortable with a character, like Finn, he'll say something like "Did you know you can, like, take books from the library? All of them!" And I'm just like WE KNOW HE'S A DUMB JOCK OMG STOP IT. I despise Sue with the fire of a thousand suns, and not in the "love to hate" way, just in the GET OFF MY SCREEN way. And I think Rachel is self-absorbed, arrogant, and irrational. I also hate Mr. Schu's conniving, lying gold-digger of a wife. She's had a few moments where I found her tolerable, but NOW SHE'S PLOTTING TO STEAL A GIRL'S BABY JUST SO SHE WON'T HAVE TO BE HONEST WITH HER HUSBAND, WHAT. Ahem. Sorry. I still have some rage about this show.
But the music is fucking amazing. Despite my dislike for Rachel, Lea can flipping SING. I have listened to Take a Bow like a million times in the past couple days. I also love Bust Your Windows, &Mercedes;! I hope that girl gets more storylines and more songs.
I guess Glee's brand of comedy still rubs me the wrong way. It's on the right path, in some ways, but we'll see if I fully warm up to it. I'm feeling much better now about it than I did after episode 2.
Supernatural 5x03 Free to Be You and Me: I don't have the energy or willpower to talk about this extensively here. I have enormous problems with Castiel and everything he represents and every way he's been handled, but my flist is a very Castiel-friendly zone so I'm not even going to bother. (It's very, very difficult to have some of my closest friends enjoying a show on a level that actively disturbs me, as opposed to simple indifference. So I think I'll be keeping my dialogue to a minimum.) If you're curious about my stance, esorlehcar has articulated it very clearly. (PROSTITUTION IS NOT FUNNY.)
That said, I LOVED Sam's part of this episode. The first scene with Jess had me flailing and biting my knuckles and making suppressed squealing sounds. JESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Adrianne is so unspeakably stunning, and she and Jared have glorious chemistry. So even though the conversation was subtly dark and fucked up (hahaha, SURPRISE SURPRISE HI LUCIFER), I was completely swept away. I'm really glad they let Sam express those emotions again, because they've been buried very, very deep for over two seasons, and it's good to have evidence that that love is as strong as it ever was. I have a soft spot in my heart for those two.
He also brought the woobie faces with a vengeance this week. And then he kicked some major hunter ass, which was both hot and heartbreaking that he HAD to do it, and alskjslkdjf. POOR SAMMY. Everyone's (including him!) saying he started the apocalypse, but HELLO THAT WAS DEAN. If Dean hadn't broken the first seal, no one could have broken the last. I'M JUST SAYIN'. Someone cut that kid a break. :(
Sam as Lucifer's vessel and Dean as Michael's is so incredibly heavyhanded, but whatever, I'll roll with it. The potential for Sam's interactions with Lucifer is both chilling and exciting, so I'm looking forward to that. Let's just say that Mark Pellegrino is a vast fucking improvement over Genevieve Cortese!
I'm not thrilled with where this is headed, but I'm willing to hold out. (Oh, who am I kidding - the world would have to end before I stopped watching Winchesters willingly. HA HA YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!) Also, NEEDS MOAR HARVELLES. Just sayin.
Okay, that is ENOUGH TV rambling! I also watched Castle, and it was mostly status quo, which is to say deeply adorable and wonderful. Now it is 40 minutes past when I promised myself I'd go to bed, so I am GOING! Goodnight! (And please talk to me about TV!!!)
Anywhoodle. Some thoughts on this week in television before I crash into bed.
But before I get started, I has a new layout!! :D --> exsequar I needed something Dollhouse-y, because after this season premiere I know I'm just gone. And it needed to be Topher. I happened to find a high-def screencap of this moment, which actually snatched my breath away when it first happened. Completely unexpected, and utterly moving. Topher is my most complete favorite, and to have his depth acknowledged in such a quiet, poignant way... yeah. ♥ And I took advantage of some of the gorgeous stylistic touches of the show itself, using the images of the five sleeping pods and the memories whisking away. I'm rather pleased with it! I've also changed up my journal title and what have you, but no one ever notices that stuff anyhow. :)
So here we go! There's space between each review so you don't have to be too worried about spoilers.
Dollhouse 2x01 - Vows: Dollhouse was PHENOMENAL. It pretty much completely blew my face off. I LOVED and was completely intrigued by the complicated Saunders-Topher conclusion to season 1, but I never dreamed it would become half of the season 2 premiere! I have always loved Topher with reckless abandon, and noted every nuance of his character, and the idea that he had designed an imprint that he would be around every day to hate him was so poignant and awful and heartbreaking that I didn't know what to DO with myself. And THEN, Joss blows my mind by revealing that he actually DIDN'T do that, and Topher's kind of in shock from these waves of hostility and hatred rolling off of Claire, but you can tell he kind of feels he deserves them, and it's just one big delicious mess of angst and existential crisis! Fran Kranz and Amy Acker were absolutely phenomenal. I've always known Fran was talented, and Amy is Amy (ILLYRIA, ANYONE?), so it was a complete treat to see the two of them really get to flex their muscles and bust out a scene of such intricacy and anguish that it had tears in my eyes.
I think that Eliza ate her acting wheaties, because she did a fantastic job this week. (I love that girl, but Echo has not been as good a fit for her as Faith was - good to see her growing into the role, which we already saw some of in Omega). She and Jamie Bamber were the most exquisite duo, both when dancing oh so sweetly at their wedding and when fighting in the study - that scene was so intense and moving and well done, wow. Two of my most favoritest TV actors come together! THANK YOU JOSS. I was deeply grateful for everything Jamie is, from British accent to broad shoulders and piercing blue eyes, nom nom nom nom. I hope he comes back!
Sierra and Victor are very intriguing, and I hope they get more much-deserved screen time this season. Both of them are simply powerhouses of acting potential, and it's a shame that the Echo-centric concept doesn't let them flourish as much as I'd like. One of my only complaints about this episode, but it already felt chock full so it's okay! Just, more in the future plz. :)
I like that Paul continues to be completely faily and creepy, and that Adele calls him out on it. He was set up as the knight in shining armor, and he's turned out to be possibly the least-likable character on the entire show. Just another example of Joss brilliantly subverting expectations, especially with an actor capable of such warmth as Tahmoh.
ALEXIS DENISOF YAY. Gimme moooore. *grabbyhands*
This episode was very close to Joss at his best. I am insanely excited for the rest of this season, and right now I am declaring Dollhouse my favorite show of Fall 09. :)
The Big Bang Theory 3x01: OMG OMG OMG EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDD
Ahem. I mean. YAY! How often does your OTP get brought together in such a thoroughly adorable and sweet way?? SHE LEAPT INTO HIS ARMS. ASfsdkf;lksdf;lksjdf. And his sweet baffled and super pleased face! "Um, hi!" "HI!" :DDDDD And he gave her a SNOWFLAKE. From the NORTH POLE. And explained the POLYMER HE USED. And she CUT HIM OFF WITH A KISS. How long has she been wishing she could do that?! (Well, not terribly long, cause she's a silly girl, but I KNOW I HAVE.) I have watched all their smoochy snuggly scenes like 10 times since I first saw it. THEY ARE SO CUTE AND A LITTLE AWKWARD AND OH MY GOD MY HEART. And the last scene was hilarious. "Leonard?" "Yeah?" "It's weird." "Yeah." Awwww, precious faily children. <3333 GET OVER IT, STAT. AND CONTINUE TO BE ADORABLE AT ME.
In conclusion: :DDDDDDDDDDDDD and I can't wait to download tonight's episode!!
Bones 2x02 - This was a pretty good episode. The plot was way too melodramatic and filled with "Dun dun DUNNNNNNNNN" music for my tastes, but as usual the character throughlines more than made up for it! Everyone being so flaily and faily about Wendell leaving was just too sweet. I would have preferred they kept Adorable Random Trivia-Knowing British Guy of the interns, but Wendell would have been my next choice, so I'm down with this. :) The last scene where they told him he could stay totally made me get all teary, awwwww. I love how Hodgins has a bit of a mancrush on him. I also ADORE Cam and her motherly instincts. I hope we get to see her with that girl she adopted!!
The plumbing scene was completely adorable, and made up for Bones pissing me off for most of the episode.
Merlin 2x01 and 2x02: As glad as I was to have Merlin back, I thought 2x01 was even MORE faily and ridiculous than this show usually is. Arthur's personality seemed to have been erased back to pilot levels of pratdom, and Merlin was even more spectacularly incompetent than he usually is. Storming into Arthur's chambers and declaring creepily "Cedric is possessed by an evil wizard" is TOTALLY GOING TO WORK!!! *facepalm* Why not share the, I don't know, EVIDENCE that Cedric was the only one with access to Arthur's keys?! SIGH. And then there was the truly horrible attempts to "fight" the gargoyle(s?) by the "knights" of Camelot, better known as the Pansies of Camelot, christ. Just - the whole thing hit a cheese note that really grated after episodes like To Kill a King. I think the appropriate conclusion is: MOAR MORGANA.
2x02, sadly, did not have more Morgana but it was a better episode by far. Arthur still seems to be taking memory-erasing pills and treating Merlin like less than a piece of dirt he found on the bottom of his shoe. But his storyline with Gwen was sweet if frustrating. I loved how she stood up to him, I love her passion and her gumption and her big brown eyes, omg. (She looked RADIANT this whole episode, oh Angel!! <3) My biggest problem with this episode is that IT WAS A KNIGHT'S TALE. It blatantly stole enormous part of the film, from the style of shooting the jousting to a peasant pretending to be a knight to a POINTED LANCE DISGUISED BY A SCULPTED FIST, WHAT. It was all just so blatant that I couldn't believe what I was seeing. That is not homage, that is thievery! But I suppose there are worse things to steal from, so *hands*. Overall, I was entertained, which is par for the course for Merlin The Ridiculous.
Next week: MOAR MORGANA. FINALLY.
Glee 1x02-1x04: Okay, this show is growing on me. As they take time to give each of the characters their moment in the spotlight, they're starting to actually reveal some characters instead of caricatures. I still don't actually like almost anyone, except for Kurt (omg the dancing, omg the football, OMG COMING OUT TO HIS DAD, omg my HEART), Mercedes, Emma, and sometimes Will (though when he ran off to do Acafellas at the expense of his kids in Glee? I was SO angry at his selfishness). But sometimes when I'm just getting comfortable with a character, like Finn, he'll say something like "Did you know you can, like, take books from the library? All of them!" And I'm just like WE KNOW HE'S A DUMB JOCK OMG STOP IT. I despise Sue with the fire of a thousand suns, and not in the "love to hate" way, just in the GET OFF MY SCREEN way. And I think Rachel is self-absorbed, arrogant, and irrational. I also hate Mr. Schu's conniving, lying gold-digger of a wife. She's had a few moments where I found her tolerable, but NOW SHE'S PLOTTING TO STEAL A GIRL'S BABY JUST SO SHE WON'T HAVE TO BE HONEST WITH HER HUSBAND, WHAT. Ahem. Sorry. I still have some rage about this show.
But the music is fucking amazing. Despite my dislike for Rachel, Lea can flipping SING. I have listened to Take a Bow like a million times in the past couple days. I also love Bust Your Windows, &Mercedes;! I hope that girl gets more storylines and more songs.
I guess Glee's brand of comedy still rubs me the wrong way. It's on the right path, in some ways, but we'll see if I fully warm up to it. I'm feeling much better now about it than I did after episode 2.
Supernatural 5x03 Free to Be You and Me: I don't have the energy or willpower to talk about this extensively here. I have enormous problems with Castiel and everything he represents and every way he's been handled, but my flist is a very Castiel-friendly zone so I'm not even going to bother. (It's very, very difficult to have some of my closest friends enjoying a show on a level that actively disturbs me, as opposed to simple indifference. So I think I'll be keeping my dialogue to a minimum.) If you're curious about my stance, esorlehcar has articulated it very clearly. (PROSTITUTION IS NOT FUNNY.)
That said, I LOVED Sam's part of this episode. The first scene with Jess had me flailing and biting my knuckles and making suppressed squealing sounds. JESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Adrianne is so unspeakably stunning, and she and Jared have glorious chemistry. So even though the conversation was subtly dark and fucked up (hahaha, SURPRISE SURPRISE HI LUCIFER), I was completely swept away. I'm really glad they let Sam express those emotions again, because they've been buried very, very deep for over two seasons, and it's good to have evidence that that love is as strong as it ever was. I have a soft spot in my heart for those two.
He also brought the woobie faces with a vengeance this week. And then he kicked some major hunter ass, which was both hot and heartbreaking that he HAD to do it, and alskjslkdjf. POOR SAMMY. Everyone's (including him!) saying he started the apocalypse, but HELLO THAT WAS DEAN. If Dean hadn't broken the first seal, no one could have broken the last. I'M JUST SAYIN'. Someone cut that kid a break. :(
Sam as Lucifer's vessel and Dean as Michael's is so incredibly heavyhanded, but whatever, I'll roll with it. The potential for Sam's interactions with Lucifer is both chilling and exciting, so I'm looking forward to that. Let's just say that Mark Pellegrino is a vast fucking improvement over Genevieve Cortese!
I'm not thrilled with where this is headed, but I'm willing to hold out. (Oh, who am I kidding - the world would have to end before I stopped watching Winchesters willingly. HA HA YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?!) Also, NEEDS MOAR HARVELLES. Just sayin.
Okay, that is ENOUGH TV rambling! I also watched Castle, and it was mostly status quo, which is to say deeply adorable and wonderful. Now it is 40 minutes past when I promised myself I'd go to bed, so I am GOING! Goodnight! (And please talk to me about TV!!!)