(no subject)
Things are going well on the personal front: got all my grades back - did fine in everything and, most importantly, I got an A in Tax. karate0kat, you're good luck! So I can let go of my irrational fear that I somehow managed to fail something and will be stuck here for another semester. Now I'm looking forward to shedding the irrational fear that I somehow forgot about some mysterious requirement and they'll snatch my diploma away at the last minute. ;)
My laptop's at the laptop store getting fixed (I hope), so what with the limited internet access, I've had more time to catch up on TV. So, briefly:
I decided to check this out because half my flist was buzzing about it, and you all were so right. The last episode was a return to form after some unevenness. Holder's secret was revealed in a way that sufficiently explained all of his odd behavior (envelopes of cash, mysterious meetings), and paid off the brief hint about his drug addiction without asking us to believe that an active drug addict could fool a bunch of experienced cops. He's in recovery, but recently enough that he needs to hand over his paycheck to his sponsor to avoid temptation. Which also explains his transfer from undercover narcotics (probably how he got addicted in the first place), and sometimes obnoxious need to prove himself professionally in his new position. I loved his final scene with Linden after she's uncovered this, and am looking forward to seeing a closer partnership between the two now that they understand each other.
Just as well I'm enjoying the development of one of Linden's relationships, because can we talk about her fiance for a second? Leoben, are you twelve? The silent treatment? To the person you are theoretically about to marry? And if its true, as Jack says, that Leoben always knew that Linden didn't truly want to give up her career to play housewife in Sonoma, the fact that he blithely went ahead with his plans, only to pull this emotionally manipulative bullshit when she did what he apparently had reason to expect, does not bode well for conflict management in their relationship.
Of course, Linden is hardly guiltless here either, but I hope the show is not going to portray her devotion to her career as pathological, or as a flaw in her character that causes her to lose ~the perfect man.~ Because, here's the thing: it's not like Linden is an event planner, or something. I think there's a strong case to be made that solving a murder is a job that deserves single-minded devotion. That securing justice for a young girl and protecting society from a brutal murderer might, in fact, be more important than picking out the right pastries for your reception. I think Linden's dedication can actually be an admirable trait, and I resent it when the characters on the show treat her desire to see this case through like she's lapsing into alcoholism or something.
Apart from that, though, I'm really enjoying this show - the atmosphere, the characters, the wonderful performances, particularly by Michelle Forbes as the victim's mother, and whoever that guy is who plays her husband. Though another minor quibble I have is that I no longer find it plausible when people are randomly horrible to the Larsons. I could accept the sister making that horrible, tactless comment to Mitch in the first episode, but the grandparents from hell and neighbors shunning Mitch in the supermarket are taking it a step too far. The actors are more than capable of selling us the pain and isolation they are both suffering without the piling on.
Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting tonight's episode; I've seen speculation that Bennett will turn out have been doing something actually noble with that room and those passports: I hope that's true, as up to this point I've been enjoyed the fine line they're walking with his character. Not a villain, and I'm reasonably confident not the killer, but certainly a flawed guy. Can't wait to see where this is going.
A quick rant about a show I can't believe I'm ranting about:
I'm watching this season On Demand as it airs, so I've only seen through "Kingdom:" i.e., the one that ends with the most literal example of slut-shaming I've ever seen. o.O To get that out of the way first: WTF. I'm not at all thrilled that they had our little Julie knowingly sleep with a married man, for starters. That's something it will be hard for her character to come back from, and it seems unnecessary. I don't find it unbelievable that she would fall for him and his pseudo-philosophy and hints that he and his wife were in-name-only; she's an 18-year-old whose intellect has always been miles ahead of her emotional maturity; she feels out of place among the other college freshman, and he knows all the right things to say. As his wife said, or rather shrieked, Julie is just the latest in a long line.
Which brings me to his wife. As the TWoP recapper said, damn, this woman must have tenure. But actually, I think that physically assaulting a student in front multiple witnesses might land a professor in hot water even with tenure. I found that scene almost totally unbelievable. Are we supposed to believe this woman is mentally unstable? Because she is supposed to be a professor, and we're given to understand that she's respected within her department. And at the risk of making generalizations: professional academics generally do not conduct themselves in public like the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that they're above all that - I could easily believe it if this woman were to make it her goal in life to poison Julie's academic career, which would be far worse. But marching into her dorm common room, slapping her and calling her a whore-slut at the top of her lungs? Does the show think this is just plausible female behavior under any circumstances?
At any rate, she picked the wrong person to slap. Of course, Julie is all wrong here too, but since this woman knows that Julie is "not the first," how can she think that she's the problem? And, while it's too much to expect compassionate feelings for the person her husband is sleeping with, this woman must be at least 30, while Julie has been a legal adult for about 2 seconds. All in all, I'm finding it very difficult to sympathize with the victim of the adultery here, which may be intentional? Maybe they want to keep Julie sympathetic by painting the wife as a harridan? Sigh.
But that wasn't the slut-shaming episode that disturbed me most. :/ That would be what happened in "The Right Hand of the Father." To summarize: rally girl gets drunk at party with the football players and passes out; they react by passing her unconscious body around like a sexy rag doll. It's all very disturbing, and it ends up on Youtube, so the high school administration finds out. Coach Taylor wonderfully reacts by coming down on the football players like a ton of bricks. Tammy Taylor (Tammy!) reacts by slapping the victim and calling her a whore-slut at the top of her lungs. I mean, not really, but that's essentially what she does. And I quote: "You let this happen to you, you let those boys do that to you, you let, you let, you let." I admit, I found those words extra-chilling because I was waiting for the revelation that she'd been raped; that seemed where that storyline was ominously headed at the end of the last episode. Then I remembered that they to actually want us to keep cheering for this football team for the rest of the season, so no. Then (then!) Tammy decides to publicly shame this girl again at a public assembly about the dangers of drinking: "It is sad to see a girl passed around like a rag doll... I know you've all seen that video." Of course, we're given to understand the the girl in question is an uber-slut with no feelings, so we don't have to worry that she's going to go home and hang herself in her bedroom closet after being publicly and privately shamed by a teacher over her sexual assault, which was broadcast to the world. But Jesus Christ, show, what are you thinking? Yell at her for drinking, sure: tell her that this is only one of the many bad things that can happen to you when you drink to the point of blacking out. But shaming her for what was done to her unconscious body afterward is not okay with me, even if, thankfully, it did not involve rape. The principle is the same.
I'm not even getting into the scene where Tammy catches this same girl making out in a supply closet (of course), and pulls her in for another lecture about how she's degrading herself, and soon it will be not just boys, but parents and college admissions officers talking about her whore-slut ways. Which, hold the phone. If they were still talking about the Youtube video, I could see her point, but I actually do not believe that college admissions committees sit around talking about "I hear she does it in the supply closet!" And do I even need to mention that the boy she was making out with does not get pulled in, nor is anything said about his self-degradation nor how he's sabotaging his college hopes? If it weren't for the preceding shenanigans, I would be willing to let that slide, given that Friday Night Lights is set in the world we actually live in, and not a future society where the sexes are purportedly equal. And at least Tammy does have the decency at this point to say some affirming things to this girl to balance out calling her a dirty, dirty whore. But taken together it seems the show is endorsing these attitudes, which makes me very uncomfortable.
On a brighter note? I really do love Vince and Luke, and it took one tube of lipstick to make me do a complete 180 on Buddy Junior. XD And for some female interaction I actually LOVED:
Mindy: Evaluate my ass.
Becky: A++
Mindy: Welcome to my family.
Becky: :DDD
Me: <33333
So much love for that motley collection of screwballs!
You know what, this needs to be its own post, all about why you should be watching this. I love everything you choose to be, show!
I watched this show occasionally during the Davies era, but could never quite get into it. Now to be fair, I watched it when it came on, which was right after Battlestar Galactica. So I was never exactly in the ideal frame of mind. But now my cable service gives me all of season 5 free on demand, in addition to the new season: I've seen through The Hungry Earth in Season 5, minus the Dalek episode, and through The Doctor's Wife in Season 6, minus the pirate episode. And I'm totally, utterly hooked.
Amy/Amelia Pond. I absolutely love her character. I mean, to be fair, from the moment she ran out on her front lawn with her little suitcase and her hopeful little smile, she basically could have grown up to be a serial killer and I'd still have been like: "but she prays to Santa!" Just: most adorable child ever. And the Doctor wasn't the beginning of her abandonment issues - her parents have died, I take it, and she's being raised by an Aunt who sees nothing wrong with leaving a seven-year-old home alone late at night, even though she's scared of the crack in her wall. Definite issues with emotional intimacy, but not to a scary Kara Thrace extent. Though I did see a tiny bit of Kara/Sam in her relationship with Rory, and that was before I saw the episode where she tries to cheat on him on their wedding night. Obviously, I'm shipping them. ;)
Quick thoughts on Season Five so far:
The Beast Below: I actually quite enjoyed this one! Of course, once it was over and I started thinking about it, the plot mostly fell apart. I mean, we're given to understand that torturing the Star Whale was not a tragic last resort, but option #1? And the scary clowns were just for fun? I guess the point was supposed to be that their terrible choice had corrupted the whole society, but yikes, it didn't take much, did it? But, I appreciate the classic moral dilemma, and it was interesting to see, this early in the series, how both Amy and the Doctor respond to it. He reluctantly accepts the sacrifice of the one to the many, though he can't bear to let it suffer; she takes a leap of faith that they don't need to choose.
Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone: Okay, apparently the show runner, Steven Moffat, said something about trying to write stories that will make the children in the audience dive behind the sofa. To which I say: the children in the audience? ;) Scariest. statutes. ever. Oh my god. But most importantly: River Song! She's everything you all promised! And maybe they're married and maybe she killed him? Or rather, she will. If Amy's kid doesn't get their first. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. She's wonderful; I love that the Doctor has a female companion who can truly hold her own with him; who knows things that he doesn't. And I love her relationship with Amy, and was so relieved by the complete absence of rivalry between them - I was not looking forward to a retread of Rose/Sarah Jane.
As for the thing at the end... Well, that's one way to deal with your fear of commitment. ;) Not okay, but to my relief, it's pretty clear to me that Amy is not in love with the Doctor, she's just running away from her future. Not from Rory himself, but from what marriage to him represents. Part of me thinks that she even knew, unconsciously, that the Doctor would never go for it.
The Vampires of Venice: I watched this one only because I needed to see the Amy/Rory fallout. Which actually was just on simmer in this episode, so I could have skipped it. But at least the Doctor jumped out of a cake.
Amy's Choice: Amy/Rory fallout and resolution. This is the episode that completely sold me on their relationship, even as it shows how much work they still have to do. The Doctor called Upper Leadworth a nightmare, to Rory, it was a good dream. Amy was somewhere in the middle; not a nightmare, but only because she had Rory. Can't she have Rory and a life of adventure? The end of the episode established her love for him so clearly that I'm actually glad I saw it after the Season Six opener, because otherwise I might have found the "oh, who is Amy talking to, who does she love," "mystery" even more obvious than it already was. :) Also, part of me is glad that the Doctor is not sexless and above-it-all, but that part of him wants his companions to choose him. Not an impulse that he'll act on, but he does have a dark side.
The Hungry Earth: I can't really evaluate this episode yet, since it's the first of a two-parter I haven't seen the rest of. But, okay, I heard about the thing that happened with the Doctor Who forum on TWoP essentially staging a revolt against Jacob and driving him to quit, and I had to see for myself. I ended up reading Jacob's recap of The Hungry Earth, because his incredibly wanky episode summary in which he called it a "vastly ill-advised Palestine metaphor" assured me there'd be a gold mine within, and I was not disappointed. :D I mostly stopped reading his recaps after season three of BSG, and I knew he got really ugly and hateful, but I was unaware of how fully his writing had degenerated. It's gotten so juvenile and crass: he uses the word "retarded" or "retard" at least once a page, often two or three times. I'm not always the most sensitive person when it comes to ableist language, but Jacob takes it to an extent that's seriously hateful. (Not to mention demonstrative of the linguistic skills of an eleven-year-old.) And don't even get me started on his use of "autistic" as a slur-of-choice against Moffat, and anyone enjoying his version of Doctor Who, where autistic is apparently short-hand for "less than human, and utterly beneath contempt." To use a couple more of his verbal ticks: gross. Gross and creepy.
So that's the rage-inducing aspect of it; at this point, remembering how I used to be a fan of Jacob's writing is like remembering how, in the flush of new-show ardor, I made a forum-post arguing passionately that Adama was the best starship captain ever. I guess the seeds were always there; like, I remember laughing at the way Jacob skewered Michael Angeli, but also feeling uncomfortable with the extent to which he took it, talking about Angeli's "greasy little soul," etc. Like, that's a person. He wrote a crappy episode of television; he did not molest a child. Now it's gotten to the point where Jacob is spewing his plentiful bile over all kinds of people, and I would actually fear for Steven Moffat's physical safety were they ever to find themselves in the same room. Sad.
But also hilarious. Because I also read Jacob's recap of The Beast Below, and oh my god. Words cannot convey... every page is filled with rambling screeds at the horribleness of Doctor Who fans (autistic virginal classless basement-dwelling etc etc etc) and then this, this:
We do choose to Forget. And kids watching this episode, they deserve to see a story where there's a Big Red Button (remember?) labeled FORGET, so that ten years from now they'll think, Ah, just like that wonderful story with the Smilers and Winders. I should always choose PROTEST rather than FORGET. But this episode itself is so shitty, and fans of this show are so ridiculously hidebound and needy, that the message gets lost. A person who chooses PROTEST in terms of this shitty episode? They need to be silenced, attacked, hated, vilified; their foster home history and sexual trauma and Amazon Wishlist all need to be revisited, real-life shit needs to be attacked, just to silence anybody that says, "Occasionally this fictional franchise doesn't meet the high bar, or the low one." It's more important to go along with the crowd -- within the tiny, silly, self-selected, virginal, hateful crew -- than it is to have thoughts or opinions that run counter to the voice of LINDA. No wonder this episode was so divisive! Drink the sand, or don't drink at all.
*Cries a single, perfect tear* And then!
And then a thing happens that is completely obvious, if you've ever seen a TV show before, but seems to be completely mystifying for most viewers: Rather than seeing Amy watch the video in question, make an informed decision, film a post-memento message to herself, and then wipe her own memory, we experience this subjectively: The images scan across her brain, and we see her hand hit FORGET, and obviously what's happened is that she's made the choice. Unless you're hidebound and needy and unimaginably unsophisticated -- unless you are the kind of person we're talking about, in other words, who doesn't even understand the thing they're making themselves ugly to defend -- in which case the one cool thing in this episode passes you by. Next thing you know Past Amy is onscreen saying, "This isn't a trick. You've got to find the Doctor and get him back to the TARDIS. Don't let him investigate. Stop him. Do whatever you have to. Just please, please get the Doctor off this ship!"
In case it's not clear: Jacob is here going off on viewers who failed to pick up on a plot-point of the episode. o.O Just wow. Just... how did this guy pick up a paycheck for this for so long?
So yeah, compared to that his Hungry Earth recap is pretty boring; crass ableism and wanky insistence on reading it as an anti-Semitic Israel metaphor aside. (Though oddly; if I wanted to read it that way, I would think the lizard people were the Palestinians, no? Though I guess the "This is our ancestral homeland! Yes, but possession is nine-tenths of the law" sword cuts both ways.) His absurd hatred of little Elliot (probably because he's dyslexic!) and Elliot's dad, but especially Elliot's mom is annoying, and he still does that thing where when he hates a female character, he studiously ignores anything good that character does in order to pontificate about her uselessness. So Amy falls through the hole in the Earth because she's "retarded," not because she was trying, successfully I might add, to save the old man. Bleh.
Wow, this post got long. I guess this is what happens when I don't inflict my deep thoughts on television on the internet for a while. It feels almost nostalgic. ;)
My laptop's at the laptop store getting fixed (I hope), so what with the limited internet access, I've had more time to catch up on TV. So, briefly:
I decided to check this out because half my flist was buzzing about it, and you all were so right. The last episode was a return to form after some unevenness. Holder's secret was revealed in a way that sufficiently explained all of his odd behavior (envelopes of cash, mysterious meetings), and paid off the brief hint about his drug addiction without asking us to believe that an active drug addict could fool a bunch of experienced cops. He's in recovery, but recently enough that he needs to hand over his paycheck to his sponsor to avoid temptation. Which also explains his transfer from undercover narcotics (probably how he got addicted in the first place), and sometimes obnoxious need to prove himself professionally in his new position. I loved his final scene with Linden after she's uncovered this, and am looking forward to seeing a closer partnership between the two now that they understand each other.
Just as well I'm enjoying the development of one of Linden's relationships, because can we talk about her fiance for a second? Leoben, are you twelve? The silent treatment? To the person you are theoretically about to marry? And if its true, as Jack says, that Leoben always knew that Linden didn't truly want to give up her career to play housewife in Sonoma, the fact that he blithely went ahead with his plans, only to pull this emotionally manipulative bullshit when she did what he apparently had reason to expect, does not bode well for conflict management in their relationship.
Of course, Linden is hardly guiltless here either, but I hope the show is not going to portray her devotion to her career as pathological, or as a flaw in her character that causes her to lose ~the perfect man.~ Because, here's the thing: it's not like Linden is an event planner, or something. I think there's a strong case to be made that solving a murder is a job that deserves single-minded devotion. That securing justice for a young girl and protecting society from a brutal murderer might, in fact, be more important than picking out the right pastries for your reception. I think Linden's dedication can actually be an admirable trait, and I resent it when the characters on the show treat her desire to see this case through like she's lapsing into alcoholism or something.
Apart from that, though, I'm really enjoying this show - the atmosphere, the characters, the wonderful performances, particularly by Michelle Forbes as the victim's mother, and whoever that guy is who plays her husband. Though another minor quibble I have is that I no longer find it plausible when people are randomly horrible to the Larsons. I could accept the sister making that horrible, tactless comment to Mitch in the first episode, but the grandparents from hell and neighbors shunning Mitch in the supermarket are taking it a step too far. The actors are more than capable of selling us the pain and isolation they are both suffering without the piling on.
Anyway, I'm anxiously awaiting tonight's episode; I've seen speculation that Bennett will turn out have been doing something actually noble with that room and those passports: I hope that's true, as up to this point I've been enjoyed the fine line they're walking with his character. Not a villain, and I'm reasonably confident not the killer, but certainly a flawed guy. Can't wait to see where this is going.
A quick rant about a show I can't believe I'm ranting about:
I'm watching this season On Demand as it airs, so I've only seen through "Kingdom:" i.e., the one that ends with the most literal example of slut-shaming I've ever seen. o.O To get that out of the way first: WTF. I'm not at all thrilled that they had our little Julie knowingly sleep with a married man, for starters. That's something it will be hard for her character to come back from, and it seems unnecessary. I don't find it unbelievable that she would fall for him and his pseudo-philosophy and hints that he and his wife were in-name-only; she's an 18-year-old whose intellect has always been miles ahead of her emotional maturity; she feels out of place among the other college freshman, and he knows all the right things to say. As his wife said, or rather shrieked, Julie is just the latest in a long line.
Which brings me to his wife. As the TWoP recapper said, damn, this woman must have tenure. But actually, I think that physically assaulting a student in front multiple witnesses might land a professor in hot water even with tenure. I found that scene almost totally unbelievable. Are we supposed to believe this woman is mentally unstable? Because she is supposed to be a professor, and we're given to understand that she's respected within her department. And at the risk of making generalizations: professional academics generally do not conduct themselves in public like the Real Housewives of New Jersey. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that they're above all that - I could easily believe it if this woman were to make it her goal in life to poison Julie's academic career, which would be far worse. But marching into her dorm common room, slapping her and calling her a whore-slut at the top of her lungs? Does the show think this is just plausible female behavior under any circumstances?
At any rate, she picked the wrong person to slap. Of course, Julie is all wrong here too, but since this woman knows that Julie is "not the first," how can she think that she's the problem? And, while it's too much to expect compassionate feelings for the person her husband is sleeping with, this woman must be at least 30, while Julie has been a legal adult for about 2 seconds. All in all, I'm finding it very difficult to sympathize with the victim of the adultery here, which may be intentional? Maybe they want to keep Julie sympathetic by painting the wife as a harridan? Sigh.
But that wasn't the slut-shaming episode that disturbed me most. :/ That would be what happened in "The Right Hand of the Father." To summarize: rally girl gets drunk at party with the football players and passes out; they react by passing her unconscious body around like a sexy rag doll. It's all very disturbing, and it ends up on Youtube, so the high school administration finds out. Coach Taylor wonderfully reacts by coming down on the football players like a ton of bricks. Tammy Taylor (Tammy!) reacts by slapping the victim and calling her a whore-slut at the top of her lungs. I mean, not really, but that's essentially what she does. And I quote: "You let this happen to you, you let those boys do that to you, you let, you let, you let." I admit, I found those words extra-chilling because I was waiting for the revelation that she'd been raped; that seemed where that storyline was ominously headed at the end of the last episode. Then I remembered that they to actually want us to keep cheering for this football team for the rest of the season, so no. Then (then!) Tammy decides to publicly shame this girl again at a public assembly about the dangers of drinking: "It is sad to see a girl passed around like a rag doll... I know you've all seen that video." Of course, we're given to understand the the girl in question is an uber-slut with no feelings, so we don't have to worry that she's going to go home and hang herself in her bedroom closet after being publicly and privately shamed by a teacher over her sexual assault, which was broadcast to the world. But Jesus Christ, show, what are you thinking? Yell at her for drinking, sure: tell her that this is only one of the many bad things that can happen to you when you drink to the point of blacking out. But shaming her for what was done to her unconscious body afterward is not okay with me, even if, thankfully, it did not involve rape. The principle is the same.
I'm not even getting into the scene where Tammy catches this same girl making out in a supply closet (of course), and pulls her in for another lecture about how she's degrading herself, and soon it will be not just boys, but parents and college admissions officers talking about her whore-slut ways. Which, hold the phone. If they were still talking about the Youtube video, I could see her point, but I actually do not believe that college admissions committees sit around talking about "I hear she does it in the supply closet!" And do I even need to mention that the boy she was making out with does not get pulled in, nor is anything said about his self-degradation nor how he's sabotaging his college hopes? If it weren't for the preceding shenanigans, I would be willing to let that slide, given that Friday Night Lights is set in the world we actually live in, and not a future society where the sexes are purportedly equal. And at least Tammy does have the decency at this point to say some affirming things to this girl to balance out calling her a dirty, dirty whore. But taken together it seems the show is endorsing these attitudes, which makes me very uncomfortable.
On a brighter note? I really do love Vince and Luke, and it took one tube of lipstick to make me do a complete 180 on Buddy Junior. XD And for some female interaction I actually LOVED:
Mindy: Evaluate my ass.
Becky: A++
Mindy: Welcome to my family.
Becky: :DDD
Me: <33333
So much love for that motley collection of screwballs!
You know what, this needs to be its own post, all about why you should be watching this. I love everything you choose to be, show!
I watched this show occasionally during the Davies era, but could never quite get into it. Now to be fair, I watched it when it came on, which was right after Battlestar Galactica. So I was never exactly in the ideal frame of mind. But now my cable service gives me all of season 5 free on demand, in addition to the new season: I've seen through The Hungry Earth in Season 5, minus the Dalek episode, and through The Doctor's Wife in Season 6, minus the pirate episode. And I'm totally, utterly hooked.
Amy/Amelia Pond. I absolutely love her character. I mean, to be fair, from the moment she ran out on her front lawn with her little suitcase and her hopeful little smile, she basically could have grown up to be a serial killer and I'd still have been like: "but she prays to Santa!" Just: most adorable child ever. And the Doctor wasn't the beginning of her abandonment issues - her parents have died, I take it, and she's being raised by an Aunt who sees nothing wrong with leaving a seven-year-old home alone late at night, even though she's scared of the crack in her wall. Definite issues with emotional intimacy, but not to a scary Kara Thrace extent. Though I did see a tiny bit of Kara/Sam in her relationship with Rory, and that was before I saw the episode where she tries to cheat on him on their wedding night. Obviously, I'm shipping them. ;)
Quick thoughts on Season Five so far:
The Beast Below: I actually quite enjoyed this one! Of course, once it was over and I started thinking about it, the plot mostly fell apart. I mean, we're given to understand that torturing the Star Whale was not a tragic last resort, but option #1? And the scary clowns were just for fun? I guess the point was supposed to be that their terrible choice had corrupted the whole society, but yikes, it didn't take much, did it? But, I appreciate the classic moral dilemma, and it was interesting to see, this early in the series, how both Amy and the Doctor respond to it. He reluctantly accepts the sacrifice of the one to the many, though he can't bear to let it suffer; she takes a leap of faith that they don't need to choose.
Time of Angels/Flesh and Stone: Okay, apparently the show runner, Steven Moffat, said something about trying to write stories that will make the children in the audience dive behind the sofa. To which I say: the children in the audience? ;) Scariest. statutes. ever. Oh my god. But most importantly: River Song! She's everything you all promised! And maybe they're married and maybe she killed him? Or rather, she will. If Amy's kid doesn't get their first. But now I'm getting ahead of myself. She's wonderful; I love that the Doctor has a female companion who can truly hold her own with him; who knows things that he doesn't. And I love her relationship with Amy, and was so relieved by the complete absence of rivalry between them - I was not looking forward to a retread of Rose/Sarah Jane.
As for the thing at the end... Well, that's one way to deal with your fear of commitment. ;) Not okay, but to my relief, it's pretty clear to me that Amy is not in love with the Doctor, she's just running away from her future. Not from Rory himself, but from what marriage to him represents. Part of me thinks that she even knew, unconsciously, that the Doctor would never go for it.
The Vampires of Venice: I watched this one only because I needed to see the Amy/Rory fallout. Which actually was just on simmer in this episode, so I could have skipped it. But at least the Doctor jumped out of a cake.
Amy's Choice: Amy/Rory fallout and resolution. This is the episode that completely sold me on their relationship, even as it shows how much work they still have to do. The Doctor called Upper Leadworth a nightmare, to Rory, it was a good dream. Amy was somewhere in the middle; not a nightmare, but only because she had Rory. Can't she have Rory and a life of adventure? The end of the episode established her love for him so clearly that I'm actually glad I saw it after the Season Six opener, because otherwise I might have found the "oh, who is Amy talking to, who does she love," "mystery" even more obvious than it already was. :) Also, part of me is glad that the Doctor is not sexless and above-it-all, but that part of him wants his companions to choose him. Not an impulse that he'll act on, but he does have a dark side.
The Hungry Earth: I can't really evaluate this episode yet, since it's the first of a two-parter I haven't seen the rest of. But, okay, I heard about the thing that happened with the Doctor Who forum on TWoP essentially staging a revolt against Jacob and driving him to quit, and I had to see for myself. I ended up reading Jacob's recap of The Hungry Earth, because his incredibly wanky episode summary in which he called it a "vastly ill-advised Palestine metaphor" assured me there'd be a gold mine within, and I was not disappointed. :D I mostly stopped reading his recaps after season three of BSG, and I knew he got really ugly and hateful, but I was unaware of how fully his writing had degenerated. It's gotten so juvenile and crass: he uses the word "retarded" or "retard" at least once a page, often two or three times. I'm not always the most sensitive person when it comes to ableist language, but Jacob takes it to an extent that's seriously hateful. (Not to mention demonstrative of the linguistic skills of an eleven-year-old.) And don't even get me started on his use of "autistic" as a slur-of-choice against Moffat, and anyone enjoying his version of Doctor Who, where autistic is apparently short-hand for "less than human, and utterly beneath contempt." To use a couple more of his verbal ticks: gross. Gross and creepy.
So that's the rage-inducing aspect of it; at this point, remembering how I used to be a fan of Jacob's writing is like remembering how, in the flush of new-show ardor, I made a forum-post arguing passionately that Adama was the best starship captain ever. I guess the seeds were always there; like, I remember laughing at the way Jacob skewered Michael Angeli, but also feeling uncomfortable with the extent to which he took it, talking about Angeli's "greasy little soul," etc. Like, that's a person. He wrote a crappy episode of television; he did not molest a child. Now it's gotten to the point where Jacob is spewing his plentiful bile over all kinds of people, and I would actually fear for Steven Moffat's physical safety were they ever to find themselves in the same room. Sad.
But also hilarious. Because I also read Jacob's recap of The Beast Below, and oh my god. Words cannot convey... every page is filled with rambling screeds at the horribleness of Doctor Who fans (autistic virginal classless basement-dwelling etc etc etc) and then this, this:
We do choose to Forget. And kids watching this episode, they deserve to see a story where there's a Big Red Button (remember?) labeled FORGET, so that ten years from now they'll think, Ah, just like that wonderful story with the Smilers and Winders. I should always choose PROTEST rather than FORGET. But this episode itself is so shitty, and fans of this show are so ridiculously hidebound and needy, that the message gets lost. A person who chooses PROTEST in terms of this shitty episode? They need to be silenced, attacked, hated, vilified; their foster home history and sexual trauma and Amazon Wishlist all need to be revisited, real-life shit needs to be attacked, just to silence anybody that says, "Occasionally this fictional franchise doesn't meet the high bar, or the low one." It's more important to go along with the crowd -- within the tiny, silly, self-selected, virginal, hateful crew -- than it is to have thoughts or opinions that run counter to the voice of LINDA. No wonder this episode was so divisive! Drink the sand, or don't drink at all.
*Cries a single, perfect tear* And then!
And then a thing happens that is completely obvious, if you've ever seen a TV show before, but seems to be completely mystifying for most viewers: Rather than seeing Amy watch the video in question, make an informed decision, film a post-memento message to herself, and then wipe her own memory, we experience this subjectively: The images scan across her brain, and we see her hand hit FORGET, and obviously what's happened is that she's made the choice. Unless you're hidebound and needy and unimaginably unsophisticated -- unless you are the kind of person we're talking about, in other words, who doesn't even understand the thing they're making themselves ugly to defend -- in which case the one cool thing in this episode passes you by. Next thing you know Past Amy is onscreen saying, "This isn't a trick. You've got to find the Doctor and get him back to the TARDIS. Don't let him investigate. Stop him. Do whatever you have to. Just please, please get the Doctor off this ship!"
In case it's not clear: Jacob is here going off on viewers who failed to pick up on a plot-point of the episode. o.O Just wow. Just... how did this guy pick up a paycheck for this for so long?
So yeah, compared to that his Hungry Earth recap is pretty boring; crass ableism and wanky insistence on reading it as an anti-Semitic Israel metaphor aside. (Though oddly; if I wanted to read it that way, I would think the lizard people were the Palestinians, no? Though I guess the "This is our ancestral homeland! Yes, but possession is nine-tenths of the law" sword cuts both ways.) His absurd hatred of little Elliot (probably because he's dyslexic!) and Elliot's dad, but especially Elliot's mom is annoying, and he still does that thing where when he hates a female character, he studiously ignores anything good that character does in order to pontificate about her uselessness. So Amy falls through the hole in the Earth because she's "retarded," not because she was trying, successfully I might add, to save the old man. Bleh.
Wow, this post got long. I guess this is what happens when I don't inflict my deep thoughts on television on the internet for a while. It feels almost nostalgic. ;)