Snowflake Challenge - Day 3 (TV favs)
Day 3 - In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.
Well ok, it's literally impossible for me to narrow this down to one. So I've chosen a couple of scenes, and doing so sent me on a nostalgia trip and got me thinking about the dozens of shows I've loved over the years. So far I've mostly used this blog to talk about Harry Potter, but in truth, I'm as multi-fannish as it gets. So apologies in advance, this is going to be long, and there's honestly no need to read it all! But if you'd like to get to know me a bit better through my TV viewing habits, hopefully you'll find something of interest here :D
RECTIFY - Daniel Holden
(Or an extended 4:30min version of the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08Y87q_fEGA)
Click to viewThis. Show. It breaks my heart that almost no one watched Rectify when it aired, because it's one of the most unique, beautiful, deeply human stories I've ever seen. Daniel Holden spent 19 years on death row, in solitary confinement, after being convicted of murder. New DNA evidence secures his release, but two decades of incarceration has completely broken him. At times he's like a child, experiencing the world for the first time with confusion and wonder. Other times he's tortured by past traumas, PTSD, and the fact that he genuinely can't remember anymore whether or not he's guilty of murder. In this scene he talks about his difficulties re-assimilating, and the devastating effects of the loss of identity & self. I chose this one because I managed to find it on youtube, but there are so many others I could have picked because this whole show is brimming with heart, pain and the excruciating, wonderful, unfathomable experience of being alive. I swear I'm not overselling it. It really is that good ♥
THE SHIELD - Finale
It's a bit silly to list this here because I basically can't talk about it without spoiling everything! But I wanted to mention it because, among all the talk of great shows and finales, The Shield is sometimes left out of the mix because it wasn't as flashy as Breaking Bad, or on HBO like The Sopranos or The Wire. Honestly though, I prefer it to all of them, and its finale remains one of the greatest ever made. It sidestepped every stereotype and blew everyone's expectations out of the water by crafting a fate for corrupt cop Vic Mackey that was perfect in the context of the show and character. This finale was brutal, devastating, and will stay with me forever. (And the full series has just been released in remastered 4K, if anyone's interested!)
SUCCESSION - Kendall Roy
It's also killing me that I can't talk about the final scene from this show without spoiling a season's worth of character development, but I discovered this show recently and am utterly obsessed with Jeremy Strong's performance as Kendall Roy. Son of a monstrous media mogul, he spends most of his time trying to break free of a father who terrifies and constantly belittles him, all the while desperately wanting his approval and love. Jeremy plays the dichotomy breathtakingly well; leading to a final scene that has some of the best acting I've seen in years. If you haven't seen Succession, I highly recommend it!
DOCTOR WHO - The Twelfth Doctor's speech about war.
There's not much I can say about this speech that hasn't already been said, but it's just one of the many amazing moments that show us exactly who the Twelfth Doctor is. How profoundly he cares. How keenly he feels the loss of any creature in the universe. How deeply he feels regret, pain and shame for his part in the deaths of so many. And under his gruff exterior, his extraordinary capacity for kindness and forgiveness, two things he rarely affords himself. This is a brilliant speech about war and the idiocy of mutually assured destruction. So it's also a tad relevant these days.
Bonus scene:
Clara's speech from 'Listen', where she basically sums up the show & the Doctor's entire philosophy in one gorgeous sequence:
But that's not even scratching the surface. It doesn't cover John Simm's Master 'winning' by dying in Doctor Who; Rose's "he showed me a better way of living your life" speech; or the one-two punch of Heaven Sent and Hell Bent. Nor does it even begin to cover all the amazing scenes/episodes/characters I've loved over the years. The episodes of The X-Files dealing with Scully's cancer that I watched as a young girl in hospital. All of Louis's great moments in Suits. Nikita keeping her friend & sidekick 'safe' by brutally breaking her bones and shooting her, to take her out of the fight when things got too dangerous. The main character in Rescue Me, a firefighter, nearly committing suicide by pouring alcohol over himself and almost setting himself alight. A villain in Arrow breaking Oliver Queen not through violence, but by getting him to realize & admit that he 'enjoyed' killing; then simply letting him go, because breaking the hero emotionally was more a more satisfying win.
It doesn't cover all the episodes that demonstrated House MD was a truly sophisticated character study masquerading as a medical procedural to satisfy the network bosses. Elijah Mikaelson facing the reckoning of his own returned memories in The Originals, or that show's devastating, perfect ending. Criminal Minds' Agent Hotchner helplessly listening to the murder of someone he loved, and that person's beautiful final speech to him. The complex relationship between Miles & Bass from Revolution, and their brief but electric encounters in 1x09-10. It doesn't cover "clear eyes, full hearts", or any of Coach Taylor's speeches from Friday Night Lights that I kept on my ipod for whenever I needed to hear them. Or the haunting ending of Manhattan, (a show about the people who invented the atomic bomb), as the characters we'd grown to love realized with horror the enormity of what they'd done.
It doesn't cover a tiny, barely watched show like Terriers, that was so well written its cliffhanger ending felt like closure ♥ Or Jason Isaac's Awake, (written by the incredible Kyle Killen) which had some of the most psychologically driven storytelling ever to grace network TV. Or Banshee, a show so crazy, so action packed, yet also character driven and emotional, that it defied any box people tried to put it in. It doesn't cover Innocence or Becoming from Buffy. Or Wes' devastating arc in Angel. President Bartlett from The West Wing having the courage to step out in front of the press in Two Cathedrals. Or The Newsroom. Oh, The Newsroom. I don't care what anyone says, I adored that show and have lost count of how many times I've watched 1x06: Bullies. Alias 1x01, still one of the best TV pilots of all time. (Alias was my first real exposure to fandom. Jack & Irina were my first ship, and I recently discovered the message board I used to be a part of is still online!!) The unique, utterly stunning first season of Hannibal (which fans of dark Snape/Snarry would probably enjoy); the brilliant third season of Lee Pace's Halt and Catch Fire; and the extraordinary second season of Nip/Tuck, which, with all its twisted darkness, is still one of my favourite seasons of anything, ever.
It doesn't cover the heart and joy of so much of White Collar and Chuck. Or the optimism of Madam Secretary, and bravery of its s2 Russian arc. The incredible performances (especially Jessica Lange) in Feud, which delved into sexism and ageism in Hollywood with unflinching honesty. The amazing, badass ladies who became heroes despite surviving years of trauma and hardship, like Sara Lance from Arrow, Daisy Johnson from Agents of Shield or Alexandra Udinov from Nikita. Have I mentioned Battlestar Galactica yet? Or Fringe? Or the groundbreaking 24? Or the shows that probably never had a chance but we campaigned for them anyway, like Battle Creek, The Carrie Diaries and oh! the truly delightful Eli Stone! Before Berlanti was in the superhero business, he created a tv musical starring a grumpy lawyer who starts having visions, discovers he might be prophet and it's up to him to save the world. The show shouldn't have worked, but it did and it was wonderful. He was also behind the always moving Brothers & Sisters.
Then there's Supernatural, which after 14 seasons, I couldn't possibly pick a moment or episode from. Ditto about The Americans, a show about Russian spies which was actually about complex family relationships, and was one of the best shows of the past decade. Or In Treatment, a drama set entirely in a therapist's office, chronicling patients' emotional journeys. And one of my very first favourites, Chicago Hope, in which the alpha-male protagonist had a breakdown and nearly lost his medical license, all because he was terrified to fall in love as it felt like a betrayal of his ex-wife who was in an institution for drowning their son. This was on network TV. In the early 90s. Because David E Kelley is brave, brilliant and a bit mad. Which reminds me, can we talk about Alan Shore and Denny Crane too? (Kelly's The Practice and Boston Legal.) And don't even get me started on British TV, or I'll talk about how Wire in the Blood's Tony Hill is one of my very favourite characters, and RTD's wonderful Queer As Folk. Or the phenomenal Happy Valley, which is entirely written & partially directed by the brilliant Sally Wainwright, and showcases one of the best female performances of one of the best female characters I've ever seen. Sarah Lancashire really is second to none. I could also mention quirky, unique dramas like River and The Shadow Line, or old favourites like Touching Evil and Life On Mars UK. And then I'll go on and on and on because I have virtually as many favourite British shows as I do American ones!
*cough* Well, this got a bit long. And I've written most of it off the top of my head, only glancing at my dvd collection once or twice for prompting. So there are loads of shows I've forgotten to list, and some I've deliberately left off because I probably look crazy enough already :D Like all the other Marvel/DC shows, the brilliant first season of Lethal Weapon before the relationship between the two actors imploded, or current favs like This Is Us. Great cable series like Justified, Six Feet Under, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Homeland, Masters of Sex, The Handmaid's Tale etc, or comedies like Jane The Virgin and Friends. EDIT: Plus the HBO drama/comedy Barry, which I've only recently discovered but am already head over heels for. It's amazing, and lead actor/writer/director/producer Bill Hader is SO wonderful.
I've been chronically ill since I was really young, which means I've always had very little energy left over after school or work. So instead of going out, I often immersed myself in great dramas and fell in love with stories and characters. And I regret nothing :D
♥ ♥ ♥