watching all the things (B7, Castlevania, etc.)
We interrupt Virus Watch to bring you and update on all the escapism I've been engaging in for the last 10 days:
Blake's 7, series 3: I finished series 3 (stuck at home, I've been making good progress with TV things, although this was not necessarily great comfort watching XD). Thoughts on individual episodes below (written down as I watched them). Overall, I didn't like this batch as much as series 2 -- there were two episodes I disliked strongly ("Harvest of Kairos" and "Children of Auron") -- fewer UN-favorites than last season, but I felt more strongly about them than "Voice from the Past", "The Keeper", or "Hostage" -- and only two episodes I strongly liked ("Rumours of Death" and "Terminal") -- but I liked those episodes A LOT. I think more than any of the ones in season 2 except "Pressure Point", though I need it all to settle down a bit. But "Terminal" was the first episode of the whole thing that affected me strongly enough that I couldn't just move on to something else, I needed to first cheer myself up and then kept thinking about it. The relative size of the write-up below reflects that :P Oh, and I did like"City at the Edge of the World", too, but more for what it was doing than as something I feel the need to experience again.
It feels like a weaker season, plot-wise, because the first couple are mop-up and reassembling a crew (more on which below), and then there's a lot of bouncing around on encounters of the week -- it's more like s1 that way, while series 2 had a coherent story and a driver, an actual arc. As for the characters, well, that's quite a turnover in the cast. I knew Blake wasn't going to be back this series (though I had expected him to be dead, not ambiguously missing), and I don't miss him as a character, necessarily (though, as I said above, I do miss him as a plot/arc driver, apparently) -- but I sure as hell miss his dynamic with Avon (and have thus been supplementing my watching experience by reading Blake/Avon fic; it makes for a pretty good cocktail! :D) I also do, apparently, miss Blake's voice, or at least the way he says certain words, like "everything". I kind of miss Jenna, but less than I'd expected to, which is probably a testament to how little she was actually getting to do. Among the new guys, I like Dayna but am not, like, emotionally invested in her, and I'm not sure whether she's got any strong emotional connections to any of the characters I *do* care about, to drive that investment. Tarrant... I don't much like, except in his sartorial choices, although he has been getting a little better at the season's end, with the personal story in "Death-Watch" and actually doing something right in "Terminal". Orac continues to be the best grumpy computer, and in the absence of Blake, I'm developing a real fondness for the interaction between Avon and Vila. And, uh, Avon and Servalan, but that's a slightly different story. (Avon is still my favorite, of course, but he appears to be everyone's favorite, so.) And then there's Cally, who I know won't be around for series 4, and I'm actually OK with that because I wasn't feeling her at all this season; I dunno if it's the absence of Jenna and Blake (I feel like those were the two characters with whom she had the most chemistry), or just stupi script choices -- what did she even o as herself, this season, when not possessed by space entities? mostly act as a wet blanket, based on what I recall, and operate the teleport...
SPOILERS!
"Aftermath" -- Well, look at that, an actual space battle! Their SFX budget seems to have improved quite a bit over the last two years, or maybe just the technology, but this wasn't even cringeworthy. Avon and Servalan interaction was the highlight of this for me. And here's the Servalan in a borrowed non-white dress I'd been told about (though her white dress and pearls were absolutely immaculate after all that). I know Dayna becomes a series regular, and she seems nice enough, but not super interesting so far. The medieval natives were very silly.
"Powerplay" -- Aww, poor Vila, impersonating a squad of men; he is adorable and I've missed him. Avon's ploy was neat if a bit fraught. Dayna has a good point, though -- why doesn't he explain things to her? Picked up the wrong lessons from Blake? I was also completely taken in by Del Tarrant's Federation officer disguise. And he's staying, too... I guess we needed a curly-haired man for Avon to pal around with, now that Blake's not around. And I didn't guess the organ bank thing, either, although of course it was clear something was off about hi-techs (although I don't know that being harvested for organs is WORSE than death, although it's certainly creepier).
"Volcano" -- oh hey,Tarrant also favors open-collared shirts (I do like the medieval tunic look!) And speaking of costumes, I like Avon's new black leather get-up; very chic. And LOL, we have apparently progressed towards (very loosely) humaniform robots XD As for the main action: poor Avon! A bit harder being responsible for everything than snarking at Blake from the sidelines, isn't it? :P The scene after the fight, with him and Vila on the couch, was quite nice, this sort of weary companionship + residual low-key insults. Also, creepy pacifist brainwashing cult was creepy, but I'm just not nearly as invested in the new guys as I am in the original crew. (I remembered this being another Allan Prior episode, and I'd not liked his previous ones, but this was quite inoffensive by comparison.)
"Dawn of the Gods" -- Oh look, it's the "Cally gets hijacked by an eldritch abomination episode", isn't it; it's been a while since we've had one (in general, they're doing a different thing with her telepathy this series -- as in, not forgetting about it for most of the season -- and it's a bit odd to have her actually talking in people's heads, and I'm still not sure who can and cannot hear her and under which circumstances, but OK. LOL, they have Space Monopoly, too (I just encountered Space Monopoly in Cyteen last week) I am very amused that Orac is the one who gets the most into it. LOL at the dramatic dueling recitation of Newton's First Law. Best line was Vila's: "I'm in Hell, and it's full of Avons. What's the good news?" But everyrone lying-by-omission about Orac ("A bald dwarf shouldn't be too hard to find" was pretty fun, too. But overall, it felt like a very s1 episode, even if the "evil telepathic ubermensch" SFX have gotten considerably better compared to the thing from the Decimas episode.
"The Harvest of Kairos" -- On the upside: Yay, Servalan getting to pick her own costumes again. As for everything else: what the actual fuck. I mean,
thisbluespirit did warn me about Ben Steed, but besides the random and STAGGERING misogyny (holy shit, even with the warning I was not expecting these levels of nonsense out of nowhere), EVERYONE is acting like a dick to everyone else without any reason or charm. How does one even get a performance like that out of a group that was working fine for several episodes, not to mention actors on their third year of playing a role? Also, why do Servalan et al assume Tarrant is in charge now, given that he's the newcomer? And why does he seem to actually be in charge? It pains me to admit it, but I actually quite like the sophron stone trick -- the fact that, as a defensive mechanism (although why a rock should need one...) the sophron stone which reflects the thing looking at it and pretends to be a bigger, badder version of that thing, and how Avon et al used it as a bluff. Absolutely everything else about this episode was rubbish, though. UGH.
"City at the Edge of the World" -- Aww, a Vila episode! I love that he got to be both the lovable coward and the brilliant professional, AND he got the girl for once, and some very nice lines (especially with Avon ("Wonderful, that makes it all worthwhile") and with Orac, on the subject ofmistakes. And he got to usher a dead-end civilization into a new space age, evening the score with Avon, heh. Apparently Tarrant being a jerk is not a Federation officer act or an artefact of Ben Steed, but his actual character, huh. I felt very bad for Vila when Tarrant was bullying him, but aww, Avon and Cally sticking up for Vila and reinforcing the Liberator hierarchy. And Avon actually being nice to Vila, imagine that! (it's like the older sib "nobody beats up my little brother but me" dynamic, which is unexpected but cute!) Anyway, this was not particularly sophisticated, but it was great fun! Besides Vila focus, everyone (except Tarrant, which, it serves him right) got cool things to do, Bayban and his mooks were pretty funny, and overall this was very enjoyable. Nice palate cleanser after that previous thing, too.
"Children of Auron" -- Everything I liked about this episode took place in the first 5 minutes or so: Avon's plans and discussion around them: Interesting that Avon's first act in control of the Liberator, once they're done reassembling the crew and regrouping, refueling, being jerked around by mysterious entities, is to go after revenge for Anna -- and being pretty open about it with the others. (I liked the exchange with Cally: "Just revenge?" "Just and sweet.", and his insistence of calling it an execution after Tarrant uses the word "eliminate".) But then he's outvoted, because they're running the Liberator as a democracy, which Avon seems to be regretting as an approach around this point. It's all downhill from there. First, there's the alien virus (which young Aurons have no resistance to because of isolationist policies, which is anvilicious, but whatever) -- the thing that annoys me, though, is that this same show did SUCH a better job with a pandemic in "Killer" already -- why reuse a plot and do it WORSE? Also, what is going on with Servalan this season? I absolutely HATE the "powerful woman secretly wants to have babies" trope, SO MUCH, so Servalan suddenly becoming obsessed with replicating herself with Auron technology was a) annoying as hell, and b) seemed to come totally out of left field (I mean... she HAD access to clones before, even if she doesn't any longer). And the "I felt them die!" nonsense -- both worldbuilding choice (I mean, WHUT) and acting choices, the whole thing is just so... ugh. But actually everyone in this acts in ways that make no sense, for these specific characters or for rational human beings at all. People seem to know things they shouldn't know, and others believe them anyway. People worry about containment or don't as it suits the plot. People do dumb things all over the place. You hide a weapon by holding it behind behind your back? And Vila doesn't check? And Zelda choosing to fiddle with the uterine replicators when the whole building was going to be bombed flat, quite clearly -- I suppose it's meant to make some kind of poignant point about valuing all life, but the point it actually makes is that she's an idiot. (Also, is there a reason Servalan is wearing black now? (in any case, I definitely think she looks more striking in white.) Alas, s3 is not overwhelming me with great episodes so far...
"Rumours of Death" -- OK, that's more like it!! While it's not the first episode this season I've enjoyed, it's the first one I couldn't wait to finish, because it had actual tension, the first one I googled up the script to check some lines, the first one I already want to rewatch. Damn that was good! Roughed-up Avon masterminding his way to "just and sweet" revenge by putting his own life on the line is the kind of content I'm here for (and aww, Vila handing him the glass on arrival -- twice). The way Avon seems to pretty clearly understand he's being irrational about the whole thing -- and just doesn't care -- and the way the others react. From the scene with the torturer ("He's an animal Cally" "Yes, and it's contagious, isn't it.") to the others volunteering to go with Avon even though he keeps telling them it's not their fight (this would have more impact if these were people he'd been with for more than a couple of episodes, for the most part, but fine.) to the bit at the end, where Avon goes from kneeling down expecting his death to quipping post-teleport, and everyone else looking at him stone-faced. And of coursethe revelation with Anna, and Avon's reaction to it, and the whole Shakespearean tragedy of it. The thing was, I was so impressed by the councilor's wife fromthe first scene, and later her confrontation with the officer. And I really liked the way Shrinker (the torturer was played) -- he goes from reprehensible to pathetic, but he is sort of pitiable -- it's hard to ignore his humanity, whatever he's guilty of -- and then Avon's promised "a way out" being a gun (in a sealed cavern). And he surveillance guys with their own little drama (they really felt like characters), and the major got a heroic sort of moment even though he was one of the "bad guys" -- I think this might've been a first, or at least a first in a while. Everybody feels like a person. And Avon is quite terrifying in this mode. And then, damn, the scenes between him and Servalan, with the chains (S: "Go to hell, Avon."/A: "Probably. But I'd like someinformation first."/S: "In exchange for what? A quick death?"/A: "THAT is the reward for silence."/S: "I've had worse offers."), and then her just about caressing his face with the gun. (If there's fic that takes off from this interaction, links pls). And finally back to a Servalan that's actually interesting (and in an interesting costume again; I liked black and white asymmetric dress). But there are also lighter moments, that sort of underscore the darkness ofthe whole: Vila drinking "sociably" with Orac, Tarrant's little elaborate bow/curtsy thing and grin after he, Cally, Dayna, and Avon disable all the guards.
"Sarcophagus" -- oh look, Cally's possessed by a thing again. I liked the space folksong that we heard for a bit, but other than that, it wasn't really my kind of episode. I don'tcarefor poltergeist stories, which this basically was, and the silent masked figures interludes were more dull than mysterious (although Tarrant looked surprisingly fetching in his red onesie). And before the ghost action really got going, Tarrant vs Avon posturing was not very interesting (Avon was right about it being nothing memorable). Oh, but what was memorable was Avon's new shirt shirt with the studded? elbow patches?? (where does he get these things...) Oh, and looking at the Wiki, I see this is an episode written by Tanith Lee, which probably explains the atmospheric oddness of it.
"Ultraworld" -- XD an actual "aliens made them do it" plot XD And Dayna is a very resourceful and decisive young lady XD Vila teaching Orac riddles with bad puns in them, progressing to limericks, and Orac getting very into it was fun XD (and it was plot-relevant nonsense, too -- that was kind of cool.) The giant inflatable brain "core" thing was... less fun XD But, seriously, ANOTHER "something has hijacked Cally" episode? I like that Avon is driven by curiosity here -- it feels like a privilege (speaking in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, say). Germanium circuitry, heh -- good luck with that.
"Moloch" -- I was braced for this after "Kairos", but this was actually... surprisingly not terrible? Like, I did not at all like the rapeyness of, well, every non-recurring male character in this, and the whole thing was tediously male-gaze-y, and also I found the story jumped around a bit too much for my taste, but I kind of liked Avon getting to nerd out about another thing (and Dayna's dismay at him actually crunching into the apple), and Vila and Servalan teaming up for a brief moment (poor Vila! now there's something I'd like to see more of in fic!), and while the colonel in the vat looked ridiculously awful, I found the Moloch puppet thing... kind of cute, actually XD And also there was more of Avon being protective of Vila (where Vila can't see it), which is a dynamic I'm starting to find really cute.
"Death-Watch" -- This was fairly fun, though rather slight. I mean, maybe the setup was original back in the day, but now it just made me think of The Hunger Games, although I did like the war-by-proxy aspect as combined with entertainment ("murder without guilt, death without loss"/"war without destruction"). The special effects things left me cold, though I could see what they were intended to do -- the "first person POV" of the fight shots mimicking the effect of the disks, all the slo-mo stuff and close-up reaction shots. But Orac objecting to being made viscaster and being generally grumpy was fun; there were some nice Vila moments. I liked Dayna getting to hold Servalan at gunpoint (I generally liked Dayna in this episode). But best of all was the scene of Avon dropping in on Servalan, their little chat and the kiss (and the look in her eyes after he teleported away) -- just, the chemistry between them continues to be really great.
"Terminal" -- I was very curious to get to this one, because
executrix had said was a favorite above "Star One" as a season finale, and that there was 'negative space' Blake. And, indeed, that's an awesome way to describe Blake's presence in, or at least over, this episode, and also it was really good. I do think it's better than "Star One", even, though certainly less FUN. "Star One" ends on a cliffhanger, but it's a more cheerful set of tropes. This ends with, as Tarrant says, losers all around. And even if I don't believe that Blake is actually dead, the Liberator certainly is, and Zen. :(( That scene where Vila is standing there watching Zen wind down, when Zen actually speaks to him as a person for the first time, *sniff*
And, of course, there was Avon, and Avon and Servalan, and Avon and Blake, with a lot of both wonderful and painful things. Avon, staying up for 30 hours straight for the treasure hunt, and chasing everyone off, and Tarrant looked like he was about to cry there when Avon had the gun pointed at him, and then Avon just... keeps walking around the flight eck with the gun and gesturing with it (Avon clearly needs a nap XD). Proximity to Blake, like, spiritually, seems to have sent Avon into not telling people things overdrive ("You could try trusting me" -- sure, buddy, you're acting real trustworthy around now). The others trying to invite themselves along on his mission (Vila being willing to back him up with no explanation -- he's used to it, I guess -- and Cally attempting to reason with him: "If you want one of your cold rational explanations, we can't afford to lose you"), and then Avon giving the order for the Liberator to run (though I do wonder what he was going to do if Vila had obeyed -- did he think he could rescue Blake some other way, or would he just have been content to die along with him? Or did he just not trust Servalan to keep her bargain and so figured giving her the Liberator did not in any way improve their chances, probably diminished them, because then there'd be nothing left that she wanted? That seems plausible both for Avon to believe and for Servalan to actually do, so.)
And, yeah, all the Blake/Avon feels, from the look on Avon's face when he gets "confirmation" that Blake is alive and there, to the posturing by Blake's bedside, which does not take in computer-generated Blake in the least ("Carevul, Avon, your sentiment is showing", as an echo of Avon's "Sentiment breeds weakness, let it get ahold of you and you're dead" earlier on the ship). And, of course, Servalan has his number when it comes to Blake: "You made it easy because you wanted to believe it" -- and the look on his face when she repeats that Blake is dead and he'd been taken in by an illusion -- such a contrast to their dynamic just before, which was kind of adorably flirty: they were giggling together at one point, and of course this exchange:
A: If it was a trap, it had to be yours. The precise planning, the meticulous detail, the general flair, who else could it be.
S: Thank you. That you of all people should appreciate my work is very flattering.
A: I thought it might be.
(Also, I note that nobody -- not fake Blake, not Avon, not Servalan -- are doing more than a cursory node in the direction of pretending that Avon came because he is after whatever money-making discovery Blake had made, and not for Blake himself -- it's no more than plausible deniability, and I'm guessing nobody even bothered making up what the money-making opportunity was.)
But yeah, from the moment Avon actually accepts that Blake is dead and he's been taken in by Servalan -- the way he just shuts down. He says nothing for the entire following scene, and only one more line in the rest of the episode ("She won. We-- I let her take the Liberator."), can barely face the others (or the camera) -- butthen there's that grin at the end, when the others have gone, that Servalan's not won after all, presumably.
The other thing that stood out to me about Avon this time -- he is usually there acting off the others, snarking or posturing, but this time there are rather long solo stretches, and the way his demeanor changes between them is very interesting: he is so much jumpier when he is not posturing for someone's benefit, his movements much more furtive than deliberate -- it especially struck me when he goes from talking to Blake with apparent unconcern about how he's going to find his way back there again to skulking about right after.
On a lighter node: more Space Monopoly! (or maybe this was a different game than last time). And also guys in gorilla suits, which I'm not sure why they were necessary, but as far as ridiculous SFX go, at least they were not too bad. Oh, but Avon's studded gauntlets XD that does not appear to be a very practicalfashion choice, though they do look pretty badass. And windswept Avon is in general a really nice look.
Back to a more ominous note: Avon tells Servalan, "I always thought that his [Blake's] death and mine might be linked in some way." I have gathered from tags on AO3 and general osmosis that something ominous happens at the end of the series, and at this point I'm assuming this is foreshadowing for that. (Oh, and I do hope Servalan made it out safely via teleport. I' hate to lose her, too.)
Back to more general (but still spoilery) thoughts:
My top 5 favorite episodes so far (because I'm curious to keep track and see how/if it changes) -- not necessarily in order, but more or less
- Pressure Point (s2)
- Terminal (s3)
- Rumours of Death (s3)
- Star One (s2)
- either Killer or Gambit (both s2)
My 5 least favorite episodes (ditto):
- Children of Auron (s3) (I'm not sure it's really at the top, but it bugged me the most, I think, as well as being the most recent thing I watched on this list)
- Harvest of Kairos (s3)
- Voice from the Past (s2)
- The Keeper (s2)
- Hostage (s2) probably? I feel less strongly about it than the others, though
(I wasn't tracking my individual episode impressions through s1, but even if I had been, I'm pretty sure none would crack the top 5 list, and probably none the bottom 5, either -- there were some episodes I found dull, but inoffensive.)
Also, on a very random note: as I think I've probably mentioned already, one of the reasons I was interested in B7 is that I keep hearing my beloved Duv Galeni is an Avon Expy. I actually don't find the characters all that similar beyond "sardonic" being the default setting, but I can see how one would be inspired by the other. Amusingly enough, ikel89 is reading Brothers in Arms now, and encountering Galeni for the first time. This physical description definitely is a good match: "An arresting-looking man, though far from pretty. Dark hair. Hooded, nutmeg-brown eyes. A hard, guarded mouth, fleshy blade of a nose sweeping down a Roman profile that matched his officer's haircut. His hands were blunt and clean, steepled now together in a still tension." Anyway, I'll hold off on my thoughts on Avon // Galeni until I'm actually done with canon, but I've also been thinking about Sorting Hats Chat sorting Avon and possibly some of the others, but so far all I've been able to conclude is that Servalan is a Slytherin Primary/Slytherin Secondary, which is, like, the world's least surprising revelation. And Avon definitely has some Slytherin models going on, but I haven't actually figured out what's underneath them, although I'm currently leaning towards "more Slytherin" for Primary, anyway... and Ravenclaw for Secondary, probably, because of how he sort of shuts down when he runs into something he truly hadn't accounted for in his contingency plans, like Anna in RoD or having the promise of Blake being alive yanked away in Terminal. But like I said, this bears more thought.
**
I also watched Castlevania season 3, which, after what I thought was a pretty lackluster s2, was actually a lot of fun! Spoilers!
The main thing I'd liked about s2 was the Sypha-Trevor-Alucard interaction, and the Alucard/Trevor subtext. I definitely missed both that and the trio-ness this season, but Alucard making rag dolls of Sypha and Trevor and talking to them (and answering himself "in character" XD) was absolutely hilarious, in a really sad way, and also shows they should never have left him to his own devices, and I definitely hope s4 fixes that. Meanbwhile, Alucard's actual plotline was both dull and incomprehensible, outside of the fact that he misses Trevor and Sypha and needs them to come reclaim him ASAP. But Sypha and Trevor dynamic together was great, especially the part where, like, her level of combat magic at this point is such that she apparently mostly keeps him around to warm her feet, but does occasionally let him beat up some mooks to feel useful. (And the final battle was pretty cool.)
I had been DEATHLY bored by both fampire and forge master shenanigans in s2, and was very relieved to have a Dracula-free season -- he has been my least favorite part of the show starting from season 1. I'd not like Carmilla in s2 either, but this turn surprised me pleasantly by giving her some vampire girl friends to play off (which ikel89 -- see tag -- christened "lesbian vampire commune"), and then making her much less of a focus than I'd feared. I liked all three of the other vampireladies more than I like Carmilla (which is admittedly not that hard), but especially (and unsurprisingly) Striga, the general + doting girlfriend of the logistics lady ("Your idea was the equivalent of the village idiot walking in here and saying, 'I think we should be able to light fires by punding a fish.' It basically made no sense and Morana made it work anyway.") They were very cute, and Lenore was pretty interesting, and, look, I hate to say it, but she kind of has a point about Hector, OK -- boy clearly needs looking after.
I am still deeply bored by Isaac's part of the storyline, although he did at least get the fun Captain to talk to for a few episodes there, instead of his night creatures an random crazy people.
Speaking of fun new characters, I definitely enjoyed St Germain, and was vastly amused that all his lies seemed to point to a deep pining for indoor plumbing -- looking for indoor toilets! toilet paper! (topical, btw). K had resignedly supposed that I would like the Judge (because despots), and I did, well, until the point it became clear that he was tricking children into his pit for running around, which was an unexpectedly Hot Fuzz turn.
A selection of supplementary Best Chat liveblog reactions, because, really, it's a thing best reacted to via WhatsApp:
me: That's a very cute weevil in Hector's moldy prison bread
K: This sentence... Can it get even more peak anna?
me: Random Japanese boy is pretty cute, with his frecles. No wonder Alucard was Disney Princessing.
me: Although I'm not sure why he's wearing 8/15th of a shirt.
me: Trevor, reminiscing fondly: "Burning devil goat turds from the sky..."
me: Shut up, Trevor! I wanted to hear the rest of St Germains story about waking up in Latvia after an absinthe bender!
And these are my deep thoughts on Castlevania s3.
*
Meme from my flist:
Name a TV show you like starting with each letter of the alphabet
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Babylon 5
Cybill
Dilbert
E... uhh... Ellen?
Firefly
Good Place, The
House M.D.
Inspector Gadget
Jerry Springer Show, The (shut up :p)
Killjoys
Lewis
Modern Family
Newlywed Game, The (I mean, I watched it, which is more than I can say for anything else on Wikipedia's list of shows starting with N)
Out of This World
Person of Interest
Q -- pass. The closest I come to having even watched any is a couple of clips of QI.
Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The
Simpsons, The
That 70s Show
U... I watched Unhappily Ever After for a bit -- can I count that?
Voltron: Defender of the Universe (or whichever the old one is)
White Collar
Xena: Warrior Princess
Yes Minister
Z... I got nothin'
*
And finally, a vid rec via
schneefink: Stand by You, multifandom vid with supportive male/female friendship. Of the represented fandoms, I was most in it for Killjoys, but also enjoyed the MCU and Brooklyn Nine-Nine moments (and there were some other lovely-looking ones from fandoms I either don't know or am not fannish about).
This entry was originally posted at https://hamsterwoman.dreamwidth.org/1123299.html. Comment wherever you prefer (I prefer LJ).
Blake's 7, series 3: I finished series 3 (stuck at home, I've been making good progress with TV things, although this was not necessarily great comfort watching XD). Thoughts on individual episodes below (written down as I watched them). Overall, I didn't like this batch as much as series 2 -- there were two episodes I disliked strongly ("Harvest of Kairos" and "Children of Auron") -- fewer UN-favorites than last season, but I felt more strongly about them than "Voice from the Past", "The Keeper", or "Hostage" -- and only two episodes I strongly liked ("Rumours of Death" and "Terminal") -- but I liked those episodes A LOT. I think more than any of the ones in season 2 except "Pressure Point", though I need it all to settle down a bit. But "Terminal" was the first episode of the whole thing that affected me strongly enough that I couldn't just move on to something else, I needed to first cheer myself up and then kept thinking about it. The relative size of the write-up below reflects that :P Oh, and I did like"City at the Edge of the World", too, but more for what it was doing than as something I feel the need to experience again.
It feels like a weaker season, plot-wise, because the first couple are mop-up and reassembling a crew (more on which below), and then there's a lot of bouncing around on encounters of the week -- it's more like s1 that way, while series 2 had a coherent story and a driver, an actual arc. As for the characters, well, that's quite a turnover in the cast. I knew Blake wasn't going to be back this series (though I had expected him to be dead, not ambiguously missing), and I don't miss him as a character, necessarily (though, as I said above, I do miss him as a plot/arc driver, apparently) -- but I sure as hell miss his dynamic with Avon (and have thus been supplementing my watching experience by reading Blake/Avon fic; it makes for a pretty good cocktail! :D) I also do, apparently, miss Blake's voice, or at least the way he says certain words, like "everything". I kind of miss Jenna, but less than I'd expected to, which is probably a testament to how little she was actually getting to do. Among the new guys, I like Dayna but am not, like, emotionally invested in her, and I'm not sure whether she's got any strong emotional connections to any of the characters I *do* care about, to drive that investment. Tarrant... I don't much like, except in his sartorial choices, although he has been getting a little better at the season's end, with the personal story in "Death-Watch" and actually doing something right in "Terminal". Orac continues to be the best grumpy computer, and in the absence of Blake, I'm developing a real fondness for the interaction between Avon and Vila. And, uh, Avon and Servalan, but that's a slightly different story. (Avon is still my favorite, of course, but he appears to be everyone's favorite, so.) And then there's Cally, who I know won't be around for series 4, and I'm actually OK with that because I wasn't feeling her at all this season; I dunno if it's the absence of Jenna and Blake (I feel like those were the two characters with whom she had the most chemistry), or just stupi script choices -- what did she even o as herself, this season, when not possessed by space entities? mostly act as a wet blanket, based on what I recall, and operate the teleport...
SPOILERS!
"Aftermath" -- Well, look at that, an actual space battle! Their SFX budget seems to have improved quite a bit over the last two years, or maybe just the technology, but this wasn't even cringeworthy. Avon and Servalan interaction was the highlight of this for me. And here's the Servalan in a borrowed non-white dress I'd been told about (though her white dress and pearls were absolutely immaculate after all that). I know Dayna becomes a series regular, and she seems nice enough, but not super interesting so far. The medieval natives were very silly.
"Powerplay" -- Aww, poor Vila, impersonating a squad of men; he is adorable and I've missed him. Avon's ploy was neat if a bit fraught. Dayna has a good point, though -- why doesn't he explain things to her? Picked up the wrong lessons from Blake? I was also completely taken in by Del Tarrant's Federation officer disguise. And he's staying, too... I guess we needed a curly-haired man for Avon to pal around with, now that Blake's not around. And I didn't guess the organ bank thing, either, although of course it was clear something was off about hi-techs (although I don't know that being harvested for organs is WORSE than death, although it's certainly creepier).
"Volcano" -- oh hey,Tarrant also favors open-collared shirts (I do like the medieval tunic look!) And speaking of costumes, I like Avon's new black leather get-up; very chic. And LOL, we have apparently progressed towards (very loosely) humaniform robots XD As for the main action: poor Avon! A bit harder being responsible for everything than snarking at Blake from the sidelines, isn't it? :P The scene after the fight, with him and Vila on the couch, was quite nice, this sort of weary companionship + residual low-key insults. Also, creepy pacifist brainwashing cult was creepy, but I'm just not nearly as invested in the new guys as I am in the original crew. (I remembered this being another Allan Prior episode, and I'd not liked his previous ones, but this was quite inoffensive by comparison.)
"Dawn of the Gods" -- Oh look, it's the "Cally gets hijacked by an eldritch abomination episode", isn't it; it's been a while since we've had one (in general, they're doing a different thing with her telepathy this series -- as in, not forgetting about it for most of the season -- and it's a bit odd to have her actually talking in people's heads, and I'm still not sure who can and cannot hear her and under which circumstances, but OK. LOL, they have Space Monopoly, too (I just encountered Space Monopoly in Cyteen last week) I am very amused that Orac is the one who gets the most into it. LOL at the dramatic dueling recitation of Newton's First Law. Best line was Vila's: "I'm in Hell, and it's full of Avons. What's the good news?" But everyrone lying-by-omission about Orac ("A bald dwarf shouldn't be too hard to find" was pretty fun, too. But overall, it felt like a very s1 episode, even if the "evil telepathic ubermensch" SFX have gotten considerably better compared to the thing from the Decimas episode.
"The Harvest of Kairos" -- On the upside: Yay, Servalan getting to pick her own costumes again. As for everything else: what the actual fuck. I mean,
thisbluespirit did warn me about Ben Steed, but besides the random and STAGGERING misogyny (holy shit, even with the warning I was not expecting these levels of nonsense out of nowhere), EVERYONE is acting like a dick to everyone else without any reason or charm. How does one even get a performance like that out of a group that was working fine for several episodes, not to mention actors on their third year of playing a role? Also, why do Servalan et al assume Tarrant is in charge now, given that he's the newcomer? And why does he seem to actually be in charge? It pains me to admit it, but I actually quite like the sophron stone trick -- the fact that, as a defensive mechanism (although why a rock should need one...) the sophron stone which reflects the thing looking at it and pretends to be a bigger, badder version of that thing, and how Avon et al used it as a bluff. Absolutely everything else about this episode was rubbish, though. UGH.
"City at the Edge of the World" -- Aww, a Vila episode! I love that he got to be both the lovable coward and the brilliant professional, AND he got the girl for once, and some very nice lines (especially with Avon ("Wonderful, that makes it all worthwhile") and with Orac, on the subject ofmistakes. And he got to usher a dead-end civilization into a new space age, evening the score with Avon, heh. Apparently Tarrant being a jerk is not a Federation officer act or an artefact of Ben Steed, but his actual character, huh. I felt very bad for Vila when Tarrant was bullying him, but aww, Avon and Cally sticking up for Vila and reinforcing the Liberator hierarchy. And Avon actually being nice to Vila, imagine that! (it's like the older sib "nobody beats up my little brother but me" dynamic, which is unexpected but cute!) Anyway, this was not particularly sophisticated, but it was great fun! Besides Vila focus, everyone (except Tarrant, which, it serves him right) got cool things to do, Bayban and his mooks were pretty funny, and overall this was very enjoyable. Nice palate cleanser after that previous thing, too.
"Children of Auron" -- Everything I liked about this episode took place in the first 5 minutes or so: Avon's plans and discussion around them: Interesting that Avon's first act in control of the Liberator, once they're done reassembling the crew and regrouping, refueling, being jerked around by mysterious entities, is to go after revenge for Anna -- and being pretty open about it with the others. (I liked the exchange with Cally: "Just revenge?" "Just and sweet.", and his insistence of calling it an execution after Tarrant uses the word "eliminate".) But then he's outvoted, because they're running the Liberator as a democracy, which Avon seems to be regretting as an approach around this point. It's all downhill from there. First, there's the alien virus (which young Aurons have no resistance to because of isolationist policies, which is anvilicious, but whatever) -- the thing that annoys me, though, is that this same show did SUCH a better job with a pandemic in "Killer" already -- why reuse a plot and do it WORSE? Also, what is going on with Servalan this season? I absolutely HATE the "powerful woman secretly wants to have babies" trope, SO MUCH, so Servalan suddenly becoming obsessed with replicating herself with Auron technology was a) annoying as hell, and b) seemed to come totally out of left field (I mean... she HAD access to clones before, even if she doesn't any longer). And the "I felt them die!" nonsense -- both worldbuilding choice (I mean, WHUT) and acting choices, the whole thing is just so... ugh. But actually everyone in this acts in ways that make no sense, for these specific characters or for rational human beings at all. People seem to know things they shouldn't know, and others believe them anyway. People worry about containment or don't as it suits the plot. People do dumb things all over the place. You hide a weapon by holding it behind behind your back? And Vila doesn't check? And Zelda choosing to fiddle with the uterine replicators when the whole building was going to be bombed flat, quite clearly -- I suppose it's meant to make some kind of poignant point about valuing all life, but the point it actually makes is that she's an idiot. (Also, is there a reason Servalan is wearing black now? (in any case, I definitely think she looks more striking in white.) Alas, s3 is not overwhelming me with great episodes so far...
"Rumours of Death" -- OK, that's more like it!! While it's not the first episode this season I've enjoyed, it's the first one I couldn't wait to finish, because it had actual tension, the first one I googled up the script to check some lines, the first one I already want to rewatch. Damn that was good! Roughed-up Avon masterminding his way to "just and sweet" revenge by putting his own life on the line is the kind of content I'm here for (and aww, Vila handing him the glass on arrival -- twice). The way Avon seems to pretty clearly understand he's being irrational about the whole thing -- and just doesn't care -- and the way the others react. From the scene with the torturer ("He's an animal Cally" "Yes, and it's contagious, isn't it.") to the others volunteering to go with Avon even though he keeps telling them it's not their fight (this would have more impact if these were people he'd been with for more than a couple of episodes, for the most part, but fine.) to the bit at the end, where Avon goes from kneeling down expecting his death to quipping post-teleport, and everyone else looking at him stone-faced. And of coursethe revelation with Anna, and Avon's reaction to it, and the whole Shakespearean tragedy of it. The thing was, I was so impressed by the councilor's wife fromthe first scene, and later her confrontation with the officer. And I really liked the way Shrinker (the torturer was played) -- he goes from reprehensible to pathetic, but he is sort of pitiable -- it's hard to ignore his humanity, whatever he's guilty of -- and then Avon's promised "a way out" being a gun (in a sealed cavern). And he surveillance guys with their own little drama (they really felt like characters), and the major got a heroic sort of moment even though he was one of the "bad guys" -- I think this might've been a first, or at least a first in a while. Everybody feels like a person. And Avon is quite terrifying in this mode. And then, damn, the scenes between him and Servalan, with the chains (S: "Go to hell, Avon."/A: "Probably. But I'd like someinformation first."/S: "In exchange for what? A quick death?"/A: "THAT is the reward for silence."/S: "I've had worse offers."), and then her just about caressing his face with the gun. (If there's fic that takes off from this interaction, links pls). And finally back to a Servalan that's actually interesting (and in an interesting costume again; I liked black and white asymmetric dress). But there are also lighter moments, that sort of underscore the darkness ofthe whole: Vila drinking "sociably" with Orac, Tarrant's little elaborate bow/curtsy thing and grin after he, Cally, Dayna, and Avon disable all the guards.
"Sarcophagus" -- oh look, Cally's possessed by a thing again. I liked the space folksong that we heard for a bit, but other than that, it wasn't really my kind of episode. I don'tcarefor poltergeist stories, which this basically was, and the silent masked figures interludes were more dull than mysterious (although Tarrant looked surprisingly fetching in his red onesie). And before the ghost action really got going, Tarrant vs Avon posturing was not very interesting (Avon was right about it being nothing memorable). Oh, but what was memorable was Avon's new shirt shirt with the studded? elbow patches?? (where does he get these things...) Oh, and looking at the Wiki, I see this is an episode written by Tanith Lee, which probably explains the atmospheric oddness of it.
"Ultraworld" -- XD an actual "aliens made them do it" plot XD And Dayna is a very resourceful and decisive young lady XD Vila teaching Orac riddles with bad puns in them, progressing to limericks, and Orac getting very into it was fun XD (and it was plot-relevant nonsense, too -- that was kind of cool.) The giant inflatable brain "core" thing was... less fun XD But, seriously, ANOTHER "something has hijacked Cally" episode? I like that Avon is driven by curiosity here -- it feels like a privilege (speaking in terms of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, say). Germanium circuitry, heh -- good luck with that.
"Moloch" -- I was braced for this after "Kairos", but this was actually... surprisingly not terrible? Like, I did not at all like the rapeyness of, well, every non-recurring male character in this, and the whole thing was tediously male-gaze-y, and also I found the story jumped around a bit too much for my taste, but I kind of liked Avon getting to nerd out about another thing (and Dayna's dismay at him actually crunching into the apple), and Vila and Servalan teaming up for a brief moment (poor Vila! now there's something I'd like to see more of in fic!), and while the colonel in the vat looked ridiculously awful, I found the Moloch puppet thing... kind of cute, actually XD And also there was more of Avon being protective of Vila (where Vila can't see it), which is a dynamic I'm starting to find really cute.
"Death-Watch" -- This was fairly fun, though rather slight. I mean, maybe the setup was original back in the day, but now it just made me think of The Hunger Games, although I did like the war-by-proxy aspect as combined with entertainment ("murder without guilt, death without loss"/"war without destruction"). The special effects things left me cold, though I could see what they were intended to do -- the "first person POV" of the fight shots mimicking the effect of the disks, all the slo-mo stuff and close-up reaction shots. But Orac objecting to being made viscaster and being generally grumpy was fun; there were some nice Vila moments. I liked Dayna getting to hold Servalan at gunpoint (I generally liked Dayna in this episode). But best of all was the scene of Avon dropping in on Servalan, their little chat and the kiss (and the look in her eyes after he teleported away) -- just, the chemistry between them continues to be really great.
"Terminal" -- I was very curious to get to this one, because
executrix had said was a favorite above "Star One" as a season finale, and that there was 'negative space' Blake. And, indeed, that's an awesome way to describe Blake's presence in, or at least over, this episode, and also it was really good. I do think it's better than "Star One", even, though certainly less FUN. "Star One" ends on a cliffhanger, but it's a more cheerful set of tropes. This ends with, as Tarrant says, losers all around. And even if I don't believe that Blake is actually dead, the Liberator certainly is, and Zen. :(( That scene where Vila is standing there watching Zen wind down, when Zen actually speaks to him as a person for the first time, *sniff*
And, of course, there was Avon, and Avon and Servalan, and Avon and Blake, with a lot of both wonderful and painful things. Avon, staying up for 30 hours straight for the treasure hunt, and chasing everyone off, and Tarrant looked like he was about to cry there when Avon had the gun pointed at him, and then Avon just... keeps walking around the flight eck with the gun and gesturing with it (Avon clearly needs a nap XD). Proximity to Blake, like, spiritually, seems to have sent Avon into not telling people things overdrive ("You could try trusting me" -- sure, buddy, you're acting real trustworthy around now). The others trying to invite themselves along on his mission (Vila being willing to back him up with no explanation -- he's used to it, I guess -- and Cally attempting to reason with him: "If you want one of your cold rational explanations, we can't afford to lose you"), and then Avon giving the order for the Liberator to run (though I do wonder what he was going to do if Vila had obeyed -- did he think he could rescue Blake some other way, or would he just have been content to die along with him? Or did he just not trust Servalan to keep her bargain and so figured giving her the Liberator did not in any way improve their chances, probably diminished them, because then there'd be nothing left that she wanted? That seems plausible both for Avon to believe and for Servalan to actually do, so.)
And, yeah, all the Blake/Avon feels, from the look on Avon's face when he gets "confirmation" that Blake is alive and there, to the posturing by Blake's bedside, which does not take in computer-generated Blake in the least ("Carevul, Avon, your sentiment is showing", as an echo of Avon's "Sentiment breeds weakness, let it get ahold of you and you're dead" earlier on the ship). And, of course, Servalan has his number when it comes to Blake: "You made it easy because you wanted to believe it" -- and the look on his face when she repeats that Blake is dead and he'd been taken in by an illusion -- such a contrast to their dynamic just before, which was kind of adorably flirty: they were giggling together at one point, and of course this exchange:
A: If it was a trap, it had to be yours. The precise planning, the meticulous detail, the general flair, who else could it be.
S: Thank you. That you of all people should appreciate my work is very flattering.
A: I thought it might be.
(Also, I note that nobody -- not fake Blake, not Avon, not Servalan -- are doing more than a cursory node in the direction of pretending that Avon came because he is after whatever money-making discovery Blake had made, and not for Blake himself -- it's no more than plausible deniability, and I'm guessing nobody even bothered making up what the money-making opportunity was.)
But yeah, from the moment Avon actually accepts that Blake is dead and he's been taken in by Servalan -- the way he just shuts down. He says nothing for the entire following scene, and only one more line in the rest of the episode ("She won. We-- I let her take the Liberator."), can barely face the others (or the camera) -- butthen there's that grin at the end, when the others have gone, that Servalan's not won after all, presumably.
The other thing that stood out to me about Avon this time -- he is usually there acting off the others, snarking or posturing, but this time there are rather long solo stretches, and the way his demeanor changes between them is very interesting: he is so much jumpier when he is not posturing for someone's benefit, his movements much more furtive than deliberate -- it especially struck me when he goes from talking to Blake with apparent unconcern about how he's going to find his way back there again to skulking about right after.
On a lighter node: more Space Monopoly! (or maybe this was a different game than last time). And also guys in gorilla suits, which I'm not sure why they were necessary, but as far as ridiculous SFX go, at least they were not too bad. Oh, but Avon's studded gauntlets XD that does not appear to be a very practicalfashion choice, though they do look pretty badass. And windswept Avon is in general a really nice look.
Back to a more ominous note: Avon tells Servalan, "I always thought that his [Blake's] death and mine might be linked in some way." I have gathered from tags on AO3 and general osmosis that something ominous happens at the end of the series, and at this point I'm assuming this is foreshadowing for that. (Oh, and I do hope Servalan made it out safely via teleport. I' hate to lose her, too.)
Back to more general (but still spoilery) thoughts:
My top 5 favorite episodes so far (because I'm curious to keep track and see how/if it changes) -- not necessarily in order, but more or less
- Pressure Point (s2)
- Terminal (s3)
- Rumours of Death (s3)
- Star One (s2)
- either Killer or Gambit (both s2)
My 5 least favorite episodes (ditto):
- Children of Auron (s3) (I'm not sure it's really at the top, but it bugged me the most, I think, as well as being the most recent thing I watched on this list)
- Harvest of Kairos (s3)
- Voice from the Past (s2)
- The Keeper (s2)
- Hostage (s2) probably? I feel less strongly about it than the others, though
(I wasn't tracking my individual episode impressions through s1, but even if I had been, I'm pretty sure none would crack the top 5 list, and probably none the bottom 5, either -- there were some episodes I found dull, but inoffensive.)
Also, on a very random note: as I think I've probably mentioned already, one of the reasons I was interested in B7 is that I keep hearing my beloved Duv Galeni is an Avon Expy. I actually don't find the characters all that similar beyond "sardonic" being the default setting, but I can see how one would be inspired by the other. Amusingly enough, ikel89 is reading Brothers in Arms now, and encountering Galeni for the first time. This physical description definitely is a good match: "An arresting-looking man, though far from pretty. Dark hair. Hooded, nutmeg-brown eyes. A hard, guarded mouth, fleshy blade of a nose sweeping down a Roman profile that matched his officer's haircut. His hands were blunt and clean, steepled now together in a still tension." Anyway, I'll hold off on my thoughts on Avon // Galeni until I'm actually done with canon, but I've also been thinking about Sorting Hats Chat sorting Avon and possibly some of the others, but so far all I've been able to conclude is that Servalan is a Slytherin Primary/Slytherin Secondary, which is, like, the world's least surprising revelation. And Avon definitely has some Slytherin models going on, but I haven't actually figured out what's underneath them, although I'm currently leaning towards "more Slytherin" for Primary, anyway... and Ravenclaw for Secondary, probably, because of how he sort of shuts down when he runs into something he truly hadn't accounted for in his contingency plans, like Anna in RoD or having the promise of Blake being alive yanked away in Terminal. But like I said, this bears more thought.
**
I also watched Castlevania season 3, which, after what I thought was a pretty lackluster s2, was actually a lot of fun! Spoilers!
The main thing I'd liked about s2 was the Sypha-Trevor-Alucard interaction, and the Alucard/Trevor subtext. I definitely missed both that and the trio-ness this season, but Alucard making rag dolls of Sypha and Trevor and talking to them (and answering himself "in character" XD) was absolutely hilarious, in a really sad way, and also shows they should never have left him to his own devices, and I definitely hope s4 fixes that. Meanbwhile, Alucard's actual plotline was both dull and incomprehensible, outside of the fact that he misses Trevor and Sypha and needs them to come reclaim him ASAP. But Sypha and Trevor dynamic together was great, especially the part where, like, her level of combat magic at this point is such that she apparently mostly keeps him around to warm her feet, but does occasionally let him beat up some mooks to feel useful. (And the final battle was pretty cool.)
I had been DEATHLY bored by both fampire and forge master shenanigans in s2, and was very relieved to have a Dracula-free season -- he has been my least favorite part of the show starting from season 1. I'd not like Carmilla in s2 either, but this turn surprised me pleasantly by giving her some vampire girl friends to play off (which ikel89 -- see tag -- christened "lesbian vampire commune"), and then making her much less of a focus than I'd feared. I liked all three of the other vampireladies more than I like Carmilla (which is admittedly not that hard), but especially (and unsurprisingly) Striga, the general + doting girlfriend of the logistics lady ("Your idea was the equivalent of the village idiot walking in here and saying, 'I think we should be able to light fires by punding a fish.' It basically made no sense and Morana made it work anyway.") They were very cute, and Lenore was pretty interesting, and, look, I hate to say it, but she kind of has a point about Hector, OK -- boy clearly needs looking after.
I am still deeply bored by Isaac's part of the storyline, although he did at least get the fun Captain to talk to for a few episodes there, instead of his night creatures an random crazy people.
Speaking of fun new characters, I definitely enjoyed St Germain, and was vastly amused that all his lies seemed to point to a deep pining for indoor plumbing -- looking for indoor toilets! toilet paper! (topical, btw). K had resignedly supposed that I would like the Judge (because despots), and I did, well, until the point it became clear that he was tricking children into his pit for running around, which was an unexpectedly Hot Fuzz turn.
A selection of supplementary Best Chat liveblog reactions, because, really, it's a thing best reacted to via WhatsApp:
me: That's a very cute weevil in Hector's moldy prison bread
K: This sentence... Can it get even more peak anna?
me: Random Japanese boy is pretty cute, with his frecles. No wonder Alucard was Disney Princessing.
me: Although I'm not sure why he's wearing 8/15th of a shirt.
me: Trevor, reminiscing fondly: "Burning devil goat turds from the sky..."
me: Shut up, Trevor! I wanted to hear the rest of St Germains story about waking up in Latvia after an absinthe bender!
And these are my deep thoughts on Castlevania s3.
*
Meme from my flist:
Name a TV show you like starting with each letter of the alphabet
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Babylon 5
Cybill
Dilbert
E... uhh... Ellen?
Firefly
Good Place, The
House M.D.
Inspector Gadget
Jerry Springer Show, The (shut up :p)
Killjoys
Lewis
Modern Family
Newlywed Game, The (I mean, I watched it, which is more than I can say for anything else on Wikipedia's list of shows starting with N)
Out of This World
Person of Interest
Q -- pass. The closest I come to having even watched any is a couple of clips of QI.
Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The
Simpsons, The
That 70s Show
U... I watched Unhappily Ever After for a bit -- can I count that?
Voltron: Defender of the Universe (or whichever the old one is)
White Collar
Xena: Warrior Princess
Yes Minister
Z... I got nothin'
*
And finally, a vid rec via
schneefink: Stand by You, multifandom vid with supportive male/female friendship. Of the represented fandoms, I was most in it for Killjoys, but also enjoyed the MCU and Brooklyn Nine-Nine moments (and there were some other lovely-looking ones from fandoms I either don't know or am not fannish about).
This entry was originally posted at https://hamsterwoman.dreamwidth.org/1123299.html. Comment wherever you prefer (I prefer LJ).