Ups and Down and H50
Yesterday was my birthday. I didn't make a big deal about it because, well, I had one of those horrible ten hours at work days. (High point of it all, telling my boss at my evening job--who was exhausted because apparently half the world called in sick so he'd been doing three jobs--that he should be very glad I didn't call in sick even though it was my birthday.)
I'm only mentioning it here because it bears on my reaction to the H50 ep, which I will put behind the cut.
Oh, show. I don't know how to quit you.
I get--because I'm not that oblivious to how television writers work--that there's still the possibility that Jenna's going to turn out to be a double or triple agent.
But show?
Did you finally have to drop the male pronoun on my birthday? Really?
::glares::
I don't expect a show to put a hot, smart lesbian character out there. I'm old enough that I don't get my hopes up for anything like that.
I just ask that you leave the narrative ambiguous enough that I can write my own version in my head.
Is that really too much to ask?
As for Lori, The New White Meat, well, while I'm all for the team getting another female member, I'm afraid my response to her is hopelessly tainted by the fact that she came onto the show at the same time that the show heterosexualized the Rachel Maddow clone.
Also, she is white.
This is a show set in Hawaii with nary a native Hawaiian on the primary team. On the one hand, I wish they'd come up with a way to, you know, hire a native Hawaiian in the primary cast. I get that in Hollywood people do that weasely thing where they insist that to greenlight a show they need a certain amount of star power. I don't buy that argument, but I know it's used.
However, the show did well in S1. They could take some risks in S2.
Putting a totally skinny, conventionally attractive (which of course means I find her utterly unattractive, entirely boring, and deeply unconvincing in her ability to kick ass) white woman on the team does not amuse me.
(OTOH, she's from Homeland Security? Anyone want to guess what I think of when I think of Homeland Security? That would be the TSA. Had they put a native Hawaiian in the role, I'd be bitching about that too. I'm fickle that way.)
However, I find that the show's mounting sins against women are adding up by the episode. Kill off older female governor after the Magic Insta Reveal that she's evil? Check.
Kill off the female native Hawaiian in the cast (Kelly Hu)? Check.
Kick Kono out of the HPD in a cloud of disgrace? Looking likely.
Bring in skinny white girl to replace her? Check.
I know. I'm supposed to be happy that we'll now have rogue Kono who can act outside the law. But they could have brought Lori in as a falsely accused TSAHomeland Security agent.
I realize that then she couldn't be charged with babysitting them (hello, patriarchal gender roles much) for the governor, but others have pointed out quite eloquently that the Republican lt. governor clearly isn't all about accountability, since he was fine with Steve's mid-day escape from the ambulance which included violently disabling the people in the bus with him.
If I thought it was mean to be a subtle critique about how many conservative types are all about the stern dad model and following rules while being more than willing to break them on their own, I might be able to live with it.
However, I'm pretty sure it's just sloppy writing.
Someone else pointed out that the H50 writers seemed to have gone to the Sudden Unexpected Twist Is Edgy, Compelling Storytelling, Right? school of writing instead of realizing that it's just bad writing.
On the upside, someone at work also had a birthday yesterday, so there was a spectacularly good chocolate cake. That won't make up for H50 this season, but it was a lovely piece of serendipity that made yesterday suck slightly less.
I'm only mentioning it here because it bears on my reaction to the H50 ep, which I will put behind the cut.
Oh, show. I don't know how to quit you.
I get--because I'm not that oblivious to how television writers work--that there's still the possibility that Jenna's going to turn out to be a double or triple agent.
But show?
Did you finally have to drop the male pronoun on my birthday? Really?
::glares::
I don't expect a show to put a hot, smart lesbian character out there. I'm old enough that I don't get my hopes up for anything like that.
I just ask that you leave the narrative ambiguous enough that I can write my own version in my head.
Is that really too much to ask?
As for Lori, The New White Meat, well, while I'm all for the team getting another female member, I'm afraid my response to her is hopelessly tainted by the fact that she came onto the show at the same time that the show heterosexualized the Rachel Maddow clone.
Also, she is white.
This is a show set in Hawaii with nary a native Hawaiian on the primary team. On the one hand, I wish they'd come up with a way to, you know, hire a native Hawaiian in the primary cast. I get that in Hollywood people do that weasely thing where they insist that to greenlight a show they need a certain amount of star power. I don't buy that argument, but I know it's used.
However, the show did well in S1. They could take some risks in S2.
Putting a totally skinny, conventionally attractive (which of course means I find her utterly unattractive, entirely boring, and deeply unconvincing in her ability to kick ass) white woman on the team does not amuse me.
(OTOH, she's from Homeland Security? Anyone want to guess what I think of when I think of Homeland Security? That would be the TSA. Had they put a native Hawaiian in the role, I'd be bitching about that too. I'm fickle that way.)
However, I find that the show's mounting sins against women are adding up by the episode. Kill off older female governor after the Magic Insta Reveal that she's evil? Check.
Kill off the female native Hawaiian in the cast (Kelly Hu)? Check.
Kick Kono out of the HPD in a cloud of disgrace? Looking likely.
Bring in skinny white girl to replace her? Check.
I know. I'm supposed to be happy that we'll now have rogue Kono who can act outside the law. But they could have brought Lori in as a falsely accused TSAHomeland Security agent.
I realize that then she couldn't be charged with babysitting them (hello, patriarchal gender roles much) for the governor, but others have pointed out quite eloquently that the Republican lt. governor clearly isn't all about accountability, since he was fine with Steve's mid-day escape from the ambulance which included violently disabling the people in the bus with him.
If I thought it was mean to be a subtle critique about how many conservative types are all about the stern dad model and following rules while being more than willing to break them on their own, I might be able to live with it.
However, I'm pretty sure it's just sloppy writing.
Someone else pointed out that the H50 writers seemed to have gone to the Sudden Unexpected Twist Is Edgy, Compelling Storytelling, Right? school of writing instead of realizing that it's just bad writing.
On the upside, someone at work also had a birthday yesterday, so there was a spectacularly good chocolate cake. That won't make up for H50 this season, but it was a lovely piece of serendipity that made yesterday suck slightly less.