rl, TO, TVD
So because I feel incapable of watching TO/TVD without doing a reaction post, it kept getting put off, but I’m finally getting to it.
Real life update first though: Grandma is fairly stable, it’s still unclear quite how much damage was done though. She’s improving somewhat but she’s a long way from being herself...if she ever really will be again. We’ll see how things go in the next few weeks but cautious optimism is the go to word for most things.
Okay, on with the shows.
The Originals 1x09
That was a solid episode, not a great one but there were moments.
Cami continues to rocket up my scale of characters, although I was less than happy with her forgiveness/sympathy for Klaus after the mind sharing moment. I look forward to what could happen next with this plot line, especially if she and Davina are teaming up to do something awesome.
The weak link in the cast remains Hayley, even though this gave her about the most to do she’s had all season. I just...don’t care. I’m more interested in the mystery of the magical mystery baby than I am her, and I still role my eyes at the show going the magical mystery baby route. It’s not helped by the fact that I reject this whole Hayley/Elijah thing; it may not be as awful as I expected early on but I still don’t find anything likable about it. And if there is any character development from it, it’s all on Elijah’s side, from Hayley’s side it’s just as flat as her character.
I have mixed feelings about Marcel this episode, but none of them very strong. I had a thought at the beginning of the episode that while in the past I never really got into Marcel and Rebekah when they were apart, they kind of worked together for me, but then that’s gone by the end. And I don’t have a good enough read on Marcel’s character to know how much of what he does in this episode is an act in service of short term pacification vs. a long game or how much of it is really genuine. I do know that he basically just agreed to be Klaus’s queen and I still can’t decide if I ship them either.
We did finally get some Rebekah teasing Elijah over his romantic interests, just not what I always wanted to see. Mostly Rebekah didn’t get much to do this week, but I do like getting some of their sibling relationship even if we never seem to get enough of it. And I do like her continued desire to protest Hayley in all this, but that’s nothing new either.
So, Elijah. I have surprisingly few Elijah thoughts this week. I like having more badass Elijah threatening the other vampires to do what he says. (Although I have a moment of “But...” reaction when he called Klaus his baby brother, Kol was your baby brother Elijah even if we discount Henrick.) Also, maybe it’s just the way I am with family, but I don’t really see why 1000 yrs ago semi kinship would matter to Klaus all that much. These aren’t relations he missed out on when he might have known the other side of his family, these are their many times great grandkids and that...doesn’t seem like it would actually matter. Now if there’s some mytharc surrounding this werewolf line sure this could be an interesting plot thread to follow, but for Klaus’s own development why would it matter? But then I did like the final scene between Elijah and Klaus but I feel like when Klaus said that Elijah saying he was wrong must have been hard, the response should have been along the lines of ‘I’m happy to have been wrong about this.’ But it was a good scene nonetheless.
And then Klaus. Well, I suppose Klaus is learning that he can’t just be Klaus and rule the city the way Marcel did. This is how I tend to assume Klaus and Elijah’s partnership worked over the centuries. Klaus ruled in that he handed down edicts and commanded loyalty, but Elijah was the Hand of the King, and did the actual work of ruling; played politics, struck deals, made things run smoothly so Klaus the ruler didn’t have to bother. So while Klaus is on the outs with Elijah he tries to stick Marcel in that role because Marcel proved able to rule while doing the full job, he should be able to serve at Klaus’s side just fine. This could lead to a complex power structure if Klaus and Elijah get back on the same page, but right now I think Elijah is fine letting someone else manage Klaus’s affairs while he focuses on Klaus’s possible redemption. But yeah, Klaus’s first couple days back ruling the city went about as well as I would have figured, he has no idea how to do this on his own. Granted the Faction - which is not the Council - were kind of being dicks or at the talking ones were, but I’ll be curious how this rebuilds into Klaus’s designs now (now that they’re actually dead since it wasn’t them Elijah killed a few weeks (...*maybe* two weeks in show time I guess) back). Marcel will probably do it, but I wanted to see how Elijah would do it, guess we’ll see.
TVD 5x09
That was an okay episode too. I’m not sure I have much to say about it, but it was solidly okay. The flashbacks were fairly dull, the Stefan/Kathrine stuff is a bit bizarre and I don’t know how I feel about it, in fact the whole Stefan side of the plot felt sort of like stalling and sort of just functionally moving pieces around, but there was a decent amount of tension and horror to what’s going on in the Whitmore storyline.
I’m nursing more than a little bit of Elena/Aaron shippy feelings, but I don’t know how much of it is actually about Aaron and how much of it is my devotion to Elena/humans-humanity and generally Elena/anyone not named Salvatore. To be fair during a good portion of the episode Elena/Damon was pretty much on a level of ‘Well, if it weren’t Damon I could see why people ship this, but I still *really* hate Damon,’ but then the end happened and...yeah, the Damon f it all became a lot bigger issue than it had been during the episode. I expect this to be addressed at some point, because this is the sort of thing Elena just shouldn’t accept.
But if there was ever proof that I don’t feel the same about this show as I used to it’s that I’m not wailing or even all that anxious about Elena in this situation. I used to love this girl so much it *was* the show to me to see her happy and safe, but now...I still don’t want to see her in this position, but it’s largely out of general distaste for this sort of thing, sentient creatures as lab rats and all. I’m not shaking my fist at the screen that if they dare hard a hair on my girl’s head I’ll be the one taking bloody vengeance the way I would have even last season. This season is way better than last, and it comes closer to treating Elena as the character she used to be but...I was raging against the dying of that love last year, this season it’s just not really there anymore, the improvement isn’t enough to relight the flame.
I guess Elena continues to be the reflection of how I feel about the show in general that way, the way she always was. When I’m apathetic to Elena, I’m apathetic to the show; but when I loved Elena was when I *loved* this show. Cause and effect I’m not sure which is which, but they go hand in hand.
I guess I should get back to writing s3-set fanfic then.
Real life update first though: Grandma is fairly stable, it’s still unclear quite how much damage was done though. She’s improving somewhat but she’s a long way from being herself...if she ever really will be again. We’ll see how things go in the next few weeks but cautious optimism is the go to word for most things.
Okay, on with the shows.
The Originals 1x09
That was a solid episode, not a great one but there were moments.
Cami continues to rocket up my scale of characters, although I was less than happy with her forgiveness/sympathy for Klaus after the mind sharing moment. I look forward to what could happen next with this plot line, especially if she and Davina are teaming up to do something awesome.
The weak link in the cast remains Hayley, even though this gave her about the most to do she’s had all season. I just...don’t care. I’m more interested in the mystery of the magical mystery baby than I am her, and I still role my eyes at the show going the magical mystery baby route. It’s not helped by the fact that I reject this whole Hayley/Elijah thing; it may not be as awful as I expected early on but I still don’t find anything likable about it. And if there is any character development from it, it’s all on Elijah’s side, from Hayley’s side it’s just as flat as her character.
I have mixed feelings about Marcel this episode, but none of them very strong. I had a thought at the beginning of the episode that while in the past I never really got into Marcel and Rebekah when they were apart, they kind of worked together for me, but then that’s gone by the end. And I don’t have a good enough read on Marcel’s character to know how much of what he does in this episode is an act in service of short term pacification vs. a long game or how much of it is really genuine. I do know that he basically just agreed to be Klaus’s queen and I still can’t decide if I ship them either.
We did finally get some Rebekah teasing Elijah over his romantic interests, just not what I always wanted to see. Mostly Rebekah didn’t get much to do this week, but I do like getting some of their sibling relationship even if we never seem to get enough of it. And I do like her continued desire to protest Hayley in all this, but that’s nothing new either.
So, Elijah. I have surprisingly few Elijah thoughts this week. I like having more badass Elijah threatening the other vampires to do what he says. (Although I have a moment of “But...” reaction when he called Klaus his baby brother, Kol was your baby brother Elijah even if we discount Henrick.) Also, maybe it’s just the way I am with family, but I don’t really see why 1000 yrs ago semi kinship would matter to Klaus all that much. These aren’t relations he missed out on when he might have known the other side of his family, these are their many times great grandkids and that...doesn’t seem like it would actually matter. Now if there’s some mytharc surrounding this werewolf line sure this could be an interesting plot thread to follow, but for Klaus’s own development why would it matter? But then I did like the final scene between Elijah and Klaus but I feel like when Klaus said that Elijah saying he was wrong must have been hard, the response should have been along the lines of ‘I’m happy to have been wrong about this.’ But it was a good scene nonetheless.
And then Klaus. Well, I suppose Klaus is learning that he can’t just be Klaus and rule the city the way Marcel did. This is how I tend to assume Klaus and Elijah’s partnership worked over the centuries. Klaus ruled in that he handed down edicts and commanded loyalty, but Elijah was the Hand of the King, and did the actual work of ruling; played politics, struck deals, made things run smoothly so Klaus the ruler didn’t have to bother. So while Klaus is on the outs with Elijah he tries to stick Marcel in that role because Marcel proved able to rule while doing the full job, he should be able to serve at Klaus’s side just fine. This could lead to a complex power structure if Klaus and Elijah get back on the same page, but right now I think Elijah is fine letting someone else manage Klaus’s affairs while he focuses on Klaus’s possible redemption. But yeah, Klaus’s first couple days back ruling the city went about as well as I would have figured, he has no idea how to do this on his own. Granted the Faction - which is not the Council - were kind of being dicks or at the talking ones were, but I’ll be curious how this rebuilds into Klaus’s designs now (now that they’re actually dead since it wasn’t them Elijah killed a few weeks (...*maybe* two weeks in show time I guess) back). Marcel will probably do it, but I wanted to see how Elijah would do it, guess we’ll see.
TVD 5x09
That was an okay episode too. I’m not sure I have much to say about it, but it was solidly okay. The flashbacks were fairly dull, the Stefan/Kathrine stuff is a bit bizarre and I don’t know how I feel about it, in fact the whole Stefan side of the plot felt sort of like stalling and sort of just functionally moving pieces around, but there was a decent amount of tension and horror to what’s going on in the Whitmore storyline.
I’m nursing more than a little bit of Elena/Aaron shippy feelings, but I don’t know how much of it is actually about Aaron and how much of it is my devotion to Elena/humans-humanity and generally Elena/anyone not named Salvatore. To be fair during a good portion of the episode Elena/Damon was pretty much on a level of ‘Well, if it weren’t Damon I could see why people ship this, but I still *really* hate Damon,’ but then the end happened and...yeah, the Damon f it all became a lot bigger issue than it had been during the episode. I expect this to be addressed at some point, because this is the sort of thing Elena just shouldn’t accept.
But if there was ever proof that I don’t feel the same about this show as I used to it’s that I’m not wailing or even all that anxious about Elena in this situation. I used to love this girl so much it *was* the show to me to see her happy and safe, but now...I still don’t want to see her in this position, but it’s largely out of general distaste for this sort of thing, sentient creatures as lab rats and all. I’m not shaking my fist at the screen that if they dare hard a hair on my girl’s head I’ll be the one taking bloody vengeance the way I would have even last season. This season is way better than last, and it comes closer to treating Elena as the character she used to be but...I was raging against the dying of that love last year, this season it’s just not really there anymore, the improvement isn’t enough to relight the flame.
I guess Elena continues to be the reflection of how I feel about the show in general that way, the way she always was. When I’m apathetic to Elena, I’m apathetic to the show; but when I loved Elena was when I *loved* this show. Cause and effect I’m not sure which is which, but they go hand in hand.
I guess I should get back to writing s3-set fanfic then.