short form reactions (mostly)
So, this week in TV...
-Castle keeps tying up its long running plot arcs. While this one doesn’t give me the same feeling of it being over that I had when they wrapped up the Johanna Beckett case (mostly because 3XK was never as central to the characters as the Beckett case and because the Castle abduction plot is still mostly unanswered) I did go and look up whether we were possibly in endgame here. Turns out we’re not, and I think that’s okay. While I think there are plenty of shows that couldn’t sustain more than seven season yet have tried, Castle still feels like it’s got some staying power; and they do change things up enough that it hasn’t gotten stale.
-I’m guessing next week is the end of Agent Carter, I seem to remember that it was going to be eight episodes. I’ve liked it, and if down the road we get more, I’ll probably be happy; but it’s always sounded like the ratings probably wouldn’t support it, and as long as this story ends well I’m not going to feel cheated if all we get is one solid mini-series. And it has been solid, and I expect it will end solidly, but I’ve never ended up loving it as much as I wanted to; maybe down the road a rewatch will make me rethink that, but that’s how I feel for now.
-I’m not sure I like racing though the last season of Parks and Rec this way, although that likely has more to do with it being a short season than any real problems with the pacing. I’ll hold off on giving more thoughts until it ends next week.
-The Flash...well mainly I’m wondering how long until the CW makes a whole Justice League collection. Jointly, having multiple shows in the same universe makes me lean towards Barry not being able to change history. If it were just their one show I’d give them better odds, but with a growing universe I don’t see how it can work, certainly can’t see it happening without some big plot holes popping up.
-Arrow had some good moments, and some not so good ones. I’m normally not a fan of episodes that spend a lot of time on the flashbacks, but this one had a lot of weight to it, so I did really like it. But I think it would make it really weird to put together a chronological cut of things; as it’s shipping tone is very different from how things were in season 1 (for that matter, this whole season of flashbacks has been out of line with the shipping tone of season 1, apparently Oliver stopped giving Laurel much thought a while ago, contrary to s1’s treatment). Still, I’ll grin as much as anyone at Oliver/Felicity getting an early start, and be as sad as anyone because Laurel/Tommy makes me sad (hey, if Flash is going to play around with time travel, could we save Tommy somehow? And Sara, and Moira?). However, show, that should have been Walter’s office at that point in backstory (I miss Walter) and it kind of bugs me that he was downgraded to a small mention. Also, show, if you’re going to threaten Felicity as a way to put Oliver on edge, could we actually get more development on her side of the story?
-So, even if I hadn’t figured going in that this was the season (?) finale of Saving Hope, that episode would make it pretty clear. I get the impression splitting time between the two shows got to be too much for Gillies (or possibly one of the producers told him so), but now I’m going to have to go back to watching The Originals if I want my DG fix. I’m kind of not all that surprised in a lot of ways; the show would have been betraying itself to have anything truly come between Alex and Charlie, so ever since the pregnancy plot kicked off I’ve been expecting Joel to get the short end of the stick somehow. Sure I figured the show was just going to end up with him shut out of Alex and Charlie and baby being a perfect happy family, the show had sign-posted that all along without once giving the same signs of Alex/Joel going anywhere; but like I said I’m not exactly surprised at this end either. I might come back and give my thoughts on the season overall at some point, but don’t hold your breath.
-Reign...I’m having issues with Reign right now. A lot of that I know is because we’re in the middle of a plot arc so I can’t judge the whole thing without knowing where it will end up, and I am liking it, maybe even more than I did last season, but something feels lacking and some of the characters seem really inconsistently written between episodes. But a few short thoughts I guess. I was actually enjoying Condé in the first chunk of episodes as Mary’s Lancelot pining from the sidelines, but I don’t like them even toying with being together; and I feel like Mary is getting the most inconsistent writing right now, which bugs me because I can agree with most of her attitudes at this point, but not when they change weekly (unless that proves to be the point and I’ll look back on it later as a logical reaction to what happened). Greer becoming an accidental pimp is kind of amusing me, although where is Castleroy at this point? I wish Kenna had been written/performed so young-seeming last season, it would have given her interactions with Henry the creepy factor they should have had but I found totally lacking because she didn’t seem like a teenager then nearly as much as she does now. While I can buy Francis and Lola being drawn back together in some ways, I don’t think it’s a good idea for either of them, at least for now they both probably know that.
And just because I feel the need to get this out there: my growing affection for Reign has gotten mixed up in my always love for Babylon 5. And part of me has started seeing Francis and Mary as the French-Renaissance-teenage-royalty-AU version of John and Delenn (which would I think make Bash the Sinclair (without the grand destiny), Condé as Lennier (logical as Lenier is also Lancelot), Narcisse as Morden, maybe Catherine as a much more...conniving Ivanova (Catherine really isn’t much like Susan, but none of the young ladies have half enough wit to be her), before thinking I maybe should reverse that since these are actual historical figures (in theory) and I’m comparing them with definitely fiction sci-fi characters. Another part of me has cast them as David and hypothetical daughter Sheridan (turn the crowns into residual bone crests), which just gets weird since that would make them siblings and I do ship them in their current roles at least. Then I get worried about the reboot making everyone young and pretty people instead of real looking middle aged people who have lived and gone through some shit in their lives.
(I’m still working myself up for a grand B5 rewatch, clearly it’s still fresh enough in my mind that I don’t badly need to, but the same thing makes me want to.)
-Haven’t watched this week’s Jane the Virgin yet, it tends to be something I watch late in the week even though it airs early.
-Castle keeps tying up its long running plot arcs. While this one doesn’t give me the same feeling of it being over that I had when they wrapped up the Johanna Beckett case (mostly because 3XK was never as central to the characters as the Beckett case and because the Castle abduction plot is still mostly unanswered) I did go and look up whether we were possibly in endgame here. Turns out we’re not, and I think that’s okay. While I think there are plenty of shows that couldn’t sustain more than seven season yet have tried, Castle still feels like it’s got some staying power; and they do change things up enough that it hasn’t gotten stale.
-I’m guessing next week is the end of Agent Carter, I seem to remember that it was going to be eight episodes. I’ve liked it, and if down the road we get more, I’ll probably be happy; but it’s always sounded like the ratings probably wouldn’t support it, and as long as this story ends well I’m not going to feel cheated if all we get is one solid mini-series. And it has been solid, and I expect it will end solidly, but I’ve never ended up loving it as much as I wanted to; maybe down the road a rewatch will make me rethink that, but that’s how I feel for now.
-I’m not sure I like racing though the last season of Parks and Rec this way, although that likely has more to do with it being a short season than any real problems with the pacing. I’ll hold off on giving more thoughts until it ends next week.
-The Flash...well mainly I’m wondering how long until the CW makes a whole Justice League collection. Jointly, having multiple shows in the same universe makes me lean towards Barry not being able to change history. If it were just their one show I’d give them better odds, but with a growing universe I don’t see how it can work, certainly can’t see it happening without some big plot holes popping up.
-Arrow had some good moments, and some not so good ones. I’m normally not a fan of episodes that spend a lot of time on the flashbacks, but this one had a lot of weight to it, so I did really like it. But I think it would make it really weird to put together a chronological cut of things; as it’s shipping tone is very different from how things were in season 1 (for that matter, this whole season of flashbacks has been out of line with the shipping tone of season 1, apparently Oliver stopped giving Laurel much thought a while ago, contrary to s1’s treatment). Still, I’ll grin as much as anyone at Oliver/Felicity getting an early start, and be as sad as anyone because Laurel/Tommy makes me sad (hey, if Flash is going to play around with time travel, could we save Tommy somehow? And Sara, and Moira?). However, show, that should have been Walter’s office at that point in backstory (I miss Walter) and it kind of bugs me that he was downgraded to a small mention. Also, show, if you’re going to threaten Felicity as a way to put Oliver on edge, could we actually get more development on her side of the story?
-So, even if I hadn’t figured going in that this was the season (?) finale of Saving Hope, that episode would make it pretty clear. I get the impression splitting time between the two shows got to be too much for Gillies (or possibly one of the producers told him so), but now I’m going to have to go back to watching The Originals if I want my DG fix. I’m kind of not all that surprised in a lot of ways; the show would have been betraying itself to have anything truly come between Alex and Charlie, so ever since the pregnancy plot kicked off I’ve been expecting Joel to get the short end of the stick somehow. Sure I figured the show was just going to end up with him shut out of Alex and Charlie and baby being a perfect happy family, the show had sign-posted that all along without once giving the same signs of Alex/Joel going anywhere; but like I said I’m not exactly surprised at this end either. I might come back and give my thoughts on the season overall at some point, but don’t hold your breath.
-Reign...I’m having issues with Reign right now. A lot of that I know is because we’re in the middle of a plot arc so I can’t judge the whole thing without knowing where it will end up, and I am liking it, maybe even more than I did last season, but something feels lacking and some of the characters seem really inconsistently written between episodes. But a few short thoughts I guess. I was actually enjoying Condé in the first chunk of episodes as Mary’s Lancelot pining from the sidelines, but I don’t like them even toying with being together; and I feel like Mary is getting the most inconsistent writing right now, which bugs me because I can agree with most of her attitudes at this point, but not when they change weekly (unless that proves to be the point and I’ll look back on it later as a logical reaction to what happened). Greer becoming an accidental pimp is kind of amusing me, although where is Castleroy at this point? I wish Kenna had been written/performed so young-seeming last season, it would have given her interactions with Henry the creepy factor they should have had but I found totally lacking because she didn’t seem like a teenager then nearly as much as she does now. While I can buy Francis and Lola being drawn back together in some ways, I don’t think it’s a good idea for either of them, at least for now they both probably know that.
And just because I feel the need to get this out there: my growing affection for Reign has gotten mixed up in my always love for Babylon 5. And part of me has started seeing Francis and Mary as the French-Renaissance-teenage-royalty-AU version of John and Delenn (which would I think make Bash the Sinclair (without the grand destiny), Condé as Lennier (logical as Lenier is also Lancelot), Narcisse as Morden, maybe Catherine as a much more...conniving Ivanova (Catherine really isn’t much like Susan, but none of the young ladies have half enough wit to be her), before thinking I maybe should reverse that since these are actual historical figures (in theory) and I’m comparing them with definitely fiction sci-fi characters. Another part of me has cast them as David and hypothetical daughter Sheridan (turn the crowns into residual bone crests), which just gets weird since that would make them siblings and I do ship them in their current roles at least. Then I get worried about the reboot making everyone young and pretty people instead of real looking middle aged people who have lived and gone through some shit in their lives.
(I’m still working myself up for a grand B5 rewatch, clearly it’s still fresh enough in my mind that I don’t badly need to, but the same thing makes me want to.)
-Haven’t watched this week’s Jane the Virgin yet, it tends to be something I watch late in the week even though it airs early.