The Wire, Downton Abby and Sanctuary
I finished season four of The Wire the other day, and am mourning already because I only have 10 episodes to go and it's not enough. I think I mentioned when I first said I was watching it that I gave it a go because a. people kept on comparing Game of Thrones to it, and b. it's been called the best television show ever so many times it has basically moved from opinion to fact.
Regarding a, I'm really starting to understand the comparison. There are a couple of characters that you can compares (for example, Colvin in season 3 = Jon in ADWD, Stringer Bell to an extent is Tyrion in ACOK and Omar is somewhere between Beric and LS on the sliding scale of vigilante morality), but the comparison really is the depressing nature of the game, the fact that the world is crappy place, and anyone with the will to change it either is outright destroyed by it or eventually becomes just another part of the problem, the “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” issue.
The world building is also epically amazing. I know 'world building' is a fantasy and SF phrase, and The Wire is a show that is prided for it's realism, but, I think, in a large part, for the majority of the shows audience, the streets of West Baltimore are just as far from their experience as, say, the bridge of the Enterprise, and by having so many characters from the all walks of life, from the mayor down to corner boys, you start to feel like you know this place, the way you feel you 'know' a place that doesn't exist when the writing of an SF or fantasy series or book is bloody good, and really, I think the show should be essential viewing to anyone who wants to make a genre series for that reason.
Which sort of brings me on to b, and thing is, after being told by multiple critical sources that I hold in high esteem that it is 'the greatest the television show of all time' I can't help but ask when watching it "is this the greatest television show I have ever watched?" I mean, putting that out there is like issuing a challenge. And I can't really given an answer yet because I've still got 10 episodes to go, but I think I'm going to weigh in on it when I'm done.
Oh, and also, going from Michael K Williams trying not to get shived in The Wire, to Michael K Williams lamenting how Lego has lost its simplicity while he was in prison in Communit is supremely weird, but in a good way.
So bearing in mind that I've been watching The Wire and reading ASOIAF and those two may be influencing my world view, but what strikes me about season 2 of Downton Abbey is that nothing bad has happened. And sure, it's nice having a drama in which people aren't getting quietly 'disappeared' in vacant housing or beheaded in front of their children, but it's World War One, I'd expect something bad to happen to a character that we know. I thought for sure William would quickly become cannon fodder and Branson would get sent to prison for being a conscientious objector, and sure, there has been a storyline of about a character with shell-shock (who was introduced for that purpose), and the wounded are a large part of the storyline, but nothing truly bad has happened to a character we knew before this season. And it's bugging me. It's World War One and things are just too damn nice.
Anyway, currently the Grantham-Crawley's are the anti-Starks (although, actually thinking about it, they would so be the Tyrells).
Finally, I watched the Sanctuary season premier even though after the lacklustre second half of season three - which was such a disappointment as the first half of season three was the show at its best - I wasn't all that enthused.
But I watched and there was time travel and Victorian London and Watson and twice the Magnus and there was Druitt-logic and Watson going gooey eyes over a smartphone and Magnus being all morally ambiguous Victorian female crime fighter with a big ass gun taking on famous serial killers. And it pushed all my buttons and it was brilliant and I loved it. Oh, show. Why can't you be like this all the time? What is with the swinging pendulum of quality?
But then, has there ever been a bad episode featuring the Five. Put two of those characters together and you've got gold. Give the storyline to any of the other characters, and it's more luck of the draw whether it's good or not. Anyway, I'm glad that the wonderfully messed up closed triangle of Magnus/Druitt/Watson got a lot more screen time (Druitt/Watson must be official canon now), and I loved the Magnus/Druitt scenes. I mean, I feel a bit wrong liking those scenes because you're watching this normally so incredibly composed HBIC being abused by her partner, but the scene of him threatening her with his knife at her throat was one of the biggest insights we've ever been given into her character, the fact that she's closed off and fiercely independent and or afraid of anything, it's not just her age or her upbringing, it's because she survived him. And not only did she survive him, but she became the person he's afraid of, putting a knife to his throat, and it's both a triumph because she can defeat him and a tragedy because she lost so much of her compassion.
So yes, even with the swinging pendulum of quality, Helen Magnus is still one of the best and most fascinating characters on television at the moment and she's kicking ass and taking names, so I'm on board for season four.
Regarding a, I'm really starting to understand the comparison. There are a couple of characters that you can compares (for example, Colvin in season 3 = Jon in ADWD, Stringer Bell to an extent is Tyrion in ACOK and Omar is somewhere between Beric and LS on the sliding scale of vigilante morality), but the comparison really is the depressing nature of the game, the fact that the world is crappy place, and anyone with the will to change it either is outright destroyed by it or eventually becomes just another part of the problem, the “you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” issue.
The world building is also epically amazing. I know 'world building' is a fantasy and SF phrase, and The Wire is a show that is prided for it's realism, but, I think, in a large part, for the majority of the shows audience, the streets of West Baltimore are just as far from their experience as, say, the bridge of the Enterprise, and by having so many characters from the all walks of life, from the mayor down to corner boys, you start to feel like you know this place, the way you feel you 'know' a place that doesn't exist when the writing of an SF or fantasy series or book is bloody good, and really, I think the show should be essential viewing to anyone who wants to make a genre series for that reason.
Which sort of brings me on to b, and thing is, after being told by multiple critical sources that I hold in high esteem that it is 'the greatest the television show of all time' I can't help but ask when watching it "is this the greatest television show I have ever watched?" I mean, putting that out there is like issuing a challenge. And I can't really given an answer yet because I've still got 10 episodes to go, but I think I'm going to weigh in on it when I'm done.
Oh, and also, going from Michael K Williams trying not to get shived in The Wire, to Michael K Williams lamenting how Lego has lost its simplicity while he was in prison in Communit is supremely weird, but in a good way.
So bearing in mind that I've been watching The Wire and reading ASOIAF and those two may be influencing my world view, but what strikes me about season 2 of Downton Abbey is that nothing bad has happened. And sure, it's nice having a drama in which people aren't getting quietly 'disappeared' in vacant housing or beheaded in front of their children, but it's World War One, I'd expect something bad to happen to a character that we know. I thought for sure William would quickly become cannon fodder and Branson would get sent to prison for being a conscientious objector, and sure, there has been a storyline of about a character with shell-shock (who was introduced for that purpose), and the wounded are a large part of the storyline, but nothing truly bad has happened to a character we knew before this season. And it's bugging me. It's World War One and things are just too damn nice.
Anyway, currently the Grantham-Crawley's are the anti-Starks (although, actually thinking about it, they would so be the Tyrells).
Finally, I watched the Sanctuary season premier even though after the lacklustre second half of season three - which was such a disappointment as the first half of season three was the show at its best - I wasn't all that enthused.
But I watched and there was time travel and Victorian London and Watson and twice the Magnus and there was Druitt-logic and Watson going gooey eyes over a smartphone and Magnus being all morally ambiguous Victorian female crime fighter with a big ass gun taking on famous serial killers. And it pushed all my buttons and it was brilliant and I loved it. Oh, show. Why can't you be like this all the time? What is with the swinging pendulum of quality?
But then, has there ever been a bad episode featuring the Five. Put two of those characters together and you've got gold. Give the storyline to any of the other characters, and it's more luck of the draw whether it's good or not. Anyway, I'm glad that the wonderfully messed up closed triangle of Magnus/Druitt/Watson got a lot more screen time (Druitt/Watson must be official canon now), and I loved the Magnus/Druitt scenes. I mean, I feel a bit wrong liking those scenes because you're watching this normally so incredibly composed HBIC being abused by her partner, but the scene of him threatening her with his knife at her throat was one of the biggest insights we've ever been given into her character, the fact that she's closed off and fiercely independent and or afraid of anything, it's not just her age or her upbringing, it's because she survived him. And not only did she survive him, but she became the person he's afraid of, putting a knife to his throat, and it's both a triumph because she can defeat him and a tragedy because she lost so much of her compassion.
So yes, even with the swinging pendulum of quality, Helen Magnus is still one of the best and most fascinating characters on television at the moment and she's kicking ass and taking names, so I'm on board for season four.