Once, Game of Thrones and Christmas Specials
Tennant and Tate's Much Ado About Nothing is available as a download. Woooo! (You do have to pay for it, so I'm going to wait until after the holidays when I have a bit more money to actually watch it, but it's significantly cheaper than plane and theatre tickets and I'm just happy I get to see it).
Okay, so Once Upon A Time. Sheriff Graham did become a more interesting , but, I confess, I still didn't warm to him all that much before he died, namely because he became interesting because of what happened to him, not due to any particular interesting character details that we revealed. But I did find his death shocking and horrific and felt quite bad he died, but at the same time, I'm glad he did as it's upped the stakes.
Anyway, I really loved the episode. It went from quite silly (okay, so you want someone heartless, so you find weepiest huntsman in the land? Just, what, Evil Queen?), but loved that the show finally decided to show just how dark it was willing to go.
And yes, Regina is still my favourite character. And yes, I do hate myself just a little bit for loving the villain, and I do have to add that while I adore her, I don't approve of her actions in the slightest. But I really cannot help her being my favourite as not only is watching Regina flail about trying to preserve her happy ending (which isn't so happy) that is coming crumbling down around her just interesting, but Lana Parrilla gives her just enough vulnerability at the right moments that when she's don't something truly unforgivable and evil, rather than a sociopath or a monster, she strikes me as broken. It's as if she destroys because it's the only action she can take, like someone's literally gone and reprogrammed a person so that all the can do is hate and destroy, but there's the remnants of the person before the programming is there somewhere.
Okay, that's a lot to read into a few glances from the actress and it may be wishful thinking because, (cue my Regina theory of the week) I think it'd be fascinating if what Snow White did resulted in the person EQ once was, being transformed into a villain not through some kind of depressing emotional breakdown or personality disorder, but through some (magical) hacking and slashing at her personality and reasoning skills. After all, this is a show about the deconstruction of fairy tales, why not have a villain who literally a villain because the something (i.e, the story) demands it. None of the fairytales I read as a kid ever when into why the evil queen/stepmother/witch/wolf was evil, they just were evil, following that, why not have a villain who is just compelled to be evil. Maybe the entire conflict of the show could be the characters fighting not to be characters, but to be people. It'd be super meta, but it'd certainly be different.
Give that I'm speculating about the show again, the last week's episode met my challenge of giving me an interesting enough turn to keep my attention and fall back in love.
So other stuff: OMG new Game of Thrones trailer. Not much really happens in it besides the characters standing around looking angst-filled and Stannis blathering on about claiming the throne, (and there's no Brienne! What do I have to do to get a good glimpse of Brienne?), but YAY! Not sure on the strategy of putting all the publicity hinging on Stannis though, given that he's supposed to have no charisma and be dull. Don't get me wrong, he is a fascinating character, but his big problem is that he doesn't particularly inspire anyone in-universe (except Davos, of course), so whether or not he'd inspire viewers is in question, given he's not exactly beloved by book readers.
Anyway, so it is Christmas, the season of holiday episodes. I've decided to do a bit of a marathon. Having watched Rise of the Nutters and Spinners and Losers from the Thick of It last night (yes, any references to the holidays may just be some sad looking decorations in the background, the first one at least is technically a holiday special and you really cannot watch Nutters without following it with Spinners), I'm going to move onto the West Wing. In Excelsis Deo and Noel are pretty much essential viewing, given that they're two of the best episodes of the show. Bartlet for America, is also amazing and a Christmas episode, but I will probably give it a miss as seeing Leo drink pains me, but I'll probably give Holy Night and Abu e Banat watches even though they're not as good as the previous three seasons Christmas episodes because it's been years since I watched them.
Of course, I will have to watch Comparative Religion, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas and Regional Holiday Music because I'm obsessed with Community. Then there's Doctor Who, which is actually becoming a pain because there's so many Christmas episodes now and they're so long, so I may just watch The Runaway Bride (because it's my favourite) and A Christmas Carol (because when I take a more objective view, it's probably the best Doctor Who Christmas special). Then top it off with the Misfits Christmas episode. That should use up all my free time until Christmas, and I think it's all my favourite show's Christmas specials covered. To be honest, with the amount of free time I have at the moment, I'll be amazed if I get through half that list.
Okay, so Once Upon A Time. Sheriff Graham did become a more interesting , but, I confess, I still didn't warm to him all that much before he died, namely because he became interesting because of what happened to him, not due to any particular interesting character details that we revealed. But I did find his death shocking and horrific and felt quite bad he died, but at the same time, I'm glad he did as it's upped the stakes.
Anyway, I really loved the episode. It went from quite silly (okay, so you want someone heartless, so you find weepiest huntsman in the land? Just, what, Evil Queen?), but loved that the show finally decided to show just how dark it was willing to go.
And yes, Regina is still my favourite character. And yes, I do hate myself just a little bit for loving the villain, and I do have to add that while I adore her, I don't approve of her actions in the slightest. But I really cannot help her being my favourite as not only is watching Regina flail about trying to preserve her happy ending (which isn't so happy) that is coming crumbling down around her just interesting, but Lana Parrilla gives her just enough vulnerability at the right moments that when she's don't something truly unforgivable and evil, rather than a sociopath or a monster, she strikes me as broken. It's as if she destroys because it's the only action she can take, like someone's literally gone and reprogrammed a person so that all the can do is hate and destroy, but there's the remnants of the person before the programming is there somewhere.
Okay, that's a lot to read into a few glances from the actress and it may be wishful thinking because, (cue my Regina theory of the week) I think it'd be fascinating if what Snow White did resulted in the person EQ once was, being transformed into a villain not through some kind of depressing emotional breakdown or personality disorder, but through some (magical) hacking and slashing at her personality and reasoning skills. After all, this is a show about the deconstruction of fairy tales, why not have a villain who literally a villain because the something (i.e, the story) demands it. None of the fairytales I read as a kid ever when into why the evil queen/stepmother/witch/wolf was evil, they just were evil, following that, why not have a villain who is just compelled to be evil. Maybe the entire conflict of the show could be the characters fighting not to be characters, but to be people. It'd be super meta, but it'd certainly be different.
Give that I'm speculating about the show again, the last week's episode met my challenge of giving me an interesting enough turn to keep my attention and fall back in love.
So other stuff: OMG new Game of Thrones trailer. Not much really happens in it besides the characters standing around looking angst-filled and Stannis blathering on about claiming the throne, (and there's no Brienne! What do I have to do to get a good glimpse of Brienne?), but YAY! Not sure on the strategy of putting all the publicity hinging on Stannis though, given that he's supposed to have no charisma and be dull. Don't get me wrong, he is a fascinating character, but his big problem is that he doesn't particularly inspire anyone in-universe (except Davos, of course), so whether or not he'd inspire viewers is in question, given he's not exactly beloved by book readers.
Anyway, so it is Christmas, the season of holiday episodes. I've decided to do a bit of a marathon. Having watched Rise of the Nutters and Spinners and Losers from the Thick of It last night (yes, any references to the holidays may just be some sad looking decorations in the background, the first one at least is technically a holiday special and you really cannot watch Nutters without following it with Spinners), I'm going to move onto the West Wing. In Excelsis Deo and Noel are pretty much essential viewing, given that they're two of the best episodes of the show. Bartlet for America, is also amazing and a Christmas episode, but I will probably give it a miss as seeing Leo drink pains me, but I'll probably give Holy Night and Abu e Banat watches even though they're not as good as the previous three seasons Christmas episodes because it's been years since I watched them.
Of course, I will have to watch Comparative Religion, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas and Regional Holiday Music because I'm obsessed with Community. Then there's Doctor Who, which is actually becoming a pain because there's so many Christmas episodes now and they're so long, so I may just watch The Runaway Bride (because it's my favourite) and A Christmas Carol (because when I take a more objective view, it's probably the best Doctor Who Christmas special). Then top it off with the Misfits Christmas episode. That should use up all my free time until Christmas, and I think it's all my favourite show's Christmas specials covered. To be honest, with the amount of free time I have at the moment, I'll be amazed if I get through half that list.