TeeVee
The Borgias 2.4:
DAMMIT SHOW WHY DID YOU FRIDGE URSULA?? CESARE DIDN'T EXACTLY NEED MORE REASONS TO BE MESSED UP! (Really, he's just fine at being a creepy scary sociopath without any help...)
I didn't care a lot for the bulk of the first half (except for when Caterina Sforza was still more BAMF than anyone else even while chilling at her estate and basically made Cesare indulge in footstamping.) but then we got to Giulia recruiting Lucrezia and Vannozza to help with the orphans and it was all good. And I'm glad we got Lucrezia presiding over the Papal Senate, because I wasn't sure the show would include that.
I really wish Sancia and Joffre weren't twiddling their fingers in limbo, but at least it looks like there will be a lot of Caterina Sforza next week. Sadly, though, I don't think this season is going to manage to live up to the first in most regards.
Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries 1.10-1.11: Only 2 episodes left! And I have no idea if there's going to be a secdond series? Or even if it was meant to be ongoing or limited.
I liked that these episodes focused more of Phryne's past and her sister. And I'm assuming Foyle even more elaborately faked his death?
I'm wondering when/how Phryne spent time with the circus? Was she constantly there after Jane disappeared, or did she track the circus down years later?
I'm glad we got confirmation on Mac being queer (I assumed she was from the start, as she's pretty obviously coded for how queer women were when they existed in the literature of the times, and modern depictions tend to be fairly faithful to that, but you never know.) I couldn't figure out if Phryne already knew or not though, or just was upset Mac hadn't told her about Daisy.
Meanwhile, we have a dead lesbian (and one evil lesbian) in one episode and a dead hermaphrodite in another. The sideeye, I give it to you.
Dot is really starting to like undercover work, isn't she? And jack is getting a little too used to Phryne's invasions. he's not making as many -_- faces to entertain me lately as he used to.
Legend of Korra 1.5:
Whoa, not going anywhere NEAR general fandom discussions for this one, even for a casual glance.
Everyone was almost uncomfortably realistic-teen like this week. Not that that's a bad thing, but it was spot-on for teen reactions to crushes (and liking more than one person at once) and assumptions about feelings being reciprocated so much that I half wonder if the writers installed spycams at a high school for a month or something.
I'm not sure about Pema's revelation about how she and Tenzen got together. (Mostly because it feeds fandoms theory that Tenzen and Lin Bei Fong used to be a thing, and I haven't decided how I feel about that theory yet.) LOVED Jinorra and Ikki's ideas of romantic advice. (oh, Jinorra, I hope technology advances far enough for you to get to watch your world's version of wuxia dramas).
I hope the Katara namedropping and mention of the Fire Ferrets needing a healer means Katara will show up soon. I mean, she'll want to be there for the baby's birth, right? And it can't be too far off?
So far, I find Tahno sleezy and annoying, which likely means fandom adores him. (Though I have enjoyed his scenes so far just for Korra's reactions.)
Missing 1.8:
After last episode, I think I'm just glad that Oksana made it out of this epiosde without dying or being evil.
I dunno, I think this episode was just a bunch of "ZOMG! REVELATION!" moments that we knew all along?
Though I am glad that Becca and Paul were finally able to TALK (though peeved that he knocked her out). Naturally, right after she made out wit Giancarlo. Because that's how spy dramas roll. (I have no idea if I actually want Becca and Paul to get back together, though I would object to season 2 having them getting to know each other again.)
Michael, stay un-captured for at least 24 hours! Though, if Oksana's story really is what she said it was, then it wouldn't surprise me at all if Martin just went "Well, Paul would completely fall for this and be easy to control this way, so obviously Michael will too!" (Because for a hardened spy, Paul oddly comes across as a softie. "Sure, kid! Let me show you how to load and unload my gun as I give it to you to play with! This is the perfect bonding experience!" (I'd say Martin chose the wrong Winstone to send undercover, but he did probably send the more gullible one...)
Speaking of Maxim: Therapy. Lots of it. (Not that i'm objecting to your shooting your father instead of Becca.)
Still peeved about Violet being Evil.
Nikita 2.21: Is there one episode left in the season, or two?
Who else gets the impression that Ryan is being groomed to replace Birkoff? (Especially since Noah Bean will apparently be a regular if the series is renewed.) I've actually become rather fond of Ryan, much as he annoyed me at first.
The flashback of Percy having Nikita go to a party with him was just creepy.
Liked that Sonja tried to hide Team Nikita's location before Percy spotted it. I'm really hoping she becomes Nikita's mole. And doesn't die.
It seems at least one of the writers likes to see Sean shirtless. When he was standing there near the end with the gun, I was kind of "well, this is just getting gratuitous..." I'm also glad that the jokey thing wasn't a one time deal. I like that Alex is the emotionally distant and closed off one dveloping chinks in her armor and letting people in in that relationship. (Also: Aww, Birkoff, you little shipper you.)
Yes Nikita, protect that government that doesn't deserve you. BTW, does anyone else find it hilarious that sometimes Michael and Nikita seem to hold back a bit with Division agents to protect their egos? Or maybe that's just me. But it's like Alex's "It's just Michael and one other guy..." line at the beginning of the season. It's like "Sweetie, I love you, but 'just Michael' (or 'just Nikita') is like saying 'just a highly trained SEAL team.'" Even Guardians have trouble there.
Once Upon A Time 1.19-1.20: I feel I spent a lot of these two episodes going "If I'd wanted to watch a fairy tale series about men and their relationships, I would have watched more than one episode of Grimm." (That sounds bitter. I actually did largely enjoy the episodes, but only smaller parts of each were about why I watch the show.)
So, everyone is hating on the Blue Fairy for what she said to Rumples, but, well, basically, she said what I was thinking. I suppose I'm supposed to feel more sympathetic towards him, but like Skin Deep, it had the opposite effect. I've said it before, but everytime they go "But he's DEEPER then an amusing villian and SO FASCINATING!" I get less impressed. At least partly because of the gross double standard when it comes to antagonists on this show. (Male antagonists are poor woobies who just want to be reunited with their children. Female antagonists are evil murdering abusers. Rumlpes killing people is treated as humor. Regina and Cora killing people is terriblehorribleevil.) Also, the killing random people to mae him more entertaining is...not.
Geppetto...I dunno. I get his Panic but...that was too much obligation for a little kid. Now, the original plan made since. Being in a strange world with 2 kids would have been rough, but Snow and Charming would have been pushing 60 by now if they'd gone through, so having August along would have been beneficial once they reached this point. If they'd filled them in at the last moment, it's possible James, at least, could have still gone with her. I can't really blame Pinocchio for being overwhelmed and running away when an easier life was offered, but he...seems to have just FORGOTTEN about her or whatever? He had plenty of time to grow up and go back, and instead it seems he meant to stay there forever and is mostly MAD at Emma for ruining his perfect island paradise. (I did like him a little more when he was screwing with Rumples, though.) The show seems to really be implying that Emma/August is a Destined OTP (he was supposed to protect her, he describes it as both their stories, he has to convince her to believe, blah blah blah) and I'm not thrilled with that, particularly after the "Waaah! I had to leave my island paradise!" speech. I cloud do a one-sided courtly thing on his part, but that's it.
David visiting Kathryn was sweet. Yes, he's frequently an indecisive douche BUT part of his doucheyness about coming clean was that he liked and felt obligated to Kathryn and didn't want to hurt someone who had done so much for him. I want them to be friends. (And Kathryn and Mary, of course. And I loved Emma cockblocking David.)
When the show is in hiatus, I tend to forget how Emma gets the best lines ever, even when the writing is silly and obvious. I don't mind her freakout? I think it was partly because she's starting to believe SOMETHING, but the truth is too much for any sensible person. (Yeah, multiple people have told her, however: One was completely insane and abducted Mary and drugged and haf-stripped emma, one is a troubled child, one a liar, and the other was acting weird and then died of a spontaneous heart attack. Not exactly reliable resources.) Emma and Snow both seem to have "fight or flight" mentalities that are usually firmly rooted in fight but when flight kicks in, it kicks in, and it's usually related to more emotions than they want to handle.
The adoption thing still sucks in its execution. I can follow Emma's logic: she was a teenager in jail who was pressured to give him up "for his own good," she spends 10 years thinking it was right, andthen he shows up and is unhappy. She realizes SOMETHING is wrong in his life and she hangs around (partly because he's clearly ready to lose it and run away again if she leaves). She realizes Regina is corrupt. She decides to find out what's going on. Most things can be explained away, but Regina is revealed more and more dangerous and endangers Mary, the only person she's really let herself get close to. Fight kicks into hyperdrive, and then the guy who's been helping her says "oh yeah, I'm the kid who found you one the side of the road, except actually, we were magically transported by a tree. Oh, and Henry's story is true." Critical mass reached, hello flight.
On the flipside, there's the narrative's terrible take on adoption, complete ignorance of laws and "BIOLOGY TRUMPS ALL!" mindset. (Also, I still don't think Emma really wants to raise Henry herself. She just wants him to be happy and safe because that's what he was SUPPOSED to be when she gave him up.)
May I just say that I REALLY wish we could have flashbacks to Henry figuring out things were wrong? Because that needs more development. Also, I don't think it's occurred to him at all that "no more curse" could also mean "no more Regina"? If he's thought about the implications of "beating Regina" beyond "the curse breaks and everyone is happy" he probably assumes that Regina will be happy to and then be nice and he'll have 2 nice moms.
BTW, if everyone who comes through to our world comes through at the same time no matter when it was in FTL, I'm betting Bae became a bitter delinquent and is Henry's father. Though that wsould still make him a lot older than Emma, unless Rumples somehow made the curse so that anyone who went because of it went a bit earlier.
Person of Interest 1.21: Show, you had Dagmara Domynczyk and Jim Caviezel and Dagmara Domynczyk on screen together and not a single Count of Monte Cristo reference?
Sigh. Show, we had an agreement about fridging. Shame on you! And you even have WHY I LOATHE THIS TROPE (ie "She would have been just fine if she'd waited for The Hero but died because she moved on with her life.") as a piece of dialogue. SIGH.
So, Reese really is a fluffy bunny who drives about 500 miles an hour (Or steals a jet. Because he would.) to dump rapists and abusers in Mexican prisons? (I'm assuming he dumped the serial rapist from early in the season there, too.) At the same time, you kind of have to feel for people who get in his way. I mean, as long as there aren't kids involved and you aren't between him and a rapist or abuser, you should be ok, but otherwise you're lucky if you just end up with your face slammed into something really hard.
Loved Carter's sreactions to basically everything. "Oh, you just called me out here for drinks, huh? YOU ARE A BAD LIAR." "He went rogue?? I'VE ONLY BEEN GONE FIVE MINUTES!"
So, the timeline seems a bit too...condensed? This gives Reese only 2-3 months of being a bum before Carter finds him.
Revenge 1.19:
You know, the scene where Conrad was about to confess to Daniel was the first time in a long time i actually thought he might still actually love Charlotte. OTOH, there's nothing that would have been more useful as far as manipulating Daniel to protect him than the implied threat to Charlotte. I'm disappointed in Daniel, though. Daniel! I expected more from you!
(Typed 2 days later: The more I think or it, the more I think Conrad knew he was screwed and used Charlotte as a ploy to make the inner Grayson that Daniel can't quite hide have an excuse to take over. I hate Conrad as person, but he's a pretty good villain and subtle about it in his way.)
Really glad Charlotte and Victoria finally really talked and bonded. We haven't had much of that in a LONG time. Not to mention Emanda and Charlotte having a scene together.
Really hoping this means no more drugs for Charlotte. And hopefully some sort of peaceful reconcialition with Declan. I don't particularly like him, but he was trying to help.
I was worried for a bit that Ashley was going to be written out but was hoping that she'd tell Emanda what happened and get recruited, but I can live with her going to Grayson Global instead. I'm actually thinking action is going to shift there some for season 2.
Nolan is VERY lucky that wanting to protect his aunt is the reason he kept things back from Emanda this time. It might be the only thing that kept him alive. Or at least not completely booted from her life.