TeeVee
Arrow1.1: Better than I expected, but still rather eyerolly. Particularly Oliver's "I am Batman with a touch of Edmond Dantes" voiceovers, and I mostly cringe at Oliver's somewhat annoying BFF and how they appear to be treating his bodyguard. I started it not expecting to like Oliver and don't particularly, but don't dislike him the way some things I'd heard made me expect I would. No idea what I think of the plot yet, but I was entertained. Dinah lance is now a lawyer and goes by Laurel. I refuse to ship her with the guy who cheated on her with her sister (especially since her sister died in the middle of the cheating. Err, because of a shipwreck, not his killing her) but they are pretty and maybe he'll work really really hard at it.* But I hope she gets to join in on the crimefighting in the literal sense before long too. Roy Harper also appears to have been genderbent into Oliver's younger sister (And, uhm, he held on to a rock for 5 years because it had an engraving that reminded him of her and it was his "beacon of hope" type thing or whatever? CW shows and siblings...) which I think I approve of. Especially if sh ever joins in on the literal crimefighting.
*There's also a scene that goes pretty much like this:
LAUREL: Well, I guess I'm glad you're alive.
OLIVER: OMG YOU STILL LOVE ME. WE ARE OTP. FOREVER.
LAUREL: I mean, my sister still died while you were cheating on me with her, so there's not going to be anything happening there, but if you ever need to talk...
OLIVER: OMG YOU TOTALLY WANT TO GET BACK TOETHER EEEEEEEE. Wait, this doesn't work well with my angst.
LAUREL: I'm not sure we're having the same conversation.
OLIVER: I LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER BUT WE CANNOT BE FOR I AM A DARK AND ANGSTY AVENGER. I MUST PUSH YOU AWAY FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.
LAUREL: What is going on here?
OLIVER: FOR. YOUR. OWN. GOOD. Cocky playboy time!
LAUREL: Well, you're still a jerk.
Beauty and the Beast 1.1: Very entertaining, bad dialogue, multiple POC, and soundly fails to pass the reserse Bechdel Test due to the fact that the 1 scene with 2 men and no women is the men talking about Catherine. They don't even try to make Vincent look beastly (he just has a strategically placed scar) most of the time and the beast part is that he kinda...werewolfs out? They seem to be doing a Jekyll/Hyde thing which has the unfortunate potential to head south fast but we'll see. I'm going to be watching in fear that we'll start having Catherine having to learn how to behave around him, though I don't actually get that vibe from the pilot. But, well, it's CW, and they have a certain history there when it comes to controlling/abusive men as love interests. (I also remember that in the original series, he lived in an underground city filled with "society's rejects" or however they put it-my mother loved that show so I saw a lot of it, but not since my early teens-and i think I much prefer that to being holed up in his buddy's apartment.) I feel like multiple episodes worth of Catherine and Vincent's relationship was condensed into one episode (I suppose they wanted to jump straight to the "Angsty forbidden romance" part?) and wish they'd taken their time. It's called "Beauty and the Beast," we know you're going to have lots of angsty romance, you don't have to shove as much of it into the first episode as you can to make sure we know that, ok? It's not going to win any "Best Anything" awards (well, maybe for Kristen Kreuk's hair) but I mostly enjoyed it, though I suspect that of the new shows I'm watching, it's the one most likely to get cancelled.
(Err, Both Arrow and Beauty and the Beast pretty much end with the dude watching the heroine from above without her knowing? What's with that, CW?)
Haven 3.4: I enjoyed this episode's Troubled plot, but so much of it made me think of the things I don't want to have happen (love triangles, Audrey and Duke not trusting each other, Audrey and Nathan not being buddycops anymore with Boston Cop on the scene, Boston Cop ending up evil, etc.) threatening to happen. I mostly enjoyed Claire's scenes (I'm starting to suspect she's Troubled herself.) and hope she doesn't go the way of other non-Audrey female characters on this show. I'd much rather have more of Audrey's past selves than the stuff Nathan and Duke are up to.
Once Upon A Time 2.2: Well, that was a pretty good episode despite the almost total lack of Emma and Snow.
My favorite part of the episode was probably Red trying to hold things together (Show, please let her become a town leader and then fulfill the dreams you thwarted last season and make her be Emma's deputy when Emma and Snow get back.) and the fact that i5t looks like they're finally actually going to let Regina have character growth (and hopefully ease back on the double standard with her and Rumples that was so aggravating last season.)
My least favorite part was Grumpy in the first scene. Seriously, dude, if you're that gung ho about it and your brothers don't want to do it, YOU cross the line while they watch!" (I mean, I like the dude and in general liked the stuff with the dwarves this episode, but really...)
I wonder if "David" actually is his real name. Snow called him that after the curse was broken sand he corrected "David" with "Storybook David" in his speech. (Also, I half wonder if Jiminy and Red somehow plotted that to help him get his act together.)
The Rumples/Regina origin was interesting. My "DO NOT CARE" about Rumples increases every episode, but I do enjoy when he's a straight up villain. I wonder if there's reincarnation in this world, because the way he was talking made me wonder if she was Rumples' wife in a previous life.
And Regina's imagining killing wee!Snow goes a long ways to indicating that she always had a nasty side, much as she might think otherwise.
Haven looks like Neverland, but I'm pretty sure Regina sent Cora to Wonderland. (Maybe she meets Jefferson and discovers Wonderland while trying to find out what happened to Cora?) I...well, I've never been interested in Neverland/Peter Pan, though I've seen a few of the movies and will check out Wendy-centric reimaginings when I come across them, whereas I'm fond of Wonderland and have liked every adaptation and/or reimagining of it that I've come across, so I'm biased. But even if I didn't know they've cast Hook, the clock at Rumples's shop would have been a hint once we saw Haven. Though, really, much as i'm curious about theEnchanted Forest and what's been hapening there, don't they realize we already have a huge cast? When are we going to see Abigail and Frederick again, anyway. (Ok, mostly Abigail, but Frederick should be with her becaus she'll be happier that way.)
BTW, before Emma and Snow get back, James and his spiritual clone Henry had better have a serious discussion about the importance of True Love's Kiss and its role in the world.
Revenge 2.2:
Daaaaaaaaaang Victoria! That is some really complicated, far reaching scheming there. And Daaaaaaaang Emily, that might have been a new low with Amanda? I mean, sh's done way worse, but somehow that feels...dirtier? (But who else let out a little cheer when she said that Victoria wasn't going to be leaving with her sister?)
Nice to see the word "Charlotte" is still pretty much a superweapon when it comes to Daniel. (I only really find him tolerable when he's being committed to Charlotte or Victoria.)
Declan, I'm pretty sure you're smarter than this. Just saying.
No idea what's up with Emily's mom. I was wondering if she was like Victoria and has the superpower to make men fall in love with her just by looking at them, but I decided not when he tried to kill Emily.
Show, please give Ashley something better to do. (I keep hoping that she's Emily's secret weapon, or out to destroy the Graysons for her own reasons, but...) I don't know if I dare to hope in regards to that girl who works for Nolan. (Hopefully she'll be around more and I'll learn her name.)
Revolution 1.4:
My favorite bit of the episode was towards the beginning when Charlie and Co. meet up with Meggie and Aaron and Charlie was all "Mom, I'm sorry I ran off but look I brought home a friend OH GOOD HUGGING NOT YELLING."
It was really obvious they were going to kill Maggie but still WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL MAGGIE. Also, 4 episodes and 3 people have died in Charlie's arms, 2 of them parents. Can we give the kid a bit of a break in that department already?
The whole "Miles doesn't want to be attached and wants to run away because he feels guilty and thinks they're better off without him" thing was coming, but Nora and I had the same "HDU you jerk!" face when he told Charlie to shut up. (Miles, Nora likes Charlie more than she likes you. There are reasons. Also, you aren't responsible for Ben's death even though you probanly blame yourself, but you DID take her mother from her.)
I'm annoyed they Damsel in Distressed Charlie for the double hit of getting Miles to stay and having Nate prove himself, but at least she managed to get out of the way of the arrow by herself? And i'm actually REALLY annoyed that's Maggie's death was played as passing the torch to Miles as far as being Charlie's parent. Maybe moreso than the actual death. Dude tried to commit death-by-militia hoping she'd use the chance to get away after knowing her for 5 minutes, and then went with her when that didn't work, and despite his ranting and complaining, he's basically done everything she's wanted since. How much is repressed guilt and how much is because they're family is debatable, but if he had left in a huff, he probably wouldn't have been gone for more than a day before he found some reason to come back. And, really, a person can have more than one surrogate parent. They can have more than one mother, too, as well as more than one female mentor figure.
Random theory: Nate is Neville's son. (Probably not. Especially since I still suspect Monroe is going to end up being Charlie's biodaddy.)
Nate and Danny should also give lessons on escaping handcuffs and other forms of bondage.
Here's hoping Rachel gets out of that room soon. (Or at least more flashbacks.) And I really hope we don't actually end up with Danny being tortured/about to be tortured in front of her. And Danny, shouldn't you be having, I dunno, asthma problems, given all the stuff you're been up to? Or did Neville let you keep that inhaler and you're just using it offscreen?
Nice to see them addressing the situation of travel to and communication with other parts of the world, though I wish we actually had an idea of what was going on elsewhere.
Scandal 2.1-2.2: I adore this show despite not caring about roughly 2/3 of the plot. (Though I think I'll much prefer the "What happened to Quinn?" plot more than the Amanda Tanner plot simply because Fitz isn't involved in it.) But then, I adore Olivia and Mellie and like and am interested in every other important character except Fitz. 2.2 makes me just want to...not talk about anything but how much I hate Fitz. He's verbally abusive to Mellie, might as well be an ornament but likes to rant about how the people who keep him afloat are the unimportant ones, andhe has no respect for Olivia's interests or boundaries in the name of their "true love" (which she seems to suffer more than reciprocate, more often than not. I mean, those phone calls are downright creepy. Try replacing "call" with "touch." Especially the one at the beginning of 2.2, when it pretty much becomes "I stayed up late and made 23 people work late so that I could impose on you in the middle of the night and touch you. Do you want me to stop touching you? Tell me, the most powerful man in the country, to stop touching you in private. No? Ok, I'll abuse my power and misuse my staff again so I can touch you again tomorrow night." WHY SHOW WHY DO YOU FIND THIS RELATIONSHIP ROMANTIC? Yet, I will endure it for the sake of watching Olivia and Mellie verbally smack people around and rule the world. (Why can't Mellie be olivia's Forbidden True Love? At least that'd be different and interesting.)
World Without End 5-6: I thought these episodes were a lot better than the first 4. Things felt more unified in general, and it pretty much did away with the violence against women that was so pervasive in the first half. I briefly considered liking the king again, but then I remembered the "you can be my mother or you can be a whore" bit, and, nope. Sorry Blake Ritson. Hopefully the last two episodes stay on the same track as these two. Sadly, Godfrey (Godwin? I tend to be busy wishing him ill when he's on my screen and so don't pay much attention to his name.) and Alfred didn't die of the plague.