TeeVee
Arrow 1.8-1.9: These episodes were...entertaining, but not particularly interesting a lot of the time? I dunno.
-The Huntress episodes were really mostly good if you like Helena Bertinelli, but I strongly dislike how she and Laurel dislike each other over Oliver (WTF?) and can't help but think Oliver is rather hypocritical in their dealings. Like, a lot of it would have worked so much better if, at some point, he had mentioned that he was running around killing everyone who crossed his path too until he calmed down.
-I don't mind their backing off from Laurel/Oliver at all, but I'm annoyed that now all she seems to have going is her relationship with Tommy. Earlier episodes, at least, had her spending a lot of time with her job (horrible representation of the law as it may have been).
-I see they're going the Smallville route of having the comic-book villain be the sypathetic BFF of the hero and his father taking on his normal hero role. (Are we going to go the Harry Osborn route and have Oliver be responsible for Merlyn Sr.'s death and Tommy becoming a villain via obsession with that?)
-Loved all the bits with Oliver's family, will be very upset if they kill Walter or he and Moira end. (Moira's plotline is actually the one i'm the most invested in right now.)
-Glad we're keeping Felicity around.
-Diggle did you say you have a thing for your sister-in-law there? (Not disapproving, mind you.)
Beauty and the Beast 1.8-1.9:
-BWAH season 1 of The Vampire Diaries had Elena's car in an accident on a deserted road and flipping over a few times for its midseason finale, too. (Except Elena then gets abducted across state lines while unconscious by a misogynistic serial rapist and abuser prone to random killing, and who recently raped and abused one of her best friends and stalked the other before attempting to literally rip out her throat a couple episodes before, whereas Catherine stares down and shoots her attacker.
-The government conspiracy/genetic engineering got 10x more interesting once it involved Bianca Lawson (in a few years, she'll be like Marc Shepard where it's harder to list things she hasn't been in than everything that she has) and we saw what role Catherine's mother played.
-I like Catherine/Vincent (and Vincent in general) a lot more when he's comparatively chipper and playful and just wishes he could get out more than when he's in angstorama "we cannot be! Your presence makes me go in Hulk mode!"
-I wonder if they're going to weasel out of Heather and Evan learning about Vincent. As the last two episodes made pretty clear, Evan could be pretty darn helpful, and let's face it, Vincent's favorite hobby is hanging out on Heather's fire escape as he quasi-stalks her sister. (I mean, the stalking is now pretty mutual, so I don't get nearly as much "Uhhhh..." over it now.) Also, Vincent dealing with Heather has potential to be extremely entertaining.
-I really wish they gave Joe and Tess more to do.
Elementary 1.9-1.10:
-Elementary's take on Chinatown was better than most shows', but still on the cringe-y side. Basically, you could see they were trying, but they were still relying on stereotypes. (It also interfered a bit with my enjoyment of Watson curing Holmes with herbal tea.)
-Are we meant to read from this that Watson became a sober companion because of Liam?
-Holmes's cold yielded entertainment gold.
-I was disappointed when the robbery case turned into a murder case. I'd like to see Watson and Holmes tackle different kinds of crime.
-Holmes standing up to Watson to her family was heavyhanded, but well intentioned (and I suspect actually directed towards viewers who look down on her chosen profession). He's also very bad at pretending he didn't mean it. The problem is that it was him ignoring her boundaries yet again, and while I think he thinks he's been behaving better (at least he no longer yells "WATSON!" when she has a visitor) that's a huge thing he isn't really getting better at.
-Poor Watson is learning way too much about Holmes's sex life.
-Anyone else find it weird that Watson leaving/finding Holmes a sponsor wasn't mentioned at all in these two episodes? (Also, where does Watson live when she doesn't have a client? Does she just leave her apartment unoccupied for 6 months or something?)
Nikita 3.6: Interesting note to go on hiatus with.
-I was ready to throw a hissy fit over Sonya being the mole (especially since she seemed the most obvious choice) but the show somewhat redeemed itself there. I hope it isn't going to make this be all about Birkoff, though.
-Is Nikita only now starting to figure out Amanda's epic crush on her?
-Nice entrance there, Sean. But keep that chip on your shoulder if you want to chase the girl away. (Mind you, I get where he's coming from, but for Alex, trying to reach out like that is huge.)
-I actually enjoyed the Rogue of the Week quite a bit.
Once Upon A Time 2.9:
-Was that scene with Hook and Belle really necessary? I mean, seriously, what did it actually add? (aside from maybe making sure Emilie de Ravin was in the contracted number of episodes) For that matter, it would be nice if the show could develop a little respect for Belle.
-I really liked the Snow/Emma/Mulan vs Cora/Hook fight, though they really need to decide if they're going to make Hook a straight up villain or a potential ally, because right now they're rather wishy washy about it.
-Regina and Cora's relationship is so wonderfully twisted, I look forward to more scenes of them so much. And hopefully we'll also get more Snow/Regina scenes (in the present and/or the past) because for all it's importance to the plot, they've had pretty few scenes. (Really, I just want tons of scenes with any combination of Snow, Emma, Cora and Regina, set at any point in time.
-So there's going to be a spinoff about Mulan and Aurora's lesbian adventures, right? Right? (Never in my life would I have thought Mulan and Sleeping Beauty would be the shippiest thing on my TV, much less keep making me think it might actually become canon.)
-You know, technically, all Regina really did this episode was decide to kill whoever came through the portal, then decide not to since it might be Emma and Snow, but the way that final scene at Rumples's place made it hard to remember that.
-Neal, people are managing to get to Storybrook from OTHER WORLDS, complete with days and days of travel on foot, faster than it's taking you to drive across a couple states. What are you doing, tiptoeing the whole way? (I mean, I didn't care for him and actually don't anticipate his coming, but this is such a strange non-follow-through so far.)
Person of Interest 2.9-2.10:
-Apparently, the most dangerous thing you can do is date Joss Carter. Finch starts eavesdropping on you, Reese threatens to kill you if you mess with her (not exact words and not said to Beecher, but it IS Reese...), and Fusco starts investigating you. It's probably for the best that none of these guys have teenaged daughters. (That we know of.) Really, Reese and Finch's dynamics have gotten...very adorable this season. (Fusco also seemed happier for a little while, before he started having to lie again.)
-Carter is so fabulous that even the FBI has a crush on her.
-Not overly thrilled with Beecher probably/possibly being a bad guy. At the very least, he's unknowingly endangering Carter, at worst he's spying on her/intending to use her as leverage against Fusco for HR. Either one is probably going to get him killed. (Possibly by Reese. Or Fusco, if they make him have to keep it secret because they think he doesn't make enough sadfaces already.) There's also some unfortunate connotations if your main female character is a WOC and the only person to express explicit interest in her in the course of 30+ episodes is only using her.
-Given that season 1's midseason finale had Reese getting shot half a dozen times and the season finale had Finch being abducted by a homicidal hacker, Reese being captured by the FBI almost feels anticlimactic. I was bracing myself for Fusco to die (I almost expect him to die every episode at this point, and the HR dude trying to set Carter on him seems to have been his last straw with HR) though I'm rather glad he didn't.
The Secret of Crickley Hall: 3 part BBC miniseries based on a novel by James Herbert. Rather excellent gothic horror, even if most of the elements were fairly standard. Parents and their two daughters move to big house in the countryside a year after their son goes missing, house just happens to be the site where refugee children drowned in the cellar in WW2. Very creepy and spooky, interesting mysteries, lots of women of various ages and types Doing Things. Very much recommended if you like the ghosts/haunted house/gothic variety of horror, but a strong warning for child abuse, as the hosts of the refugee children were abusive. The majority of the abuse is offscreen, but it's pretty central to the plot.
-The Huntress episodes were really mostly good if you like Helena Bertinelli, but I strongly dislike how she and Laurel dislike each other over Oliver (WTF?) and can't help but think Oliver is rather hypocritical in their dealings. Like, a lot of it would have worked so much better if, at some point, he had mentioned that he was running around killing everyone who crossed his path too until he calmed down.
-I don't mind their backing off from Laurel/Oliver at all, but I'm annoyed that now all she seems to have going is her relationship with Tommy. Earlier episodes, at least, had her spending a lot of time with her job (horrible representation of the law as it may have been).
-I see they're going the Smallville route of having the comic-book villain be the sypathetic BFF of the hero and his father taking on his normal hero role. (Are we going to go the Harry Osborn route and have Oliver be responsible for Merlyn Sr.'s death and Tommy becoming a villain via obsession with that?)
-Loved all the bits with Oliver's family, will be very upset if they kill Walter or he and Moira end. (Moira's plotline is actually the one i'm the most invested in right now.)
-Glad we're keeping Felicity around.
-Diggle did you say you have a thing for your sister-in-law there? (Not disapproving, mind you.)
Beauty and the Beast 1.8-1.9:
-BWAH season 1 of The Vampire Diaries had Elena's car in an accident on a deserted road and flipping over a few times for its midseason finale, too. (Except Elena then gets abducted across state lines while unconscious by a misogynistic serial rapist and abuser prone to random killing, and who recently raped and abused one of her best friends and stalked the other before attempting to literally rip out her throat a couple episodes before, whereas Catherine stares down and shoots her attacker.
-The government conspiracy/genetic engineering got 10x more interesting once it involved Bianca Lawson (in a few years, she'll be like Marc Shepard where it's harder to list things she hasn't been in than everything that she has) and we saw what role Catherine's mother played.
-I like Catherine/Vincent (and Vincent in general) a lot more when he's comparatively chipper and playful and just wishes he could get out more than when he's in angstorama "we cannot be! Your presence makes me go in Hulk mode!"
-I wonder if they're going to weasel out of Heather and Evan learning about Vincent. As the last two episodes made pretty clear, Evan could be pretty darn helpful, and let's face it, Vincent's favorite hobby is hanging out on Heather's fire escape as he quasi-stalks her sister. (I mean, the stalking is now pretty mutual, so I don't get nearly as much "Uhhhh..." over it now.) Also, Vincent dealing with Heather has potential to be extremely entertaining.
-I really wish they gave Joe and Tess more to do.
Elementary 1.9-1.10:
-Elementary's take on Chinatown was better than most shows', but still on the cringe-y side. Basically, you could see they were trying, but they were still relying on stereotypes. (It also interfered a bit with my enjoyment of Watson curing Holmes with herbal tea.)
-Are we meant to read from this that Watson became a sober companion because of Liam?
-Holmes's cold yielded entertainment gold.
-I was disappointed when the robbery case turned into a murder case. I'd like to see Watson and Holmes tackle different kinds of crime.
-Holmes standing up to Watson to her family was heavyhanded, but well intentioned (and I suspect actually directed towards viewers who look down on her chosen profession). He's also very bad at pretending he didn't mean it. The problem is that it was him ignoring her boundaries yet again, and while I think he thinks he's been behaving better (at least he no longer yells "WATSON!" when she has a visitor) that's a huge thing he isn't really getting better at.
-Poor Watson is learning way too much about Holmes's sex life.
-Anyone else find it weird that Watson leaving/finding Holmes a sponsor wasn't mentioned at all in these two episodes? (Also, where does Watson live when she doesn't have a client? Does she just leave her apartment unoccupied for 6 months or something?)
Nikita 3.6: Interesting note to go on hiatus with.
-I was ready to throw a hissy fit over Sonya being the mole (especially since she seemed the most obvious choice) but the show somewhat redeemed itself there. I hope it isn't going to make this be all about Birkoff, though.
-Is Nikita only now starting to figure out Amanda's epic crush on her?
-Nice entrance there, Sean. But keep that chip on your shoulder if you want to chase the girl away. (Mind you, I get where he's coming from, but for Alex, trying to reach out like that is huge.)
-I actually enjoyed the Rogue of the Week quite a bit.
Once Upon A Time 2.9:
-Was that scene with Hook and Belle really necessary? I mean, seriously, what did it actually add? (aside from maybe making sure Emilie de Ravin was in the contracted number of episodes) For that matter, it would be nice if the show could develop a little respect for Belle.
-I really liked the Snow/Emma/Mulan vs Cora/Hook fight, though they really need to decide if they're going to make Hook a straight up villain or a potential ally, because right now they're rather wishy washy about it.
-Regina and Cora's relationship is so wonderfully twisted, I look forward to more scenes of them so much. And hopefully we'll also get more Snow/Regina scenes (in the present and/or the past) because for all it's importance to the plot, they've had pretty few scenes. (Really, I just want tons of scenes with any combination of Snow, Emma, Cora and Regina, set at any point in time.
-So there's going to be a spinoff about Mulan and Aurora's lesbian adventures, right? Right? (Never in my life would I have thought Mulan and Sleeping Beauty would be the shippiest thing on my TV, much less keep making me think it might actually become canon.)
-You know, technically, all Regina really did this episode was decide to kill whoever came through the portal, then decide not to since it might be Emma and Snow, but the way that final scene at Rumples's place made it hard to remember that.
-Neal, people are managing to get to Storybrook from OTHER WORLDS, complete with days and days of travel on foot, faster than it's taking you to drive across a couple states. What are you doing, tiptoeing the whole way? (I mean, I didn't care for him and actually don't anticipate his coming, but this is such a strange non-follow-through so far.)
Person of Interest 2.9-2.10:
-Apparently, the most dangerous thing you can do is date Joss Carter. Finch starts eavesdropping on you, Reese threatens to kill you if you mess with her (not exact words and not said to Beecher, but it IS Reese...), and Fusco starts investigating you. It's probably for the best that none of these guys have teenaged daughters. (That we know of.) Really, Reese and Finch's dynamics have gotten...very adorable this season. (Fusco also seemed happier for a little while, before he started having to lie again.)
-Carter is so fabulous that even the FBI has a crush on her.
-Not overly thrilled with Beecher probably/possibly being a bad guy. At the very least, he's unknowingly endangering Carter, at worst he's spying on her/intending to use her as leverage against Fusco for HR. Either one is probably going to get him killed. (Possibly by Reese. Or Fusco, if they make him have to keep it secret because they think he doesn't make enough sadfaces already.) There's also some unfortunate connotations if your main female character is a WOC and the only person to express explicit interest in her in the course of 30+ episodes is only using her.
-Given that season 1's midseason finale had Reese getting shot half a dozen times and the season finale had Finch being abducted by a homicidal hacker, Reese being captured by the FBI almost feels anticlimactic. I was bracing myself for Fusco to die (I almost expect him to die every episode at this point, and the HR dude trying to set Carter on him seems to have been his last straw with HR) though I'm rather glad he didn't.
The Secret of Crickley Hall: 3 part BBC miniseries based on a novel by James Herbert. Rather excellent gothic horror, even if most of the elements were fairly standard. Parents and their two daughters move to big house in the countryside a year after their son goes missing, house just happens to be the site where refugee children drowned in the cellar in WW2. Very creepy and spooky, interesting mysteries, lots of women of various ages and types Doing Things. Very much recommended if you like the ghosts/haunted house/gothic variety of horror, but a strong warning for child abuse, as the hosts of the refugee children were abusive. The majority of the abuse is offscreen, but it's pretty central to the plot.