TeeVee
Call the Midwife: Christmas Special: Simultaneously thoroughly heartbreaking and uplifting. It's unlikely to have any repercussions on the series as a whole, but is a very good standalone episode. One of the main plotlines adapts one of the most heartbreaking and traumatic stories from Worth's memoir, but the adaptation thankfully stomps on your heart less after ripping it out. (I have a feeling that I'm now going to look at all plotlines in the show to see what story from the book it's derived from, and wonder if the ones I don't recognize are from Worth's other memoirs, which aren't currently available in the US, as far as I know.) I was very pleased that Chummy is still around. I wasn't sure if she would be after the ending of the first season. (Though it would have been a very good exit if she were gone.)
The Hour: Series 2: I think this series was stronger than the first in a lot of ways. I found the season long investigation more interesting than in the first season, and the various relationship dramas were largely intereting instead of often frustrating like the first season. I also really liked Marnie's plotline this season (and I continue to find the way she deals ith Hector's women fascinating), and the fact that Lix had one, and they wrote Bel more like what I'd think a young female television producer of the time would be like. I also think they managed to portray Freddie as the kind of character they were trying to in the first series, which is considerably less annoying than the character we had in the first series. It also managed to separate itself from the inevitable Mad Men comparisons. (I do think the first couple episodes of the first series had a bit of a "wants to be Mad Men" feel to them, but that the comparison is overdone quite a bit. That said, I still can't help but think Hector is a case of Don Draper done in a way where I can find the character interesting and even enjoyable.)
Labyrinth: A miniseries that has nothing to do with the movie with David Bowie prancing around in circulation-killing pants, and everything to do with the Kate Mosse book. (Which I haven't actually read.) The story centers around a modern woman, Alice, who begins having visions of Alais, a Cathar woman from the early 13th century caught up in the massacre of the Cathars, and being made the caretaker of the Cathar treasure (in this case, an unconventional Grail). I was mostly interested going in for the historical plotline, as most (conspiracy theory) fictional stories that I've encountered about the Cathar treasure have tended to not actually involve many Cathars, much less center around a woman trying to escape the massacre. Unfortunately, a lot of the conflict there ended up centering around Alais's sister, Oriane, becoming Alais's antagonist, with her hatred for her sister being rooted in men liking Alais more, so while I did like the historical plot, I didn't like it as much as I expected. But the modern part involved secret organizations and conspiracy theories and ancient mysteries and legacies, so I was all over that. There are some unfortunate messages about ambitious women (though, sadly, none we haven't seen plenty of times before) but also women with heroic destinies. In the end, I liked the bulk of it a lot, but didn't like it as much as I've thought I would since learning about it back in the summer.
Restless: A miniseries set on both the 1970s and 1939-1941, Ruth Gilmartin (Michelle Dockery) goes to visit her mother, Sally (Charlotte Rampling) only to find her mother staring at the woods, talking about how people who have been looking for her for years have found her and are watching her. Like most people, Ruth's response is "no, mom, there are not bad guys in the woods, at which point her mother informs her that she isn't British, but was born Russian, grew up in exile in France and was a British spy from 1939-1941, and that her real name is Eva Delectorskaya. The bulk of the series is Eva's (Hayley Atwell) backstory as she engages in a number of spyjinks, up to and including killing a would-be assassin with a pencil, and begins to suspect that she's being used in a secret plot, while Ruth learns about her mother and tries to help her learn if there really is anyone after her. It gets a solid thumbs up and all three main actresses are rather amazingly cast, though I'm a bit miffed that my dream of having Hayley Atwell and Michelle Dockery do a period drama together came true in a drama in which they share no scenes, though all three actresses have enough sinmilar mannerism that Atwell must have collaborated with Dockery and Rampling offscreen, because the actresses share a number of mannerisms.
Scandal 2.7-2.9:
So much OH HUCK going on. Really, it can't be said enough. OLIVIA, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE HUCK FROM THIS. (Also, for all the fuss about his fingerprints, Huck sure did touch a lot of stuff in that hotel room without any gloves.)
Dare I hope that Fitz will actually die? (Though, as awful a president as he is, and as much as he creepily abuses his power to stalk Olivia, I suppose Langston might actually be worse.) The downside to his dying, though, might be Mellie getting less screentime, and that would be tragic.
We finally got some answers about Olivia's involvement in the murders Quinn was framed for, and I think they somewhat managed to salvage that with us still being able to see Olivia as one of the white hats, but she's still apparently involved in election fraud. And I'm really happy that Quinn is aggressively trying to find out what happened to her and why.
Cyrus and James's relationship is simultaneously weird and adorable. I'm fretting about James though. (Then again, if whatshisface attacks James, Cyrus is going to go on a serious warpath.)
I have no idea what to make of the Abby/David plot at this point.
Meanwhile, US TeeVees are coming back from their Holiday breaks, and I don't seem to want to watch anything that isn't either complete or that I don't have a large chunk of available. Probably a good time to catch up on anime and doramas.
The Hour: Series 2: I think this series was stronger than the first in a lot of ways. I found the season long investigation more interesting than in the first season, and the various relationship dramas were largely intereting instead of often frustrating like the first season. I also really liked Marnie's plotline this season (and I continue to find the way she deals ith Hector's women fascinating), and the fact that Lix had one, and they wrote Bel more like what I'd think a young female television producer of the time would be like. I also think they managed to portray Freddie as the kind of character they were trying to in the first series, which is considerably less annoying than the character we had in the first series. It also managed to separate itself from the inevitable Mad Men comparisons. (I do think the first couple episodes of the first series had a bit of a "wants to be Mad Men" feel to them, but that the comparison is overdone quite a bit. That said, I still can't help but think Hector is a case of Don Draper done in a way where I can find the character interesting and even enjoyable.)
Labyrinth: A miniseries that has nothing to do with the movie with David Bowie prancing around in circulation-killing pants, and everything to do with the Kate Mosse book. (Which I haven't actually read.) The story centers around a modern woman, Alice, who begins having visions of Alais, a Cathar woman from the early 13th century caught up in the massacre of the Cathars, and being made the caretaker of the Cathar treasure (in this case, an unconventional Grail). I was mostly interested going in for the historical plotline, as most (conspiracy theory) fictional stories that I've encountered about the Cathar treasure have tended to not actually involve many Cathars, much less center around a woman trying to escape the massacre. Unfortunately, a lot of the conflict there ended up centering around Alais's sister, Oriane, becoming Alais's antagonist, with her hatred for her sister being rooted in men liking Alais more, so while I did like the historical plot, I didn't like it as much as I expected. But the modern part involved secret organizations and conspiracy theories and ancient mysteries and legacies, so I was all over that. There are some unfortunate messages about ambitious women (though, sadly, none we haven't seen plenty of times before) but also women with heroic destinies. In the end, I liked the bulk of it a lot, but didn't like it as much as I've thought I would since learning about it back in the summer.
Restless: A miniseries set on both the 1970s and 1939-1941, Ruth Gilmartin (Michelle Dockery) goes to visit her mother, Sally (Charlotte Rampling) only to find her mother staring at the woods, talking about how people who have been looking for her for years have found her and are watching her. Like most people, Ruth's response is "no, mom, there are not bad guys in the woods, at which point her mother informs her that she isn't British, but was born Russian, grew up in exile in France and was a British spy from 1939-1941, and that her real name is Eva Delectorskaya. The bulk of the series is Eva's (Hayley Atwell) backstory as she engages in a number of spyjinks, up to and including killing a would-be assassin with a pencil, and begins to suspect that she's being used in a secret plot, while Ruth learns about her mother and tries to help her learn if there really is anyone after her. It gets a solid thumbs up and all three main actresses are rather amazingly cast, though I'm a bit miffed that my dream of having Hayley Atwell and Michelle Dockery do a period drama together came true in a drama in which they share no scenes, though all three actresses have enough sinmilar mannerism that Atwell must have collaborated with Dockery and Rampling offscreen, because the actresses share a number of mannerisms.
Scandal 2.7-2.9:
So much OH HUCK going on. Really, it can't be said enough. OLIVIA, HOW ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE HUCK FROM THIS. (Also, for all the fuss about his fingerprints, Huck sure did touch a lot of stuff in that hotel room without any gloves.)
Dare I hope that Fitz will actually die? (Though, as awful a president as he is, and as much as he creepily abuses his power to stalk Olivia, I suppose Langston might actually be worse.) The downside to his dying, though, might be Mellie getting less screentime, and that would be tragic.
We finally got some answers about Olivia's involvement in the murders Quinn was framed for, and I think they somewhat managed to salvage that with us still being able to see Olivia as one of the white hats, but she's still apparently involved in election fraud. And I'm really happy that Quinn is aggressively trying to find out what happened to her and why.
Cyrus and James's relationship is simultaneously weird and adorable. I'm fretting about James though. (Then again, if whatshisface attacks James, Cyrus is going to go on a serious warpath.)
I have no idea what to make of the Abby/David plot at this point.
Meanwhile, US TeeVees are coming back from their Holiday breaks, and I don't seem to want to watch anything that isn't either complete or that I don't have a large chunk of available. Probably a good time to catch up on anime and doramas.