TeeVee
Continuum 2.2: Way too much dudes trying to bond with other dudes, not enough Kiera shooting things and pwning people. Still a fun episode overall, and I particularly liked the flashbacks (flashforwards?).
Defiance 1.3:
-Kinda of annoyed that Alak and Christie (more Alak) went along with the lie that Alak was protecting Christie from the hellbug, and not the other way around. (I mean, I get why they did: that did more to win McCawley over than a year of trying to bond and show Alak's good husband material would have.)
-Speaking of Hellbugs, they were so very Farscape style creepy crawly. This is ok, except for flinging feces. Which, unfortunately, is also very Farscape.
-Also speaking of Farscape, Irisa is apparently the least Jool-like looking Irathient, based on Rynn and her family. I am glad, though, that apparently not all Irathients are warlike, which is the impression that I had before. (Also, shorthaired alien girl has painful visions. Hopefully I'll be able to follow this plot better than I could Chiana's random blinding visions.)
-But let us pause for a moment for a bit of horrified pondering over the fact that we just had a subplot in which a First Nations man was part of a plot (even if he was apparently the least guilty of the three, and unaware of the methods used) to murder aliens played by white actors (I believe) and steal their lands. I'm actually pretty sure that subplot was written without sparing 2 seconds to think about American history, though.
-I'm glad we got to raising an alien as a human having some serious problematic elements pretty quickly. There's no doubt that Nolan did the best he knew how to with Irisa (and based on the little we've seen-I was really hoping for more of their backstory this episode-I'm not sure she would have let him leave her with a nice Irathient family if he'd found one willing to take her in. I don't get the feeling he tried to, though.) but ignoring the fact that she's part of an alien species he doesnt know a lot about and attributing her problems to human problems he understands didn't help her any. I actually found the few lines there more effective re: "humans and aliens coexist but don't really understand each other and their ways" than the entire subplot about that in episode 2.
-I hope Kenya starts getting more screentime that isn't all about being the madam. I mean, I continue to love the lack of slutshaming, but right now, it feels like they're mostly using her for sexytimes, even the ones that don't go so well. I want more scenes with Amanda in particular.
-Not nearly enough Amanda or Tommy in this episode.
Lightfields: Like the Marchlands series from a few years ago, Lightfields is a 5-episode gothic miniseries from ITV loosely based on the failed FOX pilot The Oaks, focusing on 3 different families who live in the same house in different time periods, linked by the aparently vengeful ghost of a young woman who died under mysteries circumstances. I've never seen the pilot of The Oaks (having enjoyed 2 miniseries based on it, I suppose one day I should find out if there actually is a way I colud watch it) but based on my understanding, Marchlands is a fairly direct remake, while Lightfields simply runs with the general idea.
For Lightfields itself, part of the story is set in 1944, when a teenaged girl named Lucy dies in a barnfire. Her slightly older and considerably more worldly friend, Eve, who fought with Lucy shortly before her death, becomes obsessed with the idea that someone set the fire deliberately, and sets out to prove it. In 1975, Eve's younger sister, Vivian rents Lightfields (the farm run by Lucy's father) for the summer along with her teenaged daughter, Claire. Initially unknown to Claire, Vivian has been institutionalized more than once for depression, and when she begins to see Lucy's ghost, she doesn't know if it's a ghost or a hallucination, and begins to fear that she may have been involved in Lucy's death (she has no memories of the summer she spent there as a child). In 2012, Lucy's younger brother, Pip, returns to Lightfields, now owned by his son, Barry, for the first time in 68 years, and fears Lucy's ghost is attempting to hurt him through his great-grandson, Luke.
I liked the 1944 and 1975 parts a lot, and the 2012 part well enough, though not as muchh as the other two, and I found the resolution to what really happened to Lucy more satisfying than I recall finding the resolution of what happened to Alice in Marchlands, though I cant really say which series I prefer overall. One thing that I found a bit odd is the fact that Claire is biracial (white mother, black father) is never once mentioned in the text, even when a few local kids bully her. Then again, I actually have no idea how she would have been treated in England in the 70s, and am probably projecting American attitudes of the time onto the show. There are definite trigger warnings for depression for the 1975 parts, and I spent a lot of the later part of that plotline going "OMG NO DON'T", and bits that make you genuinely worry about the safety of a kid (though nothing nearly as harrowing there as The Secret of Crickley Hall) but if you can handle those and like gothic horror and teenaged girls running around Doing Stuff, I recommend it.
Revolution 1.15: All the promotional material for this episode made me suspect it was primarily the writers trying prove that they have a clue what to do with Aaron and Monroe. Having watched the episode, it really was a very desperate (and, IMO, failed) attempt to convince me that Aaron and Monroe serve a purpose and the writers have a clue what that purpose is, while throwing a couple women under a bus trying to do so. Also, I really dislike the potential of one plot development.
I wish I was surprised that some of fandom is already hoping for Charlie to be paired with Monroe's potential son next season for a "good" Romeo and Juliet plotline. We already have one of those, and even if you don't like Jason, booting one love interest to replace him with another that serves the same conflict function is a bad move. (Especially since you know fandom and the show would use them as representations of Miles and Monroe's bromance, a plotline that has passed its expiration date by a good bit.) Also, replacing POC with white people is icky. Ickyickyicky.
Still, this was the first episode of the series where there was more that I didn't like than what I did, the last 2 minutes were pretty ace, and the previews and promotional material for the next couple episode sounds like it's going back to being the show I'm signed up for after forgetting for a couple weeks.
Defiance 1.3:
-Kinda of annoyed that Alak and Christie (more Alak) went along with the lie that Alak was protecting Christie from the hellbug, and not the other way around. (I mean, I get why they did: that did more to win McCawley over than a year of trying to bond and show Alak's good husband material would have.)
-Speaking of Hellbugs, they were so very Farscape style creepy crawly. This is ok, except for flinging feces. Which, unfortunately, is also very Farscape.
-Also speaking of Farscape, Irisa is apparently the least Jool-like looking Irathient, based on Rynn and her family. I am glad, though, that apparently not all Irathients are warlike, which is the impression that I had before. (Also, shorthaired alien girl has painful visions. Hopefully I'll be able to follow this plot better than I could Chiana's random blinding visions.)
-But let us pause for a moment for a bit of horrified pondering over the fact that we just had a subplot in which a First Nations man was part of a plot (even if he was apparently the least guilty of the three, and unaware of the methods used) to murder aliens played by white actors (I believe) and steal their lands. I'm actually pretty sure that subplot was written without sparing 2 seconds to think about American history, though.
-I'm glad we got to raising an alien as a human having some serious problematic elements pretty quickly. There's no doubt that Nolan did the best he knew how to with Irisa (and based on the little we've seen-I was really hoping for more of their backstory this episode-I'm not sure she would have let him leave her with a nice Irathient family if he'd found one willing to take her in. I don't get the feeling he tried to, though.) but ignoring the fact that she's part of an alien species he doesnt know a lot about and attributing her problems to human problems he understands didn't help her any. I actually found the few lines there more effective re: "humans and aliens coexist but don't really understand each other and their ways" than the entire subplot about that in episode 2.
-I hope Kenya starts getting more screentime that isn't all about being the madam. I mean, I continue to love the lack of slutshaming, but right now, it feels like they're mostly using her for sexytimes, even the ones that don't go so well. I want more scenes with Amanda in particular.
-Not nearly enough Amanda or Tommy in this episode.
Lightfields: Like the Marchlands series from a few years ago, Lightfields is a 5-episode gothic miniseries from ITV loosely based on the failed FOX pilot The Oaks, focusing on 3 different families who live in the same house in different time periods, linked by the aparently vengeful ghost of a young woman who died under mysteries circumstances. I've never seen the pilot of The Oaks (having enjoyed 2 miniseries based on it, I suppose one day I should find out if there actually is a way I colud watch it) but based on my understanding, Marchlands is a fairly direct remake, while Lightfields simply runs with the general idea.
For Lightfields itself, part of the story is set in 1944, when a teenaged girl named Lucy dies in a barnfire. Her slightly older and considerably more worldly friend, Eve, who fought with Lucy shortly before her death, becomes obsessed with the idea that someone set the fire deliberately, and sets out to prove it. In 1975, Eve's younger sister, Vivian rents Lightfields (the farm run by Lucy's father) for the summer along with her teenaged daughter, Claire. Initially unknown to Claire, Vivian has been institutionalized more than once for depression, and when she begins to see Lucy's ghost, she doesn't know if it's a ghost or a hallucination, and begins to fear that she may have been involved in Lucy's death (she has no memories of the summer she spent there as a child). In 2012, Lucy's younger brother, Pip, returns to Lightfields, now owned by his son, Barry, for the first time in 68 years, and fears Lucy's ghost is attempting to hurt him through his great-grandson, Luke.
I liked the 1944 and 1975 parts a lot, and the 2012 part well enough, though not as muchh as the other two, and I found the resolution to what really happened to Lucy more satisfying than I recall finding the resolution of what happened to Alice in Marchlands, though I cant really say which series I prefer overall. One thing that I found a bit odd is the fact that Claire is biracial (white mother, black father) is never once mentioned in the text, even when a few local kids bully her. Then again, I actually have no idea how she would have been treated in England in the 70s, and am probably projecting American attitudes of the time onto the show. There are definite trigger warnings for depression for the 1975 parts, and I spent a lot of the later part of that plotline going "OMG NO DON'T", and bits that make you genuinely worry about the safety of a kid (though nothing nearly as harrowing there as The Secret of Crickley Hall) but if you can handle those and like gothic horror and teenaged girls running around Doing Stuff, I recommend it.
Revolution 1.15: All the promotional material for this episode made me suspect it was primarily the writers trying prove that they have a clue what to do with Aaron and Monroe. Having watched the episode, it really was a very desperate (and, IMO, failed) attempt to convince me that Aaron and Monroe serve a purpose and the writers have a clue what that purpose is, while throwing a couple women under a bus trying to do so. Also, I really dislike the potential of one plot development.
I wish I was surprised that some of fandom is already hoping for Charlie to be paired with Monroe's potential son next season for a "good" Romeo and Juliet plotline. We already have one of those, and even if you don't like Jason, booting one love interest to replace him with another that serves the same conflict function is a bad move. (Especially since you know fandom and the show would use them as representations of Miles and Monroe's bromance, a plotline that has passed its expiration date by a good bit.) Also, replacing POC with white people is icky. Ickyickyicky.
Still, this was the first episode of the series where there was more that I didn't like than what I did, the last 2 minutes were pretty ace, and the previews and promotional material for the next couple episode sounds like it's going back to being the show I'm signed up for after forgetting for a couple weeks.