Another week, another recap
This weekend's new-movie-to-me was Apartment 143. Basic premise: single dad and two kids still dealing with the death of mom call in some paranormal investigators after dealing with increasingly violent incidents. On the plus side, while being a found-footage horror film, it had a very J-horror feel to it (though not, unusually, a remake of any Japanese film that I can find), and had a nice slightly different take on the usual premise. It also had surprise Michael O'Keefe, who I hadn't realized was going to be in it, and Kai Lennox (who played Eddie Alvarez in The Unusuals. On the other hand, it left me feeling kinda meh about it, not least of which was a gotcha last shot I could see coming a mile away, which didn't help.
In TV viewing....
One of my big takeaways from this was "Wow, good to see Ecbert is just as handsy as always!" He really can't seem to help touching Athelstan. Like, always.
Okay, that's not my biggest takeaway, but it was up there.
Mostly, I left the episode wondering about Athelstan and his fresh wounds (not to mention the link with the Stranger coming to Kattegat). Are they going to continue what they started last season with Athelstan's visions, and imply these are spontaneous stigmata? There's a number of "documented" cases among medieval Christian societies, and it's frequently connected with "ecstasy" experiences. (In medical terms, think of it like hysterical pregnancies: it's amazing what a brain can convince a body to do.)
Or. Did he reopen his wounds himself as a sort of penance for impure thoughts about Athelwulf's wife? Which, also very possible and very documented: self-flagellation was obviously also a very wide-spread in medieval times. Hell, you have people in modern cultures practicing self-crucifixion still as part of the Easter "celebration." But especially with someone like Athelstan, who is already conflicted and finding himself even more so as he is now living within BOTH of his cultures and acting as go-between with them, it's entirely believable that he would do that. You add in the conflict of not just wanting a married woman, but the apparent Madonna-like figure of the perfect (Norman) Christian woman who turns out to be raring to go, and oh hey, is also married to one of your tentative allies who's made it clear he'd burn you alive with his mind already given half the chance and could, conceivably, bring the whole tentative alliance to a sudden, bloody halt along with all the hopes of everyone you hold dear....
Yeah, Athelstan is kind of in a bad spot.
Watched this week's Gotham this morning. I had re-started watching the show once I realized Gordon was being sent to work in Arkham, and I admit, I've gotten quite a bit into it. Once you embrace the whole concept of every Batman villain showing up 15+ years too early, you can just go with it. (And, actually, the introduction of Joker was surprisingly well-done.) And I am loving how much of a badass Fish Mahoney is. I mean, there's bad ass and BAD ASS, and she's definitely the latter.
I'm actually surprised how disappointed I am to hear that they're going on hiatus until April. Hmph.
And speaking of, I can't say I'm a huge fan of this new trend of breaking up the seasons of network show so that you can insert a different show in the middle. AoS is one thing: I think they were doing it as much for timing issues (so that what happens on the show will more closely link up to the release of Age of Ultron), plus Agent Carter is itself a prequel to the series, so it makes a certain amount of sense.
I think my biggest problem, though, can be summed up with how both shows have handled having a break of that length, and it has a lot to do with momentum. AoS, like some of the cable shows like The Walking Dead, actually built to something and ended with a plateau. Yes, it was a horrible cliffhanger, but it felt like a stopping place, a place to rest and absorb what had happened and what was next. That's what's required with a cliffhanger: an actual CLIFF (plateau) to hang off of! In the case of Gotham, though, it felt like just another episode in the climb up to something. There's nothing momentous enough that happened to do anything but very likely ruin the momentum you had going. If you're going to stop here for a rest, there's no reason to look forward to that big cliff up there later.
Not sure how much of this was that the network programmers meant to do this and didn't tell the showrunners they were going to have that break there or an actual choice on the part of the showrunners to go on hiatus this way. If it's the latter, I can't say I think it was the right one. YMMV.
Loved the finale of Sleepy Hollow. Really hope it's renewed for a third season. See, there's a way for a show not to end on a cliffhanger, but enjoying a nice picnic on the cliff (while Hell climbs towards them).
*
So for Escapade I just realized the Vikings panel is at 11am on Friday (and if it's just me and one or two other people jawing about the show, I'm cool with that), and the Holmes/Watson is on Saturday at Noon. I hope I can find people to lunch with! :-)
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. There are currently
DW comments. Please comment at Dreamwidth if possible.
In TV viewing....
One of my big takeaways from this was "Wow, good to see Ecbert is just as handsy as always!" He really can't seem to help touching Athelstan. Like, always.
Okay, that's not my biggest takeaway, but it was up there.
Mostly, I left the episode wondering about Athelstan and his fresh wounds (not to mention the link with the Stranger coming to Kattegat). Are they going to continue what they started last season with Athelstan's visions, and imply these are spontaneous stigmata? There's a number of "documented" cases among medieval Christian societies, and it's frequently connected with "ecstasy" experiences. (In medical terms, think of it like hysterical pregnancies: it's amazing what a brain can convince a body to do.)
Or. Did he reopen his wounds himself as a sort of penance for impure thoughts about Athelwulf's wife? Which, also very possible and very documented: self-flagellation was obviously also a very wide-spread in medieval times. Hell, you have people in modern cultures practicing self-crucifixion still as part of the Easter "celebration." But especially with someone like Athelstan, who is already conflicted and finding himself even more so as he is now living within BOTH of his cultures and acting as go-between with them, it's entirely believable that he would do that. You add in the conflict of not just wanting a married woman, but the apparent Madonna-like figure of the perfect (Norman) Christian woman who turns out to be raring to go, and oh hey, is also married to one of your tentative allies who's made it clear he'd burn you alive with his mind already given half the chance and could, conceivably, bring the whole tentative alliance to a sudden, bloody halt along with all the hopes of everyone you hold dear....
Yeah, Athelstan is kind of in a bad spot.
Watched this week's Gotham this morning. I had re-started watching the show once I realized Gordon was being sent to work in Arkham, and I admit, I've gotten quite a bit into it. Once you embrace the whole concept of every Batman villain showing up 15+ years too early, you can just go with it. (And, actually, the introduction of Joker was surprisingly well-done.) And I am loving how much of a badass Fish Mahoney is. I mean, there's bad ass and BAD ASS, and she's definitely the latter.
I'm actually surprised how disappointed I am to hear that they're going on hiatus until April. Hmph.
And speaking of, I can't say I'm a huge fan of this new trend of breaking up the seasons of network show so that you can insert a different show in the middle. AoS is one thing: I think they were doing it as much for timing issues (so that what happens on the show will more closely link up to the release of Age of Ultron), plus Agent Carter is itself a prequel to the series, so it makes a certain amount of sense.
I think my biggest problem, though, can be summed up with how both shows have handled having a break of that length, and it has a lot to do with momentum. AoS, like some of the cable shows like The Walking Dead, actually built to something and ended with a plateau. Yes, it was a horrible cliffhanger, but it felt like a stopping place, a place to rest and absorb what had happened and what was next. That's what's required with a cliffhanger: an actual CLIFF (plateau) to hang off of! In the case of Gotham, though, it felt like just another episode in the climb up to something. There's nothing momentous enough that happened to do anything but very likely ruin the momentum you had going. If you're going to stop here for a rest, there's no reason to look forward to that big cliff up there later.
Not sure how much of this was that the network programmers meant to do this and didn't tell the showrunners they were going to have that break there or an actual choice on the part of the showrunners to go on hiatus this way. If it's the latter, I can't say I think it was the right one. YMMV.
Loved the finale of Sleepy Hollow. Really hope it's renewed for a third season. See, there's a way for a show not to end on a cliffhanger, but enjoying a nice picnic on the cliff (while Hell climbs towards them).
*
So for Escapade I just realized the Vikings panel is at 11am on Friday (and if it's just me and one or two other people jawing about the show, I'm cool with that), and the Holmes/Watson is on Saturday at Noon. I hope I can find people to lunch with! :-)
Originally posted at Dreamwidth. There are currently
DW comments. Please comment at Dreamwidth if possible.