it's all in the past now
12/5: 
romantical asked me to talk about Tim Bayliss!
Bayliss! One of the most amazing, heartbreaking, and tragical character arcs ever to grace our television screens! Tim Bayliss walks into the Baltimore PD Homicide squad in "Gone for Goode" and walks out seven seasons and a movie later, well. That would be telling.
He starts out as the new guy, our POV character into this world of thinking detectives, with his textbook and his empathy, and of course Gee assigns him to the abrasive genius/lone wolf/doesn't need a partner Pembleton to produce one of the most - if not THE MOST - glorious partnerships ever on TV. Pembleton wants no part of Bayliss, but Bayliss just wants to learn and there's no place better for it than at Pembleton's side. And while the show - and the friendship - never softens Pembleton, his partnership with Bayliss allows him to open up a little, and they do grow into a fabulous working relationship, and Bayliss turns out to be a damn fine detective, though he's forever haunted by the first case he ever worked as primary, the murder of Adena Watson. I know I'm not the only person to yell "DON'T PICK UP THE PHONE TIMMEH" every time I watch "Gone for Goode," as though somehow, this time, Kay will catch the case and close it, when Bayliss and Pembleton could not, thus sparing Tim a lot of the angst and self-doubt he carries forward.
I love all their car conversations, from the ridiculous ("They named a town in Mexico after the rat dog?") to the sublime ("Virtue isn't virtue until it's tested--tempted.")
To me, one of the main tragedies of Tim's life is that he's in love with Frank - I'm not sure he even conceptualizes it that way on any conscious level, but I think it's true - but while Frank loves him as a friend and a partner, he's not in love with Tim.
Which is actually the perfect segue into the news that I spent the past few days marathoning Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and if they don't get Kyle Secor to play Holt's husband, I don't even know what I'll do. (Though Clark Johnson would be a fine casting choice, too.)
Anyway! Brooklyn Nine-Nine is quite entertaining, even if you spend a lot of it wanting to punch Andy Samberg hard in the face, as I do! The show manages around him to be really funny, with a great ensemble that has gelled more quickly than most new shows do. Andre Braugher's supremely dry and deadpan Captain Holt is my favorite, of course, but Terry Crews as Sergeant Terry Jeffords runs a close second - Crews is COMEDY GOLD - and Stephanie Beatriz's Rosa Diaz is my third favorite.
I picked it up because of the gifsets from the Thanksgiving episode, and also the one of Diaz and Santiago in the car, having (or not having, according to Diaz) a moment. I might ship it a little.
While the episodes are formulaic - it's a sitcom on Fox - what I also like is that for the most part, Holt comes out on top, despite Peralta's irritating "genius detective" schtick, and that when Holt doesn't, it's because Peralta has the whole squad working with him (thus doing what Holt wants anyway, which is for Peralta to learn to work with a team). I also like that for all the butting heads Holt and Peralta do, it never feels mean-spirited or that they dislike each other. There's a sweetness to a lot of the comedy on this show, which I appreciate, and which also helps disperse any lingering embarrassment squick I might feel. Personally, I find Peralta brings it all on himself and he knows it, so I don't feel bad for him. The only one who I occasionally wince for is Santiago, because she wants SO BADLY for Holt to mentor her, and she's got a Hermione thing going on that makes her easy to identify with.
I've even grown to enjoy Boyle and Gina, who were the two weak links for me in the show, though I really wish they'd stop with the Boyle->Rosa thing, and having him take a bullet for her isn't helping with that. Anyway, Boyle's over the top fawning over Peralta was a strike against him, but I like that they let him be good at his job, if slower, more methodical, and less flashy than Peralta, who might be a good detective but is a shitty partner. Gina, who is played by Chelsea Peretti in full on Laverne DeFazio mode, won me over in the episode where they take Terry to the gun range. I don't know if I can actually visualize Holt making this plan with her, but the results were totally worth it, and trying to imagine them coming up with the plan is hilarious.
It's not a perfect show - it could do with less focus on Peralta and less of Samberg's mugging for the camera, and also cutting out the fat jokes - but it is an entertaining one, which is basically what I want from a half-hour comedy.
And on the not perfect but entertaining tip, we also have Arrow. As much as I could wish they'd chosen to use Wally instead of Barry, I did enjoy Barry's introduction to the universe, even if he doesn't look old enough to be out of high school yet (which was really glaring in the scene where he and Felicity dance). Though I could have done without the dead mom backstory. Not every hero needs dead parents, guys! So was the guy who killed his mom the Reverse Flash? I did enjoy his fanboying the Arrow, though I'm not sure tranqing him to get his help after Ollie was poisoned was the best idea ever.
Apparently it's been confirmed by the writers (though I have not seen a source, just someone saying that they said it on twitter) that Brother Cyrus is in fact Cyrus Gold, better known to you and me as Solomon Grundy, which is kind of fascinating, because they are probably not going to make him a zombie (or give him the pathos that JLU did *sniff*) but I like that they are willing to just bring in folks from all over the DCU, whether or not they're recognizable. And both of those fights were excellent. I especially liked Ollie nailing (arrowing?) Cyrus's feet to the floor - a decent strategy for fighting someone so much stronger than you.
I also liked the shoutout to Kord Industries. Ted Kord's Blue Beetle might be a little goofy, but I think it could absolutely fit with Arrow's aesthetics, and I wouldn't mind seeing him pop up. Now I'm wondering who I would cast as Ted. (I'm not sure the show could handle Booster, but maybe? If they did the time travel the way Sleepy Hollow does with Ichabod? Idk.)
You know who this show needs? THE QUESTION. Though they'd probably just go with the Vic Sage version, I hunger for Renee Montoya on my teevee screen.
Meanwhile, Moira outbadasses Malcolm by invoking Ra's, which makes me wonder what else Moira knows. Certainly she doesn't trust Isabel, and she shouldn't.
I kind of loved how Oliver and Diggle responded to Felicity's flirtation with Barry. They weren't jealous, but they were looking out for her. Though Ollie did touch her a lot more often in this episode, I thought. I was also surprised when he shot Roy in the knee! WTF Ollie? That is going to make sidekicking later on kind of awkward, no?
Meanwhile, back on the island, SLADE! I'm kind of meh that his feelings reveal was for Shado instead of Oliver (island OT3! Come on!), but I can't wait to see him back up and kicking ass again as DEATHSTROKE, preferably in present day Starling.
I've enjoyed the AV Club's Arrow coverage, especially since almost no one on my flist talks about it, and today, both Alan Sepinwall and Mo Ryan are talking about it, too. (hat tip to
alethia for the links.)
This post is long enough, and work keeps interrupting, so I'll save my flailing about this week's The Good Wife for tomorrow.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/620684.html.
people have commented there.
romantical asked me to talk about Tim Bayliss!
Bayliss! One of the most amazing, heartbreaking, and tragical character arcs ever to grace our television screens! Tim Bayliss walks into the Baltimore PD Homicide squad in "Gone for Goode" and walks out seven seasons and a movie later, well. That would be telling.
He starts out as the new guy, our POV character into this world of thinking detectives, with his textbook and his empathy, and of course Gee assigns him to the abrasive genius/lone wolf/doesn't need a partner Pembleton to produce one of the most - if not THE MOST - glorious partnerships ever on TV. Pembleton wants no part of Bayliss, but Bayliss just wants to learn and there's no place better for it than at Pembleton's side. And while the show - and the friendship - never softens Pembleton, his partnership with Bayliss allows him to open up a little, and they do grow into a fabulous working relationship, and Bayliss turns out to be a damn fine detective, though he's forever haunted by the first case he ever worked as primary, the murder of Adena Watson. I know I'm not the only person to yell "DON'T PICK UP THE PHONE TIMMEH" every time I watch "Gone for Goode," as though somehow, this time, Kay will catch the case and close it, when Bayliss and Pembleton could not, thus sparing Tim a lot of the angst and self-doubt he carries forward.
I love all their car conversations, from the ridiculous ("They named a town in Mexico after the rat dog?") to the sublime ("Virtue isn't virtue until it's tested--tempted.")
To me, one of the main tragedies of Tim's life is that he's in love with Frank - I'm not sure he even conceptualizes it that way on any conscious level, but I think it's true - but while Frank loves him as a friend and a partner, he's not in love with Tim.
Which is actually the perfect segue into the news that I spent the past few days marathoning Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and if they don't get Kyle Secor to play Holt's husband, I don't even know what I'll do. (Though Clark Johnson would be a fine casting choice, too.)
Anyway! Brooklyn Nine-Nine is quite entertaining, even if you spend a lot of it wanting to punch Andy Samberg hard in the face, as I do! The show manages around him to be really funny, with a great ensemble that has gelled more quickly than most new shows do. Andre Braugher's supremely dry and deadpan Captain Holt is my favorite, of course, but Terry Crews as Sergeant Terry Jeffords runs a close second - Crews is COMEDY GOLD - and Stephanie Beatriz's Rosa Diaz is my third favorite.
I picked it up because of the gifsets from the Thanksgiving episode, and also the one of Diaz and Santiago in the car, having (or not having, according to Diaz) a moment. I might ship it a little.
While the episodes are formulaic - it's a sitcom on Fox - what I also like is that for the most part, Holt comes out on top, despite Peralta's irritating "genius detective" schtick, and that when Holt doesn't, it's because Peralta has the whole squad working with him (thus doing what Holt wants anyway, which is for Peralta to learn to work with a team). I also like that for all the butting heads Holt and Peralta do, it never feels mean-spirited or that they dislike each other. There's a sweetness to a lot of the comedy on this show, which I appreciate, and which also helps disperse any lingering embarrassment squick I might feel. Personally, I find Peralta brings it all on himself and he knows it, so I don't feel bad for him. The only one who I occasionally wince for is Santiago, because she wants SO BADLY for Holt to mentor her, and she's got a Hermione thing going on that makes her easy to identify with.
I've even grown to enjoy Boyle and Gina, who were the two weak links for me in the show, though I really wish they'd stop with the Boyle->Rosa thing, and having him take a bullet for her isn't helping with that. Anyway, Boyle's over the top fawning over Peralta was a strike against him, but I like that they let him be good at his job, if slower, more methodical, and less flashy than Peralta, who might be a good detective but is a shitty partner. Gina, who is played by Chelsea Peretti in full on Laverne DeFazio mode, won me over in the episode where they take Terry to the gun range. I don't know if I can actually visualize Holt making this plan with her, but the results were totally worth it, and trying to imagine them coming up with the plan is hilarious.
It's not a perfect show - it could do with less focus on Peralta and less of Samberg's mugging for the camera, and also cutting out the fat jokes - but it is an entertaining one, which is basically what I want from a half-hour comedy.
And on the not perfect but entertaining tip, we also have Arrow. As much as I could wish they'd chosen to use Wally instead of Barry, I did enjoy Barry's introduction to the universe, even if he doesn't look old enough to be out of high school yet (which was really glaring in the scene where he and Felicity dance). Though I could have done without the dead mom backstory. Not every hero needs dead parents, guys! So was the guy who killed his mom the Reverse Flash? I did enjoy his fanboying the Arrow, though I'm not sure tranqing him to get his help after Ollie was poisoned was the best idea ever.
Apparently it's been confirmed by the writers (though I have not seen a source, just someone saying that they said it on twitter) that Brother Cyrus is in fact Cyrus Gold, better known to you and me as Solomon Grundy, which is kind of fascinating, because they are probably not going to make him a zombie (or give him the pathos that JLU did *sniff*) but I like that they are willing to just bring in folks from all over the DCU, whether or not they're recognizable. And both of those fights were excellent. I especially liked Ollie nailing (arrowing?) Cyrus's feet to the floor - a decent strategy for fighting someone so much stronger than you.
I also liked the shoutout to Kord Industries. Ted Kord's Blue Beetle might be a little goofy, but I think it could absolutely fit with Arrow's aesthetics, and I wouldn't mind seeing him pop up. Now I'm wondering who I would cast as Ted. (I'm not sure the show could handle Booster, but maybe? If they did the time travel the way Sleepy Hollow does with Ichabod? Idk.)
You know who this show needs? THE QUESTION. Though they'd probably just go with the Vic Sage version, I hunger for Renee Montoya on my teevee screen.
Meanwhile, Moira outbadasses Malcolm by invoking Ra's, which makes me wonder what else Moira knows. Certainly she doesn't trust Isabel, and she shouldn't.
I kind of loved how Oliver and Diggle responded to Felicity's flirtation with Barry. They weren't jealous, but they were looking out for her. Though Ollie did touch her a lot more often in this episode, I thought. I was also surprised when he shot Roy in the knee! WTF Ollie? That is going to make sidekicking later on kind of awkward, no?
Meanwhile, back on the island, SLADE! I'm kind of meh that his feelings reveal was for Shado instead of Oliver (island OT3! Come on!), but I can't wait to see him back up and kicking ass again as DEATHSTROKE, preferably in present day Starling.
I've enjoyed the AV Club's Arrow coverage, especially since almost no one on my flist talks about it, and today, both Alan Sepinwall and Mo Ryan are talking about it, too. (hat tip to
alethia for the links.)
This post is long enough, and work keeps interrupting, so I'll save my flailing about this week's The Good Wife for tomorrow.
***
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/620684.html.
people have commented there.