I never knew daylight could be so violent
Today's the one year anniversary of my mother's death. I can't believe it's been a year already. It's weird. It's still weird. It gets less overwhelmingly in-your-face weird as time passes, but the overall weirdness of it hasn't gone away yet and I'm guessing it probably never will. I wish I had something more profound or meaningful to share, but I don't. I'm sad. I miss my mom.
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Gotham: Pilot
Well, that was...underwhelming, even with low expectations, and putting aside how much better a Gotham Central show would have been, this was super heavy-handed and pilot-y. The dialogue was clunky and the writing was unsubtle and also not very well done (why have Bullock and the captain argue behind closed doors about him remaining partnered with Gordon, only to have him come out of the office and tell us what she said! It would have been more natural to put the exposition about Gordon being a war hero and the son of a beloved DA [who will no doubt turn out to have been crooked, if I'm reading that final scene with Rawls Falcone correctly] in the scene between Essen and Bullock [also, I am guessing Captain Essen does not end up Gordon's second wife in this universe] I mean, I get that it was probably supposed to be from Gordon's POV, but there was so much else that wasn't so why bother sticking closely to it there?) Plus, in case you didn't know his name was James Gordon, he said it about 90 million times. Oy. There were also some seriously questionable directorial choices.
I did not like what they did with Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, but I'm hoping they can turn that around, because RENEE. CRIS. I also wasn't feeling Alfred, which. Alfred is KEY. IJS.
And the lady they cast as Barbara Kean (Gordon) was godawful. ALSO, JIM GORDON SHOULD NOT BE LIVING IN A PENTHOUSE. I realize that it was her apartment, not his (yet), but the WHOLE POINT is that Jim Gordon is an honest cop living on an honest cop's salary in an expensive city! He should be living in a one-bedroom apartment somewhere in the outer boroughs!
On the upside, I really liked the look of Gotham - it looks like a real city - and I thought Jada Pinkett-Smith as Fish Mooney was excellent - she's working a nice Eartha Kitt vibe, which can't hurt. And Donal Logue is superbly cast as Harvey Bullock (though I wish he'd been choking on a stogie at some point). Plus John Doman as Falcone works well, and I liked what they did with Cobblepot (I feel like shoehorning both Selina AND Ivy into this was too much). I'm sure McKenzie can brood and glower as necessary. If they make this more about Gordon (and eventually, Bullock and Montoya and Allen) vs. corrupt GCPD/the mob, it could work. But I feel like it's got it even worse than Smallville, because who wants to watch 12yo Bruce Wayne standing on ledges and burning himself with candles in order to conquer fear? I sure don't. We shouldn't even see him again! Otherwise, the Batshadow just hovers over everything and half the people will be like "WHERE'S BATMAN?" and the other half will be like, "WHY ISN'T THIS GOTHAM CENTRAL?" I feel like that's a very fine line to walk and the writers so far don't seem up to it, but I guess we'll see. The dude who made Rome is in charge, which is a decent pedigree, especially considering you knew how that story was going to end too, so there's hope for improvement. I mean, Arrow improved dramatically, too, the first half of its first season was pretty lackluster, and now I can't wait for it to come back, and this was just the pilot. It could settle into something interesting in the new few eps.
Sleepy Hollow: This Is War
Ha! Timothy Busfield as Ben Franklin! I didn't expect that casting to work as well as it did! And Ichabod's distaste for him! Hee! "The man was full of ...aphorisms." Hee!
As soon as they were doing this "it's been a year, Jennie and Katrina are dead" I was like, "This has to be Ichabod's hallucination in the coffin, right?!" Because this show wouldn't do me dirty like that! It's not even the time skip or the lack of info on how they got out of their tight corners from the last season finale, but killing off Jennie and Katrina! WTF? Unless it was going to be a whole season in flashback, which, nope! And then I was right, so points to me and points to the show for making it obvious but still keeping me guessing just a little bit. Especially because it was awesome to see Abbie and Ichabod with all that heavy weaponry and training! (and then they could make out! Ahem.) I also liked that it was a shared hallucination. (And it was kind of neat that Henry and Moloch are the ones who led them to the mcguffin, I mean, key. Well played, show.)
Poor Katrina is stuck with Bram and she sticks him good with a knife. Go Katrina! I hope you get some character development this season, because right now I still don't care that much about you.
John Noble chews the scenery magnificently! UNDEAD JOHN CHO APPEARS! And helps Abbie out because he needs to believe he still has free will!
I loved that Jennie's message to Ichabod was "I'm working on a way out" not "Come rescue me!" JENNIE RESCUES HERSELF. And while Abbie needed outside help to get out of purgatory, she recognized the fake Ichabod because the real one pronounces it "leftenant!" and chopped off its head! THAT WAS A BEAUTIFUL BIT OF FAN SERVICE FOR REAL. OTHER SHOWS SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF HOW IT'S DONE. I also really liked how she was absolutely willing to sacrifice herself rather than endanger the world, but that Ichabod wasn't having with that.
AND THEN THERE WERE HUGS. SO MANY HUGS. <333 If AtLA taught us anything, it's that hero teams should HUG ALL THE TIME. INDIVIDUALLY AND IN GROUPS. MORE HUGS = BETTER HEROES. IJS.
Now they need to figure out how to get Frank out of jail or whatever trouble he's in.
I'm so glad this show is back. It's so entertaining and satisfying to me as a viewer.
*
I listened to the first half hour of my nephew's radio show and he did so well! I was such a proud auntie!
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/693096.html.
people have commented there.
*
Gotham: Pilot
Well, that was...underwhelming, even with low expectations, and putting aside how much better a Gotham Central show would have been, this was super heavy-handed and pilot-y. The dialogue was clunky and the writing was unsubtle and also not very well done (why have Bullock and the captain argue behind closed doors about him remaining partnered with Gordon, only to have him come out of the office and tell us what she said! It would have been more natural to put the exposition about Gordon being a war hero and the son of a beloved DA [who will no doubt turn out to have been crooked, if I'm reading that final scene with Rawls Falcone correctly] in the scene between Essen and Bullock [also, I am guessing Captain Essen does not end up Gordon's second wife in this universe] I mean, I get that it was probably supposed to be from Gordon's POV, but there was so much else that wasn't so why bother sticking closely to it there?) Plus, in case you didn't know his name was James Gordon, he said it about 90 million times. Oy. There were also some seriously questionable directorial choices.
I did not like what they did with Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen, but I'm hoping they can turn that around, because RENEE. CRIS. I also wasn't feeling Alfred, which. Alfred is KEY. IJS.
And the lady they cast as Barbara Kean (Gordon) was godawful. ALSO, JIM GORDON SHOULD NOT BE LIVING IN A PENTHOUSE. I realize that it was her apartment, not his (yet), but the WHOLE POINT is that Jim Gordon is an honest cop living on an honest cop's salary in an expensive city! He should be living in a one-bedroom apartment somewhere in the outer boroughs!
On the upside, I really liked the look of Gotham - it looks like a real city - and I thought Jada Pinkett-Smith as Fish Mooney was excellent - she's working a nice Eartha Kitt vibe, which can't hurt. And Donal Logue is superbly cast as Harvey Bullock (though I wish he'd been choking on a stogie at some point). Plus John Doman as Falcone works well, and I liked what they did with Cobblepot (I feel like shoehorning both Selina AND Ivy into this was too much). I'm sure McKenzie can brood and glower as necessary. If they make this more about Gordon (and eventually, Bullock and Montoya and Allen) vs. corrupt GCPD/the mob, it could work. But I feel like it's got it even worse than Smallville, because who wants to watch 12yo Bruce Wayne standing on ledges and burning himself with candles in order to conquer fear? I sure don't. We shouldn't even see him again! Otherwise, the Batshadow just hovers over everything and half the people will be like "WHERE'S BATMAN?" and the other half will be like, "WHY ISN'T THIS GOTHAM CENTRAL?" I feel like that's a very fine line to walk and the writers so far don't seem up to it, but I guess we'll see. The dude who made Rome is in charge, which is a decent pedigree, especially considering you knew how that story was going to end too, so there's hope for improvement. I mean, Arrow improved dramatically, too, the first half of its first season was pretty lackluster, and now I can't wait for it to come back, and this was just the pilot. It could settle into something interesting in the new few eps.
Sleepy Hollow: This Is War
Ha! Timothy Busfield as Ben Franklin! I didn't expect that casting to work as well as it did! And Ichabod's distaste for him! Hee! "The man was full of ...aphorisms." Hee!
As soon as they were doing this "it's been a year, Jennie and Katrina are dead" I was like, "This has to be Ichabod's hallucination in the coffin, right?!" Because this show wouldn't do me dirty like that! It's not even the time skip or the lack of info on how they got out of their tight corners from the last season finale, but killing off Jennie and Katrina! WTF? Unless it was going to be a whole season in flashback, which, nope! And then I was right, so points to me and points to the show for making it obvious but still keeping me guessing just a little bit. Especially because it was awesome to see Abbie and Ichabod with all that heavy weaponry and training! (and then they could make out! Ahem.) I also liked that it was a shared hallucination. (And it was kind of neat that Henry and Moloch are the ones who led them to the mcguffin, I mean, key. Well played, show.)
Poor Katrina is stuck with Bram and she sticks him good with a knife. Go Katrina! I hope you get some character development this season, because right now I still don't care that much about you.
John Noble chews the scenery magnificently! UNDEAD JOHN CHO APPEARS! And helps Abbie out because he needs to believe he still has free will!
I loved that Jennie's message to Ichabod was "I'm working on a way out" not "Come rescue me!" JENNIE RESCUES HERSELF. And while Abbie needed outside help to get out of purgatory, she recognized the fake Ichabod because the real one pronounces it "leftenant!" and chopped off its head! THAT WAS A BEAUTIFUL BIT OF FAN SERVICE FOR REAL. OTHER SHOWS SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF HOW IT'S DONE. I also really liked how she was absolutely willing to sacrifice herself rather than endanger the world, but that Ichabod wasn't having with that.
AND THEN THERE WERE HUGS. SO MANY HUGS. <333 If AtLA taught us anything, it's that hero teams should HUG ALL THE TIME. INDIVIDUALLY AND IN GROUPS. MORE HUGS = BETTER HEROES. IJS.
Now they need to figure out how to get Frank out of jail or whatever trouble he's in.
I'm so glad this show is back. It's so entertaining and satisfying to me as a viewer.
*
I listened to the first half hour of my nephew's radio show and he did so well! I was such a proud auntie!
*
This entry at DW: http://musesfool.dreamwidth.org/693096.html.
people have commented there.