show rec: The Killing
I watched the second ep of Body of Proof, and it was better than the first, especially writing-wise, but still not particularly good. It may never rise above solidly mediocre, but the protagonist, Megan Hunt, keeps doing this thing that makes me love her: she'll be thinking or talking about some stressful personal thing, and then suddenly she makes a work-related connection, and she's all "oooooh, work!" one-track mind, forget her estranged daughter and all of that, and the show doesn't treat this like it's a bad thing.
**
But if you really want a crime-solving show with a female protagonist that looks like it will be excellent, you want The Killing (AMC is streaming the two-hour pilot at that link; it works in Canada, so hopefully it will for other non-US folks). I don't love the premise--dead teenage girl who feels a bit fridged to me--but the pilot was really excellent nonetheless. And the entire season is apparently going to focus on solving this crime, and on the various and complicated interwoven threads, so it's no standard procedural show.
It focuses on Sarah Linden, the lead detective on the case, who is supposed to have quit and moved to California but just can't quite let go of this one. She is not your average TV police detective (or at least not your average female TV police detective): quiet and aloof, rather frumpy and not all that conventionally attractive. And there's no sign, really, that she's particularly invested in the case or the work for a personal reason; she doesn't connect with the victim's family, and she doesn't make promises she can't keep. She's just committed to her job.
I really liked Sarah, but the standout performance so far--in a "give the woman an Emmy" kind of way--is Michelle Forbes as the dead girl's mother. Michelle Forbes is on the list of women who make me question my sexual orientation anyway, but she is just amazing in this. I mean, it's the kind of performance that attracts attention and may well win her an award or two: playing grief convincingly will do that sort of thing. But that doesn't make her performance any less stunning, and when I tune in next week, it will primarily be for Michelle Forbes (which is not to say that I didn't really enjoy the rest of it, too, because I really did).
My one substantial complaint, other than the aforementioned reservations about the premise, is the overwhelming whiteness of the cast. Apparently the creator and showrunner is a woman of color, so there's diversity behind the camera, but very little in front of it, despite the show being set in Seattle, which I'm pretty sure is not an entirely white city. And there are at least four or five main characters who could easily have been played by actors of color.
**
And since I've been talking about it lately, oh, basketball. :( I would venture to say that the NCAA's decision to hold the Final Four and the championship game in this giant behemoth of a football dome may be directly responsible for the ugly, ugly basketball that was played this weekend. Do all the Hoosiers-style measuring of the court that you want, but when four different teams that can usually shoot the ball pretty well suddenly can't make a shot if their lives depended on it, there's something more going on than just good defense or nerves, though I won't deny that those are factors. But that kind of giant arena kills the good shooting teams. I'm not sure if it's the noise, or the space, or what, but those three games had some of the worst shooting I've ever seen, and from teams that wouldn't have gotten to that point if they couldn't shoot the ball. I propose that in a proper basketball arena, Kentucky would have won on Saturday, probably somewhat handily, Butler probably still would have won, and the championship game between the two of them would have been considerably higher scoring than 51-43. *le sigh*
In happier news, though, the women's final is between Notre Dame and Texas A&M, neither of whom are UConn, Tennessee, Stanford, or Rutgers! In short, it appears that at long last NCAA women's basketball may be getting more depth, and we might be able to spread the wealth around past the Usual Suspects.
Crossposted from DW, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.
**
But if you really want a crime-solving show with a female protagonist that looks like it will be excellent, you want The Killing (AMC is streaming the two-hour pilot at that link; it works in Canada, so hopefully it will for other non-US folks). I don't love the premise--dead teenage girl who feels a bit fridged to me--but the pilot was really excellent nonetheless. And the entire season is apparently going to focus on solving this crime, and on the various and complicated interwoven threads, so it's no standard procedural show.
It focuses on Sarah Linden, the lead detective on the case, who is supposed to have quit and moved to California but just can't quite let go of this one. She is not your average TV police detective (or at least not your average female TV police detective): quiet and aloof, rather frumpy and not all that conventionally attractive. And there's no sign, really, that she's particularly invested in the case or the work for a personal reason; she doesn't connect with the victim's family, and she doesn't make promises she can't keep. She's just committed to her job.
I really liked Sarah, but the standout performance so far--in a "give the woman an Emmy" kind of way--is Michelle Forbes as the dead girl's mother. Michelle Forbes is on the list of women who make me question my sexual orientation anyway, but she is just amazing in this. I mean, it's the kind of performance that attracts attention and may well win her an award or two: playing grief convincingly will do that sort of thing. But that doesn't make her performance any less stunning, and when I tune in next week, it will primarily be for Michelle Forbes (which is not to say that I didn't really enjoy the rest of it, too, because I really did).
My one substantial complaint, other than the aforementioned reservations about the premise, is the overwhelming whiteness of the cast. Apparently the creator and showrunner is a woman of color, so there's diversity behind the camera, but very little in front of it, despite the show being set in Seattle, which I'm pretty sure is not an entirely white city. And there are at least four or five main characters who could easily have been played by actors of color.
**
And since I've been talking about it lately, oh, basketball. :( I would venture to say that the NCAA's decision to hold the Final Four and the championship game in this giant behemoth of a football dome may be directly responsible for the ugly, ugly basketball that was played this weekend. Do all the Hoosiers-style measuring of the court that you want, but when four different teams that can usually shoot the ball pretty well suddenly can't make a shot if their lives depended on it, there's something more going on than just good defense or nerves, though I won't deny that those are factors. But that kind of giant arena kills the good shooting teams. I'm not sure if it's the noise, or the space, or what, but those three games had some of the worst shooting I've ever seen, and from teams that wouldn't have gotten to that point if they couldn't shoot the ball. I propose that in a proper basketball arena, Kentucky would have won on Saturday, probably somewhat handily, Butler probably still would have won, and the championship game between the two of them would have been considerably higher scoring than 51-43. *le sigh*
In happier news, though, the women's final is between Notre Dame and Texas A&M, neither of whom are UConn, Tennessee, Stanford, or Rutgers! In short, it appears that at long last NCAA women's basketball may be getting more depth, and we might be able to spread the wealth around past the Usual Suspects.
Crossposted from DW, where there are
comments. Comment here or there.