shows beside the seaside
Poldark season 3 finale
The only adult character I didn’t castigate for being an idiot was, I think, Dwight. He was THE BEST in this episode.
I may have called Ross or Drake ‘idiot’ the most, I think. One of the stupid things Ross did was praise Elizabeth (in fairness, she was against the hounding of Drake when she found out about it, but her behaviour for most of this series didn’t make it a cert) in front of Demelza and then not tell Demelza (when he had another opportunity) about kissing Elizabeth. I had a shock that Prudie hadn’t told Demelza what she’d seen immediately, because I’d taken it as read that he had and that coloured most of my take on previous events (so was that Ross’s imagined conversation, then?) He knew Demelza was being chased after and that she was tempted, IDIOT. So, while Aiden Turner flashed very heartbroken eyes at the camera, I went ‘you made your bed, Ross,…’
But overall, I was trying to be magnanimous towards Ross - there is no way you could blame him for being at Drake’s just as George was passing, igniting George’s wrath and starting the campaign against Drake. Only George could see that as a provocation; nobody else mentioned the smithy’s proximity to Trenwith land. But most of Ross’s reaction to other stuff? Demelza and Thully told him and the signs of the people’s indignation were there to see, but Ross was haunted by France and back in military mode. Of course, he’s a good captain and leader of men, just maybe misdirecting it. The realisation that he and his home guard, armed, were tasked with protecting Warleggan Bank against his brother-in-law (trying to impress your future father-in-law, are we, Sam?) and other barely armed commoners was good. I also liked Ross’s dramatised thought process and hoe Demelza’s voice worked as part of his conscience, but the speech and that ‘I will run for public office’ calmed them all down and made it right gave me the giggles.
Rare, much needed giggles.
Oh, Demelza, my girl, no. I know you were angry, I know that Ross was being an idiot husband and not listening to sense, and I know that he seems to be blind how his regard for Elizabeth and whole impregnating her that time is not awful for you, but… Inevitably, though, Demelza, furious with Ross, Elizabeth and herself, was then waylaid by an adoring cutie who played the pity me card. My sense at the end (and they made us wait for some sort of Demelza/Ross resolution) was that she probably didn’t feel it was worth it, given her nature, but maybe that’s me overlaying my biases there. She shouldn’t have listened to Prudie this time - last season, she was speaking more sense although Hugh was less eww than Malcolm, and possibly Prudie was less bitter about men. But I loved that by the end of the day, Prudie was regretting her part in encouraging Demelza to have a fling.
Ross and Demelza will have a lot to work through, but I feel they’ve just about kept the foundations for doing so. Well, I hope so.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth did an amazing thing in finding the loophole by which she could swear on the Bible, carry out part of Ross’s plan and get George good and whipped. Although whipping a bully? Not that impressive.
As Geoffrey Charles returned and she tried to make the best of the life she’d picked for herself (no drugs this week) and I mocked her for those choices, it was the same old, and her marriage with George looked even more ghastly than usual, as he kept mentioning Ross, going off to give Tom Daniel orders to gladden any thug’s heart, and turning out to have voted in his self-interest to his sponsor’s dismay. How nobody’s heart bled for his sponsor as George’s whole pitch had been ‘I’m a weasel.’ And he was horrible about the grain (again).
But then Elizabeth went on the offensive and his essential weakness and love (by his lights) for her came out. And he tried to gloat over Ross, and even though Ross was worried sick about what Demelza was up to, his shots couldn’t hurt him.
Rowella’s actions finally made sense. She will use sex, like any other weapon, to get her way. That includes sex with her sister’s repulsive husband. Whitworth’s surprise and dismay at her extortion and refusal to see that it was his fault for starting it all off was a little satisfying. She may even not have been pregnant, but she got the librarian and enough money to start them off, and rid of Whitworth.
Which was good for her, but left Morwenna, especially when she realised what had been going on, in a horrid situation. I don’t think that threatening to murder your child or any baby, really, is a good, long-term solution (or a good thing, and they pretty much had to have her take it back to the baby immediately or they’d have lost a lot of audience sympathy for her) for the problem of Whitworth.
Drake’s take-out from nearly being killed was to carry on playing the devoted swain even when he should have been lying down and healing. Any pity I have for them is tempered by finding their Romeo and Julietness idiotic, to be honest.
And Caroline failed in BF duties by supporting Demelza in going off and - what did she think was going on with the visitor at Nempara? The last scene with Dwight was mainly filler to let us know where they’re at, but she still hasn’t worked out what it is to be Dr Enys’s wife, has she?
So, Elizabeth gained some power back over George, Ross finally listened to what everyone has told him all series long and looks as though he’s going to London (that’s going to be hilarious) to stand up for justice and the common man as soon as he can and he got his heart broken a bit, but he didn’t help Demelza stay faithful. Next series should involve some marriage counselling for them. I wonder how they will sort out Whitworth, who, like George (the toads got a mention this episode), is ridiculous and awful.
NCIS: LA 4.8 ‘Collateral’
It’s been a while since we had an episode where Callen was worrying about Hetty acting funny (I had so many Callen-Hetty feels, yay!)
I can totally see where Callen/Nell shippers were coming from as Callen ruthlessly used Nell to be his no. 1 source of following Hetty and then trying to find clues when she inevitably disappeared. There is something to base on there, although this was in an episode where Eric was really very nice in trying to comfort Nell when she worried about Hetty.
Newly converted to American football Nell was cute; the wee ponytail felt like over-enthusiasm by someone who is growing their hairstyle out. But the football, the swear jar, the favourite cartoons and the question of Sam’s geekiness was a nice thread of team getting on throughout the episode, although Deeks not getting why someone would be upset about losing their vinyl album was silly. The vinyl revival was in place by 2012, wasn’t it?
I did love that seaside pad and the blue of the sea, and all other houses were disappointing until the safepalace. Is it me or was Deeks trying to get out of what looked like but can’t have been a date with Kensi? I am not entirely mollified by Kensi’s tactical awareness i.e. playing up to the video camera that got her in at the escort agency, and that admitting Paola was a character got her bonus points, or that the twist that the pervy pimp was a woman and that we heard all about Kensi’s discomfort was subverting objectification. (I think that the subtler moment where Nell stopped the guys drooling over the escorts’ appearance by dropping her football knowledge on them and asserting her personhood as a woman with interests and knowledge did that better.) There was a bit of having your cake and eating it going on, but see also Deeks’s reaction to Kensi turning into Paola.
And although the structure led to lots of exposition at the end to explain why whatshername was killing spies and assassins, I liked where the episode ended up after all the chasing the evidence and breaking rules to find and protect one of their own. It was clear that this was a monster of their own making (their country and service) and Grainger pointed the finger at Hetty, and though she got to argue her justification for the killing that led to such collateral damage, there was also an acknowledgement that she needed the good stuff that night, too. But Mata Hari and Genghis Khan about covers it. And of course she got to shoot dead the person who was going to shoot G (Sam showed a ridiculous blind spot over how Hetty and Callen’s relationship is special. We also got a Michelle reference to remind us that Mrs Hanna’s storyline will be back.)
This entry was originally posted at http://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/290431.html.
The only adult character I didn’t castigate for being an idiot was, I think, Dwight. He was THE BEST in this episode.
I may have called Ross or Drake ‘idiot’ the most, I think. One of the stupid things Ross did was praise Elizabeth (in fairness, she was against the hounding of Drake when she found out about it, but her behaviour for most of this series didn’t make it a cert) in front of Demelza and then not tell Demelza (when he had another opportunity) about kissing Elizabeth. I had a shock that Prudie hadn’t told Demelza what she’d seen immediately, because I’d taken it as read that he had and that coloured most of my take on previous events (so was that Ross’s imagined conversation, then?) He knew Demelza was being chased after and that she was tempted, IDIOT. So, while Aiden Turner flashed very heartbroken eyes at the camera, I went ‘you made your bed, Ross,…’
But overall, I was trying to be magnanimous towards Ross - there is no way you could blame him for being at Drake’s just as George was passing, igniting George’s wrath and starting the campaign against Drake. Only George could see that as a provocation; nobody else mentioned the smithy’s proximity to Trenwith land. But most of Ross’s reaction to other stuff? Demelza and Thully told him and the signs of the people’s indignation were there to see, but Ross was haunted by France and back in military mode. Of course, he’s a good captain and leader of men, just maybe misdirecting it. The realisation that he and his home guard, armed, were tasked with protecting Warleggan Bank against his brother-in-law (trying to impress your future father-in-law, are we, Sam?) and other barely armed commoners was good. I also liked Ross’s dramatised thought process and hoe Demelza’s voice worked as part of his conscience, but the speech and that ‘I will run for public office’ calmed them all down and made it right gave me the giggles.
Rare, much needed giggles.
Oh, Demelza, my girl, no. I know you were angry, I know that Ross was being an idiot husband and not listening to sense, and I know that he seems to be blind how his regard for Elizabeth and whole impregnating her that time is not awful for you, but… Inevitably, though, Demelza, furious with Ross, Elizabeth and herself, was then waylaid by an adoring cutie who played the pity me card. My sense at the end (and they made us wait for some sort of Demelza/Ross resolution) was that she probably didn’t feel it was worth it, given her nature, but maybe that’s me overlaying my biases there. She shouldn’t have listened to Prudie this time - last season, she was speaking more sense although Hugh was less eww than Malcolm, and possibly Prudie was less bitter about men. But I loved that by the end of the day, Prudie was regretting her part in encouraging Demelza to have a fling.
Ross and Demelza will have a lot to work through, but I feel they’ve just about kept the foundations for doing so. Well, I hope so.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth did an amazing thing in finding the loophole by which she could swear on the Bible, carry out part of Ross’s plan and get George good and whipped. Although whipping a bully? Not that impressive.
As Geoffrey Charles returned and she tried to make the best of the life she’d picked for herself (no drugs this week) and I mocked her for those choices, it was the same old, and her marriage with George looked even more ghastly than usual, as he kept mentioning Ross, going off to give Tom Daniel orders to gladden any thug’s heart, and turning out to have voted in his self-interest to his sponsor’s dismay. How nobody’s heart bled for his sponsor as George’s whole pitch had been ‘I’m a weasel.’ And he was horrible about the grain (again).
But then Elizabeth went on the offensive and his essential weakness and love (by his lights) for her came out. And he tried to gloat over Ross, and even though Ross was worried sick about what Demelza was up to, his shots couldn’t hurt him.
Rowella’s actions finally made sense. She will use sex, like any other weapon, to get her way. That includes sex with her sister’s repulsive husband. Whitworth’s surprise and dismay at her extortion and refusal to see that it was his fault for starting it all off was a little satisfying. She may even not have been pregnant, but she got the librarian and enough money to start them off, and rid of Whitworth.
Which was good for her, but left Morwenna, especially when she realised what had been going on, in a horrid situation. I don’t think that threatening to murder your child or any baby, really, is a good, long-term solution (or a good thing, and they pretty much had to have her take it back to the baby immediately or they’d have lost a lot of audience sympathy for her) for the problem of Whitworth.
Drake’s take-out from nearly being killed was to carry on playing the devoted swain even when he should have been lying down and healing. Any pity I have for them is tempered by finding their Romeo and Julietness idiotic, to be honest.
And Caroline failed in BF duties by supporting Demelza in going off and - what did she think was going on with the visitor at Nempara? The last scene with Dwight was mainly filler to let us know where they’re at, but she still hasn’t worked out what it is to be Dr Enys’s wife, has she?
So, Elizabeth gained some power back over George, Ross finally listened to what everyone has told him all series long and looks as though he’s going to London (that’s going to be hilarious) to stand up for justice and the common man as soon as he can and he got his heart broken a bit, but he didn’t help Demelza stay faithful. Next series should involve some marriage counselling for them. I wonder how they will sort out Whitworth, who, like George (the toads got a mention this episode), is ridiculous and awful.
NCIS: LA 4.8 ‘Collateral’
It’s been a while since we had an episode where Callen was worrying about Hetty acting funny (I had so many Callen-Hetty feels, yay!)
I can totally see where Callen/Nell shippers were coming from as Callen ruthlessly used Nell to be his no. 1 source of following Hetty and then trying to find clues when she inevitably disappeared. There is something to base on there, although this was in an episode where Eric was really very nice in trying to comfort Nell when she worried about Hetty.
Newly converted to American football Nell was cute; the wee ponytail felt like over-enthusiasm by someone who is growing their hairstyle out. But the football, the swear jar, the favourite cartoons and the question of Sam’s geekiness was a nice thread of team getting on throughout the episode, although Deeks not getting why someone would be upset about losing their vinyl album was silly. The vinyl revival was in place by 2012, wasn’t it?
I did love that seaside pad and the blue of the sea, and all other houses were disappointing until the safepalace. Is it me or was Deeks trying to get out of what looked like but can’t have been a date with Kensi? I am not entirely mollified by Kensi’s tactical awareness i.e. playing up to the video camera that got her in at the escort agency, and that admitting Paola was a character got her bonus points, or that the twist that the pervy pimp was a woman and that we heard all about Kensi’s discomfort was subverting objectification. (I think that the subtler moment where Nell stopped the guys drooling over the escorts’ appearance by dropping her football knowledge on them and asserting her personhood as a woman with interests and knowledge did that better.) There was a bit of having your cake and eating it going on, but see also Deeks’s reaction to Kensi turning into Paola.
And although the structure led to lots of exposition at the end to explain why whatshername was killing spies and assassins, I liked where the episode ended up after all the chasing the evidence and breaking rules to find and protect one of their own. It was clear that this was a monster of their own making (their country and service) and Grainger pointed the finger at Hetty, and though she got to argue her justification for the killing that led to such collateral damage, there was also an acknowledgement that she needed the good stuff that night, too. But Mata Hari and Genghis Khan about covers it. And of course she got to shoot dead the person who was going to shoot G (Sam showed a ridiculous blind spot over how Hetty and Callen’s relationship is special. We also got a Michelle reference to remind us that Mrs Hanna’s storyline will be back.)
This entry was originally posted at http://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/290431.html.