TV pick and mix
This week! This week has been about not enough time when I wanted it, and too much when I didn’t.
Berlin Station 2.6 The Right Hook
I was amused that BBC News got all the attention on a More 4 show.
I was also glad that the whole episode wasn’t taken up be the Norway road trip (who’s looking after Noah?), as we got everyone’s reactions to what had gone down: Katerina spinning like mad, BB being given her marching orders, Lena in the angry stage of grief, Danny being traumatised but not willing to give Lena up to Esther, and the shifting-morphing Valerie/Josef ‘ending’ before it had begun.
April-Hector’s meet went nowhere, but once they went to the Norwegian countryside (it was like a car ad! This series seems determined to sell Europe to its viewers) I was glad Robert, Stephen and their issues had gone to Norway, where, in fairness, Stephen was good at gathering intel. It’s doubtful that Lena would have behaved better had she been staying with a white guy, although her planned revenge seems really stupid and futile i.e. she’d get caught before she got close. More so than in any other episode so far, you could weight of last season on Hector.
Did the station actually fall for BB and Valerie’s ‘row’? April aside, I mean.
Hector talked Lena through how bad her ‘plan’ was, while Robert and Stephen found out what had always been likely given the Norway connection: that Gerhardt had American backing.
With BB’s ‘shouting’ ringing in her ears, April, having learned nothing from Thomas Shaw, turned to her snoopy buddies to hunt down Hector. I mean, she just sees it as doing whatever it takes with whatever’s to hand, and technology is a lot closer to her generation’s hands than it is to others. And it’s not without irony given that Hector bugged Daniel, IIRC.
(I’ve realised the actress playing Esther reminds me of Rachel McAdams).
I had to laugh at Robert and Stephen (two middle-aged men) canoeing. They didn’t reach BB in time, but Stephen’s cheeky morning visit to Fisher’s was fun, but not THAT elucidating. I also enjoyed the respectful chat between BB and Valerie, pro to pro, woman to woman. But is that it? BB walks out of Berlin, never to return??? They’ve built the character too much, surely.
Anyway, it’ll be fun for Robert when he returns.
Snooping April got to hear as Hector started offering Lena advice on how to arrange an assassination that had a chance of succeeding.
A mostly nicely constructed ep.
Summer of Rockets - episode 4
Samuel picked his way through two plausible stories that played on his paranoia - every now and then we’d get the context, the threat of destruction to (symbolic) buildings, the Cold War threat of Russia, or (nuclear) war.
I was sorriest for Sasha, who, with the heart of a gallant little knight, continued his mission for a driven woman (the appeal of the Shaw family to the Petrukins and vice-versa was discussed). But he was so little, and so going to get into trouble for it. And he never got to tell her what, if anything, he’d found out about Anthony. And she betrayed him! But understandably from an adult POV.
I was less sorry for his mother, because she never follows her maternal instincts to create a relationship in which her children confide in her. And Samuel just gets angry.
There was a little menace as the watching white boys did not like Hannah dancing with Joel (is it Joel?) and she learned that wherever she goes, people stare at her.
The spy played by Mark Bonnar didn’t expect the shooter, especially of his colleague for whatever that’s worth in terms of who Samuel should trust.
We saw some more of how driven Mrs Shaw was about Anthony. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t discussed any of it for most of the episode with her husband, who was remarkably sympathetic and supportive of everything she’d done or wanted to do. At the least, he should have been told that Anthony was linked to an address quite recently! The lurking question is was he disappeared too? Or involved? (Or in South Africa now?)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6.11
I missed about three minutes - so the pre-credits gag and the set-up for Boyle and Peralta’s case, and that’s quite a high percentage of a B99 episode. So, I felt disengaged, although I liked that the therapist was effective (spot on on Boyle’s habit of bringing the sexual innuendo) as well as a killer. Jake clearly hadn’t learned anything about listening to Boyle, even though his issues with therapists led him to the right conclusion.
We, and Holt, finally met Jocelyn in one of the two other plots.
I might as well admit that I've been watching a lot of Superstore on purpose recently - it airs every weeknight. Sometimes, I even laugh at it.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/386242.html.
Berlin Station 2.6 The Right Hook
I was amused that BBC News got all the attention on a More 4 show.
I was also glad that the whole episode wasn’t taken up be the Norway road trip (who’s looking after Noah?), as we got everyone’s reactions to what had gone down: Katerina spinning like mad, BB being given her marching orders, Lena in the angry stage of grief, Danny being traumatised but not willing to give Lena up to Esther, and the shifting-morphing Valerie/Josef ‘ending’ before it had begun.
April-Hector’s meet went nowhere, but once they went to the Norwegian countryside (it was like a car ad! This series seems determined to sell Europe to its viewers) I was glad Robert, Stephen and their issues had gone to Norway, where, in fairness, Stephen was good at gathering intel. It’s doubtful that Lena would have behaved better had she been staying with a white guy, although her planned revenge seems really stupid and futile i.e. she’d get caught before she got close. More so than in any other episode so far, you could weight of last season on Hector.
Did the station actually fall for BB and Valerie’s ‘row’? April aside, I mean.
Hector talked Lena through how bad her ‘plan’ was, while Robert and Stephen found out what had always been likely given the Norway connection: that Gerhardt had American backing.
With BB’s ‘shouting’ ringing in her ears, April, having learned nothing from Thomas Shaw, turned to her snoopy buddies to hunt down Hector. I mean, she just sees it as doing whatever it takes with whatever’s to hand, and technology is a lot closer to her generation’s hands than it is to others. And it’s not without irony given that Hector bugged Daniel, IIRC.
(I’ve realised the actress playing Esther reminds me of Rachel McAdams).
I had to laugh at Robert and Stephen (two middle-aged men) canoeing. They didn’t reach BB in time, but Stephen’s cheeky morning visit to Fisher’s was fun, but not THAT elucidating. I also enjoyed the respectful chat between BB and Valerie, pro to pro, woman to woman. But is that it? BB walks out of Berlin, never to return??? They’ve built the character too much, surely.
Anyway, it’ll be fun for Robert when he returns.
Snooping April got to hear as Hector started offering Lena advice on how to arrange an assassination that had a chance of succeeding.
A mostly nicely constructed ep.
Summer of Rockets - episode 4
Samuel picked his way through two plausible stories that played on his paranoia - every now and then we’d get the context, the threat of destruction to (symbolic) buildings, the Cold War threat of Russia, or (nuclear) war.
I was sorriest for Sasha, who, with the heart of a gallant little knight, continued his mission for a driven woman (the appeal of the Shaw family to the Petrukins and vice-versa was discussed). But he was so little, and so going to get into trouble for it. And he never got to tell her what, if anything, he’d found out about Anthony. And she betrayed him! But understandably from an adult POV.
I was less sorry for his mother, because she never follows her maternal instincts to create a relationship in which her children confide in her. And Samuel just gets angry.
There was a little menace as the watching white boys did not like Hannah dancing with Joel (is it Joel?) and she learned that wherever she goes, people stare at her.
The spy played by Mark Bonnar didn’t expect the shooter, especially of his colleague for whatever that’s worth in terms of who Samuel should trust.
We saw some more of how driven Mrs Shaw was about Anthony. I couldn’t believe she hadn’t discussed any of it for most of the episode with her husband, who was remarkably sympathetic and supportive of everything she’d done or wanted to do. At the least, he should have been told that Anthony was linked to an address quite recently! The lurking question is was he disappeared too? Or involved? (Or in South Africa now?)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 6.11
I missed about three minutes - so the pre-credits gag and the set-up for Boyle and Peralta’s case, and that’s quite a high percentage of a B99 episode. So, I felt disengaged, although I liked that the therapist was effective (spot on on Boyle’s habit of bringing the sexual innuendo) as well as a killer. Jake clearly hadn’t learned anything about listening to Boyle, even though his issues with therapists led him to the right conclusion.
We, and Holt, finally met Jocelyn in one of the two other plots.
I might as well admit that I've been watching a lot of Superstore on purpose recently - it airs every weeknight. Sometimes, I even laugh at it.
This entry was originally posted at https://shallowness.dreamwidth.org/386242.html.