(Really late) Review for The Studio Job
I was getting ready to type up my reactions to The Gone Fishin' Job, and I realized that I never posted what I'd written up for The Studio Job. So here goes -- fair warning: 'tis long. Very long.
Fanservice episodes are very tricky. They can be fantastic, or they can go horribly, horribly wrong. And the only way this episode could have been more fanservice-y is if Christian Kane spent the entire episode shirtless.
Which I'd have been totally okay with, of course.
I've stayed mostly spoiler-free, so I didn't know much about this episode other than "Christian sings." The last time I remember being as nervous about an episode was for the Angel episode Smile Time -- which is another episode that could have gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Just like that one, I loved this one.
They pulled it off in a way that didn't make Christian's singing out of character, which is what I was afraid of. Christian did such a fantastic job of portraying Eliot's nervousness -- the man can face down half a dozen men bristling with guns without breaking a sweat, and he looked terrified.
Parker startling him was brilliant -- a really good way of getting her to realize how serious it was for him.
Got ahead of myself...
The first scene, with Kaye Lynn's brother, is just awful. I couldn't watch it on repeat viewings -- it was bad enough the first time. What a horrible thing to do to anyone, but especially a musician. My mom, who was only half-watching, asked if they'd killed her brother, and I told her no, but he probably wishes they would have.
Parker reaching waaaaaaay back to smack Hardison in the head during the briefing cracked me up. And I'm with Sophie -- Kirkwood deserves to go down just for the video he inflicted on the world (and the outfit he wore in it!).
Fantastic performance by Christian, of course, but I didn't expect anything less. Hardison freaking out when he didn't think his program was working was great, but it makes me wonder: did Nate know it wasn't necessary? Or did he just realize it once Eliot started singing?
Loved the proud looks on the team's faces when they realized what their boy could do. And Nate clapping for him with that solemn expression when the place went wild was just lovely.
Oh, Eliot. Bad boy! Seriously? Removing your earbud in the middle of the job? He's really lucky no one got hurt. (Psst! Go read my fic! It's relevant to this point!)
The glimpses of Eliot's backstory were more than welcome, as always. We got confirmation of a military-ish and/or spec ops background, which I don't think we've had before. There's only a price on his head on three countries, though? That's kind of disappointing -- maybe he's not as badass as I imagined! Although the fatwa does kind of make up for it. *g*
Hee. Craniacs. Hee.
The show has a low opinion of fangirls and fandom, though. We're persistent buggers. Hardison better write some "nuke Craniacs" autorun code that will run for quite a while. We have backups. Not to mention, if my site just went poof? I'd be pissed and broadcasting my displeasure everywhere.
Loved, LOVED, LOVED all the studio stuff. Eliot and Hardison together are always freaking fantastic. They're so much fun to watch.
"Say pitchy one more time."
Hee.
And Princess Bride shoutout FTW!
OMG, Parker's dress. With the dead duck. And the squeaking. And her worried that she's not being weird enough. And Nate doubting that's possible. Fucking brilliant.
Wow, Hardison's guns are impressive. More, please!
Eliot (silently) kicking ass in the background with a mic stand and a drumstick was fantastic, of course. I've watched too much Buffy though. When he started twirling that drumstick, I thought for sure he was going to stake the goon.
Are masters really still kept on tape, though? They didn't look like your standard cassette tape, but still... with all of the technology at our hands today, these recordings worth "hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions" of dollars are kept on tape?
And come on, Hardison. You left the damn master at the studio? The whole freaking point of the whole freaking job? Not cool, man. Not cool.
Okay, I'm going to imagine that Eliot was disappointed with the bike he rented -- I certainly was. His own bike is much more impressive, I'm sure.
Eliot nearly taking out the autograph seeker ("Forever 21! Don't hurt me!" Ha!) was hilarious. Wonder if Christian sometimes wishes he could do that.
Eliot's signed autographs under two different covers now: Roy Chappell and Kenneth Crane. Wonder if that pisses Sophie off.
I gotta say, other than Parker, I wasn't too impressed with our team at the crisis point. At least she did something! Hardison accessed the GPS -- he couldn't have accessed the door locks? They couldn't have pulled a fire alarm or something? They all just stood around saying, "Oh, it's too late! Sorry!" I know it was for the storyline, but I was really disappointed in them all.
This episode reinforces a point I've been wondering about lately. Hardison's enemies are in the ether that is the Net. Parker's pretty much a ghost -- the people she's ripped off don't know who to go after. Sophie's marks probably mostly want her arrested...
Eliot's enemies want to kill him. After they chop him into teeny bits. It doesn't seem safe for him to settle in the same place -- especially for two years now. I'm sure Hardison works overtime to keep them all safe, but no wonder Eliot only sleeps 90 minutes a night. Even that little bit is probably with one eye open! And working with the team and being in the forefront of the cons, like he is here and has been several times before, can only exposing him more. Watch your back, Spencer!
Loved him schooling Kirkwood on how to throw a proper gut punch.
That last bit was just mean! I'm going to imagine they walked out into a mob of screaming Craniacs who tracked him down. *g*
Okay, so, that was a ton of words to say I really liked the episode!
I'll post my thoughts on last night's episode as soon as I type them up.
Fanservice episodes are very tricky. They can be fantastic, or they can go horribly, horribly wrong. And the only way this episode could have been more fanservice-y is if Christian Kane spent the entire episode shirtless.
Which I'd have been totally okay with, of course.
I've stayed mostly spoiler-free, so I didn't know much about this episode other than "Christian sings." The last time I remember being as nervous about an episode was for the Angel episode Smile Time -- which is another episode that could have gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Just like that one, I loved this one.
They pulled it off in a way that didn't make Christian's singing out of character, which is what I was afraid of. Christian did such a fantastic job of portraying Eliot's nervousness -- the man can face down half a dozen men bristling with guns without breaking a sweat, and he looked terrified.
Parker startling him was brilliant -- a really good way of getting her to realize how serious it was for him.
Got ahead of myself...
The first scene, with Kaye Lynn's brother, is just awful. I couldn't watch it on repeat viewings -- it was bad enough the first time. What a horrible thing to do to anyone, but especially a musician. My mom, who was only half-watching, asked if they'd killed her brother, and I told her no, but he probably wishes they would have.
Parker reaching waaaaaaay back to smack Hardison in the head during the briefing cracked me up. And I'm with Sophie -- Kirkwood deserves to go down just for the video he inflicted on the world (and the outfit he wore in it!).
Fantastic performance by Christian, of course, but I didn't expect anything less. Hardison freaking out when he didn't think his program was working was great, but it makes me wonder: did Nate know it wasn't necessary? Or did he just realize it once Eliot started singing?
Loved the proud looks on the team's faces when they realized what their boy could do. And Nate clapping for him with that solemn expression when the place went wild was just lovely.
Oh, Eliot. Bad boy! Seriously? Removing your earbud in the middle of the job? He's really lucky no one got hurt. (Psst! Go read my fic! It's relevant to this point!)
The glimpses of Eliot's backstory were more than welcome, as always. We got confirmation of a military-ish and/or spec ops background, which I don't think we've had before. There's only a price on his head on three countries, though? That's kind of disappointing -- maybe he's not as badass as I imagined! Although the fatwa does kind of make up for it. *g*
Hee. Craniacs. Hee.
The show has a low opinion of fangirls and fandom, though. We're persistent buggers. Hardison better write some "nuke Craniacs" autorun code that will run for quite a while. We have backups. Not to mention, if my site just went poof? I'd be pissed and broadcasting my displeasure everywhere.
Loved, LOVED, LOVED all the studio stuff. Eliot and Hardison together are always freaking fantastic. They're so much fun to watch.
"Say pitchy one more time."
Hee.
And Princess Bride shoutout FTW!
OMG, Parker's dress. With the dead duck. And the squeaking. And her worried that she's not being weird enough. And Nate doubting that's possible. Fucking brilliant.
Wow, Hardison's guns are impressive. More, please!
Eliot (silently) kicking ass in the background with a mic stand and a drumstick was fantastic, of course. I've watched too much Buffy though. When he started twirling that drumstick, I thought for sure he was going to stake the goon.
Are masters really still kept on tape, though? They didn't look like your standard cassette tape, but still... with all of the technology at our hands today, these recordings worth "hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions" of dollars are kept on tape?
And come on, Hardison. You left the damn master at the studio? The whole freaking point of the whole freaking job? Not cool, man. Not cool.
Okay, I'm going to imagine that Eliot was disappointed with the bike he rented -- I certainly was. His own bike is much more impressive, I'm sure.
Eliot nearly taking out the autograph seeker ("Forever 21! Don't hurt me!" Ha!) was hilarious. Wonder if Christian sometimes wishes he could do that.
Eliot's signed autographs under two different covers now: Roy Chappell and Kenneth Crane. Wonder if that pisses Sophie off.
I gotta say, other than Parker, I wasn't too impressed with our team at the crisis point. At least she did something! Hardison accessed the GPS -- he couldn't have accessed the door locks? They couldn't have pulled a fire alarm or something? They all just stood around saying, "Oh, it's too late! Sorry!" I know it was for the storyline, but I was really disappointed in them all.
This episode reinforces a point I've been wondering about lately. Hardison's enemies are in the ether that is the Net. Parker's pretty much a ghost -- the people she's ripped off don't know who to go after. Sophie's marks probably mostly want her arrested...
Eliot's enemies want to kill him. After they chop him into teeny bits. It doesn't seem safe for him to settle in the same place -- especially for two years now. I'm sure Hardison works overtime to keep them all safe, but no wonder Eliot only sleeps 90 minutes a night. Even that little bit is probably with one eye open! And working with the team and being in the forefront of the cons, like he is here and has been several times before, can only exposing him more. Watch your back, Spencer!
Loved him schooling Kirkwood on how to throw a proper gut punch.
That last bit was just mean! I'm going to imagine they walked out into a mob of screaming Craniacs who tracked him down. *g*
Okay, so, that was a ton of words to say I really liked the episode!
I'll post my thoughts on last night's episode as soon as I type them up.