More Television Opinions!
I was going to label for unpopular fannish opinions, but I don't even know if that's true! What opinions are unpopular these days?
Okay, so Tuesday I accidentally caught up on Supernatural. It was just there! On my flash drive, plugged into my XBox, mocking me. And oh, you guys, the way this show does *family* stuff. The first two episode just hit me so hard, I don't even know. Or actually I do know, but it's personal and kind of stupid, so whatever, it doesn't really matter. What matters is the way the whole experience really was vaguely like falling off the wagon. HERE WE GO AGAIN. THIS WILL BE FUN LIKE ALWAYS. Of course, also like always it then turned around pretty fast and hit me with the misogyny and cultural appropriation double-whammy, but I was spoiled and ready for it, and dealt with that mostly by only half-watching 7.03 while *really* drunk and focusing on Jewel Staite.
I mean...okay, the thing is, I am just really hard on this show because killing all of the female characters is a pattern that just doesn't stop, and here we have another woman fridged for Sam&Dean's tragic emotional arc? At a certain point, it really does feel almost like they're doing it on purpose. And I want this show to be a tragedy. I want a body count; I want EVERYBODY (except maybe Sam and Dean, but even them eventually) to be expendable. Is Castiel actually dead? I don't know, but if yes, good, not because I don't like Castiel, but because I want the stakes to feel real and high. But female character after female character, dying in bloody and violent ways, sometimes at the hands of our heroes...I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but at a certain point I really do run out of benefit of the doubt to give them.
That said, when I was watching 7.03, I didn't have the visceral reaction to Amy's death that I expected to have from the spoilers we'd heard. I guess because unlike something like "Heart" where we were clearly meant to believe Sam made the right call, nothing about this episode really made me think Dean was right, and I didn't really think we as the audience were supposed to think he did the right thing. I don't totally know what to make of that after 7.04, where I thought he got off too easy (and it should have been Amy who came for him at the end, not Jo. Amy would have wanted revenge. Not that I didn't love seeing Jo again, but could they just not get Jewel Staite twice?) Of course he felt guilty enough to be judged to die, but yeah, what happened to Sam and Jo weren't really Dean's fault, however guilty he feels. There are other people who would have made much better witnesses (though probably he doesn't feel as guilty about "doing what he had to do" as he does about what happened to the people he loves), and he even acknowledges those ghosts would have a point if they came after him. It should be complicated, yes, because sometimes there were impossible choices in impossible situations where there was no right answer (because this show, at it's best, is still a tragedy, and that's part of it), but the guilt is still warranted. Mostly I just don't want the show to let him off the hook for Amy, because there WAS a right answer there and it wasn't what he did. So far, I am expecting more fallout and consequences since he's still hiding it from Sam, so they're building to something. I don't really trust them on this given their history and patterns - expect that I DO kind of trust them to make Sam & Dean's trajectory make *emotional* sense (even if not sense-sense), and emotional sense would mean dealing satisfactorily with Amy, so I am willing to see how it all plays out.
Either way I guess I am back in for the moment, given that despite all of the above, I did spend the first two episodes flailing around and whimpering about the epic Winchester Family Tragedy. Ugh, Supernatural, why are you always going to be my bad relationship fandom? (Though what that makes bandom, I don't know.)
I am also watching Vampire Diaries! It’s pretty slow going because I only watch it with my friend Christina. We do manage to get through between 3-6 episodes each time, though, depending on when we get started and whether or not we have some episodes of Ringer to watch too. (Which I also only watch with Christina and my roommate because I want to watch it because SMG, but also every character on it is stupid and awful, so I can’t watch it by myself).
Anyway, we are about four episodes from the end of the second season, so five episodes behind total. Where we left off: Caroline sang for Matt at the Grill (which made me like him for the VERY FIRST TIME), and then Matt freaked out because vampires and told Caroline's mom, who cried a lot, but now knows the Salvatore brothers are vampires. Jenna freaked out because Isobel, and then disappeared. Isobel kidnapped Elena, then immolated herself. Klaus kidnapped Katherine and is possessing Alaric, and Bonnie died fighting him, but then cast some kind of spell so she would come back (…what.) And Damon and Stefan had that showdown about how Damon is willing to be the villain!! And hated!! To keep Elena safe!! And then Elena and Damon had that REALLY INTENSE interaction where she was all “Bonnie will not die for me!” And he was all “she will if it’s the choice between you and her! I will ALWAYS CHOOSE YOU.” And stared at her all soulfully. And then I rolled my eyes so hard I fell off the couch. (Because of Damon, not the rest of it. I love the rest of it, though it does sound kind of ridiculous when you lay it out like that).
Okay, I like Super Special Soulmate You Above All Else Love as much as the next girl, which is why I actually find Elena/Stefan pretty adorable! But that’s mutual, which makes all the difference, and even then can be too much at times if it’s lots of telling with no showing. I want to know WHY these people are in love if that’s the way it’s going to go, but I want to see that why even when we’re not talking about romantic love. I want to see the connections throughout the friend group or constructed family. I like platonic friendships and intense loyalty that comes from love that ISN’T romantic. I love Elena&Bonnie&Caroline. I love the friendship Stefan has developed with Caroline. I LOVED Elena and Damon when it looked like they were developing a prickly, platonic friendship. I even liked Katherine and Isobel. I ship Damon/Alaric, but I would also watch all of the episodes of the Damon & Alaric buddy cop show. I also ship Damon/Bonnie and would read a million fics about it, but as far as the show goes, I mostly just want them to be friends; I want him to care about her and want to protect her for her own sake, not just for Elena’s. I’ve really enjoyed the slow coming-back-together between Stefan and Damon. It probably goes without saying how much I love the sibling dynamic between Elena and Jeremy. For the most part, I really like the way the non-romantic relationships are handled on this show so much. (And many of the romantic relationships too!)
But I just never have a lot of patience for the willingness to sacrifice everything (other people, sense of self) at the altar of some idealized romantic love that isn’t even happening, and yes, that’s what Damon DOES; it’s totally in character; look at how long he spent trying to find ANY WAY to get Katherine out of the tomb, and yes, it’s part of how he makes sense of immortality, which he never really wanted in the first place. But still, I just want the whining to stop. Maybe it was better when it was about Katherine because there was less self-flagellation? Or maybe it's just that my taste is my taste and I am nothing if not predictable, so REALLY I obviously want him to team up with Katherine and wreak havoc, or at least make some mischief (which also involves Katherine getting over the Stefan thing. Seriously, guys, unrequited love is boring and wallowing in it is undignified. Pull yourselves together!), but I would settle for less of this “struggling against my nature because it’s what ELENA would want.” If anyone ever said they wanted to be a better person FOR me, I would run screaming in the other direction. For yourself, yes. For the people you care about in general, sure, so you can be better to them and stop being the actual worst by, I don't know, killing their best friends and brothers, Damon. But just because it’s what someone else WANTS/might be impressed by? Ugh, gross, get away from me.
…So basically my feelings about Damon right now are identical to my feelings about Spike circa BtVS s5. At least I’m consistent? (
Anyway, I was trying not to post anything in-depth about Vampire Diaries until I was caught up, but I had to get that out of my system. Overall, I am enjoying the show immensely. Everyone who told me I’d love it, you were right! I’ve tried not to spoil myself; I have not been 100% successful, though mostly what I’ve picked up from the things I’ve read is that Stefan’s potentially about to go kind of evil and have some kind of torrid affair with Klaus or something? Stefangelus! Excellent. Does he wear leather pants?
I am excited by how excited I am about this show. I feel compelled to look for icons. I haven't done it yet, but that's a good sign.
In other news tomorrow is finally Friday, OH MY GOD, longest of long weeks. This weekend I am going to go on a haunted walking tour of Georgetown and watch all of the horror movies. Halloween come to me! I also have to figure how to finish up my Chell Halloween costume. Today I was Googling how to rig up a makeshift Portal gun, and all of the instructions were entirely too difficult; I am the least crafty person ever. I can bake a badass Portal cake, but the gun might be beyond me. I wish there were craft stores ANYWHERE IN THIS CITY, and I also wish I hadn't left all that for the last minute, but this is me, why would there be adequate planning involved?
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Okay, so Tuesday I accidentally caught up on Supernatural. It was just there! On my flash drive, plugged into my XBox, mocking me. And oh, you guys, the way this show does *family* stuff. The first two episode just hit me so hard, I don't even know. Or actually I do know, but it's personal and kind of stupid, so whatever, it doesn't really matter. What matters is the way the whole experience really was vaguely like falling off the wagon. HERE WE GO AGAIN. THIS WILL BE FUN LIKE ALWAYS. Of course, also like always it then turned around pretty fast and hit me with the misogyny and cultural appropriation double-whammy, but I was spoiled and ready for it, and dealt with that mostly by only half-watching 7.03 while *really* drunk and focusing on Jewel Staite.
I mean...okay, the thing is, I am just really hard on this show because killing all of the female characters is a pattern that just doesn't stop, and here we have another woman fridged for Sam&Dean's tragic emotional arc? At a certain point, it really does feel almost like they're doing it on purpose. And I want this show to be a tragedy. I want a body count; I want EVERYBODY (except maybe Sam and Dean, but even them eventually) to be expendable. Is Castiel actually dead? I don't know, but if yes, good, not because I don't like Castiel, but because I want the stakes to feel real and high. But female character after female character, dying in bloody and violent ways, sometimes at the hands of our heroes...I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but at a certain point I really do run out of benefit of the doubt to give them.
That said, when I was watching 7.03, I didn't have the visceral reaction to Amy's death that I expected to have from the spoilers we'd heard. I guess because unlike something like "Heart" where we were clearly meant to believe Sam made the right call, nothing about this episode really made me think Dean was right, and I didn't really think we as the audience were supposed to think he did the right thing. I don't totally know what to make of that after 7.04, where I thought he got off too easy (and it should have been Amy who came for him at the end, not Jo. Amy would have wanted revenge. Not that I didn't love seeing Jo again, but could they just not get Jewel Staite twice?) Of course he felt guilty enough to be judged to die, but yeah, what happened to Sam and Jo weren't really Dean's fault, however guilty he feels. There are other people who would have made much better witnesses (though probably he doesn't feel as guilty about "doing what he had to do" as he does about what happened to the people he loves), and he even acknowledges those ghosts would have a point if they came after him. It should be complicated, yes, because sometimes there were impossible choices in impossible situations where there was no right answer (because this show, at it's best, is still a tragedy, and that's part of it), but the guilt is still warranted. Mostly I just don't want the show to let him off the hook for Amy, because there WAS a right answer there and it wasn't what he did. So far, I am expecting more fallout and consequences since he's still hiding it from Sam, so they're building to something. I don't really trust them on this given their history and patterns - expect that I DO kind of trust them to make Sam & Dean's trajectory make *emotional* sense (even if not sense-sense), and emotional sense would mean dealing satisfactorily with Amy, so I am willing to see how it all plays out.
Either way I guess I am back in for the moment, given that despite all of the above, I did spend the first two episodes flailing around and whimpering about the epic Winchester Family Tragedy. Ugh, Supernatural, why are you always going to be my bad relationship fandom? (Though what that makes bandom, I don't know.)
I am also watching Vampire Diaries! It’s pretty slow going because I only watch it with my friend Christina. We do manage to get through between 3-6 episodes each time, though, depending on when we get started and whether or not we have some episodes of Ringer to watch too. (Which I also only watch with Christina and my roommate because I want to watch it because SMG, but also every character on it is stupid and awful, so I can’t watch it by myself).
Anyway, we are about four episodes from the end of the second season, so five episodes behind total. Where we left off: Caroline sang for Matt at the Grill (which made me like him for the VERY FIRST TIME), and then Matt freaked out because vampires and told Caroline's mom, who cried a lot, but now knows the Salvatore brothers are vampires. Jenna freaked out because Isobel, and then disappeared. Isobel kidnapped Elena, then immolated herself. Klaus kidnapped Katherine and is possessing Alaric, and Bonnie died fighting him, but then cast some kind of spell so she would come back (…what.) And Damon and Stefan had that showdown about how Damon is willing to be the villain!! And hated!! To keep Elena safe!! And then Elena and Damon had that REALLY INTENSE interaction where she was all “Bonnie will not die for me!” And he was all “she will if it’s the choice between you and her! I will ALWAYS CHOOSE YOU.” And stared at her all soulfully. And then I rolled my eyes so hard I fell off the couch. (Because of Damon, not the rest of it. I love the rest of it, though it does sound kind of ridiculous when you lay it out like that).
Okay, I like Super Special Soulmate You Above All Else Love as much as the next girl, which is why I actually find Elena/Stefan pretty adorable! But that’s mutual, which makes all the difference, and even then can be too much at times if it’s lots of telling with no showing. I want to know WHY these people are in love if that’s the way it’s going to go, but I want to see that why even when we’re not talking about romantic love. I want to see the connections throughout the friend group or constructed family. I like platonic friendships and intense loyalty that comes from love that ISN’T romantic. I love Elena&Bonnie&Caroline. I love the friendship Stefan has developed with Caroline. I LOVED Elena and Damon when it looked like they were developing a prickly, platonic friendship. I even liked Katherine and Isobel. I ship Damon/Alaric, but I would also watch all of the episodes of the Damon & Alaric buddy cop show. I also ship Damon/Bonnie and would read a million fics about it, but as far as the show goes, I mostly just want them to be friends; I want him to care about her and want to protect her for her own sake, not just for Elena’s. I’ve really enjoyed the slow coming-back-together between Stefan and Damon. It probably goes without saying how much I love the sibling dynamic between Elena and Jeremy. For the most part, I really like the way the non-romantic relationships are handled on this show so much. (And many of the romantic relationships too!)
But I just never have a lot of patience for the willingness to sacrifice everything (other people, sense of self) at the altar of some idealized romantic love that isn’t even happening, and yes, that’s what Damon DOES; it’s totally in character; look at how long he spent trying to find ANY WAY to get Katherine out of the tomb, and yes, it’s part of how he makes sense of immortality, which he never really wanted in the first place. But still, I just want the whining to stop. Maybe it was better when it was about Katherine because there was less self-flagellation? Or maybe it's just that my taste is my taste and I am nothing if not predictable, so REALLY I obviously want him to team up with Katherine and wreak havoc, or at least make some mischief (which also involves Katherine getting over the Stefan thing. Seriously, guys, unrequited love is boring and wallowing in it is undignified. Pull yourselves together!), but I would settle for less of this “struggling against my nature because it’s what ELENA would want.” If anyone ever said they wanted to be a better person FOR me, I would run screaming in the other direction. For yourself, yes. For the people you care about in general, sure, so you can be better to them and stop being the actual worst by, I don't know, killing their best friends and brothers, Damon. But just because it’s what someone else WANTS/might be impressed by? Ugh, gross, get away from me.
…So basically my feelings about Damon right now are identical to my feelings about Spike circa BtVS s5. At least I’m consistent? (
Anyway, I was trying not to post anything in-depth about Vampire Diaries until I was caught up, but I had to get that out of my system. Overall, I am enjoying the show immensely. Everyone who told me I’d love it, you were right! I’ve tried not to spoil myself; I have not been 100% successful, though mostly what I’ve picked up from the things I’ve read is that Stefan’s potentially about to go kind of evil and have some kind of torrid affair with Klaus or something? Stefangelus! Excellent. Does he wear leather pants?
I am excited by how excited I am about this show. I feel compelled to look for icons. I haven't done it yet, but that's a good sign.
In other news tomorrow is finally Friday, OH MY GOD, longest of long weeks. This weekend I am going to go on a haunted walking tour of Georgetown and watch all of the horror movies. Halloween come to me! I also have to figure how to finish up my Chell Halloween costume. Today I was Googling how to rig up a makeshift Portal gun, and all of the instructions were entirely too difficult; I am the least crafty person ever. I can bake a badass Portal cake, but the gun might be beyond me. I wish there were craft stores ANYWHERE IN THIS CITY, and I also wish I hadn't left all that for the last minute, but this is me, why would there be adequate planning involved?
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