Some Deep TV Thoughts
Except not deep at all, really. Spoilers are inherent.
Shattered
Callum Keith Rennie. I love you and everything you do. You know I do.
But Shattered just isn't doing it for me. The pacing is super, super fast. I feel like I came in on the second episode instead of the first. Or possibly even the second season. There's little to no character introduction and I don't feel like Ben's partner trusting him as much as she does is earned. She just met him earlier that afternoon and already she is shooting people for him? I have no reason to like or even sympathize with any of these people so I don't care when Ben starts to lose it and partner-whats-her-face can't cope with having shot the bad guy.
I also got hung up on all the ridiculously expensive looking technology available to this police department. I have difficulty suspending my disbelief on such things lately. Unless Canada is radically different, there is no earthly government-funded police department that has money for glass bulletin boards and touch screen technology. (I do waver on this point. I gave Wire in the Blood a free pass, after all. But that's because the rest of it was so good.)
On the plus side, I do appreciate the diversity of the casting.
I still like the concept (detective with multiple personality disorder), but I unless the structure changes radically in the second episode, I probably won't continue on with it.
Hawaii Five-0
Everyone is so pretty. EVERYONE IS SO PRETTY. DAMN.
Berate me if you must, but I was too young to watch it when the original Hawaii Five-0 was on, so aside from being able to recognize the theme song, I really had no expectations going into this.
Daniel Dae Kim needs to ride a motorcycle more often. Unf.
Main dude. Biceps. Tattoos. gkfjghkajhflslfafklg
NJ partner dude has a tragic case of doucheface, but in terms of characterization I'm liking him more than main dude. Mostly because he got so pissy at him for nearly killing that guy.
Grace Park is smoking hot, as always. I could have done without the girlfight hair pulling though.
So yes, not exactly a deep show. But I don't much care what people think of my taste anyway. I like the dynamic between the characters. I will probably give it a few more episodes to find out if there's a significant hook for me or not. I'm on the fence at the moment. Aside from everyone being fucking gorgeous, the plot was pretty standard, nothing too special.
Outsourced
I was asked to advise the world about how much this show offends me. Surprisingly though, it... doesn't at all. At least judging from the first episode.
It really could have been spectacularly annoying on multiple levels, but it seems like it's really well intentioned and handling itself reasonably well. I appreciate that the majority of the cast is, in fact, Indian. And the crux of the show is the cross-cultural miscommunication. What I appreciate is that it goes both ways. It's not just that the Indian characters don't understand American culture. It's also that the American manager doesn't understand Indian culture. But both are making the effort to learn.
The only thing that puts me off is the inherently disappointing nature of novelty goods. But that really is not the main purpose, so I'm letting it go. And I got hung up occasionally on portrayals of what it's like to work in a call center. (But it was spot on here and there.) It is comedy show though, and it's point is not to be accurate to the real world. So yeah, letting that go as well.
I'll probably watch a few more episodes. I wasn't blown away by it or anything, but I appreciate what it's doing, so I'm willing to give it some time to hook me.
There’s some not-so-new stuff I’m watching too:
Rizzoli & Isles
I didn't know this show existed until I google image searched it after jarlsberg71 mentioned it in passing. And now I'm upset that NO ONE TOLD ME THIS SHOW EXISTED.
Let's go through my list, shall we?
- Buddy cop show? Check.
- Witty banter? Check.
- Smart people doing smart things? Check.
- Women being awesome? Check.
- Femslashtastic? OMGCHECK.
Now I have an entire season to watch and if someone doesn't point me to the fic by the time I'm done catching up, I will more than likely implode. Please, don't let me implode.
I adore Isles, especially. Her morbid profession. Her fashionable wardrobe. Her giant pet turtle. Her slightly off sense of humor and demeanor. I like characters who are just a step or two left of normal.
Only one episode in at present. Need to make the time to watch more.
Love Shuffle - Spoilers for 1x01-1x07
I'm up through episode 7 of this show and enjoying it so far. Seeing Tamaki Hiroshi as anyone but Chiaki is a bit jarring, but that’s only because I've grown so attached to him in the other role. It's a credit to his acting skill too that he can play a character who is completely the opposite. His legs still go on forever and ever though. Damn.
I totally called Kiku-rin's dead lover being a man episodes and episodes before they revealed it. They handled it mostly all right, although they really could have done without the post-shower sort of skeezy scene where he eyed up Ojiro in a vaguely threatening manner. I like that he's bi. I don't like that everyone seems to take that to mean that he is gay. Cultural differences, perhaps.
I like the friendship dynamic between Ai-ai, Kei, Ojiro and Kiku-rin. Their little scenes in the common space of their floor are always adorkable.
More thoughts once I've finished up the series, maybe.
I have yet to watch the Supernatural premiere. I'm working myself up to it. Maybe I need to look at that gif of Jared Padelecki doing pull-ups some more or something. I'm still a little hesitant on it.
I'm also a week behind on Merlin. Speaking of Merlin, I have thoughts on the season that I've seen thus far.
Merlin - Spoilers for 3x01-3x02
I knew going into this show that at some point it was going to break my heart and make me angry. So it goes with Arthurian legend. This appears to be the season for it.
Morgana is evil now. Or supposed to be evil. But I can't blame her because everyone has been a dick to her. ESPECIALLY MERLIN. Who I still have not forgiven for trying to KILL HER LAST SEASON and NOT TELLING HER ABOUT THE MAGIC THING. That was the line. And they walked right over it without a second thought. I'm rooting for Team Morgana now and that's so obviously not the narrative the show wants me to invest in. And yet I still want Arthur and Merlin and Gwen to be all happy, which is somewhat conflicting with my being REALLY RATHER ANGRY WITH THEM. (Well, not with Gwen. Gwen has not yet participated in the asshattery. Gwen has been neglected lately with the exception of the sudden romance between her and Arthur.)
I still don't understand Merlin's motivations at all. He's clearly loyal to Arthur to a fault what with their being ridiculously in love with each other. But I don't get why he continues to go out of his way to protect Uther, who is pretty well committed to the genocide of people just like him. The only way I can explain him defending Uther so vehemently is simply so it doesn't make Arthur (with his plethora of daddy issues) sad.
It's very strange being so invested in a show I'm actively fighting the narrative on.
As a reminder mostly to myself, I also need to catch up on Glee too before I get much further behind.
****
Unrelated topic time:
If you're a Sherlock fan and you haven't yet read Sonata Form by cj_ludd18, run, don't walk, to it. I just listened to
pandarus's podfic version the other day and then had to go back and listen to it again because it was so good. (In part because
pandarus herself is so good, but also because I wanted to catch all the little nuances of the fic itself.)
It's gen. It's Mycroft POV. And I don't want to say a whole lot more, lest I spoil it, but it made me do a complete 180 on the way I think about Mycroft and how he and Sherlock interact. And I was never interested in reading anything primarily about Mycroft until this. Now I feel like I need to look for more.
****
Okay, this entry has rambled on long enough.
This entry was originally posted at http://revolutionaryjo.dreamwidth.org/536837.html.
Shattered
Callum Keith Rennie. I love you and everything you do. You know I do.
But Shattered just isn't doing it for me. The pacing is super, super fast. I feel like I came in on the second episode instead of the first. Or possibly even the second season. There's little to no character introduction and I don't feel like Ben's partner trusting him as much as she does is earned. She just met him earlier that afternoon and already she is shooting people for him? I have no reason to like or even sympathize with any of these people so I don't care when Ben starts to lose it and partner-whats-her-face can't cope with having shot the bad guy.
I also got hung up on all the ridiculously expensive looking technology available to this police department. I have difficulty suspending my disbelief on such things lately. Unless Canada is radically different, there is no earthly government-funded police department that has money for glass bulletin boards and touch screen technology. (I do waver on this point. I gave Wire in the Blood a free pass, after all. But that's because the rest of it was so good.)
On the plus side, I do appreciate the diversity of the casting.
I still like the concept (detective with multiple personality disorder), but I unless the structure changes radically in the second episode, I probably won't continue on with it.
Hawaii Five-0
Everyone is so pretty. EVERYONE IS SO PRETTY. DAMN.
Berate me if you must, but I was too young to watch it when the original Hawaii Five-0 was on, so aside from being able to recognize the theme song, I really had no expectations going into this.
Daniel Dae Kim needs to ride a motorcycle more often. Unf.
Main dude. Biceps. Tattoos. gkfjghkajhflslfafklg
NJ partner dude has a tragic case of doucheface, but in terms of characterization I'm liking him more than main dude. Mostly because he got so pissy at him for nearly killing that guy.
Grace Park is smoking hot, as always. I could have done without the girlfight hair pulling though.
So yes, not exactly a deep show. But I don't much care what people think of my taste anyway. I like the dynamic between the characters. I will probably give it a few more episodes to find out if there's a significant hook for me or not. I'm on the fence at the moment. Aside from everyone being fucking gorgeous, the plot was pretty standard, nothing too special.
Outsourced
I was asked to advise the world about how much this show offends me. Surprisingly though, it... doesn't at all. At least judging from the first episode.
It really could have been spectacularly annoying on multiple levels, but it seems like it's really well intentioned and handling itself reasonably well. I appreciate that the majority of the cast is, in fact, Indian. And the crux of the show is the cross-cultural miscommunication. What I appreciate is that it goes both ways. It's not just that the Indian characters don't understand American culture. It's also that the American manager doesn't understand Indian culture. But both are making the effort to learn.
The only thing that puts me off is the inherently disappointing nature of novelty goods. But that really is not the main purpose, so I'm letting it go. And I got hung up occasionally on portrayals of what it's like to work in a call center. (But it was spot on here and there.) It is comedy show though, and it's point is not to be accurate to the real world. So yeah, letting that go as well.
I'll probably watch a few more episodes. I wasn't blown away by it or anything, but I appreciate what it's doing, so I'm willing to give it some time to hook me.
There’s some not-so-new stuff I’m watching too:
Rizzoli & Isles
I didn't know this show existed until I google image searched it after jarlsberg71 mentioned it in passing. And now I'm upset that NO ONE TOLD ME THIS SHOW EXISTED.
Let's go through my list, shall we?
- Buddy cop show? Check.
- Witty banter? Check.
- Smart people doing smart things? Check.
- Women being awesome? Check.
- Femslashtastic? OMGCHECK.
Now I have an entire season to watch and if someone doesn't point me to the fic by the time I'm done catching up, I will more than likely implode. Please, don't let me implode.
I adore Isles, especially. Her morbid profession. Her fashionable wardrobe. Her giant pet turtle. Her slightly off sense of humor and demeanor. I like characters who are just a step or two left of normal.
Only one episode in at present. Need to make the time to watch more.
Love Shuffle - Spoilers for 1x01-1x07
I'm up through episode 7 of this show and enjoying it so far. Seeing Tamaki Hiroshi as anyone but Chiaki is a bit jarring, but that’s only because I've grown so attached to him in the other role. It's a credit to his acting skill too that he can play a character who is completely the opposite. His legs still go on forever and ever though. Damn.
I totally called Kiku-rin's dead lover being a man episodes and episodes before they revealed it. They handled it mostly all right, although they really could have done without the post-shower sort of skeezy scene where he eyed up Ojiro in a vaguely threatening manner. I like that he's bi. I don't like that everyone seems to take that to mean that he is gay. Cultural differences, perhaps.
I like the friendship dynamic between Ai-ai, Kei, Ojiro and Kiku-rin. Their little scenes in the common space of their floor are always adorkable.
More thoughts once I've finished up the series, maybe.
I have yet to watch the Supernatural premiere. I'm working myself up to it. Maybe I need to look at that gif of Jared Padelecki doing pull-ups some more or something. I'm still a little hesitant on it.
I'm also a week behind on Merlin. Speaking of Merlin, I have thoughts on the season that I've seen thus far.
Merlin - Spoilers for 3x01-3x02
I knew going into this show that at some point it was going to break my heart and make me angry. So it goes with Arthurian legend. This appears to be the season for it.
Morgana is evil now. Or supposed to be evil. But I can't blame her because everyone has been a dick to her. ESPECIALLY MERLIN. Who I still have not forgiven for trying to KILL HER LAST SEASON and NOT TELLING HER ABOUT THE MAGIC THING. That was the line. And they walked right over it without a second thought. I'm rooting for Team Morgana now and that's so obviously not the narrative the show wants me to invest in. And yet I still want Arthur and Merlin and Gwen to be all happy, which is somewhat conflicting with my being REALLY RATHER ANGRY WITH THEM. (Well, not with Gwen. Gwen has not yet participated in the asshattery. Gwen has been neglected lately with the exception of the sudden romance between her and Arthur.)
I still don't understand Merlin's motivations at all. He's clearly loyal to Arthur to a fault what with their being ridiculously in love with each other. But I don't get why he continues to go out of his way to protect Uther, who is pretty well committed to the genocide of people just like him. The only way I can explain him defending Uther so vehemently is simply so it doesn't make Arthur (with his plethora of daddy issues) sad.
It's very strange being so invested in a show I'm actively fighting the narrative on.
As a reminder mostly to myself, I also need to catch up on Glee too before I get much further behind.
****
Unrelated topic time:
If you're a Sherlock fan and you haven't yet read Sonata Form by cj_ludd18, run, don't walk, to it. I just listened to
pandarus's podfic version the other day and then had to go back and listen to it again because it was so good. (In part because
pandarus herself is so good, but also because I wanted to catch all the little nuances of the fic itself.)
It's gen. It's Mycroft POV. And I don't want to say a whole lot more, lest I spoil it, but it made me do a complete 180 on the way I think about Mycroft and how he and Sherlock interact. And I was never interested in reading anything primarily about Mycroft until this. Now I feel like I need to look for more.
****
Okay, this entry has rambled on long enough.
This entry was originally posted at http://revolutionaryjo.dreamwidth.org/536837.html.