televisual musings
I have been playing catchup recently with several shows I love. Some catching up is in the sense of "I watched the premiere of S5 of Merlin and then.... forgot to watch the rest and now it is over and I don't want Tumblr to spoil me so I had better do some series telly watching ASAP." Some catching up is more like catching up with old friends who have been too long absent, in the case of Miranda. And then there's the "Yeah, I've been meaning to start this show for a year, might as well dive in now, eh?"
I love holidays. LOVE. THEM.
First, I started watching The Hour. I'm only two episodes in, but I can safely say, Ben Whishaw, YOUR FACE, SIR. YOUR FACE. Sometimes I see pictures of BW and think, Sir, you are funny looking, but then I see him in motion and you see how brilliant an actor he can be, and I am awash in a sea of WHISHAAAAAAAAAW and there is only love. Also, the first episode had a brief appearance by my BFF, Jamie Parker, and I sent him a high-five on the astral plane, bc that's what BFFs DO.
Next, there's all that Merlin I've been watching- I'm up to 5x08 now, so GO ME.
Man, I am SICK TO DEATH of the lack of a magic reveal. I've been joking with a friend at the box office that it'll only come in the final shot of the series: "Arthur, I have magic." *DRAMATIC FADE TO BLACK AND SWELL OF THEME MUSIC AND CREDITS ROLL* Please note- if this is how the reveal does happen, please leave me to despair of it when I finally reach it on my own. (Ugh, it totally doesn't happen until the final episode, does it?) (DON'T TELL ME.)
I was initially intrigued by the Evil!Gwen plot, because I thought it could be Super Interesting to play around with- and also because I've never been a huge Gwen fan. It's absurd how little she matters to Arthur, except for reasons of Plot- he tells her NOTHING, we barely see any affection between them, and their continued lack of romantic chemistry is just embarrassing. I was so interested in the very first episode because it seemed to be upending Arthurian tropes- Gwen liked Merlin, Arthur was a jerk, Morgana was HAPPY... But then it all (mostly) has slotted into more familiar territory. Bah. So when I see Gwen under Morgana's influence, I perk up again- without Lancelot, is this how Gwen is still going to start tearing apart Camelot? Cos that could be AWESOME!... But instead, it is getting quickly repetitious and it looks like all will be fixed by the next episode and we'll be back to boring old Gwen. I got so EXCITED when she seemed evil in the season opener!! *grumps*
I also just wish Merlin was PROMOTED already. Despite lazy writing on occasion, we do see moments when Arthur clearly sees that Merlin is his equal and his friend, so why do they keep in these same roles? If you can marry one servant, why not promote another to be an official counselor of some sort and not keep making him do your laundry? It's RUDE, Arthur, and Merlin is internalizing it to the extent that he STILL thinks he'll be hanged if he comes out as a magic-user.
That being said, not a ONE of the knights cared when he was thrown in prison for poisoning Arthur, so, MAYBE HE IS RIGHT. Ughhh, stupid writing.
Christmas special!It was very weird to see Richard E Grant as the baddie, when he was actually my first Doctor, via the Scream of the Shalka. But I quite liked it, more than I thought I would. As I was telling tempestsarekind, I love that we're left not knowing what is going on with Clara Oswin Osgood, the girl who loves souffles across time and space. I miss my Ponds very much, but I like shaking things up, and I LOVE that Eleven is not the kind of Doctor to put baggage onto a new companion (nope, not done yet with the Ten complaints, OOPS).
And finally, there was new Miranda! Is this the kind of show we cut for? I feel not. I was SO GLAD to see it back, even if this episode felt rather... perfuctory? It felt like it needed to address certain things- the passing of time and how that means that the status quo changed... except that it feels so WRONG that we DO go back to the status quo by the end of the episode. And WHERE IS CLIVE. I LOVE CLIVE. I worry that we all have too many expectations now for the show and that it will buckle under the pressure. Still, so glad that it's back, even if I'm really, really tired of weight-related humor. Nope- not funny, not even when it's written by Miranda Hart.
I love holidays. LOVE. THEM.
First, I started watching The Hour. I'm only two episodes in, but I can safely say, Ben Whishaw, YOUR FACE, SIR. YOUR FACE. Sometimes I see pictures of BW and think, Sir, you are funny looking, but then I see him in motion and you see how brilliant an actor he can be, and I am awash in a sea of WHISHAAAAAAAAAW and there is only love. Also, the first episode had a brief appearance by my BFF, Jamie Parker, and I sent him a high-five on the astral plane, bc that's what BFFs DO.
Next, there's all that Merlin I've been watching- I'm up to 5x08 now, so GO ME.
Man, I am SICK TO DEATH of the lack of a magic reveal. I've been joking with a friend at the box office that it'll only come in the final shot of the series: "Arthur, I have magic." *DRAMATIC FADE TO BLACK AND SWELL OF THEME MUSIC AND CREDITS ROLL* Please note- if this is how the reveal does happen, please leave me to despair of it when I finally reach it on my own. (Ugh, it totally doesn't happen until the final episode, does it?) (DON'T TELL ME.)
I was initially intrigued by the Evil!Gwen plot, because I thought it could be Super Interesting to play around with- and also because I've never been a huge Gwen fan. It's absurd how little she matters to Arthur, except for reasons of Plot- he tells her NOTHING, we barely see any affection between them, and their continued lack of romantic chemistry is just embarrassing. I was so interested in the very first episode because it seemed to be upending Arthurian tropes- Gwen liked Merlin, Arthur was a jerk, Morgana was HAPPY... But then it all (mostly) has slotted into more familiar territory. Bah. So when I see Gwen under Morgana's influence, I perk up again- without Lancelot, is this how Gwen is still going to start tearing apart Camelot? Cos that could be AWESOME!... But instead, it is getting quickly repetitious and it looks like all will be fixed by the next episode and we'll be back to boring old Gwen. I got so EXCITED when she seemed evil in the season opener!! *grumps*
I also just wish Merlin was PROMOTED already. Despite lazy writing on occasion, we do see moments when Arthur clearly sees that Merlin is his equal and his friend, so why do they keep in these same roles? If you can marry one servant, why not promote another to be an official counselor of some sort and not keep making him do your laundry? It's RUDE, Arthur, and Merlin is internalizing it to the extent that he STILL thinks he'll be hanged if he comes out as a magic-user.
That being said, not a ONE of the knights cared when he was thrown in prison for poisoning Arthur, so, MAYBE HE IS RIGHT. Ughhh, stupid writing.
Christmas special!It was very weird to see Richard E Grant as the baddie, when he was actually my first Doctor, via the Scream of the Shalka. But I quite liked it, more than I thought I would. As I was telling tempestsarekind, I love that we're left not knowing what is going on with Clara Oswin Osgood, the girl who loves souffles across time and space. I miss my Ponds very much, but I like shaking things up, and I LOVE that Eleven is not the kind of Doctor to put baggage onto a new companion (nope, not done yet with the Ten complaints, OOPS).
And finally, there was new Miranda! Is this the kind of show we cut for? I feel not. I was SO GLAD to see it back, even if this episode felt rather... perfuctory? It felt like it needed to address certain things- the passing of time and how that means that the status quo changed... except that it feels so WRONG that we DO go back to the status quo by the end of the episode. And WHERE IS CLIVE. I LOVE CLIVE. I worry that we all have too many expectations now for the show and that it will buckle under the pressure. Still, so glad that it's back, even if I'm really, really tired of weight-related humor. Nope- not funny, not even when it's written by Miranda Hart.