(no subject)
Doctor Who
1) I would watch the heck out of a series featuring Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax solving crimes in Victorian England. OMG, would I ever. (I suspect the make-up required would make such a spin off time and cost prohibitive, though.)
2) My most significant prior exposure to Diana Rigg was as the host of Mystery! on PBS in the mid-80s through early 90s, and she was fabulously posh-seeming to my rural NJ eyes and ears. A bit sad to see her in her later years, though time will catch up with us all (one hopes). She acted the heck out of this episode, woah.
3) "the heck out of" is apparently the phrase of the day.
4) The "Thomas Thomas" / TomTom joke was laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame and distractingly anachronistic. I mean, it's a show about time travel so you're totally allowed to do anachronisms, but generally they should be meaningful ones. LAAAAAAAAAAAME.
5) While I eyerolled at the improbability of Clara's babysit-ees finding those old photos of her, at least it advances the plot? I dunno. We'll see. In general I've been underwhelmed by the season, but this was one of the stronger episodes.
and
Orphan Black
1) I love how the show balances tense action/adventure/intrigue with genuine humor -- because, seriously, clones. Clones = madcap hijinks, always. It's a rule.
2) Dr Hughes has surprising depths. And here we thought he was just a pretty ass face.
3) The show does a pretty good job of "showing, not telling." I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Paul was about to poison Sarah, and then (after she told the truth) he put the bottle back and got the safe one, and then drank straight from it to show her it was safe -- the audience knew what was going on, and Sarah realized what was going on I think, and all of it without dialogue to that effect at all, and it was just great.
4) It's pretty heavily implied at this point that Kasima is a lesbian, no? Or at least bi? Which is pretty interesting, from a nature/nurture perspective. The show seems pretty queer-inclusive, so I hope they don't mess that up...
5) ...I did not think I was going to like Felix, based on the pilot, but he's pretty fabulous. See also the "genuine humor." He more than anyone on the show is the audience's most relatable character -- he knows exactly as much about what is going on as the audience does, in terms of the clone shenanigans.
6) As a scientist who works in molecular genetics, I am very concerned about Possibly-Evil Scientist Guy that was introduced in this episode. He was making some pretty Mad Scienc-y statements about the future of mankind's evolution yada yada I-make-clones-for-fun-and-profit. I LOL'ed that he has groupies. But anyway, I think my feelings about Mad Science are pretty clear at this point, so I'll just leave it there. For now.
7) I feel so bad for poor Vic. Poor, poor, stupid Vic. He can't be Sarah's monitor, right? Because no one could fake that much dumb.
8) Allison used to be my favorite, but I think my new favorite is Sarah playing Allison. It had been Allison playing Sarah, but now I flipped. I think they're all my favorites, honestly. But Allison was pretty dumb to leap to the conclusion that her husband was her monitor and then tie him up to interrogate him. She's got a couple screws loose, for reals, yo. Fo. Reals. (Except... it almost has to be him, right? Unless Beth was the only one getting nighttime EEGs and blood draws?)
From the previews, it looks like we're going back to the Beth / Police Station / dead German storyline next week. I'm kind of glad they didn't drop that, I guess, although it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to see how Sarah can extricate herself from the whole Beth situation. And it seems like an awful lot of people are finding out (or close to finding out) the clones' secret. The show's gone in some unexpected directions so far, though, so I will trust they know what they are doing, for now. (Also: I love that it was renewed for a second season. I hope they can keep all the balls in the air. It's probably my current favorite show on television.)
1) I would watch the heck out of a series featuring Madame Vastra, Jenny, and Strax solving crimes in Victorian England. OMG, would I ever. (I suspect the make-up required would make such a spin off time and cost prohibitive, though.)
2) My most significant prior exposure to Diana Rigg was as the host of Mystery! on PBS in the mid-80s through early 90s, and she was fabulously posh-seeming to my rural NJ eyes and ears. A bit sad to see her in her later years, though time will catch up with us all (one hopes). She acted the heck out of this episode, woah.
3) "the heck out of" is apparently the phrase of the day.
4) The "Thomas Thomas" / TomTom joke was laaaaaaaaaaaaaaame and distractingly anachronistic. I mean, it's a show about time travel so you're totally allowed to do anachronisms, but generally they should be meaningful ones. LAAAAAAAAAAAME.
5) While I eyerolled at the improbability of Clara's babysit-ees finding those old photos of her, at least it advances the plot? I dunno. We'll see. In general I've been underwhelmed by the season, but this was one of the stronger episodes.
and
Orphan Black
1) I love how the show balances tense action/adventure/intrigue with genuine humor -- because, seriously, clones. Clones = madcap hijinks, always. It's a rule.
2) Dr Hughes has surprising depths. And here we thought he was just a pretty ass face.
3) The show does a pretty good job of "showing, not telling." I particularly enjoyed the scene in which Paul was about to poison Sarah, and then (after she told the truth) he put the bottle back and got the safe one, and then drank straight from it to show her it was safe -- the audience knew what was going on, and Sarah realized what was going on I think, and all of it without dialogue to that effect at all, and it was just great.
4) It's pretty heavily implied at this point that Kasima is a lesbian, no? Or at least bi? Which is pretty interesting, from a nature/nurture perspective. The show seems pretty queer-inclusive, so I hope they don't mess that up...
5) ...I did not think I was going to like Felix, based on the pilot, but he's pretty fabulous. See also the "genuine humor." He more than anyone on the show is the audience's most relatable character -- he knows exactly as much about what is going on as the audience does, in terms of the clone shenanigans.
6) As a scientist who works in molecular genetics, I am very concerned about Possibly-Evil Scientist Guy that was introduced in this episode. He was making some pretty Mad Scienc-y statements about the future of mankind's evolution yada yada I-make-clones-for-fun-and-profit. I LOL'ed that he has groupies. But anyway, I think my feelings about Mad Science are pretty clear at this point, so I'll just leave it there. For now.
7) I feel so bad for poor Vic. Poor, poor, stupid Vic. He can't be Sarah's monitor, right? Because no one could fake that much dumb.
8) Allison used to be my favorite, but I think my new favorite is Sarah playing Allison. It had been Allison playing Sarah, but now I flipped. I think they're all my favorites, honestly. But Allison was pretty dumb to leap to the conclusion that her husband was her monitor and then tie him up to interrogate him. She's got a couple screws loose, for reals, yo. Fo. Reals. (Except... it almost has to be him, right? Unless Beth was the only one getting nighttime EEGs and blood draws?)
From the previews, it looks like we're going back to the Beth / Police Station / dead German storyline next week. I'm kind of glad they didn't drop that, I guess, although it's becoming increasingly difficult for me to see how Sarah can extricate herself from the whole Beth situation. And it seems like an awful lot of people are finding out (or close to finding out) the clones' secret. The show's gone in some unexpected directions so far, though, so I will trust they know what they are doing, for now. (Also: I love that it was renewed for a second season. I hope they can keep all the balls in the air. It's probably my current favorite show on television.)