gold? women? gooolden women?
Serious link first: 
gavagai on the latest clusterfuck to hit the British Higher Education system.
Now, telly:
I really liked Doctor Who in the way where I tend to when something is Epic! and Pushes Buttons! and Answers Questions!
I pretty much knew I would love it from the opening bit where the monologuing is deliberately supposed to be assumed to be about the Doctor, except it's not, it's RORY IN HIS CENTURION COSTUME. I am such a sucker for that and Rory and even though the centurion costume makes no sense whatsoever, I still went HELL YEAH. It is awesome.
I liked the reveal of who River Song is - and the fact that
tellitslant's fic is totally canon now - although I'm not 100% sold on how they actually did the reveal itself and think we need lots of stuff on the consequences of that knowledge, now. And given that Rory is the "good man" of the title, I think it's getting really very likely that the good man River kills is him. However I think we are not at all done with the Flesh and the whole doubles-running-around thing and I would not be at all surprised if that turned out to be integral to the whole malarky in traditional Who fashion. And the partly-Timelord thing is just asking for extra stuff... which I am guessing we'll get at least some of after the break, and which will probably also be used to keep River around after Alex Kingston doesn't want to do this any more. I kind of love that it's a character like River Song they're clearly trying to keep around as an audience favourite, even if none of that makes sense with the "she's dead and in a creepy virtual reality" thing.
Also, I love that there were time-travelling Victorian lesbian detectives, and they actually made the "sometimes I wonder why you put up with me"/*tongue shoots out long enough to cross the room* joke. ON PRIMETIME BBC. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
I am also loving loving loving Game of Thrones! I think it's getting better and better. Peter Dinklage is by far the best thing about it - the subject-line quote alone is just genius! - but I love that all the other stuff seems to be pulling together too. I love that Dany is clearly growing into her role in the way she should be, and that they actually remembered about the direwolves this week, and I don't even care that I have no idea whether someone who didn't know the books would probably have got totally lost ages ago. It is Way Fun.
Syrio's big scene and ARYA'S LITTLE FACE! Arya is one of my very favourite characters and she's just as good in the show - with that and Sansa's face when dealing with the Lannisters, my yay at seeing these awesome characters come to life nearly exploded. And Joffrey's pose on the throne... he didn't even have to SPEAK for it to be so painfully obvious what kind of person he is and for Sansa's inability to currently see that to be really eek-inducing.
Also, a review I read referred to "Hodor's hodor" and I haven't been able to stop snickering every time I remembered it. Hee. *is five*
I only just realised I never posted about the finale of The Good Wife, which I should have because it was brilliant and anybody who likes stories about awesome, awesome women and real lives and complicated issues and flail should watch it asap so they can see the third season when it starts up again. Especially because the Will/Alicia thing has so many potential routes it could take: there's almost no potential growth for the characters from here that couldn't work, given the right set-up, and I have never seen a show that was SO good at set-up. And at not dropping the ball.
Like, the reveal about Peter at the end: that works and is not cheesy precisely because we've had SO much build-up about the complicated emotions and situation. There's depth, even as they don't forget that actually Peter is a consummate politician who actually hasn't respected Alicia as much as he should have. And that's true for basically everybody in it. I think Cary's going to find himself in over his head, and my heart just breaks more for Kalinda the more I think about it, and Eli is going to be Alicia's sorta-boss what the actual fuck, and I cannot wait to find out what's going to happen to ALL of them. ♥
I have also been got into Lewis. As a crime procedural - a genre I love! - it's all right but long-winded: as a discussion of a relationship and a look at current morals about various things it is surprisingly and refreshingly fantastic. Especially basically everything about Hathaway's moral shift throughout his life. He went to seminary to become a priest, and then he became a copper, and that massive life change isn't an ephemeral, tagged-on backstory that gets mentioned once. Nope. It is there, in his every action, once you know what you're looking at. He cares about goodness, and whether that's the same as righteousness, and love, and it's painful and occasionally beautiful and necessary in the way that real-life self-analysis and change is.
And then they mix that in with a plotline that says 1. all this soul-searching was tied in with his relationship with a gay friend, 2. Hathaway might very well be queer himself and even if he isn't he ACTUALLY AND EXPLICITLY SAYS THAT IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS X LIKES BOYS BUT Y LIKES GIRLS, and 3. that wherever his sexuality might fall on the many and varied spectrums of love, it's not the point. He himself, and the fact that Lewis loves him enough to still care about him even while being angry at him for lying, is the point.
And that is seriously making me SO happy. They even made it very clear that if Hathaway is queer he isn't "gay" in the simple, Will-and-Grace-approved style. sure, some of that is probably ITV - seriously, this is made by ITV! - saying "an episode that queer needs some heterosexuality!" But even the woman he is interested in turns out to be more complicated than that, and the overwhelming impression given is that labels are just that, labels, which might be useful or might not, and people, in their emotional and sexual and gendered lives, are complicated. And I love that. A LOT. Even more than I heart Hathaway himself.
Oh and finally, I have now finished watching the first season of ST: Next Generation with m'boy, and am slightly concerned at how much I genuinely enjoyed it even while - because of? - mocking its many flaws. I suspect season 2 is next...
(Holy crap I have watched more TV than I thought since the last time I wrote about it. Wo, as Bil and Ted say, ah.)
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/61926.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
gavagai on the latest clusterfuck to hit the British Higher Education system.
Now, telly:
I really liked Doctor Who in the way where I tend to when something is Epic! and Pushes Buttons! and Answers Questions!
I pretty much knew I would love it from the opening bit where the monologuing is deliberately supposed to be assumed to be about the Doctor, except it's not, it's RORY IN HIS CENTURION COSTUME. I am such a sucker for that and Rory and even though the centurion costume makes no sense whatsoever, I still went HELL YEAH. It is awesome.
I liked the reveal of who River Song is - and the fact that
tellitslant's fic is totally canon now - although I'm not 100% sold on how they actually did the reveal itself and think we need lots of stuff on the consequences of that knowledge, now. And given that Rory is the "good man" of the title, I think it's getting really very likely that the good man River kills is him. However I think we are not at all done with the Flesh and the whole doubles-running-around thing and I would not be at all surprised if that turned out to be integral to the whole malarky in traditional Who fashion. And the partly-Timelord thing is just asking for extra stuff... which I am guessing we'll get at least some of after the break, and which will probably also be used to keep River around after Alex Kingston doesn't want to do this any more. I kind of love that it's a character like River Song they're clearly trying to keep around as an audience favourite, even if none of that makes sense with the "she's dead and in a creepy virtual reality" thing.
Also, I love that there were time-travelling Victorian lesbian detectives, and they actually made the "sometimes I wonder why you put up with me"/*tongue shoots out long enough to cross the room* joke. ON PRIMETIME BBC. Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
I am also loving loving loving Game of Thrones! I think it's getting better and better. Peter Dinklage is by far the best thing about it - the subject-line quote alone is just genius! - but I love that all the other stuff seems to be pulling together too. I love that Dany is clearly growing into her role in the way she should be, and that they actually remembered about the direwolves this week, and I don't even care that I have no idea whether someone who didn't know the books would probably have got totally lost ages ago. It is Way Fun.
Syrio's big scene and ARYA'S LITTLE FACE! Arya is one of my very favourite characters and she's just as good in the show - with that and Sansa's face when dealing with the Lannisters, my yay at seeing these awesome characters come to life nearly exploded. And Joffrey's pose on the throne... he didn't even have to SPEAK for it to be so painfully obvious what kind of person he is and for Sansa's inability to currently see that to be really eek-inducing.
Also, a review I read referred to "Hodor's hodor" and I haven't been able to stop snickering every time I remembered it. Hee. *is five*
I only just realised I never posted about the finale of The Good Wife, which I should have because it was brilliant and anybody who likes stories about awesome, awesome women and real lives and complicated issues and flail should watch it asap so they can see the third season when it starts up again. Especially because the Will/Alicia thing has so many potential routes it could take: there's almost no potential growth for the characters from here that couldn't work, given the right set-up, and I have never seen a show that was SO good at set-up. And at not dropping the ball.
Like, the reveal about Peter at the end: that works and is not cheesy precisely because we've had SO much build-up about the complicated emotions and situation. There's depth, even as they don't forget that actually Peter is a consummate politician who actually hasn't respected Alicia as much as he should have. And that's true for basically everybody in it. I think Cary's going to find himself in over his head, and my heart just breaks more for Kalinda the more I think about it, and Eli is going to be Alicia's sorta-boss what the actual fuck, and I cannot wait to find out what's going to happen to ALL of them. ♥
I have also been got into Lewis. As a crime procedural - a genre I love! - it's all right but long-winded: as a discussion of a relationship and a look at current morals about various things it is surprisingly and refreshingly fantastic. Especially basically everything about Hathaway's moral shift throughout his life. He went to seminary to become a priest, and then he became a copper, and that massive life change isn't an ephemeral, tagged-on backstory that gets mentioned once. Nope. It is there, in his every action, once you know what you're looking at. He cares about goodness, and whether that's the same as righteousness, and love, and it's painful and occasionally beautiful and necessary in the way that real-life self-analysis and change is.
And then they mix that in with a plotline that says 1. all this soul-searching was tied in with his relationship with a gay friend, 2. Hathaway might very well be queer himself and even if he isn't he ACTUALLY AND EXPLICITLY SAYS THAT IT'S NOT AS SIMPLE AS X LIKES BOYS BUT Y LIKES GIRLS, and 3. that wherever his sexuality might fall on the many and varied spectrums of love, it's not the point. He himself, and the fact that Lewis loves him enough to still care about him even while being angry at him for lying, is the point.
And that is seriously making me SO happy. They even made it very clear that if Hathaway is queer he isn't "gay" in the simple, Will-and-Grace-approved style. sure, some of that is probably ITV - seriously, this is made by ITV! - saying "an episode that queer needs some heterosexuality!" But even the woman he is interested in turns out to be more complicated than that, and the overwhelming impression given is that labels are just that, labels, which might be useful or might not, and people, in their emotional and sexual and gendered lives, are complicated. And I love that. A LOT. Even more than I heart Hathaway himself.
Oh and finally, I have now finished watching the first season of ST: Next Generation with m'boy, and am slightly concerned at how much I genuinely enjoyed it even while - because of? - mocking its many flaws. I suspect season 2 is next...
(Holy crap I have watched more TV than I thought since the last time I wrote about it. Wo, as Bil and Ted say, ah.)
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/61926.html. Please comment there using OpenID.