so I may have a thing for competence.
Meme question answer time! This one is from 
out_there and it is: Current TV crushes
Alicia Florrick
I am loving Alicia Florrick more and more. She is the main character in The Good Wife, which is probably the best thing currently airing. The show starts with her trying to put her life back together after her politican husband very publically destroys her world, and we follow her as she goes up from there. Right now she is just... well. Amazing! I love that her transformation into badassdom doesn't involve any reliquishing of her feminine self: she still has emotions, she still loves her children, she still has needs. She's just ALSO completely built up the armour to kick all kinds of behind when she needs to. There's no diminishing of her as a character, and her quest for more power is presented as, if not necessarily problem-free, at least definitely not any more reprehensible than the same quest would be as a man. I love that Alicia very explicitly does not give a toss what people might think of her any more: SHE decides if her power is acceptable, not anybody else, because she has been there and done that and she is DONE with it. Buh-bye, people who want to bring her down. Alicia Florrick is not having that. She will see your petty attempts to keep her down and she will own you.
I love that she's a mum and visibly middle-aged without being any less beautiful or awesome for that. I love her suits and coats - I seriously covet her outerwear, and she looks stunning in basically all of it, because Alicia looks exactly like Juliana Marguiles, who is gorgeous. I mean, seriously.
Kalinda Sharma
Kalinda is also from The Good Wife, and for a while there she was my favourite. That's sort of shifted a little lately - I still love her, but I like what they've done with Alicia way more now. There was a Brief Unfortunate Interlude where Kalinda's ex-husband showed up and I think the writers lost their confidence in their ability to write her effectively. As a result, Kalinda has had a lot less to do, which is a total shame because there's still plenty of Mysterious Awesome to be found. And I totally want more of that, because hey. Lady played by Archie Panjabi who gets to break things with baseball bats and have quiet emotional meltdowns in lifts and get up close and personal with lady cops? That's practically Kryptonite. But I do miss the time when a lot of the show was about Kalinda's intense relationship with Alicia - friendship for someone who doesn't usually have that in her life, but complicated by lies and a past she can't quite make disappear. That was awesome.
Joan Watson
Joan is delightful. Joan is Lucy Liu's Dr Watson to Johnny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in Elementary and she is everything I adore about the show and Watson the character and also Lucy Liu's face wrapped up into one.
Joan is a hard-working, kind, caring person who has messed up big-time just before the show starts. Because of that, she has some issues, and doesn't doubt that she can mess up again... but she is also developing the faith that her mistakes don't outweigh the good she does. I love that, that she is brilliant and competent and funny and lovely and sometimes frustrated, but never unbelievable. She works at things. She wants to be kind and helpful, but the way to that goal is not always clear. She gets annoyed by Sherlock sometimes. Usually when he's woken her up AGAIN. She works really hard at balancing her own needs and boundaries with those of others, in this really great way where she values herself but doesn't let that tip over into being mean. AND she can pick a mean pocket.
Philip and Elizabeth Jennings
These two are the main characters of The Americans, which is staggaringly good Cold War drama. They look like Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell respectively, and they are amazing. I am listing them together because while I really like both of them as individuals, the bit I totally fell for was definitely them as a couple. They have AMAZING chemistry: I never for one second doubt that these are people who have been married for years, who have children together. I also don't doubt that they have huge issues, cause hey being force-married by the KGB will do that to you, but one of the joys of the show is watching how strong that bond is despite, or maybe because of, those issues. It's just beautiful to watch. And I do mean beautiful, because they work together physically as a team in a way that should probably be considered inappropriate to air on TV before nine pm.
They're a bit unusual for me, because I desperately want them to have a happy ending where they can be together and love each other and tell each other about their childhoods and watch their kids go off to college and then spend a lot of time, like, making cookies and gardening. But there is basically no way that can possibly happen. I am a bit concerned about this, because I don't usually love the epic tragic people, and Philip and Elizabeth just get MORE tragic the more you think about it. Aaah.
Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt
I crush these guys as a couple so much for almost entirely the opposite reasons to the Jennings. Leslie and Ben's relationship makes me love them both so much more because they're LOVELY - they're functional in the most delightfully realistic way. They have jokes and they talk through their problems and they both accept that they love each other and sometimes things might be hard but they will be there for each other anyway as best they can. They bring out the best in each other. I just adore them.
It helps of course that they as individuals are great. Leslie is just...Amy Poehler as Leslie is ridiculous and wonderful and my favourite thing is that she's so daft and hilarious but not a joke. Her work matters, her brain and her heart matter. Her love of her friends and her commitment to justice and her obsession with waffles all MATTER. I actually wasn't a massive fan of Ben for a while: Adam Scott is cute enough, but Ben was the antagonist to Leslie asnd Leslie owned my heart. But as Ben started to love Leslie, so I started to love him. His slash fanfic, his time as crying Batman which is both really moving and hilarious, his happiness in organisation, his frustration at living with Andy and April even while he cared about them... those were all things I only started to appreciate after we got to see him fall in love with Leslie for giving an amazing speech while completely off her head.
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/123527.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
out_there and it is: Current TV crushes
Alicia Florrick
I am loving Alicia Florrick more and more. She is the main character in The Good Wife, which is probably the best thing currently airing. The show starts with her trying to put her life back together after her politican husband very publically destroys her world, and we follow her as she goes up from there. Right now she is just... well. Amazing! I love that her transformation into badassdom doesn't involve any reliquishing of her feminine self: she still has emotions, she still loves her children, she still has needs. She's just ALSO completely built up the armour to kick all kinds of behind when she needs to. There's no diminishing of her as a character, and her quest for more power is presented as, if not necessarily problem-free, at least definitely not any more reprehensible than the same quest would be as a man. I love that Alicia very explicitly does not give a toss what people might think of her any more: SHE decides if her power is acceptable, not anybody else, because she has been there and done that and she is DONE with it. Buh-bye, people who want to bring her down. Alicia Florrick is not having that. She will see your petty attempts to keep her down and she will own you.
I love that she's a mum and visibly middle-aged without being any less beautiful or awesome for that. I love her suits and coats - I seriously covet her outerwear, and she looks stunning in basically all of it, because Alicia looks exactly like Juliana Marguiles, who is gorgeous. I mean, seriously.
Kalinda Sharma
Kalinda is also from The Good Wife, and for a while there she was my favourite. That's sort of shifted a little lately - I still love her, but I like what they've done with Alicia way more now. There was a Brief Unfortunate Interlude where Kalinda's ex-husband showed up and I think the writers lost their confidence in their ability to write her effectively. As a result, Kalinda has had a lot less to do, which is a total shame because there's still plenty of Mysterious Awesome to be found. And I totally want more of that, because hey. Lady played by Archie Panjabi who gets to break things with baseball bats and have quiet emotional meltdowns in lifts and get up close and personal with lady cops? That's practically Kryptonite. But I do miss the time when a lot of the show was about Kalinda's intense relationship with Alicia - friendship for someone who doesn't usually have that in her life, but complicated by lies and a past she can't quite make disappear. That was awesome.
Joan Watson
Joan is delightful. Joan is Lucy Liu's Dr Watson to Johnny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in Elementary and she is everything I adore about the show and Watson the character and also Lucy Liu's face wrapped up into one.
Joan is a hard-working, kind, caring person who has messed up big-time just before the show starts. Because of that, she has some issues, and doesn't doubt that she can mess up again... but she is also developing the faith that her mistakes don't outweigh the good she does. I love that, that she is brilliant and competent and funny and lovely and sometimes frustrated, but never unbelievable. She works at things. She wants to be kind and helpful, but the way to that goal is not always clear. She gets annoyed by Sherlock sometimes. Usually when he's woken her up AGAIN. She works really hard at balancing her own needs and boundaries with those of others, in this really great way where she values herself but doesn't let that tip over into being mean. AND she can pick a mean pocket.
Philip and Elizabeth Jennings
These two are the main characters of The Americans, which is staggaringly good Cold War drama. They look like Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell respectively, and they are amazing. I am listing them together because while I really like both of them as individuals, the bit I totally fell for was definitely them as a couple. They have AMAZING chemistry: I never for one second doubt that these are people who have been married for years, who have children together. I also don't doubt that they have huge issues, cause hey being force-married by the KGB will do that to you, but one of the joys of the show is watching how strong that bond is despite, or maybe because of, those issues. It's just beautiful to watch. And I do mean beautiful, because they work together physically as a team in a way that should probably be considered inappropriate to air on TV before nine pm.
They're a bit unusual for me, because I desperately want them to have a happy ending where they can be together and love each other and tell each other about their childhoods and watch their kids go off to college and then spend a lot of time, like, making cookies and gardening. But there is basically no way that can possibly happen. I am a bit concerned about this, because I don't usually love the epic tragic people, and Philip and Elizabeth just get MORE tragic the more you think about it. Aaah.
Leslie Knope and Ben Wyatt
I crush these guys as a couple so much for almost entirely the opposite reasons to the Jennings. Leslie and Ben's relationship makes me love them both so much more because they're LOVELY - they're functional in the most delightfully realistic way. They have jokes and they talk through their problems and they both accept that they love each other and sometimes things might be hard but they will be there for each other anyway as best they can. They bring out the best in each other. I just adore them.
It helps of course that they as individuals are great. Leslie is just...Amy Poehler as Leslie is ridiculous and wonderful and my favourite thing is that she's so daft and hilarious but not a joke. Her work matters, her brain and her heart matter. Her love of her friends and her commitment to justice and her obsession with waffles all MATTER. I actually wasn't a massive fan of Ben for a while: Adam Scott is cute enough, but Ben was the antagonist to Leslie asnd Leslie owned my heart. But as Ben started to love Leslie, so I started to love him. His slash fanfic, his time as crying Batman which is both really moving and hilarious, his happiness in organisation, his frustration at living with Andy and April even while he cared about them... those were all things I only started to appreciate after we got to see him fall in love with Leslie for giving an amazing speech while completely off her head.
This entry was originally posted at http://soupytwist.dreamwidth.org/123527.html. Please comment there using OpenID.