Leverage (still), a rec, and Dollhouse
My sweetie scarletts_awry wrote me quick and dirty Sophie/Nate for Valentine's Day. It's angry, hot, and not at all romantic, which I thought made it a perfect gift!
And you should check it out if you're so inclined, because it's fabulous.
As for Leverage, I am still starry-eyed in love with the show, perhaps even more so than I was the last time I commented. As I said when I originally started posting about it, for all the shows I enjoy, and all the shows I've discovered in the past year, I can't remember one I've loved this much, or one I've fallen so head-over-heels for. It's a keeper, and I'm still delighted they've been picked up for a second season.
I'm also really looking forward to the finale, and am already hiding my face in delighted anticipation, because it sounds like it's going to be a phenomenal trainwreck.
Oh, Nate: you wear your issues with such panache and dedication. Much like your hats.
Seriously, though, the revelations in "The 12-Step Job"? Heartache time. And they make all too much sense in light of everything we already knew about him up to that point.
I was also pleased that, in "The Juror No. 6 Job," they made it clear that Nate was still drinking, and that they did so in the same way they've handled this plotline all along: without ever calling explicit attention to it, but by making it a constant, subtle presence.
Switching gears:
I watched the first episode of Dollhouse, and I honestly don't know if I liked it or not. I'm going to give it at least one more episode, because I think that this particular episode suffered from a lot of typical pilot problems, and I want to see how it plays out once they start to move beyond that. Even allowing for that, I'm still trying to parse out my reactions.
It's very different in tone from other Joss Whedon shows. I don't have a problem with that. It's...I understand what they're going for with the show, or at least what they seem to be going for. I think that it's ultimately meant to be a commentary on sexual and gender politics (and possibly on racial politics as well, although that's never been one of Whedon's strengths), and on the way women's identities are constructed in light of these issues and under societal pressures.
The show seems to want to deconstruct these issues, and to break down how frequently identity ends up being defined for women by outside forces. I think it wants to highlight how exploitative this is, and how it removes an individual's power and agency. All of that is inherent in the premise, and in what's been done -- what continues to be done -- to Echo. Hell, it's even inherent in her name, which isn't a name at all.
Dealing with these issues in a show without having the show, itself, become exploitative is a tricky line to walk. I don't know how well they're going to be able to navigate that line.
But we'll see. As I said, I'm going to give it at least one more episode, because I don't know how much of the shakiness I saw in the first episode is simply due to a pilot's inherent problems, and how much of it will reflect an ongoing problem with the execution of the basic premise.
And you should check it out if you're so inclined, because it's fabulous.
As for Leverage, I am still starry-eyed in love with the show, perhaps even more so than I was the last time I commented. As I said when I originally started posting about it, for all the shows I enjoy, and all the shows I've discovered in the past year, I can't remember one I've loved this much, or one I've fallen so head-over-heels for. It's a keeper, and I'm still delighted they've been picked up for a second season.
I'm also really looking forward to the finale, and am already hiding my face in delighted anticipation, because it sounds like it's going to be a phenomenal trainwreck.
Oh, Nate: you wear your issues with such panache and dedication. Much like your hats.
Seriously, though, the revelations in "The 12-Step Job"? Heartache time. And they make all too much sense in light of everything we already knew about him up to that point.
I was also pleased that, in "The Juror No. 6 Job," they made it clear that Nate was still drinking, and that they did so in the same way they've handled this plotline all along: without ever calling explicit attention to it, but by making it a constant, subtle presence.
Switching gears:
I watched the first episode of Dollhouse, and I honestly don't know if I liked it or not. I'm going to give it at least one more episode, because I think that this particular episode suffered from a lot of typical pilot problems, and I want to see how it plays out once they start to move beyond that. Even allowing for that, I'm still trying to parse out my reactions.
It's very different in tone from other Joss Whedon shows. I don't have a problem with that. It's...I understand what they're going for with the show, or at least what they seem to be going for. I think that it's ultimately meant to be a commentary on sexual and gender politics (and possibly on racial politics as well, although that's never been one of Whedon's strengths), and on the way women's identities are constructed in light of these issues and under societal pressures.
The show seems to want to deconstruct these issues, and to break down how frequently identity ends up being defined for women by outside forces. I think it wants to highlight how exploitative this is, and how it removes an individual's power and agency. All of that is inherent in the premise, and in what's been done -- what continues to be done -- to Echo. Hell, it's even inherent in her name, which isn't a name at all.
Dealing with these issues in a show without having the show, itself, become exploitative is a tricky line to walk. I don't know how well they're going to be able to navigate that line.
But we'll see. As I said, I'm going to give it at least one more episode, because I don't know how much of the shakiness I saw in the first episode is simply due to a pilot's inherent problems, and how much of it will reflect an ongoing problem with the execution of the basic premise.