Moonlight
So... I finished Moonlight.
I have to say that my general reaction is... meh. It was... nice, I guess. But I kept expecting for it to turn a corner and suddenly become brilliant, or for me to love it (Merlin is testament that you can throughly and passionately love a completely crappy show) and... it didn't. It just felt like it had all been done before, and there was nothing new or particularly interesting about it and I didn't get overly attached to any of the characters, which is usually what makes me love a show.
For a vampire detective story, well the detecting part wasn't really all that, and there wasn't nearly enough exploration of the vampirism part aside from Alex O'Loughlin and Sophia Miles mooning over each other, all doomed-like "Ah, we couldn't possibly be together but I love you so/We come from different worlds/But I sleep in a freezer!/And I have a boyfriend!/I've been lusting after you since you were four!/But I feel safe with you because you're my guardian angel!" *eyeroll* And to think I was once a sucker for that whole thing... thankfully I grew out of it.
Sorry if I'm offending any rabid Moonlight fans on my flist, but I can see why it tanked. Plus, I don't know if it was because of the Strike, or what, but boy was the writing awful. It just wasn't strong enough, not even remotely up to par with the level of acting (which I have to admit was quite good - kudos to Sophia Miles, Alex O'Loughling and Jason Dohring) and the special effects and photography crew (the action scenes were really cool). I mean, there were plot holes so big you could drive a TARDIS through, and parts of the story that we were just supposed to accept without any explanation or logic whatsoever. How did Coraline survive? How did Josef survive his office being blown-up? Why is Josef suddenly in a relationship with his lawyer human freshie serious enough to consider turning her, when just a couple of episodes before he'd been shown so in love with the other human girl in a coma whom he's been taking care of for fifty years? Why was Coraline a lying manipulative bitch in one episode, and a selfless self-sacrificing hero that gives Mick back his humanity the next? What the hell happened (beside the obvious) between Mick and Coraline? How did Mick and Josef meet? What about vampire society? It felt like they kept throwing random vampire backstory in the middle with no logic, no plan and no overarching connection, while spending way too much time on uninteresting PI cases and chasing scenes and Alex O'Loughling standing on top of buildings and emo-ing (not that he doesn't look very hot doing it...). I think they were trying to have Beth being Mick's connection to humanity, and Josef the one to vampirism, show a man on the edge and all that, but it wasn't balanced enough (if at all). Maybe I'm being too harsh... But there was only ONE episode I went "wow" at, and it was the one where Josh died. In all the others, there were moments (like all the interactions between Josef and Mick... Jason Dohring and Alex O'Loughling... the turning scene... yum), and that's all. I even found myself fast-fowarding sometime just to get to the point.
Oh, I also liked the actual "vamping out" part. I was never all that into vampire lore, all I've ever seen is Buffy (no Anne Rice, no *shudders* Twilight, no True Blood), but I loved how they behaved like felines. Like that scene where Mick confronts the two teenager paparazzi and they recoil and hiss! *giggles* And all the displays of vampire strength and tricks were hot. Yes, I realize I'm being terribly shallow, but I'm reaching here. Basically the whole show was built around the taboo of a mortal/immortal relationship, and frankly, Doctor Who does it a hell of a lot better.
However, it was worth to watch just to discover the hotness that is Alex O'Loughling (definitely going to keep an eye on that one) and to see Jason Dohring. I don't know, he's not classically beautiful or evidently sexy (although he is a sexy bastard in this show), but there's just something about him, his charisma and his acting ability, that just makes me really really like him. His character was by far the most interesting one and of course they didn't explore him much... Pity he's involved in another show that tanked. Here's to hoping that Washingtonienne will do better (and that he's got a big enough part in it...).
So... what's next? Rec me a tv-show!
I have to say that my general reaction is... meh. It was... nice, I guess. But I kept expecting for it to turn a corner and suddenly become brilliant, or for me to love it (Merlin is testament that you can throughly and passionately love a completely crappy show) and... it didn't. It just felt like it had all been done before, and there was nothing new or particularly interesting about it and I didn't get overly attached to any of the characters, which is usually what makes me love a show.
For a vampire detective story, well the detecting part wasn't really all that, and there wasn't nearly enough exploration of the vampirism part aside from Alex O'Loughlin and Sophia Miles mooning over each other, all doomed-like "Ah, we couldn't possibly be together but I love you so/We come from different worlds/But I sleep in a freezer!/And I have a boyfriend!/I've been lusting after you since you were four!/But I feel safe with you because you're my guardian angel!" *eyeroll* And to think I was once a sucker for that whole thing... thankfully I grew out of it.
Sorry if I'm offending any rabid Moonlight fans on my flist, but I can see why it tanked. Plus, I don't know if it was because of the Strike, or what, but boy was the writing awful. It just wasn't strong enough, not even remotely up to par with the level of acting (which I have to admit was quite good - kudos to Sophia Miles, Alex O'Loughling and Jason Dohring) and the special effects and photography crew (the action scenes were really cool). I mean, there were plot holes so big you could drive a TARDIS through, and parts of the story that we were just supposed to accept without any explanation or logic whatsoever. How did Coraline survive? How did Josef survive his office being blown-up? Why is Josef suddenly in a relationship with his lawyer human freshie serious enough to consider turning her, when just a couple of episodes before he'd been shown so in love with the other human girl in a coma whom he's been taking care of for fifty years? Why was Coraline a lying manipulative bitch in one episode, and a selfless self-sacrificing hero that gives Mick back his humanity the next? What the hell happened (beside the obvious) between Mick and Coraline? How did Mick and Josef meet? What about vampire society? It felt like they kept throwing random vampire backstory in the middle with no logic, no plan and no overarching connection, while spending way too much time on uninteresting PI cases and chasing scenes and Alex O'Loughling standing on top of buildings and emo-ing (not that he doesn't look very hot doing it...). I think they were trying to have Beth being Mick's connection to humanity, and Josef the one to vampirism, show a man on the edge and all that, but it wasn't balanced enough (if at all). Maybe I'm being too harsh... But there was only ONE episode I went "wow" at, and it was the one where Josh died. In all the others, there were moments (like all the interactions between Josef and Mick... Jason Dohring and Alex O'Loughling... the turning scene... yum), and that's all. I even found myself fast-fowarding sometime just to get to the point.
Oh, I also liked the actual "vamping out" part. I was never all that into vampire lore, all I've ever seen is Buffy (no Anne Rice, no *shudders* Twilight, no True Blood), but I loved how they behaved like felines. Like that scene where Mick confronts the two teenager paparazzi and they recoil and hiss! *giggles* And all the displays of vampire strength and tricks were hot. Yes, I realize I'm being terribly shallow, but I'm reaching here. Basically the whole show was built around the taboo of a mortal/immortal relationship, and frankly, Doctor Who does it a hell of a lot better.
However, it was worth to watch just to discover the hotness that is Alex O'Loughling (definitely going to keep an eye on that one) and to see Jason Dohring. I don't know, he's not classically beautiful or evidently sexy (although he is a sexy bastard in this show), but there's just something about him, his charisma and his acting ability, that just makes me really really like him. His character was by far the most interesting one and of course they didn't explore him much... Pity he's involved in another show that tanked. Here's to hoping that Washingtonienne will do better (and that he's got a big enough part in it...).
So... what's next? Rec me a tv-show!