here we goooooooo
It's very exciting that shows are back now, but i hate that it gives me less time for catching up with older stuff. Summer is over and all i got through was Generation Kill, Archer, and two seasons of Breaking Bad. THAT IS NOWHERE NEAR THE ENTIRETY OF THINGS I NEED TO CATCH UP ON. Daaaaang iiiiit. Although i did watch a lot of movies, and i shouldn't be complaining because i really don't have a very full tv schedule even with new things starting. I am just lazy.
Boardwalk Empire
When HBO first started showing promos for this, i was a little put off just because that is how i tend to feel toward obvious awards-bait, and also it looked as though it had no female characters whatsoever (...almost!). But then somewhere along the way i realized it was destined to be excellent and started looking forward to it. Shock of all shocks: it was excellent! Much like with Mad Men, i have no intelligent commentary for it, but i will say this: i started shipping Michael Pitt and Kelly Macdonald before their characters even met. And then after they had a grand total of five seconds of screentime together. YUUUUUUUUP. srsly though i love Jimmy and Margaret.
House
I was really bored by/disliked last season's finale (in addition to missing like the first half of it and not caring at all because now apparently even the season finales are boring formula? they used to be able to at least pull out interesting finales! sigh.) but i really enjoyed House and Cuddy finally getting together. It was a nice affecting scene despite the fact that it was wildly unearned within the context of a terribly crappy season. Anyway now here we are, and even though i ship House and Cuddy, a whole episode focused on gooey relationship stuff is... ehhhhhhh. I was more excited by the promos for the episode than i ended up being by the episode itself. My favorite part was House's "I LOBE YOU" spelled in Boggle letters.
Community
After the awfulness of last season's finale i have not been too enthused about this show, and Jeff's self-involved dickishness at the beginning of the episode had me worried. But then he got punched in the face, kind of realized he's a horrible human being, and learned about respect, so... Jeff Winger, there may be hope for you yet?
GETTIN' TOO META HERE, GUYS. Being meta about being meta is like... i dunno, that's some Inception-level shit. This whole episode was about fandom's reaction to the end of last season. It's starting to creep me out.
The opening scene of everybody in their bedrooms was super adorable. My favorite part was Annie's Zac Efron poster. And Shirleeeeeeey and her sons! :D :D :D
I really really (reallyreallyreally) loved Jeff and Britta's game of relationship chicken. HATEKISSING. While i dislike that it kind of trivializes real feelings between them, and i do not respect Jeff's right to be angry at Britta, their rivalry is basically the greatest.
Speaking of trivializing real feelings: sorry, Jeff/Annie fans. The total Annie rewind to her being... 12 years old?? was pretty weird. So i guess that makes her even with Britta in the face of Jeff-Winger-love-triangle-jealousy. :| And then she got over it. So... uh? Okay. At least she got to punch Jeff in the face. Anyway, they sure were hell-bent on restoring the status quo with this episode! I am actually fine with that. It's a sitcom, after all. I am currently more interested in wacky adventures than wacky relationships. So, what Abed said!
Fringe
OLIVIAAAAAAAAAA
I AM VERY FRUSTRATED BY OCCURRENCES
NAMELY: MEMORY REPLACEMENT. >:( >:( >:( AND PETER BEING FOOLED BY OTHER OLIVIA. >:( >:( >:( >:(
I know frustration is the whole point and all, but... it sucks. Uggghhhh i was really hoping Other Olivia wouldn't be able to pull off her identity theft. Somebody has got to ask her something she doesn't know! COME OONNNNN. Also, i don't like the bangs with her blonde hair. Somehow they work on brunette Olivia, but they don't look right on blonde Olivia. Which is totally the point: she's Olivia, but sliiiiightly off.
I am confused by the implication that our Olivia is NOT an excellent marksman, though. I am pretty sure she has shot a ton of dudes in impossible situations, guys. What are you talking about.
I got really excited when Olivia was headed for Massive Dynamic because it meant OTHER NINA, but, alas, it was not meant to be. :( I greatly look forward to the day we meet Other Nina, though. ...Assuming she is alive. ...But let's face it, even if she were dead, she would probably still be around in robot and/or reanimated corpse and/or hologram form.
DAILY TRIPS TO THE MOON: THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE IS AWESOME.
I've had this bookmarked for ages with Fringe in mind, and i feel it is truly at the height of its relevance right now: Capgras delusion.
The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. ... The Capgras delusion is named after Joseph Capgras, a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in 1923 in his paper co-authored by Reboul-Lachaux, on the case of a French woman who complained that corresponding "doubles" had taken the places of her husband and other people she knew.
...
This case is taken from a 1991 report by Passer and Warnock: Mrs. D, a 74-year old married housewife, recently discharged from a local hospital after her first psychiatric admission, presented to our facility for a second opinion. At the time of her admission earlier in the year, she had received the diagnosis of atypical psychosis because of her belief that her husband had been replaced by another unrelated man. She refused to sleep with the impostor, locked her bedroom and door at night, asked her son for a gun, and finally fought with the police when attempts were made to hospitalise her. At times she believed her husband was her long deceased father. She easily recognised other family members and would misidentify her husband only.
Olivia first meeting with her mom was so saaaaad, made even sadder by how she only allowed herself that first hug before having to remind herself that that's not her real mother. Everyone falls into the trap of getting attached to the copies of their lost loved ones. It's actually really interesting, and i hope they play with that more this season, because it'll deepen the theme they've established with Walter and Peter: the bonds these characters establish with the people they fool themselves/are fooled into thinking they know. How much they care about the real person versus the idea of that person projected onto someone else.
This is so close to having a show about CLONES! :D
Obviously the good thing about having two Olivias this season is that there are TWO OLIVIAS. So much Olivia! I really really wish for Other Olivia to be developed more so she's not just an evil imposter. The double Olivia scene in the season finale really went for that and it was awesome, so i'm hoping they don't squander it in favor of boring SHADY BUSINESS and SHIFTY EYES.
Also i am really excited for more Charlie and Liv. :D I missssssss theeeeemmm. (even back when Charlie was replaced with the shapeshifting imposter, he and Olivia were adorable!)
OH OH ALSO: OLIVIA DUNHAM: GOLD MEDALIST. That picture was the best.
Undercovers
It was cute! I did not come out of it feeling particularly invested in anything, but... it was cute! Although it made me realize that perhaps lighthearted action is not really my bag. Like... A HAPPY RELATIONSHIP??? NO DEATH AND DESTRUCTION EVERY FIVE SECONDS?!???? WHAT IS GOING ON. I like depression and doom in my action shows. :(
While i know it's not trying to be Alias, i couldn't help but think of Alias, just... 'cause. "You feel like breaking into a bank with me?" was like FRIGGIN EXACTLY "yeah, i'll break into the Vatican with you." (SPY DATES!) right down to the dorky blue jumpsuits and caps! And i kept thinking "can this at least exist in the same universe as Alias??" and then when they were on the rooftop in Paris... the Credit Dauphine logo was in the background. So. Yeah. Between Undercovers and Nikita, lately i am really being reminded of my former all-encompassing Alias love.
Needs more disguises!!!!!!!!
Boardwalk Empire
When HBO first started showing promos for this, i was a little put off just because that is how i tend to feel toward obvious awards-bait, and also it looked as though it had no female characters whatsoever (...almost!). But then somewhere along the way i realized it was destined to be excellent and started looking forward to it. Shock of all shocks: it was excellent! Much like with Mad Men, i have no intelligent commentary for it, but i will say this: i started shipping Michael Pitt and Kelly Macdonald before their characters even met. And then after they had a grand total of five seconds of screentime together. YUUUUUUUUP. srsly though i love Jimmy and Margaret.
House
I was really bored by/disliked last season's finale (in addition to missing like the first half of it and not caring at all because now apparently even the season finales are boring formula? they used to be able to at least pull out interesting finales! sigh.) but i really enjoyed House and Cuddy finally getting together. It was a nice affecting scene despite the fact that it was wildly unearned within the context of a terribly crappy season. Anyway now here we are, and even though i ship House and Cuddy, a whole episode focused on gooey relationship stuff is... ehhhhhhh. I was more excited by the promos for the episode than i ended up being by the episode itself. My favorite part was House's "I LOBE YOU" spelled in Boggle letters.
Community
After the awfulness of last season's finale i have not been too enthused about this show, and Jeff's self-involved dickishness at the beginning of the episode had me worried. But then he got punched in the face, kind of realized he's a horrible human being, and learned about respect, so... Jeff Winger, there may be hope for you yet?
GETTIN' TOO META HERE, GUYS. Being meta about being meta is like... i dunno, that's some Inception-level shit. This whole episode was about fandom's reaction to the end of last season. It's starting to creep me out.
The opening scene of everybody in their bedrooms was super adorable. My favorite part was Annie's Zac Efron poster. And Shirleeeeeeey and her sons! :D :D :D
I really really (reallyreallyreally) loved Jeff and Britta's game of relationship chicken. HATEKISSING. While i dislike that it kind of trivializes real feelings between them, and i do not respect Jeff's right to be angry at Britta, their rivalry is basically the greatest.
Speaking of trivializing real feelings: sorry, Jeff/Annie fans. The total Annie rewind to her being... 12 years old?? was pretty weird. So i guess that makes her even with Britta in the face of Jeff-Winger-love-triangle-jealousy. :| And then she got over it. So... uh? Okay. At least she got to punch Jeff in the face. Anyway, they sure were hell-bent on restoring the status quo with this episode! I am actually fine with that. It's a sitcom, after all. I am currently more interested in wacky adventures than wacky relationships. So, what Abed said!
Fringe
OLIVIAAAAAAAAAA
I AM VERY FRUSTRATED BY OCCURRENCES
NAMELY: MEMORY REPLACEMENT. >:( >:( >:( AND PETER BEING FOOLED BY OTHER OLIVIA. >:( >:( >:( >:(
I know frustration is the whole point and all, but... it sucks. Uggghhhh i was really hoping Other Olivia wouldn't be able to pull off her identity theft. Somebody has got to ask her something she doesn't know! COME OONNNNN. Also, i don't like the bangs with her blonde hair. Somehow they work on brunette Olivia, but they don't look right on blonde Olivia. Which is totally the point: she's Olivia, but sliiiiightly off.
I am confused by the implication that our Olivia is NOT an excellent marksman, though. I am pretty sure she has shot a ton of dudes in impossible situations, guys. What are you talking about.
I got really excited when Olivia was headed for Massive Dynamic because it meant OTHER NINA, but, alas, it was not meant to be. :( I greatly look forward to the day we meet Other Nina, though. ...Assuming she is alive. ...But let's face it, even if she were dead, she would probably still be around in robot and/or reanimated corpse and/or hologram form.
DAILY TRIPS TO THE MOON: THE ALTERNATE UNIVERSE IS AWESOME.
I've had this bookmarked for ages with Fringe in mind, and i feel it is truly at the height of its relevance right now: Capgras delusion.
The Capgras delusion (or Capgras syndrome) is a disorder in which a person holds a delusion that a friend, spouse, parent or other close family member has been replaced by an identical-looking impostor. ... The Capgras delusion is named after Joseph Capgras, a French psychiatrist who first described the disorder in 1923 in his paper co-authored by Reboul-Lachaux, on the case of a French woman who complained that corresponding "doubles" had taken the places of her husband and other people she knew.
...
This case is taken from a 1991 report by Passer and Warnock: Mrs. D, a 74-year old married housewife, recently discharged from a local hospital after her first psychiatric admission, presented to our facility for a second opinion. At the time of her admission earlier in the year, she had received the diagnosis of atypical psychosis because of her belief that her husband had been replaced by another unrelated man. She refused to sleep with the impostor, locked her bedroom and door at night, asked her son for a gun, and finally fought with the police when attempts were made to hospitalise her. At times she believed her husband was her long deceased father. She easily recognised other family members and would misidentify her husband only.
Olivia first meeting with her mom was so saaaaad, made even sadder by how she only allowed herself that first hug before having to remind herself that that's not her real mother. Everyone falls into the trap of getting attached to the copies of their lost loved ones. It's actually really interesting, and i hope they play with that more this season, because it'll deepen the theme they've established with Walter and Peter: the bonds these characters establish with the people they fool themselves/are fooled into thinking they know. How much they care about the real person versus the idea of that person projected onto someone else.
This is so close to having a show about CLONES! :D
Obviously the good thing about having two Olivias this season is that there are TWO OLIVIAS. So much Olivia! I really really wish for Other Olivia to be developed more so she's not just an evil imposter. The double Olivia scene in the season finale really went for that and it was awesome, so i'm hoping they don't squander it in favor of boring SHADY BUSINESS and SHIFTY EYES.
Also i am really excited for more Charlie and Liv. :D I missssssss theeeeemmm. (even back when Charlie was replaced with the shapeshifting imposter, he and Olivia were adorable!)
OH OH ALSO: OLIVIA DUNHAM: GOLD MEDALIST. That picture was the best.
Undercovers
It was cute! I did not come out of it feeling particularly invested in anything, but... it was cute! Although it made me realize that perhaps lighthearted action is not really my bag. Like... A HAPPY RELATIONSHIP??? NO DEATH AND DESTRUCTION EVERY FIVE SECONDS?!???? WHAT IS GOING ON. I like depression and doom in my action shows. :(
While i know it's not trying to be Alias, i couldn't help but think of Alias, just... 'cause. "You feel like breaking into a bank with me?" was like FRIGGIN EXACTLY "yeah, i'll break into the Vatican with you." (SPY DATES!) right down to the dorky blue jumpsuits and caps! And i kept thinking "can this at least exist in the same universe as Alias??" and then when they were on the rooftop in Paris... the Credit Dauphine logo was in the background. So. Yeah. Between Undercovers and Nikita, lately i am really being reminded of my former all-encompassing Alias love.
Needs more disguises!!!!!!!!