TV Update
Although Barry is ten pounds of adorable in a five-pound bag, I'm finding it hard to watch The Flash due to hating everything the show is doing to and with poor Iris, to the point where I cringe the moment she shows up because people she loves are going to lie to and demean her "for her own good" again. Arrow isn't really doing it for me this season either from how it's handling Olicity, how utterly boring I'm finding the Hong Kong flashbacks (though Katana Tatsu has occasional moments), the stalkery creepitude of Ray Palmer and the way Felicity is letting him get away with it (plus I can't figure out how self-aware the show is about this), and how much more Laurel is on the show and is obviously going to be made Black Canary soon.
I'm not thrilled with Sleepy Hollow this season either, which has seemed bogged down. I don't think the creators know what the fans liked about season one, because we're not currently getting much of it. It still can't present Katrina as useful or interesting. Hawley is being shoved on the audience constantly, and at the expense of characters we already like and want to see more of, like Jenny and Irving. He's cutting into Abby and Crane time too, dammit. Abby and Hawley as a romantic couple is a massive Do Not Want for me, and the possibility of the love triangle with Jenny SH has sometimes been teasing is an even more DNW. Henry's plotting has actually been boring me. But I do appreciate Crane being shown with his hair down more often.
Constantine isn't great but has potential, and I'm unexpectedly liking the actor they chose for the title role. The big surprise for me, though, is Gotham, which the rest of fandom seems to have given up on but I'm enjoying despite its flaws. The writing isn't all that great, and the main character is the least interesting member of a too large cast, yet I became emotionally invested in some members of the cast within two episodes, something Marvel's Agents of SHIELD didn't manage in a whole season and the season two premiere, which is why I'm not watching AoS anymore. (The premiere was especially ridiculous in that I was immediately attached to Lucy Lawless' character, something I was never able to do with the regular cast [with the occasional exception of Melinda May]... and then the show did that to her, so screw 'em.) I know fans who quickly gave up on Gotham, but it's gotten better and what first seemed like Oswald randomly flailing in life has been slowly revealed as a plan with more depth and breadth than I expected. Alfred and young Bruce have improved and grown on me, I want to see what Fish Mooney and Oswald are separately scheming up this week, I'm enjoying the visual jumble of NYC eras on screen, and I'm attached to Donal Logue as a crooked, lazy, cynical cop with more depth than he at first appears to have. The show has also applied various That Guy actors as seasoning, like Lili Taylor as a villain, Morena Baccarin, and the occasional visit by Richard Kind as Gotham's sleazy mayor, David Zayas as a crime boss, and Carol Kane as Oswald's batty, adoring, smothering mother. Guys, they had me at Carol Kane as Oswald's mother.
But I'm seriously unhappy with a lot of the way the show is presenting Renee Montoya, whose lesbianism mostly shows up as stalking, cheating, and manipulation.
On the Anime Network On Demand front, I'm currently most invested in Black Bullet and Haikyuu!!
I'm not thrilled with Sleepy Hollow this season either, which has seemed bogged down. I don't think the creators know what the fans liked about season one, because we're not currently getting much of it. It still can't present Katrina as useful or interesting. Hawley is being shoved on the audience constantly, and at the expense of characters we already like and want to see more of, like Jenny and Irving. He's cutting into Abby and Crane time too, dammit. Abby and Hawley as a romantic couple is a massive Do Not Want for me, and the possibility of the love triangle with Jenny SH has sometimes been teasing is an even more DNW. Henry's plotting has actually been boring me. But I do appreciate Crane being shown with his hair down more often.
Constantine isn't great but has potential, and I'm unexpectedly liking the actor they chose for the title role. The big surprise for me, though, is Gotham, which the rest of fandom seems to have given up on but I'm enjoying despite its flaws. The writing isn't all that great, and the main character is the least interesting member of a too large cast, yet I became emotionally invested in some members of the cast within two episodes, something Marvel's Agents of SHIELD didn't manage in a whole season and the season two premiere, which is why I'm not watching AoS anymore. (The premiere was especially ridiculous in that I was immediately attached to Lucy Lawless' character, something I was never able to do with the regular cast [with the occasional exception of Melinda May]... and then the show did that to her, so screw 'em.) I know fans who quickly gave up on Gotham, but it's gotten better and what first seemed like Oswald randomly flailing in life has been slowly revealed as a plan with more depth and breadth than I expected. Alfred and young Bruce have improved and grown on me, I want to see what Fish Mooney and Oswald are separately scheming up this week, I'm enjoying the visual jumble of NYC eras on screen, and I'm attached to Donal Logue as a crooked, lazy, cynical cop with more depth than he at first appears to have. The show has also applied various That Guy actors as seasoning, like Lili Taylor as a villain, Morena Baccarin, and the occasional visit by Richard Kind as Gotham's sleazy mayor, David Zayas as a crime boss, and Carol Kane as Oswald's batty, adoring, smothering mother. Guys, they had me at Carol Kane as Oswald's mother.
But I'm seriously unhappy with a lot of the way the show is presenting Renee Montoya, whose lesbianism mostly shows up as stalking, cheating, and manipulation.
On the Anime Network On Demand front, I'm currently most invested in Black Bullet and Haikyuu!!