culture consumed Wednesday: once upon a time in Kansas City
TV: Once Upon a Time
(So, Netflix is a thing, and I have access to S2 of OuAT)
Good grief.
I cried three or four times during 2x03 "Lady of the Lake."
I suppose theoretically this show could push my buttons harder, but I don't really know how.
Perhaps if more of the characters had complicated parent-child stuff going on.
[several more episodes into the season] -- okay then.
I was legit not expecting to have Regina feels but lo, here are my Regina feels.
I keep thinking, "Gosh this show is not very good," through tears and then -- you know what, fuckit, show is enjoyable on many levels to me, and that makes it good even if it is tropediculous. (and just when I think this show can't get any more tropediculous, zombies arise.)
okay, so, more specific thoughts:
[spoilers through 2x09 "Queen of Hearts." Would appreciate no spoilers past then.]
I feel like the pacing is a little off. Maybe it's just that it's not what I'm used to, but it ends up feeling like things are just too easy, for everyone. The pair of quests that sound like they should take months that we will definitely be able to resolve by sunset. :/ Maybe this is partially because it feels like in the flashback parts, there's lots of time spent hiding/hiking through the woods/running quests that take time, so when the characters are in the magical world in the present, it feels like things should have taken longer.
There's still the thing where, "I am more genre-savvy than these characters who GREW UP IN THIS WORLD; this is a serious problem for their survival."
And it feels like the show is giving the viewer what ze wants too much? Which sounds like a really weird complaint -- because it's really, deeply satisfying for plans to work out -- but I guess it feels a little cheap because the characters don't have their plans thwarted regularly enough. So there's lots of little satisfactions when things get resolved, but that feels different than the huge satisfaction of a plan coming together after years of preparation and setbacks.
Which is what I mean when I say "this show is not very good."
But on another level, this show is AWESOME because it makes me FULL OF FEELS.
Seriously, almost every single character has complicated epic feelings about either a parent or a child, and some of them (Regina, Emma) have both.
Also, girls. All the girls, all the time. There are male characters, and there are even male characters whom I like very much (Gold. Gold being reunited with his son is the thing that I hope happens and hope happens after a lot of setbacks and difficulties because I want the show to EARN that moment because I am going to sob so damn much.) (Again, please no spoilers about this.) And Henry. I like Henry. And I... I like Charming more than I liked David in S1, which is not saying a lot, since I figured out that David is BASICALLY MCDREAMY except the show lets him get away with it a lot more than Grey's Anatomy does, and Grey's was not exactly stellar on this front. And Hook. So yeah. There are male characters I'm fond of.
And then there's Regina and Emma and Mary Margaret and Ruby and Belle and Mulan and Aurora and Cora.
That is... twice as many female characters as male characters (assuming for the nonce that there are no complicated gender identity things, which is probably a sure bet for everyone except Mulan). I'm missing some minor recurring characters, I know, but basically at this point in S2, that's the main cast. (Oh. Plus dwarves. Especially Grumpy. But yeah.)
.... right. Especially in the wandering around the forest part of the story, I was like, "La, there are four female characters and they are just doing their thing and kicking all kinds of ass and this show. I will forgive so many flaws because so many girls."
The show has immense femslash potential. (... i know, right? News at 11. But it does!) There's nothing that's really pinged me as my OTP -- there are plenty of dynamics that I would probably happily read or write about (if I were reading or writing fic) -- Ruby/Belle, Emma/Regina, Emma/Mary Margaret (... look, okay, sorry not sorry), Cora/Aurora (I know Cora only held her heart briefly, but this comes close to an id-pairing for me. And then there's Aurora/Mulan, which -- so while I'm basically unspoiled, I heard some rumblings about this... I know that lots of people think that Emma/Regina is queerbaiting/shiptease, but it would have to be pretty damn shipteasy to be teasier than Mulan/Aurora. Part of this is because the dynamic where two characters think that their relationship is about a third character but it eventually becomes about them and the third character is basically a phantom... I mean, I also love the dynamic where it really is all about a third character, but in this case I want them to STOP FUCKING CARING ABOUT PHILIP. Though I guess I can remind myself that I am being patient about these things in order to get maximum payoff when they realize they've fallen the fuck in love with each other when, e.g., Mulan GIVES AURORA BACK HER HEART.
But so far there's not a pairing that actually hurts in my feels. Those are all gen parent-child relationships.
So yeah. SHOWWWWWWWW. I'm so glad I'm watching it.
Books
Bunch of random reading. I skimmed stuff for Sunday school; I'm trying to read I and II Samuel for this week.
I borrowed a new batch of books from the library and am reading The Family Trade, by Charles Stross, the first book in the Merchant Princes series. It's entertaining and reads fast?
I dithered with some other books -- the random romance I had started reading, some other stuff I have out from the library -- I'm having a hard time committing.
Games
I'm at an obnoxious point in Rogue Soul where I've accomplished basically all the accomplishments -- actually, I think I have accomplished all of them but "finish the game" but some of them keep getting erased -- so there aren't any more short term goals left.
I played a couple of hands of Free Cell.
Also at DW: http://wisdomeagle.dreamwidth.org/1207616.html. Comment here, or join the conversation there, where there is/are
comment(s).
(So, Netflix is a thing, and I have access to S2 of OuAT)
Good grief.
I cried three or four times during 2x03 "Lady of the Lake."
I suppose theoretically this show could push my buttons harder, but I don't really know how.
Perhaps if more of the characters had complicated parent-child stuff going on.
[several more episodes into the season] -- okay then.
I was legit not expecting to have Regina feels but lo, here are my Regina feels.
I keep thinking, "Gosh this show is not very good," through tears and then -- you know what, fuckit, show is enjoyable on many levels to me, and that makes it good even if it is tropediculous. (and just when I think this show can't get any more tropediculous, zombies arise.)
okay, so, more specific thoughts:
[spoilers through 2x09 "Queen of Hearts." Would appreciate no spoilers past then.]
I feel like the pacing is a little off. Maybe it's just that it's not what I'm used to, but it ends up feeling like things are just too easy, for everyone. The pair of quests that sound like they should take months that we will definitely be able to resolve by sunset. :/ Maybe this is partially because it feels like in the flashback parts, there's lots of time spent hiding/hiking through the woods/running quests that take time, so when the characters are in the magical world in the present, it feels like things should have taken longer.
There's still the thing where, "I am more genre-savvy than these characters who GREW UP IN THIS WORLD; this is a serious problem for their survival."
And it feels like the show is giving the viewer what ze wants too much? Which sounds like a really weird complaint -- because it's really, deeply satisfying for plans to work out -- but I guess it feels a little cheap because the characters don't have their plans thwarted regularly enough. So there's lots of little satisfactions when things get resolved, but that feels different than the huge satisfaction of a plan coming together after years of preparation and setbacks.
Which is what I mean when I say "this show is not very good."
But on another level, this show is AWESOME because it makes me FULL OF FEELS.
Seriously, almost every single character has complicated epic feelings about either a parent or a child, and some of them (Regina, Emma) have both.
Also, girls. All the girls, all the time. There are male characters, and there are even male characters whom I like very much (Gold. Gold being reunited with his son is the thing that I hope happens and hope happens after a lot of setbacks and difficulties because I want the show to EARN that moment because I am going to sob so damn much.) (Again, please no spoilers about this.) And Henry. I like Henry. And I... I like Charming more than I liked David in S1, which is not saying a lot, since I figured out that David is BASICALLY MCDREAMY except the show lets him get away with it a lot more than Grey's Anatomy does, and Grey's was not exactly stellar on this front. And Hook. So yeah. There are male characters I'm fond of.
And then there's Regina and Emma and Mary Margaret and Ruby and Belle and Mulan and Aurora and Cora.
That is... twice as many female characters as male characters (assuming for the nonce that there are no complicated gender identity things, which is probably a sure bet for everyone except Mulan). I'm missing some minor recurring characters, I know, but basically at this point in S2, that's the main cast. (Oh. Plus dwarves. Especially Grumpy. But yeah.)
.... right. Especially in the wandering around the forest part of the story, I was like, "La, there are four female characters and they are just doing their thing and kicking all kinds of ass and this show. I will forgive so many flaws because so many girls."
The show has immense femslash potential. (... i know, right? News at 11. But it does!) There's nothing that's really pinged me as my OTP -- there are plenty of dynamics that I would probably happily read or write about (if I were reading or writing fic) -- Ruby/Belle, Emma/Regina, Emma/Mary Margaret (... look, okay, sorry not sorry), Cora/Aurora (I know Cora only held her heart briefly, but this comes close to an id-pairing for me. And then there's Aurora/Mulan, which -- so while I'm basically unspoiled, I heard some rumblings about this... I know that lots of people think that Emma/Regina is queerbaiting/shiptease, but it would have to be pretty damn shipteasy to be teasier than Mulan/Aurora. Part of this is because the dynamic where two characters think that their relationship is about a third character but it eventually becomes about them and the third character is basically a phantom... I mean, I also love the dynamic where it really is all about a third character, but in this case I want them to STOP FUCKING CARING ABOUT PHILIP. Though I guess I can remind myself that I am being patient about these things in order to get maximum payoff when they realize they've fallen the fuck in love with each other when, e.g., Mulan GIVES AURORA BACK HER HEART.
But so far there's not a pairing that actually hurts in my feels. Those are all gen parent-child relationships.
So yeah. SHOWWWWWWWW. I'm so glad I'm watching it.
Books
Bunch of random reading. I skimmed stuff for Sunday school; I'm trying to read I and II Samuel for this week.
I borrowed a new batch of books from the library and am reading The Family Trade, by Charles Stross, the first book in the Merchant Princes series. It's entertaining and reads fast?
I dithered with some other books -- the random romance I had started reading, some other stuff I have out from the library -- I'm having a hard time committing.
Games
I'm at an obnoxious point in Rogue Soul where I've accomplished basically all the accomplishments -- actually, I think I have accomplished all of them but "finish the game" but some of them keep getting erased -- so there aren't any more short term goals left.
I played a couple of hands of Free Cell.
Also at DW: http://wisdomeagle.dreamwidth.org/1207616.html. Comment here, or join the conversation there, where there is/are
comment(s).