2014 Fandom Year in Review
New(-to-me) shows:
-The 100: I'm ambivalent about this one. It didn't catch me enough to pay attention until it went up on Netflix, and I somewhat enjoyed seeing all of S1 together. It's kind of a YA distillation of some aspects of BSG, with several BSG alums both on and behind the camera, and that was a draw. But S2 has more or less lost me. I think this particular type of grimdarkness doesn't ultimately translate well to being scaled-down, and so it's ultimately kind of draggy and heavy. Philosophically, the treatment of the different types of grounders (by the characters in-universe and by the show's framing at the moment) is overwhelmingly xenophobic. So...I'm not sure I'll be sticking with it?
-Agents of SHIELD: This one I was looking forward to and quite liked, and I have been quite enjoying S2.
-Black-ish: Is anyone else watching this? It's fun.
-Black Mirror: Loved this one; I can't wait to see the holiday special.
-Fringe: Glad I tried it, though I lost interest during S4 and never got around to really thinking about it.
-Gossip Girl I list for completeness, though after six episodes it hasn't really hooked me and I don't think I'll be going back to it.
-Helix: RON MOORE'S APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARES, PART XIIIIV OR WHATEVER, and therefore another one I tried out of ongoing BSG goodwill. And in many ways it does utilize what seems to have become the BSG comfort zone: a terrifying threat to humanity embodied by seemingly unkillable human-passing monsters, being more or less fought in a single isolated military compound by (among others) a charismatic commander, a man tormented by the death of his brother, a confidently unfeminine woman, and a dying woman. The main thing Helix adds to this setup is an oddball flavor of black comedy which comes through for the audience now and again. This one was both more and less successful for me than The 100: Helix didn't catch me to quite the extent as that last arc of S1 of The 100, but it's kept up a relatively consistent level of enjoyment, so I'll probably watch S2.
-How to Get Away With Murder: Pleased and a little relieved that this one has, so far, lived up to my expectations.
-Jane the Virgin: I've watched a couple of episodes and...I see the charm and I'm glad it's been so successful so far, but I have a few mindblocks about it.
-Reign: <33
-Six Feet Under
Favorite Show: A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with someoneone who asked something along the lines of "is there really a show where you love EVERY EPISODE?" - posed, quite reasonably, as a rhetorical question. Except I was like ACTUALLY THERE IS!! So my show of the year is, without contest, The Originals.
Favorite books of the year:
Non-fiction:
For a while there it felt tough to miss reviews of Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, but just in case: 10/10, highly recommended.
It's Complicated, danah boyd
Angry White Men, Michael Kimmel
Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, Katha Pollitt: If you can stand me, there's probably nothing new to you in this book, but it's well worth a read regardless.
Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature (Agustin Fuentes)
Fiction:
My favorite new-to-me author of the year was Jennifer Haigh. I picked one of her books up from one of the "recommended" shelves at the library," read the whole thing well within the space of a weekend, and brought it back immediately so I could pick up and devour another. Both were excellent. I slightly preferred Faith, though I suspect that was in part because it spoke so eloquently and directly to that weird uncomfortably-cultural-Catholic experience that I know doesn't resonate with everyone. I can, however, make a blanket recommendation for The Condition.
Favorite protagonist of the year was Mary, of Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler.
I read two YA trilogies this year, which feels like more YA than I read as an actual young adult: Sarah Rees Brennan's Lynburn Legacy and the Divergent series. I liked and can recommend both, though in quite different ways, the latter being more head and the former being more heart.
I do want to appreciate some of my favorite episodes/scenes/moments of 2014 television. These are spoiler-cut by show, for those who aren't caught up on/don't care about everything I watch.
[Agents of SHIELD]Agents of SHIELD: As I mentioned in my post on S1, I was totally spoiled for the two big twists of AoS (and, alas, for the two big twists of CA:TWS, which I still have not seen) and I was still transfixed by the episode of and immediately after the Hydra and Grant reveals.
I got around to most of the AHS excellence in my last post about the show.
[Game of Thrones]Game of Thrones: I was ambivalent about some parts of the S4 finale, but
(1)
(x)
Abstractly, I oppose blood vengeance. An eye for an eye puts innocent optometrists out of business and all. That said, JUSTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!
(2)
(x)
BITCH BIT HIS EAR OFF
Non-finale honorable mention: Really 100% of Olenna moments were among my favorite entertainment of the season, but the best one has to be this:
(x)
GRANDMA TAKES CARE OF EVERYTHING, DEAR
[HTGAWM]
How to Get Away With Murder:
(x)
[The Originals]The Originals
LBH, the greatest moment of the The Originals so far - and probably on The CW ever - was in the mid-season finale when Elijah said he felt patronized and the baby said "WAH." I thought this was too good to be true so I watched it a half a dozen times to make sure, and then I watched it another three times because it was beautiful. But here is a small selection of the runners-up:
(1)
(x)
(2)
(x)
(3)
(x)
[Orphan Black]Orphan Black:
(x)
[Scandal]Scandal:
(1) Liv pulling the trigger on Rowan. GIRL YES.
(2) Because Liv is protected by protagonist privilege, James dying was the most heartbreaking thing that Scandal could have done for me, but ugh, it was such an excellent narrative choice, and painfully well-executed.
(3) NEVER FORGET:
(x)
[Supernatural]Supernatural:
(1) I'm not even going to try to pick a demon!Dean moment. It was all perfect.
(2)
(3) LOVE AND HEARTBREAK AND LOOOOOOOOOOVEEEE
[even if you don't care about Supernatural you want to see this one](4)
(x)
[True Blood]True Blood: I am so glad I caught up with the show in time to savor the last season. Sookie's "part of my truth" speech to Bill was a great final word on the show - that whoever Sookie is, whatever the world punishes her for, there is nothing wrong with her, and she knows it. The Hep-V storyline is one that, I think, could not have been what it was 20 years ago or 20 years from now. 2014 was the year of Truvada and The Normal Heart and just, a moment in time where those who survived a plague became more able to tell the rest of us what that meant for them. I love that the show told us a part of this story; that it was a show which could tell this story.
[TVD]TVD:
-The 100: I'm ambivalent about this one. It didn't catch me enough to pay attention until it went up on Netflix, and I somewhat enjoyed seeing all of S1 together. It's kind of a YA distillation of some aspects of BSG, with several BSG alums both on and behind the camera, and that was a draw. But S2 has more or less lost me. I think this particular type of grimdarkness doesn't ultimately translate well to being scaled-down, and so it's ultimately kind of draggy and heavy. Philosophically, the treatment of the different types of grounders (by the characters in-universe and by the show's framing at the moment) is overwhelmingly xenophobic. So...I'm not sure I'll be sticking with it?
-Agents of SHIELD: This one I was looking forward to and quite liked, and I have been quite enjoying S2.
-Black-ish: Is anyone else watching this? It's fun.
-Black Mirror: Loved this one; I can't wait to see the holiday special.
-Fringe: Glad I tried it, though I lost interest during S4 and never got around to really thinking about it.
-Gossip Girl I list for completeness, though after six episodes it hasn't really hooked me and I don't think I'll be going back to it.
-Helix: RON MOORE'S APOCALYPTIC NIGHTMARES, PART XIIIIV OR WHATEVER, and therefore another one I tried out of ongoing BSG goodwill. And in many ways it does utilize what seems to have become the BSG comfort zone: a terrifying threat to humanity embodied by seemingly unkillable human-passing monsters, being more or less fought in a single isolated military compound by (among others) a charismatic commander, a man tormented by the death of his brother, a confidently unfeminine woman, and a dying woman. The main thing Helix adds to this setup is an oddball flavor of black comedy which comes through for the audience now and again. This one was both more and less successful for me than The 100: Helix didn't catch me to quite the extent as that last arc of S1 of The 100, but it's kept up a relatively consistent level of enjoyment, so I'll probably watch S2.
-How to Get Away With Murder: Pleased and a little relieved that this one has, so far, lived up to my expectations.
-Jane the Virgin: I've watched a couple of episodes and...I see the charm and I'm glad it's been so successful so far, but I have a few mindblocks about it.
-Reign: <33
-Six Feet Under
Favorite Show: A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with someoneone who asked something along the lines of "is there really a show where you love EVERY EPISODE?" - posed, quite reasonably, as a rhetorical question. Except I was like ACTUALLY THERE IS!! So my show of the year is, without contest, The Originals.
Favorite books of the year:
Non-fiction:
For a while there it felt tough to miss reviews of Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay, but just in case: 10/10, highly recommended.
It's Complicated, danah boyd
Angry White Men, Michael Kimmel
Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights, Katha Pollitt: If you can stand me, there's probably nothing new to you in this book, but it's well worth a read regardless.
Race, Monogamy, and Other Lies They Told You: Busting Myths about Human Nature (Agustin Fuentes)
Fiction:
My favorite new-to-me author of the year was Jennifer Haigh. I picked one of her books up from one of the "recommended" shelves at the library," read the whole thing well within the space of a weekend, and brought it back immediately so I could pick up and devour another. Both were excellent. I slightly preferred Faith, though I suspect that was in part because it spoke so eloquently and directly to that weird uncomfortably-cultural-Catholic experience that I know doesn't resonate with everyone. I can, however, make a blanket recommendation for The Condition.
Favorite protagonist of the year was Mary, of Mind of My Mind by Octavia Butler.
I read two YA trilogies this year, which feels like more YA than I read as an actual young adult: Sarah Rees Brennan's Lynburn Legacy and the Divergent series. I liked and can recommend both, though in quite different ways, the latter being more head and the former being more heart.
I do want to appreciate some of my favorite episodes/scenes/moments of 2014 television. These are spoiler-cut by show, for those who aren't caught up on/don't care about everything I watch.
[Agents of SHIELD]Agents of SHIELD: As I mentioned in my post on S1, I was totally spoiled for the two big twists of AoS (and, alas, for the two big twists of CA:TWS, which I still have not seen) and I was still transfixed by the episode of and immediately after the Hydra and Grant reveals.
I got around to most of the AHS excellence in my last post about the show.
[Game of Thrones]Game of Thrones: I was ambivalent about some parts of the S4 finale, but
(1)
(x)
Abstractly, I oppose blood vengeance. An eye for an eye puts innocent optometrists out of business and all. That said, JUSTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!!!
(2)
(x)
BITCH BIT HIS EAR OFF
Non-finale honorable mention: Really 100% of Olenna moments were among my favorite entertainment of the season, but the best one has to be this:
(x)
GRANDMA TAKES CARE OF EVERYTHING, DEAR
[HTGAWM]
How to Get Away With Murder:
(x)
[The Originals]The Originals
LBH, the greatest moment of the The Originals so far - and probably on The CW ever - was in the mid-season finale when Elijah said he felt patronized and the baby said "WAH." I thought this was too good to be true so I watched it a half a dozen times to make sure, and then I watched it another three times because it was beautiful. But here is a small selection of the runners-up:
(1)
(x)
(2)
(x)
(3)
(x)
[Orphan Black]Orphan Black:
(x)
[Scandal]Scandal:
(1) Liv pulling the trigger on Rowan. GIRL YES.
(2) Because Liv is protected by protagonist privilege, James dying was the most heartbreaking thing that Scandal could have done for me, but ugh, it was such an excellent narrative choice, and painfully well-executed.
(3) NEVER FORGET:
(x)
[Supernatural]Supernatural:
(1) I'm not even going to try to pick a demon!Dean moment. It was all perfect.
(2)
(3) LOVE AND HEARTBREAK AND LOOOOOOOOOOVEEEE
[even if you don't care about Supernatural you want to see this one](4)
(x)
[True Blood]True Blood: I am so glad I caught up with the show in time to savor the last season. Sookie's "part of my truth" speech to Bill was a great final word on the show - that whoever Sookie is, whatever the world punishes her for, there is nothing wrong with her, and she knows it. The Hep-V storyline is one that, I think, could not have been what it was 20 years ago or 20 years from now. 2014 was the year of Truvada and The Normal Heart and just, a moment in time where those who survived a plague became more able to tell the rest of us what that meant for them. I love that the show told us a part of this story; that it was a show which could tell this story.
[TVD]TVD:
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