jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2013-09-23 08:26 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2013-09-23 08:26 pm
Entry tags:
various show reactiosn
Weekend (and more) TV thoughts
Korra
I was willing to let it slide last week that Korra would side with her uncle over her father, as Onalak was making points that were more in keeping with Korra’s view of her role, but here not so much. It’s pretty obvious that what the Northerners are doing is not okay, and Korra not being able to see that is going to get real old real fast if it keeps going because of how it *should* seem to her. Onalak is basically Amon and Tarlok rolled into one (with elements of Ozai for the viewers, but I wouldn’t expect Korra to make the connection), a theocrat imposing his vision of how the world should be onto others and oppressing those who don’t agree with him.
However the family drama, Korra’s but especially Tenzin and co., was quite strong. THIS was what last season needed rather than love square nonsense, arguments where no one was really right or wrong. S1 had that as far as the plot was concerned, even if the end kind of undermined it by doing nothing to address the root of why Amon had so much support but lacked complex character drama; s2 is doing better at the latter but isn’t painting many layers into the incredibly fast moving plot.
Downton Abbey
I was worried for a bit that we were going to have tones of Mary-bot this season, but that seems to have been an acting/directing choice for only a few scenes until she started pulling (being pulled) out of her shell. On the other hand I worry she’ll hit recovery too quickly after this. I don’t need to see her completely miserable, but given where she was at the start I’d expect it to take a while to be all that much better.
I really wish Edith wasn’t being shoved off into a romance subplot (plus, really dude, you do not want to be German in 1922), because the first few scenes really showed potential, that Edith, the overlooked child was the only one alive and taking an active role in life at the moment. I think it could have had some very interesting character development if that was more fully explored.
Robert on the whole is pretty much made of fail here. I get his intentions with Mary, and were probably right for the first couple months or so, but *Mary* needs to be active if she’s ever going to be okay again, Mary Crawley was not meant to sit idly by, defeated by the world. That plus his lack of sensitivity to Tom (to be fair, no one but Tom himself seems terribly sensitive to his grief next to Mary’s) are not very flattering.
Anyway, there were a lot of plots set in motion here and we’ll have to see how they shake out over the season.
Castle
There was a decent amount of head-smacking going on with Castle’s antics this episode, I’m not saying they aren’t largely understandable given his past experiences but it was pretty face-palming at times to watch him. And then the end...I need fic about Kate’s reaction when she got the news. Obviously they’re going to find a way out of this, it’s not even a season finale, but I need to read how she dealt (or didn’t) with the idea that he’s dying.
I know it’s a consequence of watching trashy CW shows (mostly TVD), but I am happy to see the way the proposal vs. job offer was handled, there’s no reason they can’t have both. It poses different challenges to their relationship, but it’s never implied that Kate should settle for anything less than having everything she wants. What she wants may change after what’s happening here, but there’s no implication that she has to pick sides.
It is fairly obvious (and was going in) that this DC job situation wasn’t going to be a long term change to the show, the show is built on Castle and Beckett’s partnership and it’s hard to have that with this change to the status quo; but I do think they’ll make it believable when it comes to that.
Korra
I was willing to let it slide last week that Korra would side with her uncle over her father, as Onalak was making points that were more in keeping with Korra’s view of her role, but here not so much. It’s pretty obvious that what the Northerners are doing is not okay, and Korra not being able to see that is going to get real old real fast if it keeps going because of how it *should* seem to her. Onalak is basically Amon and Tarlok rolled into one (with elements of Ozai for the viewers, but I wouldn’t expect Korra to make the connection), a theocrat imposing his vision of how the world should be onto others and oppressing those who don’t agree with him.
However the family drama, Korra’s but especially Tenzin and co., was quite strong. THIS was what last season needed rather than love square nonsense, arguments where no one was really right or wrong. S1 had that as far as the plot was concerned, even if the end kind of undermined it by doing nothing to address the root of why Amon had so much support but lacked complex character drama; s2 is doing better at the latter but isn’t painting many layers into the incredibly fast moving plot.
Downton Abbey
I was worried for a bit that we were going to have tones of Mary-bot this season, but that seems to have been an acting/directing choice for only a few scenes until she started pulling (being pulled) out of her shell. On the other hand I worry she’ll hit recovery too quickly after this. I don’t need to see her completely miserable, but given where she was at the start I’d expect it to take a while to be all that much better.
I really wish Edith wasn’t being shoved off into a romance subplot (plus, really dude, you do not want to be German in 1922), because the first few scenes really showed potential, that Edith, the overlooked child was the only one alive and taking an active role in life at the moment. I think it could have had some very interesting character development if that was more fully explored.
Robert on the whole is pretty much made of fail here. I get his intentions with Mary, and were probably right for the first couple months or so, but *Mary* needs to be active if she’s ever going to be okay again, Mary Crawley was not meant to sit idly by, defeated by the world. That plus his lack of sensitivity to Tom (to be fair, no one but Tom himself seems terribly sensitive to his grief next to Mary’s) are not very flattering.
Anyway, there were a lot of plots set in motion here and we’ll have to see how they shake out over the season.
Castle
There was a decent amount of head-smacking going on with Castle’s antics this episode, I’m not saying they aren’t largely understandable given his past experiences but it was pretty face-palming at times to watch him. And then the end...I need fic about Kate’s reaction when she got the news. Obviously they’re going to find a way out of this, it’s not even a season finale, but I need to read how she dealt (or didn’t) with the idea that he’s dying.
I know it’s a consequence of watching trashy CW shows (mostly TVD), but I am happy to see the way the proposal vs. job offer was handled, there’s no reason they can’t have both. It poses different challenges to their relationship, but it’s never implied that Kate should settle for anything less than having everything she wants. What she wants may change after what’s happening here, but there’s no implication that she has to pick sides.
It is fairly obvious (and was going in) that this DC job situation wasn’t going to be a long term change to the show, the show is built on Castle and Beckett’s partnership and it’s hard to have that with this change to the status quo; but I do think they’ll make it believable when it comes to that.