jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2013-09-30 07:47 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2013-09-30 07:47 pm
Entry tags:
Weekend TV thoughts
So there's a lot of shows coming back to deal with. There's also baseball that probably deserves a full post...maybe tomorrow.
Korra 2x04
It’s funny, but this episode working to show Onalak as a manipulative bastard, actually made him more successful at it with me than the previous one. Last time he just seemed evil, at least this time he seemed like a skilled politician rather than just an invader lording over the conquered people. (And yeah, I’m having trouble thinking of this as a civil war, if the water tribes were truly the same nation why did they each get a representative on the council last season? This doesn’t seem like North and South Dakota going to war, it’s more like Canada and the US, we may have a lot of shared culture and history but clearly two different countries and going to war would only be “civil” if it was confined to a war of words which this is not.)
Anyway, that plot I felt continued to build pretty well, but the resolution of the Ikki plot didn’t have much actual resolution. Maybe we’re not done with the sibling conflicts, but this story would have worked better as its own single episode (with maybe a brief check in on the Korra gang) rather than the B plot of a two-parter.
I am liking Verek, but wish Asami was getting more to do. Mako continues to bore be stupid, and I wish Bolin was getting a better storyline. And I find I can’t really embrace Korra the way I want to, she’s not *bad* exactly, but I’m struggling with her. The Air family (I’m not sure what to call them exactly since Bumi and Kya aren’t really Air family but I’m including them) plot may not have worked as well for me this time but I still felt more from it that I did the plot suff (mostly because I like the characters so much better). Now if we can get Lin back into things next week that would be great.
Downton Abbey 4x02
Well that went about the way I thought it would with Matthew’s letter and further complicating the upstairs story for the season; maybe next week we can actually get some real development from this set up. Rose and Anna’s plot was sweet and I suspect we haven’t seen the end of Rose’s dance partner, her replacement-Sybil status has rarely been more on display than it was here, although it threw in some of early-Mary’s wildness, so Rose is filling in for both those elements it seems. Most of the other plots I have even less to say on.
Though, really Thomas, your conflict with Bates has gone on long enough (same goes in reverse for you Bates), but dragging Anna into this mess just isn’t good form.
OUaT 3x01
This was a clear case of disposing of some issues from the end of last season before being able to move on with the plot. I was looking forward to all the in-fighting and alliance-shifting among the rescue crew and this ep did give that. And there were elements I enjoyed in both the main plots, okay but there wasn’t anything stellar in either; looking back the real drag was Henry’s plot, which is too bad because for a moment at the start I was hopeful Henry was going to get some important story arc but this doesn’t really look like it’s shaping up that way.
I know some people are really disappointed with some of the show’s developments, and I kind of understand it, but I’ve never been passionate about this show so it couldn’t exactly disappoint me. I still enjoy watching it most of the time without spending a lot of time thinking about it between episodes, which is how I’ve always treated it. And this episode squarely fit in with that attitude.
Revenge 3x01
Man, I need to do a rewatch of this show because I barely remember what happened last season. But they have me hooked for now since I want to know what the flashforward is about, and even more how the writers intend to change it up once we get there (since it seems pretty unlikely Emily will actually die mid-season – assuming they use the same setup as previous seasons – it they would kill her at all it would be a finale with plenty of setup for how the story will go on without her.
I do love seeing Emily and Victoria join forces (even if Emily is still playing her), it’s a good demonstration of how powerful they would be if they were allies instead of enemies. I do miss the days when Emily and Ashley were something like friends but I guess this is where anyone Emily is something like friends with ends up, Ashley ended up better than many I’m sure.
This was a good episode for ‘why I don’t ship Emily with anyone’ evidence. The previously stated ‘Emily doesn’t really do feelings like that’ and the ever present ‘Emily has crap taste in men.’ I think it’s why I’ve always at least slightly preferred Emily/Daniel because while she’s not being honest with him she’s at least being honest with herself about what it is to her (even if her plan on that front has never made a lot of sense as a viewer). And I know it’s because I’ve forgotten most of how last season ended but I thought Aiden was out of the picture and I’m disappointed he’s back. I had times I almost liked him last season but I do remember that by the end it was well time for him to exit the story.
Kind of nitpick but if Conrad’s father had Huntington’s, wouldn’t he have likely been tested a while ago? Conrad seems like the type who would have cataloged every possible thing that could bring him down. I do however appreciate the subtle continuity that Daniel is Conrad’s only biological child (unless he has some illegitimate ones out there). Anyway I’m on board for another season of plotting and mayhem, though I know I’d probably enjoy the show better if I stored it up and marathoned it later.
Castle 6x02
Hmm, I was expecting Beckett to end up back in New York by the end of this two-parter, but it’s probably more realistic for it not to all happen at once. Granted the end is pretty ambiguous about where she’s headed, but she is starting to seem torn of which direction to go in already, which was about the least I much expected we’d see come out of this story. I’m glad it looks like we’ll get a few more stories out her in DC, because I am sort of liking the DC team too, but I’m refraining from getting too attached since I know TV rules and the DC crew probably won’t be sticking around long.
Then again I also expected Pi to make a hasty exit and he’s still around, I still don’t expect him to last long, but he’s already hung around longer than I figured him for.
As far as the actual story went, I quite liked it. I was there for the character stuff mostly, as usual; also as usual, I would have been happy with more character focused stuff, but there was enough to satisfy me I guess. I do love watching me some Kate Beckett going on strong in the face of emotional collapse, although I still wish we could have backed up and seen the scene where she got the news about Castle’s condition. Along with always wanting more character focus stuff, I always want more serialization, so I kind of hoped we’d get Bracken pulled into this somehow (although I remain convinced that an unstated part of why Kate took this job was because she hoped it would put her in a better position to bring him down, look I like my serialized dramas and I won’t apologize for wishing this was more of one, I may like it in spite of its procedural-ness but I *really* like it when it’s less of one).
Korra 2x04
It’s funny, but this episode working to show Onalak as a manipulative bastard, actually made him more successful at it with me than the previous one. Last time he just seemed evil, at least this time he seemed like a skilled politician rather than just an invader lording over the conquered people. (And yeah, I’m having trouble thinking of this as a civil war, if the water tribes were truly the same nation why did they each get a representative on the council last season? This doesn’t seem like North and South Dakota going to war, it’s more like Canada and the US, we may have a lot of shared culture and history but clearly two different countries and going to war would only be “civil” if it was confined to a war of words which this is not.)
Anyway, that plot I felt continued to build pretty well, but the resolution of the Ikki plot didn’t have much actual resolution. Maybe we’re not done with the sibling conflicts, but this story would have worked better as its own single episode (with maybe a brief check in on the Korra gang) rather than the B plot of a two-parter.
I am liking Verek, but wish Asami was getting more to do. Mako continues to bore be stupid, and I wish Bolin was getting a better storyline. And I find I can’t really embrace Korra the way I want to, she’s not *bad* exactly, but I’m struggling with her. The Air family (I’m not sure what to call them exactly since Bumi and Kya aren’t really Air family but I’m including them) plot may not have worked as well for me this time but I still felt more from it that I did the plot suff (mostly because I like the characters so much better). Now if we can get Lin back into things next week that would be great.
Downton Abbey 4x02
Well that went about the way I thought it would with Matthew’s letter and further complicating the upstairs story for the season; maybe next week we can actually get some real development from this set up. Rose and Anna’s plot was sweet and I suspect we haven’t seen the end of Rose’s dance partner, her replacement-Sybil status has rarely been more on display than it was here, although it threw in some of early-Mary’s wildness, so Rose is filling in for both those elements it seems. Most of the other plots I have even less to say on.
Though, really Thomas, your conflict with Bates has gone on long enough (same goes in reverse for you Bates), but dragging Anna into this mess just isn’t good form.
OUaT 3x01
This was a clear case of disposing of some issues from the end of last season before being able to move on with the plot. I was looking forward to all the in-fighting and alliance-shifting among the rescue crew and this ep did give that. And there were elements I enjoyed in both the main plots, okay but there wasn’t anything stellar in either; looking back the real drag was Henry’s plot, which is too bad because for a moment at the start I was hopeful Henry was going to get some important story arc but this doesn’t really look like it’s shaping up that way.
I know some people are really disappointed with some of the show’s developments, and I kind of understand it, but I’ve never been passionate about this show so it couldn’t exactly disappoint me. I still enjoy watching it most of the time without spending a lot of time thinking about it between episodes, which is how I’ve always treated it. And this episode squarely fit in with that attitude.
Revenge 3x01
Man, I need to do a rewatch of this show because I barely remember what happened last season. But they have me hooked for now since I want to know what the flashforward is about, and even more how the writers intend to change it up once we get there (since it seems pretty unlikely Emily will actually die mid-season – assuming they use the same setup as previous seasons – it they would kill her at all it would be a finale with plenty of setup for how the story will go on without her.
I do love seeing Emily and Victoria join forces (even if Emily is still playing her), it’s a good demonstration of how powerful they would be if they were allies instead of enemies. I do miss the days when Emily and Ashley were something like friends but I guess this is where anyone Emily is something like friends with ends up, Ashley ended up better than many I’m sure.
This was a good episode for ‘why I don’t ship Emily with anyone’ evidence. The previously stated ‘Emily doesn’t really do feelings like that’ and the ever present ‘Emily has crap taste in men.’ I think it’s why I’ve always at least slightly preferred Emily/Daniel because while she’s not being honest with him she’s at least being honest with herself about what it is to her (even if her plan on that front has never made a lot of sense as a viewer). And I know it’s because I’ve forgotten most of how last season ended but I thought Aiden was out of the picture and I’m disappointed he’s back. I had times I almost liked him last season but I do remember that by the end it was well time for him to exit the story.
Kind of nitpick but if Conrad’s father had Huntington’s, wouldn’t he have likely been tested a while ago? Conrad seems like the type who would have cataloged every possible thing that could bring him down. I do however appreciate the subtle continuity that Daniel is Conrad’s only biological child (unless he has some illegitimate ones out there). Anyway I’m on board for another season of plotting and mayhem, though I know I’d probably enjoy the show better if I stored it up and marathoned it later.
Castle 6x02
Hmm, I was expecting Beckett to end up back in New York by the end of this two-parter, but it’s probably more realistic for it not to all happen at once. Granted the end is pretty ambiguous about where she’s headed, but she is starting to seem torn of which direction to go in already, which was about the least I much expected we’d see come out of this story. I’m glad it looks like we’ll get a few more stories out her in DC, because I am sort of liking the DC team too, but I’m refraining from getting too attached since I know TV rules and the DC crew probably won’t be sticking around long.
Then again I also expected Pi to make a hasty exit and he’s still around, I still don’t expect him to last long, but he’s already hung around longer than I figured him for.
As far as the actual story went, I quite liked it. I was there for the character stuff mostly, as usual; also as usual, I would have been happy with more character focused stuff, but there was enough to satisfy me I guess. I do love watching me some Kate Beckett going on strong in the face of emotional collapse, although I still wish we could have backed up and seen the scene where she got the news about Castle’s condition. Along with always wanting more character focus stuff, I always want more serialization, so I kind of hoped we’d get Bracken pulled into this somehow (although I remain convinced that an unstated part of why Kate took this job was because she hoped it would put her in a better position to bring him down, look I like my serialized dramas and I won’t apologize for wishing this was more of one, I may like it in spite of its procedural-ness but I *really* like it when it’s less of one).