A smattering of TV roundup
Apr. 24th, 2016 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthSo I got close to catching up on Castle and watched the DC-CW shows, and that's all that's in this one.
Castle 8x15
I liked that one a lot; there was a lot character work both episode related and big plot related, and the case of the week was fairly interesting. I had a hunch who the killer might turn out to be early on but there were plenty of turns to keep me guessing if I was actually right and the killer would be revealed through investigation rather than meta reasoning. The fallout of the Locksat reveal was handled well and I like that they’re moving past it in just the one episode to hopefully get into some meat of the story. Although now I’m absolutely certain that when Castle and Beckett come back out of the closet (I assume by the end of the season) quite a few people are going to be like ‘yeah we already knew that;’ Alexis finding them texting a couple episodes ago (for that matter, when did Haley figure it out?), Martha basically catching them here in what was rather a replay of when they first got together and Martha totally knew, Ryan and Espo still assuming that Castle’s there to see Beckett when he shows up (actually there was surprisingly little Castle involved with the case I realized by the end, but it was a case that hit a lot of personal buttons for Kate rather than needing Castle around for it); the moment Espo walked in on them talking with so much tension in room with them is actually a rare thing that might throw their friends off the obvious sent. The more I think about the case aspects, the more I kind of think this deserves some more analysis on its impact on Kate than I’m in the mood to give it right now; how as it hit closer and closer to home for her in its parallels with her past it also made her think about her present and made her all the more relieved she still has Castle and realize that what she wants is get past this mess and back to where they were. For what is not primarily an arc plot this one gave me quite a few feels I might need to work out at some point.
Castle 8x16
This one goes to prove again that surprising me with the results doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good episode. This one wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t say that, but it was very meh. It’s a shame because about the only times Espo gets character development is in Espo-focused episodes (maybe sometimes in Ryan’s) and as rare as they are I can’t think of many I’ve liked all that much. Actually that wasn’t always the case, Espo used to be an actual character I think who showed depth in stories with a variety of focuses so it was less of an unexpected event when he actually got some focus to himself (although I will say that I think Ryan’s got the short end of the stick in terms of focus this season, but he has shown more depth when not in focus than Espo has). The subplot was also rather unsatisfying, not having any consequences for the way things have been through this season, and not because everybody always knew it had been a lie for a while. Nor does it make a lot of sense that suddenly it’s okay for them to be officially together again just because they decided to make a team effort of things. And the plot with Lucy was just dumb, only serving to remind me that I don’t trust that thing especially when the characters are attempting to uncover a far reaching conspiracy.
Legends of Tomorrow 1x11
How did it take me until this episode to realize Rip is a browncoat? To be fair I realized it slightly before the episode drew attention to it, but not by much. My opinion of this episode varies a lot with which plotline I consider, and even then I’ mixed on a lot of them. I do think Sara and Kendra’s road trip had some good bits, but all I could think once past-Kendra (I never caught her name) started getting into it is that destiny needs to go fuck itself (and since Carter always seems okay with it, fuck him too); it’s forcing – apparently just her – to remain locked in a relationship that I still don’t see was all that good, and she’s obviously repeatedly been quite willing to want something else. Now I desperately need them to kill Savage to hope destiny stops getting to be bastard like this; I don’t care if she ends up with Ray or not, just as long as she has a fucking choice in her own life from here on out. I ended up really pissed off by that plot because I have a bad feeling the show doesn’t have the same ‘fuck destiny’ reaction I have to this story, at least not long term. The thing with Martin’s plot was as soon as I heard the name Wells I assumed it was connected to the Flash rather than HG Wells, and I’m not sure which is better. Overall that plot was mostly there to be a personal story of the theme throughout the episode of wanting to be hero in the old west, and it succeeds at that, but it’s not my favorite take on theme here. As for the main plot, I don’t really have any problems with it, and I always enjoy good shows from Rip. I’m just not that big on westerns so, like say Back to the Future 3, this one has a bit of larger hurdle to clear than other episodes, but I think it still does it so that’s good. I’m liking Mick a bit better now than I was before, although I won’t swear that’s going to last, but it was fine for this ep. And I really like the setup at the end of the episode, this sounds like a potentially really good story they’re leading into and I immediately start to speculate what they’re going to do with it. Of course my mind goes to more closed-loop time travel ideas like them trying to kill Sara on the island, or that maybe they attack Ray during the uprising in Starling and that’s actually how Anna dies; but that’s because I like loopy time travel even though this whole show is based on that not being ow time works and we’re all hoping the future can be changed.
Castle 8x17
That was kind of an odd episode that I’m not sure I actually liked that much. I found the case pretty boring and while the character work was fine it wasn’t anything to write home about. The one interesting thing is that the show has done enough over the seasons that doesn’t quite have a reasonable explanation that there was at least a little bit of doubt that there might be an actual genie involved; not that we’d ever know for sure because I could see coming a mile away that Castle would end up ‘using his wishes’ for Jenny and the baby. Sure I wasn’t able to call early who the killer was this time, but I also didn’t care, I’m pretty sure had I cared it would have been obvious. It wasn’t exactly a bad episode, it just didn’t really have anything to excited me about it, so it was rather meh.
The Flash 2x18
I’m having kind of a weird reaction to this one, so my first attitude may not hold long term, but here it goes. I think it was a perfectly fine episode, a lot of it was good even, far more good than anything else; but at the same time I almost felt that the more it tried to be emotional the less it really got to me. That’s still not quite true, as most of Joe’s stuff was good, and Harry’s always good; but Caitlyn’s stuff utterly failed to speak to me and what there was for Iris was just bleh; I’m kind of mixed on Cisco’s development here, and I’m utterly confused about whether the beginning was meant to imply Barry blipped out for his crossover episode and then didn’t mention it again all episode. I suppose this is a valid explanation of how the Jay thing worked the last time we saw him, and the backstory kind of works so there’s that; it’s a lot of stretching, but it isn’t terrible. I’m still expecting a twist on the end, for one as I recall Barry showed up by speed for the funeral in the Arrow premier, and they’re coming up on having to make that connect. For two I really don’t believe it of the characters that they’d just let it go down this way without more to the plan. For three, obviously the show isn’t going to let this stick so might as well say it never went down quite the way we thought it did in the moment. I’m actually surprised this didn’t end with news from what happened on Arrow, that seemed like the reason to split the episodes up this way, but I guess the next one still airs before the next Arrow, so it might still track, we’ll see.
Legends of Tomorrow 1x12
I really liked that episode, I’m going to end up talking about the couple of problems I had with it, but I really liked it. My main problems are basically all with the choices made about attacking the younger versions and the loved ones. I feel like the Pilgrim ought to have attacked them at times when they were vulnerable; which is what happened with Mick after all, attack at a time when the death can be blamed on something else (like the fire) instead of being obvious incursions. Should have tried to have Sara die when the boat went down, Ray when he supposedly died anyway, Martin when he supposedly dies in the particle accelerator explosion, have Jax die from his injuries at the same time (hmm, most of this team could be dead already, I hadn’t considered that before, that might mean something). The attack we do get on Ray happens in December 2014 which puts it somewhere around The Climb and on either side of it you’d think it would get some attention from Team Arrow. And when it comes to the loved ones, there was some real potential to tug at the heartstrings if it had been Laurel instead of Quentin with a weird wig; imagine if it had been a Laurel from early this season before Sara was brought back, Laurel who thinks Sara is dead and Sara who doesn’t know Laurel is now dead, and ending with the implication that even though Laurel would be amnesia-ed subconsciously it drove her to bring Sara back when it should have been impossible, also allowing Sara to discuss the impacts of the resurrection with Laurel. And I’m annoyed we didn’t actually meet Anna (I guess people haven’t been taken home yet so we might still get it, they obviously cast her), again I think there’s so much good drama material being shoved off to the side here. Much as I liked Jax’s story, and even Mick’s surprisingly, and liked Rip’s stuff, and thought the plot was well handled, I guess I still wanted more. I really liked the episode, I guess I’m just impossible to fully satisfy.
Castle 8x15
I liked that one a lot; there was a lot character work both episode related and big plot related, and the case of the week was fairly interesting. I had a hunch who the killer might turn out to be early on but there were plenty of turns to keep me guessing if I was actually right and the killer would be revealed through investigation rather than meta reasoning. The fallout of the Locksat reveal was handled well and I like that they’re moving past it in just the one episode to hopefully get into some meat of the story. Although now I’m absolutely certain that when Castle and Beckett come back out of the closet (I assume by the end of the season) quite a few people are going to be like ‘yeah we already knew that;’ Alexis finding them texting a couple episodes ago (for that matter, when did Haley figure it out?), Martha basically catching them here in what was rather a replay of when they first got together and Martha totally knew, Ryan and Espo still assuming that Castle’s there to see Beckett when he shows up (actually there was surprisingly little Castle involved with the case I realized by the end, but it was a case that hit a lot of personal buttons for Kate rather than needing Castle around for it); the moment Espo walked in on them talking with so much tension in room with them is actually a rare thing that might throw their friends off the obvious sent. The more I think about the case aspects, the more I kind of think this deserves some more analysis on its impact on Kate than I’m in the mood to give it right now; how as it hit closer and closer to home for her in its parallels with her past it also made her think about her present and made her all the more relieved she still has Castle and realize that what she wants is get past this mess and back to where they were. For what is not primarily an arc plot this one gave me quite a few feels I might need to work out at some point.
Castle 8x16
This one goes to prove again that surprising me with the results doesn’t mean it’s going to be a good episode. This one wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t say that, but it was very meh. It’s a shame because about the only times Espo gets character development is in Espo-focused episodes (maybe sometimes in Ryan’s) and as rare as they are I can’t think of many I’ve liked all that much. Actually that wasn’t always the case, Espo used to be an actual character I think who showed depth in stories with a variety of focuses so it was less of an unexpected event when he actually got some focus to himself (although I will say that I think Ryan’s got the short end of the stick in terms of focus this season, but he has shown more depth when not in focus than Espo has). The subplot was also rather unsatisfying, not having any consequences for the way things have been through this season, and not because everybody always knew it had been a lie for a while. Nor does it make a lot of sense that suddenly it’s okay for them to be officially together again just because they decided to make a team effort of things. And the plot with Lucy was just dumb, only serving to remind me that I don’t trust that thing especially when the characters are attempting to uncover a far reaching conspiracy.
Legends of Tomorrow 1x11
How did it take me until this episode to realize Rip is a browncoat? To be fair I realized it slightly before the episode drew attention to it, but not by much. My opinion of this episode varies a lot with which plotline I consider, and even then I’ mixed on a lot of them. I do think Sara and Kendra’s road trip had some good bits, but all I could think once past-Kendra (I never caught her name) started getting into it is that destiny needs to go fuck itself (and since Carter always seems okay with it, fuck him too); it’s forcing – apparently just her – to remain locked in a relationship that I still don’t see was all that good, and she’s obviously repeatedly been quite willing to want something else. Now I desperately need them to kill Savage to hope destiny stops getting to be bastard like this; I don’t care if she ends up with Ray or not, just as long as she has a fucking choice in her own life from here on out. I ended up really pissed off by that plot because I have a bad feeling the show doesn’t have the same ‘fuck destiny’ reaction I have to this story, at least not long term. The thing with Martin’s plot was as soon as I heard the name Wells I assumed it was connected to the Flash rather than HG Wells, and I’m not sure which is better. Overall that plot was mostly there to be a personal story of the theme throughout the episode of wanting to be hero in the old west, and it succeeds at that, but it’s not my favorite take on theme here. As for the main plot, I don’t really have any problems with it, and I always enjoy good shows from Rip. I’m just not that big on westerns so, like say Back to the Future 3, this one has a bit of larger hurdle to clear than other episodes, but I think it still does it so that’s good. I’m liking Mick a bit better now than I was before, although I won’t swear that’s going to last, but it was fine for this ep. And I really like the setup at the end of the episode, this sounds like a potentially really good story they’re leading into and I immediately start to speculate what they’re going to do with it. Of course my mind goes to more closed-loop time travel ideas like them trying to kill Sara on the island, or that maybe they attack Ray during the uprising in Starling and that’s actually how Anna dies; but that’s because I like loopy time travel even though this whole show is based on that not being ow time works and we’re all hoping the future can be changed.
Castle 8x17
That was kind of an odd episode that I’m not sure I actually liked that much. I found the case pretty boring and while the character work was fine it wasn’t anything to write home about. The one interesting thing is that the show has done enough over the seasons that doesn’t quite have a reasonable explanation that there was at least a little bit of doubt that there might be an actual genie involved; not that we’d ever know for sure because I could see coming a mile away that Castle would end up ‘using his wishes’ for Jenny and the baby. Sure I wasn’t able to call early who the killer was this time, but I also didn’t care, I’m pretty sure had I cared it would have been obvious. It wasn’t exactly a bad episode, it just didn’t really have anything to excited me about it, so it was rather meh.
The Flash 2x18
I’m having kind of a weird reaction to this one, so my first attitude may not hold long term, but here it goes. I think it was a perfectly fine episode, a lot of it was good even, far more good than anything else; but at the same time I almost felt that the more it tried to be emotional the less it really got to me. That’s still not quite true, as most of Joe’s stuff was good, and Harry’s always good; but Caitlyn’s stuff utterly failed to speak to me and what there was for Iris was just bleh; I’m kind of mixed on Cisco’s development here, and I’m utterly confused about whether the beginning was meant to imply Barry blipped out for his crossover episode and then didn’t mention it again all episode. I suppose this is a valid explanation of how the Jay thing worked the last time we saw him, and the backstory kind of works so there’s that; it’s a lot of stretching, but it isn’t terrible. I’m still expecting a twist on the end, for one as I recall Barry showed up by speed for the funeral in the Arrow premier, and they’re coming up on having to make that connect. For two I really don’t believe it of the characters that they’d just let it go down this way without more to the plan. For three, obviously the show isn’t going to let this stick so might as well say it never went down quite the way we thought it did in the moment. I’m actually surprised this didn’t end with news from what happened on Arrow, that seemed like the reason to split the episodes up this way, but I guess the next one still airs before the next Arrow, so it might still track, we’ll see.
Legends of Tomorrow 1x12
I really liked that episode, I’m going to end up talking about the couple of problems I had with it, but I really liked it. My main problems are basically all with the choices made about attacking the younger versions and the loved ones. I feel like the Pilgrim ought to have attacked them at times when they were vulnerable; which is what happened with Mick after all, attack at a time when the death can be blamed on something else (like the fire) instead of being obvious incursions. Should have tried to have Sara die when the boat went down, Ray when he supposedly died anyway, Martin when he supposedly dies in the particle accelerator explosion, have Jax die from his injuries at the same time (hmm, most of this team could be dead already, I hadn’t considered that before, that might mean something). The attack we do get on Ray happens in December 2014 which puts it somewhere around The Climb and on either side of it you’d think it would get some attention from Team Arrow. And when it comes to the loved ones, there was some real potential to tug at the heartstrings if it had been Laurel instead of Quentin with a weird wig; imagine if it had been a Laurel from early this season before Sara was brought back, Laurel who thinks Sara is dead and Sara who doesn’t know Laurel is now dead, and ending with the implication that even though Laurel would be amnesia-ed subconsciously it drove her to bring Sara back when it should have been impossible, also allowing Sara to discuss the impacts of the resurrection with Laurel. And I’m annoyed we didn’t actually meet Anna (I guess people haven’t been taken home yet so we might still get it, they obviously cast her), again I think there’s so much good drama material being shoved off to the side here. Much as I liked Jax’s story, and even Mick’s surprisingly, and liked Rip’s stuff, and thought the plot was well handled, I guess I still wanted more. I really liked the episode, I guess I’m just impossible to fully satisfy.
