Rambling TV roundup
Apr. 1st, 2017 07:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthAgents of SHIELD will be back this week, so next time my post won’t be *all* about CW shows.
Supergirl 2x17
That was pretty meh, though a lot of that is probably from just how meh I find Mon’el and Kara/Mon’el. I also have a weird feeling like the writers felt they couldn’t make Kevin Sorbo look bad, which seems like a weird limitation to feel like they had, but it’s how I feel. I will say I’m liking Alex/Maggie more as things progress, though they are almost too happy for me to think it’s going to last (though I have to think TPTB are aware of how sensitive people can be a to a dead lesbian trope); I kind of feel that way about Kara/Mon’el too, except their happiness feels so fake that it doesn’t set off quite the same ‘happy couple kiss of death’ radar that Alex/Maggie did here – other alarms sure, but not that specific one.
I’m sure I’ve thought it before, but it hit me really hard here, that I wish Mon’el had anything approaching charisma or a personality or acting ability, because he is *so* oppressively bland all through this. I know there are plenty of people who hate him, but I can’t imagine working up the energy because he’s such a nothing character...that might not be fair as even a nothing character should maybe be a character. And since I don’t see this relationship or even really the Mon’el character lasting longer than this season (this is the CW) I’ve been putting up with in an ‘it’s nothing and not worth getting worked up over’ way, but I’m really starting to feel like they want me to care and I really really don’t.
The Flash 3x18
I may have honest to god liked that episode. I was pretty sure they were going to wuss out at the end and have them able to have their cake and eat it to and they didn’t and I am so happy with that. Even Barry was required to actually make a hard choice for once, and shock of shocks he might have grown from it since he started thinking harder in the end (maybe not making the smartest choice, but he’s *thinking* for once). There are, at least for this episode, actual consequences for these people and largely because of it this was a really solid to good episode. I do wish Joe had to deal with a little more consequence for the part he played, like if more people had died because of Kadabra’s escape, but that’s probably asking for too much; and that element is kind of there, just not as much as I think it should be.
I’m less happy with Caitlyn’s plot, but it was okay and could be tipped to one side or another depending on how it plays out, so I’m not making too many judgements. I can’t decide if I’m actually mad at Julian for what he did in the end, which clearly Caitlyn didn’t want; but I’m having a hard time getting to taking issue with that problem after how much I’ve hated the way Caitlyn’s powers work all along, I just hate the alternate personality thing so much. It’s another way of not actually having consequences, especially for the main characters and this displaces the fault for whatever happens next off Caitlyn onto Julian, so I’m almost more mad about that.
I confess I didn’t even realize HR wasn’t around until about 30 seconds before he turned up at the end. Other versions of Wells it was all but impossible to have a good episode without a lot of him, this version we finally get a good episode and he’s barely in it. My other observation, I think they were just using the jump ship animation from LoT for the time ship here, I’m almost surprised they weren’t using the interior set too, except now I think about it, have we seen the jump ship interior all season (we’ve barely seen the jump ship at all).
Legends of Tomorrow 2x16
I’m...not sure how I felt about that one, I’m not even sure I should know how I feel about it since the story isn’t really finished yet. I do kind of wish we had gotten more sense of how much time had passed in this new world, Gideon does say that it’s been a year but aside from that (and by extension Rip’s despair) it doesn’t really feel like it’s been that long. I can’t imagine it would take Mick that long to get bored with the way their lives are now, and I think after that long Malcolm would have either accepted things or already a made a move (or at least have a plan in the works, he *can* be patient since the Undertaking took him 6+ years to bring about, but he had a plan). Darhk had distracted himself killing heroes (even though this version of Darhk has no real beef with them) and Snart clearly was (or at least gives the impression of) biding his time to do something so I have less issue there.
Also I just don’t like the idea of these characters living these lives for that long...actually most of them just had mediocre lives so I mainly mean that for Sara and Amaya (because there’s some pretty gross implications going on there along with the explicit problems). And if I’m being honest, I’m mostly talking about Sara, who Darhk sent out killing her friends, possibly up to and including Laurel; also, as I’ve observed a few times this season, Sara already had way more actual hate for these bad guys than anyone else on the team (barring perhaps Rip post capture, torture, and brainwashing, but the show doesn’t really acknowledge that). Basically if that was happening for a year, I need it explored more.
Another episode where I sort of wish I more actively shipped Rip/Gideon, because the Rip and Gideon side show was ripe for it. It’s also heartbreaking even as it’s amusing, because Rip needs the team so much, he’s really not equipped to be alone like this. Also, the episodes where Gideon is a character rather functionary (mainly this and the one if Rip’s head, also the one with Lily but that was kind of a warm up) have me really thinking they’re going to have to sacrifice Gideon to restore the timeline (likely she’ll still be around next season, but it won’t be the same Gideon). Also since this episode didn’t do much with Rip, I expect he’ll have more to do in the finale which would lead to the assumption that some heavy decision making will fall on whoever is involved in that plot and so far that’s just Rip and Gideon.
I really have to question how Sara’s time travel idea actually works, since reality itself was reshaped. I know the time travel on this show makes no sense ever, but they even said just a few episodes ago that time travel can’t undo remaking reality. However I do respect that it’s Sara who comes with that plan as she is the one on the team who (aside from Rip) thinks the most forth dimensionally.
There wasn’t a lot to work with for me shipping-wise here, but Sara does seem to be getting fed up with never knowing where Rip is, it’s only taken all season. Mick says that he doesn’t know where Rip is just as a statement of fact but Sara, who no one would expect to know where Rip is, is a bit more sad about it. And the end is a fair bit ‘my quasi-boyfriend needs saving again, unless maybe by some chance he can save us; I believe in you baby.’
Other question, why doesn’t Thawne just go home? Wasn’t that his goal all those years he was turning Barry into the Flash, so he could go back where he came from (and kill Barry, but that clearly got done)? And if you’re going to have him mention Cisco and Caitlyn a couple weeks ago, it raises the question where they are and why Stein and Jax are running the big project. Also, why did they go to Star City to pick up Ray when he worked in Central City? For that matter, why is it ‘Star City’ in this reality anyway? They renamed it because of Ray and really, in Malcolm’s delusional hero complex, wouldn’t he have rather saved Starling City? What hero artifacts were on the bottom shelf of Darhk’s wall of death besides Spartan’s helmet? Ragman and the Canary mask (them Felicity’s added) were on the top; Wilddog and Vigilante (randomly); Arrow and Flash; Spartan and...is there anything else?
The longer this goes on the more I suspect the Legion messed with Snart’s head before sending him in to get Mick and the Spear. A less extreme version of what happened to Rip, because he’s still largely Snart, especially if you consider early-Snart, but he also isn’t really. I kind of thought it last week, even that maybe that was why the team wasn’t more hurt by his behavior, because they just went through this with Rip and they act like it’s not even a big deal. Thing is, I do kind of think on some level Snart thinks he’s smarter than Mick, he was the brains of their partnership because Len is actually quite smart and Mick largely isn’t, but I don’t really think he could have ever been this mean or controlling about it as he’s been here (though I was also willing to consider last week that maybe he just never showed that side of him when before he and Mick were mostly on the same page, and you did see a touch of it in 2046 that Len thinks he’s in charge of Mick). And the one that really got me was the idea that Snart’s “I don’t trust anyone” attitude would extend to Mick, because that’s demonstrably not true. Shooting Amaya...I’m not quite willing to say it’s out of character for Snart in principle, but the way he did it, and the way he did it to hurt Mick feels off enough that like I said, I keep suspecting more than he’s not 100% Len right now.
Plus this show has a thing for making people who aren’t themselves hurt the most the people they care about the most. Including just this episode, Jax and Stein, and Sara and the Star City heroes, so Mick and Len would fit right in.
There were definitely parts I liked (most of them were Sara moments or Rip moments, because even barring shipping they’re my favorite characters), but also some I’m shaky on, and a whole lot I’m reserving judgement until we see how it ends. It’ll be a long week until we do.
Arrow 5x18
That was a good but not great episode. It sort of accomplished what I knew going in was important to me (the team making their own choices apart from Oliver and bringing Oliver back from the edge he went over with himself last time) and I largely liked the Bratva and Anatoli plot of the week, but it was missing some things that should have happened while Oliver was over the edge.
In the beginning having Digg be the one trying to talk sense into Oliver made sense; Felicity is still too close (or more accurately isn’t that close but has no middle ground of closeness that can connect without bringing it all back), and Curtis isn’t close enough. And this has always been part of John and Oliver’s relationship, that he can reach into Oliver’s darkness and full him back (and, when necessary, the reverse). So if anything I didn’t buy at the beginning that John didn’t push harder and not let it set in the way it did. But as the episode went on and John was the only one trying to reach him (except for Lance briefly) it started to feel wrong. Dinah may not know him that well personally but she’s got to understand a lot of what he’s dealing with and Renee must have some things he could say whether or not Oliver listens.
The biggest problem remains the way Oliver and Felicity’s relationship gets no acknowledgement (and yes I am more inclined to complain about this after getting my dander up over the musical episode). Like I said, the fact that Felicity isn’t there for him to turn to can make sense, either because they each think that’s not the best thing for Oliver right now, or because Felicity feels like what she is doing is more important to fixing things, but it needs to be addressed. Renee and Dinah may not know, but Digg and Curtis and Lance *know* what Felicity means to Oliver (not to mention freaking Thea who absolutely should be here) and that she’s still the person he listens to above all the others. You could say that Digg tries to get her involved but that scene is so much more about the dark place Felicity is slipping into than her attitude towards Oliver’s.
I suppose on the surface that sounds like a good thing, giving importance to Felicity’s journey apart from Oliver, and if it ever came back around I’d almost certainly be okay with it. But it doesn’t; Oliver and Felicity don’t talk at the end about the difficult choices they’ve made and how they’re not sure what happens next. Felicity is basically in the hacker mafia right now (you do favors for them they do favors for you) in an episode where Oliver is making deals with the Russian mafia. That she feels like those choices are justified because she needs to be able to solve these kinds of problems and Oliver is likely to have things to say on that subject (“Felicity, look at me, this is where that philosophy leads”). And that’s not me having them deal with the relationship things between them I want addressed, that’s just letting them be close and connected dealing with what’s around them now.
I do support exploring Digg and Oliver’s relationship for a while, that’s always good, I may have issues with that being the exclusive relationship explored here, but what we got was good. Maybe Digg’s strongest point I think is that Oliver may be up in his own head about his reasons and morals, but Digg (and should have said Felicity, could have added Sara, and Laurel, and Roy, and probably Thea, and definitely Quentin, most everyone who knew him as the Arrow before the Green Arrow at least) understood the person he was and they were following.
On the flip side I have a mixed reaction to how what gets through to Oliver is the earning redemption part. Because...that’s actually what the hood has always been; it is both sin and redemption, it’s the name he gives his darkness and the part that most needs and therefore seeks redemption. Chase focused on the sin, John focuses on the redemption, no one for now acknowledges that it’s both.
Somewhere along the line I’ve become a lot more interested in Oliver and Sara’s relationship (probably around the time I started hardcore shipping Sara/Rip I got a lot more interested in non-romantic – or even occasionally romantic – Oliver-Sara), and I think she could really be the perspective he needs. Close enough to reach him, has been through enough of the same shit to have perspective, not in danger of making it too personal and yet it is personal which makes it sink in. Also Oliver needs the “You’re not a monster/it’s called being better” speech, though I’m not sure he’d really get the message by going dancing with Rip.
I want to say things about Oliver and Anatoli’s relationship, and how this is likely to be the most heartbreaking arch-rivalry the show (even the ‘verse) has had. I also do want to say things about where Felicity’s arc is, things I’m sure will be really important later on. I would also like to point out that Paul is probably going to get caught in the middle of all this since he got brought up by the bad guy here. And yet I think I’m just going to let all those thoughts sit there for now, this episode had a lot to think about, I just wish it had been a little more.
Reign 4x07
I don’t normally bother reviewing Reign because while I’m watching it week to week again this season it’s still a show I don’t feel like I’ll really be able to judge until I watch it as a season long story, but this episode provided something of a microcosm of my feels on the season so far so I might as well write them down.
I’m finding Elizabeth to be a much better character this season, I think partly they’re just writing her better, I think the actress has gotten better, and I think having Dudley out of the picture is a big help. For all the same reason I think she improved over the course of last season, but much more clear here. And I did...like (for certain values of like that allow for dead children) this week’s England plot, though I’m not sure where the Gideon character goes from here, he can’t really do much for the Scotland plot and he’s not that much use to the England plot.
In general I have some issue with the France plot this season. I do see that they’re between a rock and a hard place here; the series spent so long focused on French Court that in built up quite a need to see how it continues to develop, but it really feels like a distraction from the Scotland-England drama and with this being the last season having stuff that feels like a distraction that slows the main plots down isn’t a good thing. This week’s France was good, as most of them have been, but I wish the series had been a bit more focused.
As for Scotland...I’m starting to realize that the show isn’t doing that good a job of building Mary up as Queen. She keeps saying that she wants England, but I don’t really feel that from her; which is a problem for the Scots plot and the English one since the tension between the countries should really be handled better. Both in terms of that and not doing much to establish an intricate political climate in Scotland (sometimes it feels like it’s there but we’re just not seeing as much of it as we do in France, other times I don’t feel it even that much) I feel like something is lacking. Hence my wish the show was going to have more time and failing that I wish it was spending what time it still has better.
And now we’ve been introduced to future husband number 3, who much like Darnley somehow feels exactly like how I would have cast a CW version of him; and he feels just as dangerous as I expected the show to play him. I’ve always pretty much expected that as far as Reign is concerned, Francis is the love of Mary’s life (it wasn’t always written so well when they needed drama in s1&2, but it was there), so I’m not particularly surprised that husbands 2 & 3 are not going to be treated so well, especially is such a compact time. I fully expect that when the series ends with Mary’s beheading, we’ll see her joining Francis as she dies without any complication from the others.
Supergirl 2x17
That was pretty meh, though a lot of that is probably from just how meh I find Mon’el and Kara/Mon’el. I also have a weird feeling like the writers felt they couldn’t make Kevin Sorbo look bad, which seems like a weird limitation to feel like they had, but it’s how I feel. I will say I’m liking Alex/Maggie more as things progress, though they are almost too happy for me to think it’s going to last (though I have to think TPTB are aware of how sensitive people can be a to a dead lesbian trope); I kind of feel that way about Kara/Mon’el too, except their happiness feels so fake that it doesn’t set off quite the same ‘happy couple kiss of death’ radar that Alex/Maggie did here – other alarms sure, but not that specific one.
I’m sure I’ve thought it before, but it hit me really hard here, that I wish Mon’el had anything approaching charisma or a personality or acting ability, because he is *so* oppressively bland all through this. I know there are plenty of people who hate him, but I can’t imagine working up the energy because he’s such a nothing character...that might not be fair as even a nothing character should maybe be a character. And since I don’t see this relationship or even really the Mon’el character lasting longer than this season (this is the CW) I’ve been putting up with in an ‘it’s nothing and not worth getting worked up over’ way, but I’m really starting to feel like they want me to care and I really really don’t.
The Flash 3x18
I may have honest to god liked that episode. I was pretty sure they were going to wuss out at the end and have them able to have their cake and eat it to and they didn’t and I am so happy with that. Even Barry was required to actually make a hard choice for once, and shock of shocks he might have grown from it since he started thinking harder in the end (maybe not making the smartest choice, but he’s *thinking* for once). There are, at least for this episode, actual consequences for these people and largely because of it this was a really solid to good episode. I do wish Joe had to deal with a little more consequence for the part he played, like if more people had died because of Kadabra’s escape, but that’s probably asking for too much; and that element is kind of there, just not as much as I think it should be.
I’m less happy with Caitlyn’s plot, but it was okay and could be tipped to one side or another depending on how it plays out, so I’m not making too many judgements. I can’t decide if I’m actually mad at Julian for what he did in the end, which clearly Caitlyn didn’t want; but I’m having a hard time getting to taking issue with that problem after how much I’ve hated the way Caitlyn’s powers work all along, I just hate the alternate personality thing so much. It’s another way of not actually having consequences, especially for the main characters and this displaces the fault for whatever happens next off Caitlyn onto Julian, so I’m almost more mad about that.
I confess I didn’t even realize HR wasn’t around until about 30 seconds before he turned up at the end. Other versions of Wells it was all but impossible to have a good episode without a lot of him, this version we finally get a good episode and he’s barely in it. My other observation, I think they were just using the jump ship animation from LoT for the time ship here, I’m almost surprised they weren’t using the interior set too, except now I think about it, have we seen the jump ship interior all season (we’ve barely seen the jump ship at all).
Legends of Tomorrow 2x16
I’m...not sure how I felt about that one, I’m not even sure I should know how I feel about it since the story isn’t really finished yet. I do kind of wish we had gotten more sense of how much time had passed in this new world, Gideon does say that it’s been a year but aside from that (and by extension Rip’s despair) it doesn’t really feel like it’s been that long. I can’t imagine it would take Mick that long to get bored with the way their lives are now, and I think after that long Malcolm would have either accepted things or already a made a move (or at least have a plan in the works, he *can* be patient since the Undertaking took him 6+ years to bring about, but he had a plan). Darhk had distracted himself killing heroes (even though this version of Darhk has no real beef with them) and Snart clearly was (or at least gives the impression of) biding his time to do something so I have less issue there.
Also I just don’t like the idea of these characters living these lives for that long...actually most of them just had mediocre lives so I mainly mean that for Sara and Amaya (because there’s some pretty gross implications going on there along with the explicit problems). And if I’m being honest, I’m mostly talking about Sara, who Darhk sent out killing her friends, possibly up to and including Laurel; also, as I’ve observed a few times this season, Sara already had way more actual hate for these bad guys than anyone else on the team (barring perhaps Rip post capture, torture, and brainwashing, but the show doesn’t really acknowledge that). Basically if that was happening for a year, I need it explored more.
Another episode where I sort of wish I more actively shipped Rip/Gideon, because the Rip and Gideon side show was ripe for it. It’s also heartbreaking even as it’s amusing, because Rip needs the team so much, he’s really not equipped to be alone like this. Also, the episodes where Gideon is a character rather functionary (mainly this and the one if Rip’s head, also the one with Lily but that was kind of a warm up) have me really thinking they’re going to have to sacrifice Gideon to restore the timeline (likely she’ll still be around next season, but it won’t be the same Gideon). Also since this episode didn’t do much with Rip, I expect he’ll have more to do in the finale which would lead to the assumption that some heavy decision making will fall on whoever is involved in that plot and so far that’s just Rip and Gideon.
I really have to question how Sara’s time travel idea actually works, since reality itself was reshaped. I know the time travel on this show makes no sense ever, but they even said just a few episodes ago that time travel can’t undo remaking reality. However I do respect that it’s Sara who comes with that plan as she is the one on the team who (aside from Rip) thinks the most forth dimensionally.
There wasn’t a lot to work with for me shipping-wise here, but Sara does seem to be getting fed up with never knowing where Rip is, it’s only taken all season. Mick says that he doesn’t know where Rip is just as a statement of fact but Sara, who no one would expect to know where Rip is, is a bit more sad about it. And the end is a fair bit ‘my quasi-boyfriend needs saving again, unless maybe by some chance he can save us; I believe in you baby.’
Other question, why doesn’t Thawne just go home? Wasn’t that his goal all those years he was turning Barry into the Flash, so he could go back where he came from (and kill Barry, but that clearly got done)? And if you’re going to have him mention Cisco and Caitlyn a couple weeks ago, it raises the question where they are and why Stein and Jax are running the big project. Also, why did they go to Star City to pick up Ray when he worked in Central City? For that matter, why is it ‘Star City’ in this reality anyway? They renamed it because of Ray and really, in Malcolm’s delusional hero complex, wouldn’t he have rather saved Starling City? What hero artifacts were on the bottom shelf of Darhk’s wall of death besides Spartan’s helmet? Ragman and the Canary mask (them Felicity’s added) were on the top; Wilddog and Vigilante (randomly); Arrow and Flash; Spartan and...is there anything else?
The longer this goes on the more I suspect the Legion messed with Snart’s head before sending him in to get Mick and the Spear. A less extreme version of what happened to Rip, because he’s still largely Snart, especially if you consider early-Snart, but he also isn’t really. I kind of thought it last week, even that maybe that was why the team wasn’t more hurt by his behavior, because they just went through this with Rip and they act like it’s not even a big deal. Thing is, I do kind of think on some level Snart thinks he’s smarter than Mick, he was the brains of their partnership because Len is actually quite smart and Mick largely isn’t, but I don’t really think he could have ever been this mean or controlling about it as he’s been here (though I was also willing to consider last week that maybe he just never showed that side of him when before he and Mick were mostly on the same page, and you did see a touch of it in 2046 that Len thinks he’s in charge of Mick). And the one that really got me was the idea that Snart’s “I don’t trust anyone” attitude would extend to Mick, because that’s demonstrably not true. Shooting Amaya...I’m not quite willing to say it’s out of character for Snart in principle, but the way he did it, and the way he did it to hurt Mick feels off enough that like I said, I keep suspecting more than he’s not 100% Len right now.
Plus this show has a thing for making people who aren’t themselves hurt the most the people they care about the most. Including just this episode, Jax and Stein, and Sara and the Star City heroes, so Mick and Len would fit right in.
There were definitely parts I liked (most of them were Sara moments or Rip moments, because even barring shipping they’re my favorite characters), but also some I’m shaky on, and a whole lot I’m reserving judgement until we see how it ends. It’ll be a long week until we do.
Arrow 5x18
That was a good but not great episode. It sort of accomplished what I knew going in was important to me (the team making their own choices apart from Oliver and bringing Oliver back from the edge he went over with himself last time) and I largely liked the Bratva and Anatoli plot of the week, but it was missing some things that should have happened while Oliver was over the edge.
In the beginning having Digg be the one trying to talk sense into Oliver made sense; Felicity is still too close (or more accurately isn’t that close but has no middle ground of closeness that can connect without bringing it all back), and Curtis isn’t close enough. And this has always been part of John and Oliver’s relationship, that he can reach into Oliver’s darkness and full him back (and, when necessary, the reverse). So if anything I didn’t buy at the beginning that John didn’t push harder and not let it set in the way it did. But as the episode went on and John was the only one trying to reach him (except for Lance briefly) it started to feel wrong. Dinah may not know him that well personally but she’s got to understand a lot of what he’s dealing with and Renee must have some things he could say whether or not Oliver listens.
The biggest problem remains the way Oliver and Felicity’s relationship gets no acknowledgement (and yes I am more inclined to complain about this after getting my dander up over the musical episode). Like I said, the fact that Felicity isn’t there for him to turn to can make sense, either because they each think that’s not the best thing for Oliver right now, or because Felicity feels like what she is doing is more important to fixing things, but it needs to be addressed. Renee and Dinah may not know, but Digg and Curtis and Lance *know* what Felicity means to Oliver (not to mention freaking Thea who absolutely should be here) and that she’s still the person he listens to above all the others. You could say that Digg tries to get her involved but that scene is so much more about the dark place Felicity is slipping into than her attitude towards Oliver’s.
I suppose on the surface that sounds like a good thing, giving importance to Felicity’s journey apart from Oliver, and if it ever came back around I’d almost certainly be okay with it. But it doesn’t; Oliver and Felicity don’t talk at the end about the difficult choices they’ve made and how they’re not sure what happens next. Felicity is basically in the hacker mafia right now (you do favors for them they do favors for you) in an episode where Oliver is making deals with the Russian mafia. That she feels like those choices are justified because she needs to be able to solve these kinds of problems and Oliver is likely to have things to say on that subject (“Felicity, look at me, this is where that philosophy leads”). And that’s not me having them deal with the relationship things between them I want addressed, that’s just letting them be close and connected dealing with what’s around them now.
I do support exploring Digg and Oliver’s relationship for a while, that’s always good, I may have issues with that being the exclusive relationship explored here, but what we got was good. Maybe Digg’s strongest point I think is that Oliver may be up in his own head about his reasons and morals, but Digg (and should have said Felicity, could have added Sara, and Laurel, and Roy, and probably Thea, and definitely Quentin, most everyone who knew him as the Arrow before the Green Arrow at least) understood the person he was and they were following.
On the flip side I have a mixed reaction to how what gets through to Oliver is the earning redemption part. Because...that’s actually what the hood has always been; it is both sin and redemption, it’s the name he gives his darkness and the part that most needs and therefore seeks redemption. Chase focused on the sin, John focuses on the redemption, no one for now acknowledges that it’s both.
Somewhere along the line I’ve become a lot more interested in Oliver and Sara’s relationship (probably around the time I started hardcore shipping Sara/Rip I got a lot more interested in non-romantic – or even occasionally romantic – Oliver-Sara), and I think she could really be the perspective he needs. Close enough to reach him, has been through enough of the same shit to have perspective, not in danger of making it too personal and yet it is personal which makes it sink in. Also Oliver needs the “You’re not a monster/it’s called being better” speech, though I’m not sure he’d really get the message by going dancing with Rip.
I want to say things about Oliver and Anatoli’s relationship, and how this is likely to be the most heartbreaking arch-rivalry the show (even the ‘verse) has had. I also do want to say things about where Felicity’s arc is, things I’m sure will be really important later on. I would also like to point out that Paul is probably going to get caught in the middle of all this since he got brought up by the bad guy here. And yet I think I’m just going to let all those thoughts sit there for now, this episode had a lot to think about, I just wish it had been a little more.
Reign 4x07
I don’t normally bother reviewing Reign because while I’m watching it week to week again this season it’s still a show I don’t feel like I’ll really be able to judge until I watch it as a season long story, but this episode provided something of a microcosm of my feels on the season so far so I might as well write them down.
I’m finding Elizabeth to be a much better character this season, I think partly they’re just writing her better, I think the actress has gotten better, and I think having Dudley out of the picture is a big help. For all the same reason I think she improved over the course of last season, but much more clear here. And I did...like (for certain values of like that allow for dead children) this week’s England plot, though I’m not sure where the Gideon character goes from here, he can’t really do much for the Scotland plot and he’s not that much use to the England plot.
In general I have some issue with the France plot this season. I do see that they’re between a rock and a hard place here; the series spent so long focused on French Court that in built up quite a need to see how it continues to develop, but it really feels like a distraction from the Scotland-England drama and with this being the last season having stuff that feels like a distraction that slows the main plots down isn’t a good thing. This week’s France was good, as most of them have been, but I wish the series had been a bit more focused.
As for Scotland...I’m starting to realize that the show isn’t doing that good a job of building Mary up as Queen. She keeps saying that she wants England, but I don’t really feel that from her; which is a problem for the Scots plot and the English one since the tension between the countries should really be handled better. Both in terms of that and not doing much to establish an intricate political climate in Scotland (sometimes it feels like it’s there but we’re just not seeing as much of it as we do in France, other times I don’t feel it even that much) I feel like something is lacking. Hence my wish the show was going to have more time and failing that I wish it was spending what time it still has better.
And now we’ve been introduced to future husband number 3, who much like Darnley somehow feels exactly like how I would have cast a CW version of him; and he feels just as dangerous as I expected the show to play him. I’ve always pretty much expected that as far as Reign is concerned, Francis is the love of Mary’s life (it wasn’t always written so well when they needed drama in s1&2, but it was there), so I’m not particularly surprised that husbands 2 & 3 are not going to be treated so well, especially is such a compact time. I fully expect that when the series ends with Mary’s beheading, we’ll see her joining Francis as she dies without any complication from the others.
