TV roundup (of non-baseball things)
Apr. 30th, 2017 07:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedi_of_urthI'm largely conflicted or non-committal in my reactions this week.
Supergirl 2x18
I think I liked that one, but I have to admit it took me a while to get into it. After a fairly lengthy hiatus this isn’t exactly the show I was most invested in seeing again (I passionately have issues with Flash, and Arrow is my favorite of these three it’s just debatable where it ranks compared to Legends). But by the last act or so I was really enjoying the story. I realized that I don’t actually know if Lena is supposed to end up a villain or stay a good guy so I kind of feel like I’m watching Smallville without knowing how it’s going to end and that’s an interesting place to be in for once.
I do think I started liking the episode more as it stopped painting Snapper in a bad light, because while he is being harsh on Kara he’s usually right about how to be a journalist and Kara is often wrong on that subject. So while it’s good that this episode validated that Kara’s heart is in the right place it also didn’t say that her behavior was always above reproach. And since that’s something I’ve been complaining about with a lot of the plot threads this season it’s good that for once I could agree with what the story seems to be saying. I think it also helped that this was such a -Kara- episode with almost no Supergirl action; meaning that for the first time in a long time her whole “Kara is who I am” thing doesn’t feel like a complete lie.
And if I *was* to start shipping on this show, I’d point out that Kara feels for more like a person in episodes with an important Lena presence; but I’m not really there with shipping them yet.
I didn’t dislike the B-plot exactly, but I think it detracted from the overall story and I don’t really have anything to say about it.
The Flash 3x19
I...I’m tired of this plot. I’m tired of dragging out reveals without good reason, I’m tired of talking about how the future can’t be changed when I’m pretty sure there’s no way this will happen, I’m tired of...being tired of the show. I don’t dislike the characters in this too much surprisingly, but I did keep comparing it to stuff on Legends that I liked better. As far as dystopia potential futures I prefer SC 2046; as far as broken down fallen heroes who’ve lost everything and mostly treat people like shit I’ll take Rip Hunter tearing apart time and space over shaggy Barry.
Part of what makes this future so unbelievable is the idea that HR will still be around in 7-8 years; I refuse to believe that’s going to happen as there have got to be better versions of Wells out in the multi-verse for us to take on. Also I have a hard time believing Julian will stick around for that long, but I’d be more willing to be proven wrong on that; I may not care for this future for him exactly, but I do like the character.
But really, not off to a great start on this final round of episodes.
Agents of SHIELD 4x19
So...we’re getting even less subtle about the digs at US politics. I thought the furniture shopping was on the nose and then you go for the alternative facts punch. I’m not sure how well this is all going to age (one hopes, badly) but I’ll take it for now.
And I’ll say this for making the show looks of bad and grey in the Framework, at least it was obvious when stuff was happening in the real world. That’s not really enough to make me appreciate that cinematic choice for this whole arc, but it’s something.
I don’t actually have a ton to say about this one, I liked it, I like that we seem to be building to some real plot movement, I’m curious what impact all this will end up having once they get back to the real world (both in potentially resurrecting people and on the characters themselves). But as an episode on its own...I’m waiting to see how it goes.
But you know, somewhere in this world, Nick Fury remembers that dorky kid from Minnesota who turned him down all those years ago and says he always knew it.
Arrow 5x19
I...liked that episode. I don’t know that it was great, but it was good. It had Lyla, who I’ve only been wondering where she’s at most of the season (now if we’d actually acknowledge the Earth was invaded by aliens and the other changes those episodes proposed for the heroes); while I would have liked to see more buildup to this problem in Digg and Lyla’s relationship, the idea of it has more or less always been there so it certainly doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. I’m progressively more and more thinking they’re deliberately not bringing up JJ so that we can all pretend Sara still exists; possibly in the hopes that people like me will forget that Barry is never going to be forgiven until Sara is back; the consequence though is that JJ feels much less real than Sara did so I keep resenting her non-existence.
Maybe that’s also somehow why we don’t get any mention of adult Sara either, unless perhaps breaking time has made her forgettable. It also just felt like a really awkward B-plot on the side of this episode. It’s an important plot to see some movement (and I expect, resolution by the end of the season) on, but it’s a very separate plot.
As for the main plot...I liked a lot of the moments and I liked that for once Oliver and Felicity were written like people who loved and love each other and have been through a massive amount of shit in the last few years, but I’m not sure I’m not sure how much I liked it overall. I never trusted Helix; I have more or less convinced myself that Prometheus is behind or involved with them, hence why he could predict that they had found him out last episode (rather than Felicity finding their trump card they spun him into the wind)., and I’m still not convinced that’s not the case. I remind you, their toolkit was called Pandora. And right now I don’t really think Oliver or Felicity are in the right with how they handled this situation, but I need some more time to decide who I think is more wrong.
Reign 4x10
Plot-wise I don’t have a lot to say, but I have some general things. I’m not seeing how they’re going to cover the rest of Mary’s downfall in six episodes; even though I thought going into the season it maybe could be done I knew it was always likely to end up rushed or truncated and I’m definitely thinking that’s going to be the case. Also, show, Narcisse has been married like four times...maybe five, I can’t remember if there were three pre the one in s2 or if that was wife number 3.
But mainly I want to complain about, why does Henry look older than Charles? I’m willing to (to a point) fudge the fact that they were both so young in the first season or two, I’m even partially willing to ignore the fact that Henry was still a child in his brief appearance last season and yet has apparently been off fighting wars in the meantime; it’s possible to pretend this has all happened over a much longer timeframe than logic would show. But Charles still looks like a boy-king and Henry looks much older, which can’t be the case since Charles is king and Henry is not.
Supergirl 2x18
I think I liked that one, but I have to admit it took me a while to get into it. After a fairly lengthy hiatus this isn’t exactly the show I was most invested in seeing again (I passionately have issues with Flash, and Arrow is my favorite of these three it’s just debatable where it ranks compared to Legends). But by the last act or so I was really enjoying the story. I realized that I don’t actually know if Lena is supposed to end up a villain or stay a good guy so I kind of feel like I’m watching Smallville without knowing how it’s going to end and that’s an interesting place to be in for once.
I do think I started liking the episode more as it stopped painting Snapper in a bad light, because while he is being harsh on Kara he’s usually right about how to be a journalist and Kara is often wrong on that subject. So while it’s good that this episode validated that Kara’s heart is in the right place it also didn’t say that her behavior was always above reproach. And since that’s something I’ve been complaining about with a lot of the plot threads this season it’s good that for once I could agree with what the story seems to be saying. I think it also helped that this was such a -Kara- episode with almost no Supergirl action; meaning that for the first time in a long time her whole “Kara is who I am” thing doesn’t feel like a complete lie.
And if I *was* to start shipping on this show, I’d point out that Kara feels for more like a person in episodes with an important Lena presence; but I’m not really there with shipping them yet.
I didn’t dislike the B-plot exactly, but I think it detracted from the overall story and I don’t really have anything to say about it.
The Flash 3x19
I...I’m tired of this plot. I’m tired of dragging out reveals without good reason, I’m tired of talking about how the future can’t be changed when I’m pretty sure there’s no way this will happen, I’m tired of...being tired of the show. I don’t dislike the characters in this too much surprisingly, but I did keep comparing it to stuff on Legends that I liked better. As far as dystopia potential futures I prefer SC 2046; as far as broken down fallen heroes who’ve lost everything and mostly treat people like shit I’ll take Rip Hunter tearing apart time and space over shaggy Barry.
Part of what makes this future so unbelievable is the idea that HR will still be around in 7-8 years; I refuse to believe that’s going to happen as there have got to be better versions of Wells out in the multi-verse for us to take on. Also I have a hard time believing Julian will stick around for that long, but I’d be more willing to be proven wrong on that; I may not care for this future for him exactly, but I do like the character.
But really, not off to a great start on this final round of episodes.
Agents of SHIELD 4x19
So...we’re getting even less subtle about the digs at US politics. I thought the furniture shopping was on the nose and then you go for the alternative facts punch. I’m not sure how well this is all going to age (one hopes, badly) but I’ll take it for now.
And I’ll say this for making the show looks of bad and grey in the Framework, at least it was obvious when stuff was happening in the real world. That’s not really enough to make me appreciate that cinematic choice for this whole arc, but it’s something.
I don’t actually have a ton to say about this one, I liked it, I like that we seem to be building to some real plot movement, I’m curious what impact all this will end up having once they get back to the real world (both in potentially resurrecting people and on the characters themselves). But as an episode on its own...I’m waiting to see how it goes.
But you know, somewhere in this world, Nick Fury remembers that dorky kid from Minnesota who turned him down all those years ago and says he always knew it.
Arrow 5x19
I...liked that episode. I don’t know that it was great, but it was good. It had Lyla, who I’ve only been wondering where she’s at most of the season (now if we’d actually acknowledge the Earth was invaded by aliens and the other changes those episodes proposed for the heroes); while I would have liked to see more buildup to this problem in Digg and Lyla’s relationship, the idea of it has more or less always been there so it certainly doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. I’m progressively more and more thinking they’re deliberately not bringing up JJ so that we can all pretend Sara still exists; possibly in the hopes that people like me will forget that Barry is never going to be forgiven until Sara is back; the consequence though is that JJ feels much less real than Sara did so I keep resenting her non-existence.
Maybe that’s also somehow why we don’t get any mention of adult Sara either, unless perhaps breaking time has made her forgettable. It also just felt like a really awkward B-plot on the side of this episode. It’s an important plot to see some movement (and I expect, resolution by the end of the season) on, but it’s a very separate plot.
As for the main plot...I liked a lot of the moments and I liked that for once Oliver and Felicity were written like people who loved and love each other and have been through a massive amount of shit in the last few years, but I’m not sure I’m not sure how much I liked it overall. I never trusted Helix; I have more or less convinced myself that Prometheus is behind or involved with them, hence why he could predict that they had found him out last episode (rather than Felicity finding their trump card they spun him into the wind)., and I’m still not convinced that’s not the case. I remind you, their toolkit was called Pandora. And right now I don’t really think Oliver or Felicity are in the right with how they handled this situation, but I need some more time to decide who I think is more wrong.
Reign 4x10
Plot-wise I don’t have a lot to say, but I have some general things. I’m not seeing how they’re going to cover the rest of Mary’s downfall in six episodes; even though I thought going into the season it maybe could be done I knew it was always likely to end up rushed or truncated and I’m definitely thinking that’s going to be the case. Also, show, Narcisse has been married like four times...maybe five, I can’t remember if there were three pre the one in s2 or if that was wife number 3.
But mainly I want to complain about, why does Henry look older than Charles? I’m willing to (to a point) fudge the fact that they were both so young in the first season or two, I’m even partially willing to ignore the fact that Henry was still a child in his brief appearance last season and yet has apparently been off fighting wars in the meantime; it’s possible to pretend this has all happened over a much longer timeframe than logic would show. But Charles still looks like a boy-king and Henry looks much older, which can’t be the case since Charles is king and Henry is not.
