jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2017-11-27 12:27 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2017-11-27 12:27 pm
Entry tags:
TV and some NaNo
There are some pretty short reactions this time. I’m not going to say it’s definitely because I’m spending so much time n NaNo that I feel less inclined to go into detail here, but it probably isn’t helping (though NaNo is definitely the reason I haven’t made much progress at catching up on things). Mostly there were just some episodes that didn’t inspire a lot of drive in me to discuss. Then you have episodes where I just have to tell you how much I hate Barry, god I hate Barry.
As for NaNo, I can for once see myself getting my 50k words in this month; maybe half of it will be worth anything, and the story still won’t be anywhere near done, but I’m sticking it out...hopefully.
Supergirl 3x06
I think I liked that, but I’m not sure how much I liked it. It was definitely flawed, both in structure and in details, but the core of exploring the sisters’ relationship was good, there’s a part of me that ends up thinking I might have rather watched Supergrl as a teen drama t(though I know it would have just been female Smallville), and they got good actresses to play the younger versions of them without seeming like they were just play-acting the older versions, I’m still making up my mind whether I approve of making it seem like this is the same (or at least a neighbor) universe as Smallville, I may end up liking it and I may not; it also further confuses me as to the timeline here, though my main first reactions were: as cute as we’ve been lead to think this universe’s Clark ad Lois are, if Chloe exists I probably end up shipping Chlark again, and well I guess Chloe didn’t end up with Oliver in this universe. Though I would kind of like to think Kara came back from the crossover, found out she was within a couple degrees of separation from their version of Oliver Queen and was like ‘Wow, I met a version of him that is so much more messed up.’
So the plot of this episode was not great; I called the cop being guilty after about three seconds of screentime and I never actually thought anyone else might have done it. And I will never not consider that a flaw, because if I can tell a person seems guilty I expect people in universe to at least have suspicions, because I suck at reading people.
I also don’t like that there’s no real connective tissue back to the present. I’m so used to the flashbacks on the other shows (mainly Arrow) where we move in and out of flashback stories while also dealing with the present that I felt kind of lost in a full on flashback story like this. I end up still thinking it’s going to become important at some point down the road in the season, though I’m not sure how exactly.
Like I said, I liked it, but I can’t decide if it’s just a solid side story or if I actually was really into it. If I come to any conclusions I’ll let you know.
Legends of Tomorrow 3x06
I did like this one, but I feel like I don’t have a lot to say. It’s probably at least as solid an episode as last week’s but it has less that explicitly appeals to my tastes. There was a ton to like, and I definitely did like it for a lot of reasons, I just don’t feel much need to discuss it apparently.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 3x06
At this point I don’t really have much idea where the series is going, this kind of feels a bit...resolution-y. The story isn’t done obviously, and even if we weren’t in the middle of the season that would be true, but it sort of feels like we could leave the story here for a bit if that was how it shakes out (and considering that next week is Thanksgiving maybe we are leaving it here for a bit, I should check that).
Musically, I think I liked both songs, neither was great but I liked them.
Arrow 6x06
I liked the Star City part of the plot, but didn’t really care for the Slade and Oliver part. I’m not sure the timelines work between the two plots, especially over the two episodes (especially since they’re both at night in spite of being in very different parts of the world). The flashbacks certainly didn’t do anything to make sense of Slade backstory between the Amazo and season2; apparently he was doing fine, then went off the walls crazy at finding out Oliver was alive, then calmed down enough to go recruit Isabel and Blood and form that whole convoluted plan of s2.
On another note, do they actually know what’s wrong with Thea or is she in purely plot convenience coma? Because Curtis seems convinced he can solve what’s wrong with Digg, and I hope he can, but has he been trying to help Thea? And now I’m back to being annoyed with the characters for that, I get there’s probably a reason on the meta level when she’s not around, but in character between Curtis, Star Labs, Ray was around all summer (a man who invented medical nanites before taking up time travel, then knows enough to modify future super serums), and Sara probably could have at least tried and call in some chips with Rip at the time (that one I at least believe might have happened and he just said no, I love the guy but he would be that kind of jerk).
Also, someone remembered Lyla exists, and actual JJ sighting. Though I remain convinced that the show keeps JJ irrelevant so maybe we stop blaming Barry.
The Flash 4x05
So going back a week (almost two at this point), but I think I’m just a bit happier not feeling like I need to watch Flash each week; I’m not quite giving up on it but I’ll watch it when I get to it. And this episode was...okay.
On one hand I think it’s the best Felicity has ever been treated by the Flash writers as she at least doesn’t feel out of character, on the other they sort of ignore the reason why she was an interesting character to show up on this show in the first place; namely that she’s the experienced one. That isn’t as necessary anymore and yes it’s nice to remember that these people can hang out just because instead of waiting for a world threatening event. But at the same time, just because the Flash writers have decided to write Iris like she’s Overwatch now doesn’t mean she can hold a candle to the original.
As much as I tended to forget about Wally when he was actually on the show, he really should have been in this episode. And I am glad they’re finally admitting that this new kid thing is more complicated than just being super jazzed about it.
The Orville 1x04
So a little more catch up, this is one that I have been kind of looking forward to getting back to as it’s just kind a nice world to watch. Even if, and I don’t know this for a fact, I’m betting this has its roots squarely in ‘For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky’ it wouldn’t exactly be the first time this show has taken a TOS episode and put a new coat of paint on it. And while I’m kind of surprised at how okay I am with that element of things, it’s more a feature than a bug at this point. I don’t know that I would always be okay with that, but it’s fine for now.
I was also expecting to have more hang ups with having gone so long between episodes, but I don’t. Again, maybe I have kind of missed having a non-arc show to enjoy. The actors feel like they’re settling in nicely (in that they feel settled, just not very deep yet), though I think it’s more noticeable with the away team than on the ship and I don’t know if that’s the choice in characters or just that they have so much more time (the plot on the ship felt rather like vestigial).
I also kind of like that this show is so old school in the away team composition, there’s something kind of charming in that to me.
The Orville 1x05
I...feel weird about this one. Mostly because it ends on a note that doesn’t work, since in the same scene it contradicts its own time travel rules about six different times and gives you whiplash going back and forth on how it works. It was a solid episode, it just ends so weird that I can’t say that, as I write the review, I’m entirely sold on it.
As so often seems to happen with this show I have something kind of weird to say; I don’t think the writers know how they feel or want us to feel about Ed/Kelly, and I like that. I like that I don’t get a feeling like they’re being pushed into an UST-y vibe or anything, they’re not designated love interests in spite of their history (I sort of recall that ep2 felt a little slanted that way, but these last couple I haven’t); though at the same time those kind of tropes are hovering in the background. I like the ambiguity, and maybe especially here I feel it’s fitting to a split up couple who don’t really want to be together again but also kind miss being together.
Honestly, I think even if I was writing this at a better time of night that wouldn’t have made any sense. You’re stuck with my weird ramblings though.
Legends of Tomorrow 3x07
Oh the grand Legends tradition of taking on the villains from other shows. I kind of don’t even mind it was Darhk so much, because he was always kind of a bad fit for Arrow, but an excellent villain for Sara; but Grodd is such a Flash villain that I’m not as okay with it.
It’s sort of weird to me that there was never a conclusion to the opening idea that they needed to find something to provoke an emotional response in Sara to wake her up. There was the opening concept, touched on with Jax as someone on the crew appealing to Sara on a personal level, but no third beat in that arc. And while the shipper in me would love to think Gideon pulled up something associated with Rip, a better choice would have been something family related. Then I tie myself in meta knots because it really feels like there must have been a third beat in that concept, but since we didn’t see it, the show is hiding it from us and they’d only do that for some later reveal and family stuff wouldn’t be any kind of reveal.
More realistically it probably means Sara has more to do in the crossover than most of the cast so they needed extra time for her to work on that.
Look, I’m off topic, because I’m not entirely sure how I felt about this one. It had a lot of good ideas, but I’m not sure I was 100% sold on most of them. It’s almost certainly the most times I’ve ever gone “Oh, Mick” in an episode, even at the end of last season...maybe, I think I did say that a lot at the end of last season, in somewhat different ways.
The Flash 4x06
I thought I should catch up on this since now we’re only a week (less than) out from the crossover, but I can’t say I liked that one. On one hand I’m really confused why they’re treating Barry and Ralph like a love story, and on the other I kind of hate both of them. I hate that they’re already turning Ralph into just another homogenous member of this team, he even has to quote movies any chance he gets when I don’t think that makes sense for his character.
I’m pretty sure they’re ultimately going to do that to Harry too, sand off the edges and make him just a generic quirky character that hangs out with Team Flash.
I didn’t particularly like the plot of this episode, but I hated the characters more.
Arrow 6x07
It hit me here that I should have expected Oliver to be back in the hood in time for the crossover; that would be a sizeable change in the expected status quo to try and deal with in the crossover so they aren’t going to deal with explaining it there.
As an episode I didn’t like this one that much. It wasn’t bad and it definitely had some good moments and some stuff I’m still interested in seeing play out, but I didn’t think the episode really worked overall. It definitely isn’t an interesting sort of bad that’s giving me anything to talk about, I just feel meh about it. So...whatever I guess.
Supergirl 3x07
I’m not sure if the problem is with me or the episode but everything here felt so...unimportant. Nothing felt like it had any real weight to it in spite of the fact the objectively it was pretty weighty.
But I’m willing to admit the problem may be with me at the moment, as this is only slightly less reaction than I had to Arrow, so maybe I’m just a little underwhelmed by things right now. I’m definitely not inclined to write a lot about these episodes.
The Flash 4x07
I gave in and got caught up on this show, and I still think I hate it. God forbid Barry ever be wrong, and when he goes around acting like a grade-A asshole all episode everybody else has to apologize to him at the end because they doubted Barry fucking Allen could ever be wrong. Barry never even goes through a phase of thinking he might have been wrong, or being conflicted about what he’s doing; but even when the show clearly knows he’s in the wrong they have to make him be unfailingly right and undercut any potential character growth there might have been if they didn’t approach this with the attitude that everything Barry fucking Allen does is always right.
For a good chunk of the episode I was sort of reminded of the X-Files paradox, that no matter how crazy Mulder sounds he’s more or less always going to be right in the eyes of the show, because it’s a paranormal show so the believer is usually inherently right since they’re believing in things that are true from the show’s perspective. But really, only part of the problem is that we know Barry’s right; the problem is that the show actually goes out of its way to point out all the reasons he should be wrong and then ends up validating him anyway. I feel like the writers were at war with themselves or each other over this; like somebody in there knowns Barry Allen is an asshole but the writers room as a whole refuses to admit it and needs to continue living in the idea that he’s not.
So I went and looked it up, and one of the writers here was also a writer on 4x04, where I had a similar feeling. Like someone wants to make Barry grow as a character but then gets smacked down by people who think he’s already perfect (even though they right him as an asshole). So if that’s what’s happening, I’m pulling for you, writer who doesn’t treat Barry like he’s Jesus.
Funny thing, I finally think I ship something on this show; it’s the villains, but I finally ship something (honestly, at this point I’m rooting for them). Also, gods I miss ThWells, he was such a great character; I don’t give a damn about Thawn when he isn’t ThWells, but I love ThWells.
As for NaNo, I can for once see myself getting my 50k words in this month; maybe half of it will be worth anything, and the story still won’t be anywhere near done, but I’m sticking it out...hopefully.
Supergirl 3x06
I think I liked that, but I’m not sure how much I liked it. It was definitely flawed, both in structure and in details, but the core of exploring the sisters’ relationship was good, there’s a part of me that ends up thinking I might have rather watched Supergrl as a teen drama t(though I know it would have just been female Smallville), and they got good actresses to play the younger versions of them without seeming like they were just play-acting the older versions, I’m still making up my mind whether I approve of making it seem like this is the same (or at least a neighbor) universe as Smallville, I may end up liking it and I may not; it also further confuses me as to the timeline here, though my main first reactions were: as cute as we’ve been lead to think this universe’s Clark ad Lois are, if Chloe exists I probably end up shipping Chlark again, and well I guess Chloe didn’t end up with Oliver in this universe. Though I would kind of like to think Kara came back from the crossover, found out she was within a couple degrees of separation from their version of Oliver Queen and was like ‘Wow, I met a version of him that is so much more messed up.’
So the plot of this episode was not great; I called the cop being guilty after about three seconds of screentime and I never actually thought anyone else might have done it. And I will never not consider that a flaw, because if I can tell a person seems guilty I expect people in universe to at least have suspicions, because I suck at reading people.
I also don’t like that there’s no real connective tissue back to the present. I’m so used to the flashbacks on the other shows (mainly Arrow) where we move in and out of flashback stories while also dealing with the present that I felt kind of lost in a full on flashback story like this. I end up still thinking it’s going to become important at some point down the road in the season, though I’m not sure how exactly.
Like I said, I liked it, but I can’t decide if it’s just a solid side story or if I actually was really into it. If I come to any conclusions I’ll let you know.
Legends of Tomorrow 3x06
I did like this one, but I feel like I don’t have a lot to say. It’s probably at least as solid an episode as last week’s but it has less that explicitly appeals to my tastes. There was a ton to like, and I definitely did like it for a lot of reasons, I just don’t feel much need to discuss it apparently.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 3x06
At this point I don’t really have much idea where the series is going, this kind of feels a bit...resolution-y. The story isn’t done obviously, and even if we weren’t in the middle of the season that would be true, but it sort of feels like we could leave the story here for a bit if that was how it shakes out (and considering that next week is Thanksgiving maybe we are leaving it here for a bit, I should check that).
Musically, I think I liked both songs, neither was great but I liked them.
Arrow 6x06
I liked the Star City part of the plot, but didn’t really care for the Slade and Oliver part. I’m not sure the timelines work between the two plots, especially over the two episodes (especially since they’re both at night in spite of being in very different parts of the world). The flashbacks certainly didn’t do anything to make sense of Slade backstory between the Amazo and season2; apparently he was doing fine, then went off the walls crazy at finding out Oliver was alive, then calmed down enough to go recruit Isabel and Blood and form that whole convoluted plan of s2.
On another note, do they actually know what’s wrong with Thea or is she in purely plot convenience coma? Because Curtis seems convinced he can solve what’s wrong with Digg, and I hope he can, but has he been trying to help Thea? And now I’m back to being annoyed with the characters for that, I get there’s probably a reason on the meta level when she’s not around, but in character between Curtis, Star Labs, Ray was around all summer (a man who invented medical nanites before taking up time travel, then knows enough to modify future super serums), and Sara probably could have at least tried and call in some chips with Rip at the time (that one I at least believe might have happened and he just said no, I love the guy but he would be that kind of jerk).
Also, someone remembered Lyla exists, and actual JJ sighting. Though I remain convinced that the show keeps JJ irrelevant so maybe we stop blaming Barry.
The Flash 4x05
So going back a week (almost two at this point), but I think I’m just a bit happier not feeling like I need to watch Flash each week; I’m not quite giving up on it but I’ll watch it when I get to it. And this episode was...okay.
On one hand I think it’s the best Felicity has ever been treated by the Flash writers as she at least doesn’t feel out of character, on the other they sort of ignore the reason why she was an interesting character to show up on this show in the first place; namely that she’s the experienced one. That isn’t as necessary anymore and yes it’s nice to remember that these people can hang out just because instead of waiting for a world threatening event. But at the same time, just because the Flash writers have decided to write Iris like she’s Overwatch now doesn’t mean she can hold a candle to the original.
As much as I tended to forget about Wally when he was actually on the show, he really should have been in this episode. And I am glad they’re finally admitting that this new kid thing is more complicated than just being super jazzed about it.
The Orville 1x04
So a little more catch up, this is one that I have been kind of looking forward to getting back to as it’s just kind a nice world to watch. Even if, and I don’t know this for a fact, I’m betting this has its roots squarely in ‘For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky’ it wouldn’t exactly be the first time this show has taken a TOS episode and put a new coat of paint on it. And while I’m kind of surprised at how okay I am with that element of things, it’s more a feature than a bug at this point. I don’t know that I would always be okay with that, but it’s fine for now.
I was also expecting to have more hang ups with having gone so long between episodes, but I don’t. Again, maybe I have kind of missed having a non-arc show to enjoy. The actors feel like they’re settling in nicely (in that they feel settled, just not very deep yet), though I think it’s more noticeable with the away team than on the ship and I don’t know if that’s the choice in characters or just that they have so much more time (the plot on the ship felt rather like vestigial).
I also kind of like that this show is so old school in the away team composition, there’s something kind of charming in that to me.
The Orville 1x05
I...feel weird about this one. Mostly because it ends on a note that doesn’t work, since in the same scene it contradicts its own time travel rules about six different times and gives you whiplash going back and forth on how it works. It was a solid episode, it just ends so weird that I can’t say that, as I write the review, I’m entirely sold on it.
As so often seems to happen with this show I have something kind of weird to say; I don’t think the writers know how they feel or want us to feel about Ed/Kelly, and I like that. I like that I don’t get a feeling like they’re being pushed into an UST-y vibe or anything, they’re not designated love interests in spite of their history (I sort of recall that ep2 felt a little slanted that way, but these last couple I haven’t); though at the same time those kind of tropes are hovering in the background. I like the ambiguity, and maybe especially here I feel it’s fitting to a split up couple who don’t really want to be together again but also kind miss being together.
Honestly, I think even if I was writing this at a better time of night that wouldn’t have made any sense. You’re stuck with my weird ramblings though.
Legends of Tomorrow 3x07
Oh the grand Legends tradition of taking on the villains from other shows. I kind of don’t even mind it was Darhk so much, because he was always kind of a bad fit for Arrow, but an excellent villain for Sara; but Grodd is such a Flash villain that I’m not as okay with it.
It’s sort of weird to me that there was never a conclusion to the opening idea that they needed to find something to provoke an emotional response in Sara to wake her up. There was the opening concept, touched on with Jax as someone on the crew appealing to Sara on a personal level, but no third beat in that arc. And while the shipper in me would love to think Gideon pulled up something associated with Rip, a better choice would have been something family related. Then I tie myself in meta knots because it really feels like there must have been a third beat in that concept, but since we didn’t see it, the show is hiding it from us and they’d only do that for some later reveal and family stuff wouldn’t be any kind of reveal.
More realistically it probably means Sara has more to do in the crossover than most of the cast so they needed extra time for her to work on that.
Look, I’m off topic, because I’m not entirely sure how I felt about this one. It had a lot of good ideas, but I’m not sure I was 100% sold on most of them. It’s almost certainly the most times I’ve ever gone “Oh, Mick” in an episode, even at the end of last season...maybe, I think I did say that a lot at the end of last season, in somewhat different ways.
The Flash 4x06
I thought I should catch up on this since now we’re only a week (less than) out from the crossover, but I can’t say I liked that one. On one hand I’m really confused why they’re treating Barry and Ralph like a love story, and on the other I kind of hate both of them. I hate that they’re already turning Ralph into just another homogenous member of this team, he even has to quote movies any chance he gets when I don’t think that makes sense for his character.
I’m pretty sure they’re ultimately going to do that to Harry too, sand off the edges and make him just a generic quirky character that hangs out with Team Flash.
I didn’t particularly like the plot of this episode, but I hated the characters more.
Arrow 6x07
It hit me here that I should have expected Oliver to be back in the hood in time for the crossover; that would be a sizeable change in the expected status quo to try and deal with in the crossover so they aren’t going to deal with explaining it there.
As an episode I didn’t like this one that much. It wasn’t bad and it definitely had some good moments and some stuff I’m still interested in seeing play out, but I didn’t think the episode really worked overall. It definitely isn’t an interesting sort of bad that’s giving me anything to talk about, I just feel meh about it. So...whatever I guess.
Supergirl 3x07
I’m not sure if the problem is with me or the episode but everything here felt so...unimportant. Nothing felt like it had any real weight to it in spite of the fact the objectively it was pretty weighty.
But I’m willing to admit the problem may be with me at the moment, as this is only slightly less reaction than I had to Arrow, so maybe I’m just a little underwhelmed by things right now. I’m definitely not inclined to write a lot about these episodes.
The Flash 4x07
I gave in and got caught up on this show, and I still think I hate it. God forbid Barry ever be wrong, and when he goes around acting like a grade-A asshole all episode everybody else has to apologize to him at the end because they doubted Barry fucking Allen could ever be wrong. Barry never even goes through a phase of thinking he might have been wrong, or being conflicted about what he’s doing; but even when the show clearly knows he’s in the wrong they have to make him be unfailingly right and undercut any potential character growth there might have been if they didn’t approach this with the attitude that everything Barry fucking Allen does is always right.
For a good chunk of the episode I was sort of reminded of the X-Files paradox, that no matter how crazy Mulder sounds he’s more or less always going to be right in the eyes of the show, because it’s a paranormal show so the believer is usually inherently right since they’re believing in things that are true from the show’s perspective. But really, only part of the problem is that we know Barry’s right; the problem is that the show actually goes out of its way to point out all the reasons he should be wrong and then ends up validating him anyway. I feel like the writers were at war with themselves or each other over this; like somebody in there knowns Barry Allen is an asshole but the writers room as a whole refuses to admit it and needs to continue living in the idea that he’s not.
So I went and looked it up, and one of the writers here was also a writer on 4x04, where I had a similar feeling. Like someone wants to make Barry grow as a character but then gets smacked down by people who think he’s already perfect (even though they right him as an asshole). So if that’s what’s happening, I’m pulling for you, writer who doesn’t treat Barry like he’s Jesus.
Funny thing, I finally think I ship something on this show; it’s the villains, but I finally ship something (honestly, at this point I’m rooting for them). Also, gods I miss ThWells, he was such a great character; I don’t give a damn about Thawn when he isn’t ThWells, but I love ThWells.