jedi_of_urth (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jedi_of_urth) wrote2018-01-03 08:00 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote2018-01-03 08:00 pm
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Belated TV rundown
I haven’t posted a TV rundown in a while, here’s basically everything I did thoughts on during December. Happy New Year to anyone actually reading this (or not, no reason to not say Happy New Year to those not reading, but they won’t hear it...just read the reviews, they’re somewhat less confused.
Agents of SHIELD 5x01-02
This is going to be a weirdly short review I think; a double length episode, the season premier, lots of stuff going on and...I don’t have much to say.
I worked out they were in the future long before the characters did, but I didn’t actually think it took them too long to work it out. They were expecting space, and while I kind of was, my mind was not as focused on the idea after several months of waiting. And they were noting the inconsistencies in that assumption for a while before the truth smacked them upside the head. Also, Jemma’s naked fear at another monolith was very affecting.
I didn’t really call Skye being responsible as part of the equation, but that does complicate things. Also complicating this is that the only time AoS (I think the whole MCU...wait Doctor Strange) has dealt with the idea of time travel it’s come down hard on the side on not being able to change the future, so I don’t know how they get out of this situation. To be fair, that removes the difficulty that time travel stories can run into, that when it’s over we question what happened to all the people we knew and cared about there if that whole future changes. So I’m really curious how this will play out. I don’t know how long this arc is supposed to go on for, and I don’t want to know, I want to be surprised with all the twists it’s bound to have.
Also, I’m glad to be proven right that whatever the deal with Ghostrider was it wasn’t what connected with this. I saw a lot of people say that it would be but I got the vibe in that scene last year that it was more like Coulson couldn’t carry the rider for long because something was wrong; probably with him.
Welcome back Agents of SHIELD, this is already infinitely better than anything on Inhumans.
Legends of Tomorrow 3x09
I think I really liked that episode. I think it successfully balanced what I didn’t know if they would be able to balance, dealing with Martin’s death, plot of the week, and escalating into the break. I also feel like they have set the pieces up that if they do want to bring Martin back down the road they have options.
And whiles, yes I see the show setting up Sara/Ava and I dislike that less than I did up to now, this was another episode that toed up to the line of making me ship Sara/Jax, and I it think set Sara up to go break Rip out of jail where she apparently had not intended him to end up. I’ve always felt kind of bad that I don’t ship Sara/Jax more, they hit plenty of buttons I like in my ships, and I do think I would ship them more if I didn’t ship Sara/Rip so hard, but I’ve never quite crossed over into actually shipping them.
I was never that into Constantine, but I’m kind of excited by his appearance at the end. I don’t know if we’re actually connecting this back to Sara’s death experience (BTW, since when can Gideon not fix gun shots? Martin’s death just fuels my theory that Sara maybe came back a touch immortal since she keeps coming back from things that should kill her), but I’m excited if they are. I’m also excited that Sara and Rip now can team up in crazy quests against Mallus.
Supergirl 3x09
I can’t rate that one any higher than a meh, it certainly didn’t send us into the break on a high that I can’t wait to come back from. It had some good moments in the first half or so of the episode, but I wasn’t really ever into it.
About the one thing I am into is the religious guy from a few episodes ago, he seems like a fascinating character that I think they’re doing interesting things with. And if this arc is connected to Kryptonian mythic history, then I wonder if they’ll actually explore the question of what makes that good and this guy wrong. Especially since Mon’el basically turned Kara into exactly what that guy was trying to turn her into; yeah at a distance of a thousand years so it’s less weird, but it’s the same basic impulse. But I’m not counting on this show to recognize its implicit hypocrisy on these issues.
Also, Lena and Jimmy do not have enough chemistry for me to be root for this. I wish I did (sort of, I do more ship them both with Kara) but I don’t like this.
The Orville 1x06
I think I liked that episode, I was definitely into it as I was watching it. I like that it was a complicated situation and didn’t let them off the hook for it being a complicated situation. I can’t decide if I liked that there wasn’t a B-plot to this one, the one a couple episodes ago was so minor and unimportant that they didn’t need to try and do that again, but I could have used a break from the single plot too; it that other episode they could at least cut between different focuses on the away mission and they didn’t have that here.
I don’t think I have any general observations about what the show is from this one, it’s just a solid episode.
Arrow 6x09
That is quite an episode to go to break on. I definitely noted, though never talked about in my reactions (thought about it some weeks when I had a hard time thinking of anything worth saying), that the opening title extended card was about the team this season instead of just tweaking the Arrow symbol; so it kind of makes sense that the threat this season is to that team more than any individual member. I didn’t see that all the antagonists were necessarily working together (no, Anatoli, no) and I kind of think that’s going to be interesting going forward now that we do know it. Although I feel like a couple of those guys I’m supposed to know but I can’t place them.
I have to give it to the writers, it would have been easy to do this kind of breakdown last season, but they played the long game and had us care about the team before breaking it down. It’s not like I didn’t note several times last season how there was the team, but also the Team, and how the newbies just weren’t given the same level of inclusion as the Team, the Family; I remember noting several times last season that Thea or Quentin who aren’t even full team members tend to stand closer to the center than the newer members of the team.
Though I also have to question how Felicity’s fugitive father can show up at the reception without it being a problem. Roy knew enough to stay away (but I am glad Thea remembered it would have been nice if he could have come).
Agents of SHIELD 5x03
I don’t know that I liked that episode very much. I don’t know that I disliked it, but I have no strong feeling on it at this point. However I ultimately feel about this will probably depend on how I end up feeling about this arc, as this was very much about exploring the world we’re stuck in now.
One thing I will say is that after Mack’s big speech in the ship, the fact that Yoyo did exactly what he said they don’t do at SHIELD should maybe be an issue.
Also, so now we’re going with multi-verse theory, good to know I guess.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 3x07
Again we have an episode that is fairly healthy; still uncomfortable to watch at times, but not really hard to make it through. Everybody is by and large trying to make good choices even if it takes them a bit to get there. There did seem to be a bit of juvenile behavior on everyone’s part this time, but not so much that it became unpleasant, and right about the level that it felt like a theme across most of the plots (maybe not Daryl and Whi-Jo, but even they were being showed up by a kid).
Musically, I liked Paula’s song, but I didn’t really like Rebecca’s (also, Rebecca’s plot may have been the most uncomfortable, but only because the last time she hung out with a ‘friend’s’ dad it went badly).
The Flash 4x09
So I’m still Team Thinker (or Team Devoe, I’m not sure what to call it, but I’m on their team), but I didn’t actually dislike Team Flash this time. I didn’t like any of them, but at least I didn’t hate them (aside from the writers who can’t allow anyone to have actual individuality, not being super nice to everyone makes you terrible apparently). I’m not sure it’s enough to keep me around for the rest of the season, I’ll at least stick with this ‘watch it when I get to it’ level, it sure as hell isn’t going to be appointment viewing any time soon.
Go Team Thinker/Devoe, you’re so much more interesting than the “heroes” of this show.
Agents of SHIELD 5x04
It occurs to me as I sit here thinking about what I might want to say about this episode, that there’s very little so far that wouldn’t work on a final twist of this being a Framework program. There would be problems going that way, there have been scenes without the main characters in them that shouldn’t be there if this was a virtual reality and it would be a little cheap, but I still don’t quite see how they resolve the situation as is. This show has established that it works on a Flatland version of temporal mechanics as opposed to the multi-verse theory that this season is going for, and it would be sort of ironic that Mack called it being a Framework situation first thing and they dismissed it.
Plus, by the time they do get out of here they’re going to be so messed up. This is still just days after getting out of the Framework, and the show does clearly remember that, so far mostly with Mack but they reference it with Skye and Simmons and May referenced it last time. They’re all going to be scarred up and quite possibly physically damaged in other ways in addition to the psychological scars. They even paid off my feeling about Mack’s reaction to Yoyo’s actions last time, and I didn’t exactly expect that they would.
As an episode I think I liked this one a bit better than last time, though I won’t know for sure until I see how this arc plays out there. There is a bit too much Skye for my tastes, now that Ward is dead she’s left standing as my least favorite character so I’d rather we focus on anyone else, but it wasn’t to an annoying level, just not flavored quite to what I would have liked.
Agents of SHIELD 5x05
I do think I need to watch this episode again to really figure out how I feel about it. There was a lot I liked in it, but I’m not sure my focus was really on it the way it should have been because it doesn’t seem to have left much of an impression; but unlike usually I feel fairly confident saying that’s on me rather than the episode being unremarkable. Though, to be fair, there were a few fewer things I cared about than usual too. The Fitz and Hunter show was a lot of fun, but it’s not May and Coulson holding hands in space.
Agents of SHIELD 5x01-02
This is going to be a weirdly short review I think; a double length episode, the season premier, lots of stuff going on and...I don’t have much to say.
I worked out they were in the future long before the characters did, but I didn’t actually think it took them too long to work it out. They were expecting space, and while I kind of was, my mind was not as focused on the idea after several months of waiting. And they were noting the inconsistencies in that assumption for a while before the truth smacked them upside the head. Also, Jemma’s naked fear at another monolith was very affecting.
I didn’t really call Skye being responsible as part of the equation, but that does complicate things. Also complicating this is that the only time AoS (I think the whole MCU...wait Doctor Strange) has dealt with the idea of time travel it’s come down hard on the side on not being able to change the future, so I don’t know how they get out of this situation. To be fair, that removes the difficulty that time travel stories can run into, that when it’s over we question what happened to all the people we knew and cared about there if that whole future changes. So I’m really curious how this will play out. I don’t know how long this arc is supposed to go on for, and I don’t want to know, I want to be surprised with all the twists it’s bound to have.
Also, I’m glad to be proven right that whatever the deal with Ghostrider was it wasn’t what connected with this. I saw a lot of people say that it would be but I got the vibe in that scene last year that it was more like Coulson couldn’t carry the rider for long because something was wrong; probably with him.
Welcome back Agents of SHIELD, this is already infinitely better than anything on Inhumans.
Legends of Tomorrow 3x09
I think I really liked that episode. I think it successfully balanced what I didn’t know if they would be able to balance, dealing with Martin’s death, plot of the week, and escalating into the break. I also feel like they have set the pieces up that if they do want to bring Martin back down the road they have options.
And whiles, yes I see the show setting up Sara/Ava and I dislike that less than I did up to now, this was another episode that toed up to the line of making me ship Sara/Jax, and I it think set Sara up to go break Rip out of jail where she apparently had not intended him to end up. I’ve always felt kind of bad that I don’t ship Sara/Jax more, they hit plenty of buttons I like in my ships, and I do think I would ship them more if I didn’t ship Sara/Rip so hard, but I’ve never quite crossed over into actually shipping them.
I was never that into Constantine, but I’m kind of excited by his appearance at the end. I don’t know if we’re actually connecting this back to Sara’s death experience (BTW, since when can Gideon not fix gun shots? Martin’s death just fuels my theory that Sara maybe came back a touch immortal since she keeps coming back from things that should kill her), but I’m excited if they are. I’m also excited that Sara and Rip now can team up in crazy quests against Mallus.
Supergirl 3x09
I can’t rate that one any higher than a meh, it certainly didn’t send us into the break on a high that I can’t wait to come back from. It had some good moments in the first half or so of the episode, but I wasn’t really ever into it.
About the one thing I am into is the religious guy from a few episodes ago, he seems like a fascinating character that I think they’re doing interesting things with. And if this arc is connected to Kryptonian mythic history, then I wonder if they’ll actually explore the question of what makes that good and this guy wrong. Especially since Mon’el basically turned Kara into exactly what that guy was trying to turn her into; yeah at a distance of a thousand years so it’s less weird, but it’s the same basic impulse. But I’m not counting on this show to recognize its implicit hypocrisy on these issues.
Also, Lena and Jimmy do not have enough chemistry for me to be root for this. I wish I did (sort of, I do more ship them both with Kara) but I don’t like this.
The Orville 1x06
I think I liked that episode, I was definitely into it as I was watching it. I like that it was a complicated situation and didn’t let them off the hook for it being a complicated situation. I can’t decide if I liked that there wasn’t a B-plot to this one, the one a couple episodes ago was so minor and unimportant that they didn’t need to try and do that again, but I could have used a break from the single plot too; it that other episode they could at least cut between different focuses on the away mission and they didn’t have that here.
I don’t think I have any general observations about what the show is from this one, it’s just a solid episode.
Arrow 6x09
That is quite an episode to go to break on. I definitely noted, though never talked about in my reactions (thought about it some weeks when I had a hard time thinking of anything worth saying), that the opening title extended card was about the team this season instead of just tweaking the Arrow symbol; so it kind of makes sense that the threat this season is to that team more than any individual member. I didn’t see that all the antagonists were necessarily working together (no, Anatoli, no) and I kind of think that’s going to be interesting going forward now that we do know it. Although I feel like a couple of those guys I’m supposed to know but I can’t place them.
I have to give it to the writers, it would have been easy to do this kind of breakdown last season, but they played the long game and had us care about the team before breaking it down. It’s not like I didn’t note several times last season how there was the team, but also the Team, and how the newbies just weren’t given the same level of inclusion as the Team, the Family; I remember noting several times last season that Thea or Quentin who aren’t even full team members tend to stand closer to the center than the newer members of the team.
Though I also have to question how Felicity’s fugitive father can show up at the reception without it being a problem. Roy knew enough to stay away (but I am glad Thea remembered it would have been nice if he could have come).
Agents of SHIELD 5x03
I don’t know that I liked that episode very much. I don’t know that I disliked it, but I have no strong feeling on it at this point. However I ultimately feel about this will probably depend on how I end up feeling about this arc, as this was very much about exploring the world we’re stuck in now.
One thing I will say is that after Mack’s big speech in the ship, the fact that Yoyo did exactly what he said they don’t do at SHIELD should maybe be an issue.
Also, so now we’re going with multi-verse theory, good to know I guess.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 3x07
Again we have an episode that is fairly healthy; still uncomfortable to watch at times, but not really hard to make it through. Everybody is by and large trying to make good choices even if it takes them a bit to get there. There did seem to be a bit of juvenile behavior on everyone’s part this time, but not so much that it became unpleasant, and right about the level that it felt like a theme across most of the plots (maybe not Daryl and Whi-Jo, but even they were being showed up by a kid).
Musically, I liked Paula’s song, but I didn’t really like Rebecca’s (also, Rebecca’s plot may have been the most uncomfortable, but only because the last time she hung out with a ‘friend’s’ dad it went badly).
The Flash 4x09
So I’m still Team Thinker (or Team Devoe, I’m not sure what to call it, but I’m on their team), but I didn’t actually dislike Team Flash this time. I didn’t like any of them, but at least I didn’t hate them (aside from the writers who can’t allow anyone to have actual individuality, not being super nice to everyone makes you terrible apparently). I’m not sure it’s enough to keep me around for the rest of the season, I’ll at least stick with this ‘watch it when I get to it’ level, it sure as hell isn’t going to be appointment viewing any time soon.
Go Team Thinker/Devoe, you’re so much more interesting than the “heroes” of this show.
Agents of SHIELD 5x04
It occurs to me as I sit here thinking about what I might want to say about this episode, that there’s very little so far that wouldn’t work on a final twist of this being a Framework program. There would be problems going that way, there have been scenes without the main characters in them that shouldn’t be there if this was a virtual reality and it would be a little cheap, but I still don’t quite see how they resolve the situation as is. This show has established that it works on a Flatland version of temporal mechanics as opposed to the multi-verse theory that this season is going for, and it would be sort of ironic that Mack called it being a Framework situation first thing and they dismissed it.
Plus, by the time they do get out of here they’re going to be so messed up. This is still just days after getting out of the Framework, and the show does clearly remember that, so far mostly with Mack but they reference it with Skye and Simmons and May referenced it last time. They’re all going to be scarred up and quite possibly physically damaged in other ways in addition to the psychological scars. They even paid off my feeling about Mack’s reaction to Yoyo’s actions last time, and I didn’t exactly expect that they would.
As an episode I think I liked this one a bit better than last time, though I won’t know for sure until I see how this arc plays out there. There is a bit too much Skye for my tastes, now that Ward is dead she’s left standing as my least favorite character so I’d rather we focus on anyone else, but it wasn’t to an annoying level, just not flavored quite to what I would have liked.
Agents of SHIELD 5x05
I do think I need to watch this episode again to really figure out how I feel about it. There was a lot I liked in it, but I’m not sure my focus was really on it the way it should have been because it doesn’t seem to have left much of an impression; but unlike usually I feel fairly confident saying that’s on me rather than the episode being unremarkable. Though, to be fair, there were a few fewer things I cared about than usual too. The Fitz and Hunter show was a lot of fun, but it’s not May and Coulson holding hands in space.