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netgirl_y2kThe fourth series of Game of Thrones got off to a weird start... between some weird pacing issues (very little happening slowly, combined with it being hard to tell how much time is actually meant to be passing) and some narrative choices that have ranged from the seriously fucking offensive to the "I don't understand, and I won't respond." But the middle of the series seems to have settled into itself; or maybe my threshold for WTFery has just been raised. Whatever.
Actually my biggest issue with the show of late is its unwillingness to veer away from the books. It's like they'll make a change (Asha's sidequest to the Dreadfort, Shae's... everything) then realise that they're swimming in open water and panic and make a beeline back towards the books. Which is irksome, not just because of the narrative and characterisation inconsistencies it begs, but because... Look, lads, Winds of Winter could be being published tomorrow (and that's not happening) and you'd still find yourselves writing the last couple of seasons free hand, so you may as well get used to it now, set some things in motion, foreshadow a bit, you know?
The Asha - Yara, whatever - stuff I minded less. It was nice to see her again. I actually really like that actress, which helps. And her fighting with an axe, and getting into the Dreadfort the same way as Theon took Winterfell was a nice nod to the books. And of course her plan to rescue Theon was never going come off, firstly because we know what happens to people who make well-intentioned heroic speeches in this series, and secondly because Theon's identity arc is such a huge thing, and there's no point in trying to save Theon until there's a Theon to save. And it was sort of tragic too, because of course Asha can't know how much of Theon's brainwashing involved being gaslighted about how his sister was coming to rescue him. Actually, I was half expecting Asha to be taken prisoner by Ramsey, in lieu of Jeyne Poole, and for her to be the one Theon has to get back to himself for. But see my complaint about the show hewing too close to the books. Not that I would wish Ramsey on anybody, but at least then there would have been a point to the whole plot cul-de-sac.
I still object, on principal, to the existence of Myranda. It's interesting that horrible Carl at Craster's Keep ended up being much more like book!Ramsey that Iwan Rheon. Not that after Cersei and Meera the show needed any more rape scenes, God no, it's just that there's no universe where Ramsey should be having consensual normal seeming sex with anyone. It makes him... less horrifying, somehow.
The Shae stuff was worse. The show changed Shae's character, and her relationship with Tyrion so much - and they were good changes too, that's the thing - that I thought there was no way they could avoid changing the end of her story. Either sending her to Essos to fulfil Tysha's place in Tyrion's story, or having someone else kill her. And they may well do either of those things... but I'd be very surprised. I was watching the S3 DVD commentaries a while ago, and actually one of the producers even admitted that they'd written themselves into a corner with the changes they'd made there. And it's just -- that's what happens in the books doesn't work as a reason when you've already changed practically everything else. I was rather heartened to read that the actress who plays Shae had argued against the inclusion of the line where Shae implicates Sansa - at least someone involved has a brain.
Oberyn Martell is still dreamy and I am sure that he will prevail over the Mountain. In other news, with the scene where Dany orders Daario to strip for her the show squandered the perfect opportunity for a casual dick shot. Just sayin'. Daario man, I think my problem with him is that he's not a real character, in the books or the show. And seriously, show, you can recast him as many times as you like, by all means have him played by Sophie Turner in a wig, he's never going to make sense. He exists to illustrate a point - that Dany has terrible taste in men. And, oh boy, does she. I think imprinting on Drogo at such a young age fucked her up in more ways than she realises. But I kind of hate that - I mean Dany is an overpowered teenager with three dragons that she can't control and a messiah complex so large that you could use it club seals to death, but that she has teenage girl hormones, and that's her problem, it's something I take issue with.
Of course, the other problem with Show!Daario is that the list of characters who are sexier than him includes Jorah Mormont, Hizdahr zo Loraq, and Podrick Payne.
Speaking of nudity: does Carice van Houten have a certain number of nude scenes every series written into her contract? Actually, don't answer that, it wouldn't bloody surprise me. For some reason it annoyed me less that it was with Selyse; I kind of like that Melisandre uses nudity indiscriminately. Although, if I hadn't just been bitching about the show's reluctance to change things from the books, I would be seriously wondering if Melisandre was about to try to sacrifice Shireen, what with her insisting Shireen comes to the Wall with them, and her playing up to Selyse.
I've also been watching the latter half of S3 of Once Upon a Time, and enjoying it even though I haven't really had an awful lot to say about it,
Most of the fannish chatter has centred on the two new ships, Regina/Robin, and Emma/Hook.
Regina & Robin ended up really working for me. He's all jaunty and well-meaning! He's got a cute wee son! There's no level on which he is afraid of Regina, which really is a must for any relationship with her! That they got on in Storybrooke but not in the Enchanted Forest worked for me too. What absolutely did not work for me was any time Tink showed up to talk about tattoos and happy endings and True Love; at which point all I could hear was the show going, PSA: This is your canon-approved het ship, please commence shipping now. At which point I wanted to rest my head gently against my monitor and whisper, won't, shan't.
What else fell flat for me was Emma and Hook. It was the way that right up until their final kiss it was framed entirely through Hook's pursuit and Emma's profound indifference.
When I was in my late teens I knew a lad a few years older than me who told me that you can't make someone love you, but you can stalk them until they give in. I laughed; it was a joke, of course. He was a fit older boy (a man, really) and I was chubby, awkward, friendless seventeen year old. The fact that I had outright said I was a lesbian, that I had made it clear in a thousand unspoken ways that I was uncomfortable with his attentions - because I was seventeen and hadn't realised I was allowed to say: you're making me uncomfortable, please stop - these didn't matter, if he tried hard enough, long enough, I was sure to give in.
Anyway if you've ever wondered why I am made so uncomfortable by the obsessive lover trope, so creeped out by the faint heart never won fair maiden idea, then that's the reason, because it's a damn sight less romantic from the business end of it.
And the thing is I genuinely like Hook, I think he's a good guy, he's been a good friend to Emma, and giving up the Jolly Roger to help her was a huge gesture... just one that doesn't "earn" him Emma's heart.
Emma's decision to stay in Storybrooke... I loved that it had to do with her parents, that throwing all her love and affection at a woman who quite rightly treated her as a virtual stranger made her realise how she's been unwittingly, understandably treating Mary Margaret and David. I just wish that it had more to do with Regina and Henry's obvious wish to spend half his time with his other mother, and less to do with Killian.
Speaking of unhealthy relationships, Belle and Rumple's entire marriage is based on a lie, a lie told to alibi him for the murder of a defenseless woman (Zelena's prior bad acts not withstanding; in that moment she was helpless). They've got to address the fucked up-ness of that relationship now, right? Right? Um, yeah, I thought that with Lacey.
Belle, actually, I think, must be fascinating deep down. I keep thinking that her insistence that Rumple is a good man, deep down, is less about how she loves him because of his essential goodness, and more that she loves him and can't accept that she could love someone who actually really isn't particularly good or nice.
I agree with whoever it was that said that Elementary didn't really get out of second gear this series
I think that part of it was inevitable, the cases of the week were exactly as so-so as they had been in S1, but it didn't have the lovely overarching arc of how will Holmes and Watson become platonic life partners, as we all know they're going to. And part of it was that the arc it did have - Mycroft - wasn't as well integrated into the plot as Irene/Moriarty last year, and his relationship with Joan never really convinced. Especially after they hemmed and hawed about whether or not they'd slept together in the beginning.
Joan's decision to get her own place at the end. On the one hand, that Joan Watson has boundaries and isn't shy about enforcing them is why she is my favourite of all Watsons. Also, let me tell you, as someone who didn't enforce the "I will not live in my place of work" thing when I was a carer, and who spent the next eighteen months intermittently screaming into a pillow, that is a good boundary to have; enforce it with axes and, like, a Viking shield wall. On the other hand, Joan, no, platonic life partners, remember?
I am slightly leery of S3 at the moment, both because I want the whole MI-6 subplot to go die in a fire, and for the possibility of Sherlock using again. Like, I think this show is too smart about addiction (see the episode where Sherlock's friend of 30 years sobriety ODs) to blame Watson for any relapse of Sherlock's, or to use that to leverage her into staying. Still, I fret.
I was utterly delighted by the first series of Reign,
Come for Megan Follows Queen Catherine, stay for everything else. I mean it's ludicrous, there are thirty-five gear changes during S1 while it tries to decide what it is and what's going on, but I love it. I have nothing really to say, except that more than twenty episodes of Mary/Francis, Mary/Bash, then Mary/Francis again, I came out of S1 shipping Greer/Castleroy.
Like, even if marrying Leith were an option, I'd still think Castleroy would be the way to go. I like to think that the fact that he seems more attractive every time we see him is meant to be because Greer is more attracted to him; you know, as you get to know someone, and appreciate their finer qualities, they become better looking to you?
I am feeling slightly bereft since finishing Breaking Bad, and am wondering what to watch next. The people I was watching Breaking Bad with are moving on to True Detective, which doesn't really appeal, I've heard too much about it's problem with women. Hannibal is the other thing my friends are talking about, and I am way too squeamish for Hannibal. Seriously - I once fainted at a Final Destination film.
I'm saving up the second season of Orphan Black to watch over a weekend, and I'm planning to watch Vikings even though I know it will be neither as good nor as much about Lagertha as tumblr has convinced me it is.
Actually my biggest issue with the show of late is its unwillingness to veer away from the books. It's like they'll make a change (Asha's sidequest to the Dreadfort, Shae's... everything) then realise that they're swimming in open water and panic and make a beeline back towards the books. Which is irksome, not just because of the narrative and characterisation inconsistencies it begs, but because... Look, lads, Winds of Winter could be being published tomorrow (and that's not happening) and you'd still find yourselves writing the last couple of seasons free hand, so you may as well get used to it now, set some things in motion, foreshadow a bit, you know?
The Asha - Yara, whatever - stuff I minded less. It was nice to see her again. I actually really like that actress, which helps. And her fighting with an axe, and getting into the Dreadfort the same way as Theon took Winterfell was a nice nod to the books. And of course her plan to rescue Theon was never going come off, firstly because we know what happens to people who make well-intentioned heroic speeches in this series, and secondly because Theon's identity arc is such a huge thing, and there's no point in trying to save Theon until there's a Theon to save. And it was sort of tragic too, because of course Asha can't know how much of Theon's brainwashing involved being gaslighted about how his sister was coming to rescue him. Actually, I was half expecting Asha to be taken prisoner by Ramsey, in lieu of Jeyne Poole, and for her to be the one Theon has to get back to himself for. But see my complaint about the show hewing too close to the books. Not that I would wish Ramsey on anybody, but at least then there would have been a point to the whole plot cul-de-sac.
I still object, on principal, to the existence of Myranda. It's interesting that horrible Carl at Craster's Keep ended up being much more like book!Ramsey that Iwan Rheon. Not that after Cersei and Meera the show needed any more rape scenes, God no, it's just that there's no universe where Ramsey should be having consensual normal seeming sex with anyone. It makes him... less horrifying, somehow.
The Shae stuff was worse. The show changed Shae's character, and her relationship with Tyrion so much - and they were good changes too, that's the thing - that I thought there was no way they could avoid changing the end of her story. Either sending her to Essos to fulfil Tysha's place in Tyrion's story, or having someone else kill her. And they may well do either of those things... but I'd be very surprised. I was watching the S3 DVD commentaries a while ago, and actually one of the producers even admitted that they'd written themselves into a corner with the changes they'd made there. And it's just -- that's what happens in the books doesn't work as a reason when you've already changed practically everything else. I was rather heartened to read that the actress who plays Shae had argued against the inclusion of the line where Shae implicates Sansa - at least someone involved has a brain.
Oberyn Martell is still dreamy and I am sure that he will prevail over the Mountain. In other news, with the scene where Dany orders Daario to strip for her the show squandered the perfect opportunity for a casual dick shot. Just sayin'. Daario man, I think my problem with him is that he's not a real character, in the books or the show. And seriously, show, you can recast him as many times as you like, by all means have him played by Sophie Turner in a wig, he's never going to make sense. He exists to illustrate a point - that Dany has terrible taste in men. And, oh boy, does she. I think imprinting on Drogo at such a young age fucked her up in more ways than she realises. But I kind of hate that - I mean Dany is an overpowered teenager with three dragons that she can't control and a messiah complex so large that you could use it club seals to death, but that she has teenage girl hormones, and that's her problem, it's something I take issue with.
Of course, the other problem with Show!Daario is that the list of characters who are sexier than him includes Jorah Mormont, Hizdahr zo Loraq, and Podrick Payne.
Speaking of nudity: does Carice van Houten have a certain number of nude scenes every series written into her contract? Actually, don't answer that, it wouldn't bloody surprise me. For some reason it annoyed me less that it was with Selyse; I kind of like that Melisandre uses nudity indiscriminately. Although, if I hadn't just been bitching about the show's reluctance to change things from the books, I would be seriously wondering if Melisandre was about to try to sacrifice Shireen, what with her insisting Shireen comes to the Wall with them, and her playing up to Selyse.
I've also been watching the latter half of S3 of Once Upon a Time, and enjoying it even though I haven't really had an awful lot to say about it,
Most of the fannish chatter has centred on the two new ships, Regina/Robin, and Emma/Hook.
Regina & Robin ended up really working for me. He's all jaunty and well-meaning! He's got a cute wee son! There's no level on which he is afraid of Regina, which really is a must for any relationship with her! That they got on in Storybrooke but not in the Enchanted Forest worked for me too. What absolutely did not work for me was any time Tink showed up to talk about tattoos and happy endings and True Love; at which point all I could hear was the show going, PSA: This is your canon-approved het ship, please commence shipping now. At which point I wanted to rest my head gently against my monitor and whisper, won't, shan't.
What else fell flat for me was Emma and Hook. It was the way that right up until their final kiss it was framed entirely through Hook's pursuit and Emma's profound indifference.
When I was in my late teens I knew a lad a few years older than me who told me that you can't make someone love you, but you can stalk them until they give in. I laughed; it was a joke, of course. He was a fit older boy (a man, really) and I was chubby, awkward, friendless seventeen year old. The fact that I had outright said I was a lesbian, that I had made it clear in a thousand unspoken ways that I was uncomfortable with his attentions - because I was seventeen and hadn't realised I was allowed to say: you're making me uncomfortable, please stop - these didn't matter, if he tried hard enough, long enough, I was sure to give in.
Anyway if you've ever wondered why I am made so uncomfortable by the obsessive lover trope, so creeped out by the faint heart never won fair maiden idea, then that's the reason, because it's a damn sight less romantic from the business end of it.
And the thing is I genuinely like Hook, I think he's a good guy, he's been a good friend to Emma, and giving up the Jolly Roger to help her was a huge gesture... just one that doesn't "earn" him Emma's heart.
Emma's decision to stay in Storybrooke... I loved that it had to do with her parents, that throwing all her love and affection at a woman who quite rightly treated her as a virtual stranger made her realise how she's been unwittingly, understandably treating Mary Margaret and David. I just wish that it had more to do with Regina and Henry's obvious wish to spend half his time with his other mother, and less to do with Killian.
Speaking of unhealthy relationships, Belle and Rumple's entire marriage is based on a lie, a lie told to alibi him for the murder of a defenseless woman (Zelena's prior bad acts not withstanding; in that moment she was helpless). They've got to address the fucked up-ness of that relationship now, right? Right? Um, yeah, I thought that with Lacey.
Belle, actually, I think, must be fascinating deep down. I keep thinking that her insistence that Rumple is a good man, deep down, is less about how she loves him because of his essential goodness, and more that she loves him and can't accept that she could love someone who actually really isn't particularly good or nice.
I agree with whoever it was that said that Elementary didn't really get out of second gear this series
I think that part of it was inevitable, the cases of the week were exactly as so-so as they had been in S1, but it didn't have the lovely overarching arc of how will Holmes and Watson become platonic life partners, as we all know they're going to. And part of it was that the arc it did have - Mycroft - wasn't as well integrated into the plot as Irene/Moriarty last year, and his relationship with Joan never really convinced. Especially after they hemmed and hawed about whether or not they'd slept together in the beginning.
Joan's decision to get her own place at the end. On the one hand, that Joan Watson has boundaries and isn't shy about enforcing them is why she is my favourite of all Watsons. Also, let me tell you, as someone who didn't enforce the "I will not live in my place of work" thing when I was a carer, and who spent the next eighteen months intermittently screaming into a pillow, that is a good boundary to have; enforce it with axes and, like, a Viking shield wall. On the other hand, Joan, no, platonic life partners, remember?
I am slightly leery of S3 at the moment, both because I want the whole MI-6 subplot to go die in a fire, and for the possibility of Sherlock using again. Like, I think this show is too smart about addiction (see the episode where Sherlock's friend of 30 years sobriety ODs) to blame Watson for any relapse of Sherlock's, or to use that to leverage her into staying. Still, I fret.
I was utterly delighted by the first series of Reign,
Come for Megan Follows Queen Catherine, stay for everything else. I mean it's ludicrous, there are thirty-five gear changes during S1 while it tries to decide what it is and what's going on, but I love it. I have nothing really to say, except that more than twenty episodes of Mary/Francis, Mary/Bash, then Mary/Francis again, I came out of S1 shipping Greer/Castleroy.
Like, even if marrying Leith were an option, I'd still think Castleroy would be the way to go. I like to think that the fact that he seems more attractive every time we see him is meant to be because Greer is more attracted to him; you know, as you get to know someone, and appreciate their finer qualities, they become better looking to you?
I am feeling slightly bereft since finishing Breaking Bad, and am wondering what to watch next. The people I was watching Breaking Bad with are moving on to True Detective, which doesn't really appeal, I've heard too much about it's problem with women. Hannibal is the other thing my friends are talking about, and I am way too squeamish for Hannibal. Seriously - I once fainted at a Final Destination film.
I'm saving up the second season of Orphan Black to watch over a weekend, and I'm planning to watch Vikings even though I know it will be neither as good nor as much about Lagertha as tumblr has convinced me it is.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-22 03:08 am (UTC)Is it bad that I kind of enjoyed the Melisandre nudity at first and then felt bad? Unlike some of the brothel sexposition scenes, it did feel in keeping with her character. And with Selyse's for that matter. But heaven forbid we go an episode without female nudity.
What did you think of the whole Moon Door scene? That's one of my favorite moments in the books and I was a little disappointed with how it felt onscreen. It's this slow building horror that starts with Sansa building Winterfell in the snow and turns on a dime with Lysa's craziness. It just felt...rushed to me.
I would recommend Hannibal to you if you thought you could handle it! I say this as a person who really doesn't like horror films at all. But for some reason I really like both Hannibal and American Horror Story. I wouldn't say the gore is any worse than what's on GoT, but only you know what you're up for. True Detective is very male-centric and male-gazey. It's entertaining in a way, though.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-22 09:48 pm (UTC)It was especially annoying because the friendship between Shae and Sansa (and the changes to Shae's character in general) was one the best things the show did; especially in a universe where there's a wealth of female characters, but a real dearth of them interacting in positive ways. For the same reason it will annoy me if Shae's betrayal of Tyrion is genuine but he and Bronn get to part on civil terms.
Yeah, I felt exactly the same about Melisandre's nudity - in character, and less male gaze-y usual, but still like they were worrying about falling below quota.
The moon door scene. I have been waiting for that scene for
sixty-sevenfour years. Partly, because I refuse to believe that there isn't something meta and foreshadowing going on with Sansa (re)building Winterfell out of snow. And there were good things about it - most interesting, I thought, was that when Robin was talking about how Sansa could marry him, and live in the Eyrie, and he'd have anyone who bothered her thrown from the moon door... how Sansa actually looked quite pleased by the prospect. Like, she's been so traumatised by the last few years that'd she'd marry this crazy, sickly kid, live as hermit in the Eyrie, and give up any hope of getting her name and family back, if it only meant that she didn't have to be frightened anymore. Oh, my poor precious wolf girl, etc.But broadly, I thought it was rushed and badly paced. Plus, there's a bigger problem with that entire plot - Littlefinger. I don't know if it's an acting problem, or a writing problem, but the show has made Littlefinger so overt. Like, in the books one of the creepiest things about Littlefinger's fixation with Sansa is that although it's creepy and pedophilic, he keeps it just inside the bounds of what could be construed as innocent. On the show he's so unsubtle, that it's not a surprise when he kisses Sansa, or when he pushes Lysa from the Moon Door. I did not like the way the kiss was framed, either, for reasons I'm still finding hard to articulate.
I have heard so may good things about Hannibal. Alas, I can't even bring myself to watch the adverts when they're on tv here. I am interested in American Horror Story - if the gore is at about a GoT level? True Detective I may watch after Orphan Black. I fucking loved Breaking Bad, but I think I need a palate cleanser between shows about the complicated relationship between two men.
no subject
Date: 2014-05-23 04:44 pm (UTC)The thing you need to know about AHS is that it's a Ryan Murphy show, the guy behind Glee and Nip/Tuck. So it is wildly inconsistent and the plot will never make much sense- Breaking Bad it ain't. But it's always very visually interesting and especially s2 and 3 has lots of fabulous middle-aged and older actresses chewing the scenery. The horror is kind of silly if that makes sense? Or the frenetic pacing makes it hard to be genuinely scared? It really isn't beyond a GoT level of gore, though some of the horror in Asylum (s2) comes from historical psychiatric treatments for homosexuality which for me was a hell of a lot scarier than the serial killers and aliens which were also in that season.
If you do decide to watch, you might want to start with s2 and s3? It's an anthology format, so each season is different, and those 2 seasons are the most female-centric. S1 is still fun, but doesn't have the same level of female performances.