Bubius Tubius
Nov. 24th, 2014 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grinninfooleI have looked at a lot of art, lately, because I have had some time on my hands. Stories and games, and especially story games, have long been my preferred coping mechanism for life, so this is hardly a surprise. This is the first of a series of posts to sort of clear my mental buffer of thoughts about what I'm currently enjoying, and I'm going to start with the ridiculous amount of TV I have been watching.
Agents of SHIELD:
This show started slowly, and spent some time wobbling about instead of getting down to really great stories, but I stuck with it for a few reasons: 1) I really like Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson. Plucky sidekicks are my catnip. 2) I really like Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May. This is one part May is great and one part I now have a crush on Ms. Wen. 3) I expected the show to feel really choked at first, because I expected lots of meddling from the suits at the various multi-billion dollar international companies that own the show. 4) I got really annoyed with the petulant negativity of the reviewers at the AV Club. They usually do a good job, but for this show, they wanted more Avengers-style high adventure, and didn't give the Gotham Central style stories they were actually getting a chance.
It turns out that I was right, and once the Captain America Winter Soldier movie came out, the show finally was able to break out of its holding pattern. It's not an all-time great show (yet?), but it's solidly fun and lets me spend time with Phil and some other folks I quite like.
Gotham:
I was nervous about this show, because the premise is 'this is what was happening in Gotham City before Batman came along'. The first scene is the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce is twelve. This show will have to live or die on the merits of other characters than Batman and his costumed crew, and that could be really bad. We know what this show is building towards, but as soon as it gets there, it's basically over. Since Fox & DC want the show to be a success, they want to stretch that out for as long as possible, but that leaves the problem of the story spinning its wheels to prolong its air time, and also the Scylla & Charybdis of protagonist James Gordon either being too good at his job (so why have Batman at all?) or too ineffectual (so why which something so depressing?)
Happily, the show has so far walked this line quite well. The show runner is Bruno Heller, who created ROME for HBO, so he's already had experience with a similar set of problems. (Because no matter how ignorant of history, everyone knows what happened to Julius Caesar.) Of all the DC comics shows that have hit the airwaves and fiber cables, this is the one I like best. (I saw the first episode of Flash, and it was fine, and maybe I'll like it more as I see more of it, but for now, it's not something I'm watching. Charter Communications not including it in my cable package is a big part of why.)
Sleepy Hollow:
This show is dumb fun, and I enjoy it in no small measure because I watch it with millari. She ships the hell out of it, so I put it with it when it punishes me for knowing things. Besides, it's got John Noble and several significant characters of color, and women supporting characters besides the female lead.
The Good Wife:
This really is a great soap opera, with politics, sensational twists, lots of character drama, and so forth. I normally wouldn't care at all, since it's got none of the genre trappings I like, but it's so well done that I don't care. The characters feel rich and their conflicts compelling. The music and pacing of the stories is zippy and creative. The acting, with Alan Cumming, Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, David Hyde Pierce, Archie Panjabi and many, many others, is top notch. It's perhaps the best show I'm watching right now. (Plus, I also have a huge crush on Ms. Panjabi as Kalinda.)
Constantine:
So far, a not-bad version of the 'hero' from the Hellblazer comics. I've long loved this character, so I'm receptive to a good show about him, and there's a lot that's working here, not least of which is the actor looks and sounds right. Chas clearly has more going on than he did in the comics, so I'm really curious to see more of him. On the other hand, his name is properly pronounced to rhyme with 'sine' and 'brine', not 'seen' and 'ween'. Also, John has a good heart, but he's covered it over with a very thick layer of cold calculation, and he does some cruel and callous stuff to save the day. He leaves people to die (or worse) sometimes if thinks he needs to. I'm not sure NBC will let him go that far on a primetime show. If I wanted to see a PG13 version of John, there's already a comic I can read.
Elementary:
I quite like Sherlock, and some of its episodes are some of the best TV I have ever seen. (Study In Pink is still theht now. best ep IMHO.) Elementary lacks the intensity that drives Sherlock, as how could it not, since it has to pace its story out over 16 hours sliced into 22 episodes. Sherlock does three 90 minute thrill-rides and is done for a year or two. That said, there are several things that are better about Elementary than Sherlock:
1) Joan Watson. She's quite different from other Watson's out there, and not just because she's a purty gurl. Over the course of the first season, she discovers that no only does she enjoy the work of a consulting detective, she's actually good at it. She's not just Sherlock's plucky, normal, loyal sidekick in this story, she might well be his equal, and the show's narrative arc is driven more by her than by him.
2) Holmes is a flawed, emotionally crabbed, obsessive dickhead, just like in so many other versions, but he's aware of it and working at changing and growing, because he has to. Johnny Lee Miller is doing great work digging up gems with this Sherlock, because this guy is a recovering addict, and the show never lets Holmes forget it. He's struggling with his addiction, and sometimes losing, in a way that Cumberbatch's (or should I say Moffat's?) version never does.
3) Captain Gregson & Detective Bell of the NYPD. They are secondary characters to be sure, but they aren't idiots, they aren't incompetent, and they don't like Sherlock very much at all--they just find him too useful to forgo. We even get to see some moments of them grappling with the quotidian requirements of their jobs, which Sherlock doesn't have to care about, but which they have to attend to lest his brilliant insights prove useless. The episode where Sherlock is testifying under oath about his work, and having to deflect valid objections about his sometimes illegal methods, is something I can't imagine Sherlock ever doing.
4) Moriarty. I won't say any more, since the reveal of this famous nemesis is a major theme of season 1, and it's super well done. Suffice it to say that, much as I love Andrew Scott's version on the BBC, this one is my favorite.
Doctor Who:
Just finished its first season with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, and I approve. He's not as warm and disarming and emotional as Matt Smith's version, but the show feels zesty and different, refreshed with a new actor bringing a new direction. I was by no means tired of Matt Smith, and I miss his loony Doctor quite a bit, but Capaldi is giving us a crazy, cranky SOB whose compulsion to see what's next, to learn just one more thing, is more nakedly exposed than any other version we have ever seen. It makes him unsettling, unpredictable, and more ambiguous than any of the other modern Doctors have been. I also appreciate how much Clara has developed from a foil/plot element into a dynamic character in her own right. I look forward to next season.
Gracepoint:
This is a remake of the searing 8 part BBC drama Broadchurch, about a small, quiet town torn apart by a boy's murder. David Tennant played the lead detective, and everyone in the show gave a great performance. The story was well-written, well-plotted, and well-paced, with some great twists and a surprise ending that I was able to see coming, but which still landed like a ton of bricks. The only thing I hated was the 'psychic' IT tech, who appears to have been granted some credence by the script.
The remake also features David Tennant as the lead detective, sporting an imperfect but good enough American accent; moves the setting from Dorset to northern California; and has 10 parts instead of 8. It starts off as basically a shot for shot remake, but has brought in some new plot elements, so it may not end precisely, or even approximately, as the original did. (Which makes me glad.) They have also made some interesting tweaks because the US is not the UK, so workplace dynamics are different, gun laws are different, and so forth. I haven't seen it all, but I have seen enough to like it, and I hope it sticks the landing well enough, and differently enough, to be a worthy complement to the first show. I also hope it gives David Tennant the career boost I'm sure he hopes it will.
Legend Of Korra:
The successor to Last Airbender is now in its fourth and final season. I haven't seen anything past seasons 3, so it could have veered into the ditch, but this show, which started poorly, has become as good as the first series. I'm disappointed Nick TV hasn't figured out how to promote/make money off of such a great animated drama, and there are times when these external factors squeezing the budget show on screen, but if you liked ATLA, make time for LOK.
Finally, it got cancelled after one short season, but Almost Human did quite well as a police procedural with strong SF/futurist elements. The heart of the show was the dynamic between Karl Urban as detective Kennex and Michael Ehle as his android counterpart Dorian. This was a fantastic show with lots going on, and great commentary on contemporary racial politics. A pity it didn't last.
Agents of SHIELD:
This show started slowly, and spent some time wobbling about instead of getting down to really great stories, but I stuck with it for a few reasons: 1) I really like Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson. Plucky sidekicks are my catnip. 2) I really like Ming-Na Wen as Melinda May. This is one part May is great and one part I now have a crush on Ms. Wen. 3) I expected the show to feel really choked at first, because I expected lots of meddling from the suits at the various multi-billion dollar international companies that own the show. 4) I got really annoyed with the petulant negativity of the reviewers at the AV Club. They usually do a good job, but for this show, they wanted more Avengers-style high adventure, and didn't give the Gotham Central style stories they were actually getting a chance.
It turns out that I was right, and once the Captain America Winter Soldier movie came out, the show finally was able to break out of its holding pattern. It's not an all-time great show (yet?), but it's solidly fun and lets me spend time with Phil and some other folks I quite like.
Gotham:
I was nervous about this show, because the premise is 'this is what was happening in Gotham City before Batman came along'. The first scene is the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce is twelve. This show will have to live or die on the merits of other characters than Batman and his costumed crew, and that could be really bad. We know what this show is building towards, but as soon as it gets there, it's basically over. Since Fox & DC want the show to be a success, they want to stretch that out for as long as possible, but that leaves the problem of the story spinning its wheels to prolong its air time, and also the Scylla & Charybdis of protagonist James Gordon either being too good at his job (so why have Batman at all?) or too ineffectual (so why which something so depressing?)
Happily, the show has so far walked this line quite well. The show runner is Bruno Heller, who created ROME for HBO, so he's already had experience with a similar set of problems. (Because no matter how ignorant of history, everyone knows what happened to Julius Caesar.) Of all the DC comics shows that have hit the airwaves and fiber cables, this is the one I like best. (I saw the first episode of Flash, and it was fine, and maybe I'll like it more as I see more of it, but for now, it's not something I'm watching. Charter Communications not including it in my cable package is a big part of why.)
Sleepy Hollow:
This show is dumb fun, and I enjoy it in no small measure because I watch it with millari. She ships the hell out of it, so I put it with it when it punishes me for knowing things. Besides, it's got John Noble and several significant characters of color, and women supporting characters besides the female lead.
The Good Wife:
This really is a great soap opera, with politics, sensational twists, lots of character drama, and so forth. I normally wouldn't care at all, since it's got none of the genre trappings I like, but it's so well done that I don't care. The characters feel rich and their conflicts compelling. The music and pacing of the stories is zippy and creative. The acting, with Alan Cumming, Julianna Margulies, Chris Noth, David Hyde Pierce, Archie Panjabi and many, many others, is top notch. It's perhaps the best show I'm watching right now. (Plus, I also have a huge crush on Ms. Panjabi as Kalinda.)
Constantine:
So far, a not-bad version of the 'hero' from the Hellblazer comics. I've long loved this character, so I'm receptive to a good show about him, and there's a lot that's working here, not least of which is the actor looks and sounds right. Chas clearly has more going on than he did in the comics, so I'm really curious to see more of him. On the other hand, his name is properly pronounced to rhyme with 'sine' and 'brine', not 'seen' and 'ween'. Also, John has a good heart, but he's covered it over with a very thick layer of cold calculation, and he does some cruel and callous stuff to save the day. He leaves people to die (or worse) sometimes if thinks he needs to. I'm not sure NBC will let him go that far on a primetime show. If I wanted to see a PG13 version of John, there's already a comic I can read.
Elementary:
I quite like Sherlock, and some of its episodes are some of the best TV I have ever seen. (Study In Pink is still theht now. best ep IMHO.) Elementary lacks the intensity that drives Sherlock, as how could it not, since it has to pace its story out over 16 hours sliced into 22 episodes. Sherlock does three 90 minute thrill-rides and is done for a year or two. That said, there are several things that are better about Elementary than Sherlock:
1) Joan Watson. She's quite different from other Watson's out there, and not just because she's a purty gurl. Over the course of the first season, she discovers that no only does she enjoy the work of a consulting detective, she's actually good at it. She's not just Sherlock's plucky, normal, loyal sidekick in this story, she might well be his equal, and the show's narrative arc is driven more by her than by him.
2) Holmes is a flawed, emotionally crabbed, obsessive dickhead, just like in so many other versions, but he's aware of it and working at changing and growing, because he has to. Johnny Lee Miller is doing great work digging up gems with this Sherlock, because this guy is a recovering addict, and the show never lets Holmes forget it. He's struggling with his addiction, and sometimes losing, in a way that Cumberbatch's (or should I say Moffat's?) version never does.
3) Captain Gregson & Detective Bell of the NYPD. They are secondary characters to be sure, but they aren't idiots, they aren't incompetent, and they don't like Sherlock very much at all--they just find him too useful to forgo. We even get to see some moments of them grappling with the quotidian requirements of their jobs, which Sherlock doesn't have to care about, but which they have to attend to lest his brilliant insights prove useless. The episode where Sherlock is testifying under oath about his work, and having to deflect valid objections about his sometimes illegal methods, is something I can't imagine Sherlock ever doing.
4) Moriarty. I won't say any more, since the reveal of this famous nemesis is a major theme of season 1, and it's super well done. Suffice it to say that, much as I love Andrew Scott's version on the BBC, this one is my favorite.
Doctor Who:
Just finished its first season with Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, and I approve. He's not as warm and disarming and emotional as Matt Smith's version, but the show feels zesty and different, refreshed with a new actor bringing a new direction. I was by no means tired of Matt Smith, and I miss his loony Doctor quite a bit, but Capaldi is giving us a crazy, cranky SOB whose compulsion to see what's next, to learn just one more thing, is more nakedly exposed than any other version we have ever seen. It makes him unsettling, unpredictable, and more ambiguous than any of the other modern Doctors have been. I also appreciate how much Clara has developed from a foil/plot element into a dynamic character in her own right. I look forward to next season.
Gracepoint:
This is a remake of the searing 8 part BBC drama Broadchurch, about a small, quiet town torn apart by a boy's murder. David Tennant played the lead detective, and everyone in the show gave a great performance. The story was well-written, well-plotted, and well-paced, with some great twists and a surprise ending that I was able to see coming, but which still landed like a ton of bricks. The only thing I hated was the 'psychic' IT tech, who appears to have been granted some credence by the script.
The remake also features David Tennant as the lead detective, sporting an imperfect but good enough American accent; moves the setting from Dorset to northern California; and has 10 parts instead of 8. It starts off as basically a shot for shot remake, but has brought in some new plot elements, so it may not end precisely, or even approximately, as the original did. (Which makes me glad.) They have also made some interesting tweaks because the US is not the UK, so workplace dynamics are different, gun laws are different, and so forth. I haven't seen it all, but I have seen enough to like it, and I hope it sticks the landing well enough, and differently enough, to be a worthy complement to the first show. I also hope it gives David Tennant the career boost I'm sure he hopes it will.
Legend Of Korra:
The successor to Last Airbender is now in its fourth and final season. I haven't seen anything past seasons 3, so it could have veered into the ditch, but this show, which started poorly, has become as good as the first series. I'm disappointed Nick TV hasn't figured out how to promote/make money off of such a great animated drama, and there are times when these external factors squeezing the budget show on screen, but if you liked ATLA, make time for LOK.
Finally, it got cancelled after one short season, but Almost Human did quite well as a police procedural with strong SF/futurist elements. The heart of the show was the dynamic between Karl Urban as detective Kennex and Michael Ehle as his android counterpart Dorian. This was a fantastic show with lots going on, and great commentary on contemporary racial politics. A pity it didn't last.
