stuff about stuff
25 Sep 2013 22:39![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
domarzione* I have a very poor record keeping up with programs, but I like to watch the pilots of shows that interest me. What I've seen so far:
Sleepy Hollow: A show I will be happy to follow in animated GIFs on Tumblr, where people more dedicated than me clip the best parts and leave the stupid and the silly behind. Because there is a lot of stupid and silly here, like CW-levels of stupid and silly. But Nicole Beharie is wonderful.
Agents of SHIELD... I think if this were anything but what it was, I would have thought a lot less of it. The badinage was good and it comes with an acceptably built universe preinstalled, I just wish they hadn't stuck strictly to stereotypes after they cast Ming-Na and then ripped off elements of every single CBS procedural. You have the blandly good-looking James Bond guy who wants more macho missions and who needs to be taken down a peg and given a heart, the socially awkward UK-import Wonder Twin Geeks who are admittedly adorable, and the attractive hacker with the heart of gold whose anarchic tendencies are really just a cry for paternal attention. And Coulson, who is essentially playing Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I know the pedigree of the show and the pilot, but I thought for all of that, it was very uninspired in places. I'll keep up with it for a bit, but if this devolves into Monster of the Week without a good grand myth to back it up, I am going to drop it. Haven already exists and the mythos there is worth the stupid.
Blacklist. This? I loved. Layer upon layer upon layer and everyone fights dirty and there are unexpected moments of grace and humor to keep it from being too dark because it's not meant to be so dark. Three-dimensional spy chess. Our ingenue agent is established as an ingenue and then quickly becomes competent, if inexperienced. She starts off as a mouse and ends up stabbing the cat in the neck. It's a good start.
Also, holy cow is James Spader going to make a fabulous Ultron.
* I have finished watching Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I like Justice League/JLU better, I think, but probably because I have deeper attachment to the DCU characters. Especially in the final seasons of both shows, when they became Cameo of the Week episodes. But JL did more with what they had overall. That said... any other superhero cartoons on Netflix worth watching?
* I have a plot for the sequel to Thaw, but I need to finish the outline and then probably write a chapter or two to see if I can pull off Natasha's voice for more than 1300 words. And to see if I can live with the game-changing I am planning on doing. And I need to come up with a title, since I can't use the working one and I don't want to continue the theme of the previous long stories because once something has Freezer Burn and you Thaw it, the next step is usually the garbage because it tastes off.
Sleepy Hollow: A show I will be happy to follow in animated GIFs on Tumblr, where people more dedicated than me clip the best parts and leave the stupid and the silly behind. Because there is a lot of stupid and silly here, like CW-levels of stupid and silly. But Nicole Beharie is wonderful.
Agents of SHIELD... I think if this were anything but what it was, I would have thought a lot less of it. The badinage was good and it comes with an acceptably built universe preinstalled, I just wish they hadn't stuck strictly to stereotypes after they cast Ming-Na and then ripped off elements of every single CBS procedural. You have the blandly good-looking James Bond guy who wants more macho missions and who needs to be taken down a peg and given a heart, the socially awkward UK-import Wonder Twin Geeks who are admittedly adorable, and the attractive hacker with the heart of gold whose anarchic tendencies are really just a cry for paternal attention. And Coulson, who is essentially playing Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I know the pedigree of the show and the pilot, but I thought for all of that, it was very uninspired in places. I'll keep up with it for a bit, but if this devolves into Monster of the Week without a good grand myth to back it up, I am going to drop it. Haven already exists and the mythos there is worth the stupid.
Blacklist. This? I loved. Layer upon layer upon layer and everyone fights dirty and there are unexpected moments of grace and humor to keep it from being too dark because it's not meant to be so dark. Three-dimensional spy chess. Our ingenue agent is established as an ingenue and then quickly becomes competent, if inexperienced. She starts off as a mouse and ends up stabbing the cat in the neck. It's a good start.
Also, holy cow is James Spader going to make a fabulous Ultron.
* I have finished watching Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I like Justice League/JLU better, I think, but probably because I have deeper attachment to the DCU characters. Especially in the final seasons of both shows, when they became Cameo of the Week episodes. But JL did more with what they had overall. That said... any other superhero cartoons on Netflix worth watching?
* I have a plot for the sequel to Thaw, but I need to finish the outline and then probably write a chapter or two to see if I can pull off Natasha's voice for more than 1300 words. And to see if I can live with the game-changing I am planning on doing. And I need to come up with a title, since I can't use the working one and I don't want to continue the theme of the previous long stories because once something has Freezer Burn and you Thaw it, the next step is usually the garbage because it tastes off.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 03:08 (UTC)Damn, I hadn't made the connection, but, yeah. The ultra-smart menace just sitting there in a cage weaponless but still terrifyingly scary on account of its mind and knowledge... Definitely Ultron material!
I think they gave us enough hints to anticipate at least two layers of everything-was-a-lie reveals. Hopefully that means there'll be a third one :).
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 03:15 (UTC)The show made it clear that there's the endgame Reddington is telling the FBI about and also the endgame he's hinting at away from the bosses that we haven't gotten a full look at yet. And, yeah, possibly something else entirely, too.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 03:31 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 03:36 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 04:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 12:47 (UTC)I went in to Blacklist assuming she was his biological daughter, but the hints they've dropped about his past and her past make that seem unlikely now (though with this show, it looks like nothing is what it seems). There *has* to be some kind of connection there, given everything he knows about "Sir" and his indicated level of obsession with her. But goodness, I wonder what.
(And now I so very much need a Reddington icon.)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 14:24 (UTC)Re: SHIELD, yeah. I feel bad harshing on everyone else's unadulterated squee, but... I'm not in love.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 14:28 (UTC)I have to admit, I didn't see the thing with her husband coming. Of course, that, too, could be gaslighting...
SHIELD: Yeah. woe. :(
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 14:19 (UTC)Underwhelmed by SHIELD's first outing, but will give it at least half a season to find its feet. Most surprising: the bland characters...from Joss? Hoping for curveballs there.
Blacklist is on the DVR. Looking forward to it; I've liked Spader since his Brat Pack days and adored him in Boston Legal.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-26 14:28 (UTC)I'll give SHIELD a little time, but it's not going to be must-see TV and first in the rotation when I catch up on things. It felt far too crafted for prime time broadcast television and not something Whedon would do with his own material and his own show.