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Boob Toob week two: probably the last time I'm going to be caught up because NHL hockey started on Tuesday, my team starts on Thursday, and all bets are off from there.
* Agents of SHIELD: this was not an improvement.
Okay, so back in the '90's, I used to watch syndicated shows like Soldier of Fortune and Pensacola: Wings of Gold and other completely ridiculous action series that would be on Saturday afternoons on the local channels. I bring this up because if you take away the Marvel property references and the CGI budget, you've more or less got the same thing. Except SoF at least had Mark Sheppard and AoS doesn't. It's stock, it's bland, it's not well acted, it makes me think of a syndicated show that unironically cast Dennis Rodman as a badass operator. Nobody says or does anything that their archetype wouldn't do and the plot progression (I use that phrase generously) is paint-by-numbers predictable. They're actually putting the 'tell 'em what you're gonna do, do it, tell 'em what you just did' in the script, like someone gluing the instructions for the Ikea table on to the surface after it's done. "You guys aren't a team, we need to learn to be a team and here's my metaphor" *implements metaphor, acts like a team* "Hey, guys, we're a team now because we implemented that metaphor! Have a beer!"
It's not good.
What I'm also starting to suspect is that Coulson is like Loki -- the ingredient that makes every dish better and more interesting, but can't be eaten on its own. Like salt. Loki is fascinating when bouncing off other characters and Coulson is great as the deadpan straight man for folks like Tony Stark or Maria Hill, but left alone in the spotlight, they lose whatever it is that makes them special. And there's absolutely nobody on AoS that can pick up that slack since they're all bland tropes.
* The Blacklist: still enjoying it because Spader chews scenery like Galactus.
I ran (almost literally) into Isabella Rossellini on the Upper West Side about when this must have been shooting and I gotta tell you, they did not choose flattering outfits for her on this show because in person, she looks fabulous. Not that she looked bad here, just that the high-neck caftan was unnecessary.
The rest of it was Spader being Spader. Reddington is so much fun to watch, wearing his ruthlessness proudly and hiding his humanity well, and that moment when he casually says that the FBI works for him, now... I kind of wish the actress playing Elizabeth Keen was a little stronger and capable of more nuance, but she's at least got good material to work with.
One thing I really appreciate the writers of this show doing is giving the audience credit for a modicum of intelligence. They do a lot of showing and not telling, especially with the backstory. Last week, it was the story of Lizzie's scar told twice, once posited by Reddington and once offered to young Beth, that put together make a whole. This week, they showed us Reddington's guard's brand after the fact and without words, giving a bit of depth to a background character (without first introducing him as a victim) and giving us and Agent Ressler a possible motivation for Reddington that runs deeper than the glory of victory.
* Agents of SHIELD: this was not an improvement.
Okay, so back in the '90's, I used to watch syndicated shows like Soldier of Fortune and Pensacola: Wings of Gold and other completely ridiculous action series that would be on Saturday afternoons on the local channels. I bring this up because if you take away the Marvel property references and the CGI budget, you've more or less got the same thing. Except SoF at least had Mark Sheppard and AoS doesn't. It's stock, it's bland, it's not well acted, it makes me think of a syndicated show that unironically cast Dennis Rodman as a badass operator. Nobody says or does anything that their archetype wouldn't do and the plot progression (I use that phrase generously) is paint-by-numbers predictable. They're actually putting the 'tell 'em what you're gonna do, do it, tell 'em what you just did' in the script, like someone gluing the instructions for the Ikea table on to the surface after it's done. "You guys aren't a team, we need to learn to be a team and here's my metaphor" *implements metaphor, acts like a team* "Hey, guys, we're a team now because we implemented that metaphor! Have a beer!"
It's not good.
What I'm also starting to suspect is that Coulson is like Loki -- the ingredient that makes every dish better and more interesting, but can't be eaten on its own. Like salt. Loki is fascinating when bouncing off other characters and Coulson is great as the deadpan straight man for folks like Tony Stark or Maria Hill, but left alone in the spotlight, they lose whatever it is that makes them special. And there's absolutely nobody on AoS that can pick up that slack since they're all bland tropes.
* The Blacklist: still enjoying it because Spader chews scenery like Galactus.
I ran (almost literally) into Isabella Rossellini on the Upper West Side about when this must have been shooting and I gotta tell you, they did not choose flattering outfits for her on this show because in person, she looks fabulous. Not that she looked bad here, just that the high-neck caftan was unnecessary.
The rest of it was Spader being Spader. Reddington is so much fun to watch, wearing his ruthlessness proudly and hiding his humanity well, and that moment when he casually says that the FBI works for him, now... I kind of wish the actress playing Elizabeth Keen was a little stronger and capable of more nuance, but she's at least got good material to work with.
One thing I really appreciate the writers of this show doing is giving the audience credit for a modicum of intelligence. They do a lot of showing and not telling, especially with the backstory. Last week, it was the story of Lizzie's scar told twice, once posited by Reddington and once offered to young Beth, that put together make a whole. This week, they showed us Reddington's guard's brand after the fact and without words, giving a bit of depth to a background character (without first introducing him as a victim) and giving us and Agent Ressler a possible motivation for Reddington that runs deeper than the glory of victory.
