![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
TV and sundry other items of (possible) interest
First off, I’m working on drabbles. Most of them have run away with me (meaning gotten reeeeally long), but I’m having fun with them, and they should be up fairly soon, hopefully. Thanks for your prompts!
Second, take a look at how absolutely gorgeous and Buffy-like Sarah Michelle Gellar is looking in these amazing photos from Veronika Decides to Die. Every time I think I can’t get more excited about this movie, I do. The book and I have a complicated relationship, but I think the movie could be great. And there’s no doubt in my mind that Smidge is going to hit it out of the park. Nobody does pain like she does. *hops up and down* I’m so excited about this movie! (And I can already tell I'm going to be writing fic for this. I can already tell.)
Third, it’s time for another of my ridiculously long and rambly TV posts! *WOOT*
Yesterday, I finished up with How I Met Your Mother, and yes, I did watch four seasons in less than one week, thanks for asking. I don’t watch many sitcoms at all, they don’t really appeal to me, but I love this show.
It’s the characters, man. And yes, yes, I’m totally crazy about Barney. Admittedly, I’ve had a crush on Neil Patrick Harris since his Doogie Howser days (yeah, I was that geeky even as a little girl), but he’s beyond brilliant in this. The creation of this character is mindblowing. Especially because he’s playing the one type of character I usually hate above all things. If I knew this guy in real life, I would loathe him. If he was played by anyone else, I would loathe him. He’s horrible, really. But as a character played by NPH? Genius. One of the best characters I’ve ever seen. I’m not shipping Barney/Robin like I thought I would be, though. I think the unrequited love thing is totally adorable, but it’s not built on a lot, yet, I don’t think. Remember that episode back in like Season 1 where she was his wingman for a night and was better at it than Ted? I need more episodes like that where they’re interacting one-on-one in order to really, really be invested in their relationship.
I also adore Jason Segal. Like, really. I don’t usually feel this way about celebrities—I have no desire whatsoever to meet them most of the time—but with him (as with a few exceptions coughrusselbrandcough), I feel like he would totally be the kind of guy I’d just want to hang out with. I loooove
This is also one of the few sitcoms I’ve ever seen that is consistently funny. I’ve always felt that Buffy or Doctor Who or other ostensible dramas were way funnier than straight-up comedies, but this one is very, very funny because it knows how to derive its humor for characterization most of the time.
That said, it was a bit of a jarring experience for me watching this show. Since I almost never watch sitcoms, I had forgotten the way that they can be racist/sexist/etc. in order to get a few laughs. On the shows I really invest in, you don’t see that a lot in a blatant way (sure, I have tons of problems with, say, Joss’s shows and their depictions of race or most other shows and their depictions—or lack thereof—of women, but most of the ones I watch at least try). There isn’t a ton of that on HIMYM, but it does pop up, and I’m always really shocked. Probably because I’ve learned so much about white and male privilege since I really watched a more mainstream show (most of my favorites are cult shows), I don’t know. But it’s weird.
But yeah. Other than that, I love this show. I can’t wait till the next season.
Last night I watched Dollhouse’s “Epitaph One,” and all I have to say is
DAMN.
Joss Whedon, MAKE THIS SHOW. This episode is post-apocalyptic and twisted and gorgeous and SO FREAKING GOOD. Seriously, this is the show I’ve been waiting for from him. I WANT IT I WANT IT I WANT IT.
First off: Felicia Day! Yay! Girl crush! Also: Molly from Heroes! Girl, you live on!
Second, I’m not really sure about the timeline or the technology or the jargon or a lot of things, really; most of it is fuzzy and not very fleshed-out, obviously because of the time limit. But that doesn’t matter. This is exactly the kind of post-apocalyptic world I most want to see. And, in my opinion, it may very well redeem the show.
I was really struggling with the show, with where it was going, what Joss was trying to say. By its nature, it still felt exploitative to me (to be honest, I still have some problems with how he represents women/sex/sexiness in the show, but let’s put that aside), not to mention that I didn’t feel like I could get to the heart of the ideas he was trying to explore as I could in Buffy or Firefly or even Angel because I didn’t really care about any of the characters, honestly.
But now I do. I care about Adelle and Topher, both of whom I found loathsome and pretty one-dimensional before. I think both Caroline and Paul could have grown into people I could believe in (though we didn't see very much of them. I think Joss might be getting it through his head that ensemble is better for this show, for which I commend him). Amy Acker is made of awesome, and so is Harry Lennix. And as for Victor and Sierra? I want more than anything to really, really get to know them next season (also: there’s something there! They totally had a thing! And could have a thing again! MY SHIP, Y’ALL!). God, I hope this show just keeps going and going.
I loved the structure of the episode as well, with all the characters inside the dollhouse, which has been transformed from a place that was mildly creepy because of its very serenity to a claustrophobic horror house. And picking people off, one by one, horror movie style (there’s so many great zombie references you can make with this material), having the bad guy stuck in the little girl’s body, having Whiskey wandering around likely some ghost/avenging angel/Drusilla-esque lost girl—love. it.
And I honestly wondered how they would work the main cast into the episode, but they did it brilliantly with the memories that Felicia and crew are trying to piece together.
Mr. Dominic was back! I adored that cameo. He’s an awesome character. And the Adelle/Topher (which seemed more maternal to me than anything) was touching and beautiful. And the hints at Boyd/Claire? Sweet. Caroline looks like she grew up into a real badass as opposed to the whiny, self-righteous girl we saw pre-dollhouse (though Eliza’s acting with the “headaches” was disappointing to me). And the mentions of November—“Which one?”—were just fabulous. Totally awesome reference to Alpha that indicates he’s still a player (and that Alan Tudyk will probably be guest-starring sometime soon)? Total win. AND DID I MENTION VICTOR/SIERRA?
I really, really like this world. I like it soooo much more than I like the one we saw in the rest of the season. Now, admittedly, I adore post-apocalyptic stuff. Love it. But this was better than that. Exploring the ideas of technology—of the idea that what we make with our hands and our minds can turn on us if we aren’t responsible about them. That was an idea I really wanted Battlestar Galactica to explore, and in its more transcendent moments, it touched on those ideas. But it ultimately failed me (yeah, there were some great moments in the finale—Gaius Baltar, I’m looking at you—but the solution? Disappointing and, I really believe, somewhat cowardly). Dollhouse doesn’t have to. It can go there. It really, really can.
This is the show I wanted from Joss. This could be as good Buffy. It could be better than Firefly. I recognize that in the second season, we’ll probably go back in time again, and even though that’s not what I want, I accept that. I just hope that this future is always there, lurking in the background, and that Joss builds up to it again. I want to reach that future. And then go forward from there.
This is Joss at his finest, y'all (even if he didn't write the teleplay, his stamp is all over it. And I've always liked that he knows how to surround himself with so many great writers--often when I'm talking about "Joss," I really mean "Joss and his crew of kick-ass writers"). It's premature for me to say it's one of my favorite episodes of TV that I've ever seen--it may not pass the test of me watching it thirty times the way, say, "Fool for Love" or "Blink" or "Not Pictured" or "Out of Gas" or "Mud Bowl" have--but I think in a few months, I might be saying it. I really do.
Also, there were some pretty great references to the original pilot of the show “Echo.” As for that, FOX IS MADE OF FAIL. This episode was infinitely better than the pilot that was actually aired.
The whole episode is better. Not personality-of-the-week, but noir-ish and morally ambiguous and better at showing the full range of what dolls can be required to do (Sierra coming back from her assignment in particular was chilling—and it was like fifteen seconds of screentime!). Not to mention it does a thousand times better job setting up the various moral (or lack thereof) approaches to what’s going on there. Like “Epitaph One,” it would have redeemed the show a bit for me, not to mention made me trust Joss more. A solid, solid episode, unlike the completely lame ones we had on the air. Too bad.
So that's what I've been watching lately. Now, back to writing.
no subject
Also the girl from Heroes did an amazing job. How old is she? I hope to see more of her if her acting is that good.
I agree with everything you said. Most especially, I echo the Victor/Sierra squee.
no subject
She is almost thirteen, I believe. And yeah, she's really grown on me. She's gotten tons better since the early episodes of Heroes when she was just typical child actor. I look forward to seeing her continue to grow.
I adore Victor. Enver blows my mind in every single scene. And I like that they hinted at their relationship. Made me happy.
Gorgeous icon, by the way.
no subject
It's a little sad that the least interesting and well-played/formed characters on Dollhouse are the main ones. :(
no subject
The thing that cracks me up about Enver is that I thought he was kind of goofy looking the first time we saw him, and now I find him incredibly attractive. But of course I thought the same thing about Nathan Fillion the first time I watched Serenity and James Marsters back in the day and David Tennant--actors grow on me.
It's a little sad that the least interesting and well-played/formed characters on Dollhouse are the main ones. :( Yes. Just...yes.