![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
holy cow this got long apparently i have a zillion feelings about a bad show!
I have watched two seasons of TV in the past couple of weeks. One was uniformly excellent. The other was generally bad but with a few things that really worked.
So of course the one I have to say a whole bunch about is the bad one.
But first the good one: like literally everyone else who has watched it, I enjoyed the heck out of Our Flag Means Death. I did not reach the level of obsession that some of my other friends have reached, but I loved it lots and I can't wait for S2.
A deliriously wonderful cast, sharp and funny and moving writing, a tone that guarantees enjoyment--it's just such a fun show! (Until it's emotionally devastating. This show has almost nothing in common with Ted Lasso, and yet I think of them in similar ways--delightful to start with, then surprisingly emotionally upsetting, and everyone who watches them loves them.)
People keep comparing it to the other queer pirate show (Black Sails), which is silly. BS is a very serious show about empire and queerness and storytelling and compromise. OFMD is a very funny show about figuring out what you want in life and how to get it without hurting the people you love (though the characters are very bad at the latter). And queerness.
It kind of reminds me more of Los Espookys, my super super weird comedy fave that is also about queerness. LE has more women, though. That's the one bad thing about OFMD--not enough ladies! Though the ladies that exist are great and the writers do right by them.
Anyway, highly recommended! My crush on Taika Waititi continues apace! (I don't think you can say "continues apace" about a crush but I'm saying it anyway.) I'm so glad that weird queer people with big hearts are getting to make TV these days. It's so nice.
Now for the other show. Yes, I gave in and watched S2 of Bridgerton (well, I haven't yet seen the final two episodes, but I'll watch them tonight). You have to understand that I dropped S1 halfway through because it was driving me crazy. So I was Not Going To Watch S2. I really wasn't.
But then people I trust (I'm looking at you, Meg) were losing their mind over the main pairing, so I was like, "What the heck, I'll give it another shot. I can always stop if it's still bad."
Well, friends, it is still bad. It's got all the same flaws as S1. (And is aggressively, aggressively straight.) And yet I did not stop watching. Because despite all of its flaws, it had one thing going for it: the main couple this time actually have chemistry and personalities!!!!
Regé-Jean Page, leading man of S1, is an obscenely beautiful man, but his character was underwritten, and his love interest was dull as dishwater. Their chemistry was lacking, too. I guess I could understand that they were physically attracted to each other, but I never really understood why I was expected to think that they liked each other. Who are these people? Why should I care about them? I super did not, so I dropped the show.
But in S2, Simone Ashley's Kate and Jonathan Bailey's Anthony actually have personalities! Admittedly, I'm not always crazy about Anthony's, but at least it exists. And I do love Kate. And it's easy to see how these two people would work together--that if they ever got over themselves (and the stupid positions they keep putting themselves in), they could really make each other laugh and work as a team and just generally have a great partnership (in addition to wanting to bang each others' brains out).
So that main pairing is enough to keep me watching S2. Unfortunately, every other problem that was present in S1 is present in season 2. Now is the time to rant about them. You are warned that this is both long and incredibly negative.
+ The dialogue is excruciatingly, embarrassingly awful. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense on the sentence level. ("I heard you and the king had many trials during your happy courtship." Um. What?) The writers want the characters to sound formal and old-fashioned but they have zero idea of how language worked in the Regency period so it just sounds stupid and they throw in a bunch of "fancy" words that they don't actually know how to properly use. It is so infuriating.
The voiceovers (more about that later) are especially bad. They're supposed to be insightful or witty or something, but instead they're banal at best and downright nonsense at worst. This show is so dumb, y'all. Like, insult-your-intelligence level dumb. The actors and the production design are carrying everything. The writing is doing absolutely nothing.
+ Speaking of bad writing, it is also insanely inconsistent. Characters' motivations and desires change from one episode to the next without any reasons. I think we're just supposed to not notice? That a character who wants X in one episode now is totally opposed to X in the next episode??? Writers might have been able to get away with that sort of thing in the old days of weekly episodes, but in this era of streaming and binging, it is so noticeable. It makes me want to attack the writer's room with an axe.
The writers don't even know who all the characters are. Who the hell is Benedict? What is his personality? Who the hell is Daphne? What am I supposed to be drawn to about her? Is Penelope supposed to be kind or a manipulative jerk? What the heck is going on with the Queen?
And the characters who do have somewhat consistent personalities are often shallow. Eloise should work (more on Eloise later, I have SO many feelings), but she doesn't. Why does Violet only care about marrying off her children and nothing else? Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury is a delight, but...I'm not sure who her character is and what she wants.
Kate and Anthony as leads manage to have decently developed personalities even if their motives and desires shift from episode to episode. Kate has Big Sister Syndrome bad, and Anthony is even worse with his feelings about duty and his martyr complex. But I also really like Kate and find her understandable, and I like that Anthony likes Kate. So they're the only two characters who mostly work. And they work well enough to keep me watching.
+ The family stuff should be the best part of the show, and on the rare occasions when it's well-written, it is. But most of the time even that doesn't work because of bad dialogue or inconsistent writing.
Kate's deep protectiveness over her sister (to the point that she keeps vital information from her and doesn't allow her to make her own choices) is a very realistic scenario and honestly a good source of tension. But the inconsistency of the writing again undermines it. Take the wedding episode. (And god, how dumb was it to have them at the literal altar before it breaks up?) Edwina is upset with Kate. Okay, that's fine. But the reasons she's upset with her move around within the episode, sometimes outright contradicting each other or previous episodes. I super hate it!
The Bridgertons mostly don't have a natural rapport either, and it's entirely the fault of the writing. (And probably the direction, too, but I understand less about that.) There are a few scenes where they feel like actual siblings, but most of the time they just don't, and this crushes me because siblings are always my favorite. (Also it doesn't help that my primary fandom atm is The Untamed, which has some of the best, most interesting sibling relationships I've ever seen. WWX&JC make me go absolutely feral.)
Eloise and Benedict are the two that actually seem most like siblings to me (except for the two little ones, Gregory and Hyacinth, whose names I only know because I've read the books). And that leads me to another big complaint.
+ ELOISE AND BENEDICT SHOULD NOT BE STRAIGHT. Both of them have major queer energy, and it would make sense that they have a deeper bond than the others because they're both queer. Except that they're not queer! Even though they totally should be! The only thing that makes sense is for Eloise to be either ace or a lesbian! And yet she is not! She is apparently straight! And Benedict should at the very least be bi, but they keep giving him stupidly heterosexual relationships with women with no personalities just...because??? IT IS SO FRUSTRATING.
I'm sorry--8 siblings and they're all straight? NOPE. Not buying it. Eloise deserves a sapphic relationship (my idea is that she and Edwina should fall in love--Edwina loves to read, too! And I love the potential dynamic of "girl who doesn't want to play the society/marriage mart game"/"girl who plays it perfectly"!!!!!!).
+ SPEAKING OF ELOISE. Most wanted potential in this whole show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so upset about it! There is nothing more intrinsically interesting to me than a woman who has no interest in marriage and hates playing the society game being stuck in a world in which her only purpose is to marry and play the society game. She should be my character! Especially given that the show wants her to be a proto-feminist of the Wollstonecraft variety.
But they don't know how to write her! It just doesn't work. The actress is doing her best and I do like some things about her performance, but her physicality (I think she's supposed to be conveying that she is awkward and doesn't move gracefully) is just OTT, and I'm thinking that's a direction problem. Most of the time Eloise radiates Not Like Other Girls energy and insults all the other women in her vicinity, but then she'll flip around and get upset when other people insult women.
Some of these contradictions would work if a) the writers were aware that they were doing this and b) they were supposed to be flaws that she'll eventually grow out of. But no! The writing is too stupid for that! So instead we just get this cliche of a feminist (who talks about NOTHING except her feminist "ideals" and drives everyone around her crazy).
I am dreading Eloise's season (of the show, not the social season) and yet I desperately want to see it because let me tell you right now: if they stick to the books, it will not work. Eloise in the show is a completely different character than Eloise in the books. (Which is fine!)
If I recall correctly (and it's been years since I read these books), her story is that she runs away to be a governess to some motherless kids of a lord and then falls in love with their dad. (Very Sound of Music!)
But y'all, this will not work because Eloise doesn't like kids! We've seen her not know how to hold a baby! (Which is completely unbelievable because she has multiple younger siblings!!!) Why?????????? would she go be a governess??? And the guy who falls in love with in the books is already cast and I can already tell they will have no chemistry and also why would she be drawn to him at all? He's a geek with a botany obsession. Which would make a fine love interest for another character (I myself could be very into a geek with a botany obsession!) but absolutely will not on any level work for Eloise.
If Eloise absolutely must end up with a man (and I'm assuming she will; did you hear me when I said the show is aggressively straight?), then she should end up with someone working class or revolutionary or something. Someone like the guy she's flirting with right now, except hopefully with some actual screen presence, because the actor who's playing him could be replaced by a cardboard cutout and I wouldn't notice.
The only way they could make an Eloise falling in love storyline work is if they entirely scrap her story from the book. And I just can't see them doing that because the fans would be upset. Even though it would be the smart thing to do. Her season is going to be a trainwreck. (If it ever gets made. It's still far in the future and Netflix is notorious for cancelling shows. Though this one is so wildly successful that I can see it going on forever.)
+ Let's talk some more about adaptation because adaptation of books is my passion, apparently. Even when I don't care about the book(s) (as I don't really care about this series, despite having read it), I super super care about the writing decisions the writers make.
Like 99% of historical romance series, each book in the Bridgerton series focuses on a different main pairing. In this case, they're more connected than such series usually are because all of the leading characters are from the same family. But ultimately, only one of the siblings is the main character of each book, and the other siblings are only background characters (if they're even present).
Now this works wonderfully for a book series, but the writers don't seem to think it could work for a TV show. (I actually disagree--Asian dramas frequently have a plots that are essentially that of a romance novel: Main Pairing fall in love. This is totally enough to carry a show if the show is well written, if the pairing is good, and if the show isn't too long.) So instead they've decided to widen the focus of the show so that all the background characters allegedly get arcs (except none of them get arcs because the writers are so bad they don't know how to write arcs).
But they haven't done any longterm planning! Because what they've got going on with the characters who are not focus of the season often completely undermines what's to come for those characters when they inevitably get their own season!
Anthony is an example of this. He was a total asshole in S1 and no one liked him. In S2, they made him a bit less of an asshole (and not in an organic he's-growing kind of way). But if you remember who he was in S1, it makes him much less likeable than he is in S2.
The most egregious example of this is Penelope. In the books, Penelope is mentioned a bunch of times, but we never get to know her until her book (which many readers think is the best of the series--or at least tied with Anthony's book). When we do get to know her, we love her because she's smart and little bit scheming but ultimately a very good person. She's been overlooked her entire life, and the whole joy of the book is watching her come into her own and also be appreciated (and ultimately adored) by the guy she's been pining for for years. The entire book works only because she's so likeable and you root for her.
She is secretly Lady Whistledown, but Lady Whistledown in the books is not a plot point (at least not until Penelope's book). She doesn't actually affect anything. She's just a quirky way to provide some exposition and a little bit of color. She's cheeky, but we never see her do anything to actually hurt anyone who doesn't totally deserve it.
BUT IN THE SHOW OMG. Penelope is terrible! Though I'm not sure the show knows that! She's selfish and manipulative and I don't like her at all! As I said, I stopped watching halfway through S1 and a large part of that was because Pen was being character assassinated. She was just being a total jerk to her cousin who was in a very vulnerable position. And from what I understand, she ended up doing even worse things after I stopped watching the S1. She uses her powers as Lady Whistledown for ill, not just good.
I really believe this is because the writers are terrible at planning. They have not considered the fact that by the time we get to Pen's season, we won't like her. Even though her story only works if we like her! I am so annoyed! What the hell are they going to do when they get to her season? Just completely reboot the character? Are we going to have to forget what a jerk she was for multiple seasons of the show? THIS IS SUCH POOR PLANNING.
I just really think the entire show is going to go even more off the rails as we go further along because they've forced themselves to create storylines for all these characters who should only be background characters. Like with Eloise--by the time we get to her story, her story is going to be completely unbelievable for her personality! I can't handle this! You could get away with inconsistent plotting when you were writing The X-Files in the early 90s, but you absolutely cannot get away with this sort of thing in the 2020s now that television has become the genre that it is. YOU CAN'T.
+ There are also just a ton of awkward scenes. The one that comes most immediately to mind is in the wedding episode, where Lady Danbury and Violet have a laughing fit. The actresses are trying so hard, but the thing they're laughing about is not that funny and it just doesn't work. It was so awkward to watch!
The fact that they have a 33-year-old man play himself in the flashbacks to where he's 19 means that the guy who's playing his father is only like 12 years older than him and it looks SO STUPID and awkward when they're in scenes together. JUST CAST ANOTHER ACTOR. It would have given those scenes so much more emotional heft anyway, because we're supposed to understand that Anthony was just an overwhelmed kid when he became responsible for his entire family, and that is genuinely touching, but the scenes are being played by an adult! UGH!!!! WHY?????
I ended up fastforwarding through a lot of the Featherington family scenes because they triggered my second-hand embarrassment. I don't need that in my life.
I will give Bridgerton one final compliment: the costumes are really beautiful. They're better this season than they were last season. Kate, especially gets to wear lots and lots of gorgeous costume sin incredible vivid colors (I am not a pastels person, so this was a major upgrade for me) and she looks incredible in them. (My sister and I had an argument the other day over whether Simone Ashley or Charithra Chandran is more beautiful. This is a pointless conversation because they are both gorgeous. But for the record, I'm team Simone.)
And the settings are so fun too--beautiful countryside, every Georgian or Palladian building in Britain (many of which are instantly recognizable if you've seen them in real life), the beautiful interiors. It really is lovely even if it's also shallow.
The things I watch just for the sake of het couples who actually have chemistry!
Knowing me, as soon as I hit post, I will probably think of fourteen other things I wanted to write about and come back and add them.
So of course the one I have to say a whole bunch about is the bad one.
But first the good one: like literally everyone else who has watched it, I enjoyed the heck out of Our Flag Means Death. I did not reach the level of obsession that some of my other friends have reached, but I loved it lots and I can't wait for S2.
A deliriously wonderful cast, sharp and funny and moving writing, a tone that guarantees enjoyment--it's just such a fun show! (Until it's emotionally devastating. This show has almost nothing in common with Ted Lasso, and yet I think of them in similar ways--delightful to start with, then surprisingly emotionally upsetting, and everyone who watches them loves them.)
People keep comparing it to the other queer pirate show (Black Sails), which is silly. BS is a very serious show about empire and queerness and storytelling and compromise. OFMD is a very funny show about figuring out what you want in life and how to get it without hurting the people you love (though the characters are very bad at the latter). And queerness.
It kind of reminds me more of Los Espookys, my super super weird comedy fave that is also about queerness. LE has more women, though. That's the one bad thing about OFMD--not enough ladies! Though the ladies that exist are great and the writers do right by them.
Anyway, highly recommended! My crush on Taika Waititi continues apace! (I don't think you can say "continues apace" about a crush but I'm saying it anyway.) I'm so glad that weird queer people with big hearts are getting to make TV these days. It's so nice.
Now for the other show. Yes, I gave in and watched S2 of Bridgerton (well, I haven't yet seen the final two episodes, but I'll watch them tonight). You have to understand that I dropped S1 halfway through because it was driving me crazy. So I was Not Going To Watch S2. I really wasn't.
But then people I trust (I'm looking at you, Meg) were losing their mind over the main pairing, so I was like, "What the heck, I'll give it another shot. I can always stop if it's still bad."
Well, friends, it is still bad. It's got all the same flaws as S1. (And is aggressively, aggressively straight.) And yet I did not stop watching. Because despite all of its flaws, it had one thing going for it: the main couple this time actually have chemistry and personalities!!!!
Regé-Jean Page, leading man of S1, is an obscenely beautiful man, but his character was underwritten, and his love interest was dull as dishwater. Their chemistry was lacking, too. I guess I could understand that they were physically attracted to each other, but I never really understood why I was expected to think that they liked each other. Who are these people? Why should I care about them? I super did not, so I dropped the show.
But in S2, Simone Ashley's Kate and Jonathan Bailey's Anthony actually have personalities! Admittedly, I'm not always crazy about Anthony's, but at least it exists. And I do love Kate. And it's easy to see how these two people would work together--that if they ever got over themselves (and the stupid positions they keep putting themselves in), they could really make each other laugh and work as a team and just generally have a great partnership (in addition to wanting to bang each others' brains out).
So that main pairing is enough to keep me watching S2. Unfortunately, every other problem that was present in S1 is present in season 2. Now is the time to rant about them. You are warned that this is both long and incredibly negative.
+ The dialogue is excruciatingly, embarrassingly awful. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense on the sentence level. ("I heard you and the king had many trials during your happy courtship." Um. What?) The writers want the characters to sound formal and old-fashioned but they have zero idea of how language worked in the Regency period so it just sounds stupid and they throw in a bunch of "fancy" words that they don't actually know how to properly use. It is so infuriating.
The voiceovers (more about that later) are especially bad. They're supposed to be insightful or witty or something, but instead they're banal at best and downright nonsense at worst. This show is so dumb, y'all. Like, insult-your-intelligence level dumb. The actors and the production design are carrying everything. The writing is doing absolutely nothing.
+ Speaking of bad writing, it is also insanely inconsistent. Characters' motivations and desires change from one episode to the next without any reasons. I think we're just supposed to not notice? That a character who wants X in one episode now is totally opposed to X in the next episode??? Writers might have been able to get away with that sort of thing in the old days of weekly episodes, but in this era of streaming and binging, it is so noticeable. It makes me want to attack the writer's room with an axe.
The writers don't even know who all the characters are. Who the hell is Benedict? What is his personality? Who the hell is Daphne? What am I supposed to be drawn to about her? Is Penelope supposed to be kind or a manipulative jerk? What the heck is going on with the Queen?
And the characters who do have somewhat consistent personalities are often shallow. Eloise should work (more on Eloise later, I have SO many feelings), but she doesn't. Why does Violet only care about marrying off her children and nothing else? Adjoa Andoh as Lady Danbury is a delight, but...I'm not sure who her character is and what she wants.
Kate and Anthony as leads manage to have decently developed personalities even if their motives and desires shift from episode to episode. Kate has Big Sister Syndrome bad, and Anthony is even worse with his feelings about duty and his martyr complex. But I also really like Kate and find her understandable, and I like that Anthony likes Kate. So they're the only two characters who mostly work. And they work well enough to keep me watching.
+ The family stuff should be the best part of the show, and on the rare occasions when it's well-written, it is. But most of the time even that doesn't work because of bad dialogue or inconsistent writing.
Kate's deep protectiveness over her sister (to the point that she keeps vital information from her and doesn't allow her to make her own choices) is a very realistic scenario and honestly a good source of tension. But the inconsistency of the writing again undermines it. Take the wedding episode. (And god, how dumb was it to have them at the literal altar before it breaks up?) Edwina is upset with Kate. Okay, that's fine. But the reasons she's upset with her move around within the episode, sometimes outright contradicting each other or previous episodes. I super hate it!
The Bridgertons mostly don't have a natural rapport either, and it's entirely the fault of the writing. (And probably the direction, too, but I understand less about that.) There are a few scenes where they feel like actual siblings, but most of the time they just don't, and this crushes me because siblings are always my favorite. (Also it doesn't help that my primary fandom atm is The Untamed, which has some of the best, most interesting sibling relationships I've ever seen. WWX&JC make me go absolutely feral.)
Eloise and Benedict are the two that actually seem most like siblings to me (except for the two little ones, Gregory and Hyacinth, whose names I only know because I've read the books). And that leads me to another big complaint.
+ ELOISE AND BENEDICT SHOULD NOT BE STRAIGHT. Both of them have major queer energy, and it would make sense that they have a deeper bond than the others because they're both queer. Except that they're not queer! Even though they totally should be! The only thing that makes sense is for Eloise to be either ace or a lesbian! And yet she is not! She is apparently straight! And Benedict should at the very least be bi, but they keep giving him stupidly heterosexual relationships with women with no personalities just...because??? IT IS SO FRUSTRATING.
I'm sorry--8 siblings and they're all straight? NOPE. Not buying it. Eloise deserves a sapphic relationship (my idea is that she and Edwina should fall in love--Edwina loves to read, too! And I love the potential dynamic of "girl who doesn't want to play the society/marriage mart game"/"girl who plays it perfectly"!!!!!!).
+ SPEAKING OF ELOISE. Most wanted potential in this whole show!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so upset about it! There is nothing more intrinsically interesting to me than a woman who has no interest in marriage and hates playing the society game being stuck in a world in which her only purpose is to marry and play the society game. She should be my character! Especially given that the show wants her to be a proto-feminist of the Wollstonecraft variety.
But they don't know how to write her! It just doesn't work. The actress is doing her best and I do like some things about her performance, but her physicality (I think she's supposed to be conveying that she is awkward and doesn't move gracefully) is just OTT, and I'm thinking that's a direction problem. Most of the time Eloise radiates Not Like Other Girls energy and insults all the other women in her vicinity, but then she'll flip around and get upset when other people insult women.
Some of these contradictions would work if a) the writers were aware that they were doing this and b) they were supposed to be flaws that she'll eventually grow out of. But no! The writing is too stupid for that! So instead we just get this cliche of a feminist (who talks about NOTHING except her feminist "ideals" and drives everyone around her crazy).
I am dreading Eloise's season (of the show, not the social season) and yet I desperately want to see it because let me tell you right now: if they stick to the books, it will not work. Eloise in the show is a completely different character than Eloise in the books. (Which is fine!)
If I recall correctly (and it's been years since I read these books), her story is that she runs away to be a governess to some motherless kids of a lord and then falls in love with their dad. (Very Sound of Music!)
But y'all, this will not work because Eloise doesn't like kids! We've seen her not know how to hold a baby! (Which is completely unbelievable because she has multiple younger siblings!!!) Why?????????? would she go be a governess??? And the guy who falls in love with in the books is already cast and I can already tell they will have no chemistry and also why would she be drawn to him at all? He's a geek with a botany obsession. Which would make a fine love interest for another character (I myself could be very into a geek with a botany obsession!) but absolutely will not on any level work for Eloise.
If Eloise absolutely must end up with a man (and I'm assuming she will; did you hear me when I said the show is aggressively straight?), then she should end up with someone working class or revolutionary or something. Someone like the guy she's flirting with right now, except hopefully with some actual screen presence, because the actor who's playing him could be replaced by a cardboard cutout and I wouldn't notice.
The only way they could make an Eloise falling in love storyline work is if they entirely scrap her story from the book. And I just can't see them doing that because the fans would be upset. Even though it would be the smart thing to do. Her season is going to be a trainwreck. (If it ever gets made. It's still far in the future and Netflix is notorious for cancelling shows. Though this one is so wildly successful that I can see it going on forever.)
+ Let's talk some more about adaptation because adaptation of books is my passion, apparently. Even when I don't care about the book(s) (as I don't really care about this series, despite having read it), I super super care about the writing decisions the writers make.
Like 99% of historical romance series, each book in the Bridgerton series focuses on a different main pairing. In this case, they're more connected than such series usually are because all of the leading characters are from the same family. But ultimately, only one of the siblings is the main character of each book, and the other siblings are only background characters (if they're even present).
Now this works wonderfully for a book series, but the writers don't seem to think it could work for a TV show. (I actually disagree--Asian dramas frequently have a plots that are essentially that of a romance novel: Main Pairing fall in love. This is totally enough to carry a show if the show is well written, if the pairing is good, and if the show isn't too long.) So instead they've decided to widen the focus of the show so that all the background characters allegedly get arcs (except none of them get arcs because the writers are so bad they don't know how to write arcs).
But they haven't done any longterm planning! Because what they've got going on with the characters who are not focus of the season often completely undermines what's to come for those characters when they inevitably get their own season!
Anthony is an example of this. He was a total asshole in S1 and no one liked him. In S2, they made him a bit less of an asshole (and not in an organic he's-growing kind of way). But if you remember who he was in S1, it makes him much less likeable than he is in S2.
The most egregious example of this is Penelope. In the books, Penelope is mentioned a bunch of times, but we never get to know her until her book (which many readers think is the best of the series--or at least tied with Anthony's book). When we do get to know her, we love her because she's smart and little bit scheming but ultimately a very good person. She's been overlooked her entire life, and the whole joy of the book is watching her come into her own and also be appreciated (and ultimately adored) by the guy she's been pining for for years. The entire book works only because she's so likeable and you root for her.
She is secretly Lady Whistledown, but Lady Whistledown in the books is not a plot point (at least not until Penelope's book). She doesn't actually affect anything. She's just a quirky way to provide some exposition and a little bit of color. She's cheeky, but we never see her do anything to actually hurt anyone who doesn't totally deserve it.
BUT IN THE SHOW OMG. Penelope is terrible! Though I'm not sure the show knows that! She's selfish and manipulative and I don't like her at all! As I said, I stopped watching halfway through S1 and a large part of that was because Pen was being character assassinated. She was just being a total jerk to her cousin who was in a very vulnerable position. And from what I understand, she ended up doing even worse things after I stopped watching the S1. She uses her powers as Lady Whistledown for ill, not just good.
I really believe this is because the writers are terrible at planning. They have not considered the fact that by the time we get to Pen's season, we won't like her. Even though her story only works if we like her! I am so annoyed! What the hell are they going to do when they get to her season? Just completely reboot the character? Are we going to have to forget what a jerk she was for multiple seasons of the show? THIS IS SUCH POOR PLANNING.
I just really think the entire show is going to go even more off the rails as we go further along because they've forced themselves to create storylines for all these characters who should only be background characters. Like with Eloise--by the time we get to her story, her story is going to be completely unbelievable for her personality! I can't handle this! You could get away with inconsistent plotting when you were writing The X-Files in the early 90s, but you absolutely cannot get away with this sort of thing in the 2020s now that television has become the genre that it is. YOU CAN'T.
+ There are also just a ton of awkward scenes. The one that comes most immediately to mind is in the wedding episode, where Lady Danbury and Violet have a laughing fit. The actresses are trying so hard, but the thing they're laughing about is not that funny and it just doesn't work. It was so awkward to watch!
The fact that they have a 33-year-old man play himself in the flashbacks to where he's 19 means that the guy who's playing his father is only like 12 years older than him and it looks SO STUPID and awkward when they're in scenes together. JUST CAST ANOTHER ACTOR. It would have given those scenes so much more emotional heft anyway, because we're supposed to understand that Anthony was just an overwhelmed kid when he became responsible for his entire family, and that is genuinely touching, but the scenes are being played by an adult! UGH!!!! WHY?????
I ended up fastforwarding through a lot of the Featherington family scenes because they triggered my second-hand embarrassment. I don't need that in my life.
I will give Bridgerton one final compliment: the costumes are really beautiful. They're better this season than they were last season. Kate, especially gets to wear lots and lots of gorgeous costume sin incredible vivid colors (I am not a pastels person, so this was a major upgrade for me) and she looks incredible in them. (My sister and I had an argument the other day over whether Simone Ashley or Charithra Chandran is more beautiful. This is a pointless conversation because they are both gorgeous. But for the record, I'm team Simone.)
And the settings are so fun too--beautiful countryside, every Georgian or Palladian building in Britain (many of which are instantly recognizable if you've seen them in real life), the beautiful interiors. It really is lovely even if it's also shallow.
The things I watch just for the sake of het couples who actually have chemistry!
Knowing me, as soon as I hit post, I will probably think of fourteen other things I wanted to write about and come back and add them.
no subject
I do put a fair bit of blame on the actress, because she delivers all her lines in this super snotty tone that makes her read like a spoiled rich girl on walkabout (which she essentially is) but the writing is not helping. They keep giving her these lines that are meant to be funny but are actually just mean - like when Daphne arrives with her baby and asks Eloise to hold him, and Eloise goes "why, has he changed since the last time I saw him?" Just petty nastiness for no reason! Or her berating that printer until he gave her the scandal sheet, never mind that she is in just about every way his social superior, so it's like watching an elephant step on a duck. Just zero awareness on the actress/writer's behalf of how awful she comes across
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I'm so glad! OFMD didn't speak to my soul as deeply as it did to yours, but it did speak to my heart and my funny bone, and I love the idea of lots more people discovering it!
no subject
OFMD didn't speak to my soul as deeply as it did to yours
I think that might be because that’s literally impossible. But more seriously, I’m so so glad you enjoyed it!! YAY!
no subject
I think that might be because that’s literally impossible.
I agree, I think this show is actually your soulmate. And I don't even believe in soulmates! (And using a Troy and Abed icon for this discussion is *chef's kiss*)
no subject
I love that it's a very queer show, and yet the queerness is never played as a tragic plot point, the homophobia is minimal, and while it's definitely a romance, it's also about finding your people and choosing your family. And I liked how much diversity there is, and also disability being present in such a casual, non-dramatic way, just as another part of life. I think it was really well done! We definitely need another season!
And I didn't know that people were comparing it to "Black sails"... haha, pretty much the only thing they have in common is that they both feature queer pirates! XD I am very happy to have two queer pirate shows to love, but they couldn't possibly be more different... and that's a good thing!
And OMG, you're the first person I know who's watched "Los Espookys", that show was hilarious and so unique, and we also need more of it!
no subject
It's kind of inspired a mini-renaissance of Black Sails content over on tumblr dot com with lots of people making jokes about queer pirates (a fave).
I think about six people watched Los Espookys but we are all passionately devoted to it! Did you see that the cast posted some pictures of themselves filming Season 2?
no subject
Oh, I didn't know anything about the new season of "Los Espookys", how exciting!! Thanks for telling me!!!! :D
no subject
You're so welcome! I was so happy when I heard it was definitely happening!
no subject
(I forgot to say that I loved the songs they used in OFMD... it really fit with my old lady classic rock music style! XD (My penpal and I watched it nearly at the same time, and we both got *massively* earwormed by Fleetwood Mac, haha!)
Now I'm *really* looking forward to more Espookys, yayyy! Do you know when the new season is coming? :D
no subject
(YES! SUCH a good use of "The Chain" and RIGHT AFTER Morricone too!)
I don't know actually! But have you watched Julio's very weird standup special?
no subject
no subject
no subject
(I have no desire to ever watch Bridgerton, so I wasn't worried about getting spoiled.)
no subject
no subject
Simone Ashley certainly looks gorgeous in random gifs I've seen!!
no subject
no subject
Me @ the second couple (Youngseo and Sunghoon) of the k-drama A Business Proposal. My hunger for that show was and is fuelled solely by their chemistry.
Seriously though, sometimes the frustrating shows that don't make sense make you unaccountably fond of them, simply because potential wasted signals potential, and when potential is signalled you sometimes, in a moment of weakness, might go look for fic, and when you find and read fic you might sometimes realise you've fallen into the fandom. That happened to me with Pretty Little Liars, although I did give up watching it around the sixth season.
no subject
I definitely have affection for shows that are really messy. And I tend to be most inspired to write and read fic by shows that are good but messy (think Buffy, The X-Files, that kind of thing). A really tightly-written show that doesn't need much improvement (think The Expanse) doesn't really inspire me fannishly at all. So I am always open to shows that are imperfect. But only if the characterization is good! And man, the characterization on Bridgerton is TERRIBLE.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject