Malbec
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Posts posted by Malbec
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I do find myself annoyed with the neverending shitty treatment of Carter and Sousa. I get the era they're in but they've definitely amplified it for the show. I find it hard to believe that Sousa as a wounded veteran would be treated with such open disdain.
I don't think they've amplified the sexism of the era. If anything, the relative lack of sexual harassment Peggy deals with makes SSR a dream compared to some 2015 workplaces...
As for the treatment of Sousa, when the harsh comments come from other vets it actually makes a horrible kind of sense to me. I always read it as a thing where other vets know how easily they could've ended up in Sousa's position or worse, and it freaks them out, and it gets expressed as hostility. The "just world" theory basically.
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OK, the line "...Breathmint?" made me howl. Dooley, you utter magnificent douchebag.
Actually, I liked seeing that he, Thompson and Sousa each had a moment where they moved the case forward. Not that it made me like them per se -- Thompson certainly earned the fat slice of comeuppance that is surely headed his way -- but it's good to flesh out Peggy's surroundings and see that she's surrounded by people who could credibly unmask her. And who certainly will if Sousa, or that FUCKING TYPEWRITER (!!!!), are any indication.
Peggy and Howard's falling out was so sad. I thought it was well-written, and really well played by Atwell and Cooper, that Steve's loss is still a big, raw, gaping wound for both of them. They cover it in such different ways, but it's the same pain.
Interesting that in opposition to Thompson, Sousa chose empathy and relating to get the suspect to talk. And failed. I think that was a novel choice from a writing perspective.
I liked that writing choice too. And, I liked the detail that Sousa had to know Thompson was listening/watching to his spiel about being disabled, and didn't care (and maybe even, secondary to the interrogation, wanted him to hear some of that stuff).
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Bullock and Fish had more chemistry in one conversation than Barbara's had with anybody all season.
Gordon... I feel like he goes through the same basic "gets told to back off/barges in and does stuff while yelling about justice anyway" plot every episode. Although, I did like his bizarro alliance with Cobblepot. In terms of livening things up, it's a good start.
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But that makes sense to me. Andre is the only one who left the nest, and probably worked damned hard to get away. He had to be away from his family for at least 7 years getting his degrees and working at goldman sachs.
I find him to be the most interesting brother and I hope they don't make light of his illness or turn him into a villian. Bipolar doesn't equal evil.
What's interesting about Andre is that he doesn't seem to hold resentment towards his younger brothers. He doesn't appear to want to be mommy or daddy's favorite. He just wants a position he feels he's the best fit for. But Lucious believes intelligence and hard work is less important than the ability to write and sing songs, which is just nuts. Talent typically doesn't run music labels. Labels are run by business man, Andres. Most of which have zero music ability. Andre is currently the CFO, the oldest son, and the only son who can interpret a profit or loss statement or even has the desire to read one. Hakeem could never run the company and while Jamal possibly could I don't think he has any interest in the business side of things. So I guess my point is that the narrative loses me when it tries to beat me over the head with the idea that passion for music is most important for the CEO position of a label.
I agree with your whole post, and I also hope they don't make Andre a 100% villain. They've been so good with Jamal's storyline, it would really disappoint me if the show cheaped out and went with the "mentally ill guy = evil" trope. I do think Andre has a cold and manipulative side to his personality, but right now to me it seems like he'd be that way regardless of having bipolar disorder or not. I hope the show can maintain that nuance.
The fact that the rest of the Lyon family seems not to have a clue is also a really sad detail when you think about it. It implies that whenever his Andre's illness first presented, he dealt with it on his own (possibly with Rhonda, if she was in the picture at that point) and didn't consider his family to be a real source of support. For all the talk of Jamal coming out, it's actually Andre who is way, WAY deeper in his own "closet." That makes for a pretty fascinating character, so I think it would be a waste if they just reduced him to being pure evil.
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Why does SVU have to get good right when I'm also freshly hooked on Empire?? This was one of the best episodes to come down the pike in a while. I do not like the show's excessive fixation on Amaro's anger, but I do think there have been some excellent Amaro-centric episodes in the past ("Undercover Blue" comes to mind). And a big reason why those episodes work is because Danny Pino is SO good. He did not disappoint in this episode at all. I thought he played Amaro's vulnerability beautifully -- he never overplayed it, but gave you just enough to feel the deep, deep wounds left over from his childhood abuse.
I thought it was enraging, but also REALLY realistic and believable, that Amaro's mother and sister fell all over themselves to enable Amaro Sr. and went along with gaslighting Nick. The fact that they kept roping Zara in to manipulate him made me so angry, but again was also very believable. A lot of families have that code of silence where abuse and dysfunction are concerned. As long as nobody talks about it, the problem doesn't exist. And if somebody DOES talk about it, they're the one making it a problem, and they need to be shut down. The writing for this episode was extremely insightful about how abuse is a whole-family situation.
And I just adored that scene between Barba and Amaro at the bar. That was such great character work for both of them. I really liked that while Amaro and Barba are very different men and didn't become instant BFFs, they did very credibly find that common ground. It felt real. Getting a peek at Barba's backstory was a good bonus, and the detail of him clenching his fist in the courtroom scene was PERFECT.
In a way, this episode highlighted exactly what I don't like about the episodes that focus on the detectives' personal lives. This episode was so good, but it would be way more effective if it weren't the umpteenth time we've revisited Amaro's personal drama. What the show needs to do is pull back and drop character-centric episodes like this into the mix sparingly, because that's what makes them effective. I know that's been a lost cause with SVU for years now, but just saying.
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Actually regarding the color and print on Michelle's outfit - 70 style and colors are IN this season, it's all over fashion magazines right now and there was tons of that stuff at NY Fashion week spring 2015, shoes as well. The fact that many of you is reminiscent of that time when seeing her outfits this week means she is right on point.
However, just because you're working with something on trend doesn't mean you're working well with something on trend. I liked the print that Michelle selected, and I even liked the idea she was going for with her pattern-mixing, but the proportions were a huge fail. The faraway view looked like pajamas.
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Does everyone who hates Michelle's print also hate Mondo's mix of prints, which were always large (much larger than hers) and usually quite colorful? Of course I'm one of the few who didn't find the print that awful, but I have to admit that I frequently wonder if disliking a designer shades what the opinion of the fashion is.
Mondo was able to pull off print-mixing because he had an excellent sense of proportion and had the tailoring skills to execute flawlessly. Michelle... less so. I missed her season and I actually don't have strong feelings on her as a person or designer (I've even, gasp, liked a few of the things she's made this season) but she's not in Mondo's league.
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I'm sorry but Michelle's models looked like rodeo clowns. I like a good print and I might have even liked that print done differently, but I thought those outfits were absurd.
I didn't really think anybody deserved to win this week, but I guess Sonjia winning was OK.
The line "I don't think anyone's ready to wear neoprene" cracked me up.
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The story I heard, and it could very well be incorrect, is that the decision to exclude Taraji was not made by TVGuide but by CBS. I've also heard it was the network that wanted her gone and not Nolan/Emerson/Cavizel/anyone at the show.
WTF? I remember the TV Guide snub because Taraji was just coming off an Oscar nomination at the time, so it was especially effed up that she wasn't on the cover.
I hope CBS is eating it now.
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My wish for Andre right now is to actually seem like he's part of this family in some way. At this point I feel like you can exchange him for some random executive in the company that's not related to the family who thinks they deserve to run it because they've actually worked for it instead of nepotism. That's probably what they're going for but so far Uncle Vernon seems like more of a family member (is he?) than Andre. Its kind of been bugging me.
I agree so much! Some of it is that Andre seems to purposely hold himself apart from his family, but his relationships with everyone except Rhonda are still a little fuzzy. I think you can make the case for him having daddy issues or mommy issues or both, but it's all just trying to fill in the blanks at this point. I'm hoping he turns out to be a slow-boil type of character, and that there's going to be some payoff down the line.
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I think Andre and Rhonda are both pretty dysfunctional, but right now they seem dysfunctional in way that matches. To me they seem like they are exactly on the same wavelength when it comes to scheming and plotting, and they both like the qualities they bring out in each other (even if, looking in, those qualities are kind of messed up).
I also think there's a case of the apple not falling far from the tree with Andre. He clearly inherited his father's cunning. What I like about the show's set-up is that none of the sons, up until now, are really adequate to take Luscious' place. Andre has the intelligence, Jamal has the heart, Hakeem has the boldness - a great leader needs all three. Although it's possible that with Jamal now fully committing to taking the empire, he'll demonstrate some of those other qualities himself.
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You mean the old family friend that pulled a gun on him in his house trying to extort 3 million dollars to pay gambling debts? That friend? I didn't condone the murder but Bunkie wasn't an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire. Bunkie took it there first.
You don't have to think Bunkie was completely innocent (he wasn't) to think that Luscious crossed a line by cold-bloodedly killing him. The point I was making is that the incident of throwing Jamal in the trash wasn't the only time the writers showed Luscious as a villainous character, so it's too simple to say that's the only reason why people would hate him.
At the same time, a lot of classic tragedies feature a villainous or morally corrupt character at their center (MacBeth comes to mind) so it's possible to regard him as a villainous character and yet still find him a human and well-rounded character.
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It's not just the trash can incident that makes people hate Luscious, though. He shot an old family friend in the face in the first episode. His plan to pit his sons against each other also speaks to his unhealthy attitude towards his children.
For all that, I personally do think Luscious is still a three-dimensional character. I think he'll end up the vein of characters like Walter White or the Sopranos, characters where you can utterly detest their actions and think they fully deserve to get what's coming to them, but still find them interesting human beings.
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That's the problem I have with Cookie as a parent. When "Intervention" was on, I always noticed that the parent gave all their love, time,energy and money to the addict child, while the non addict child was neglected. Just because you have one son that's "set" and another one you don't know (not Hakeem's fault), doesn't mean you should shower you attention on the one child that you perceive as weak.
However, the good part is that Cookie's influence was what made Jamal finally grow a pair and tell his father to fuck off. He should have done that before, when Cookie arranged that press conference for him to come out.
I agree and I think this also works as a secondary critique of Luscious' homophobia. Luscious is so fixated on Jamal as his "problem" son that he's completely oblivious to Andre and Hakeem's much, much deeper damage.
What I love about this show is that this kind of thing is SO depressingly common in even the most ordinary families, where kids get assigned "good child," "problem child," "happy child," type of roles in the family and it's hell whether you're trying to live up to your assigned role or escape it.
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Slightly spoiler-ish Access Hollywood interview (video) with Bryshere Gray and Trai Byers. "Spoiler-ish" in the sense that they tease some upcoming storylines, but nothing I'd call a hardcore spoiler. I have to say I really enjoyed this clip. Their reactions when asked about the Obama sequence last week, and Trai Byers fanboying over Gladys Knight, were cute.
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"That's the bedroom. Where the gay love happens" -- might have been my favorite line of the episode. Jamal finally taking the gloves off with Luscious is AWESOME.
I do want to know a little more about Michael at this point. Andre and Hakeem might not have the most traditional (or functional) personal lives, but their relationships are a little bit better developed than Jamal/Michael. I did like Michael being loyal enough to pack up without question when Jamal indicated it was time to go -- after Luscious' threat last week to cut Jamal off if he didn't stay in the closet, I wonder if they were at least a little prepared for this scenario.
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I thought that Andre was intentionally messing with Hakeem to break up him and Jamal.
He was totally enacting his plan to set his brothers against each other. It was so dickish, but I have to admit I did laugh watching Andre just be a straight up troll.
Hakeem's mommy issues/kink was such a great development. The character just got 100% more interesting to me.
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The best scene, to me, was Cookie trying to introduce herself to the two European songwriters. Taraji just packed so much into a small scene -- the way Cookie tried to charm them, and then tried to play it off when Anika walked in and effortlessly humiliated her. It was quietly brutal.
It could be about wanting to make sure his son had a roof over his head but there are other reasons. Remember, Lucious has an empire to run and an image to uphold. Right or wrong, he thinks having a gay son would hurt that image. Sometimes people support others out of love. Sometimes people support others as a way of control. There seemed to be an unspoken (or maybe spoken) agreement between them that as long as Lucious was supporting him, Jamal would remain somewhat closeted--or at least not gay in a magazine cover kind of way.
He may claim to love Jamal in a 'hate the sin, love the sinner' kind of way but with the insults, the beatings and disrespect, he doesn't act towards his son in a loving way.
To me, Luscious showed his character when he rebuffed Michael's attempt at a respectful introduction. It's one thing to argue that Jamal shouldn't come out to the world because it's bad for business, but Luscious had nothing to lose by treating Michael like a person in a private setting. I also thought the way Luscious pressured Jamal to stay in the apartment, after Jamal called his bluff and said he was moving out, was a clear sign that he wants Jamal living there because he wants that lever of control. The idea of Jamal actually moving out and being his own man seems to really rattle Luscious.
In fact, the way Luscious dangles his fortune in front of all three of his sons to make them jump, it seems like that's the only way he really knows how to relate to them anymore. I think he does love them on some level, but he's also a corrupted character.
As for Andre and Rhonda... their marriage increasingly seems to me like a case of water finding its own (kinky) level. I also like the twist that Andre thinks he's done as his father asked regarding the shooting witness, and has no way of knowing his father's now a prime suspect. Luscious will certainly blame him if he finds out. Between this and the implications about his mental stability last episode, a fall from grace pretty clearly seems to be in Andre's future. I've really liked how the actor is playing Andre so far, so I'm hoping they toss him something nice and meaty to work with.
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I don't know if Peggy/Sousa is endgame, but I really don't understand this knocking of Sousa for being a passive-aggressive "Nice Guy." I agree that he's a background character who hasn't been fully developed at the moment, but there's nothing in canon so far to support that he's going to be a dick to Peggy if she dates someone else. I don't see him as passive so much as simply keeping his counsel until it's time to act. (Whether he acts against Peggy or for her remains to be seen.)
As for Sousa not being Steve -- let's not forget that even Steve needed a metaphorical kick in the ass from Peggy to stop being the "dancing monkey" version of Captain America. And that Steve was not the same person after his wartime experiences. In the movies he's shown a) being completely broken and depressed when he thinks Bucky has died in CA:TFA, b) hiding out in the gym and destroying punching bags in grief over his losses in The Avengers, c) finally coming out of his shell in CA:TWS when he meets Sam Wilson. The movie takes great pains to establish that their bond is based on mutual experiences with postwar trauma.
If Sousa is back from the war and is still suffering with some alleged "weakness", that would be completely in line with how Marvel has treated most of its heroes. Steve and Sam needed help with PTSD; Tony Stark suffered anxiety attacks; Bruce Banner's experiences drove him to attempt suicide. A key theme of the entire MCU Captain America storyline so far is that being a soldier has a cost, and that the fantasy of being a super-soldier is different from the reality.
And that's where Krzeminski, in addition to being an ableist dick, was dead wrong: Peggy is one of the few characters who KNOWS that there's a difference between the fantasy of Captain America and the reality of Steve Rogers. She loved the reality, not the fantasy.
As always, the disclaimer where Sousa is concerned: unless he's HYDRA.
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Bringing this over from the episode thread:
I don't mind shock value moments as long as they don't completely take the place of good storytelling and exposition. I find the set up of Lucious favoring Hakeem and Cookie favoring Jamal while neither parent favors Andre, to be interesting. I tend to believe that this is why Andre is the son with the mental illness. He was largely ignored and perhaps rejected as a child, and we can certainly see glimpses of that now with him as an adult. I suspect tragedy will strike and Lucious and Cookie will have to face just how sick their son has been all this time and they knew nothing of it. Expect lots of blaming and finger pointing. Lucious and Cookie blaming each other for failing Andre and definitely Cookie ripping into Rhonda for knowing and not saying anything.
I'm guessing Andre grew up, or survived his family dysfunction, by embracing the role of "good son" (in a worldly success sense). A lot of families paradoxically ignore the "good" sibling because they're seen as doing OK and not needing so much parental help. That's probably what's given him his drive to succeed, but will also be his downfall if it prevents him from truly accepting how much help he needs for his illness. I agree there's the potential for a tragic character with Andre, even if he goes full-on villain.
In regards to Rhonda, she's definitely shady. But at the moment, her one redeeming feature is that she seems to take Andre's bipolar disorder seriously. Sure, it's in her self-interest to keep him on track, but at least someone's on the ball. (Of course, I also will not be shocked if the show reveals she's messing around with his meds in some way.)
As far as telling Cookie or Luscious, why would she? Luscious is openly pitting his sons against each other and Cookie's an unknown quantity from Rhonda's POV. And Andre himself comes across like he'd sooner eat glass than admit his condition to his family. I could see Luscious and Cookie both blaming Rhonda for not speaking up, but I'm not sure they'd really have a leg to stand on.
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In this interview (Youtube video) Trai Byers made some nice remarks about feeling a responsibility to correctly portray the illness. God bless him, but I'm not setting my expectations too high that the show/writing will entirely live up to that. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised, though.
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Travelling at transwarp turned Janeway & Paris into lizards that mated......
Ha... I knew somebody was going to bring that up :p
I think it only furthers the point if the only way Janeway could get any action was to literally evolve into another species!
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I didn't get a baby fetish from it -- there were no nappies or binkies or the like. I got that this was a woman who was used to "servicing" her husband while she may already be dressed and who wanted to avoid a Lewinsky.
After last week's "All white women are smart, even when they're not", Cookie's "she actually is smart" was fun. Rhonda is perhaps closer to the Prince of France than anything. Cookie's comment is right in line with Henry's "He's better at this than I thought he'd be."
No, I didn't think it was a baby fetish either -- the simplest explanation is that Rhonda didn't want to mess up her blouse -- only making the comment that if any show were going to go there I wouldn't put it past Empire at this point (or SVU).
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Oh, that is an unpopular opinion? I never liked Noah.. He felt like he could just wipe away his mistakes and not have any consequences. I'm currently up to season 3 in my rewatch and I really cannot stand Claire. Oh man.. she is just so annoying! I felt myself wishing Sylar had killed her when he took her powers. And didn't mention she was special.. ugh.
I also really enjoyed the Hiro story in season 1 but the later seasons he was so wasted (well the Kensei stuff was cool). I mean he can travel through time! Why not make him do awesome things!
Ha... it felt unpopular back in the day, but maybe I was just hanging out in the wrong fandom corners. Bennet definitely seemed to be St. Noah who could Do No Wrong in some quarters.
I agree with you SO much about Hiro being a wasted character. I think he was too overpowered for the writers to adequately know what to do with him. His & Ando's friendship was one of the best relationships on the show.
I have to admit that I quit watching when D.L. died. Not that I was particularly attached to the character, it was just such a stupid death that it was the straw that broke the camel's back as far as my frustration with the writing. I did hear the show got better later on, though.
S01.E04: The Blitzkrieg Button
in Agent Carter [V]
"Hero forced to go rogue" is a pretty classic spy/action/thriller set-up, though, whether it's because the hero has been framed or because they can't trust their agency or because they're just a cop who doesn't play by the rules . It gives the hero another ball to juggle when they have to defeat the bad guys AND evade the good guys at the same time. It's also an excellent way to reveal a hero's ingenuity and character by seeing how they handle a well-intentioned ally who's at cross-purposes with them. So far, Peggy has been forced -- by circumstance and by the attitudes of the time -- to handle these things by sacrificing her reputation.
YMMV, but to me that's writing that's painful to watch, but it's not bad writing because it's a believable choice that she would make. It also reveals her integrity and heroism in a way that a straightforward "Peggy kicks ass and everyone appreciates her" plot wouldn't be able to. We know how much it galls her to be treated as second-class in her workplace; her willingness to play to the low expectations of her colleagues is something we know hits her where it hurts. The fact that she's willing to accept that as the price to pay for doing the right thing is a powerful character statement.