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Kathemy

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    S04.E02: 'Til The Pain Outwears The Shame

    in Nashville [V]

    · Edited by Telepath

    Well...

     

    Nashville is like a classic African dictatorship. Think Zaïre. They love to double down on their mistakes.

     

    As I recall, when Mobutu took power in the late sixties, he severed all ties to the former colonial powers and took care to underline the country’s proud African ancestry. A step on the way was renaming the country from Congo to Zaïre, which they believed to be an African name of the Congo river.

     

    However, people soon found out that the name was actually Portuguese-derived, but naturally, Mobutu and his inner circle refused to admit their mistake. Instead, now everything was to be called Zaïre. The national currency became Zaïre. The airport was renamed to Zaïre airport. Most national companies were renamed to something with Zaïre. They even encouraged the citizens to name their children Zaïre.

     

    Ever since the start of season two, the serious journalists and the entire fandom have been vocal and unison in their criticism. We don’t want our favorite characters assassinated in order to cover up the show’s mistakes. We didn’t want Deacon crashing a car in order to distract us from Rayna lying about his child’s origin for fifteen years. We didn’t want extra after extra after extra being added as increasingly nonsensical roadblocks between the characters. We didn’t want Gunnar behaving like an idiot just to stall the S/G romance. We didn’t want the show retconning his brother raping his ex-girlfriend just so we would feel sorry for her. We didn’t want Layla Grant. God, did we not want Layla Grant.

     

    Now, over the next episodes we will probably get the following:

     

    • Deacon and Rayna being increasingly estranged over his guilt over his sister’s death.
    • Avery and Juliette heading into divorce territory and Avery most likely getting a new placeholder love interest
    • Gunnar getting a fourth placeholder love interest to shield him from Scarlett
    • Layla’s screentime multiplying like a cancer with the character flip-flopping between victim, hero and villain from episode to episode

     

    The absurd thing is that most people have already given up and the show hasn’t even really gotten started alienating us.

     

    The show opened with a 1.2 rating following that up with a 1.1 which represented a series low. As we are heading into midseason territory we will probably see 0.x numbers which is essentially the death knell of the series.

     

    All that remains to be seen at this moment is whether they will even come back from the midseason break or if the network decides to pull it and burn the episodes over the summer. Either way, unless the syndication deal calls for 100 episodes this show is definitely getting cancelled.

    • Love 7

    Nashville Spoilers and Speculation

    in Nashville [V]

    Because the other ones worked out so well and kept us interested.

    Are there any positive Juliette/Avery spoilers because I'm almost gone.

    None. If anything things are going to get even worse. Apparently Juliette will have a scene on top of a roof contemplating to jump. That's fine by me. I ship Juliette with the sidewalk. Juliette/Sidewalk OTP 4ever.

    • Love 7

    S04.E02: 'Til The Pain Outwears The Shame

    in Nashville [V]

    It's right down Nashville's alley, ElectricBoogaloo. They turn characters into assholes in order to cover up another one's transgressions. Scarlett made out with Gunnar while being together with Doctor Dick, so now they have to turn him into a piece of shit so Scarlett won't need to apologize or face the consequences of her actions.

    • Love 9

    S04.E02: 'Til The Pain Outwears The Shame

    in Nashville [V]

    Abysmal episode. One of the weakest yet of the show. Practically nothing about it worked. I ended up fast-forwarding half the show. The Stella sisters song sucked. Juliette is a flat out bore, an unforgivable bitch and her song sucked even worse. The show never gets tired of playing the pity card for Layla and her song almost put me to sleep. Plus I wish Caleb gets hit by a train.

    • Love 3

    S04.E01: Can't Let Go

    in Nashville [V]

    I love Scarlett and Gunnar and do not find their love story tedious.  I do find the interruptions to their love story tedious though.  I hope they send the doctor on his way soon.

    Yeah, who in the right mind would get together with any of them? You can see they're in love a mile away... Hayley had the right idea. "It's always going to be Scarlett."

    S04.E01: Can't Let Go

    in Nashville [V]

    Jesus Christ, Scarlett and Gunnar...

     

    One would think that at some point they would finally take the hint that there's no stopping it. That everyone else in their life will just be a placeholder and that it's really unfair to other people to put them through that.

     

    Also Gunnar has to be the most stupid guy who ever lived. He wouldn't have to do anything. Tell the girl you love her and you want her back, chill out for a month and she'll probably throw herself at you. But no, I guess the crazy obsessive ex-boyfriend is the way to go!

    • Love 1

    S02.E01: Rise Of The Villains: Damned If You Do...

    in Gotham

    I think  his best role was as Cromwell on The Tudors. It was also a role where I really didn't see him as a clear-cut villain, more of a morally gray, brutal Machiavellian style politician in an age where everyone seemed to be that way. It's sort of a given that his character on this show won't be anywhere near as complex but his acting brings added flavor to everything.

    • Love 1

    S03.E06: The Source

    in Rectify [V]

    Just when I thought there would be no Tawney and Daniel this season...man, oh man did that scene get to me. I think I was in awe of it as it was happening. One of the best, most levitational scenes I've ever seen on TV I think.

     

    Now we know that they'll have to have some interaction next season for sure- Tawney's definitely in love with him. And I actually thought Ted's speech to Teddy about what really happened with his mom paralleled Tawney's own actions in letting the door open for someone else, even if it's not physical. When that happens, things are just over. Maybe Teddy realized that too, with his dad's confession.

     

    This really is a miraculous series. I'd be bummed about the short seasons, but if it helps the episodes to be this good then I can take the wait.

    !

     

    That's really clever. I hadn't even thought of that - how Ted's confession about letting someone in, even in a non-physical way, was the beginning of the end of his first marriage, and how that exactly mirrors Teddy, Tawney and Daniel. That's very strong foreshadowing.

     

    If this was any other show, the dream sequence would have come across as "fan service." I.e. writing in a scene between two characters, simply because they wanted one and could find no logical way for them to get together in real life. On this show it's anything but that. There are valid reasons for keeping these characters estranged all season, and there's a valid reason to remind them, and the viewers, that their love for each other - and yes, that's love, it's been love since the first words they said to each other - hasn't just magically disappeared.

     

    In a dialectical sense the main contradiction in the Daniel slash Tawney relationship is one of denial versus acceptance. The synthesis likely lies in understanding. Over this season both have been in a state of denial. In the dream, we see the understanding acceptance. This is different from the scene in season two episode nine, where we have a desperate, half-drunk Tawney still torn between automatic rejection - ("We can't be together") - and instinctive, unpremeditated acceptance ("Dance with me.") Tawney finally, truly sees what he's done to her, and she also sees how there's no way back from it, for better or worse.

    • Love 2

    S03.E06: The Source

    in Rectify [V]

    · Edited by Telepath

    Was that Tawney's dream?  I thought it was Daniel's daydream, because of the prison setting.  Would Tawney dream of a prison visit, instead of a walk in the woods, or something romantic, pastoral?  I was surprised when it was over, seeing Tawney wake up.  I'd like to think it was a mutual dream, a spiritual connection.

    I think this was one of the most genius moves I've seen on television this year. 

     

    First of all the actual dialogue was almost exactly the analysis I'd made of their connection, and it's nice to know I'm not crazy and this is intended. "You've told me too much, Daniel [...] You're the false prophet." Second is how it's left unclear who's dreaming, if it's only one or if it's both. This touches on the metaphysical without confirming its existence in a way few shows manage to pull off. It's almost a Rectify trademark - the meld of agnosticism, scepticism and deep faith.

     

    If it's Daniel's dream, and Daniel's dream alone, there is nothing supernatural about it at all - but at the same time, the things that Daniel are saying are more like bordering on something that Tawney would think that he'd say, and what he's doing is more like something Tawney would hope that he would do. If it's really Tawney's daydream, given her mentioning him at the beach, well, then at least Tawney's psychic. Also, the things Tawney said to Daniel weren't things he would know, like being lost and feeling terribly alone, plus the reverent yet accusing tone... I'm not sure, but I don't feel like Daniel would give himself that much credit, or really knowing what an impact he's had on her life.

     

    The second part I write as an unashamed Daniel slash Tawney shipper.

     

    First a detour. I think people are far too quick to make excuses about these things - I see stuff like "not to delve into 'shipping territory', but..." all the time. Coming at stuff from a "shipping perspective", at core, is simply to be motivated to watch the show for the character interactions, and there is nothing wrong with that. Television has evolved over the last decade. I think Ian Somerhalder - "Damon" on TVD - had a point when he said that "shipping is sort of a new phenomenon", but he didn't delve into it. The reason it is a new phenomenon is that television shows have progressed from being almost exclusively plot-driven to be more and more character-driven, and have finally ventured out of the realm of "45 minute movie" by abandoning the episodic approach in favor of story and character arcs. One example of the former would be Star Trek, and one example of the latter would be Babylon 5.

     

    Now as a fan of Daniel and Tawney... in a sense, I was obviously disappointed that we had literally zero interaction between them this season, but when I look over the six episodes, I see that this was absolutely needed. They both need to come to terms with what has happened to them, and at the same time, the "dream conversation" in the final episode shows us that... this is far from over, and may in fact be a way to set them up for coming together in a more meaningful and healthy way over season four. And of course, that makes me very happy.

    • Love 8

    S03.E05: The Future

    in Rectify [V]

    It's a testament to the quality of the show that I was jubilant to hear that the finale would be an extended episode. Every single minute counts. I enjoy the show so much that... when it decides to focus more on relationship dynamics I don't particularly care about, like Jon and Amantha or Amantha and random bar hook-up... I find myself pleading at the television, "please, please, get it out of the way!" Not because it's bad, but because I know we have so few episodes, and after this, I'll have to wait another year for the next season.

     

    The scene between Daggett and Holden this episode was truly magical.

    • Love 5

    S03.E04: Girl Jesus

    in Rectify [V]

    I think this season is very strong. I still hold season 1 as the strongest, with season 2 somewhat deteriorating, even if my single favorite episode of the show is from season 2.

     

    Teddy isn't a bad guy but the more we see the more I feel Tawney might have married him for all the wrong reasons. I don't see her ultimately being happy repairing and pursuing that relationship. I don't see her being happy with Daniel either, to be honest. She's caught between a rock and a hard place.

    • Love 1
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