tennisgurl

You know, as much as I will mourn this community, the way this show used to be, and its potential, I kind of think what I did when I found about that Jen was leaving the show...

As I said before, I lived in Ireland for a bit, and the attitudes of people I met towards the English were...complicated. Some people (especially in the older generations) are still truly bitter towards the English, and think that they will never stop feeling that way. Most people I met though, still have a rivalry with the English, but are fully aware that modern English people had nothing to do with the famine, and as long as they dont say anything dickish about it (The Irish brought it on themselves!) then no one seemed to actually care, beyond cheering against them in soccer matches and ribbing at the bar. As one cab driver said as I told him about the paper on the famine I was writing "I mean, fuck the English and everything, but they're alright really", and that seemed to sum it up for a lot of people. Just, dont say that Ireland and the UK are "basically the same thing". Just...dont. I can get the collective guilt thing to extent, but I think feeling guilty about things that that a person never did, or hating someone for something they never did, is pretty pointless. Its important to learn from the mistakes of your ancestors and not do awful things again, but what does feeling guilty, or hating random people for it accomplish? I mean, to each their own, and if a person has that much cultural baggage towards a culture, as long as they arent actually hurting people, thats their life. To me, almost every group of people that have ever existed have done something, at some point, to some other group of people that sucked, even if you have to go back hundreds or thousands of years. Being angry about something their great great great grandfathers people did just seems to create more pointless divisions in the world, and who does that help? Being guilty about the past is understandable, but only to an extent I think. Wallowing in it helps no one. I mean, my family is German on my moms side, my relatives coming from Germany in the 1920s. My grandpa would tell stories about how as a kid in the 30s/40 his neighborhood of German (mostly Catholics) immigrants and their families were constantly harassed by their WASP neighbors, with his mom almost losing her job due to prejudice, culminating in the KKK burning crosses on their lawn and fights breaking out. So, based on that, Jewish people can hate me, but I can hate WASPS? That doesn't even count the rest of my family on both sides, a mix of English, Irish, French, Nordic, Catholic, Jewish, and a smattering of Ukrainian. And thats not even counting the relatives that have married into my family (Jewish, African American, Hispanic), and the fact that we have fought in practically every war in the US from the American Revolution to the War on Terror, and...holy crap I would need a flow chart to figure out who I am allowed to hate, and who is allowed to hate me. I get collective guilt as a way to learn from mistakes, but just to start more fights? Why? Instead of diagramming a chart of all the people on the planet that I need to hate or apologize to based on stuff that happened before I was born, I say we all get cookies together instead.

I find this to be a bit unfair. Really, with the exceptions of the crossovers and a few quick references, you can watch most of the shows independent of each other, and can follow things pretty easily by checking Wikipedia or something if something gets referenced. I also wouldn't call this the worst season of Arrow or Flash, not by a long shot. They are both very flawed (especially Arrow and its awful NTA gang) but not quite abysmal. LoT is weird in that the overall plot is less interesting than last season, but I like many of the individual episodes better. But I agree that LoT is the most consistently high quality of all the shows. Critics were endlessly gushing about the Arrowverse during Crisis on Earth X for the most part (especially saying how it was better than the DCEU) but now, its too much? Crossovers like that couldn't happen without multiple shows and tons of super characters. As for the "why doesn't Superman show up?" question, yeah it is pretty ridiculous that Clark hasn't stopped by with the whole Reign thing, or they haven't just said he went off world or something, but its kind of just a part of the comic book genre. In comics, there are so many villains and threats popping up every other day, and so many heroes fighting them, and so many costumes and scientists and cops and magical creatures and aliens and all kinds of stuff running around, that people tend to stick to their area or their niche, unless its a BIG event or something. Its hard to have a superhero universe with some new world destroying villain showing up every Thursday and call in everyone to help. So, I just deal with that as being a necessary hole in the genre, especially one like the Arrowverse that hasn't been around for as long as the comics, or even the MCU.

This will now be the season that broke the series. It survived Greg and Tamara and their taser of doom. It survived making mass murdering rapist Regina the hero without any effort, and turned its heroes into whimpering idiots. It survived whatever they were trying to do with the Black Fairy. But this season...nope. Ok I know the cancellation was inevitable from day one, but still.

You know, I have such mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, this show needed to be done. Its been running on fumes for a long time, and I want the talented cast to get to move onto new, better, projects that I can enjoy. This show, especially this season, has been a sad shell of its former self, that I found very little joy in watching, and was almost depressed seeing how much a show I once loved and cared about, has so disappointed me. Really, it could only go down from here, so I am fine with being released from this madness, on some level. And I will not miss reading A&Es ridiculous interviews filled with nonsense, bitterness, anger towards fans, victim blaming, and jerking off to their own brilliance and St. Regina Our Lady of Perpetual Woobiedom. On the other hand, I've been with Once for years, ever since the pilot episode in the TWOP years. This show has been with me through college, grad school, two new jobs, and moving across the country. I've come back to Once throughout the good times, the bad, and the confusing. Its (and its community) have been a part of my life for years, and now that its over...I cant help but be sad. It might sound cheesy, but a part of my life really is ending. No more Captain Swan scenes, no more bitching about continuity, no more coming up with new possible franchises to get dragged into this story, no more angry or excited Tweets or Tumblr posts, and worst of all, no one Once community here. This is one of my favorite communities here, back in the TWOP era, and here after the Great Migration to PTV. I will miss all of you, and your encouragement, sharing my theories and frustrations, and our MANY running jokes and references that have gone on for years. I've never met any of you in person, but I feel like I am being separated from my friends. Friends who can understand my constant commitment to this silly show, for better and for worse. The discussions here have been grand, even when the show hasn't been. So, I am ready for this show to end, but I guess I am just not totally ready to say goodbye. God help me.

So, I just saw on Twitter that The Good Place is in the Parks and Rec universe! Two things leap to mind: I NEED to know where the parks crew ended up. I want the emissary of the real Good Place to be Lil Sebastian.

Oh wow, that would have been awesome to bring up! Talk about a missed opportunity. Still, it was a good episode, and I always like the episodes that get more into the cosmic stuff and not just the procedural cases. I actually really like the Cain story lately, and throwing Ami into the mix is always a good call, even when he isn't being super helpful. You would think he would want Cain dead and off the earth at this point, but I suppose his cosmic punishment isn't over yet. A little redundant smashing the crap out of each other, when both of them are immortal, but I guess it makes them feel better. I also loved when Chloe said something about how they cant make this case all about Lucifer for once! And, hey, I actually liked Ella again! She was still quirky and energetic, but less annoying and ditsy than they've been writing her, so that really helped the episode for me. Plus, she and Maze are a fun combination, and I always like when they mix and match the cast. I really do want Ella to find out the truth about Lucifer (and Ami and Maze) are from, as an actual religious person. I do wish we had more focus on some of the other characters, but I like this version of her. Trixie cameo! The best kind of cameo!

Kreizler really does surround himself with messed up people, doesn't he? I had to almost laugh at how blunt he was in that last scene with Sarah. "How do you deal with dad killing himself? John drinks to deal with being dumped, his asshole dad, and his dead brother, whats your deal?" just right out there. It did all work really well there though, lots of good character beats. I also liked the scenes with him and Cyrus, and he and Mary in his house together. I feel like the show is starting to really find its feet, and get its character dynamics more and more. Poor John. Everyone just assumes he got drunk again and messed around and laughed about it, and not rofied and...something I dont know what, but it was nothing good. He seemed quite shaken up by the whole thing, and they had to have had some kind of plan there, so I guess that will all come back. The guy also apparently has no luck with women he likes, and no interest in the women his family tries to throw at him. I continue to enjoy seeing the changes in police investigation, as well as things we can identify. It really is funny seeing fingerprinting as some kind of weird far fetched scientific curiosity that was half fortune telling, half forensic, considering what a seemingly obvious part of police work it is now. The politics behind the cops are also interesting, and you KNOW its all going to play into actually catching this creep. If the weird rich pedophile isn't the killer he sure as hell is scary, and seems very predatory, even if he isn't the killer. It was sad when Sally said how they could tell who they could trust as a "client" because they've been at it so long, as Sally is probably only around, what, 15? Messed up. I also enjoyed seeing a few c***** in Sarah's armor, as it makes her more human, and not a Strong Independent Woman who has no feelings beyond tough and basically nice. She felt lonely and anxious at her college reunion (complete with the classic "yeah, I totally have a boyfriend... to the engaged friend), frightened at the gruesome crime scene, and disturbed thinking about her dead father and her own feelings towards it. It makes her more interesting and sympathetic, especially as she carries on.

They even mention that in the show, if I remember correctly. One of the other English guys says how Dr. Traill wasn't all sympathetic towards the Irish when he was complaining about how they didn't donate to the Church of Ireland, and Traill said that he just wanted everyone to follow the law, and that it was before the famine got so bad. He had clearly had a change of heart long after that, and had dedicated himself to helping the needy, eventually sinking his whole fortune, and losing his life in the process. I got into a bit of a Google hole abut Dr. Traill, and he was involved in the Tithe War, that went from around 1830-1836, and the famine didn't really start until around 1846, so quite a bit of time had passed between them, plenty of time for him to grow to understand the people around him, and develop more empathy for them, even beyond just being moved by basic compassion at seeing innocent people suffering. The historical guy apparently started trying to help stop the famine right away, but it couldn't be stopped and he couldn't get other Brits back home to pay attention to the problem, so he started relief efforts himself while trying to get other landowners to help their employees, which many of them didn't. He would later spend most all of his money on relief, opened his home to the sick and starving, and eventually died of "Famine Fever" AKA typhus, helping people until he couldn't. He participated in a crappy thing, but he also gave up everything to help the same people he once looked down on, so I find it hard to just label him an asshole because of one (admittedly lousy) thing he did, when he would go on to apparently learn his lesson and die helping the people he previously hurt.

So, looks like we get our excuse to get Mon-El and Kara back together. Even though he and Imra have acted like a couple this whole time, it looks like they were a "get married for the greater good" match, even if Mon-El says that he loves her now. Sounds like an easy way for a hook up without anyone having to die or be the bad guy. I guess at least this means Imra probably wont die or turn evil to get out of the way. I've grown to like her quite a bit. Good episode this week, and while I am thrilled that Legends comes back soon, I will miss Supergirl. This whole show swapping thing is stupid, and I hope it goes away soon. Figure something else out, CW! I liked the new Worldkiller (even if her powers were way too Black Canary) and it seems like the truth about Sam will come out soon. Maybe. Lena seemed to think she knew what was going on, but since she didn't say it, she probably doesn't have the full idea. The Sam stuff is interesting, and I like her enough to want her to be alright, but I feel like this has been going on forever! J'onn and Mon-El bonding was nice, even if I did question why he wasn't doing more to help out with the current mess. He did get to use his powers though! Winn got a few good lines, but I wish he and Brainy had another subplot. Or he had any major subplot. Or Brainy got something to do. Maybe they can bond over being the non evil member of a villain family? Maybe Lena could join? On the one hand, I like that Alex and Maggies break-up is a long process that Maggie is still dealing with. Its a big deal (they were engaged and all) and it should be treated as such. On the other hand, it seems like thats all Alex and Kara talk about, and Alex always seems to be sad or talking about how sad she is about Maggie. Kara has finally stopped talking about her breakup all the time, so now Alex does!

I studied abroad in Ireland a few years ago and wrote about the potato famine as my final project, so I was quite interested in seeing this episode. While it wasn’t the most accurate thing (I encourage people interested to do more research) it really nailed the horrors or the famine, and the cold indifference of the British lawmakers and even the clergymen. There was so much they could have done to help, but so many people either didn’t realize how bad things were, considered it the Irish’s own fault for being poor and Catholic, or, worst of all, that this was a convenient way to deal with the “Irish Question”. There were Brits trying to help, but it was almost impossible to get the lawmakers back home to listen or care. That clergyman charging conversions for food was just loathsome, I cheered when Dr. Trail through that bible quote in his face. It’s amazing how people who claim to be followers of god can be so uncaring to their neighbor. And Penge really is just a wormy bully. He just has such a hate on for so many people (those Germans and their hygiene! Those Irish and their Catholicism!) and is such a bully, I’m amazed he isn’t exhausted from being such a dick every day. I did enjoy the downstairs stuff this week. Thank God Albert is doing something about the pluming situation for as many people as possible. That is just all kinds of nasty.

I swear every time I watch Spider-Man getting involved in this cosmic stuff, I’m like “Peter Parker IT IS A SCHOOL NIGHT!”

I wonder if the show will be flash forwards now sometimes, to see what happens to everyone else? For as sad as the episode was, I was glad that they gave us a few funny scenes to break things up, like Kevin wondering if he was on the right tree, or Randall singing along to the Superbowl Shuffle. I needed those breaks in between the constant death tolls. I also really liked when Miguel and Rebecca were trying to keep it together for the kids. I've been kind of hard on Miguel, but I really did feel for him. Mandy really was doing great work throughout the episode, she nailed the feelings of shock and grief. You feel throughout that she is just barley keeping it together, and if she starts breaking down, she wont get back up for a LONG while. Adult Tessa looks so much like little Tessa! This show is so great at casting younger/older versions of characters, I am starting to suspect they have some kind of aging]/cloning program we should be aware of.

Thats one of the reasons I love Tilly so much. As dark as this version of Trek is, Tilly is around to be the idealistic and kind hearted person that personifies the Federation at its best. It was so great seeing her being kind to poor Ash, and inspiring everyone else to show more empathy for him. I just adore her. Good episode, even if I still question a lot of of creative decisions the show has made lately (the Lorca stuff, killing off poor Hugh, at least for now) as of now. Lots of good character beats throughout, and I actually do like how the Ash story is going. Its tragic, but quite interesting. I still hope he and Michael can make it work damn it. Once that get that Klingon out of him, of course. Terran Georgiou play acting as Prime Georgiou is going to be interesting, and she might actually be helpful in this darkest hour stuff. For now anyway, I still dont trust her. Not all Mirror Universe people have been evil, but they have ALL been a lot rougher than our Prime gang, so at best, this Georgiou wont be the person Michael mourns, and at worst, she could be a monster she causes more problems than she fixes. Archer! Maybe next we find out that due to time travel shenanigans, poor Tucker didn't in this time line.

I wasn't sure about this arc at first, but I think it all came together really well. I liked the characters they added, and I am interested to see where the gang goes from here. There are still a lot of balls in the air (future Elena's prophesy, Coulson dying, the characters still in the future, and of course, our old bald buddy Thanos is on his way) plus whatever madness they come across next. Cant wait to find out! Sad to see Deke and Enoch go (maybe, you never know in the MCU) out, even if it was heroically. Deke basically redeemed himself for his awful behavior earlier, finally doing what his parents never could and freeing humanity, and for a character who started out being so creepy, Enoch turned out to be a solidly ok guy (alien android, whatever) who really got invested in the actual humans around him, and saving the world. And, while a LOT of good guys died in the course of all this, it seems like things might get better for the future people. Maybe someone will even spring for some proper lighting soon! The fight with Mack and Kasisus was awesome, and it was great seeing Simmons getting revenge. And that decapitation machine Fitz made was brutal! I dont know whether to be impressed, or scared. There is still a part of me that wished this ended with a space ship riding future version of Ghost Rider had shown up to burn Kasisus up.

Always change your smoke detector batteries, kids. Do it for Jack.

Well, I am officially emotionally drained. I knew Jack was going to die, but I wasn't ready for it. I think what got me most was Rebecca's unbelieving reaction to his death, followed by seeing the reflection of his dead body. There is something just so horrifying about thinking that your family is alike and everyone is free and clear, only to find that you left for a moment, and everything changed in just the blink of an eye. Great performance by Mandy. And the brief glimpses of her life with Jack was just...ahhhhh. The big shocker was the flash forward to adult Tess and old Randall. Congrats, show. I thought you had stopped surprising me, and then you pull a fast one on me. I love that he and Tess talked and it turned out that it made a BIG impression on Tess! I think the other part that got me was when Kevin was talking to Jack at the tree, and he said how he had a "rough few decades" in this ridiculously tired voice. Even before his drug problems really surfaced, he was clearly depressed and filled with self loathing. Hopefully this really will be a new start for him.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!

Can I just say that I am pretty much over time jumps? Its gone from "unique and creative way to shake up the show" to "lazy way to move along plotlines without actually doing any work" from overuse. I mean, it isn't a show killer or anything, but it lost its excitement several TV seasons ago. I would have liked to have seen more of Valencia starting a new relationship with a woman, but I guess it doesn't bother me that much. We dont know that Valencia wasn't always bisexual, but she has mostly been with Josh, so who knows? Maybe it just never came up? I do wish they would give her more to do soon, she has been extremely underused, and has tons of potential as a character. I wasn't really a fan of Paula's story either mainly because I thought that also had potential that never went anywhere. Why is Paula being such a jerk? Just because? I wish they could have set up more about why she was being so weirdly demanding about minor details in a rude way. Is it because shes a woman who feels like she needs to overcompensate to be taken seriously? Is she unleashing some pent up aggression for her co-workers? Something else? There had to be something else. I like Nathaniel and Rebecca, even if I dont think they are super healthy even on a good day. They have good chemistry, and even though Nathaniel is a rather cliche character (asshole WASP with a heart of gold and daddy issues) I still like him well enough. I kind of just want Rebecca to not have a love interesting for awhile, and then get to the romance later. I feel like the last few episodes have been skimping on the songs.

We also find out that Harry is very salty towards Ray and his scientific genius. It made me want them to have a scene together during the next crossover, where Harry keeps being snarky towards Ray, while Ray just cheerfully ignores him and continues being as nice as ever. I also love that Felicity knows ALL THE THINGS and saves the day even off screen on other shows. I think that, to an extent, the reason Felicity hasn't been as focused on in her interactions with other characters is pandering towards the "Felicity and Friends" crowd complaining about what an alleged Mary Sue she is. I mean, maybe not, but it seems like it might be a part of it.

Put me in the camp of people who think Darren Criss is doing a great job. To me, Andrew Cunanan was the kind of person who had a very superficial charm when he first met people, and was smart enough to know how to play to his audience, and could read people very well. But, when he was around people for a bit longer, the charm started to fall, and people realized that, at best, he was a narcissistic asshole, and at worst, he was a dead inside monster. I thought Criss was especially chilling this week, happily telling poor Lee Miglin about he would horribly kill him and set him up to be humiliated after death, and emotionless killing William Reese for no real reason. This is a guy who just does not care about other people. At all. He didn't have to kill Lee Miglin or William Reese, but he wanted to kill Lee Miglin because, as others have said, he HATES people who have become successful and resents the hell out of them, and he killed William Reese because...why not?

The Deacon story was really good, and Charles Easton just killed it the whole time. I think his awkwardness about condoms wasn't so much that he was buying them, but because not only he is famous (and people might realize whats going on) but it continues to symbolize him moving on from Rayna, and that clearly is a huge issue for him. He and Jessie seem like they could work well together, but it will definitely be slow going. It seems realistic that it would take awhile to get to the point where a person could move on after such a big loss, and even when they think its possible, they hit a wall. The new girl in the unnamed Avery/Gunnar/Will band seems generically nice, but she has a great voice, so I am cool with her sticking around. She seems to work well with the guys, and I always love their scenes together. Plus, its nice to see Avery smiling. Lord knows the poor guy hardly gets to do it at his own house. Speaking of, of course Juliette tells Avery how much she needs him, and THEN runs off to Bolivia. Classic Juliette. For as much as she is going on about changing her life, she is basically doing the exact same thing she always does. I feel a lot of sympathy for her, but this is just so repetitive. Juliette is sad, she finds something that makes her happy or fulfilled for three seconds, she pulls away from her real friends and family, then she gets bored or shit goes wrong, and she comes back home. Rinse and repeat forever and ever. Except now, its an inevitably creepy cult. Goody. I am happy they gave us a lot of music this week. I can basically gage how much I like an episode of Nashville is by how many songs I get. Usually lots of songs mean better episode.

I swear, it feels like they're trolling us at this point. "Hey audience, you like this cool character with magic cloth who is sympathetic and interesting? Well, now he`s gone! Hey audience, you like this cool badass character who has potential for a decent redemption arc and has a sympathetic backstory? Well, now he is all kinds of dead! But you guys DO get a bitter idiot who sucks at pretty much everything, a belligerent asshole who betrays his friends then acts like HE was the victim, and a judgmental chick with two facial expressions! Your welcome!"

If NTA had just joined OTA in finding the bombs, they probably could have gotten the bombs, and THEN gone after Vince. Then they could have stopped Caydens reign of terror, and Vince would have probably been fine. He had healing powers, so he could have lasted awhile. Then the whole team could have gone to get him, and he and Dina wouldn't have been alone when they got blasted, and they all probably could have gotten away. Hell, Vince probably would have escaped on his own if he wasn't distracted by Dina showing up. Oliver and the rest of OTA have been at this for a LONG time, shouldn't have at least acknowledged their superior experience in planning missions? But NO, NTA had to be contrary just for the sake of spiting OTA. And now Vince died a nasty death and the city is still in trouble. *sarcastic slow clap*

It would be nice if we got a plot where Laurel isn't crying every other scene. Not that she hasn't had reasons to cry, but its getting pretty old. Everyone is constantly trying to do everything for Laurel, while she cries and cries. And all the whole, adding new childhood traumas along the way. SR shows really like that weirdly specific "my dad is evil and victimized my innocent perfect mom, but OMG mom is actually worse than dad!" plot, dont they? That opposing lawyer really was an asshole, wasn't he? Seemed to be going above and beyond just proving a case, especially with the "you had drug problems and you also probably murdered your daughter after molesting her for years and thats why you cant testify" seemed like a huge leap. What do you know, Nate got something to do beyond taking his shirt off and getting stuff for Annalise while complaining about it!