rubyred

I feel like I've also missed why the Royals want Diana, but didn't want Renard. She's also illegitimate, and instead of being 1/2 Royal she is zauberbiest/hexenbiest. Wasn't that part of the problem for Renard, that is mother was a hexenbeist? Basically Renard has more Royal blood than she does. Have they ever explained why the Royals wanted Diana? I'm enjoying this show more now that my expectations are so low. Sleepy Hollow and Grimm have nosedived and been huge disappointments, but unexpectedly iZombie and Limitless have risen to the challenge and exceeded my expectations. As god is my witness, I will never be let down by a TV show again! *shakes fist*

Funny you mention that - I've been underwhelmed but rooting for the Jax character to become more organic to the team. I had no idea Franz Drameh was British until he popped up on a British miniseries I binged recently on Netflix (River, starring Stellan Skarsgaard and Nicola Walker, recommend!). Knowing now that he's locking down an accent as he's acting (and given his age) has made me more patient. But I don't think the show knows what to do with him, or how to write him. I think there should be more bond-buildling with Stein, so that he gets the benefit of playing off of VG. I don't read the comics so I don't know what's canon for Firestorm. If he's not Firestorm, is there a place on the team for him? The thing I hate about Rip is that Arthur Darvill is being wasted playing him. He's really so good, but here he has to spend so much energy NOT being The Doctor that it takes me out of his scenes. Plus his plans all suck.

IMO think the Ray/Kendra thing suffered from the show trying too hard to be cute and have things both ways. If they hadn't already established in the previous episode that Kendra's (and Jax's) brownness did not go unnoticed in 1958, it would have been easier to handwave Ray being clueless about what Kendra's life was like in 1958 outside the door of their apartment. So it was jarring to see him happy as a clam and then bummed about leaving. The writing didn't help, it was the classic "romantic miscommunication" trope, because men and women, they don't speak the same language hardy har. Paraphrasing: Ray: "Don't you miss ANYthing about our life there?" (Passive aggressive code for *hint, hint, nudge, nudge, say you love me -- you don't love meeeee!") Kendra: "I don't miss anyTHING" (misses the coded message, responds literally: I do not miss girdles, tuna noodle casserole, and the Game of Life). Obvious exchanges like this are what gives romantic subplots a bad name. The audience knows what's going on, but it's a timewaster that distracts from the main action, not an enjoyable interlude. But I may be too cynical. I have zero interest in the romantic life of any of the LoT characters, except Cold.

Co-sign on all of this. And I might add, at this point the show doesn't need to amp up an "Ichabbie Romance." The foundation of their relationship has already been established (Witness BondTM), they already live together, and they trust each other implicitly. A few scenes of them hanging out is enough for the fanship to fill in the gaps, witness the tumblr gifs of them just looking at each other, never mind touching. The show doesn't have to turn into a kooky fish-out-of-water romance between a Colonial Brit and a contemporary PoC with a side order of Saving the World. These writers suck at romance anyway so all they need to do is let a few scenes breathe and Mison and Beharie's chem will fill in the gaps. BUT -- IMO the romance aspect would actually make the show more fun, IN THE BACKGROUND. I want them to get back to battling evil. I want more moments like Headless with a semiautomatic, and Andy's head turning right 'round, and Ben Franklin getting beheaded. I want to see Orion back. I think they have to get rid of Betsy because I can't see this show morphing into "Betsy Ross is a fish out of water!" Can you imaging NR trying to pull off the scenes Mison did in the pilot, like the shower, or discovering doughnut holes? Ugggh.

Here's the thing I don't get. What's the big fucking deal about hooking up Ichabod and Abbie? This is a genre show predicated on a premise of a Headless Horseman, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Moloch, Colonial covens, random demons, gods and demigods, etc. etc. and the hill they choose to die on is PLATONIC FRIENDS 4EVA!!! Doesn't this show have enough to do without taking on the burden of proving that men and women *gasp* can work together and be friends? Is that what this show was supposed to be about in Season 1? NO. And don't try to gaslight me into thinking it was. And besides, all they had to do FROM THE BEGINNING to scotch all this shipper angst and narrative derailment was to simply make it clear that the Witnesses can't/won't/wouldn't/shouldn't be involved romantically. That's it. At any time in the last three seasons Ichabod could have simply read from a cuneiform, or Jeremy could have told them - blah, there are any number of ways they could have made it canon that the Witnesses were/are not lovers. Shippers would still have shipped, but they wouldn't feel as jerked around as they do now. Instead they've put themselves in the situation of plopping insipid love interests in Crane's path, which not only aggravates the shippers, it takes time away from the cool stuff, like the Horseman, and the Four Horsemen, and Moloch, the End of the World, and oh, remember Andy?! I loved Andy. Really cool worldbuilding stuff is lost while Crane hems and haws in front of yet another deeply average woman, hee hee, haw haw so funny! "I know that's what I tune in for !"-- said no one, ever. Which is pointless anyway because Mison is playing it as full-on loooove, while Beharie, true to character, remains watchful and noncommittal yet amused. And not for nothing, it would be nice for an obligatory hookup couple to actually have chemistry for a change. Wouldn't that be revolutionary?

Wait, what? At no time did Kendra say "thank god you're here, now I don't have to play house with this clown anymore!" Her view was more, "thank god I can go back to being WHO I AM." Note that Ray didn't even notice that she was becoming less and less Hawkgirl, because damn, wasn't life peachy keen if you were a white male in 1960! I can see that Ray is supposed to be something of a social doofus but dang, it's a pet peeve when people claim they love someone when they're completely oblivious to what's going on with them. Kendra wasn't oblivious to Ray -- that's why she downplayed it, to save his feelings (which wasn't a good idea either but that's on her.) Just being a woman was enough to constrict her life in 1960. Kendra was glad to get out of 1960 because she couldn't be Hawkgirl. Ray was blissed out on a situation that basically shackled her to him, and why wouldn't a guy like that set up? Oh I know why, because he's a grown-ass man capable of an adult relationship, not one perfectly happy to live in a dream world that favors him and smothers her. If only. I don't watch Arrow so I have no knowledge or interest in his romantic history, nor should I need it. But my mind is kind of blown that his (self-instigated) feelings of rejection could be considered more resonant or important than Kendra's loss of identity. And I don't even care if Kendra lives or dies! TL:DR: Ray is a grown-ass man who should not have interpreted Kendra's desire to be herself as a rejection of him. *** Onward: Amazing how the lack of Vandal Savage improves an episode. I am struggling to figure out why he's such a fail and have come up with 1) The name. Vandal Savage is egregiously OTT, even for a comic. 2) The Actor. So wooden, and always seems to be intoning his lines like he's learned English phonetically. Or 3) The Wig on the actor. Is he bald? If so, why not go with that instead of a wig that gives him a six-head? Distracting.

Weller is such an energy-suck on this show. Any single scene without him lumbering in like a bear with a wounded paw, barking out orders is automatically better. Although I guess now it's bear with a wounded JUGULAR ayfkm? It's left me hoping that his insistence on "saving Jane" gets him killed FOR REAL in the season finale. I don't care if Oscar is shady, I like him better. And of course both Oscar and Cade are alive, I've seen Jason Bourne.

Yeah, man. And sure, Peter doesn't have the "right" to be pissy about finding Jason, except I totally bought that moment, because Peter was completely blindsided. Aside from the fact that their pact to go their separate ways romantically has always been idiotic given their public profile, I think most men would be unpleasantly surprised to see some dude in his boxers lounging around the house. Also it was a good scene, Noth and JDM played well off each other. It actually felt like something was at stake, unlike during all of the sex scenes --including the bar handjob (shudder). And of a piece of this show going downhill, the moment when Alicia says "I want a divorce" should have been this awesome, fist-pumping moment, but of course it's not. Because even though she deflected doing it because of Jason, that was completely the catalyst. For all her talk about "don't worry boo, it's just sex" I've long suspected that Alicia has been secretly writing "Mrs. Alicia McSmirkerson" in her Trapper Keeper. So this is the final season: they bust out a sexy bedhead wig, show Alicia being a sucky friend to Cary, and also show her overcompensating with Lucca as a Kalinda replacement. Woo-hoo, what a way to end the series!

I've come to the conclusion that the deepest, most confounding mystery about Grimm is this blind devotion to making Bitsie Tulloch happen. It's like Sleepy Hollow all over again, where a producer is so enthralled with an actress but doesn't bother to write good story or play to her strengths, they just and drag her in and out of the frame, with no narrative purpose and to the detriment of other characters. This latest incarnation, "Eve", give me a fucking break. As if a wig, monotone and glassy stare makes Juliette a badass. Renaming a character when it's still clearly the same character is not the fiendishly clever reboot they think it is. The slate doesn't get wiped clean just because you've changed your look. Also, has David Giuntoli checked out? He's never been super-emotive but he's had his moments. Now in his closeups he's dead behind the eyes. Maybe he's thinking, "this show used to be fun but they won't fire my girlfriend help get me out of here!" Okay maybe I'm just projecting there The fact that Adalind has had two babies and is now "in love" with Nick: Christ on a cracker, it never ends with these people. Plus they're wasting Sasha Roiz and that is hard to forgive.

I try not to let myself get caught up in the shipping, because therein madness lies. But what pisses me off is when a show is obviously hedging its bets to keep all options open, to the detriment of the story as a whole. This show keeps showing its ass. First we have a cute scene with Crane coming home to find Ezra there, Abbie not deigning to define their relationship, Ezra assuming Crane is her boo, and Crane promising to take care of her. Yay, Ichabbie fanservice! Then minutes later we find out from Abbie that she's been wanting to get together with Daniel again. Wha? Where did this come from? And then Daniel plays it straight, just in case they want to ignore his squirelly meetings with Michael O'Keefe. Yay, Dabbie fanservice! Then we have to listen to Betsy Ross' halting love letter, which...not necessary or welcome on any level. At this point the arch of Lyndie Greenwood's eyebrows is infinitely more interesting than her daddy issuezzzzzzz. Don't waste James McDaniel, show!

So glad that Hapstall mess is resolved. Don't even care that Caleb didn't seem to have the cunning to pull it all off -- I blame that on the actor, or "mactor", really. Dude had zero nuance, which contributed to his sketchiness. I think they would have spent more time on that murder if they'd have cast it better. If Wes doesn't end up in a psych ward after this...this is the fourth time (?) he's found himself standing over a dead body. Give the dude a break, show! I didn't see the sniper shot coming, but I'm also sad about it because I really liked Adam Arkin in this role and was looking forward to his shenanigans in the future. I think Matt McGorry is softening my attitude towards dudebros everywhere. Asher can be as self-interested as the rest, but he's also the only one who follows that up with compassion, empathy and/or self-awareness. And he makes me laugh inappropriately.

Reading here that the (somewhat) universal assumption is that Mahoney raped Rose, I now believe that that's not the (full) story. This show likes to zag rather than zig. And Annalise saying it doesn't make it true. Mahoney is clearly a bad guy but repeated rapes and indentured servitude -- to me it now seems too obvious, there will be a twist to this story. I don't think he didn't deny it because it's true, I think he didn't deny it because the writers don't know yet. One thing I remember about Rose is Wes telling whatsername that his mother was troubled. Didn't he imply that she had depression or a mental disorder? I cling to that because I can't see any other reason why she thought stabbing herself was a good choice. I get the argument about abuse victims snapping but the Rose we saw had channeled pretty much all her energy into making a home for Wes so it's hard for me to believe that he wouldn't have been uppermost in her thoughts before grabbing that steak knife and shivving herself.

You're right, I didn't mean "sexy" that way; it wasn't in reference to Viola or Annalise being conventionally sexy, it was in reference to the trope of the sexy anti-hero/likeable asshole. And as far as unlikeable goes -- I deliberately said "unpleasant", not unlikeable, because that whole likeability factor is, IMO, yet another narrative crutch that can ruin the organic narrative of a show. I don't even think of Annalise in terms of how likeable she is, probably because she has already dismissed that as a concern herself. She has an intelligence and a charisma that draws people to her. But she's also incredibly nasty when she feels wounded and I admire that Viola makes no effort to curry sympathy in her performances, it's just an unvarnished portrayal of damage, and damage begetting damage. This show is batshit on so many levels it would be easy to overlook the significance of Annalise as a character even if it weren't Viola Davis playing her.

Kudos to Viola once again. It's unusual -- groundbreaking maybe? -- that the lead character of a broadcast network show is so thoroughly unpleasant. And not in a sexy, anti-hero, I'm not here to make friends way. But someone who lashes out so vindictively and effectively that you can't help but assume that everyone in their life is a victim of some kind of Stockholm Syndrome. She just goes for it, and it's amazing to watch. Kudos also to Adam Arkin. I've loved him for years but never knew he could be so menacing and cold. Edited: because Alan and Adam are not the same person, thanks for the reminder.

I dunno, I just can't get into Chloe. Or maybe it's German as Chloe. She's got the shit job, being the straight woman, and I sympathize with that. But I'm never convinced that she's even a TV cop, let alone real cop. And I think if she were truly as unruffled about Lucifer and his attractions as we've been told previously, she wouldn't have been as embarrassed as she was by Lucifer's nudity. I like how Rachael Harris' character is able to "work within the metaphor' of Lucifer being the devil and still have credibility as a character. If Chloe's entire arc is going to be "Chloe learns to accept that Lucifer is really the devil" -- well dang, what a yawn, The audience has known that from jump. The stuff that's really interesting about this show has nothing to do with Chloe, and the banal COTW procedural format only highlights that. She's just so...run-of-the-mill TV actress, and doesn't bring anything special to the role. The overworked single-mom cop is a well-worn trope, I wish there was something unique to hook in to. And that thing would not be "Hot Tub High School."

While I welcomed any kind of illuminating monologue from Lucca, I did think she wasn't even describing herself. Lucca has friends. She just told Alicia that Jason was a friend minutes before the breakdown. To me it seemed like she was saying what she thought Alicia needed to hear. Because Alicia is the 50 year old with no friends. In fact I thought Lucca was going to be the one to tell Alicia to put on her big girl panties. That breakdown was an embarrassment. Also, bolting to the laundry room in the middle of a discussion? Rude. I think one of the things that's bugging me this season is that in place of any character depth or interesting plot development, they keep doing closeups of Alicia's frozen, mask-like face. I'm sure JM thinks she's Catherine Deneuve-ing all over the place but actually, no. I am not getting "inner torment", I'm getting "self-involved, self-designated martyr who is dead inside."

Ugh. Why do I keep hoping? Jason has better chemistry with Lucca, but whatever. The university storyline; waste of Diane, we've seen this before with Alicia v Martha, but again, whatever, at least we get to see Christine Baranski in more than one scene. And I suppose we should be grateful for Alicia's breakdown, since it was the first time we got any backstory on Lucca. Every time Alicia went into her fugue state in a professional setting I wanted to slap her upside the head. Alicia going back to Lockhart/Agos: <groan>. At least hopefully Eli will stop self-flagellating. I don't care about the good wife anymore. What's going on with Peter? What's his next move? What would be considered an adequate third act for Peter Florrick (or maybe it's his fourth or fifth act already). One bright spot: Lucca's wardrobe! That outfit in court, with the blue on black, and it fit perfectly, so gorgeous.

This show is flailing so much I wasn't surprised to hear the Kings won't be back if there is a next season. They've clearly run out of ideas and now are just burning through previously successful guest stars to gin up some warm feelings towards the show. They've already ruined Colin Sweeney and Elsbeth Tascioni, now it was Rowby's turn. JM's face looks more and more like a mask, and I keep watching her hairline to see the wig slip. And the willful ignorance of show canon (Will's declaration of love) being used as a "poor Alicia" cudgel -- way to underestimate the intelligence of your audience, show! You didn't used to do that!

Co-sign. But I have never found Brian's man-child tendencies to be as cute as the show likes to portray them, and have always had low-grade resentment for the way he uses Mike & Ike, trained agents, which you are not, BRIAN. I thought the show came down a little too hard on Boyle. We're supposed to take at face value (because Brian said it) that there was another way, and that Casey was about to do something honorable -- which I couldn't see because of the tear gas bomb but whatever. But I feel like every time Brian defends how awesome he is, in my head I hear "on NZT" at the end of every sentence-- which in my mind actually undermines his argument. "I am so awesome and omniscient" is not the same thing as "I am so awesome and omniscient on drugs". I've felt pretty damn skippy on certain stimulants but it didn't convince me that I was the Wizard. And for Brian to tell Boyle that he "respects his training" was pretty damn rich since he hasn't shown that level of respect for any other agents' abilities and skills, save Rebecca. So good for you Brian that you think your superior communication skills are enough to save the world. Perhaps they can also form a bulletproof shield around everyone his actions (not just in this ep) put in danger? Okay that was petty, but still. God I hope Boyle doesn't take that pill. I actually thought he was going to resign when he went into the office. Although I did think Naz understood and approved of his actions.

Usually I can ignore it but the WIGS! The wigs last night were terrible! And they only highlighted how gaunt Alicia is looking these days. What happened to this show? The last five minutes were awesome thanks to AC but great, I guess we'll get more Wronged Alicia when she conveniently forgets that she had already turned down Will's plea -- minutes before -- that voicemail was left. Remember "I need a plan"?, Alicia? And how you shrugged off Will even meeting your kids? But no, it's Evil Eli's fault that she's as isolated as ever and "graduated" to tequila from wine. Ugh please no. I wish there were more heat between AC and VW because I was here for it but there just wasn't. AC sold it like hell and I wanted her for Eli's sake but with Courtney and Jason both leaving town this ep they feel like yet another experiment that fizzled.

I thought I hated Jon Benjamin Hickey and his hoodie as ChumHum CEO until confronted with that charisma-free dude as the new CEO. Bring back the hoodie! Canning better foot the bill for that Contempt citation Alicia got. Alicia is so obviously checked out of Peter's campaign -- those web spots she was shooting were painful, with her stilted delivery and mask-like face -- why do they continue to pretend she's into this? And how can she continue to pretend that being the wife of a political figure won't compromise her privacy? So bizarre. I like that Nora is getting some lines but jeez the crap they have her doing... I don't get the greater point of Vanessa Williams' character either but I love seeing the little hearts in Eli's eyes when he looks at her so I'll take it. Any scene with AC in it elevates it, IMO.

Damn I'm going to have to watch again on my laptop 18 inches from my face. I'm envious of those who had such an emotional reaction to Abbie's sacrifice, because I could barely see it! How cheap are these sets that they have to light them with a 40-watt bulb? In fact I thought they'd blown up Pandora's tree in a previous scene, so when Abbie started ascending to a dark place in a dark room I was like, where's she going with that thing? I couldn't see the tree until the red glow of the interior appeared. Oh and get off my lawn. ETA: Yeah much better on the laptop!

Oh man, that was bad. Almost FUBAR bad. Nick and Adalind playing Happy Families: nauseating. Just wrong on so many levels. And to be clear, that does not mean bringing back Juliette would make it right. Juliette needs to be most sincerely dead, and Adalind I can't even care about as long as she's not playing house with Nick. The kids were creepy -- and a couple of them were too old for this fixation on a Mother figure, which added to the creep factor. But I was SO afraid they were going to Cousin Oliver the show by having Rosalee want to take the kids, or at least the little girl. OMG I was sure they were going to go there, which I guess would be something of a relief because then I could drop the show without hoping that it could somehow get better. Oh, one last thing: I thought Juliette said in a previous season that the house was hers, had been owned by her parents. So in addition to sometimes having a guestroom and sometimes not, it's also sometimes Juliette's and sometimes Nick's? And I wonder how easy it was to sell, given the sudden spike in home invasion murders in the neighboring houses. This show. We could have had it all!

Frank and Laurel are boring because they're both tissue-thin characters with obvious stereotypical motives in being together. Frank wants Laurel because he thinks she's a princess, blah blah self esteem kid from the block issues. Laurel instinctively knows that Frank is just muscle in a three-piece suit, and she likes a bit of rough. Every other episode they argue about him telling her the truth about what he does for Annalise, but the girl knows. That's their game, and it's not as cute as the writers think it is. Wes: he may be the only character who even remembers that he killed Sam. Derp, derp, no sex montage for you. The painting thing was weird, at first I was like, how does she know that Little Wes wore glasses and then I realized it's just one of her collection of random families that she likes to paint. Yes, Catherine, it is creepy. I'm always amazed at how fictional characters talk about prison and plea deals like going to prison ain't nothing. "I'll be out in five!" Catherine bleats, well what about your day-to-day life for five years, idiot? It's double homicide, you're not going to some country club prison. I was relieved that Oliver was ok, but I think it's because the writers don't plan ahead and just wanted a good stinger for last week's episode. They're always dropping tantalizing shit like that and then never referring to it again, just so they can live up to the show's rep for a shocking! reveal! For example, I hope that Nate is rubbing up against Annalise to keep his enemy closer, but I would not be surprised if it turns out that no, he never did have a jump on her. The actor playing Caleb is not an actor.

I think once the show got a full order for season 4, season 5 was a gimme, just because that's the magic number for syndication. That doesn't guarantee, however, that season 5 is going to be any good, or at least fulfill ANY off the potential it's always had but never fully executed. Last season was so weird, I remember noticing how bouncy and beautiful Claire Coffee's hair was and just as I was thinking huh, what's that about I noticed she was pregnant and bam, they wrote it in. Upping the hair and makeup game, more closeups, etc, are tv shorthand for pregnant actress, but it hadn't occurred to me they'd have a second pregnancy so soon after the first. LAZY. Juliette has been problematic for so long, but I think the writers refuse to see it, and double down on the wrong things. She could have been a Big Bad simply by spiriting Diana off. But no, they had to have her complicit in Kelly's death AND destroy the trailer. That IMO made her an unredeemable monster who deserved to die, and having Trubel deliver the killing blow was just right. BUT NOW... If they are seriously going down this "cure Juliette" route (speculation, not spoiled) when they spent every opportunity last season saying she couldn't be cured, it can't happen, it's impossible, blah blah, then they can go fuck themselves, especially if she gets "cured by love." Ugh. These writers don't know how to write romance: Silas and Bree sold Monroe and Rosalee, not the writing. And even though he's gotten better, I don't want to see Giuntoli play any more love-stricken angst, it's not his forte. Sometimes I get so exhausted by how shows compromise their own narratives by 1) not having a longterm plan or endgame and 2) allowing favoritism to dictate casting. Sure Claire Coffee is good, but that character should not still be a threat in season 5. And even though I like Sasha Roiz juuuust fine, I think it would have been a more interesting role for him to remain an adversary or at least work at cross-purposes with Nick. Frankly I think they got rid of the trailer because it meant they'd have to continue worldbuilding and after four seasons of doing the bare minimum, they're not going to start now.