joshleejosh

While watching this episode, I realized that Emily Thorne's revenge schemes are a parallel to the show itself. * In Season 1, Emily's revenging plans were tightly plotted and efficiently executed, and similarly, the show moved like a well-oiled machine. * In Season 2, her plans were derailed by a bunch of dumb secondary plots, and the show sank under its own weight. * In Season 3, Emily has refocused her aim, but doesn't seem to have her full mojo back, and her major plan was too complicated and drawn-out -- and that's how the show's been feeling lately. Lots of fun stuff happens, emotional depths are plumbed, and stuff goes batshit, but there's a lack of confidence that makes it all feels like a lot of random scrambling and little of the heist-movie-ish, we-had-plans-B-C-and-D-all-along swag that Revenge is capable of at peak power. Also, I *seriously* can't tell if we're supposed to take Emily and Aiden seriously as a couple. In their scenes together, it always feels like she's settling: "Eh, he's decent looking, knows my secret identity, and won't mind living a life on the run; I guess he'll do, even if our chemistry is questionable at best." I choose to believe part of her plan was to ditch him and run off by herself. Poor Nolan, meanwhile, just wants someone to choose him for once -- romantically, platonically, he's not even picky at this point. I've got my fingers crossed for good (i.e., horrible) things from Conrad and Lydia, now that they've gotten their heartfelt reunion out of the way. Less having feelings, more revenging!

If Dash becomes an evil wizard, I will be much less confused by the fact that he looks like a younger, hunkier Christopher Walken.

I was a little disappointed with the season finale: too much time with characters who were introduced late -- one of whom ended up being a total non-entity, literally -- and not enough of Wendy Being Awesome. Also, the big witch fight was underwhelming; action is not this show's forte. Seemed like they were more interested in setting up cliffhangers for next season than in wrapping things up. But giving Freya's boys powers makes them interesting for the first time, so there's that.

If a tree falls in the forest but no one cares, does it actually count as a mid-season plot twist?

I had a long train commute today, and I spent most of it playing bite-sized rounds of trivia in QuizUp. Identifying logos is quite fun, and I'm only slightly embarrassed by how good I am at answering questions about ancient episodes of Doctor Who. I'm joshleejosh in game if anyone wants to come at me.

I enjoy the soapiness scale, but sometimes I feel like Nashville could use a SKIP/WATCH index for its characters, since they're all so inconsistent (either in characterization or in the quality of their storylines). For example: Rayna: WATCH -- unless she's marking time with Luke Wheeler, in which case SKIP. Teddy and Peggy: SKIP -- unless there's pork blood involved, of course, in which case dear lord WATCH. Scarlett: SKIP -- unless she gets pushed up against the wall and is forced to be proactive and plucky, like when she got booed at her first tour show and was forced to wake up and actually perform at her second, which upgrades her to a weak WATCH. Will: His eternal quest to explore every dusty corner of the closet was starting to inch towards SKIP territory, but that storyline found a new gear, so he's definitely back to a WATCH. Gunnar: usually an easy SKIP, but I really enjoyed him getting bossed around by Deacon in the last episode. Sidekick/buttmonkey is a good look on him. No one's hopeless!