Eyes High

I think Kirkman clarified Daryl's sexuality as straight because of the "prison gay" revelation and the rumours flying around about Daryl hooking up with a dude. I think that was the conception for the character at one point, but Darabont's a few showrunners ago these days. The type of character I'm thinking of--the anti-Daryl, in my mind--is sometimes referred to as a character who would have sexual chemistry with a screen door. Spike and Faith were the closest BTVS/Angel ever got to that, in my mind. Also, Keller (Chris Meloni) on Oz. I don't know if TWD has any examples of characters like that. Even the characters who are capital-s Sexy--and there are a lot of good-looking people on TWD, don't get me wrong--aren't particularly sexual. Having read the source comic by Robert Kirkman, I have to say that the source material wasn't exactly brimming with sexuality, either. Characters make cow eyes at each other and hook up, but the whole business has a bit of a perfunctory, businesslike feel. I get the sense that if Kirkman felt he could get away with it, he would make everyone asexual and focus on what really seems to excite him as a storyteller: survivalist trivia (growing crops, e.g.), worldbuilding, philosophical debates, etc. (This attitude towards sexuality as a messy, distasteful impediment to the "good stuff" seems to be a pretty common affliction with science fiction writers, particularly male science fiction writers, in my opinion.) Maybe that's bled over to the TV show.

Eh. Most of these spoilers are just building on information that has already been widely disseminated by WOTW and L7R. As I said upthread, Foiler 101 is taking a bit of known information to make your story sound credible and adding your own fake spoilers in. Writers of TV foilers for GOT also love to mix in stuff from the books to make their fake information sound more credible. There's a lot of information that gets my foiler hackles up, though: With all that said, there's some stuff which seems to align with other rumours I've heard: So who knows?

That ties into Mike's little story about the wheelbarrow theft: the answer was there all along but they were looking too hard to see it.

Promo summary: 1. Hank being carried by paramedics on a stretcher, saying "This is just embarrassing." 2. Peggy talking to Ed in the car on the road: "It's like when you're a kid, and you need permission to go to the washroom, you DON'T ask! You just GO!" 3. Hanzee interviewing the clerk of a gas station grocery store: "Fella comes in here, two or three times, and uses the phone outside." Hanzee asks, "Redhead?" The man answers "Yeah." 4. Ed on the phone with Mike in the phone booth: "I've killed people before. Maybe you've heard of me, the Butcher of Laverne?" 5. Mike, to Ed on the phone, in a continuation of last week's conversation: "I have heard of you and may I say, brother, I like your style." Remember that last episode, someone kept calling the Gerhardts claiming to have information about Dodd, and Bear didn't want to hear it. I'm guessing that Ed called the Gerhardts several times offering information about Dodd and when they blew him off went to Mike instead. I'm sure that will end very well for everyone involved.

Yes! Perfect! Especially with the UFO theme. The important thing to keep in mind is that even though the show is set in 1979, most of the songs are from several years earlier: "Oh Well" (1969), "Kansas City" (1964), "Reunion" (1968), "Locomotive Breath" (1971), "Song of the Soul" (1975), "I Love You" (1965), "Just Dropped In" (1968), "Yama Yama" (1971), etc. There is some 1978 and 1979 music ("Children of the Sun," "Too Much Paranoias," e.g.), but it's very rare.

I know much has been made of Peeta and Katniss' chemistry or lack thereof, but whatever it was supposed to be, Peeta/Katniss really worked for me in this movie. I saw the tenderness, the tentative connection, the emotion in things unspoken. It really worked for me. Their relationship at the end felt truly earned. The relative lack of physical contact between them didn't bother me; I watch too many Korean dramas and Victorian period pieces for that to be a problem for me. I loved Donald Sutherland in this so much. That conversation where he addresses Katniss as an equal for the first time? That surprised and triumphant laugh when Katniss killed Coin? That look that passed between Katniss and Snow just before he died? Perfection. Coin's Poncho Cape of Villainy was oddly hilarious to me. She's not a proper villain until she's rocking the poncho! I also loved Johanna. Jena Malone is so perfect for the role. Her Johanna was razor-sharp, unsparing, fierce, unpleasant, even cruel...and fucking amazing. I'll miss that magnificent bitch. I've seen some reviews suggesting she was underused, but a little Johanna goes a long way. Prim's death moment was a little ridiculous. It was like "Hi, Prim! Bye, Prim!" I giggled a bit at the Buttercup cat actor being completely unfazed by Katniss' outburst. Cats: completely over your bullshit, always. I guess you could fanwank that whatever weird cosmetic treatments they did to the tributes delayed the normal aging process (not that that would explain Mags, but oh well).

Tragically, Daryl is heterosexual...at least according to Robert Kirkman. If I were matchmaking dudes for Daryl, though, Aaron is whom I would pick. Good-looking, good-hearted, sexy voice, more stable than Rick, good chemistry, rolls with Daryl's weirdness...what more could he want, if he were into dudes? To be honest, Daryl doesn't have much of a sexual presence to me. Norman Reedus is a decent-looking guy and all, but Daryl doesn't exactly exude sexuality to me, and it's not just because he hasn't shown any whiff of sexual interest in anyone (male, female or otherwise). You know those characters who are just walking, talking sex even if they never openly hit on anyone or get involved with anyone? You know those characters who just smoulder?...Yeah, well, to me, Daryl is the opposite of that.

Thank you for the translation, WearyTraveler! We're spoiled by what a talented bunch we have on the boards. Thank you specifically for clearing up the bit about Jon's resurrection episodes. I wasn't sure if it was Javi's speculation or not.

Yay! Eugene and Tara's actors both bring a sort of sweetness to their roles which is compounded when the characters interact. I don't know that Eugene and Tara come off as all that endearing on the page, especially Eugene, but the actors are able to breathe likability into these characters. That makes their relationship all the more touching, in my opinion. Eugene's unbounded platonic love for Tara also keeps him from being a cartoon. I also like that Eugene is attracted to Tara but isn't secretly in love with her...because that happens! People can be BFFs with people to whom they're attracted without falling in love with them. It's nice to see that represented on TV. Eugene grinning like a fool at Tara when she regained consciousness while she's cracking wise about his hair was one of the most adorable moments on the show to date, in my opinion. There doesn't seem to be much room on the show for relationships that aren't fraught with angst or some sort of tension, so it's great to see BFFs being BFFs. I love that Rick's most trusted lieutenants are women. As the great philosopher Jidenna once said, "The ladies on my elbow ain't for the show / Every madame on my team is a top general." Do we have any kind of sense how Michonne and Carol feel about each other?

The two are connected, though. She would never have dallied with Mike if she hadn't seen it as the only way of getting rid of her abuser. That's why when Simone complains about Dodd calling her a whore, Mike comes back with a light "Technically..." That's why she is livid when Mike killed Otto instead of Dodd. He wasn't doing his "job"--offing Dodd--so what was she fucking him for?! They were both very clear as to the transactional nature of their relationship. It was stupid, yes, but she saw an opportunity to be rid of her abuser and took it. Hard to fault her for that. It also compounds the tragedy if you believe as I do that Dodd sexually abused her. To get rid of her own abuser, she prostituted herself. No wonder a disillusioned Simone spits that she's through "lying down for men."

I wouldn't put it past Ed and Peggy to off Hanzee. He's a force of nature, but they've shown themselves surprisingly resourceful when push comes to shove, and between them they've killed or incapacitated four people who outgunned them: 1. Ed grabbed a planter to stab Rye, who was armed with a knife. 2. Ed used a meat tenderizer and a cleaver to beat back and kill Virgil. 3. Peggy killed one of Dodd's goons with a sink. 4. Peggy incapacitated Dodd with his own weapon. I do. Abuse victim--and I saw that the NY Times reviewer of this episode agrees with me that she was likely sexually abused--trying to find an even bigger monster that she could use to take down her abuser when her family did nothing to protect her or her mother from him? How can you not feel sorry for her? I don't blame her for not caring about Charlie, her grandfather, or the men sent with Dodd. Those were the same men who turned a blind eye when her father abused her, and she knew it. No one on that compound cared enough about her to lift a finger to protect her; there's no indication that Floyd cared about Dodd's treatment of Simone except when it was happening right in front of her. I'm not surprised that Simone didn't care about any of them. Why should she? Of course she was selfish, thoughtless, and stupid. At that age, aren't we all? Charlie was selfish and stupid too when he threw away Bear's plans for his future for a shot at playing the big man. Of course she was in over her head. It doesn't mean she deserved to die for it. Bear was working out his own issues with Dodd through Simone. Simone was smart enough to realize that's what he was doing and call him on it, even if it was too late to save herself.

Some news! (I've bolded the big stuff.) 1. Carice has had very little filming this year, and it's all been interiors in Belfast with no extras and very hush-hush. (Los 7 Reinos) 2. The SFX team is using the Ghost ball-on-stick more than in previous years. (Los 7 Reinos) 3. Ghost will be involved somehow in the resurrection. (Not sure whether this is a fact or just L7R speculation.) 4. The Ned/Lyanna scene inside the Tower of Joy has already been filmed. (Los 7 Reinos) 5. KL filming continues, as Eugene Simon Instagrammed a picture of his dirty, bare feet. (WOTW) 6. Moneyglass Winterfell set is filming late at night, lit up like a Christmas tree. (WOTW) 7. Extras NI is seeking a newborn baby boy with brown eyes (no hair colour or ethnicity specified) for one day of filming in December in the last week of filming. We know that the northern storyline will still be filming at that point, at least. 8. There will be a scene shooting this week with Jaime, Cersei, and a new Hand of the King (although we don't know who that Hand is). (WOTW) 9. Jon won't be resurrected until episode 5 or 6. Sounds like Melisandre dies resurrecting Jon, although that hardly squares with Melisandre's prophecy that she would see Arya again. If the newborn baby brown-eyed boy is supposed to be Jon, that doesn't exactly square with the Ned/Lyanna scene already having been filmed. Anyone want to take a guess?

Look, even assuming that the Unsullied hordes are truly angry, which I don't think you or anyone has established in this discussion other than assuming that they must feel that way because some passionate Internet fans you've come across do, the only people who are crazy enough about the show to feel the type of overwhelming anger, betrayal and disappointment you attribute to them at being lied to about a fictional character's death are people HBO knows will never stop watching no matter how much they hate themselves for it. If they honestly care that much, they're going to watch no matter what, and the more they complain and rail against the showrunners for lying to them and deceiving them, the more free publicity they generate for the show! It's a win-win, really. Fucking with the fans to generate buzz is PR 101. LOST raised it to an art form. From a PR perspective, there is no distinction between good, fuzzy-feeling hype and bad hype. There's no such thing as bad publicity. From a PR perspective, it doesn't matter whether people are talking about how exploitative and awful Sansa's rape is, or about how well-choreographed the battle scenes were in Hardhome; they're still talking.' Wouldn't have fooled anyone for a second. If they had played coy, everyone would have said "If he was truly dead, they would have said so." And they would have been right! Thus the deliberate obfuscation.

Even assuming that you're correct--and frankly, I saw many positive reactions from the fandom to the ending--the Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fan experience is loudly and passionately declaring that he or she will never watch again, only to come crawling back. There's no stock to be placed in such declarations as a barometer of continuing fan interest. Also, even assuming that the Internet fans actually follow through on their threats never to watch the show again--and virtually none of them do, from what I can tell (they hatewatch, but they still watch)--the Internet fandom really isn't reflective of the audience. The Internet fans have at various points passionately declaimed that they're 100% done with the show for this or that reason, only for the show's ratings to jump after each supposedly unforgivable transgression. HBO isn't writing or marketing to the Internet fans. They are marketing to the broad audience, and the passionate, picky, and unforgiving Internet fandom is not a representative subset of same. Even assuming that you're correct that there was an enormous negative reaction from the entire audience to the development of Jon Snow appearing to be dead that can be discerned from the Internet fandom reaction, which I think is a pretty flimsy assumption, remember the phrase "There's no such thing as bad publicity"? If the fans love it, great! If the fans hate it, great! They're reacting.

Because cliffhangers work. Why ruin the suspense? The suspense is what generates publicity. That's PR 101. Heighten the mystery, up the ante, stir the excitement. There's a reason why some consider the biggest TV event of all time to be "Who shot JR?" not "What's going to happen at JR's shooter's trial?" Not to put too fine a point on it, but bookwalkers are nobodies in terms of the show's wider audience. They are nonentities as far as HBO is concerned and they are not catering to or concerned about them. Their marketing has always been directed at their bread and butter: the unsullied hordes, who outnumber the bookwalkers by a huge margin.

I know Lindsay's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but for someone who's aware of the problem and who supposedly loves Gretchen, her past and present behaviour towards Gretchen looks awfully enabling. You don't have to be a genius to know that urging someone who is clinically depressed to abuse drugs and alcohol--as Gretchen accused Lindsay of doing last year, and as we saw her doing--is a terrible thing to do. You see that someone's mood is affected to the point that she can't feel anything and all you can do is bop her on the nose with a spoon? There's unconditional love and acceptance, and then there's enabling.

I think that part of the problem is that we have no information as to what, if anything, Gretchen has attempted to do to combat her depression other than riding out the dark periods and self-medicating with illicit drugs and alcohol. She's from a wealthy background, so presumably if her parents were aware of the problem she would have been able to access the best resources money could buy. It's possible that her parents knew of the problem and were unsympathetic, or that her parents never found out about the problem, but again, we don't have the information either way. If she did access resources, it's possible that it was her experience that therapy and medication were ineffective, but we just don't know. If Gretchen had said something like "I've tried doctors, I've tried antidepressants, and the only thing that has ever worked for me is riding out the rough patches when they hit," that would be at least understandable; many people commenting on this storyline have said that it was their experience that doctors and medication were of little assistance to them. We don't have that information, though. We don't know what Gretchen has tried, if anything. The implication seems to be that she has been diagnosed but hasn't sought treatment. Personally, I'd be surprised if she were on antidepressants given all the booze and coke she has consumed, although I suppose it's possible. Based solely on the information Gretchen has provided, she's aware that she has had this problem for many years and she has done nothing about the depression when it hits other than self-medicate and wait for the worst of it to pass. If that's the case, it's difficult to feel overly sympathetic towards her ranting about how nothing can be done for her and basically telling Jimmy that he just needs to suck it up.

I don't understand the surprise. It's exactly what GRRM did: end on a cliffhanger as to whether or not Jon's alive. The difference, I suppose, is that GRRM never insisted that Jon was dead. On the other hand, GRRM has left the fandom dangling for four and a half years now as to Jon's fate, while the show is only going to leave them hanging for less than a year. On the contrary. HBO's flat denials were brilliant marketing. Their denials had the opposite effect to "backfiring": they raised hype to unprecedented levels and encouraged the fans to go crazy trying to prove them wrong. As a result, Jon Snow was trending pretty much all day yesterday. Do you really think that would have happened if they had baldly stated that he hadn't really died and had said "No worries, he'll be back next year"? The Walking Dead pulled the same trick lately and it worked like a charm. Hype, media attention, the works.

I don't doubt it...especially since his boss views him as a second-class employee at best, subhuman at worst, due to his race. One of the reviews of this episode noted that we now know why Mike is so ostentatious with his wit, intelligence and learning; it's a way of demanding to be taken seriously by racist assholes. I actually felt sorry for Mike for the first time this season, when he quietly quotes Martin Luther King Jr.'s bit about judging people not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, almost as a way of shielding himself against his boss' racial epithets. If you're going to steal, steal from the best.

Could be. When I think of hideously expensive songs, my first thought is the Beatles, but I'm guessing the Rolling Stones would not be cheap, either.What about "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin? It was used in Argo, a film set in 1979.

He wasn't exactly careful. Simone got in his truck in the parking lot next to the hotel in broad daylight, meaning there could be any number of witnesses who weren't his henchman like Ricky who could attest to that. I also think Ricky would rat out Bear, if not to the cops then to Floyd, if sufficient pressure was applied. All in all, it was pretty sloppy. The Gerhardts are also accustomed to getting away with murder, as Ben's cringing, respectful attitude suggests. On the other hand, Bear walked Simone pretty deep into the woods before executing her. If no one's looking for her, it could be months or even years before the body is found. I guess he's been watching X-Files reruns. (At the risk of killing a joke by explaining it, there was a big arc on The X-Files where a main character, Scully, was abducted by aliens and was later diagnosed with cancer which turned out to be caused by her abduction.)

What does everyone think about Bear's lack of interest in finding Dodd? Is he angry at Dodd over Charlie and/or over trumping up a war on fake intel? Does he genuinely believe that Dodd is a bad influence on the family and wants to keep him away lest he cause any more damage? Does he want power for himself and is taking advantage of Dodd's absence to grab it? All of the above? I thought Bear smashing up the hood of his truck could be read either way: 1) he hates himself for killing Simone because he knows she was right about Bear wanting to get revenge on Dodd or 2) he hates himself for not being strong enough to follow through and kill her. Given Bear's lack of interest in information about Dodd as established earlier in the episode, I wonder if Ed previously contacted the Gerhardts to attempt a deal but was blown off and so turned to Mike instead. With the "O Death" playing in the background, and Mike's somber, unreadable expression as he meticulously dressed himself, the implication to me was that the Undertaker was coming to kill him. Fortunately, the show pulled an awesome bait-and-switch and had Mike kill the Undertaker instead.

In between Simone's comment about being through with lying down for men and her comment to Bear about Bear not knowing the things Dodd did to Simone when Bear wasn't around, it sounded more and more this episode as if Dodd sexually abused Simone. Still, I don't think the writers wanted us to feel too bad for her, what with her callous reference to her recently deceased grandfather as an old cripple (...although if Dodd was a chip off the old block, that might explain why she wasn't too warmly disposed towards Otto). Going by soap opera rules--no body, no death--Simone's not actually dead. In Miller's Crossing, Danny Boy played over a character escaping from what appeared to be a certain demise. On the other hand, in that split screen moment with Bear driving, Rye and Simone were grouped together, suggesting that Simone is in fact dead. Angus Sampson is a treasure. He conveyed so much with his eyes. How is it that Ed managed to beat Hank and Lou back to his house? He was on foot, and they knew exactly where he was going. Given how many bodies have stacked up already, whatever happens in Sioux Falls will have to be pretty impressive to compare. At least now we have an idea of what happens to get everyone there. Ed and Peggy have Dodd. Hanzee is tracking them. Ed lures Mike and the Kitchen brother with the promise of Dodd. The Gerhardts are desperate to get Dodd back. I like the idea of Dodd, who got such a thrill out of victimizing others and making others feel helpless, being trussed up like a turkey in the trunk of Ed's car...assuming Dodd's even alive at this point. I'm kind of disappointed in Hanzee's thin characterization at this point. He seems to be edging too close to the "mystical Indian" stereotype with his tracking abilities and his lack of personal agenda or inner life, and we're no clearer as to his absolute loyalty to the piece of shit that is Dodd Gerhardt than we were at the start of the season. "Locomotive Breath," which opened the episode, is fittingly apocalyptic: "The train, it won't stop going / No way to slow down" is a fitting description of the violence spiraling out of control. In this episode at least, poor Simone was the "all time loser" running "headlong to [her] death."

I loved that Mike didn't submit tamely to his execution and blew the Undertaker away. Attaboy. Also some unsubtle mentions as to race in relation to Mike--his boss snarling about how he thought Mike wasn't like the other "darkies," Mike talking about how people aren't meant to be owned, etc.--for what I think was the first time. Getting major Silvio/Adriana vibes from Bear/Simone, although apparently there's a Coen callback there to a movie I haven't seen (Miller's Crossing?). That was gorgeously shot. Hank has a Room of Crazy! The plot thickens! If Charlie's in State Pen awaiting trial, is it fair to say that that's the last we'll see of him? Given the shit that's going down, I'd say State Pen is the safest place for him. Karl and Betsy's hug was so beautiful. My heart!

Great article over at Salon.com about the music of Fargo. The music supervisor, Maggie Phillips, promises three "big" covers of 1970s songs by modern artists. Episode 9 also ends with Phillips' "favourite cover" of the season. Phillips also promises that in the last few episodes, they use two "huge" songs from the 1970s, which would be the most recognizable songs used in the season. One of these is a song that "blew their budget." Anyone want to guess?