shrewd.buddha

I think our household is about done with this show -- beyond background noise -- and it's all because of Oliver's nonsensical defense of Malcolm and most everyone acting as if Sara's death was no big deal because it was needed for the plot to work. The show's logic just does not make sense anymore. Quick notes: Thea's approach is best : just tell everyone the truth and let things work out as they will. Thea isn't killing her bio-Dad - she is turning him over to Ra's for his crimes. No need for guilt there. Malcolm is a cry-baby when caught by Ra's, but so smug in Starling City. Oliver kills 10+ guards ... no one cares ... but no one is allowed to kill Malcolm , Oliver , or Diggle in return. Felicity doesn't seem too worried about Oliver on this suicide mission trip... The next Ra's : only men who were never trained by Ra's need apply. Has something happened behind the scenes that would explain why the show is so badly written now?

I wondered why Peggy didn't wreck the radio to stop Ivchenko, but I realized it was needed so they could do a callback to the Captain America scene with Peggy on the radio talking to Steve in the plane. It does get frustrating when Peggy, who should know better, doesn't shoot first, and stands within arm's reach of a trained assassin. I guess they were going for the standard slug-fest trope. Also Ivchenko's logic was off : an invention is discovered to have bad side-effects ; someone else exploits that to commit an atrocity ; why go after the inventor? And while I was happy they didn't put a cap on the series, I agree that it did feel as if a lot of elements were crowding out Peggy in this episode. That is not a bad thing for a typical episode - or if the series comes back - but unsatisfying if this was the last episode we will get.. But it was a nice ride, regardless. And the balance of action and humor was, again, done well. Enjoyed Stark telling Jarvis that, no, he would not prefer to be killed for the greater good.

"Stand back, or I will dismember myself!!" WtF, indeed. How is it that anyone thinks she is in a position to negotiate, or why she thinks she controls 'the Basement'. And then she passes out .. Why not take the other eye and make her completely dependent? They could have the Basement prisoners any time they wanted by starving them out or gassing them. And they don't seem like the type of people who would care about sacrificing the guard who was exchanged for Fish. So silly .. it feels like this story is written by a completely a different set of writers. I did like the Bruce and Alfred story. But yeah, Wayne Industries, and Gotham in general, are so corrupt and murderous that you'd think people would be evacuating the city. The check-ins with Penguin can be fun, but I can't tell if TPTB are trying make us feel some level of sympathy for him. This guy is a psycho who kills random strangers for food and young men who offered him a car ride -- I'm not really rooting for him to climb the criminal ladder of success. Gotham is sort of like this episode's Red Hood story : watching the "no honor among thieves" concept play out as all the murdering criminals whittle down their own numbers. It can be interesting to watch, but they all deserve bad things to happen to them.

According to Wikipedia : What a sucky way to leave the show hanging. Sure it was bad, but pulling it with such a major cliffhanger is just rude.

This makes the second anal-retentive meltdown that Patrick has had (the first when going to the wedding). The guy is a high maintenance mess. And I couldn't tell which former boyfriend he was most upset about. ..A good lesson learned about inviting exes to your parties. Maybe Patrick, and not Augustin, is headed towards a downward spiral. Patrick's speech was cringe-worthy -- and I am surprised that both Richie and Kevin stuck around after that. I'm sort of surprised his friends did, too. This episode almost made me wish that Patrick (Jonathan Groff) was not always front and center, but I get the impression that this is basically his show. Kevin is coming off as almost delusional. Did he and John really talk about moving back? John seemed to be surprised when Patrick brought it up. And I doubt John is oblivious enough not to get some idea about Kevin and Patrick. Maybe Kevin is one of those types that swears his lies are true and makes the spouse feels guilty for doubting. Having a Halloween episode also seemed odd -- was this expected to air at a different time? I had not noticed the show was following any type of time period. And that did not seem like a fun party at all - everyone brought their baggage : Doris' fear of seriousness, Augustin being clingy (for some reason) , Dom's separation anxiety from Doris, and everything related to Patrick .... exhausting. ..as usual..

Sending Beth home was a contrived choice for so many reasons. What if Ray had called again? They had just gone to find Ray and then had to conference-call Beth-Michelle from home for more info. The plot just needed Beth at home so the kidnapping could happen... Why are people still opening doors for killers without verifying who is on the other side?!? Don't they bother to find out the name of the officer who is supposed to be outside?! And the sacrificial squad member who stayed with Beth - getting chest compressions in the same area where he had been shot? Is that to help him bleed out faster? And it looked as if he had been shot very near the heart. And why is Beth a bad-ass in some situations and hapless victim in others? I'm beginning to think the plot is the real criminal of this show..

It was escapist fun, but also a mess. The first half was the best : it pulled you in immediately with Lucy's dire situation. But it got less coherent as it went along. The notion that controlling more of your brain function could give you super powers outside of your body was pretty far-fetched -- an okay sci-fi notion -- but to have a professor lecturing other intellectuals as if this was based on some type of actual research -- was a bit much. We also noticed that Lucy was pretty cavalier about all the destruction and deaths of innocents she caused - despite other options her super-brain could have come up with..

I do think Agent Carter benefited from a shorter, more focused series and a central character. AoS could have been written with tighter story arcs but purposely was not -- they stretched everything out. Each week there was a tease about Coulson's resurrection and Skye's parents, which became annoyingly repetitious. Everything was pointed out with neon signs. Basically the writing choices and style were subpar compared to Agent Carter.

So now people are just shaking off gun shots to the upper chest like it's no big deal. And Abby throws off a slab of concrete when she gets a second to catch her breath. Sure... The Battle for the Mountain seems to be dragging on now. Considering that Clarke has declared she wants to kill all the Mountain People, I'm sure things will go horribly wrong and lots of innocent people will die .. horribly. It seems Clarke and the Sky People can't go six weeks or more without a mass killing. (Though killing the Grounders who were attacking their first camp did seem justified.)

Oliver's complex system of lies and secrets makes no sense. It is as if he is mentally unbalanced - or has actually become as warped as Merlin already. Would Oliver (i.e. the writers) also find a way to justify keeping Merlin , and Slade , alive if Thea had been killed instead of Sara? Or their mom? I'm sure the guard on the island would have voted that Slade had killed enough people to deserve death. Keeping all the murderers alive because they are main characters is becoming ridiculous. (Tho I know they are not going to get rid of a major comic book villain, they could at least attempt to end their murdering ways permanently.) I also noticed how odd it seemed that Oliver's mom did not show up in the flashbacks. Not even a photo.. Weird.

The show is still going strong, but I do wonder if it would be so good if all of this were stretched out to 22 episodes.. The Stark plot would be the overall arc and there would be filler episodes. So I'm glad it's short and sweet. But it looks as if the show will end on note of "to be continued ..". The interrogation scenes at the beginning seemed to go on longer than necessary. Yes, they needed to beat that drum about sexism again and let Peggy give them some comeuppance - but Peggy also made some self-righteous assumptions about her co-workers that led to her lying and stealing. Neither side really seemed to be the more justified one. It can be frustrating watching the good guys be two steps behind the villains until the final act. This is compounded by the fact that so many shows and movies are now based on action heroes and comic books where this is standard operating procedure. At least they are not making Peggy and SSR look too incompetent (most of the time).

Making Iris the only one in the 'family' that doesn't know things isn't cool. And the lies aren't very good, so I'm okay with her snooping. There's no real justification for keeping her out of the loop, except for typical drama. Same goes for there being no reason for Stein and Ronnie to leave town. The military knows where the Lab is and where their family and friends are. The military should also know about Barry. The General is gone, but surely he didn't keep everything to himself and there were always men with him. ..But again, comics ... so, okay.. The show is fun, but there's a lot of this stuff happening. Why does Flash stop at the worst times? Just because he needs to get caught sometimes? Who is feeding the prisoners? Who is paying the power bill for Star Labs? The list goes on..

I'm hoping the show does not start following Joker-maybe-Jerome character, too. It is already stretched thin sharing time with the Fish show and the Penguin show. Fish is a fascinating character, but did they intend for her to be so prominent or is it a reaction to how popular the character became? Her prison drama is interesting, tho far-fetched - but she's a merciless killer and not exactly someone I'd root for in a fight. Are we supposed to root for lesser monsters versus larger monsters? At some point you'd think Gordon and the Police would put and end to at least one villain. In the comics the villains always return, but they do not all stick around all the time. At this point the show has about five or six (?) main bad-guy characters (some children, some mobsters) -- and only Gordon and Bruce-boy on the good-guy side. If I grow tired of Gothom, it will probably be because the criminals have overcrowded the show as the protagonists we are supposed to sympathize with.

I thought it was a lot of over-the-top fun. The references to James Bond type characters, dialogue and situations was also enjoyable. It didn't take itself seriously which made it easier to just sit back and roll with it.. Only a few things bugged me : a) Where were the other Kingmen? Especially when the world was going to hell? An organization with massive facilities and personnel is suddenly down to one senior agent and two agents-in-training? b) The final test of agent training seemed too close to real-world child soldier recruitment techniques that are horrific. We sort of laughed because we knew the puppy was safe, but still -- what type of 'good' organization would do such things? c) They harped on teamwork during training, but there was never much teamwork going on. d) Why would Eggsy realize the implanted chips could be used before Merlin did?

I thought Patrick handled the Kevin situation pretty well -- and Kevin's reaction was sadly realistic in terms of being f'ked up. Did Kevin finally invite Jon to his workplace because now it was 'safe' since he was no longer involved with a subordinate? Was he using his fiance as a actual rebound relationship? Ugh. But Patrick was massively irritating in this episode when he was with Richie. It was almost as if he stalked Richie online, found a need, then held him hostage for the day while he unburdened his guilty feelings and inserted himself into every conversation Richie was having with relatives and former friends. Seeking out Richie immediately after breaking things off with Kevin made it seem obvious that Patrick had ulterior motives for reconnecting. I kept wanting Richie to just tell Patrick to shut up and drive -- and that the day would be a reminder of why he broke things off with Patrick because Patrick was such a needy mess. I think I would have rather spent time with Dom and Doris instead of Agustín and Eddie. Augustin seems to be using his new job and Eddie as a means of working through a redemption phase. I had never picked up on any signs of attraction from Augustin before this hook-up. I wouldn't mind keeping Kevin and Jon around. Maybe we could follow their messy relationship and spend less time with other characters ... like Patrick.. (There are only so many characters you can cram into a thirty minute episode. )

We know the Mountain People are trapped in one place. But have they explained why the Grounders didn't move farther away, making it more difficult for the Mountain People to catch them and kill them for their blood? Are the Grounders supposed to be sort of dumb savages?

Zeh-bra was amusing. That last scene, with Watson resigning herself to the life of a detective and living in the Brownstone, seemed depressing -- it seemed as if Watson had just gotten news of being diagnosed with a debilitating condition. Why not return to a medical career? How about blogging? Damn, even Batman isn't that bummed out about being a crime fighter. Of course, I know the true endgame was Watson living with Sherlock again.. And speaking of masked crime fighting, if Joan and Sherlock stuck to the detective work and handed over their evidence to the police for follow-up, they might not make themselves targets for revenge-seeking evil masterminds. But since this is a TV show, we know Joan and Sherlock have to confront the criminals and announce "I caught you! I'm the reason you're going to spend your life in jail!" ...And it makes more sense in a show like this rather than CSI, where the lab analysts also do the work of detectives, investigators, and interrogators. Which is crazy..

So Clarke decided the lives of hundreds (?) were worth less than 47-ish people, plus Bellamy? Not sure that moral math adds up. I don't think I'm a fan of hers anymore. Not that it matters for this show. I suppose Jaha needs to find the City of Light so that Clarke and the Sky People have someone new to fight and kill next season. Because, that's what really matters, right?

That surprised me, too. But I guess they want more from this group of characters, since they have been developing them into more than caricatures of sexist men of the 40's. I'm a little conflicted about Peggy putting FBI agents in the hospital. Sure, she has to be the hero against all odds -- and men in law enforcement are fair game -- but how far would she be willing to go against the establishment "because they wouldn't understand"? Shoot someone? Kick a puppy? And now that she's caught, she's willing to take time to explain things? I suppose Jarvis is a wanted man now, too. ...But I'm sure they will all be friends when it's all said and done. I'm surprised Thompson (blonde agent) didn't try to reason with Peggy since they bonded during their life-and-death mission in Russia last week.. Still a really fun show, tho.

The show is light fun, so I don't watch too seriously -- but the dating stuff is the worst.. Answering your phone during your second date and leaving during a make-out session? There would be no third date. Dating confrontations at someone's work place? Isn't that what estranged stalkers with guns do? The Iris/Linda/Felicity/Caitlyn multi-angled dating situations are exhausting. But it seems the CW has a mandatory quota for scenes involving love-life angst per episode, so, yuck.. Also, just to add : I don't think of Iris as a woman of color. The actor, yes, but Iris the character would be written just as badly if she were red, white, blue, whatever.

I enjoy the look and feel of the show, but the episodes are starting to feel as if they are rambling... There are so many characters the show checks in with : Riddler, Penguin, Fish, the Mob Bosses, Alfred and Bruce, sometimes Barbara, etc. It can make whatever the main story is supposed to be feel thin. It sort of works when the different story lines touch on one another, like Gordon's scarecrow case and Penguin's visit to the police station. But Bruce's camping trip story and Fish's prison situation didn't mesh as well. (Although the Fish scenes were good.) I did like Gordon's irritated reactions when the new medical examiner was complicating his work life...

The Julia of the future subplot seems to be dragging out for no real reason -- just something to flash to from the main story. She has a fight, she digs up a grave, she gets tied up ( a lot ) ... but it all feels like stalling tacticts.

This episode made me think that Kevin might not be as 'together' as he first appeared to be. There seems to be some unhinged denial going on there. It's as if he thinks he can please Patrick but not betray his boyfriend at the same time. And I don't know if it was intentional or not, but Kevin does not seem to be bold-faced lying or playing Patrick. He seems to be unraveling.. ...And that's why you should think before starting something up at work.. Dom seems to have quickly evolved from chicken hawk playboy to serious relationship seeker and wannbe entrepreneur. We do know he had a former relationship that got messy over money (the drug addict ex), so maybe he does do relationships from time to time. I feel sort of bad for Lynn's having given up on love -- but he was honest with Dom up front. Lynn's introduction of the hot tub rugby guy made it seem as if Lynn has more than a few "generous benefactor" relationships. It could be that Lynn is also a bundle of messy issues.. I didn't see Richie as being judgmental as much as being a sounding board for Patrick to hear how his explanation of his situation with Kevin didn't make much sense (in the sense Patrick considered himself to be dating someone). I feel the show could benefit from a little lightness and humor now and again. All this drama condensed to a half hour is a bit much. My viewing partner says he feels exhausted at the end of each episode. I feel that often the cleverness and overt-ness is a mask for bitterness and viciousness. The witty sniping gets old, fast.

So, it's official : The Stalker Task Squad is basically ineffectual. Each week the stalker escalates to the point of hostage taking before the team figures out what exactly is going on. During the the time the first target (they gym teacher) contacted the team, careers were ruined, people were attacked, and lives were devastated... How exactly are Beth and her team making things better? It seems as if they are just there to introduce the players, give some theories, then wait until things play out on their own. I did enjoy crazy Original Recipe Stalker of Beth-Michelle putting Stalker-Boy Perry in his place. You'd think Perry would have anticipated that someone in a mental institution might be unstable. And they plan to share her?! One getting Beth and the other getting Michelle? Maybe the Stalker Squad should just let this crazy scenario resolve itself, too. There's no way it can end well.

Gah. This show. Merlin kills and kills and kills .. left, right, and center.. But when he gets the chance to kill the Brick - someone he actually has a personal reason to kill ... he just talks and talks and talks some more.. These shows do this all the time. The red shirts and unknowns are killed with hardly a thought, sorta making murder seem ordinary and casual. But when a 'named' character, big baddie, or supporting character is in the line of fire, everyone takes a moment to think about the ramifications. WtF?!