MagnusHex
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Posts posted by MagnusHex
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Well, I watched it, and it didn't completely suck. lol
Honestly though, I went into it with a lot of cringe by the time Tara sang her love song with Willow. Not a big fan of musicals, certainly not a fan of peppy musicals. Ironically, however, I've seen enough musicals to know the structure and appreciate the storytelling the musical numbers add to the plot ("The Prince of Egypt" being my favorite animated musical that adds to the story with its music beautifully).
Can't say I really grew attached to any of the songs though. I mean, Whedon is not only not a real feminist, but he's also not a good songwriter. Certainly no Andrew Lloyd Webber that's for sure. Though of course, Spike's songs stood out because they' contain more of the rock music element than the other numbers.
Having said that, while I didn't particularly dig the music itself, the episode did win me over by the second-half. The storytelling was pretty solid by that point, with Tara finally learning the horrible mind-rape Willow did on her (let's face it: she violated her memory, spin it however you like). And ho boy, that next episode, Tabula Rasa is going to be juicy.
SpoilerWillow finally shows her true selfish nature by going full mind-control.
I mean, I could understand why she's acting like that - magic being her addiction, and I personally have faced addiction before to know it's a tough habit to kick - but man, it's so hard to sympathize with her in spite of my own experience. It's one thing to inject yourself with drugs, but it's another thing to literally mess with someone's memories for your own convenience. As the next episode promo narrator has said, The next episode's gonna be the one that changes everything, specifically my impression of how much I would hate or love to hate Willow for the rest of the season, possibly series depending on how it all ends. Willow's always been self-entitled, to be honest, but this takes to a whole new level.
And Buffy, poor ol' Buffy finally revealing the truth that Willow's a selfish bitch who stole her from heaven, leaving her feeling existentially empty as she sees life as a empty, hollow husk that would end eventually. Boy, did this turn out good. Let's amp up the existential crisis! I love stories that deal with existential crisis and existential nihilism. Can't wait for Buffy to tell Willow how she really feels. Obviously, she's growing more detached from normal life with every episode, going to Spike as a getaway drug to make herself numb. She's depressed by living itself, which is such a bleak and yet delicious storyline. I can see now why people hated this season for all the bleakness and gloom... but not me. I think I'm starting to adjust to all the darkness.
One last thing. I love Dawn's throwback line to the season 5 finale (still my favorite Buffy finale so far): "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it." All the feels. So great. Buffy's now in the position of Dawn, cursed with life.
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18 hours ago, Halting Hex said:
Ironically enough, this episode is almost tolerable, since it was a late addition to the schedule, to allow the next couple to air on their scheduled dates, and so kept the W/X-bashing to a minimum. And the mummy-hand sequence was fun, if you can ignore Giles and Anya being jerks to Buffy, and the "rakish uncle" tag at least gave the Buffy/Giles 'shippers something to appreciate, even if the rest of us were having to suffer.
I actually don't really find the more depressing Giles/Buffy moments as intolerable as I initially expected (the moments when Giles mope about Buffy looking like she's suppressing her suffering). It didn't really swing into melodramatic territory, so that's fine. I wouldn't say I had as much fun as you seem to have though. It would've been a fun episode except for the fact that those "quirky" and "hilarious" hijinks happening to Buffy this episode were the result of three losers trying to hypnotize Buffy into becoming a literal sex slave. So, there's that delightful little subtext hanging over the episode.
When taken into context how there are rapey creeps like the losers in real life, these three are almost more horrifying than any previous villain so far (not in a good "a villain you'd love to hate" kind of way, but in a "disgusted by every moment" way).
I'm not too hard on Willow. I understand why she did it. I would've done the same thing in her place. In fact, I practically share her (and Xander's) sense of insecurity and inferiority complex as well. But I still think she's in the wrong. Buffy was in heaven, and even though Willow didn't know better, her actions were still pretty selfish. But she's a teenager, so. Kids are dumb, and that's okay (I'm not being sarcastic either).
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15 hours ago, Bastet said:
I liked it from the beginning, but I find season one quite different than what it became, so I'd suggest at least starting on season two before deciding whether or not to continue.
Yeah, think I'll do that. Comedy is so subjective that I don't think it's fair to say that if you don't like Brand X, you wouldn't like Brand Y. I liked Friends for example, even if I saw its flaws, but I don't really enjoy other '90s American sitcoms like it...
American sitcoms and I have a problematic relationship. British comedies are more compatible with me. Rowan Atkinson could crack me up more than American comedians like Steve Carrell any day, or whomever's trending right now in American comedies.
Don't get me started with the overrated Big Bang Theory.
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3 minutes ago, annzeepark914 said:
It depends on your sense of humor. If you were not impressed with season one, I doubt you'll enjoy any subsequent episodes.
I mean, there were amusing moments here and there in episode 1, but they're not really that clever (or fresh).
My sense of humor lies with more ironic and sardonic forms of comedies, I guess, such as Ricky Gervais' stuff, and Golden Age Simpsons.
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Finally checked out this series, season 1... yeah, not really living up to the immense reputation it has.
Then again, I read that the show doesn't hit its peak till season 4. Yeesh, three seasons of struggling before it gets good. Hope it's worth it.
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I would take Glory the dull ditz goddess over this trio of incel creeps in season 6 any day, especially Warren and his rapey attitude. Geez, this didn't age well. Or perhaps, it aged too well, reflecting some of the disturbing incels existing in America today. Too close to home, very uncomfortable.
Plus, their nerd-speak is pretty pathetic to be honest. It's not nearly as bad as those movies written by old guys trying to understand the younger generations' "lingo," but Roger Moore is classy af, so I don't know what Warren's going on about. And this is coming from someone who's a big fan of the Craig era (though Andrew would probably have picked Craig over Dalton if this episode came out in the previous decade). Also, no mention of Brosnan, my 2nd favorite Bond growing up, so what the f*** ever.
Perhaps it's not really pathetic on the writers' part, but definitely on Warren's part. Pretentious nerd tryhard wannabe. Nothing amusing at all about his rapey/basic-nerd personality. He's like a caricature of one of those nerds from The Big Bang Theory (a show with their own caricatures that also reflected poorly on real life nerds as if they're all perverted and lustful basement dwellers who get horny from the "hot blonde").
I mean, I consider myself a pretty big nerd in pop culture, but man, these guys are so alien and unrelatable that they might as well be robots programmed to act like nerds.
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So I stopped liking Angel as much somewhere after Kate departed the show. I know lots of people hated her, but I like strong female characters even when they're annoyingly antagonistic towards the main character for no justifiable reason. Kate was annoying, but only because she was poorly written and not used to her full potential. She could've grown to be a unique police ally character like a female Commissioner Gordon, but alas, Elisabeth Röhm had other commitments in "Law & Order". Yuck, a police procedural.
I think the show went downhill for me there because it got more comedic. I liked the "dark period" of Angel, even if he got a little too edgy and melodramatic. Angel finally showed that he still has that monstrous side inside him - with or without losing his soul - and was capable of showing no mercy towards Darla if he wanted. But alas, that arc went nowhere and ended with the disappointing "Epiphany" which I found a little overrated, which is ironic since the quote from that episode got me to watch the series in the first place. By the time I got to the episode, however, the way the quote was said felt a lot less profound than I pictured... He just suddenly had an epiphany out of nowhere and it's business as usual the next episode. Oh well.
But anyway, never really felt excited for Angel season 3 more than Buffy season 6. In spite of my qualms against the latter, I'm still looking forward to Willow's dark arc and how Buffy's gonna deal with her resurrection. Angel S3's plot, not so much. What little I know of this season (watching it for the first time), I know that
SpoilerDarla's supposed to have a baby or something, but I think that when they stopped exploring Darla's arc in season 2 and switched to that goofy Plrtz Glrb arc (because Julie Bentz had commitments elsewhere and couldn't shoot the rest of the episodes, from what I heard), I stopped caring about it. I think that window of caring for me had long passed, and this new Darla plot in season 3 hardly sounds that interesting (or at least, not as interesting as Willow's arc over in Buff S6). I mean, do we really need another awkward plot dealing with pregnancies, especially after what we've heard about Whedon's sentiments about Charisma Carpenter's real life pregnancy? This show never had a good track record handling women's body issues, which is no surprise considering it's Yucky Faux-Feminist Whedon.
Also, I never had the same love for Darla as other people either. Can Angel just please kill her and be done with it?
But anyway, not a lot of hype for season 3. I just watched "Fredless" too and that opening annoyed the heck out of me because of the teasing way they dropped Buffy's meeting with Angel without really including any important character development details
(Buffy S6 spoilers)
Spoiler(how Angel feels about Buffy being stripped from heaven for example, assuming she told him the truth, which she probably would),
because of the split with WB, and yet felt obligated to include the meeting anyway. It's just pretty stupid, and I didn't really find Cordy and Wesley's teasing that funny, unlike everyone else. I think they were being dicks. "Why don't you both bite me?" indeed.
Fred's quirkiness was indeed annoying, but I don't think I hated her as much as other people. I find her character unique and refreshing, especially now with her physicist intelligence coming into play after this episode (Fredless). But from what spoilers I've heard,
Spoilershe and Wesley were supposed to get together or something, something happened to her, and Wesley went dark,
which is the more interesting plot I'm more invested in, because you know me and tragedies. Also, Wesley, it's about time. Been waiting for him to become dark and badass since season 1.
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1 hour ago, Halting Hex said:
But, but…Spike is the ONLY ONE who cares about Buffy! That's the whole point of this episode, don't you know?
(Which of course is why I hate it so, as my review a few posts upthread should tell you. It's the episode that first made me worried that "my show" was broken and irreversibly doomed, as I've written elsewhere. The one solace I had to help me endure was that I didn't know what lay ahead; I don't know how spoiled you are, but I can only imagine how much "fun" it must be to watch
, knowing what's coming. Lotsa luck!}
I'm pretty spoiled on a couple of important details, but not nearly enough to make me lose interest. lol
SpoilerNever really a fan of Spuffy, but it's not a shipping I hate either. It's more like indifference than hate. I prefer the more sappy Shakespearian tragedy of Bangel. lol
I don't know if Seeing Red will deteriorate my impression of Spuffy (even though I already know what's coming), but so far, prior to that episode, I don't really have anything against Spike, and James Marsters is great in the role. I guess I was never really the kind of guy who bought into the whole "liking the bad boy" kind of romance, even when I was in school back then.
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Buffy season 6 continues to make me feel miserable about Buffy coming back... and me coming back.
So what's new?
Honestly, if the rest of the season's gonna be a depressing sob fest just so they could whine about doing the one thing they shouldn't have done, it's gonna be a drag. An ironic, self-contradicting drag.
Oh, and there's that horrid scene with Spike coming up in Seeing Red, so there's that to look forward to. Yipee.
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5 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:
Apologies, didn't realise you were spoilerable?
I never said anything about spoilers? I meant that I can't draw any conclusion whether season 6 episodes like OMWF would be good or not since I don't have the benefit of hindsight, never having seen it. Don't make assumptions?
5 hours ago, Joe Hellandback said:Well, Buffy is not exactly a happy show but I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
Well, I wasn't referring to Buffy being a happy show, was I? I was talking about not liking happy endings in general. Didn't know I had to be so specific to convey my point, officer. Besides, season 4 was full of happy... and crappy. But I'll let you draw your own conclusions.
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22 minutes ago, Joe Hellandback said:
And I say no, Buffy may have peaked in 2/3 but it's still better than 99% of everything else on TV, I love Dawn and it's nice to see her blossom in the last 2 seasons, we have OMWF, Tabula Rusa and some other stunning individual eps and the happy ending of season 7, the Scoobs deserved to go out on a high and so did we,
Well, I don't have the benefit of hindsight like you, so I can't say. This would be my first time watching Buffy S6 (and Angel S3).
I also don't care much for happy endings like normal people either. It's boring (not to mention quite unrelatable, considering my own life experiences). Each to his own.
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And so it begins, my viewing of the most divisive season of the series.
Gotta say, I feel like Buffy. I never planned to come back after I stopped watching X-Files/Buffy/Simpsons a year ago (due to personal circumstances). It's been so long now since I've caught up with these three series that I probably feel as numb and whiplashed as post-resurrection Buffy.
But what the heck. I was initially excited for this series anyway since I like dark and depressing stories, and I was told that this would be the bleakest of 'em all seasons. But man, after watching Bargaining, I think I understand now why people were divisive over it.
First off, Part 1 was great as the momentum kept up throughout the entire episode. You get a lot of meaningful moments where the characters express their grief, and the episode is focused on how they've moved on and stuff. Not a lot of filler/pointless moments here. Part 2, on the other hand, dragged on way too long. It felt like the writers had only enough material for one and a half episodes and they deliberately dragged out the rest of Part 2 to fill out the screentime.
I know it's an unpopular opinion, and perhaps it's because I'm not a major die-hard Buffy fan, but I still stand by my original opinion: Buffy should've ended at season 5. Season 6 is rarely a good milestone for many series since it's the place where they run out of material and have to improvise. X-Files and Dexter come to mind. I enjoyed X-Files season 6, but Scully playing skeptic again was getting old and tiring. David Duchovny also looked like he was bored as hell, fed up with the series. Dexter S6 was just a mess. Simpsons did better, but only because their first three seasons were not peak Simpsons yet.
So when Tara said "maybe they aren't supposed to bring Buffy back"... yeah, I feel you, Tara. I think the writers did too.
The shift from WB probably also did a number on the tone of the series. You could tell that the once lighthearted atmosphere of season 5 is gone, and the whole lighting and color grading have become gloomier like the first two seasons. I'm also pretty sure the demon implied that they were going to gangrape the girls.. yeah. We're in that kind of territory.
I don't know. A lot of mixed feelings. I might very well fall into the "hatedom" side of things by the end of it too, but I'll have to see how it develops. Buffy's snatched away from heaven and is now forced to play the conventional hero and suffer her lonesome fate as the Slayer again. Yay.
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8 hours ago, Taryn74 said:
It's funny because while this is usually the mainstream opinion, S6 is actually probably my favorite season, and the stretch of mid-S4 thru S7 is definitely my favorite portion of the series. S8 is even really solid (IMO) once you get past hating the direction they were taking the show.
I agree that there were a lot of quality episodes in spite of the lightheartedness of it all, such as Monday and, to some extent, The Unnatural. Maybe 7/10 is too harsh. My ratings are usually arbitrary anyway.
But I think that my problem with the season wasn't necessarily that I dislike it - I mean, I enjoyed myself more often than not, especially compared to my viewing of Millennium season 3 alongside it. And like I said, Chris experimented with this season a lot. Triangle and Drive are perhaps the more stellar episodes because of these experimentations, with the former being shot in a single shot, and the latter having an adrenaline-fueled plot about Mulder being forced to drive across the desert at gunpoint (also starring a future Walter White). At the same time, much like how Chris and his team of writers felt, I could get a sense that the writers had been doing this for perhaps too long, and now the myth arc was starting to spin out of control, becoming too convoluted for its own good. There's a reason why Chris desperately wanted to end the series at season 5 (but Fox wouldn't let him), so now he's forced to continue the farce and come up with ideas as best as he could.
Granted, season 7 (and perhaps even 8 ) might still have some solid ideas leftover that might not be too bad, but when I look back at season 6, how Scully was constantly forced to play the role of skeptic over and over beyond the realm of believability, it's easy to see that the character development was really starting to stretch thin. What else haven't they done already with these two characters that would be just as interesting (except having a serious relationship, which wouldn't happen until "The Truth" in the season 9 finale, I'm assuming)?
Also, L.A. is too bright. Lacks the dread of rainy Vancouver that made The X-Files so spooky. It's ironic that David Duchovny forced the crew to move to L.A. because of his personal desires to be close to his then-wife, Téa Leoni, but went on to sue Fox and depart the show just two years later. It's not David's fault, but man, is it amusing irony. The move has cost the show lots of storytelling opportunities, but David was just leaving them behind to clean up the mess.
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Because of my sudden departure from watching the series in the middle of season 6, I think that loss of momentum left me feeling reluctant in writing a full review like I did with season 5, among other reasons. So instead, I'll just say a few words.
By Season 6, you could see that The X-Files was starting to lose its steam. Coming off the movie, the series was still having a huge commercial success, yet at the same time, the myth arc episodes this season were the weakest among the first six seasons. "Two Fathers" and "One Son" resolved nothing in spite of their overhyped promo ("Full disclosure! All the answers!"). Nobody important died and only the minor villains were killed off. "Biogenesis" trod on an old (and ridiculous) idea of "aliens created us." Even the shipping has gone nowhere, forever trapped by the status quo.
It's not a bad season, especially the first handful of episodes like the amazing one-shot episode, "Triangle", the hilarious "Dreamland I and II", the single-location "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas", and the heartwarming (albeit super-corny) "Rain King". You could tell that creator Chris Carter was trying to experiment with the episodes now that they've done practically everything a TV series creator could dream of (syndication, a movie adaptation, and having more than five seasons of excellent stories and compelling characters). But like the other seasons, you do get the really awful standalones like the generic MotW "Alpha" and the disjointed "Agua Mala". I think these stand out more this season because aside from those handful of good episodes I mentioned, the rest aren't really peak X-Files amazing quality either. The X-Files was beginning to lose its touch.
And then by the following year, prior to season seven's release, David Duchovny would sue Fox and Chris for cheating him out of syndication profits. Two years after, he would depart completely, replaced by Robert Patrick (albeit returning to the cast some time later). As it was said at the end of The Terminator, "There is a storm coming in." Cue Sarah driving towards dark foreboding clouds.
I think that the writers were aware of this too. More often than not, Chris loved to incorporate sly messages in his shows through metaphors (albeit not often clever ones). A lot of season 6 episodes had to do with time, or rather, how Mulder and Scully were trapped in repetition, forever driving into the endless night searching for The Truth™. Scully remarked upon this at the beginning of Dreamland I:
And then later on in "Monday", the two were literally trapped in a time loop, forever repeating their boring, predictable routine. Sounds ominous if you ask me.
Regardless, it's been a great six years ride. Most TV series would be lucky to make it past season 1 back in the '90s. Six is a long time. But ladies and gents, it's downhill from here.
Season 6 Final Rating: 8/10
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10 minutes ago, Kromm said:
But this wasn't collateral damage in the same sense, and it's a bit over-simplifying and diminishing of viewer's capacity to deal with complex issues to act like it's all the same. Collateral damage ranges from pure accident up to negligence. This is neither. This was a result of unnecessary use of power, not a consequence of either fate or a necessary use of power not being predictable.
Say you have a mental breakdown. And your way of dealing with extreme stress is going in your backyard and shooting a gun at a target. You're totally unfocused and shoot a neighbor who calls something out over the fence.
Is this the same as being a law enforcement officer, having your gun drawn in a dangerous circumstance, and shooting an innocent unexpectedly at a crime scene?
They both deserve some consequences, but are they really the same? In the later circumstance you had a reason to be shooting a gun. In the first you didn't.
Again, I highly doubt that the MCU would take into account all the nitty little details you're pointing out. I mean, for example, Odin's history was sordid and bloody. He conquered the nine realms with Hela or some shit, and Thor: Ragnarok did the bare minimum in calling him out.
It's still entertainment and a business. There will be compromises with reality and real life laws.
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4 minutes ago, Keywestclubkid said:
Really complaining that there are no real world consequences to Wanda in a marvel superhero show? What movies in this series have you guys been watching that NOW it’s an issue? ROFL
It's funny because these kinds of fan complaints dating back to the first Avengers movie and the presence of "collateral damage" probably led to the creation of Civil War addressing said complaints.
I highly doubt they're gonna pull another of that stunt again, but if Wanda's actions do have consequences down the road again, it will perhaps take the form of some persecution against superpowered beings, just in time for the mutant persecution to arrive when the X-Men rights have been finalized.
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16 minutes ago, Kromm said:
There's a difference between a true accident and what happened here. Both may share a lack of intent, but in this case she blinded herself to the consequences and let them continue. It took a villain to actually convince her to stop.
As I've said elsewhere, she's rightfully back to fugitive status. The in-Universe justification for her rejoining the Avengers is going to have to come from whatever she does in Dr. Strange 2, and her getting a pardon.
Probably not. MCU tends to have a way of just shrugging off past crimes.
And it's not just the MCU either. This kind of shrugging off occurs all the time on television and movie series.
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3 minutes ago, Kromm said:
I'm VERY conflicted here.
I get the argument a lot of people make that she "paid" via losing her family, but... that's not real life and real justice. It's a filter of emotion placed over it.
I mean, if you're gonna go down that road, then the characters' actions in Civil War are still in question. An entire building of people died too.
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And so it ends.
Before I say anything about how I feel about how it all ended, I just want to say that I do still enjoy the story development. It's mostly satisfying in a "everything is tied up nicely" kind of way. The parting between Wanda and Vision is tearful but sweet. It's a very suitable resolution for the series while still leaving enough questions to be explored in future installments like DS2.
So let's go, a list of things I've enjoyed about the episode:
- Her new costume, I did really like the modernized redesign. It's nice that we finally get a proper Scarlet Witch uniform.
- Agatha's' line, "Same story, different century." I like that Agatha made it sound like superpowered beings were around since the days of Salem trials. The Marvel universe is this weird hodgepodge of different genres, from medieval fantasy to witchery to vampires to sci-fi space opera, so it's appropriate that there were indeed a bunch of witches back then running around with superpowered magic.
- The parting between Wanda and Vision is definitely the strongest point of the episode, and it's done proper justice for those who have been following this series for such tragic drama.
- That post-credits stinger. Done quite effectively in setting up DS2 (unless Strange isn't involved, then I'm mistaken). Shame that there's no Cumberbatch cameo (or Fassbender for that matter), but that's understandable, considering the budget.
I think what sticks with me the most though is definitely production-related aspects like that, like how the finale is set up like any big-franchise genre TV like The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There's the consideration of the "status quo" in serialized TV, something I've written in about in an article last year, and the MCU definitely has its own status quo to adhere to, even if merely to a certain extent. Big game-changers like Infinity War and Endgame would still affect the larger universe, but smaller entries like this are mostly standalone installments that the audience could skip and still watch the next Avengers film with a mere summary of the events that have occurred. So it's no surprise really that much of the ending plays out so safely; Pietro isn't technically Pietro, and Wanda's crisis has been cleaned up without affecting reality too much, etc.
That being said, WandaVision is still a bit more unique in that sense because it does tie into other movies enough that skipping it isn't entirely inconsequential, especially when it comes to DS2. I'm assuming that the events here would somehow lead to that movie, even if it's not the main focus of the film. Plus, I doubt they would go into that much detail in explaining why Wanda is suddenly working with Dr. Strange (or even going against him as an antagonist) when it comes to recapping WandaVision, so again, skipping WandaVision isn't really ideal for this particular scenario.
But again, these details about how significant WandaVision really is in the larger universe could only be confirmed in due time, when 20/20 hindsight/retrospective comes into play. I've got a feeling that Feige and Disney would mostly keep it safe though, just in case DS2 does get released in theaters, and there are movie-goers who aren't interested in subscribing to Disney+ (and therefore, they wouldn't have seen WandaVision).
Putting the production/world-building concerns aside, I guess Disney just isn't really to take a big major step towards mutants yet, huh? Again, no surprise they took a wait-and-see approach for now. The X-Men movies rights are probably still in the process of transition, so it won't be that soon. All that desire to see a Magneto cameo was unfortunately just wishful thinking that could've never happened. Oh well.
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Ugh, I reacted so strongly when Randall said "Or, when in the last episode, when Vision..." lol I instinctively said, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" in my Chandler voice in my head.
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The X-Files (Season 6, Episode 21): Field Trip
You know, if I hadn't read The A.V. Club's review of this episode, where the very first sentence told me that "it's just a dream..." yeah, this would've been a more intriguing episode. lol
That's the problem with many X-Files and even Millennium episodes. Their appeal are often (though not always) held together by this one twist that if you happen to have that twist spoiled for you, it would ruin the entire experience. Considering that Chris Carter had wanted to end the series for a long time since season 5 (and turn it into a series of movies), but Fox was unwilling to let him do so, it wouldn't have surprised me if Chris had tried to end it by killing Mulder here, especially when David Duchovny was similarly worn out by the series and wanted to move on with his career. It wouldn't necessarily make for the most satisfying conclusion, and it's certainly gonna be a tired and cliched one down the road of genre television (see how "Dexter" ended for example), but it would still feel like a suitable resolution for the series, Scully the skeptic picking up where Mulder left off and going out with a bang against the conspiracies and government agents. Again, not really the most impressive of endings, but I could picture a network television greenlighting something like that, since other TV series do have abrupt endings of this nature.
But of course, it is all a dream, so none of this matters. lol
It does contain quite a few genuinely compelling moments though in spite of that spoiled twist. Darren Mooney of "them0vieblog" called this episode a spiritual successor to the season 5 episodes, "Bad Blood" and "Folie á Deux", since along with "Field Trip", these three episodes examine Mulder and Scully's perspectives of each other, how they define each other's personality in their point of view. And that's the key term here: point of view, something that's played around in these three episodes to not just mess with the audience, but also explore Mulder and Scully's feelings about their partner. How would Scully feel if Mulder is KIA for example? Or how would Mulder feel if Scully buys into his conspiracy theories? The answer that the episode offers is one we've already been given multiple times in the past, perhaps more prominently in the X-Files movie, "Fight the Future", when Mulder told Scully how important her position as a skeptic was to him in spite of how frustrating she could also be. But even though it's been said before, it's still a nice little plotline to use again in the penultimate season finale, even if the doubly-whammy twist near the end feels a little too M. Night for my taste.
That ending though, I have the same feeling towards it as I did towards Millennium season 3, episode 20, "Nostalgia", in that the episode just ends. No reflection on the very fact that they literally almost died! No reflection on their fragile mortality going out to these field missions against supernatural forces that stack the odds against them. Nothing. It just ends. I mean, I know it's a nitpick to criticize these kinds of endings since it's not necessarily a bad way to end an episode, but I'm someone who prefers a more satisfying conclusion where the characters acknowledge the thematic subject of the episode in some way.
Maybe next episode then. lol
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Millennium (Season 3, Episode 20): Nostalgia
Phew, it's been a long time since I updated this thread. I already knew that season 3 wasn't going to be as good as the second one, but it was so bad that I really didn't have any compelling thoughts to say about it aside from complaining about how mediocre and generic its scripts are. And doing that kind of complaining for 22 episodes would get old fast.
But like all TV shows, even the poorly written ones, there are some genuinely great moments here and there, such as this particular episode, "Nostalgia". Unfortunately, Nostalgia came too little too late. It felt like a nice throwback to the serial killer procedural formula of the first season, contemplating on the nature of human evil and what makes deranged killers do the twisted things they do. However, much of season 3 has kinda abandoned that formula as Chris Carter tried to fix what Morgan and Wong left behind in season 2's... risky season finale. A lot of season 3 focused on two things: 1) retconning season 2's plot elements, and 2) fleshing out the new character, Emma Hollis. Chris Carter did neither of those things well.
So when an episode like this comes along, it felt out of place because we've spent so much time, especially towards the final third of the season, focusing on the Millennial Group's vague (and frankly boring) hidden conspiracies about controlling the apocalypse or whatever that I almost forgot that this series was once a police procedural show like CSI back in season 1. The episode did nothing to involve the Millennial Group or Peter Watts, it didn't add another melodramatic family tragedy to Emma's backstory, it didn't even involve Frank, but instead, the central focus here is a standalone serial killer character rather than the main plot. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you - in fact, this is a very damn good episode - but I guess it does feel a little jarring, and perhaps refreshing, to not care about the Millennial Group's motives and mumbo jumbo anymore.
But I digress. What I really want to talk about is actually how competently-written this episode was compared to the previous 8 or 10 episodes so far. What came to mind watching this episode was that 1988 movie based on Cheryl Araujo's sexual assault, "The Accused" (the one starring Jodie Foster). Unlike most of the season 1 episodes, "Nostalgia" doesn't really paint a exploitational or sensationalized picture of exaggerated evil that's rarely found in real life. Not everyone in real life is a Charles Manson for example, but season 1 serial killers were all psychopaths like that. The killer in "Nostalgia", however, feels like a more banal kind of criminal you'd see in the nightly news, and his crimes aren't the only horrific part of the episode either, as we learn that an entire community has been implicit in enabling his twisted mentality.
It almost sounds like I'm saying that "it's society's fault," doesn't it? But that's not exactly what I'm saying. If you've seen "The Accused", you'd know what I'm talking about. The one "loose woman" in town who's treated with little respect by everybody, so when a sexual-related assault happens to her, people kinda have this kind of attitude towards the crime, doubting the credibility of her statements and such. I'd like to think that people's attitude has become more progressive over the past five years... but yeah, I still doubt it.
The same thing happened here in "Nostalgia", where one sheriff's crime was unknown to anybody because the whole town thought that the loose girl merely led herself to her own demise through her drunken foolery. It's not so much a cover-up as it is a pretty realistic form of ignorance and sexism towards promiscuous women. This is where the episode shines and stands out from the typical season 1 serial killer of the week episodes, because instead of being this high-tension hunt between Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) and the killer, it's a more subtle study of a broken system. In fact, the identity of the killer was pretty much revealed early on in the episode, and the rest of it is spent examining just how much of a failure the community was in bringing criminals like the killer sheriff, one Jerry Neilson.
And the thing is, this has happened not too long ago in real life too. The "Grim Sleeper" Lonnie David Franklin Jr. for example got away with it because his victims were usually "poor black girls" who had to work as call girls. It's not a new scenario back in the '90s, and it wasn't in the 2000s either. Not too sure how progressive we've become in the 2010s. lol
But man, what a fascinating episode. Its way of really digging deep into the banal ugliness of ordinary people reminds me a lot of season 2, and had this episode arrived much earlier in season 3, perhaps having more episodes of such nature, this season wouldn't have been such a bore. This kind of human nature examination is what drew me into the show in the first place, so my only disappointment is that I am just two episodes away from the season finale.
If I'm to nitpick, I guess another flaw is that the ending felt a bit flat. While I appreciate the light-hearted chemistry between Frank and Emma at the end (as they have a humorous exchange in the car), the episode kinda just ends without any satisfying resolution. I know, I know, most procedural drama usually end like this. The criminal is caught, the cops go home, the episode ends. It's nothing new. But I guess I've just been so used to the pretentious monologues this season had in the episode endings, reflecting on the events of the episode, that this abrupt ending feels kinda underwhelming. There's no clever dialogue about the failure of society, just a light joke between Frank and Emma. Perhaps that's for the best, considering how pretentious the season has been so far (to its detriment).
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The X-Files (Season 6, Episode 20): Three of a Kind
Man, season 6 is just chock-full of corny heartfelt episodes, huh? lol I mean, I didn't mean that in a negative way since "Three of a Kind" is a pretty enjoyable episode at the end. That bittersweet '90s charm of lone heroes walking away to fight for another day, some might call it corny, but even a jaded cynic like me enjoy that kind of melodrama every now and then. I mean, it's definitely not one of the strongest episodes of the series - far from it - but it could be worse. At least you didn't have Trisha Yearwood singing "How Do I Live" to the end credits as the episode plays out. God, that would've been too much. One reason why "Con-Air" felt so dated to me.
But I can see why a number of fans labeled season 6 the beginning of "X-Files Lite". I mean, you had a tearful gospel paying tribute to the dead the previous episode in "The Unnatural" and now you've got this diabetic coma inducing romance going on here this episode. Fans that have been following since season 1 kinda got attracted to the show because of its darker and more self-serious elements that made the fans feel self-important when it comes to thinking about potential government conspiracies in the real world after all. Season 6 marks a dramatic change in tone and genre that's understandably off-putting. Noromo fans were probably jumping off ship by this point, especially with that Mulder/Scully baseball "practice" last episode.
I think that personally though, I don't really share that sentiment as much. I'm no fan of romance shows, but these kinds of storylines are sweet once in a while. It's a waste of the Lone Gunmen's characters because they don't really get much character development other than "Byers almost got his happy ending." Down the course of the series, I doubt this episode would have any impact on their character arc at all, so this might as well be a filler episode. And yet, much like "The Unnatural", it still managed to work its wholesome magic quite effectively on me for some reason (even though we've had at least 10 corny X-Files Lite episodes by now this season, which is admittedly a little overbearing).
I'll say one thing though: Scully's character was wasted so much. She didn't even get to kick the Lone Gunmen's ass at the end. Pfft.
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2 hours ago, blueray said:
I watched a random episode a few years ago. It was weirder then I remembered but still held up for the most part.
Yeah, it was definitely a weird show. It wasn't like Ren & Stimpy bizarro world weird, but it had that charming quirkiness that balanced realism and surrealism at the same time. Ginger's school life felt relatable, and yet, you have Carl collecting eyeballs and dentures. lol So much fun watching this show.
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S06.E08: Tabula Rusa
in Buffy The Vampire Slayer
I wouldn't call it pointless, since this was Tara's ultimatum to the junkie Willow, and such an ultimatum would've been definitely necessary for a single episode to fill out... on paper. But in execution, this ultimatum, instead of dealing with Willow's addiction issues, turned into some comedy hour and THEREFORE became a pointless episode. So yeah.
I don't hate the episode, but I was mostly indifferent to everything up till the end, when we finally dealt with Tara being disappointed with Willow. Those last few moments were done pretty well with no dialogue and a single song playing out. The rest of the episode before that... eh, typical television comedy schtick. Memory loss, coming up with quirky false identities, yada yada yada. Kinda boring at times, but it has its moments. It's like watching "Days of Our Lives" or one of the many corny soaps. Then again, I've been told that Buffy IS a soap with its melodramatic elements.
I was pleasantly surprised that Willow was at least mellow enough to feel regret for her horrible actions towards Buffy at the beginning of the episode (even though I still stand by my previous remark of "selfish bitch"), and once again, I'm still (kinda) sympathetic towards her addiction issues. But man, that look Tara gave Willow at the end of the episode when their memories returned, that look says everything I feel about Willow and her inclination to manipulate people around her for her own convenience. It was as if Tara was looking at a friend who became a monster.
God knows what lengths Willow would go to next to improve her life. She could very easily just hypnotize a girl and sleep with her just to make herself feel better for example. That's the power of the addiction an addict would never acknowledge easily. It's not even just drugs I'm talking about either - pornography can become an addiction too, the kind of ways it messes with your head and sex drive, so even though Willow's addiction has nothing to do with damaging her body, her psyche has been damaged regardless.
Don't really care enough about Spuffy to really say anything about that make-out scene. It was inevitable that this show forces some kind of romance onto the main character. It's a flaw of the medium that the protagonist must be romantically involved.