3w4dw: POI, Grimm
Apr. 24th, 2013 05:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arduinnaI'm avoiding Tumblr on accounta spoilers for pretty much everything, especially POI and Iron Man. Which is sad! Because I'd just started getting back into checking Tumblr when I realized it was spoiler season and had to stop.
OTOH, I've been noticing here and there that it's Three Weeks for Dreamwidth time again (![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
three_weeks_for_dw), so I figured I'd take that as a (slightly belated) spur to try posting every day for the duration, see if I can get back in the posting habit.
If there's something you want to see from me, let me know; otherwise I'll just prattle on about whatever comes to mind. *g*
Like, for instance -- new POI tomorrow! and also Elementary! \o/
And the fact that in the last POI ep, Trojan Horse, much though I loved Harold's flirty ways with Monica Jacobs, and John's teasing about same, what I loved most was his little eyeroll after "do you want a room" -- it was an actual complicated emotional expression! Right out there in the open, all over his face! <3 <3 <3
I was glad to see Beecher get redeemed (although honestly, I'm still pissed off at how he treated Carter in Proteus), and sad that he got killed for it. But it makes narrative sense in terms of tightening this little unit up: before this, Carter had no real personal stake in any of it. Now she does, in terms of "I've lost someone to this". Where John and Harold are united against Root and the group out to get the Machine, Carter and Fusco now both have something very personal against HR, if from different directions. Szymanski wasn't enough to give her that huge personal push.
I am still boggled at how fannish I am about Person of Interest; it's been a long time since I was this invested in something, long enough that I thought that level of fannishness was pretty much done with for me, and I'm sort of wallowing in it. All my buttons, they are pushed. ♥ fandom ♥
OTOH, I still haven't seen this week's Once Upon a Time; I'm just not quite in the right headspace for it.
But I watched Grimm thanks to the usual sources, and am having loads of fun with everything -- except the women's storylines, argh.
The guys are all great! I love that Nick has basically his own little Scooby gang now, and that the Blutbad is having brewskies with the Eisbiber and teaming up to give some truly terrible relationship advice and comfort. I love that Nick and Hank and Monroe and Rosalie sit around a dinner table together chatting about plans; I love that all the Wesen who see one of Nick's books are all "... well THIS is very useful, where did you get this?" I loved everyone in the police station ganging up to send Hank on vacation, and his little royal wave as he went rolling past the window (really cute, fun touch there, as a royal was going to be taking his place as Nick's partner for the duration...)
Plots whoosh forward, with everyone talking and checking in and respecting each other's feelings (seriously, I loved Renard's "are you okay working with me on this?" and waiting for Nick to think it over and say yes, because hi issues but also massive professionalism all around) and skills and, y'know, everything. Relationships grow and change; friendships form and deepen; there's honesty and information-sharing out the wazoo, as the slow-moving underlying plot gets carried along by the very fast-moving top-level plots.
And in the face of all of that, it is just so painfully obvious that they have no idea what to do with Juliette, in particular.
If Monroe or Hank had been the ones to get scratched and lose their memory, there is no way in hell that this would be dragging out so endlessly week after week after WEEK AFTER WEEK oh god stab me now. Or stab her. Or SOMETHING. Her entire existence is Nick. There's literally nothing else in her life, not even her job, as far as I can tell. And once she has her memory back for real no honest we mean it this time look she remembers!, all that will happen is we'll be reset to the end of last season. While everyone else has been zooming forward, she's basically a cipher who hasn't moved an inch, because she doesn't matter in the slightest. The only thing her "condition" did was create an opportunity for Nick to find out about Renard, and move that particular plot forward. Just. Argh.
I had hopes for her, as last season moved along. She was smart and kickass and had things to do in a bunch of episodes. But this season, man. Seventeen straight episodes of "oh, Juliette is a victim who has nothing to contribute to anyone, including herself"; even if they manage to turn this storyline around into something interesting, I don't think they can pull it off, after that much sheer stagnation and boringness.
Adalind isn't much better, although at least she's got agency. They've defaulted to pregnancy for her, of COURSE argh, but at least it's a pregnancy that she deliberately planned for her own damn reasons, and those reasons are still paramount for her. But did they really have to go the standard SF route of invasive, scream-inducing procedures to deal with it? Also, wtf, how does she actually expect this to help her? Grargh.
I love this show, I really do, but dear god I wish they'd either figure out how to write women as just regular old people (they come closest with Rosalie, but even there, her connection to all this is pretty much that she's dating Monroe), or accept that what they want is a male universe and just go with that. They're so good at writing men as just regular people, without buying into the macho stereotypes that most male leads wind up in to at least some degree. Just... shift that line over a bit to cover the women, please.
Nonfannishly, I dropped pretty much every reality show I've been watching for years -- they're stale, I'm bored, and they were nothing but time-wasters as a result. And then somehow I fell into watching The Voice. I ff through basically every bit of backstory and backstage chatter to get to just the singing, and am enjoying the heck out of it.
Oh, and speaking of, I've seen some people worried that Grimm's move to Tuesday is an attempt to kill it off -- I think it may be an attempt to save it. It'll air after The Voice, which is NBC's biggest show (it's the most-watched broadcast tv show, period, and the only one of NBC's shows to make it into the top 25). That's a hell of a good lead-in.
(Although there's really something to be said for SF/F fans having been trained to expect their shows to be on Fridays...)
OTOH, I've been noticing here and there that it's Three Weeks for Dreamwidth time again (
three_weeks_for_dw), so I figured I'd take that as a (slightly belated) spur to try posting every day for the duration, see if I can get back in the posting habit.If there's something you want to see from me, let me know; otherwise I'll just prattle on about whatever comes to mind. *g*
Like, for instance -- new POI tomorrow! and also Elementary! \o/
And the fact that in the last POI ep, Trojan Horse, much though I loved Harold's flirty ways with Monica Jacobs, and John's teasing about same, what I loved most was his little eyeroll after "do you want a room" -- it was an actual complicated emotional expression! Right out there in the open, all over his face! <3 <3 <3
I was glad to see Beecher get redeemed (although honestly, I'm still pissed off at how he treated Carter in Proteus), and sad that he got killed for it. But it makes narrative sense in terms of tightening this little unit up: before this, Carter had no real personal stake in any of it. Now she does, in terms of "I've lost someone to this". Where John and Harold are united against Root and the group out to get the Machine, Carter and Fusco now both have something very personal against HR, if from different directions. Szymanski wasn't enough to give her that huge personal push.
I am still boggled at how fannish I am about Person of Interest; it's been a long time since I was this invested in something, long enough that I thought that level of fannishness was pretty much done with for me, and I'm sort of wallowing in it. All my buttons, they are pushed. ♥ fandom ♥
OTOH, I still haven't seen this week's Once Upon a Time; I'm just not quite in the right headspace for it.
But I watched Grimm thanks to the usual sources, and am having loads of fun with everything -- except the women's storylines, argh.
The guys are all great! I love that Nick has basically his own little Scooby gang now, and that the Blutbad is having brewskies with the Eisbiber and teaming up to give some truly terrible relationship advice and comfort. I love that Nick and Hank and Monroe and Rosalie sit around a dinner table together chatting about plans; I love that all the Wesen who see one of Nick's books are all "... well THIS is very useful, where did you get this?" I loved everyone in the police station ganging up to send Hank on vacation, and his little royal wave as he went rolling past the window (really cute, fun touch there, as a royal was going to be taking his place as Nick's partner for the duration...)
Plots whoosh forward, with everyone talking and checking in and respecting each other's feelings (seriously, I loved Renard's "are you okay working with me on this?" and waiting for Nick to think it over and say yes, because hi issues but also massive professionalism all around) and skills and, y'know, everything. Relationships grow and change; friendships form and deepen; there's honesty and information-sharing out the wazoo, as the slow-moving underlying plot gets carried along by the very fast-moving top-level plots.
And in the face of all of that, it is just so painfully obvious that they have no idea what to do with Juliette, in particular.
If Monroe or Hank had been the ones to get scratched and lose their memory, there is no way in hell that this would be dragging out so endlessly week after week after WEEK AFTER WEEK oh god stab me now. Or stab her. Or SOMETHING. Her entire existence is Nick. There's literally nothing else in her life, not even her job, as far as I can tell. And once she has her memory back for real no honest we mean it this time look she remembers!, all that will happen is we'll be reset to the end of last season. While everyone else has been zooming forward, she's basically a cipher who hasn't moved an inch, because she doesn't matter in the slightest. The only thing her "condition" did was create an opportunity for Nick to find out about Renard, and move that particular plot forward. Just. Argh.
I had hopes for her, as last season moved along. She was smart and kickass and had things to do in a bunch of episodes. But this season, man. Seventeen straight episodes of "oh, Juliette is a victim who has nothing to contribute to anyone, including herself"; even if they manage to turn this storyline around into something interesting, I don't think they can pull it off, after that much sheer stagnation and boringness.
Adalind isn't much better, although at least she's got agency. They've defaulted to pregnancy for her, of COURSE argh, but at least it's a pregnancy that she deliberately planned for her own damn reasons, and those reasons are still paramount for her. But did they really have to go the standard SF route of invasive, scream-inducing procedures to deal with it? Also, wtf, how does she actually expect this to help her? Grargh.
I love this show, I really do, but dear god I wish they'd either figure out how to write women as just regular old people (they come closest with Rosalie, but even there, her connection to all this is pretty much that she's dating Monroe), or accept that what they want is a male universe and just go with that. They're so good at writing men as just regular people, without buying into the macho stereotypes that most male leads wind up in to at least some degree. Just... shift that line over a bit to cover the women, please.
Nonfannishly, I dropped pretty much every reality show I've been watching for years -- they're stale, I'm bored, and they were nothing but time-wasters as a result. And then somehow I fell into watching The Voice. I ff through basically every bit of backstory and backstage chatter to get to just the singing, and am enjoying the heck out of it.
Oh, and speaking of, I've seen some people worried that Grimm's move to Tuesday is an attempt to kill it off -- I think it may be an attempt to save it. It'll air after The Voice, which is NBC's biggest show (it's the most-watched broadcast tv show, period, and the only one of NBC's shows to make it into the top 25). That's a hell of a good lead-in.
(Although there's really something to be said for SF/F fans having been trained to expect their shows to be on Fridays...)
no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 10:39 pm (UTC)I share your thoughts re: Beecher.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 11:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-24 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 01:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 05:12 am (UTC)A part of me is watching the Monroe and Hank show, really, though if they ever get rid of Rosalie I will cry, as she is the most adorable little fuchsbau ever.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-26 01:35 pm (UTC)... I didn't know about those Hulu comments. Ugh. I don't want her dead, I want something to happen. Also I would like them to either get past the Magical Hispanic Lady Who Magically Sees Into Juliette's Deepest Heart, or explain her in the universe's context.
I'm not keen on the Semi-Magical Wesen-Rom Adalind is working with, either. When you set a universe up to be "fairy tale characters are real, but there's nothing magical about it, it's just different biology", you should leave magic-y stuff just out of the equation. I can't help but feel that in both cases, things are reverting to "magical handwavy FEELINGS and BABY stuff" because they're women, and that's what women are about.
Argh. It drives me crazy, because the women are really only 10% of the show, and I adore the other 90% and would really like it if that 10% didn't become a focus for me because it's just so maddening.
A part of me is watching the Monroe and Hank show, really, though if they ever get rid of Rosalie I will cry, as she is the most adorable little fuchsbau ever.
Seconded so hard! I was really worried in first season that they were just basically gonna get rid of Hank and turn it into the Nick and Monroe show, and I'm so happy with the way they've pulled him back into the center instead. He and Monroe are fabulous together.
And Rosalie's awesome, which I totally didn't expect to happen; I was a little eye-rolly about the insta-romance thing, but they really are just so adorable together, mainly because she's so adorable.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-26 04:28 pm (UTC)I really thought they were going to let her be an amazing, active character in her own right, not just "the girlfriend" (though I really loved her early relationship with Nick). Now, even Wu (who didn't get a NAME for, what, five episodes?) is more of a main character than Juliette is.
And I agree about the magic, right down to "magical handwavy FEELINGS and BABY stuff." Ugh.
no subject
Date: 2013-04-25 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-04-26 01:48 pm (UTC)The thing that's striking me hardest recently is I'm paring down massively on things I watch. I'd been adding and adding and adding to the pile, from time-wasters to things I was basically fannish about, and now I just don't need the time-wasters. I've got a fandom in my head, no time to waste! *g* I haven't dropped everything, but there are a bunch of shows I was watching just to watch that I suddenly couldn't care less about. And new fannish shows cropping up that I may check out, but also may not, because I don't need a new show right now.
It's lovely. *happy sigh*
I can't figure it out, either, other than that something about it is deep-down old-school, because ye gods the number of old-school fans I know/see falling for it is amazing. It's... huh. It's not ironic (or if it is, I'm not seeing it). Maybe that's it.