Thoughts on my shows
Feb. 2nd, 2008 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bofoddity(Two posts from me during the same day? I'M GASPING TOO.)
Just some short musings. Squee of the week goes to Lost.
Smallville, 4.10: Persona
- So, I wasn't as into James Marsters's Brainiac as other fans were during S5, but I loved his appearance in this episode. He was a joy to watch, and the chemistry between him and Welling is as great as ever (what I especially liked that the Brainiac/Bizarro-dynamic is obviously different from the Brainiac/Clark-dynamic - kudos to both actors!). I hope this isn't his only appearance in the season.
- I.. sort of really loved Bizarro/Lana. I'm sure fans are going all "Oh my God another guy falls for Lana why is she such a Mary Sue?!" about that, but it makes sense to me; he is Clark's duplicate, after all. But I liked that he was in love with her, and it worked just fine with me that she was also happy with him, and my heart actually broke a little for the two of them when Lana killed him. I look forward to seeing what kind of effect Bizarro/Lana is going to have on Clark/Lana.
- What comes to Lana not being able to tell the difference between Clark and Bizarro, that also makes sense to me: Bizarro was the ideal Clark to her, just like the pink Lana was the ideal Lana to Clark, and now their illusions of each other have finally been broken for good. It will be interesting to see where Clark/Lana goes from here.
- The Grant/Lex/Lionel-thing left me mostly cold, which I didn't like because twisted Luthor-family interaction has always been one of my favorite things about the show, so I expected to feel a lot more. I'm also not pleased with Grant's exit. He should have either disappeared after "Gemini" or they should have continued his storyline longer than this.
- In the similar vein, I also have to wonder why Clark didn't bitch to Jor-El at all. Apparently he was frozen for nothing.
- The final montage, from Grant's death to Clark and Lana lying awkwardly in bed together, was terrific, but I have to wonder about their song of choice. "Pioneer to the Falls" is a great song, but..
I haven't really liked any of the episodes since "Wrath", but this one ended on an interesting note, so I have hopes for the next one.
Supernatural, 3.09: Malleus Maleficarum
- Misogyny in this season has bothered me for a long time, but indicating that the witch hunts actually had a point? NOT FUCKING COOL. (Apparently, it was even going to be named Witch Hunt. WTF?) We also have lines like ""Burn the witch" and "Witches are whores", I lost the count of times Dean called Ruby a bitch and every single female character aside from Ruby dies, even the one who helps our heroes out. The cheating husband gets to live, suffering only maggots in his food. One of the women dies in her lingerie. Sam gets to threaten three women with a gun. The main villain of the episode, a woman, gets stabbed multiple times by Dean. What.
- The opening scene with the victim's teeth coming out: EWWWW. For the first time in the series, I actually had to look away. Lets say I have some teeth issues.
- Despite the constant "bitch bitch bitch", I actually enjoyed the Dean/Ruby-interaction a lot, and Jensen Ackles and Katie Cassidy have great chemistry together. This was also the first episode where I really liked Ruby; she became more fully fleshed character in my eyes, and although the "demon with the heart of gold" speech wasn't too great, I thought the actress did a good job there. Also, I don't think she was entirely truthful with Dean in the episode, so it will be interesting to see how things will turn out in the end.
- Although we saw more of dark!Sam in this episode, I liked the revelation that Dean might end up a demon himself. If anything, it's an interesting flip of the evil!Sam/good!Dean-set up.
Lost, 4.01: The Beginning of the End
Summary of my feelings: This was the best season premiere since the pilot. And I can say this without having seen the Missing Pieces.
- I lost my liking for Charlie sometime after S1 before rediscovering it again in later episodes of S3, but both his absence and his presence in this one made me ache. Poor Hurley. Poor Claire. But mostly poor Hurley.
- I loved that Hurley was the center of this episode, and it makes sense to me that the desire to return to the island (the episode takes place, after all, before the S3-finale) would start from Hurley's desire to return, because he is the heart of the group. I just felt so much for him.
- Lost lost (hee hee) a lot of its creepiness after the first season, but the cabin moments did a good job of bringing some of that creepiness back. (Although, if I understood production part of the Wiki-article right, I think I would have been more creeped out if it was Hurley himself in that cabin. Didn't Jacob look like Locke in the last season? I remember seeing screenshots that indicated that.)
- Okay, so maybe Locke was right. But that doesn't mean I'm going to forgive him for blowing up that goddamn submarine. I don't give a damn whether the island is his sanctuary or not, that just made me angry. I still think he's an interesting character, I just don't like him.
Also, WTF was with Sawyer following him? So he's about survival, but unless I have forgotten something important about the last season, he should be pissed off with Locke right now.
- Ben's smug attitude is also annoying, but at least he knows he's being a dick. I also liked him being protective of Alex, although he deserved that punch from Rousseau.
- I felt sorry for Jack when everybody ditched him to follow Locke, but in the "present", he was hard to get hang of. I guess I'll have to wait until the next Jack-POV to find out what's going on with him.
- In S3-finale, Locke wasn't able to shoot Jack even after shooting Naomi, but Jack had no problem pulling the trigger on Locke. I found that striking.
- Harold Perrineau is back! I'm slightly worried about how they're going to deal with Michael's character in this season, but I was happy to see his name in the credits.
- Lance Reddick! I love seeing Oz-actors pop up in various shows.
- So much love for the mention of Ana-Lucia. I know a lot of fans didn't like her, but I did, and I felt that they did injustice to her by killing her off as early as they did. I wonder if Michael's storyline/appearances are going to be connected to her?
- Desmond didn't have much to do in this one, but I loved that moment when he prepared himself to tell Claire about Charlie's death. A man of honor, he is.
- Too little Juliet.
It looks like Lost is going to have a great season.
ETA: One more X-Men-rec: Illusions, by sevenall. A "common people"-story about a girl with power to create illusions. Somewhat generic, but the last line depressed me for the rest of the day. Therefore, a warning for depressing.
Just some short musings. Squee of the week goes to Lost.
Smallville, 4.10: Persona
- So, I wasn't as into James Marsters's Brainiac as other fans were during S5, but I loved his appearance in this episode. He was a joy to watch, and the chemistry between him and Welling is as great as ever (what I especially liked that the Brainiac/Bizarro-dynamic is obviously different from the Brainiac/Clark-dynamic - kudos to both actors!). I hope this isn't his only appearance in the season.
- I.. sort of really loved Bizarro/Lana. I'm sure fans are going all "Oh my God another guy falls for Lana why is she such a Mary Sue?!" about that, but it makes sense to me; he is Clark's duplicate, after all. But I liked that he was in love with her, and it worked just fine with me that she was also happy with him, and my heart actually broke a little for the two of them when Lana killed him. I look forward to seeing what kind of effect Bizarro/Lana is going to have on Clark/Lana.
- What comes to Lana not being able to tell the difference between Clark and Bizarro, that also makes sense to me: Bizarro was the ideal Clark to her, just like the pink Lana was the ideal Lana to Clark, and now their illusions of each other have finally been broken for good. It will be interesting to see where Clark/Lana goes from here.
- The Grant/Lex/Lionel-thing left me mostly cold, which I didn't like because twisted Luthor-family interaction has always been one of my favorite things about the show, so I expected to feel a lot more. I'm also not pleased with Grant's exit. He should have either disappeared after "Gemini" or they should have continued his storyline longer than this.
- In the similar vein, I also have to wonder why Clark didn't bitch to Jor-El at all. Apparently he was frozen for nothing.
- The final montage, from Grant's death to Clark and Lana lying awkwardly in bed together, was terrific, but I have to wonder about their song of choice. "Pioneer to the Falls" is a great song, but..
I haven't really liked any of the episodes since "Wrath", but this one ended on an interesting note, so I have hopes for the next one.
Supernatural, 3.09: Malleus Maleficarum
- Misogyny in this season has bothered me for a long time, but indicating that the witch hunts actually had a point? NOT FUCKING COOL. (Apparently, it was even going to be named Witch Hunt. WTF?) We also have lines like ""Burn the witch" and "Witches are whores", I lost the count of times Dean called Ruby a bitch and every single female character aside from Ruby dies, even the one who helps our heroes out. The cheating husband gets to live, suffering only maggots in his food. One of the women dies in her lingerie. Sam gets to threaten three women with a gun. The main villain of the episode, a woman, gets stabbed multiple times by Dean. What.
- The opening scene with the victim's teeth coming out: EWWWW. For the first time in the series, I actually had to look away. Lets say I have some teeth issues.
- Despite the constant "bitch bitch bitch", I actually enjoyed the Dean/Ruby-interaction a lot, and Jensen Ackles and Katie Cassidy have great chemistry together. This was also the first episode where I really liked Ruby; she became more fully fleshed character in my eyes, and although the "demon with the heart of gold" speech wasn't too great, I thought the actress did a good job there. Also, I don't think she was entirely truthful with Dean in the episode, so it will be interesting to see how things will turn out in the end.
- Although we saw more of dark!Sam in this episode, I liked the revelation that Dean might end up a demon himself. If anything, it's an interesting flip of the evil!Sam/good!Dean-set up.
Lost, 4.01: The Beginning of the End
Summary of my feelings: This was the best season premiere since the pilot. And I can say this without having seen the Missing Pieces.
- I lost my liking for Charlie sometime after S1 before rediscovering it again in later episodes of S3, but both his absence and his presence in this one made me ache. Poor Hurley. Poor Claire. But mostly poor Hurley.
- I loved that Hurley was the center of this episode, and it makes sense to me that the desire to return to the island (the episode takes place, after all, before the S3-finale) would start from Hurley's desire to return, because he is the heart of the group. I just felt so much for him.
- Lost lost (hee hee) a lot of its creepiness after the first season, but the cabin moments did a good job of bringing some of that creepiness back. (Although, if I understood production part of the Wiki-article right, I think I would have been more creeped out if it was Hurley himself in that cabin. Didn't Jacob look like Locke in the last season? I remember seeing screenshots that indicated that.)
- Okay, so maybe Locke was right. But that doesn't mean I'm going to forgive him for blowing up that goddamn submarine. I don't give a damn whether the island is his sanctuary or not, that just made me angry. I still think he's an interesting character, I just don't like him.
Also, WTF was with Sawyer following him? So he's about survival, but unless I have forgotten something important about the last season, he should be pissed off with Locke right now.
- Ben's smug attitude is also annoying, but at least he knows he's being a dick. I also liked him being protective of Alex, although he deserved that punch from Rousseau.
- I felt sorry for Jack when everybody ditched him to follow Locke, but in the "present", he was hard to get hang of. I guess I'll have to wait until the next Jack-POV to find out what's going on with him.
- In S3-finale, Locke wasn't able to shoot Jack even after shooting Naomi, but Jack had no problem pulling the trigger on Locke. I found that striking.
- Harold Perrineau is back! I'm slightly worried about how they're going to deal with Michael's character in this season, but I was happy to see his name in the credits.
- Lance Reddick! I love seeing Oz-actors pop up in various shows.
- So much love for the mention of Ana-Lucia. I know a lot of fans didn't like her, but I did, and I felt that they did injustice to her by killing her off as early as they did. I wonder if Michael's storyline/appearances are going to be connected to her?
- Desmond didn't have much to do in this one, but I loved that moment when he prepared himself to tell Claire about Charlie's death. A man of honor, he is.
- Too little Juliet.
It looks like Lost is going to have a great season.
ETA: One more X-Men-rec: Illusions, by sevenall. A "common people"-story about a girl with power to create illusions. Somewhat generic, but the last line depressed me for the rest of the day. Therefore, a warning for depressing.
