Tuesday, August 26, 2014

On spoilers


I'm going to be right up front and say that I don't care about spoilers, so this post is probably going to be slanted, but I'm going to try to make it rational and actually argue my point.

A few days ago, I almost started a fight on Tumblr inadvertently. I was liveblogging, and I saw a post in the tag in all caps being all like "don't give me any spoilers, guys!" and I answered something along the lines of "why are you on Tumblr, this place is a minefield", and the answer back was "because I can be". And I almost went bonkers. Instead, I texted a friend and got that stab of net-crazy out safely and in private, but the feeling of unease about the whole situation lingered.

Here's the thing: Spoilers are all over the internet, but they cluster in places like Twitter and Tumblr, places where people liveblog as stuff is actually happening for the direct purpose of talking about it with other fans while it's going on, as if we're all in the same room, watching together. And this is a known fact: Tumblr and Twitter are dangerous places to go if you haven't yet seen the show that is currently airing, especially if you're trying not to know what happens before you see it.

So why would anyone even sign on if they legitimately didn't want to be spoiled? And then if they do, isn't it kind of immature and hey-look-at-me to then try to get the whole of your feed to NOT talk about something they are specifically there to talk about?

I mean, it's like if I woremy  nice clothes and walked through Jackson Pollock's studio, right in front of his canvas, and was all "I know this is your space and all, but could you not splatter paint all over me, even though that's what you do?" Or, slightly less specific, does anyone really walk under the catwalks where they're painting walls if they're totally sure they don't want to get paint on them accidentally while the painters are just doing what they came there to do? If you do, you run the risk of ruining your clothes; if you don't want that, you walk around it until the danger has passed.

You can sign on, there's no law or anything keeping you from doing so, but if you're avoiding something, why not hang out somewhere else until the threat has passed? The internet is a big place, and there are books and actual TV and work and stuff outside of it. A few hours while the babble dies down won't hurt anyone. And if you do sign on, and the majority of people are talking about that thing you're avoiding, you did that to yourself. It's unfair to expect a pre-existing conversation to grind to a halt because you're standing in the middle of it.

And, of course, this brings up the whole issue of spoilers as a whole. PBS Idea Channel has a whole episode about it, where they try to come to a consensus on how to handle spoilers and don't really do it. Because the idea of spoilers is wildly personal. I commented there, somewhere in the feed, that my brother is constantly complaining that too many secrets are given away by trailers these days, while I'm constantly feeling the exact opposite--that trailers tell less and less about what is actually going on*; they're just showing the jokes or the scares.

And, personally, being a little spoiled makes me want to see / read / experience something that I previously didn't know about, haven't seen or read, or haven't been through myself. Knowing that there's this neat narrative thing, or that these two characters are totally in love and haven't noticed yet, or that the plot deals with this neat idea--those aren't spoiling anything; they're making me want to see them actually happen, they're the opposite of spoiling. And as for actual events in the plot? Knowing that someone died or that someone else is a turncoat or whatever beforehand doesn't change anything, really, because actually seeing it happen is different than being told what happened, filtered through someone else's perceptions and with often total lack of context.

I know that there are people who hate to know anything at all ahead of time.

I also know that that's damn near impossible, it's frustrating and geek-rage inducing, and that it's the responsibility of the person who doesn't want to know to make sure they don't spoil themselves, not the internet or culture as a whole to shelter them. I mean, Seth Meyers waiting a year to talk about Game of Thrones on his show is a nice gesture, and it shows how sweet he is, but it's also excessive--a year is about a decade in fan-time. And things that have been around for ages, but that someone just hasn't seen yet? You can't spoil Jaws or Alien or Frankenstein or anything Austin, dudes. They're spoofed and commented on so often, there's nothing left but the actual experience of watching it all in order, for yourself, and that's on you; no one can change that or take that away from you, or do it for you.

I state clearly that I'm not spoiler-free, because to me, it's more important to talk about things and to process them that way, than it is to avoid giving something away to someone who hasn't seen it yet. Media is made to be talked about, and this is a blog, where I talk about things. I won't go out of my way to give away the ending to a movie I'm walking out of, while people are still standing in line to see it. I won't talk about something in a closed group if the people in the group haven't seen what I'm talking about. I make a point of asking whether people want to know or not when I'm in small conversations, and then respecting that.

But the internet is public. And these sites are specifically where people go to discuss things; the majority of people will be seeing something as it happens if it's something they want to see, and they're there to talk about it.

If someone doesn't want to know the details yet, there are thousands of other tags to be on, or sites to be on, or life-events to take care of. When they're ready, the discussion will still be there--unless they walk into the middle of it and shut it down, and why the heck would they do that?

Use common sense:

  • if you're avoiding spoilers, don't go where the spoilers live
  • if you're in a closed group, make sure everyone's on the same page before getting spoilery
  • if you're saying you don't want spoilers, and then you're always courting them, maybe you actually don't hate spoilers, maybe you love getting into conflicts
  • if you're going to go where the discussions are, be respectful and understand that other people almost definitely aren't going to shelter you when you can shelter yourself, and don't derail
And that's the last I'm going to say about spoilers as a topic.





NOTES:
*I mean, who knew that Brave was about a mother and daughter relationship, or that Frozen was about sisters subverting the Disney trope of true love? If I'd known that, I wouldn't have taken so long to see it!

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Doctor Who s8e1 "Deep Breath" liveblog roundup

 Yes you are. And I love it.

You guys? Every time there's a new Doctor, I get a little wibbly. Because I love this show in all its incarnations and I have loved every Doctor eventually, but I always get caught up in  missing the old one. I took it hard when Nine left, but I already knew Ten was coming because I caught on late. I took it really hard when Ten left, and I was sad when Eleven left, but you know what? There was that gap between seasons, and it let the pain scab over, and by the time we got here, I was mostly just happy to have Who back on my TV. And it was so good.

Here's my thoughts. First, the pre-show, because Chris Hardwick:

  • Minutes away now!
  • I love that metal chair!
  • That one outfit Clara had looked like something from the 70s? Do we get a historical?
  • Iffn you don’t want spoilers, I’m tagging doctor who and spoilers!
  • I think the hardest part of being the Doctor would be not screaming in glee long enough to remember your lines.
And the show!
  • Shush!
  • You had me at dinosaur in London.
  • Who invented this room?
  • New opening sequence! New orchestration!
  • You all sound all…English!*
  • People are apes. Men are monkeys.
  • Strax and his inability to tell what is even going on with people is still classic! And now, apparently, he has a lot more in common with the Doctor than usual!
  • Poetic dinosaurs who may or may not have thought the weird new Doctor was flirting. Who knew?
  • Ugh, commercials. Bad enough in our tv, a flat out crime in British shows!
  • You might as well flirt with a mountain range.**
  • No! Poetic big sexy dinosaur!
  • How did she burn up so quickly?
  • Don’t get it scratched or you and all your bloodlines will be eradicated from all of time and space!
  • Clara is so lost!
  • Enviable spleen, well done!
  • And a big long scarf. No, I’ve moved on from that.
  • He’s too weird for the drunk guy. I’m going to pretend that guy sobers up after that.
  • These are attack eyebrows! You could take bottle caps off with these eyebrows!
  • I’m Scottish now! I can complain about things!
  • Thingie. The not-me one. The asking-questions one!
  • Some more Seven in here?
  • Nothing is more important than my egomania!
  • It was the only one out of place! I was sure you’d want it killed!
  • He just actually put and actual face on her face.
  • Doctor Whovian London has so much random stuff under it, no matter what timeframe they’re in.
  • Did he just say Sweeny Todd would be proud?
  • Droids harvesting organs. That rings a bell…
  • Sure or not sure. One or the other.
  • Doctor no! What’re you even???
  • Yay! Clara in context! Being tough and smart!
  • What you can do is offer me my life. What you cannot do is threaten me. You can negotiate!
  • Is this The Girl In The Fireplace after all?
  • He grabbed her hand! That is a trope of visual media that I love.
  • She called the police? We never do that! We should start!
  • If Vastra is Sherlock, is this poor dude Lestrade?
  • EW.
  • Doctor just had a minor Ship of Theseus moment with himself.
  • So, did he jump or was he pushed?
  • There should be more round things on the walls. I used to have a lot of round things, I wonder where I put them.
  • What the what the what phone call what??
  • I’m not sure I’m a hugging person.
  • I’m hoping she’s a crazy fan and not an actual new River-type…
  • Overall? Yay!
And the aftershow***!
  • Chris Hardwick and Wil Wheaton nerding at each other about nerd cred is one of my favorite things in the world.
  • Wil Wheaton hitting it on the nose: “for the first time, the doctor feels out of time.”
  • Hardwick Hears A Who. If #afterwho is a thing, this is what I’m calling it.
  • Did Gatiss just get chocked up all these years later about Three’s regen? I want to hug him!
  • Talking point: Missy as Tardis, Master, Rani, or New River Song? #afterwho
  • Alton Brown just mentioned Davros and my cat woke up yowling. I think this about sums up the general reaction to Genesis of the Daleks. #afterwho
  • Gatiss just said Missy is a crazy Mary Poppins, and that jives so HEADCANNON ACCEPTED!
  • Wil: I think (Danny Pink) works for UNIT! -- This is a great idea!
  • I adore the idea of UNIT using this school the Doctor keeps going back to to harvest sharp young minds for the cause…
  • Did anyone see Gatiss twitching just a little? Which do you guess are “they’re too close must call Steven” and which are “that’s a fantastic idea why didn’t we think of that and where can we put it”?



You guys, I feel like I've waited a million years for this episode, and it was so great. The Doctor was clever and weird and out of place and not making sense. He was unreliable but also totally reliable, you just don't know how to read his cues yet. Clara got some context, if not actual backstory yet****, and got to stand up on her own and be brave and smart and clever. Vastra was there, Jenny got more story, and it looks like maybe there's something going on there between them? Something like Jenny becoming a proto-suffragette? The dinosaur was random and wonderful and tragic, and I hope they can find a way to go back and save her in a later episode. The main plot was pretty straight forward, which is exactly what we needed for a new Doctor ep, while at the same time it called back an old creepy story and possibly brought that into a proper storyline? I hope so!

Overall, it was amazing, and I'm sold on Twelve. Well, technically I was sold on him when they announced him and Capaldi just seemed so charmed to be him, but now I've seen him in motion, and I love him. My favorite thing the Doctor does is not be human, and Twelve is all sorts of awkward, strange, not-dumbed-down, and it's fabulous. I hope he stays a little bonkers as he settles into his new body.

This is me, waiting for next week:


NOTES:
*You've all developed a flaw!
**Unless you're a massively oversized t-rex.
***I really really hope the involvement with this special convinces BBCAm to make AfterWho a thing, because this is one of those shows you need to geek about when it's over, and Chris Hardwick wants to make it, and even if I worry about his stress-levels, I really do want to see it.
***Which she needs, because so much of her life happens away from the Doctor, with her habit of going home between adventures.

The Quest s1e4 "Battle Dome" liveblog roundup

It's really hard to find decent pictures for this show!

Here's what I had to say:

  • A drill!
  • I love this captain of the guard more every ep.
  • I hope Tiny Chick kicks those two big dudes’ asses!
  • Hey look! Barefooted, dirty, moppets!
  • Oh, look. Christian isn’t as great as he thinks.
  • That didn’t look accidental, lady. That looked like you just stepped down.*
  • How interesting that the girls were actually using their weapons, while the boys were basically just wrestling.
  • Tiny got a good push in! Good girl! Work on surprise and speed, because you can’t match strength!
  • The chick won! Yayayayayayay!
  • Look how good and genuinely happy they all are! That’s what I love about this sum show.
  • Come on, Jasmine! Stay and show them what Tiny Chicks can do!
  • "it was almost like a bear and a gorilla punching a baby!"
  • Rain for realism!
  • All girls at the bottom. I hope this isn’t a trend, but it might be because of the theme…
  • Fucking skull trebuchet.
  • I didn’t see seven skulls there.**
  • I really don’t want this show to wind up being only big brawny dudes. I want the little chicks to surprise everyone with enginuity, and the tougher chicks to stand as equals, and the smaller guys to work around others being bigger. I want a diverse final few!
  • If this show gets a second season, I hope there’s either total continuity, or none. Like, the same characters, returning failed heroes, same side characters, etc—or a totally new kingdom with a totally new problem. I hope it’s not a reset, where they just put new people in.
  • Andrew is way emotional. He’s loyal to friends, he’s annoyed that someone pointing it out…
  • Come on, Jasmine!
  • The ghost windows are CGI, so do they even know that their failed hero comrades are looking down at them?
  • Yeah Shondo! You support that little awesomeness!
  • Nawwwwwwwwwww
  • So dumb. I like these guys, but every judging time, they get real stupid.
  • What of Andrew wins the Queen’s hand and heart?
  • A fuckin ogre.
  • I kind of want this show to evolve into an ensemble—like, they stop choosing and they all have to be heroes. Like all the books this is based on, where there’s always four or six or nine people who save everything.
So here's where I am with this series: I like it a whole lot for it's sincerity even in the face of it's own cheesiness, but EVERY SINGLE VOTING TIME, I get annoyed. They're all nice, they're all smart, they're all (mostly) capable and reasonable, and then when it comes time to see who stays, they always pick the wrong one. If it was only me, I'd think I just wasn't getting something, but I seem to be one of hundreds who get mad every week, and that's annoying.

And I want it to start challenging the tropes. Maybe it's too early in the series, what with this only being the first season and all, but I really want them to, like, go off-script and the show have to use it. I want them to interact with the locals, to form attachments that the writers and producers didn't think of, to solve problems with speed and brains instead of just slashing and fighting their ways through. The good news, though, is that someone dropped me a line saying the plan is to have each season be for a different one of the Twelve Kingdoms, so they could, conceivably, start expanding and deviating and getting more thoughtful about the whole Fantasy Kingdom thing. And it's possible that this want is just because of my own personal involvement in Fantasy as a genre, anyway.

I'm still pissed that Jasmine is gone, though. Like, seriously. She was the best, and how can she and Ansgar have a tough but respectful and productive friendship now??



NOTES:
*Actually, when I saw it, I thought she deliberately stepped down to let the other girl win, which would have been awesome.
**I was counting!

Outlander s1e3 "The Way Out" liveblog roundup

Awwww yisss.

Last night's episode expanded the world some, don't you think? And laid so many more timebombs and landmines for Claire to have to walk through!

Here goes:

  • Now, before that even settles, Outlander!*
  • Oh, Claire, don’t tell them magical things happened to you in the magic stones where everyone knows witches go.
  • I love how bored Dougal’s Eyes Not His Heed looks.
  • Every single person in the castle is related to Mrs Fitz.
  • Jamie, you are being so dense.
  • Oh, physicking as an excuse to get someone naked.
  • "do you never sit down?"** — oh, look, first hand account of the life of a woman!
  • You don’t tell Claire not to do something.
  • What a sucky world, where your first thought is not “poison”, but demons, and saying its not demons makes you also a demon. That right there is the biggest problem with superstition.
  • Save the girl from being beaten for being loose, then go participate in her looseness. Bright.
  • This girl’s attic is the best thing ever.
  • Nailed?
  • So the kid gets gangrene or tetanus instead of losing a hand. Not much better.
  • A bit too fascinated, with your crazy eyes, Mrs Duncan.
  • Those are startlingly strong fingers, Jamie, if you can pull that huge ass nail out at once.
  • He must be purged or suffer damnation? Well, purge him with an antipoison! Or is letting kids die the way you keep power?
  • "didnt you see me waving? Nearly re-injured my arm!"
  • "I must escape castle leoch" she says in ep 3 out of 16…
I got a little heated with that priest and the kid--I mean, they're isolated and superstitious, but they should understand poisoning, shouldn't they?? And then Claire's all "stfu I'm going to help him" and Mrs Fitz was all "you ain't gonna let my nephew die, asshole" to the priest, and I think maybe Claire's daydream didn't give her enough credit. That was a great scene.

So we have a friend who is maybe a witch and maybe just an herbalist, who's married but not above sleeping her way to the top, or at least acting like she would to get her way; we've got a judge who's a farty idiot, easily swayed by a pretty face, and thinks nailing a kid to a pole is a fair and gentle punishment; we've got an asshole priest who thinks that women who know things must be evil; we've got the McKenzie warming up to her, but Dougal still being suspicious; we've got Jamie getting tangled up with Leerie (I know that's now how it's spelled!), who looks a little crazy around the eyes, even as he's falling for Claire; we've got crazy ass superstitions, and the idea that if you don't believe in them, you're probably a heretic, at best; we've got a harper with a beautiful voice who sings plot-significant songs that we barely get to hear because of either translations or other talking; and we've got a potential way out in episode three when the end isn't until episode sixteen.

::wipes brow:: That's a lot of story!

And it's still beautiful. It's filmed gorgeously, it's full of emotional resonance all over the place, it's realistic but also leaves open the option for magic, and it's generally sort of quiet. Like, everything everywhere is a pitfall and a trap, but it's all under the surface, in looks and implications and turns of phrase.

I love it so much, you guys.

How about you?



NOTES:
*That being THE NEW EPISODE OF DOCTOR WHO! Also liveblogged, and to follow.
*Or "Doo ye nayvar sit doon?"

Outlander s1e2 "Castle Leoch" liveblog roundup

Pretty sure this gif about sums up the attitude of the whole show.

Are you loving this show as much as I am? Because it's so good, you guys. Here's episode 2's reactions:

  • Almost time for Hell On Wheels and Outlander! I’m sure one will annoy me and one will make me happy, who wants to bet which is which?
  • Outlander!
  • Two days ride in that shift of a dress in the rain? No mam.
  • Blon Falfoch Passameer Day Sliveen!*
  • That’ll tell you what that room was for.
  • Ew Randal ew.
  • Oh Jamie.**
  • All the woodwork in this castle I’d amazing.
  • She’s slept the whole day away at five am…
  • "It’s a braziere. It’s from France." "Hm."
  • Aw man. Everything she says is a problem.
  • I love how they bond over their stories. It’s all stories.
  • The clothes are amazing in this show.
  • Me thinks this isn’t the girls punishment anymore…
  • It seems like there’s a lit of overlap between guest and prisoner in this age.
  • Well, she’s trapped and no going home, but at least now she has a vital purpose in the clan ?
  • At the head table in the Laird’s brothers seat!
There's less commentary because I keep getting wrapped up in actually, you know, watching them. Watching all those eyes sending various loaded looks in all directions. It's a gorgeous show, and it's a shame not to actually see it happening--and I was never one of those ones who could type without looking on my phone or iPad (which is usually how I liveblog, since I can't haul my big ass desktop out into the livingroom and don't have most channels in my room).

This ep, I missed the large chunk of semi-modernness, but only for a second, because Claire is really good about flashbacks inside her flashbacks, and the editing does a really good job of linking together stuff so that she doesn't actually have to tell us everything. 

What do you think about the show so far?



NOTES:
*It's a hobby of mine to play "which of these British actors has been in Doctor Who?"
**This is my reaction to Jamie 90% of the time, in different inflections.

Hell On Wheels s4s3 "Chicken Hill" liveblog roundup


Last week's liveblogs today!

Ha!

  • Almost time for Hell On Wheels and Outlander! I’m sure one will annoy me and one will make me happy, who wants to bet which is which?
  • That is a whole lot if work for one page…
  • What is New-omi going to do about those hookers Bohannon used to be friendly with?
  • Yes! Bohannon really is back! I’m already feeling better about this season.
  • "It’s three ghost of Cullen Bohannon. And Mormon no less."
  • "I’m the only one can get it moving again" he says, right in front if the dude who had been doing that job all winter.
  • "I got a Mormon girl in a family way. I need a job. Any more questions?"
  • "Killed gots brother and I helped him bury him. Guess that makes us something."
  • Hallucinating Elam. Like a bro, ya know.
  • I’m so happy Bohannon is back. Like, so happy. This show walks a thin line between getting it right and being entirely aggravating, and it’s easier to keep on the right side whe Bohannon is in the same place ad everyone else.
  • Yes mam women concerned about each other (even if they are still talking about a guy).
  • You’d better not her yourself in trouble because you’re determined to be tough.
  • Someone needs to get Eva a pile if food.
  • "If I didn’t know better, I might consider to interest more…personal. he’s not that interesting!"
  • I love that everyone is pissed about the casino thing.
  • You take control of good your life, Eva!
  • She was counting cards, but that guy cheated her?
  • Hey, look how this show is suddenly a full on Western with card sharks and all.
  • Ha! Practicing with cards while he does his business.
  • Aww, the horses! That dude just lost them a lot of money. Also? Dumbass.
  • I’m glad they’re reaffirming Bohannon’s ties to the railroad. That’s the core of the show.
  • Took him a while there, didn’t it?
  • "You would’ve come back if you were alive" But he did come back, tho. Just later than expected.
  • Aw, unfair, Bo. Asking Ruth to help take care of the wife that isn’t her.
  • I never would have thought I’d prefer Durant to whatever moral weirdness there is.
  • Jeeze, Bo. Enemies everywhere you go.
  • Ugh. I hoped we’d get more time before going back to the Swede.
So this week!

I'm less concerned about Eva, because she's finally doing something about her life. Being a hooker wasn't great, and acting like one isn't great either, but at least she had some sort of self-posession back then, and she's got a little of it back tonight! But also, her transitioning into a card hustler could be REALLY COOL if they do it right; she could be a full-on lady outlaw, beloved of the people, powerful in the town, scourge of all the assholes that keep washing up along that rail road!

Now I'm concerned about Ruth's fragile sanity (her dad did go nuts, you know), and about Naomi's ability to adapt to the town.

On the other hand, I love the slight rekindling of the Newspaper-Lady / Bohannon BroMance that was sort of amazing for a minute there before the show went left into Mormon Subplot Of Doom.

What did you think?

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Thinking about Sleepy Hollow


  1. ABBY AND JENNY'S MOM KNEW DEMONS!!!
  2. John Noble is a regular!
  3. We get to meet a pre-Katrina love of Ichabod's!
  4. Henry is the Mayor of Sleepy Hollow!
  5. They're asking "is he redeemable"!
And then from this!
  1. Season 2 is scarier!
  2. "So we come in very much with everyone where they were, and they can’t really help each other until they figure out a way out. Which some of them do, and maybe some of them don’t."
  3. Crane's gonna be hesitant to outright kill his kid, Abby's gonna be "let's do this", and Katrina's gonna be trying to actually have a family.
  4. "Katrina is able to see who the Headless Horseman truly is once again, and they get to flesh out their history. He gets to continue to pursue her as a love interest, and then the question is, is she really being tempted by this man slash god of evil, or is she potentially using his affections to find out more?"
  5. Bounty Hunter is one of Jenny's "guys" from the ol' artifacts trade.
  6. There's a new weapon in The Kindred, which is, like, also the Headless Horseman, but for good?
  7. Jenny's gonna be in potentially dangerous hands.
  8. Ben Franklin!
  9. "There’s nothing like another good-looking guy arriving in the mix to suddenly make people realize how they really feel about each other." You know what? Let's just do that whole thing:
So many fans are rooting for Abbie and Crane to get together romantically. Does that seem like something that could happen this year?
There’s nothing like another good-looking guy arriving in the mix to suddenly make people realize how they really feel about each other. Katrina, by the way—her goal, obviously, is to do all she can not only to escape the clutches of the Headless Horseman, but also to see if she can reunite her family. That is Crane’s goal as well. Despite Henry Parrish’s anger, maybe there’s a way to reach their son. Abbie is not a homewrecker. I think as long as Crane and Katrina are seeking to keep their family together, and as long as they’re in love—barring her coming under some evil spell—I think she would try to respect that relationship. Any great romance hopefully is preceded by a wonderful friendship, and we want to make sure we explore every element of that. But again, the fun part about having a plan is you can deviate from it, or you can be surprised by something that comes about naturally.
Sooo...

Yay!

Also, sort of a lot of "excuse me, what now?" Because, like, we get the message that maybe they'll start realizing what they could have had / what they sort of haven't admitted they already have, at the same time as we're getting the message that Abbie and Ichabod are, like, switching roles and working on different priorities, and that sounds amazing. Complex, naturally drama-ful, potentially damaging to all relationships involved--and I love a story of people coming back together after everything is messed up*. AND! And it sounds like we'll finally get a little clarity on Katrina!

I'm still hoping:

  • She's not bland, she's being bland--she's playing the part of the victim to get other people to do stuff for her.
  • She's either evil, or she's something that's neither good nor evil--she's the grey in between, or she's some force of chaos, or she's doing everything for her own subversive goals that don't line up with either side.
  • She actually loves Ichabod, but that wasn't the goal of whatever she did--getting him to be where he needs to be was the goal, and she got all emotionally invested.
  • She actually is as powerful as everyone keeps saying, and she's been specifically not using her power for some good reason we don't know about yet.
I'm holding these hopes until the show proves otherwise.

Also:
I'm so very excited about the idea of redeeming Henry. For these reasons!
  • Think how powerful it would be to have either a full Horseman on their side, or a person who knows some of what the plan is for those dudes. Depending on whether they'd have to get the Horseman out of him to save him or not.
  • Think how totally wonderful it would be to have them trying to play house when the son is twice as old as the parents, the father is a Witness fighting the apocalypse, and the mother is a witch who is probably not on their side! Think of it! And if they have another baby in the meantime? Oh my god.
  • I adore a redemption story. Redemption stories are so much better than straight-up hero stories, because they have to earn redemption, and earn being good, and it's a struggle.
And we get Ben Franklin and all his crazy inventions.
And we get hot bounty / relic hunters who don't believe that they're handling magic.
And we get Abbie and Jenny's mom! And, hopefully, that means either a) the demons that plagued her have something to do with the very existence of Abbie and Jenny, b) that's why they all know the bible and latin so well, or c) that story goes way further back than anyone knew!

I'm just, like, vibrating with anticipation--and I have to wait a whole month still!

What do you guys most want to see? What potential story points make you most excited?




NOTES:
*Or I wouldn't like Whedon so much, tbh.

I've been rewatching Fringe


Sleeping is not my friend lately, so I've been rewatching Fringe, an episode or so a night, and here's some stuff that has surprised me:

  • This story is packed. Like, from the very beginning, there's hints and echoes and set-ups for things that don't happen for a while. Watching it the first time, I knew that there was more going on than I realized, but watching it now, knowing what goes on later, it's amazing how much of it is right there at the very beginning.
  • I forgot how gross some of these cases are. Like, seriously gross. But also, totally in-tune with taking over from the X-Files, on the same channel and the same time slot.*
  • Peter still gives me life. He's so snarky, so hard-shelled, but even in that first episode, there's these moments of softness, of delicateness, of something other than angry yelling--he helps Olivia, he holds her when she comes out of the tank all messed up, he defends her against whatever crazy his dad brings on--and better yet, she doesn't argue against being defended, but she also doesn't depend on it or even really seem to notice it. She's trying to get him on her side, and it's established early on that they're going through this crazy together, but after the vague sexism of the first episode, there's really no comment on how she's a pretty, basically young lady; she's an agent first, and a good one, and that's great.
    • Their ship is among the greats on TV, I think. It still rings, even knowing that everything is fine in the end and everything they go through only makes things stronger.
  • Lenseflares! If you didn't know this was JJ Abrams, you can tell from that alone.
  • Walter is everything. He's weird, he's rude, he's full of crazy moodswings, he's crazy, and he's actually crazy--I knew, of course, that he was phenomenal, but I'd forgotten the details, the carefulness of how he played the part, and it's still brilliant.
  • This show, if it was being made now, would be a perfect one to sell to Netflix, because it really benefits from being able to mainline it, to have the option of watching the episodes close together, all in a row. On TV, it got...gappy. If you miss a week, nothing makes sense. If you don't come back from the bathroom on time, you miss stuff. Commercials and week-long spaces between episodes water down the pacing, which is tight and involved, even early on. Frankly, I'm amazed that they lasted so long on TV, and I'm so grateful that they did!
  • I feel like we're missing a show that actively tackles all the weird science and conspiracy theories and makes them all work together, right now.


NOTES:
*Well, at least part of X-Files' timeslot. They were on Friday in the Death Slot, but they were also on Sunday; I can't remember which came first.

Monday, August 18, 2014

This week on Professional Fangirl

We gots us some NEW DOCTOR WHO!!! You guys, I don't even care that because it's going to be a two-hour premier it's going to be tricky to record Hell on Wheels and / or Outlander, because it's NEW DOCTOR WHO! With a new Doctor! And Clara! Who I'm still hoping gets to come into her own! And another new companion! And Madam Vastra and Jenny!

Ahem.

It's the first of the come-backs for shows I watch, and I'm sort of excited.

We'll also have the usual roundups of The Quest, Hell on Wheels and Outlander, and some fun posts on other stuff that are actual real posts! Stay tuned!

Are you guys watching Girl Meets World? Because ya really should be.


I was a little leery about this whole thing when I heard it was being made. One the one hand, I'm getting real tired of my childhood (or in this case, my teen-hood) being re-sold to me in shinier packaging. On the other hand, I really loved growing up with Cory and Topanga, and I was happy to see them again. They were TV representations of weirdos who love each other and keep committing to being themselves right when I most needed to hear that, and I wanted them to stay that and not get messed up with modern TV stuff.

I didn't have to worry.

Yes, the show is much more styled and slicker than the old one--but that's how all Disney shows are these days. And it doesn't get in the way.

Girl Meets World is just as much a story about figuring stuff out for yourself and learning the lessons you get yourself into as it always was, and it not any more heavy handed than the old one was. But better yet, it's so cheerfully silly that there's no cynicism in it. There could be--Maya has a crappy life with a deadbeat dad* and a hands-off mom who works too much--but it always pulls back around to this central message that friendship is the same as family when you don't have a family of your own, that your problems don't have to define you, and that you are always free to be who you are.

And better yet, it's as much about Cory and Topanga as it is about Riley and Maya. I was afraid they'd get sidelined, but they're vitally important to every story, and they have their own stories going too--in the most recent episode, Topanga had a minor crisis about how normal she is now, and how much of her hippy-dippy self she'd given up to be where she is. Solved quickly but earnestly, of course.

The first episode is a little thin, but it sets everything up perfectly, and by the second everyone knows who they are and the characters all have to connect in a way that makes total sense and makes you like them more--and it keeps getting more delightful each episode. Like, giggly, silly, nostalgic-but-not-sappy, charming, off-the-wall delightful.

The little brother is adorable and has pretty good comic timing. The Cute Boy is charming and has unexpected skills and is cutely amused by all the craziness these two girls point at him, in a way that isn't condescending at all. The Nerd is as annoying as Minkus** once was, but is also sweet and a little delicate*** and totally reasonable more often than you'd expect. The background kids in Cory's classroom are frikken priceless--watch their faces as they react to the lunacy of the main characters. It's like they have their own show going on there. And recently, there's been an expansion of the world--there's other nerds than just Farkle, there's other teachers than just Cory, there's a librarian and a bakery-shop owner that I really really hope we get to see more of****, and the kids around them are starting to standardize into familiar faces you see each episode.

It's an antidote to all the grimdarkness invading all the other shows I watch every week! I wish there were more episodes of it already. And it's a lovely example of how to be a parent if you grew up with Boy Meets World as your view of how the world should be. It's a good view.

So if you're not watching it, I say go get yourself a bowl of popcorn and click on that On Demand, and just gobble it up.



NOTES:
*I really hope her deadbeat dad isn't Shawn, because his major arc was that he had a deadbeat dad of his own and didn't want to be like that...unless his story is to get him back in contact with Maya and actually be a real dad now that he can.
**And, actually, despite still being rivals all these years later, it doesn't stop the Mathews clan from inviting him over for dinner along with everyone else, which I love.
***I'm pretty sure he and Maya are going to get married.
****I really want the grouchy old librarian lady and the Ukranian baker to be best friends, and to sit around and drink coffee and snark at the kids. Also, there was Jackee on the train in the first episode and I really want her to come back, too!

Friday, August 15, 2014

Outlander s1e1 liveblog roundup!

As you may or may not know, I frequently liveblog shows over on my tumblr--here's what I thought about Outlander this week:*

(from Starz)


  • Lord and Lady I love the Skye Boat Song.
  • Dear Scotland, this show is so dangerous for me to watch because it makes me miss you so.
  • Claire is such a good ideal of how to be a woman, so far.
  • From a purely writerly point of view? I love how carefully and delicately they handle all the layers of framing—the 40s now, the 40s then, the 20s or 30s in Egypt, the 1700s, all of it. So delicate and artful. I want to read this script and pick it apart.
  • And a show with a VoiceOver that works? Fabulous.
  • I feel like I need to have soft 40s hair.
  • Damn, Mrs B&B reminded me that I forgot to get a box of oolong…
  • I love the Druid ceremony.
  • "the reverend’s housekeeper is a witch!"
  • It’s been, like, fifteen years since I read that book, but I feel like every single person the camera lingers on will be important.**
  • This show had me at drum-and-pipe chase scenes.***
  • I love the tangle that is Frank—she wants to reconnect, but he asks hard questions, then he doesn’t go back to the stones with her because of research and she winds up trapped in the past with a guy who looks just like him—and is the reason Frank wasn’t with her to begin with.
  • I’ve missed random conversational Gaelic.****
  • "there seemed to be some question as to whether the lady was or was not a hoor."
  • Oh, and another frame—the VoiceOver is probably from the future, after what we’re seeing has happened!
  • So did they just basically teach us that ‘sure’ is a Gaelic loan-word?
  • I wonder how much prep these dudes had for riding and dismounting in classic-style kilts without just ripping the whole thing off by accident?
  • Just adore how the big tough dudes have NO IDEA what she’s talking about when she goes nurse-y on them, but they also don’t stop her.
  • How many people do you think just rushed out and bought the whole Outlander series?
And because I actually watched the preview, too, here's what I had to say about that:
  • Outlander! It has the Skye Boat Song as the theme!
  • It’s a period piece inside a period piece!
  • You guys. I want to move back to Scotland and it’s only ten minutes in.
  • Ohmy, Mrs Randall!
  • Note to self: oolong is best for reading the leaves.
  • Jesus H Roosevelt Christ
  • Boobs! That’s how you know it’s premium cable.
  • Guys, I’m starting to be a huge fan of Bear McCreary’s scores.*****
  • Gaelic!
  • Or something like it.
  • Yes! Shot down that rape bs right off!******
  • There’s the rain I know.
  • Yes, mam, cursy lady in the 1700s!
  • Verdict: I love it!
You guys? This is how you do a historical with a strong female lead--she's smart, sassy, resourceful, classy, knows and controls her own mind and body, and she's not once useless and simpering. Meanwhile, the world is spot on 1940s, then fabulously grimy 1700s, and there's even a second or three of scandalous 20s/30s in Egypt and it's great. 

What did you think?


NOTES:
*I'm going to have to be more on top of these roundups as we get into Pilot Season!
**Like that girl on the hill, and the guy looking through her window in the rain, and so on and so forth.
***Well, really, I automatically like things with pipes-and-drums at all, so...
****We had four channels when I lived in Scotland, and one of them was in Gaelic; sometimes we'd watch cartoons and see if we could figure out what they were saying because we'd seen the English ones already. And my p4 teacher's mother only spoke Gaelic, and she herself had to learn English to be a teacher.
*****Black Sails, Walking Dead, this. I want him to do the score of all my favorite shows from now on--and if I have any say in any shows made from my stuff? Him.
******It's a dumb plot that's becoming too prevalent, and they were just like "nope, not gonna have it" and kept going, and it was great.

Hell On Wheels s4e2 liveblog roundup!

As you may or may not know, I frequently liveblog shows over on my tumblr--here's what I thought about Hell On Wheels this week:



  • Three more minutes until Hell On Wheels plays a rousing game of How Can We Piss Sami Off This Week?
  • "mumble mumble mumble?" "glare" "mumble!" "(bang bang bang!!)"
  • Ha! Over ruled by Bohannon!
  • And even the dad!
  • "your situation gets curiouser and curiouser, sir!"— no kidding, dude!
  • Now they want him to build them a railroad?? What. Even. Is. This. BS?
  • I continue to be done with the whole Mormon storyline. Sorry, actual Mormons, but this is dumb and needless.
  • "you sound like an unreconstructed southerner, but don’t worry, we’ll handle all that."
  • Hey, Ruth. And some exposition.
  • Don’t send that kid away, too. We don’t need a no-kids-allowed policy on this show.
  • Look at him holding that tiny baby in his big murdery hands.
  • I like Bohannon doing things. This whole storyline has been severely lacking action on the part of the dude who was most active in the beginning.
  • I’m going to rewrite the last two seasons where instead of Mormons, Bohannon was poached by the other railroad, because that’s a story that needed to be told and wasn’t. Also would be more fun.
  • Do not send Ezra away. It would verify that last season’s story set-up means nothing and make him pointless. Also, if Durant was all “I’m an orphan too”, he should just take him in. You can adopt a kid and still be a villain.
  • Hey, the newspaper and the news lady! Remember when there were other characters in this show, like these?
  • Ugh, now Eva has to clean up blood off that floor.
  • I dearly hope these new Feds unite the old cast and get them working together again.
  • Ha! Swede’s WTF face is amazing.
  • But what the fuckity fuck is even going on with that plot??
  • So…he’s forcing him into a position where he has to forgive him and let him go, or he has to expose himself…?
  • Ha! Getting him to righteously confess!!!!
  • Bohannon could have been a tv preacher, who knew?
  • Please let that be the end of this BS story! That was neat!
  • Come on brave telling them Elam is their new hero! Or that he says they need to team up!
  • What if that was literally exactly what Bohannon yelled at him, right down to the liver for the crows, but neither understood each other?
  • Why are they going to kill the dude in the casino, blocking up business, instead of building a gallows their behavior says they’ll need anyway?
  • And now Eva’s got to mop up pee, too? She should organize a women’s rebellion.
  • Look at big ol Cheyenne being all tiny in actuality!
  • Train in the river: (is in the river) Bohannon:(side eyes so hard he falls off the wagon)
  • Is that the same horse Bohannon had?
  • Somes is happy to see him!
  • Whoops. Your weird ass storyline detour killed your best friend.
  • "who’s Elam?" "(man pain too much to answer because caring is for girls)"
I continue to be so over the Mormon Plot and Eva's Plot, that it's amazing I even want to watch this show right now. 

The Mormon one because it makes no sense--like, they want to kill him for killing their son, but no one even mentions that it's the father's fault it happened and they must've known that shady stuff was going on with him, but then when Naomi is all like "I'll marry him", they all decide to make him one of them? Even though he says he's made a deal and he's leaving the second it's done? And the dad is okay with that and no crappy weirdness is there anymore, but the mom is all "you can die and I'll take that baby"? But then when it's time for him to go, she's not even there, doesn't protest, and says not a thing more on the subject? And what the hell was the Swede (Norwegian) even up to???

And then Eva? She's just getting crap after crap after crap, her friendships that she made last season with the Newslady and the other whores (and Ruth? did she make friends with Ruth?) are totally ignored--though they do remember that Durant is nice to her when he's not nice to anyone else. So...guys' plots stick and girls' don't? And I mean, she's literally cleaning up everyone's mess and no one cares much? And it's also tied in with Mickey being all sorts of squicky, and whatever the hell the plot is doing with Elam (is he really dead? if he is, the show is gonna suck so much more than it already does, and if he isn't, it seems even meaner that they're basically punishing her for trying to do what she thought was right, so...).

And then Ezra! He was the only one who could verify that the Swede was who Bohannon said he was, and now that plot point isn't needed because Bohannon did it himself, and Ezra's going delinquent and going to be sent away like a plot no one loves, so what? No kids allowed?

Basically? Not pleased.

The Quest s1s3 liveblog roundup!

As you may or may not know, I frequently loveblog shows over on my tumblr--here's what I thought about The Quest this week:


Apparently some of the last ones I posted didn't actually post, but here's the list of the ones that did!

  • Time for The Quest!
  • Wow, that poison made her look BAD. And now there’s a power struggle brewing!
  • I’m not a witch, I’m your wife!
  • This show reminds me of the Crystal Maze*—a little cheesy, a little awesome, and addictive.
  • What if talky mctalksalot I’d a mole? Like, he’ll skate by until It’s really important, then he’ll turn on them and be a villain. That’d be cool.
  • I was about to ask if busting down the door would be a problem, but then they start digging under the door, sooo…
  • Damnit, Christian. Go home.
  • Did they CGI that smoke and her color?
  • Why does this moderately European kingdom have a vizir and not, like, a council, or a minister? Do we get his story?**
  • Did they write that song for her or should she come back next year as the bard?***
  • Oh, she said see wrote it.
  • I hope they get to keep their medals even if they’re bumped.
  • Everyone else is all “we’re family” and Christian is all “we ain’t family” and that’s why I don’t like him****.
  • And I’m just thinking about whether I can make nail polish with those pigments.
  • I love that they’re playing this collaborative. They’re working together, not against each other.
  • They keep saying that C is good at stuff, but all I’ve seen is him messing up when he claims he’s so great.
  • I love the ghost wall. It keeps the old contestants around and present.
  • What the actual fuck. If C doesn’t turn out to be a turncoat later, I’m going to be so annoyed. Esp if this keeps happening.
  • Everyone feels bad now that it’s too late, huh?
  • Plot twist! Of course.
This show is, objectively, sort of dumb; but it's like watching a show at a RennFaire or something--you know it's contrived, it's more than a little cheesy, but they're so into it and taking it so seriously, that you sort of get sucked in, too. And, I mean, what nerd hasn't wanted to actually go into a fantasy world and actually do stuff?

My favorite part of it, though, is that they're mostly playing collaboratively. In other reality competition shows, it tends to be everyone for himself from the beginning, but these guys decided almost immediately that they are all hoping to be the Hero, but only one can be, and that that means the rest of them are there to support the Hero in any way they can--so they're not backstabbing, they're outright helping each other, and it's kind of beautiful.

I hope they don't cast meaner people if the show gets a second season.



NOTES:
*Am I the only person who remembers the Crystal Maze? I loved that show.
**There are so many ways for this story to open up--how the visir came to this medieval land, and whether his homeland is one of the competitive Twelve Kingdoms of EverRealm; the story of the master of arms and why he's such a badass and yet needs these noobs to be his fighters; any side stories the contestants can drum up, like falling for one of the serving wenches--or even the queen; the possibilty of willful turncoats, or of losing competitors to the sway other side where they then work against their friends...it could be SO COOL.
***I actually really liked the song, and I love the idea of her coming back as a bard in the next season if she doesn't win this one.
****Or at least how he plays.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

On the really extreme oldness of the Internet

(this is literally just the stuff I had within reach of my desk--three phones and two cameras)
(also, why does my eyeball look so buggy?)

So, we sort of have this idea that the internet is new, that it's just this one incarnation--the one that it is now. But then sometimes you fall through a hole and it's like that kid in the X-Files movie that falls through the cave and finds those weird old bones. And then we remember that the way it is now isn't the way it always was, and if you're what the internet the way it is now considers old, like me*, you remember actual experiences of that older way. And you realize that it wasn't that long ago.

Two things:

1.
I was looking for a recipe or something a few months ago, and I clicked on one of the top links on Google, and I landed on an Angelfire page. Like, Angelfire. Older even than Geocities, which was my first webpage ever**, and which was where most of the non-pro sites were when I was first learning how to use a computer about a minute after I learned to type on a typewriter that still had those lever-style letters. In school.

It's a weird thing, being almost fully-formed when the internet happened. Kids These Days, like my niece, who never knew a world without cellphones and wifi, and Oldsters who were already adult and functional human beings for years beforehand, don't have the same experience. I learned to type on a typewriter that was old (but not an uncommon sight at all) because my school was poor and thought I'd never have a reason to use it--and then two or four years later, I had a computer in my living room with internet connectivity*** and a website and an email address****.

2.
As an exercise in my notebook one day, I decided to make a technological timeline of my own life, because I was thinking about my placement in that Bridge Generation, and my personal relationship to my own personal tech, and how far into existing on the internet I've come--so that sometimes I don't really think about Life Before WiFi, and how hard it was to go back those weeks recently when I was Horribly Offline, and before that when I Terribly Lost My Phone.

Early on, my timeline had things like "got first tv" and "saw first computer (Apple II at school)" and "dad brings home Apple IIc". Then we got a VCR. Then I got my own radio, a second radio after I took the first one apart and put it back together and there were parts still out, and a big-screen tv. We got cable right before I got a boombox and my first CDs, then I worked at a bookstore the two years it took to transition VHS to DVD*****, and then it really took off, and it got really crowded on that timeline. Cellphone, computer, internet, the history of my personal blogs, bang bang bang bang. If I continue the timeline, I'll have to give a whole lot more space for each year so I have space to write it all down.******

The point here, is that when I got the radio, and when dad brought home that Apple IIc, it was a Big Deal. Now I get a new phone and it's a big deal, and then only for a few days or weeks until I figure out how to use the thing, and since I'm perpetually poor, it's already outdated and more of a necessity to participate in current reality than something special.

And it happened quickly. And it's still happening quickly. And it makes ya forget.

So I'm trying not to forget.

How about you?



NOTES:
*I'm 34. The very very tail end of Generation X or the very beginning of Generation Y, in that grey area that seems appropriate for how I straddle that pre-and-post website world.
**It was called Trapdoor Dragon, like the idea of a dragon that hunted the way trapdoor spiders work, an inside joke I can't remember anything about how it happened. It had a super-simple animation because my best friend was learning how to code, and it was mostly fandom pages before I even knew how to find other people who gave a crap about that sort of thing, and there was not a single thing as commenting or even bulletin boards or chatrooms yet. I just did a google to see if it still existed, and found a page for Nethack, the first PC video game I ever played, and one I still miss and keep meaning to download again.
***It was dialup for free, and even then I thought it was slow, but it was extinct by the time I had my second computer in and after college only two years later (and that was a holdout), because we got cable wifi as soon as the dorms were wired for it.
****My first handle, when they were still called handles was PixieQueen.
*****The first one I saw that I wanted, the first one I'd never seen on VHS, was Clan of the Cave Bear, which, incidentally, I'm pretty sure is why I can read at speed, since I was obsessed with it one summer when I was five or six and it's all subtitles. It's probably also why subs don't bother me much.
******I'm hoping to add "went to the moon" and "owned first personal spaceship" to the list at some point.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Hell On Wheels s4e1 liveblog reactions -- and discussion


I never know what to expect from this show, and coming into the fourth season knowing that the plot took a serious left turn right at the end of season three when there was a new showrunner sort of made me...hesitant. So here's the evolution of how I felt as I watched it, spur-of-the-moment-typing-on-my-phone typos and all:

  • Hell on Wheels, aka Let's see how many interpersonal power struggles we can cram into every scene.
  • Come on beautiful establishing shots in the new season!
  • Yeah, but, the commercial totally showed that train caning through the ice at some point, so...
  • Why the flip, Durant? You can't put the rails right on the ice like that!
  • He has someone smuggling him a newspaper! Ha!
  • "so pick yourself up". Thanks, dude, but how about, I dont know, offering a new our better job instead of unhelpful words?
  • Did they recast his wife? Ugh.
  • You'd better take New-omi with you when you go, Bohannon.
  • Was Swede hoping Bohannon would go all Stockholm Syndrome and give up trying to go??
  • I could live in one of these fancy train cars.
  • I feel like if this show stays in Cheyanne, it's not really HoW, since that is meant to be the very front line of the rails...
  • I like this lady.
  • Swede, dude, trapping someone down a well will eventually poison the while towns water, one way our another.
  • "god has spoken to me that it's a boy"-- so I really hope it's a girl. Our twin girls, a double take-that!
  • Oh, don't you even keep him from his baby's birth. How will posing him off and putting a wedge between him and his wife keep your peace or brainwash him to your side?
  • Twins! Is it going to be twins? Even tho it's the mother that twin-ness gets passed down from, so...
  • STOP SHOWBOATING YOU CRAZY FUCK !
  • Nope. Giant dude grabbing on my Eva, nope, nope, nope!
  • Not even yours, Swede.
  • I'm kind of loving how this overseer is totally not having any of durant's bs.
  • Seriously, tho, why does the Swede have to be right about how it was a boy?
  • I hope this new-omi can get the wryness the other one had; so far, she's too...passive?
  • Now her mom's in on it? But in a stupid and frustrating way? This whole storyline ned's to move on soon and get everyone back to the railroad.
  • Hey, remember when this show was sort of clever & subversive?
  • Ugh, Eva's whole storyline.
  • "all women are whores, by nature"-- I'm getting real uncomfortable about how he's saying all this stuff like it's a comfort... But hell yes her fighting back, even a little!
  • "oh, you still like me, you just don't trust me! It's perfectly normal!" -- Ha! Durant.

Okay. That was a lot of me sitting in my seat being alternately frustrated, annoyed, and really uncomfortable.

Things I liked:
  • They remember that Durant is sort of gruffly nice to Eva.
  • That cattle baroness is SO AWESOME and is having none of all this male bullshit all around her. She knows exactly what's going on.
  • Not everyone in the Mormon camp is against Bohannon.
And things I very much didn't like:
  • Eva's entire storyline. She "felt his spirit pass" and no one went out to see what's up? So she spends four months lost and lonely and no one does anything to help her, even though at the end of the last season there was at least a little solidarity among the women? And now those women are nowhere to be seen? And then she gets beat up and most likely molested by some giant weirdo, left in the mud, brought inside by Mickey--who then tells her that all women are whores like it's a good and soothing truth, and then he tries to molest her, too???? I am so not here for this if the show keeps going down the road of making EVERY WOMAN A BEATEN VICTIM.
  • Bohannon in the Mormon camp. I hate it all. I hate the delusional dad, and him being nice to him like they've come to some unspoken agreement. I hate the Swede not making any sense at all, as a villain or as someone who claims to be redeemed. I hate that they recast Naomi with someone who so far doesn't have the wryness or the feeling that she's got her own plans and reasons, thereby making her basically a pawn clinging to the husband she barely knows for no good reason. I hate that the Swede was right about the baby being a boy, and that he was all busting into the room and talking in tongues in what looked like a pretty ordinary birth to me--like, if it was a dangerous one, they did a really bad job of conveying that. And I hate that now the mom is all "you're going to give me that baby to replace the baby you killed" as if she doesn't know that her husband is a creep and an asshole. The whole thing had better end quickly and get Bohannon back on the rails, with that kid who can identify the Swede and has no other reason to be there, otherwise.
    • Also? I still can't shake the feeling that Bohannon and Naomi didn't actually finish anything when they met, that him getting her into that barn was out of character anyway, and that the baby is probably not his. I'm betting on the original idea being that it was incest or something--but it seems like the entire idea of what happened between Bohannon and her family has been retconned without being explained away, so that the story we saw is clashing with the story they're talking about.
  • I feel like the show is getting bogged down in the new city of Cheyenne. It's supposed to be about the front end of the rails, and trying to beat the other company to get across the continent, but now they're miles ahead of the city and we're still at the city. And now Mickey's ruling everything and in a battle of greaseball-ness with Durant, and if that gets important, we'll be there even more.
  • They're holding out on us on whether or not Elam is actually dead. I'm betting he's not, that he was rescued by those braves after they saw him take out a bear with his bare hands, and that he's been cared for by them, giving him something in common with Eva again. If not? Then they totally missed a really good storyline that could have done away with some of the idea that the Indians are only savages out to kill everyone, and they've removed the best friendship Bohannon and Eva both had--leaving them with what?
Basically, I have a lot of concerns about the story this season. And I might wind up hating it. But what I'm more concerned about is whether or not they'll manage to maintain the characters--Bohannon was interesting in the beginning because he was a closed door with a purpose; now he's opened, but he's feeling more and more like he's just getting dragged around. The women who survived were all strong women--and now they're either beaten down, simplified, or notably absent. And being on the railline seems to be turning everyone shitty in not-pleasant or fun-to-watch ways, and it's making me uncomfortable.

How about you? What did you think?