promethia_tenk (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
promethia_tenk) wrote2012-01-13 11:05 pm
promethia_tenk) wrote2012-01-13 11:05 pm
Entry tags:
I quite like tv, if you didn't know . . .
It's been far too long since I've posted about anything fannish, but I have been watching some tv I'd like to chat about with anyone who's interested.
First up: had to share In Praise of Binge TV Consumption because, lo, they speak great truths ; )
Under the cut, some thoughts about the full runs of Downton Abbey and Avatar: The Last Airbender, both of which I've been meaning to watch forever. Minimal spoilers.
Downton Abbey: It's the bastard love child of Gosford Park and Gossip Girl; of course I was going to adore it. Next season they'll add a pithy voice-over by Kristin Bell and everything will be perfect. It did take me a bit of time to get over the fact that it wasn't entirely like Gosford Park, which is absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time, and to just embrace the melodrama, but round about the bit with Mary and the Turkish diplomat I realized, aahhh, it's gonna be like that then, and from there on things were brilliant in their own way. And how much do I love having a shippy show again? I feel like so many things I've watched recently I couldn't care less about who wants who. Which isn't entirely a bad thing, but there's nothing quite like having a show that you spend half your time watching it yelling at people to kiss. I also enjoy its measure of predictability: so many of the plot twists you can see coming from a mile away (and, truly, I am a gullible, un-fore-thinking, easily-lead thing when it comes to most viewing) and the rest you realize you should have seen coming if you'd just believed that this show was half as soapy as it continually proves itself to be. They even worked in some amnesia. Bless. It does have more than the usual share of British pacing problems: it's both too fast and too slow at the very same time. And if you've got less than ten hours in a season, what the heck are you doing returning to the same beats twenty thousand times? Still, there's not much I won't forgive with enough picky period detail and snappy dialogue and MAGGIE SMITH.
I do find it very strange to watch one of these Upstairs, Downstairs kinds of things and to care more about the aristocrats than the servants. How did that happen?
Anybody else actually enjoy season two more than season one? I'm sure season one was of better quality overall, but I just found the second season so much more engaging and I liked most everybody better, with the exception of Bates and Anna, who got tedious. What I've read of other people's reactions, though, it seems like most people thought it slumped.
I must also touch on Mary, who I expected to be a favorite from all I'd heard and, indeed, I was not disappointed. I did find her streak of petty vindictiveness in season one more than a little trying, but she is a fantastically drawn character and we both got past it, thankfully. She's like getting to watch a Jane Austen hero have to live the role of a Jane Austen heroine, which is very satisfying. Special kudos to the series of scenes in the second episode of season two where Mary goes through that subtle societal bullying of seeing/being shown that her own feelings must be less intense than other people's (other women's) and therefore, implicitly, less worthy of consideration. Also: ALL MY LOVE FOREVER for the treatment of the relationship between Mary and Lavinia. Mary's flat-out refusal to be anything but warm and supportive was something I hardly hoped the show would go for but I am fantastically grateful to actually see happen. And Mary/Matthew pretty much pushes all my shippy buttons, to an extent that I feel a bit pathetic and played by the writers, but frankly I'd rather just fall for it and enjoy the trip : )
Avatar: The Last Airbender: I feel like I've been in the middle of watching Avatar for about forever, but I finally polished it off the other month. I'll say that I'm glad I did watch it, enjoyed it quite well while I was doing so. I can see why people love it, but I really didn't get caught up in it as much as I'd hoped to. My main issue, I think, is that I never really fell in love with any of the characters. It's a show populated entirely by the characters I don't mind watching when my favorite character isn't around, which makes for pleasant enough viewing, but nothing to get too excited about. I do think the situation could have been helped by having a slightly different mix? The core of Aang and Katara and Sokka, in particular, got pretty dull after awhile and I found myself wishing for someone to spice them up a bit. Toph helped some, Zuko more so, but the only grouping I ever felt MORE! MORE! about was the maybe two episodes we got of serious Katara and Zuko interaction, which I presume they dropped in perfunctorily at the end purely to torment me about what might have been. And Aang and Katara . . . Sorry, Aang, your concerns that you are more like siblings are ENTIRELY FOUNDED. We'll just pretend that nonsense never happened, yes?
I also fear that I've had more than my fill of "the chosen one saves the world" stories lately. It's never been my favorite genre to begin with, and I'm worn out with it, no matter how well done this particular iteration was (and I do think it was very well done).
What I did absolutely looooovvve was the world-building: the culture and complexity and richness and everything about the elements and bending. I like that it was a world built around an idea of balance amongst many forces, rather than a dichotomy, and the thinking about the philosophy and natures of the different elements. And all the clever little everyday things they used bending for : ) Also loved getting a fantasy series in a non-european setting. And the six-legged, chimera animals. And the beautiful artwork. And the way each of the different nations had distinctive and well-developed cultures. And just the fact that the show continually surprised me by being more complex and more sophisticated and less pat than I was expecting.
All in all, I am really looking forward to seeing Avatar: The Legend of Korra. I would love to be able to return to that whole world, and I figure it's a second chance for them to assemble a collection of characters who could really draw me in.
Last but not least: Hellen Mirren wants to be Doctor Who. Make that happen, world.
First up: had to share In Praise of Binge TV Consumption because, lo, they speak great truths ; )
Under the cut, some thoughts about the full runs of Downton Abbey and Avatar: The Last Airbender, both of which I've been meaning to watch forever. Minimal spoilers.
Downton Abbey: It's the bastard love child of Gosford Park and Gossip Girl; of course I was going to adore it. Next season they'll add a pithy voice-over by Kristin Bell and everything will be perfect. It did take me a bit of time to get over the fact that it wasn't entirely like Gosford Park, which is absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time, and to just embrace the melodrama, but round about the bit with Mary and the Turkish diplomat I realized, aahhh, it's gonna be like that then, and from there on things were brilliant in their own way. And how much do I love having a shippy show again? I feel like so many things I've watched recently I couldn't care less about who wants who. Which isn't entirely a bad thing, but there's nothing quite like having a show that you spend half your time watching it yelling at people to kiss. I also enjoy its measure of predictability: so many of the plot twists you can see coming from a mile away (and, truly, I am a gullible, un-fore-thinking, easily-lead thing when it comes to most viewing) and the rest you realize you should have seen coming if you'd just believed that this show was half as soapy as it continually proves itself to be. They even worked in some amnesia. Bless. It does have more than the usual share of British pacing problems: it's both too fast and too slow at the very same time. And if you've got less than ten hours in a season, what the heck are you doing returning to the same beats twenty thousand times? Still, there's not much I won't forgive with enough picky period detail and snappy dialogue and MAGGIE SMITH.
I do find it very strange to watch one of these Upstairs, Downstairs kinds of things and to care more about the aristocrats than the servants. How did that happen?
Anybody else actually enjoy season two more than season one? I'm sure season one was of better quality overall, but I just found the second season so much more engaging and I liked most everybody better, with the exception of Bates and Anna, who got tedious. What I've read of other people's reactions, though, it seems like most people thought it slumped.
I must also touch on Mary, who I expected to be a favorite from all I'd heard and, indeed, I was not disappointed. I did find her streak of petty vindictiveness in season one more than a little trying, but she is a fantastically drawn character and we both got past it, thankfully. She's like getting to watch a Jane Austen hero have to live the role of a Jane Austen heroine, which is very satisfying. Special kudos to the series of scenes in the second episode of season two where Mary goes through that subtle societal bullying of seeing/being shown that her own feelings must be less intense than other people's (other women's) and therefore, implicitly, less worthy of consideration. Also: ALL MY LOVE FOREVER for the treatment of the relationship between Mary and Lavinia. Mary's flat-out refusal to be anything but warm and supportive was something I hardly hoped the show would go for but I am fantastically grateful to actually see happen. And Mary/Matthew pretty much pushes all my shippy buttons, to an extent that I feel a bit pathetic and played by the writers, but frankly I'd rather just fall for it and enjoy the trip : )
Avatar: The Last Airbender: I feel like I've been in the middle of watching Avatar for about forever, but I finally polished it off the other month. I'll say that I'm glad I did watch it, enjoyed it quite well while I was doing so. I can see why people love it, but I really didn't get caught up in it as much as I'd hoped to. My main issue, I think, is that I never really fell in love with any of the characters. It's a show populated entirely by the characters I don't mind watching when my favorite character isn't around, which makes for pleasant enough viewing, but nothing to get too excited about. I do think the situation could have been helped by having a slightly different mix? The core of Aang and Katara and Sokka, in particular, got pretty dull after awhile and I found myself wishing for someone to spice them up a bit. Toph helped some, Zuko more so, but the only grouping I ever felt MORE! MORE! about was the maybe two episodes we got of serious Katara and Zuko interaction, which I presume they dropped in perfunctorily at the end purely to torment me about what might have been. And Aang and Katara . . . Sorry, Aang, your concerns that you are more like siblings are ENTIRELY FOUNDED. We'll just pretend that nonsense never happened, yes?
I also fear that I've had more than my fill of "the chosen one saves the world" stories lately. It's never been my favorite genre to begin with, and I'm worn out with it, no matter how well done this particular iteration was (and I do think it was very well done).
What I did absolutely looooovvve was the world-building: the culture and complexity and richness and everything about the elements and bending. I like that it was a world built around an idea of balance amongst many forces, rather than a dichotomy, and the thinking about the philosophy and natures of the different elements. And all the clever little everyday things they used bending for : ) Also loved getting a fantasy series in a non-european setting. And the six-legged, chimera animals. And the beautiful artwork. And the way each of the different nations had distinctive and well-developed cultures. And just the fact that the show continually surprised me by being more complex and more sophisticated and less pat than I was expecting.
All in all, I am really looking forward to seeing Avatar: The Legend of Korra. I would love to be able to return to that whole world, and I figure it's a second chance for them to assemble a collection of characters who could really draw me in.
Last but not least: Hellen Mirren wants to be Doctor Who. Make that happen, world.