-- courtesy of The Demon (1981)
Showing posts with label Discuss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Discuss. Show all posts
Friday, July 29, 2016
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Friday, December 6, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Discuss...
Downton Abbey: Season 4
(Ep. 403)
MAJOR SPOILERS
Last week I criticized the extraneous week-in-week-out flow of guests at the Abbey, as well as the sexually flat relationship between hyper-empathetic Anna and the needlessly noble Mr. Bates, only to find myself justified/HORRIFIED this week at what Julian Fellowes had in store for the useless/happy couple. Seems he planned all along to take the series' one (legitimately arch) goodhearted soul and have her savagely raped (!!!) by one of those extraneous rotating Downton guests! Yep, it's time for a Maggie Smith glare gallery...
To be fair, I could sense something deeply sinister afoot. What at first appeared to be the usual fast and forced establishing of a new love triangle in the servant's quarters sees Anna and a new guest servant laughing together and playing a raucous game of cards. No one on this series has EVER laughed that hard, or had any sort of emotional reaction at a volume level of anything over a three. At Downton this kind of cheery disposition read as a notably jarring, unnerving moment. Naturally it was undercut seconds later by Mr. Bates scolding his wife for enjoying herself publically. The servants stop upstairs to see this week's musical guest, and Anna feels a headache, saying it's -- wait for it -- likely because of all the laughing earlier! Anna retires downstairs again to find her light flirtation with the guest servant immediately translate into brutal sexual violence. And by the episode's end of course, Anna being Anna, she decides to keep her suffering a secret, so as to save her dear Mr. Bates from possible prison time, and to ensure he can do something deeply noble in several weeks time.
It was a despicably gross moment on its own but I'm sure Fellowes would assure you it was tastefully done, mostly relegated to implication. But when a show had me thrown off by simple LAUGHTER, he should expect fans to be thrown by the sight of smiling Anna being slapped and cowering with blood clotted in her hair. There's something remarkably off in the tone here, not to mention the way the entire subplot seems to be entirely devised to give (regressive) seasonal motivation for Mr. Bates than to offer any kind of greater theme or resolution for Anna. This show's stooped to some pretty lame extremes before (Edith's childhood friend and Matthew's car accident the most glaring) but this might be the most egregious yet.
The closest comparison I have for a show like this is The L Word, which I watched to the bitter (bitter) end, laughing at and wincing with each questionably offensive detour and miscalculation. It's just that The L Word never started on a high point like Downton and never had the stuffy-period-Awards-clout to mask its soapy wheel-spinning. Maggie, we need you again...
American Horror Story: Coven
(Premiere)
Not much to say about this premiere specifically, other than that I'm hoping for more Asylum, less Murder House. More "Name Game," less "Ghost Christmas", y'know what I mean? All I really care about is THAT CAST!!! Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates (bringing back major Misery vibes), Angela Bassett, Frances Conroy (getting a livelier role this time), and Asylum highlights Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe. This premiere isn't exactly spellbinding, it's a lot of setup, but it is visually captivating (the credits this season are the series' best) and promises lots of the trademark batshittery and bloodshed in weeks to come. It handles the camp and chaotic storytelling infinitely better than True Blood, and I can't wait to see that Louisiana scenery chewed up and spit out by Lange and her legion of kickass ladies.
"Come on, Mary Todd Lincoln. I'll buy you a drink."
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Season 9
(Ep: "The Gang Saves the Day")
Maybe hit-or-miss once in a while, this series has sustained surprisingly well into its ninth season, even finding charming ways to survive those dreaded later season "what if"-episodes. Sort of Seinfeld-meets-South Park, this latest episode surrounding a convenience store robbery was one such showcase of just how wonderful and underrated this ensemble is, using small performance ticks to make even the most minor bits reveal the best (which is usually the worst) of their characters. If I had to pick my favorite I'm going with Sweet Dee (Kaitlin Olsen) and one of my personal TV-crushes, Charlie (Charlie Day), whose Up fantasy sequence in this episode was charming, teary-eyed, and oh so... Charlie. I'd marry him at full price and then we'd buy beautiful babies together.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Discuss...
Breaking Bad: Season 5
Like that famed "Heisenberg Blue," it's the best stuff on the streets at the moment, whenever the right cook's in the kitchen. I don't have much to say on this series finale other than it was "pretty good," which is where I'd place the series as a whole. For every ace plot construct and callback, or Walt's multi-layered leap into the amoral abyss, I took issue often with building up other emotional, semi-layered character arcs and then relegating those like Skyler and Jesse to somber, blank-faced emotional palettes episode after episode. Anna Gunn's Emmy reel had to be several looong minutes of THIS face...
Congrats to Gunn though for surviving that odd move from hyper-prude pushover to empowered free-thinker, back down to stifled victim. She did the utmost at keeping some balance whenever the show seemed unwilling to give her much dialogue to play with. Even more congrats to her then for surviving this show's rabid fanbase, who persist to praise the show's layering and dimensions and still refer to her as "Walt's naggy bitch wife." Thankfully she got one of this episode's best moments, finally making it clear to Walt and to his devotee's that we're all sick of it. This isn't about family. It's Walt's ego, always was. Even plot convenience Baby Holly ain't buyin' that shit no more.
In future I won't be one of those mentioning this series alongside the likes of Mad Men, The Wire, The Sopranos, Six Feet Under or Buffy the Vampire Slayer (all of which, to be fair, had their slight ups-and-downs), but I'll gladly credit it as an addictive and singular approach to the art of seasonal television. Vince Gilligan and crew hit the 92% level more often than not, and it's nice to know with Heisenberg closing up shop, they've left their most loyal customer base on a solid high.
Downton Abbey: Season 4 (Ep. 401 & 402)
My expressions everytime we get a scene involving crazy-eyed Cora, ignored Edith, hyper-empathetic Anna, or gratuitously underdeveloped patriarch Robert... or god help us, Mr. Bates...
"There are problems with the Abbey," Maggie Smith noted as some point in these first two episodes of the new season, as if it weren't already obvious to everyone involved. Julian Fellowes knows it. We know it. Maggie's pursed lips seem so desperate to dispel, "It's the godawful writing!"
The problems are none more obvious than in these first new episodes, which sees more inelegant plate-spinning than if servant Mr. Moseley had gotten wicked soused again. (Admittedly dull) Lynchpin heir Matthew Crawley died in a car accident, and Ms. O'Brien has stink-eyed her way into another family. Both are relatively major characters to this series, and yet their disappearances feel epically minor. All to showcase how this series has fallen from frothy ensemble fun to the stuffy, stagnant period fluff you thought it was before you ever watched it.
Underlining everything in bold, then recycling scenes again moments later so we can feel even more numb to the exposition-- which, if the plot is any good to begin with, will definitely be wrapped up by the end of the episode. Torturous, extended plots like Mr. Bates conviction, are instead given full weight over an entire season, and new bland faces are written in and gone by next week... Maybe someone in Downton will spend six episodes helping another random someone just so they can avoid having any personal depth of their own? Maybe Edith has another childhood friend/burn victim? The series seems driven to circle its wagons right back around, again and again, ignoring the endless possibilities within its seemingly endless (and totally capable) cast.
When Mary asks her grandmother, six months after her husband's death, "So...you think I should choose life?" It doesn't feel like the emotional crux needed to get Mary back on the horse, it instead seems like ham-handed filler. Of course your grandmother isn't gonna tell you to kill yourself! (Although Maggie Smith would certainly deliver the hell out that...) And when Anna suggests Mary take a walk and get some air in her purple shawl? Mary, dour as ever, raises an eyebrow, "I'll wear the black one." Just... UGH...
In upcoming weeks, Lady Mary better bet fuck somebody to death again... something! Anything! Hell, I even miss when the show was just about the logistics of a local flower show! Dreamy star of Weekend, Tom Cullen, joins the cast next week so we can assume a new love interest is in the works. OR he'll be gone the following week and Mr. Bates will decide to do something pointlessly noble to avoid having any sexual chemistry with his wife. STAY TUNED!
The Real Housewives of New Jersey: Season 5
-"I don't save my textseses."
-"You don't save your textses?!"
A season more phony and orchestrated than a Posche fashion show. The show deserves the revamp it's getting after dragging its family feud plot out well beyond anyone's interest, including that of the family that's involved. Now that Teresa and Joe Giudice face a whopper of a 39-count indictment, all that's left is to wait for the other Louboutin to drop. Teresa's denial of anything other than Milania Hair Care and Fabellini's, is ironically the only thing that remains compelling. Searching for a glimmer of soul behind that high-pitched screeching and forehead of hair... That's the fun I suppose. She's a curiousity for sure, but then only when she's pushed into a corner. The mundane minutia of Caroline's Hoboken hideaway and Kathy's "can anybody hear me? I'm somebody!"-schtick just aren't cutting it. While at it's core Bravo's basically branded a squabbling group of surgically-mangled strangers forced to have dinner parties together, the New Jersey region always kept the extended family in focus. We knew they never liked each other, but now they know it, too. Maybe that's the difference.
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