The TV Girl

Top 5: Characters I Unexpectedly Fell For, Hard

2011-11-18T15:04:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone.

So, it's been two months. More. Yeah, well, um, okay.

Let's just skip over all the "where have you been" and such.

Kathleen and I were talking the other day about Legend of the Seeker; she's mid-way through S1. I asked if she had met Cara yet, and that got us talking about the Mord Sith, and both of us agreeing that as characters the Mord Sith are kind of sympathetic. Our conversation moved on to Game of Thrones and ended with me exclaiming how Jon Snow and Tryrion Lannister are the heroes of my heart. (Yes, I AM amazed people will be friends with me, you don't need to point that out.) It got me thinking about the characters that I love when either I had no expectation to do so, and maybe that I shouldn't: when intellectually they are not my kind of people, or have serious personality deficiencies, but for some reason I just totally dig them and want what's best for them. (This isn't the same as villains I love for being villainous.)

Omar Little, The Wire
I'm only halfway through The Wire, so maybe I'll change my tune on this, but I get giddy every time Omar shows up. Like really giddy. Yes, Omar robs drug dealers and shoots people who get in his way, but he is so unapologetically honest about what he does and who he is that you just want to respect him. Let's be clear, I do not want to be friends with Omar, I in no way think we should hang out. He scares the ever living shite out of me. He starts whistling and I get the shivers. That said, I greedily soak up every word he drawls out; whether he be rebuking shady lawyers, or explaining the logical conclusion of what-do-I-do-with-my-hands-when-a-gun-is-pointed-in-my-face, or giving McNulty an ethical argument for becoming a state's witness. I would like to hire someone to high-five him.

Caroline, The Vampire Diaries
By all rights I should hate Caroline: she is demanding, overachieving, overbearing, and more often focused on her current boyfriend drama than the mayhem and death surrounding her. Always planning parties that end up as bloodbaths, she never seems to catch on that being a vampire might preclude her from being a typical teenage girl. But I adore Caroline. She is so ridiculous, she's awesome. Initially treated as a third wheel in the Elena/Bonnie friendship in desperate need of being placated, Caroline turned out to be far more interesting than either of her frenemies, both proving herself capable of a competency and loyalty that eludes the epically enamored Elena and demonstrating the necessary sense of humor that dour and self-righteous Bonnie sorely lacks. (And no, I don't blame Jeremy for "cheating" on Bonnie with Anna. Bonnie is the worst.) I mean come on, give the girl a hand, she turned Tyler into not-a-scumbag and still managed to remain student body president.

Tyrion Lannister, Game of Thrones
It isn't all that surprising that I love Tyrion; smart matters to me more than almost anything. Not that ridiculous "wow look at this stupid freak trick that I have, aren't I so much smarter than the rest of you" smart (90% of current police/medical procedurals, I'm talking about you), but actual intelligence. And drinking, wenching, nephew-slapping Tyrion can do no wrong in my eyes. I want him to sit on the Iron Throne, send everyone to help the Night's Watch against the snow-zombies, and put Littlefinger on a leaky ship heading West, because Tyrion is the bestest best there is in Westeros. Okay, but seriously, he's smart, funny, realistic, and brave. Tyrion rocks!

Juliet, Lost
I don't give a flip what other people say, Juliet was one of the very few tolerable characters on this show. I enjoyed Juliet; I liked watching her grow from Ben's disgruntled hostage to Sawyer's soul-mate. I actually got upset when she died, and her coming back in the finale might be enough to get me to plow through the last 10/12 (can't remember) episodes I haven't watched yet. It took her a bit, but she realized Jack was a total waste of space, stood up for herself and made a decision to do what she though was right, did what no one else on the bleepedy-bleeping-bleep of an island seemed interested in and built a real life based on love and respect, which she then willingly sacrificed so that her husband could be spared the imprisonment he'd been subjected to. But (surprisingly) Juliet continued to be a rounded person: even though she had NO reason on any earth to be insecure about hysterical, useless, whiny, self-justifying, (BORING) Kate, Juliet still suffered from the all to human anxiety surrounding seeing your man with his ex. In a huge cast of rather unpleasant people, Juliet was a shiny surprise of someone I truly liked.

Luke Cafferty, Friday Night Lights
I think it's kind of amazing that a show can introduce a new character in the 4th Season, and make that character someone you are so glad you met. In both physicality and personality, Luke looked to be our replacement for the departing Matt Saracen, since after all, what is a show set in Texas without a sweet little mumbling underdog for us to root for? But make no mistake, Luke isn't the poor-man's Matt. I would even venture to say that Luke turned out to be a better person. (Please don't kill me Internet! I love Matt Saracen, I promise I do!) Luke's familial situation was less dire than Matt's, it was in fact rather like a Steinbeck story, therefore he was less emotionally distraught by the unreasonable pressure of his situation than Matt, and as such was less likely to act carelessly. (I swear, I adore Matt Saracen, but boy was kind of an idiot some times.) For the most part, Luke acts with integrity and humility. In his halting, sincere apology to Tami that he lied to her about his address he acknowledges that she was right to insist that he be sent to East Dillon and asks that she forgive him for betraying her trust, showing that he actually understands the underlying ethics of the situation, and all without anger or self-pity. Even though all of his focus and hard work was directed to getting a football scholarship so he could go to college and leave the family farm, he wanted to take responsibility for the child he created with Becky, and there's no reason to think he wouldn't have been a very good father, eventually. I didn't think there was room in my FNL heart for new people, but then there was Luke.

Doctor Who: Someone Said It Better

2011-09-12T19:24:00.002-04:00

(6.10, "The Girl Who Waited")

I cried and cried watching the most recent episode of Doctor Who. I thought it was beautiful. But, I'm not feeling super articulate about it, so I encourage you to click the link below for Kyle Anderson's review on Nerdist. He says what I would say, if I wrote as well as he does. Enjoy!

Kyle Anderson's "The Girl Who Waited" Review

The TV Girl

Sons of Anarchy: Wedding Bells and Bullet Holes

2011-09-11T20:02:00.000-04:00

(4.01“Out”)

The boys are out of prison, Jax with some fun newscars. Otto’s still inside, andhappens to find a razor blade in his boiled egg (I’m not sure how that works,but ok), which he turns on his wrist, but he’s found by a guard. Charming changed in the time they wereaway. Opie is gettingmarried. Jacob Hale is building afancy new sub-division, the type of McMansion development that Charming hasbeen so lacking in. Tara had her baby!!! (Thomas, named after Jax’s deceased brother.) And there is literally a new Sheriff in town. Riding through town on their way to thewelcome home party at the garage, the Sons are stopped by Sheriff Eli Roosevelt(Rockmond Dunbar), instated during the time of incarceration, and unwilling tosee any cuts on the newly paroled riders. After the happy reunions at Teller-Morrow (where Gemma gives Jax a paperbag containing “the one he picked out”) it’s back to business. Even with tidy profits, it’s time torenegotiate SAMCRO’s place in the deal between them, the Irish, and theRussians. Since they have a tail,everyone rolls out: Clay, Jax and Opie to the meeting with everyone elseproviding a distraction for the all too easily manipulated cops. While his employees are being played,the new Sheriff is attending a super secret meeting with an odd looking manwhose renting the top floor of his building: ASUDA Potter. He explains to Roosevelt the design ofthe governments RICO case involving SAMCRO, the Irish and the Russians, whichis progressing nicely due to a highly placed FBI agent within the Russians, andasks for Roosevelt’s cooperation, as Charming will most likely be the site ofthe showdown. All cop, Rooseveltaccepts. At the meet with theRussians, the FBI agent observes Jax agreeing to the “it’s all just business”apology offered for his shiving in prison (hence the new scars), a new deal isstruck and Opie invites them all to the wedding, a lovely pretext for sneakingoff to look at guns. Back toCharming for um, reunion time. Pillow-talk topics include: (for Gemma and Clay) Unser’s declininghealth, Clay’s declining health, and retirement; (for Jax and Tara) gettingmarried, how to raise their boys, that John Teller was a coward not to take hissons out of the life, and how Jax just needs to bide his time and save somemoney so that the can leave SAMCRO and never look back. Now in the infirmary, Otto is handed ascalpel as another prisoner is wheeled in next to him. (This can’t possibly end well.) Also on the list of things that are mostlikely HUGE mistakes, time for Opie and Lyla’s wedding. All the gangs are there (on reservationland, so cuts allowed), and Lyla emerges looking much more like the bachelorparty entertainment than the bride, but after a few (thankfully) short and awkwardvows, Opie and Lyla are pronounced man and wife. During the reception Chibs and Juice sneak off with some ofthe Russians (including an un-miked FBI agent) to look at the guns. Ottounhooks the cuff on his bed. Clayand Jax take Putlova off to fire off a few from a particularly lethal lookinghandgun. In the warehouse, they test the merchandise on the Russians whobrought them their, killing them all. Otto shoves the scalpel through the ear and into the brain of the manstrapped in the next bed, saying, “this is for Jax Teller.” And out in the woods Clay shootsPutlova’s bodyguards before the others hold him down so Jax can stab himrepeatedly in the chest, which is just business after all. The now dead FBI agent is the last bodyto be dumped onto the new Hale development sight.

Well wasn’t that just a hi-we’re-back bitchslap?

I mean that as a compliment.

I admit that I find the details ofwho-has-a-deal-with-who-and-for-what-and-why rather hard to follow on thisshow: it’s always very intricate and usually changes in the time it takes toflip the safety off. Therefore itwas rather helpful to introduce two new law enforcement characters to explainto each other where the criminal enterprises of the Sons stand. Without seeming forced or condescending,we got a quick update to bridge us from the previous seasons, and part of theorganic presentation was the initial strength of our new lawmen. Potter, a smoking, paranoid,motorcycle-riding wisp of a dude, is a bit odd, but in now way quirky or cutesy. He’s like the anti-Stahl: patientobservation and quiet cunning instead of furious proclamations and half-bakedideas. He admits he needsRoosevelt’s help because his team has no credibility in gang warfare, whileRoosevelt has vast experience. He doesn’tstrong-arm what he needs, but there’s no doubt (to him or to us) that he isgoing to get it. One look at hisextensive walls of photos and relationships is enough to make clear that thisman won’t be taken in by any Jax Teller triple/ quadruple/ whatever–crosses. And Roosevelt, what awelcome addition to Charming. He’sthe savvy, upright, committed Sheriff that the town (and the club, becausewithout the law, there’s no such thing as outlaws) so desperately needs in thevoid left behind by David Hale’s untimely death. But as a transplant, and therefore without Hale’s hometownattachment to Charming, Roosevelt stands a better chance of protecting the townbecause of his emotional distance.

But there is another new character, even if he won’t haveany lines. Emily the Roommate cantell you I was genuinely distressed over whether or not Tara was going to havean abortion. (I missed the videothat would have put me out of my misery sooner.) It’s not just that I’m Pro-Life, but also that it would havebeen out of character for Tara. And it would have just upset me to no end to see Tara have a similarlook to the one on Lyla’s face when Opie mentioned expanding their family. Welcome Thomas Teller, I’m so happy tomeet you. Now please make yourselfuseful and help you dad propose to your mom.

Seriously, Jax’s proposal to Tara was so frakking prefect Iwanted to die inside. Not someover-the-top declaration of adoration everlasting, but rather a humbleacknowledgment of the family that they already are, Jax unreservedly openedhimself up to Tara’s rejection by letting it show in his eager expression andhalting sentence just how important her answer is. And as much as he avows that Tara is his savior, brought tohim to take him out of the violence of his life, he came to her having thoughtout her needs, demonstrating to her that he’s asking her to marry him so thathe can be her husband, not with the expectation that she will simply be hiswife. Perfect.

And it was nice to have that perfection for half an episode,because at the end we had to question if it had all been a lie. Where exactly does Jax think he can gowhere the repercussions of this won’t follow him? The merits of eye-for-an-eye justice are debatable. Putlova tried to kill Jax, so withinthe context of their criminal world, Jax killing Putlova makes sense, and couldpossibly be something that everyone could move past. Slaughtering all the Russians is more of the scorched-earthapproach, and given that one of those Russians was an undercover FBI agent, thelandscape surrounding SAMCRO now looks to be as salted as Carthage after Catofinally got his way in the Roman Senate.

Sons of Anarchy, howI have missed you.

The TV Girl

Top 5: Shows I Watch Alone

2011-09-05T17:10:00.002-04:00

On the opposite side of the spectrum from when last we spoke, there are some shows that don't lend themselves well to happy fun let's-get-together-and-watch-that-show parties. It's not that I want to keep certain shows to myself (I do not get the pseudo-hipster attitude of NOT telling people about awesome things) but rather that some shows, usually the ones that I am particularly engaged in or attached to, are not ones that I want to watch with other people. At least the first time that I see an episode. Some shows I have to let be mine first.

Sons of Anarchy
KP visited a couple of weeks ago and we were trying to figure out a show to watch while we were hanging out. There was a quick mutual agreement that SoA, though a favorite of us both, just wasn't something you watched with someone else. Part of the brilliance of SoA is that it reaches inside of you and claws at all the things that make you human. It's visceral, terrifying, and I wouldn't give it up for a second. But, well, it's just a private experience.

Fringe
The truth is that when I started watching this show no one I knew watched it also. Therefore I watched it on my own and by the time other people I knew started watching I was too far ahead to invite them over for new episodes on a Friday night. Now, the idea that there would be other people around when new information trickles in about Peter, or Olivia absorbs her next in a never ending parade of blows, or Walter makes his latest food request just seems too strange to me.

Game of Thrones
I'm too fucking involved in GoT to watch it with anyone else. I rejoice, I cry, I yell, I bite my nails, I stop breathing, sometimes I even get to laugh. I exclaim my love and hate at the screen. I panic for what has happened, what is happening, for what is yet to happen, for everything. I can't say that it is a pretty sight. It would annoy the living bejesus out of someone to be watching this with me, and it would annoy me to try and tone down my reactions. I was once told that a sign of maturity is to recognize and live within your limitations. I consider it the hight of maturity for me to watch GoT alone.

Dexter
Dexter is all about honesty: are we telling the truth or are we lying? Because so much of the show is about exposing the truth you end up as a viewer feeling a bit exposed yourself, and in that it is a little uncomfortable to glance over and see a loved one. Dexter leaves you feeling raw, edgy, kinda giddy and very much in the mood for a bit of solitude to mull over the state of your being.

Legend of the Seeker
I'm fairly sure that if anyone saw just how unabashedly I love this silly little defunct fantasy show that they would disown me in a heartbeat. (Actually, LilBro might have watched a few minutes with me before deciding I was a lunatic and he had better things to do.) They might be right to do so. But, to save both myself and them from the pain of separation, I'll just keep LotS for rainy days when family and friends are out having real lives.

The TV Girl

Top 5: Shows I Enjoy Watching Collectively

2011-09-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

I've been having a really rough week. The kind where you want to cry all the time and you don't know why. Everything that everyone says makes you hurt but not because they're mean or rude, just because, well, because. In that frame of mind I feel this ridiculous need to justify myself, to explain not only why I am NOT ashamed of the amount of TV I watch, but also why I love to write about it.

TV can connect you to other people. It's more than if you have show in common you have an easy conversation topic with another person (You watch Fringe? I watch Fringe! So that thing with Peter, what's that all about?), even though that is amazing for socially awkward people like me, and I have friends with whom I can have lengthy conversations entirely about TV. (Every time KP and I hang out in a group our friend roll their eyes when we start talking TV, knowing if they don't intervene we won't stop.) It's more than that. Recommending a show to a friend lets them get to know you better; you trust them a bit more by granting them access to your opinions and thoughts, when you agree it becomes a bond, when you disagree it become fodder for debate and seeing things in a new light. When you watch a show with someone you create the memory of that act, and when you watch that show later it makes you think of that person. I adore the texts I get from friends that say "I was watching such-and-such today and it made me think of you."

So in the spirit of TV as act of community, these are shows that I prefer to watch with other people. I will watch these shows by myself, but if I have the chance to share them with someone else I will, because it makes already enjoyable shows so much more enjoyable.

Burn Notice
For Sis and LilBro this is like OUR show. I'm not sure how, I'm not sure why, but somehow it became our go-to show to watch when we're all in the same place, usually only a few days at Christmas now that we're all adults and such. And without them I just don't enjoy the show as much. I still like it, just not as much. Sam seems funnier when my brother is there to laugh with me. Michael's schemes seem more outlandish and fun with my sister cheering along too. At this point it almost feels like a betrayal to watch Burn Notice on my own, like I'm cheating myself and my siblings out of the lazy hours, bottles of wine, and random bullshitting conversations entailed in watching.

Battlestar Galactica
I will watch this show anytime, anywhere, with anyone or with no one. While I do not love it any less when flying solo, watching BSG with other people is one of the supreme joys in my life. I can tell when, where, and with whom I watched every episode of this show, and all of that information informs my relationship with Battlestar Galactica. The mini-series was an adventure in Christopher and Calah's apartment, our second semester of grad school, their infant daughter alternatively laughing hysterically or crying depending on how much attention we were paying to the show. The first time I saw "Unfinished Business" I only caught half the dialogue because Jennie, Jason and I were occupying a table at the Knight's of Columbus in Dallas where Tom was tending bar and it was a raucous night. (Of course, the immensity of that episode wasn't lost on us, we understood even without the sound.) The revelation of the final five Cylons has less impact on me than I think it should have because I was watching by myself on Mal in the middle of the night, in my room in the apartment shared with the roommate who frightened me. The finale was extra sad because it was the end of "BSG Viewing Party at the Russells'." Watching BSG together made a little fleet out of me and my loved ones, no matter how far flung we get.

The Office
Awkward humor is so hard for me to take, even though I love many shows that revolve around awkward people doing awkward things that make me feel awkward. Therefore, I'm more likely to turn off an awkward-humor show if I watch by myself. (At least the first time I see an episode. Re-watch isn't as bad, but that necessitates getting through it the first time.) The Office is the best example of that personal phenomenon. If it's just me I get about 2 minutes in and bury my head in my arms and then can't watch anymore. If I'm watching with a group I bury my head in my arms, but the solidarity with others keeps me going, and I'm better off for it. This is a show where without other people it wouldn't have happened and I'd hate if I'd have missed the many wonderful seasons (and don't forget that this show was really wonderful for a long time) of the Dunder-Mifflin bunch because I get going when the going gets uncomfortable.

Doctor Who
A major theme in Doctor Who is the fundamental need for communion. The Doctor always has a companion, things go to complete fuckery when he doesn't. So it makes sense to me that traveling with the Time Lord is just more fun when my blue box (aka my blue couch) is occupied by more than me. Especially since I spend so much time while watching Doctor Who going "wait, what the bleepedy-bleep just happened?!?" It makes me feel less like a crazy person when there is someone to hear those exclamations.
Also, Doctor Who has the tendency to float you along on jaunty adventures and quippy dialogue only to sucker punch you with devastation and tragedy (Davies, I still don't forgive you for Donna); the comfort of a watching companion or two gentles the experience because there is a hand to grab when something exciting is happening but also someone to pass the box of tissues when your heart (inevitably) breaks. Plus, accent decoding is much easier with multiple ears.

The O.C.
This show is so ridiculous and awesome and awesomely ridiculous that it demands to be watched with others. The Cohen-Atwood-Cooper-Roberts blended family is always a joy to watch, but it gets so much better with a friend to simultaneously roll their eyes at Marissa's dumb-ass-ery or get a little equally verklempt at those perfect Ryan and Seth moments. I have happily spent many an afternoon cleaning and organizing to the background of soapy sunshine and emo antics, but the full glory of The O.C. (the touching family moments, the funny declarations of love, the sad sad car accidents) really comes into being when observed in conjunction with good friends. And by good friends I mean people who have an equal lack of shame and love of upper-middle-class drama. Or just people who drink as much as you do.

The TV Girl

Ringer: Show I Will Actually Watch This Fall

2011-09-02T08:45:00.001-04:00

Every Fall, when new shows start and old friends return, I am full of optimism. I believe that I will find time to keep up with dear loves and add the shiny new shows into rotation.

Yeah, um, we know that doesn't happen. But for ever so many reasons I can say that I am genuinely excited about Ringer and that for ever how long it lasts (wow, that's not optimistic) I will be a faithful and diligent little viewer. I mean watch the trailer for this show and tell me for real that you aren't at least interested enough to watch the pilot.

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: The Dragon(s) Reborn!

2011-08-28T21:50:00.000-04:00

“Blood and Fire” 1.10

Wait, no, different ungodly long fantasy book series.

And if anyone tries to make Robert Jordan's desperately-in-need-of-an-editor-with-a-machete books into a TV show I will punch them in the face. For reals.

Please be warned, this is not a coherent review at all. Sorry.

Okay, I am in a really tricky situation. I (finally) watched this episode on Monday. I saved and saved it, knowing it is all we’ll have for a while. But, because I was so busy savoring it I didn’t write any notes about the order and details of events as the show presents them. So Thursday I went to the internets to watch the episode again, and write notes, but all of the places that I borrow videos from had nothing to give me. (Bastards.) Add to this some sort of huge disagreement my computer Mal (yes, named after the one and only Captain Malcolm Reynolds) is having with the wireless router in my apartment and you get my current conundrum: I know what happened in the episode and I have lots of opinions and impressions but I cannot remember enough to write a description along the lines of what I’ve done for the previous episodes. I feel like such a failure. I thought I would actually account for a whole season of a show, but alas, look like I have sabotaged myself, yet again.

So here’s what I’m going to do. It’s what I do for everything else. I’m going to talk about what I liked and what I didn’t, and I’ll give as much background information as I can/deem necessary to be clear, and I’m going to trust that you’ll have already seen this episode, or that you will watch it sometime in the future. I might fail, but I like to announce my failure, not just slip away with a bit of dignity. But I have to do something.

Kind of like Jon. Okay, not at all like Jon, but good transition right? Jon decided that he needed to join Robb, even though deserters from the Night’s Watch get beheaded, but Sam, Grenn and Pyp followed him and convinced him to return. Lord Commander Mormont wasn’t too upset, mostly because he’s decided to assemble the men (Jon included) and go north of the Wall, to find out what’s the what with the zombies and the wildlings, as well as find Benjen Stark, dead or alive. It might have seemed like such a cheep joke to have Sam fall of his horse while pursuing Jon, who turns back to make sure his friend isn’t injured, and as much as it was funny, it wasn’t just a throw away sight gag. Jon needed to badly to see that honor isn’t always the most heroic looking thing, that sometimes what is right is awkward and uncoordinated. Jon and Sam are continually struggling with the difference between expectation and reality. Both believe the best of each other, therefore they in turn ask the other to set aside expectation (self-inflicted or otherwise) and see their own hearts clearly. The fact that Sam does this in a (maybe unintentionally) humorous way is part of what makes him so vital, to Jon and to us. Jon doesn’t want to betray his vow, but because he’s been taught that the world will always see him as an abomination, he can tell himself that desertion is in his nature. He needs to see Sam literally fall to realize that he doesn’t have to, that he can live up to his vow. And what a vow it is. I know we’ve heard it before, but every time the vow of The Brothers of the Nights Watch fills my heart. You could argue that the scene, the three friends gathering in an ever tightening circle around Jon and picking up the lines until they spoke in unison, was overdone, too overtly "dramatic" set in the darkness as it was. Not to me. To me, it was beautiful. It was a roughly elegant example of why Game of Thrones (books and show) have captured me so fully: WORDS MATTER. Those simple sentences (subject, verb, object) spoken from sincere hearts break through Jon's conflicted soul. In case you’ve forgotten, the oath of the Night's Watch is as follows (from Wikipedia):

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.

This is a powerful oath; it is asking men (and in some cases just boys) to completely abnegate the self, to sacrifice their entirety to be the first and last defense against, essentially, evil. It is the fundamental human mandate, to preserve against destruction, and when they agree to this they are agreeing to do so for an entire nation of people. The enormity of their charge radiates out of these forthright declarations, elevating the men who speak them. Gives me shivers.

The Night’s Watch aren’t the only ones on the move. Tyrion will be taking a journey next season as well. Tywin, rather put out that Robb has captured Jaime and that Joffery’s execution of Ned has eliminated any possibility of peace, decides to send Tyrion to King’s Landing to act as Hand of the King while he (Tywin) hunts down the Young Wolf. There’s a catch; Tyrion is to leave Shae behind, but Tyrion decides to ignore/defy his pops, and Shae starts packing her bags. Honestly, if Tyrion has any hope of getting that little sociopath he calls a nephew in line, Shae is a bit of an unnecessary distraction. But, if Tywin hadn’t been such an ass-hat about telling Tyrion not to bring her, Tyrion might have left her behind. Because Tyrion is so good he has a sense of loyalty to his family, he wants to help them, and he wants to use the gifts that he has to create peace in his homeland. Left to think it through on his own, he very likely would have put aside his own desires in order to fully focus on the task at hand. If only Tywin, having finally acknowledged that Tyrion is the smartest of his children and the best qualified to put a leash on Joffery and Cersei, could have restrained his own desire to knock his son down. He doesn’t want Tyrion to mistake (grudging) semi-respect with esteem or, gods forbid, affection. Not only is it just cruel parenting (seems to run in the Lannister family), it is terrible leadership. (I almost wrote “human resource management” there, and then realized that I’m not talking about my job.) If you need someone to do something for you, and do it well, you don’t point out to him/her your disdain. You aren’t going to get what you want/need, and if you’re operating in the context of a civil war, the stakes might be just too high to justify indulging in petty jabs. Anyone wondering if Tywin would have made a better king than Robert should have witnessed that little exchange with his second born son, which provided a very definitive NO.

Luckily, Tywin’s sons are so much better than he is. I have to give away a bias, because I’ve done a shit job of holding it in, and damn it, this is my blog, no one pays me for this, and I can say whatever I want. I started reading these books upon the recommendation of my friend Brandon (he’s kind of my geek guru and he’s way smart and funny) and he gave me a piece of advice when I started: hold back from becoming attached to the characters, because war is a fickle bitch and you don’t know what is going to happen. I NEEDED this advice, because as anyone whose read more than about two words of what I write knows, I think of characters as real people, they take on actuality and reality within in my mind, and I get super attached to them, and way too frakking judge-y judge-y about them. (For example, please see my INTENSE HATERD of Catelyn.) In order to help me, Brandon mentioned to me that Jaime had become one of his favorite characters by the end of Book 4. I was shocked, how could that possibly be? Incest guy who pushed darling Bran out a window? But I trusted Brandon and tried my best (with varying results) to hold off from being me about the characters. And I kept an eye on Jaime. Damn it if Brandon wasn’t all too right, because by the end of Book 4 Jaime was as firmly fixed in my heart as Jon, Arya, and Tyrion. What happens to Jaime (in the books) is utterly astounding, and I’ve tried to explain it to people (both obliquely as to not give too much away as well as by going into detail without concern for spoilers) but in a way I’m still processing it, and that should tell you how stunning Jaime as a character becomes: months and months later, I’m still trying to find the words. (One of the things that keeps me coming back to literature is when I encounter something that knocks me back to the point where I cannot form an argument around it, that frustration and awe makes me happier than almost anything on this earth.) Why am I telling you all this? Because as much as I suck at hiding my biases, I’ve tried harder with Jaime than with other characters on the show, in order to not spit out everything that other people might not know yet and wouldn’t be at all prepared for. This episode (yes, at some point I’m actually going to talk about the TV show) freed me up a bit, because they are preparing us! Jaime and Catelyn’s conversation was brilliant. Without any hesitation he told her that he pushed Bran out the window, with the intent to kill him, but he won’t tell her why, and you get to see that he wants to. He wants to give her the answers she needs, he isn’t trying to torture this woman who is on the edge, who with very little provocation could be goaded into killing him. And he can’t and that doesn’t sit well with him. He isn’t nearly the fool or the monster that everyone assumes that he is: he can’t tell the mother of the rebel leader that the king is a pretender but he recognizes that he owes Catelyn, as a mother and grieving widow, some measure of peace. And it’s so clear to us just how thin the persona he’s taken on has become. When Catelyn approaches him he defaults into flirting with her, to insulting her by sexual advance so that she’ll consider him beneath concern, and when she hits him across the head with a rock the shell literally cracks, he can’t hold onto the defenses he’s used to manipulate people his whole life. We’ve seen the hint in pervious episodes that there is more going on inside him than he lets on (his comment about Theon being like a shark on a mountaintop was a particularly telling moment) but facing all of Catelyn’s rage and sorrow, caught between a desire to be honest and his sense of duty that keeps him silent, was a revelation from which there is no turning back.

Much like there is no turning back from declaring Robb the “King in the North.” I’ll admit it, I choked up a bit.

Funny enough, Dany didn’t choke when she walked into Drogo’s funeral pyre to retrieve her newborn dragons. Yes, live baby dragons were waiting in the eggs she was given as a wedding present. (The blood spell killed Dany’s baby while in the womb and Drogo’s soul still parted from his body. Dany smothered Drogo with a pillow. Hence the funeral pyre.) Am I the only one who isn’t entirely comfortable with Dany having dragons? And as much as Dany is the proper person to whom the dragons would come to, it just makes me a bit nervous, because she isn’t always so stable. I have to give Dany a break, she is very young and her upbringing was, um, unconventional. She isn’t a particularly good judge of character, evidenced by the witch who had no trouble whatsoever convincing Dany to exchange the life of her unborn child for the continued heartbeating of her husband. People tried to warn her that she was making a mistake, and that bitch was super shady looking, but Dany convinced herself that a) she would be treated with a certain degree of respect due to her station and family, and b) that she had really thought through all the contingencies of what she was doing. Leadership is as much strategy as it is veneration, and being given the later by some of her followers she neglected the former. It’s rather difficult to empathize with her when bad things happen because she REFUSES to listen to anyone, to even for a second admit that she might not completely and totally know what she’s doing, but on the other hand it’s understandable why she would behave that way, since she’s never had anyone she could trust and rely on to guide her.

But as Sansa clearly demonstrates, it is possible to have the best guidance in the world and not realize it until it’s too late. She should have pushed Joffery off that bridge. Just shoved that little prick for pure revenge.

We will have to wait awhile to see if she regrets not joining the ranks of kingslayers. It interests me to watch a season finale for a show that has a certain future. HBO picked up a second season of GoT before the 3 episode aired, and frankly after the pilot there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that this show would come to as abrupt and end as some of it’s characters. Instead of either a cliff-hanger, some hugely surprising event that occupies the viewer’s mind creating a desperate need to see how the next season plays out (and maybe thereby stave of cancellation) or a resolution, where the various plots are wrapped up in a way that can both fulfill and thwart our expectations, what we got here was a combination of both: our character know where they have been and are prepared to set out for the next stage of their journey.

The TV Girl

Summer Suggestions: Misfits, Series 1& 2

2011-08-22T16:25:00.000-04:00

Simon -Maybe we're supposed to be super heroes.
Nathan -In what kind of fucked up universe would that be allowed to happen?

We associate summer with freedom, and not just because of American Independence Day. As the weather gets warmer we show more skin, play hooky with less guilt, and can't help but think that a gin and tonic is the perfect ending to a day. And so, similarly, is it with TV. We pack away think-y dramas and sophisticated meta-comedies for fast dialogue, bright locations, and implausible but entertaining stories that leave us feeling like a day in the sun; satisfied and relaxed. (The USA Network has managed to become quite successful catering to this seasonal need, and boy do I love them for that.)

In a way no one is freer than the delightful little juvenile offenders of Misfits. In another way no one is less free than them. But, either way you see it, I am immensely happily spending part of my summer with these crazy kids.

Nathan (Robert Sheehan), Simon (Iwan Rheon), Kelly (Lauren Socha), Alisha (Antonia Thomas) and Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) have been assigned community service at a local community center as punishment for various misdeeds against society. On their first day they, and their probation officer, are struck by lightening in a freak storm, and they being to develop unnatural abilities. Total insanity ensues.

Part of what makes Misfits special, why is stands apart from other teen dramas or super-hero fantasies, is that being endowed with super powers doesn't make them noble or generous. Their newly bestowed gifts, amplifications of their traits and fears, cause nothing but havoc in their lives and damage to those around them: initially lacking the knowledge of how to control things leading to mortal mayhem, when they do figure out some control, they more easily do things they shouldn't be doing in the first place. You know, like, stalking. The easy route (for a show) is the traditional understanding that if one gets superpowers they'll immediately recognize the pull of universal machinations. The difficult route (for a show) is the unconventional but more realistic concept that one would take the easy route, use their powers in a self-indulgent or trivial way, but to still make the viewer cheer for the characters.

Here is where I think I should throw in a bit of a warning. Please don't watch this show if you are easily offended. I mean it. These 5 offenders are offensive: they are drugging, drinking, promiscuous, foul-mouthed and immensely disaffected. (Not to trivialize recent and extremely unpleasant events, but I have no doubt that some commentators in Britain made comparisons between these fictional youths and the all too real rioters of the last weeks.) Objectively, they're kind of shit people, and it is very easy for their antics to grate on moral sensibilities. I just want you to know.

Despite what could be considered the off-putting qualities, Misfits succeeds in drawing in the audience, in bonding the viewer with people we'd maybe rather not know in real life. Some shows just work perfectly, and it's almost impossible to describe why. There is a magical combination of character development, plotting, pace, humor, and plain out and out ridiculousness that works so perfectly, even when it shouldn't. All of that principle actors give fully committed and natural performances. In particular Robert Sheehan plays Nathan with a fearlessness that makes Nathan's audacious behavior equally palatable and painful. Much like the other characters, the viewer knows everything Nathan is saying is completely ridiculous, but damn it, he just makes you want to listen to him. (I promise, you will hide your head in your hands because you can't stop laughing but you're so uncomfortable.) In pitch perfect contrast is Iwan Rheon, who plays Simon with an almost deranged constraint in a style that strongly reminds me of Michael C. Hall. (Honestly, I wish he had played young Dexter in the flashback scenes on Dexter.) While maintaining a very few overarching storylines, the series remains for the most part episodic, and is much stronger for the fact. By introducing and resolving complications for our heroes within each episode, Misfits keeps the quick pace necessary to retain both viewer attention and the suspension of disbelief. I'm all for the calculated unfolding of a grand plot (Firefly), but in this particular genera the slow-build is more susceptible to leaving the viewer bogged down in disconnected threads and unmet expectation (Heroes). Alternately, in taking the long-view regarding character progression, the surprising shifts in personality are organic and rewarding, especially in the case of Alisha. She doesn't end at all where it seems like she will when she begins, but she earns who she becomes in a plausible (within the structure of the created universe) and endearing way.

For all the pro/con arguments to be made about it's favors and faults whether or not you want to watch this show is really a matter of taste. If it's the kind of show that appeals to you then you'll really enjoy it, it's excellent. If this isn't where your inclinations lie you probably won't be seduced by it's merits. For my part, Misfits is crack, and I am it's itching, shaking, fiending bitch.

The TV Girl

(This show was a project with Emily the Roommate. She had seen it all and thought I would like it. I love having friends with good taste! In case you don't have an Emily (or a KP, or a Jennie, or a Calah), the series has been added to Hulu over the last couple months, a new episode every Monday. It should be close to being complete, but I don't know how long the episodes will stay up. Get on this shit.)

Love Letter to a Fictional Character: Rory Williams (Doctor Who)

2011-08-17T17:44:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone!

It would make more sense to explain my week + absence from my blog if I were a more regular blogger (you know, not totally lazy like I am) but I actually have a good excuse this time. I was on vacation, at home in Portland. The cool weather, good food, nice people, familial bonding, and the heartwarming wedding of one of my brothers has made me slightly less of a cranky-pants than normal. I'm sort of in a gushy mood, and thought I might channel that into, well, gushing.

Last night Emily the Roommate and I began our re-watch of Doctor Who S6 P1, in preparation for the second half of the season beginning next weekend. Among everything, there were many cheers and exclamations of affection every time Rory Williams, aka Mr. Amy Pond, appeared on screen. Emily and I share a great love for Rory, because he is WONDERFUL!

When we met Rory it looked like we were getting a rehash of Mickey: the hapless boyfriend whose abandoned for the dashing Doctor. I was afraid we would again be put through the vaguely annoying misery of seeing a basically decent guy get his life torn up because he wasn't up to the task of matching the sparkly adventures of the last Time Lord. I mean really, could the slightly bewildered small-town murse really be the proper partner for bold, brave, and bruised Amy? Hell yes he could be! Rory is not Mickey, any more than Amy is Rose.

When the strange man he met two years earlier during an (almost) world ending event pops out of a cake at his stag night and announces that his fiancee hasn't been kissing only him, Rory doesn't even get mad. He blinks, sputters a bit, but he doesn't start freaking out about how a practical stranger has humiliated him in front of every dude he knows or that the woman he's going to marry might not be faithful. He's puzzled, but he's willing to accept the Doctor's solution that Amy and Rory need a time/space-travel-y date to reconnect, so that she stops thinking she wants to "connect" with the Doctor. Because essentially Rory is a level-headed person. He stays calm, thinks the situation through, gets all the facts he can before making a judgment or taking an action. Emily was remarking to me last night that it's in "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon" that we really get to see that Rory really is the one who keeps his wits about him, who retains his composure in dire circumstances. And we've been led to see this throughout S5 and 6. In "Cold Blood" after Alaya (the hostage) is killed Rory insists that they return her body to her people, even knowing that doing so could put Amy's life in more jeopardy than it already is. He is afraid to loose Amy, but he is rational enough to know that honesty is the only possible way to salvage the situation. When Rory the Roman offers to guard the Pandorica in "The Big Bang" the Doctor tries to dissuade him, to impress upon him that he will be alone for thousands of years and probably loose his mind, but Rory the Roman is having none of it. With a fortitude that can only result from a well-honed perception of the truth, Rory makes the simple choice that if Amy will be safer he will stay with her. So when Amy is kidnapped in "Day of the Moon" we expect nothing less from Rory than his impassioned speech to the Doctor that Amy can always hear him and always knows that he will save her. And damn it if we don't know it too!

Rory loves Amy unendingly. I mean that. He loves her without end. Through death, being erased from time, being reborn as a plastic Centurion, being reborn again through Amy's memory, and ALL OF IT, Rory loves Amy. Even though she kind of forgets about him sometimes, and flirts with the Doctor, and really has trouble expressing her emotions. It doesn't make him some kind of saint or dopey optimist: Rory has moments of insecurity, needs affirmation from his wife, and he's always aware of the seriousness of engaging in the Doctor's shenanigans. His steadfastness takes a toll on him, his mind continually weighed with the reality of sacrifice. In "Day of the Moon" he tells the Doctor that he remembers the years he guarded the Pandorica, but not all the time. He has earned his happiness and appreciates it all the more because of that fact.

In a way unlike any other companion Rory is the mirror of the Doctor. Where the Doctor has this bountiful love for the human being, Rory has a specific love for one woman. Where the Doctor rescues in the nick of time, Rory comforts and repairs in the aftermath. Where the Doctor basks in the unspoken esteem of others (because after all he is rather clever), Rory doesn't expect others to notice what he does. Where the Doctor drops in and out of time and space and lives, Rory is the anchor. The two men reflect each other, presenting different refractions of similar traits. But also, Rory shows how the qualities that others find so appealing and fascinating in the Doctor are possible for a regular person. It in no way diminishes the special-ness of the Doctor to see how his characteristics manifest in a person, but rather Rory simultaneously connects the Doctor even more to humanity and serves as an example to strive for.

And Rory repeatedly watches Laurel and Hardy movies! How frakking precious is that?

Amy is the girl who waited, Rory is the man who endured. And I love him. Seriously, love him.

The TV Girl

Top 5: Couples I Just Don't Care About

2011-08-01T13:05:00.000-04:00

Sorry folk, I have to be true to my nature. A haters gotta hate.

There are TV couples that just bore the every living shite out of me. I don't actively rail against them (most of the time), I just usually go get a snack when they appear. In the worst cases a tiresome couple can lead me to go get a snack permanently.

Buffy and Spike, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
This just never made one damn bit of sense to me. Just didn't. Riley was wrong for Buffy and Angel had a whole new life (and show, and love interest) in LA, so romantic options were limited for our dear slayer, but Spike! I will never stop feeling like the writers/producers wanted to keep Spike (because he was a really good character) but they didn't quite know how so they decided to hook him up with Buffy. On a show that was exceptional for organic character development this storyline seemed immensely forced and contrived, therefore (to me) deeply uninteresting. There were genuinely compelling moments between Spike and Buffy, but those moments didn't add up to a couple you rooted either for or against.

Chuck and Sarah, Chuck
I admit, I kind of stopped watching Chuck because of Chuck and Sarah's relationship. Mostly because the show became ABOUT their relationship, and I just couldn't care less. Sarah is awful and Chuck could do so much better. Sarah is really hot and quite adept at kick-and-kill, but she sleeps with any eligible male partner who crosses her path, and is continually lecturing others to behave in ways she refuses to do so herself. Furthermore, because essentially Chuck asserts his concept of Sarah as her actual character, there is a deep disconnect for the viewer between what we see and what the male lead says, making it really hard to care. By the end of S3 (where I left off watching) Chuck's expeditions into adulthood, his halting but ever hopeful steps towards self-respect, definition of purpose and acceptance of responsibility, became a reductive get-and-keep-the-girl image of maturity, a disappointing case of a show being less than the sum of it's parts by focusing far too heavily on the weakest elements. (And then there's the whole, this-is-my-tax-dollars-at-work issue...)

Ted and the Mother, How I Met Your Mother
I don't know that I've ever cared too much who The Mother actually is, despite that being the title of the show. I really like the failed relationships and lessons learned from those that have occupied Ted on his way to meeting his future wife, and I do want to know her name, but the real draw of the show for me is the friendship between the 5 principle characters. I like the way Marshall, Lily, Barney, Robin and Ted both mock and support each other, how they entertain themselves with silly games, how they know when to correct and when to congratulate, when to apologize and when to ask for an apology. It's wonderful to see friendships on TV that seem natural, sincere, and well-rounded. And at some point, I'll find out who Ted marries, cool with me, but not at all keeping me up at night.

Kate and Neal, White Collar
Another case where the very existence of this couple predicates the premise of the show (Neal escapes from prison, and must be recaptured by the guy who put him there, FBI Special Agent Peter Burke, because Kate dumps him) but aside from acting as a springboard, Neal and Kate have little to no value. The fact that Kate is an absence rather than a presence on the show doesn't help captivate the audience at all, but in the episode where we get to see Kate and Neal fall in love you seriously want to take a nap. Add to this that Alexandra Daddario, the miscast woman who plays Kate, just cannot keep pace with Mathew Bomer quick, clever, but ultimately yearning Neal. Sorry, she's just not a terribly good actress. But she's very pretty. And essentially, that's how you end up feeling about Neal and Kate: they are an aesthetically pleasing couple without much else to recommend them. Luckily everything else on the show is fun and engaging, so it's easy to ignore the ho-hum relationship that started the whole thing.

Deb and Lundy, Dexter
The most interesting thing this couple did was get shot, him fatally. Harsh? Yes. But true. Damaged, stubborn, and relentlessly loving Deb is without a doubt the emotional core of Dexter (and Dexter). A bit hard to take in S1, Deb grows into not a nagging-voice-of-reason to act as an easy foil to Dexter's detached and murderous nature, but rather an emotionally complex and thoughtfully principled companion to and reflection of her brother. A great deal of this development happens within the context of her various romantic relationships, but it was hard to pay attention to all this during S2 because her love interest, FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy (I really like writing out whole title for these dudes) was unfortunately dull. Lundy was a bit too smart by ordinary, too Everyman, not quite the Sherlock Holmes we need to be chasing Dex and to be inspiring such love and loyalty from Deb. Safe, kind, and dedicated to his job, Lundy just didn't have that spark of personality against which Deb shines all the brighter. He was her Riley (the good guy she needed to fill the time while she healed from heartbreak): necessary but expendable.

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: Boom Goes the Dynamite

2011-08-01T03:56:00.000-04:00

(1.09, "Baelor")

And now we return to "Jail Cell Chat" with Ned Stark and Varys, coming to you direct from the Red Keep in King's Landing. This week's topic: peace, honor, and love; how do we prioritize? Ok, ok, I'll stop being silly. Varys does go to visit sadly (and wrongfully!) imprisoned Ned, to tell him that Sansa has plead for his life to be sparred, if he will confess his crimes, a suggestion Ned isn't too keen on. Varys is nothing if not persistent. He tells Ned that when he was still a real boy he was raised by a troupe of actors, and the ultimate lesson was that everyone has a part to play. Ned's part is to serve the realm. According to Varys, even though Robb is marching south with an army (news to Ned), Cersei is worried about Stannis, a merciless battle veteran, therefore Cersei would rather have a tame wolf than a dead one, so in exchange for his confession, Ned will be allowed to take the Black. Ned isn't swayed; Stannis is Robert's true heir and Ned isn't in any mood to pretend otherwise. See, Varys might have been raised an actor, but Ned was raised a soldier, and as such "learned how to die a long time ago." Undaunted, Varys plays his ace; Ned may value his honor more than his own life, but what about Sansa's? At The Twins, Theon is playing target practice with ravens, shooting down all communication trying to escape the Frey compound. After reading Lord Frey's birthday wishes for his grandniece, Robb, Catelyn, Theon and the bannermen talk strategy. The Northerners need to cross the Trident, The Twins is the only crossing, the Frey's have held The Twin for over six hundred years, so either Robb can waste his arms forcing Walder Frey to let him pass or someone can try to go talk to him. Since she's known him from childhood, Catelyn offers to go play let's-make-a-deal with the Late Lord Frey. Inside the dank and crowded hall of Lord Frey (on the other side of the Trident) Catelyn receives a frosty welcome from Lord Walder, who is reminded of the courtesies by his heir and then (one of his many) bastards. Catelyn might have rather just skipped them; she couldn't quite contain her revulsion when Lord Walder slobbered all over her hand. Having performed his socially prescribed assault, Lord Frey dismisses his frighteningly enormous brood. Lord Frey expresses his exasperation to Catelyn that her father didn’t attend the last couple of weddings he had, and isn’t mollified by Catelyn’s insistence that her father has been ill. Lord Frey resents what he perceives as years of the Tullys looking down on the Freys, dismissive of any esteem offered, because what he really needs is marriages to get his progeny out of his house. Lord Frey points out to Catelyn that he while he made vows of alliegence to Lord Tully, he made similar vows to the King, so from one perspective Robb is nothing more than the leader of traitors. But then Lord Walder undercuts any legitimate ideological debate he could be having by asking Catelyn why he should give a shit about any of it. Up north at The Wall, the refuge of unwanted children (hint hint Lord Walder), Mormont asks Jon how long until his hand is healed because he’ll need both hands to wield the sword Mormont is giving him as thanks for saving his life from zombies. Mormont is giving Jon his family’s sword, which his son had the good grace to leave behind when he ran for his life from Westeros, but he’s replaced the bear’s head on the pommel with a wolf’s head. Ignoring Jon’s protests that he cannot take the sword, Mormont warns Jon that “it is a man’s sword, it will take a man to wield it” meaning men don’t have petty bitch-fights with their sworn-Brothers, a message Jon gets clearly, so he offers to apologize to Thorne. The Lord Commander has save Jon the trouble of making peace, he’s sent Thorne to King’s Landing with the zombie hand, to make the situation real for lil’ King Joffery. Sent to fetch the Lord Commander’s supper, Jon goes to the dinning hall, a journey punctuated by pats on the back and good-jobs from his Brothers, and concluding with his friends loudly chanting their desire to see the sword. But because there is some horrible cosmic rule that Jon isn’t allowed to be remotely happy for more than 5 minutes, Jon notices that Sam looks troubled. With absolutely no pressure at all Jon gets Sam to relate the contents of raven Sam read to Maester Aemon earlier: Robb has headed south with his bannermen. Sober again, Jon’s loyalty to his brother comes to the forefront: “I should be with him.” Catelyn returns to the Northerners camp, bringing news of her negotiations. Lord Frey will let them cross the Twins, and will pledge his men to Robb’s cause. In exchange Robb will take one of his son’s as a squire, Arya will marry one of his sons (or maybe grandsons) when they are both of age, and Robb will marry one of his daughters, when the fighting’s done. Robb is apprehensive about the price to be paid for Lord Frey’s assistance, especially hearing that beauty doesn’t seem to be a family trait. Resigned that if he wants the help he will end up with an ugly wife, Robb agrees, since after all, Ned taught him that you make the sacrifice asked of you in order to do what must be done. And the Northerners cross the Trident, on their way to meet the Lannisters. Internally contemplating if he should do the same, Jon is asked by Maester Aemon to help feed the ravens, in order to give Jon something to occupy him while Maester Aemon asks him some personal questions. Jon has no response for the Maester’s question of why the men of the Night’s Watch take no wives and father no children, but it is simply so that they will not love, for “love is the death of duty.” Maester Aemon tells Jon that each man will be tested in his life, asked to choose between they two demands upon his heart, and that Jon’s conflicted soul is not special. Before Jon can get too far into his martyrdom, for he might be a bastard but it is his father in jail and his brother in peril, Maester Aemon relates his own family history: his nephew, grandnephew and great grand nephew all killed so that Robert might be king. Dany isn’t the last dragon; her grandfather’s brother has been assigned to Castle Black, and remained there, despite the destruction of his house. Refraining from giving Jon his opinion on what he should do, he simply tells Jon that he must make a choice and he must live with the consequences for the rest of his life. Across the Narrow Sea, Khal Drogo is suffering the consequences of his wound, and in a state of delirium, falls from his horse. Trying to ward of the death predictions of Angry-Blood-Rider, Dany commands that they make camp and the healing woman be brought to her. At the Lannister camp it’s dinnertime. Tyrion sits down to the information that the Northerners are only a day away and that he will be in the vanguard leading his tribesmen. Tyrion argues that the wild men might not be the best choice to represent the army, as they are rather prone to infighting and mindless destruction, but Tywin replies that the behavior of soldiers is the responsibility of their commander. Giving it another go, Tyrion asserts that his father can find a way to kill him that wouldn’t hurt the Lannister cause, bait to which Tywin will not rise. So Tyrion rises, from the table, having lost his appetite. In his tent he finds Bronn and a lovely young woman, a camp follower Bronn commandeered from a few tents down. Tyrion makes the pretty woman, who gives the name Shae, an offer: to be his companion in exchange for protection and money. Shae, apparently a smart one, agrees. Enthusiastically. After all, it could be Tyrion’s last night on earth. It looks like it will be Drogo’s last night on earth. When Jorah sees him he begs Dany to abandon her husband and ride with him towards the nearest city so they can grab a boat. Dany assures Jorah that she won’t let Drogo die, and it’s irrelevant since she is carrying his heir. Jorah corrects her cultural ignorance, informing her that Dothraki honor strength, and when Drogo dies there will be fighting, the winner will be Khal, and he will kill Dany’s baby. Angry-Blood-Rider and the healing woman arrive, neither too happy about Drogo’s state. Angry-Blood-Rider removes himself, with some helpful encouragement from Jorah, instead of killing Dany and the healing woman. At Dany’s suggestion, Jorah leaves to put his armor on. Dany commands the healing woman to save Drogo. The healing woman offers Dany a spell, blood magic, but there will be a price for “only death pays for life.” Dany assumes it will be her life, but is relieved when the witch asks for Drogo’s horse. The witch banishes everyone from the tent, slaughters the horse on top of Drogo, the blood of which splatters on Dany as well, and then tells Dany to leave, that no one may enter once she starts singing. Outside, Angry-Blood-Rider pushes Dany to the ground and tries to get past Jorah to enter the tent. Fully armed and a bit pissed, Jorah dispatches Angry-Blood-Rider without too much trouble. Rushing to Dany’s side, he discovers that Dany has gone into labor, but none of the Dothraki women will help her. Considering his only option the witch, whose been overheard to say she has helped deliver babies, Jorah gathers Dany into his arms and takes her into the tent. (The tent when a witch is trying to prevent her almost dead husband from dying by using blood magic.) In Tyrion’s tent, he and Shae are playing a game of fire-chicken, and he’s loosing. Tyrion wants to play a game that he’s good at, so it’s Truth-or-Drink-with-Tyrion: he will make a statement about Bronn (and then Shae) and if it’s true, they must drink. In round Bronn the details of his sordid life come to light: his mother, as well as his father, beat him; the first person he killed was a woman and he was less than 12; typical sellsword type stuff. Shae insists that Tyrion is wrong that her father ran out on her family and that her mother was also a whore. Turning the tables, Bronn announces that Tyrion used to be married, and Shae insists on the story. At 16 Tyrion was riding with Jaime and they came upon a girl being chased by men intending to rape her. Jaime pursued the men, Tyrion took the girl, Tysha, to an inn, fed her, and they ended up in bed together. He fell in love with her, and the next day they married. Two weeks later Tywin found out, had Jaime admit to Tyrion that Tysha was a whore and he’d arranged the whole scenario so that Tyrion would no longer be a virgin. To punish Tyrion, Tywin gave Tysha to each of his guards and made Tyrion watch. Shae is unmoved by Tyrion’s revelation, claiming he should have known she was a whore, as no woman whose almost been raped then willingly has sex a couple hours later, and Tyrion’s defense that he was young, stupid and in love sways her not at all, for in her opinion he is still young and stupid. At dawn Bronn awakens Tryion with news that he’s missing the war: Robb’s army marched through the night and will be there within the hour. Armed, Tyrion assembles his tribesmen, preparing them for battle by telling them that this will be the beginning of their dominion over the Vale. His speech maybe makes them a bit too eager; in their haste the tribesmen flood over Tryion and one of them hits him in the face with a hammer, knocking him out cold. Tyrion awakes to find the battle over, won by the Lannisters, but only against 2,000 of Robb’s 20,000 men, and Robb not among them. Of on a hill Catelyn waits expectantly, finally letting out a sigh of relief when rider emerge from the woods, led by Robb. The Northerners have been victorious, and captured Jaime Lannister. Catelyn demands the return of her daughters, but Jaime isn’t obliging. Theon strongly suggest they kill Jaime, but Robb sees more value in his life than his death. Jaime offers Robb a chance to end the war: their single combat. Robb isn’t fooled, and tells Jaime to his face that single combat between them would inevitably end in Jaime’s favor. So, it’s to irons and a cell for “the pretty man.” Watching his prisoner led away, Robb is overcome by the 2,000 men this victory cost him. Undaunted, he reminds his men that their single victory has neither freed Ned, nor return Sansa and Arya, and certainly has not repelled those who’ve subjugated the North. Unflinching, Robb reminds his men that “this war is far from over.” Arya does not flinch when catching a pigeon on the streets of King’s Landing, but the baker she tries to bargain with isn’t interested in her prize. Noticing all the people heading in the same direction, Arya asks a passing boy what’s going on. He gleefully informs her that the Hand of the King is being taken to the Sept of Baelor. Arya hurries to the square and climb the statue of Baelor the Blessed, just in time to see her father led out to the very crowded platform. King, Queen, Council, Sansa, King’s Guard and all have gathered to hear Ned’s confession, but he only sees Arya, and as he passes Yoren in the crowd, whispers to him “Baelor,” all he can do to attempt to protect his younger daughter. In front of the crowd, with a reassuring nod from Sansa, Ned “confesses” that though Robert was his friend, he attempted to kill Joffery and take the crown for himself. He assents that Joffery is the rightful king and that he is sorry for his crime. Pleased, Joffery tells the mob that while Cersei and Sansa have argued for Ned to be punished in exile on the Wall, that was their soft women-hearts talking, and that as long as he is king, treason shall be punished. Joffery commands Ser Illyan to behead Lord Stark. Just as she’s about to leap to her father’s defense, Yoren grabs Arya, yelling at her not to look. Despite the pandemonium around him, the screams of Sansa, the avid protests of Cersei and Varys, the unsheathing of his own broadsword, the world goes quiet around Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell. With a last look toward the statue of Baelor, a last fumbling hope that her absence there might mean that at least one of his daughters has been spared the sight of his death and be saved from further torment at the hands of the Lannisters, Ned puts down his head. Ice falls, the crows fly.

And I cried.

Like a baby.

Love versus duty. This has been (one of) the central debate(s) our poor little characters have been having all along. These forces have been pulling at each other, and in some cases weakening the fabric of society, since we entered Westeros, but upon this theme this episode was especially beautiful. Each storyline explored a different aspect of this existential difficulty in such a way that the episode itself served to present a unified human person. Taken individually the particular struggles of the individual players deepened our understanding of them and propelled along their plotlines, exactly what an episode of a show should do. Taken collectively, we saw the full range of experience that every person has throughout his/her life. For most of us, the choice between love and duty, between the people and passions that enrich our soul and the (often sacrificial) actions towards a good higher than ourselves, will seldom be a matter of broad societal import, of life and death. Our lives, generally of less noticeable import, are made up of smaller quandaries, but we find in here a reflection of them all the same. In those times that we are asked by a friend for an honest opinion, when we have to prioritize our time to fit in both work and play, when we must balance the needs of loved ones for time and attention with our desire for success in our purpose within the greater world, in the moments that we recognize that the price for what is right might be paid by one we care for, there will be occasions when we are overwhelmed by seeming isolation in our plight (like Jon), when we cannot let the world see how terribly we have failed (like Jaime), when we continually make the wrong choice (like Catelyn), when believe we understand the full impact of our choices (like Dany), when we do understand that no matter the outcome our struggle is ongoing (like Robb), when we comprehend just how circumscribed our own lives, and therefore our choices, are (like Tyrion), and when there is no choice that will bring about a good outcome (like Ned). The course of our lives will be shaped by those choices, as the course of Westeros is shaped.

The TV Girl

Top 5: Places I Would Rather Work

2011-07-26T19:59:00.001-04:00

I'm stuck at work, after hours, unpaid, and man I'm pissed about it.

I'm in the midst of a (perpetual) career crisis. For the stupidest reasons anyone has ever done anything I left grad school without finishing my degree, and since then I've either been unemployed or bouncing around from boring job to boring job. People ask me all the time "what do you want to do with your life?" Mostly I say normal things, but maybe I like my jobs like I like me men: fictional. The jobs people have on TV, even if they are completely normal jobs, just look more fun. The companies seem more chill, the co-worker interaction seems limited, and based on the living situations of most TV characters wages seem exponentially higher. So, I will be sending my resume to:

Fringe Division, FBI (Fringe)
Yes, I might get shot. Or killed so that a shape-shifter can impersonate me. Or given a really bad haircut. But between the hilarity of Walter's lack of social boundaries and Olivia's inability to overcome them, the office environment would be well worth the risk. Plus, they never look bored. And there is a lax drug policy.

Unnamed Law Firm (Suits)
There are a couple reasons I think I could jive with Harvey and Mike's Manhattan firm. First, apparently, if you work here, you can be extremely rude to new hires. As a receptionist, paralegal, or personal assistant, you can ignore, taunt, or lie to potential and new employees, all with the encouragement of your superiors. Usually such behavior gets me in quite a bit of trouble (stupid woman who used to work at UD Advancement, I still hate you), but give me the blessing to be a bitch and I'll be the best damn employee you've ever seen. Plus, if your smart and hardworking you can move from the mail room to the senior partnership. Isn't everyone looking for a company that hires from within?

Seattle Police Department (The Killing)
This place might be my dream job. I hate wearing makeup, so Linden and I would be total BFFs. I look excellent in a hoodie, so if I needed a quick change during the day Holder would have my back. I love the rain and am not afraid to be outside in it, so I wouldn't be bothered by the fact that it always begins raining whenever anyone walks outside. I'm already an expert at mental/emotionally damaging people by not saying what I'm thinking, so no one would have to explain that procedure to me. And, since it doesn't appear that the hiring process includes any screening for general competence or analytical aptitude, my complete lack of experience wouldn't hold me back. I'll be a detective before you know it.

Hollis College (Pretty Little Liars)
All you need to land a teaching position in the English Department at Hollis is to ASK, so I think with my almost completed Master's degree in English Literature I could be the Chairwoman of the department, right off the bat. Not only do you need no more formal education than a BA, you will be furnished with a HUGE corner office with plenty of sunlight, all to your self. And since you won't be bothered with any of that pesky teaching business, you know like lesson planning, grading, or ever standing up in front of a room of students, you'll have all the time in the world to continue you illicit, and illegal, relationship. Why exactly did my adviser spend all that time telling me how slim my chances of earning a tenure teaching position would be? Academia is obviously where the plentiful and advantageous jobs are.

Unnamed Publishing Company (Castle)
I could totally dig being an editor. Getting to read all day and then tell people how to make their writing better, I would want to work all the time. And if I just happened to be at a publisher where I could marry, divorce, date, and then break up with my super hot star writer, that would be a vast improvement over my current employer, where I get fussed at if I don't cover my small and tasteful tattoos all day. Books, brutal honesty and barely-there moral code, that's my kind of place.

The TV Girl

Rapid Rant: Netflix, If You Had a Face I Would Punch It!

2011-07-13T15:56:00.000-04:00

I know that I'm not the only angry person out there!

Let me say this off the bat: I LOVE NETFLIX!

I do. I have been a loyal customer for over 6 years. I look forward to that red envelope in my mail. I arrange my queue like it's a game of chess, but I'm always the winner. Watch Instantly has been a beautiful double-edged sword in my life, both cutting through the terrible hours of sleeplessness that wreck my life but also allowing me almost endless distraction when I should be living up to my potential. I've never had a single customer service problem with them; any mistakes or complaints were addressed immediately.

Apparently, years of love and comfort lulled me into a false sense of security, because when I (along with every other customer) got the email yesterday informing me that on September 1st I would be charged separately for the different services under my plan, my blood pressure shot through the roof. Shocked doesn't even begin to describe it. Somehow, someone calculated that I should be charged 7.99 for the streaming service and 7.99 for the one-DVD-at-a-time service. This math results in a 5.00 increase to my account.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?!?!?!?!?

It's not just that 5.00 is a big leap in one month (it's a 1/3 increase in price, relatively, it's substantial) and it isn't the company's fault that my finances are such that such an increase is actually noticeable in my budget (part time job, oh how I need thee!). What fries my zucchini is that these two services, which both have their own benefits and drawbacks are being valued the exact same, implying that if you want to keep your cost lower you should just pick one.

With streaming you have 24 hour access but there are only a limited number of titles available. With physical discs in the mail there is greater selection, but it takes at least 3 days to receive, watch and return a disc. These are not equivalent services!!! They work together: physical discs allowing me to watch (pretty much) whatever I want, streaming filling in the days when discs are on route to or from the distribution center. So by pricing them equally, Netflix is trying to tell me there will be no repercussions for my life (and by life, I mean rut) to make a simple either/or decision. This is not at all the case, and whomever decided to think it is couldn't be more wrong.

Now, my soon-to-be-roommate, instead of getting crazy irate (to the point that said anger lasts more than 24 hours), came up with a plan. She will subscribe to the streaming service, since her account is already synced with her Wii and TV, and I will upgrade to a 2-discs-at-a-time service. That way we'll both have Watch Instantly and a physical disc. Look at her brilliance! We are both sacrificing (some) privacy for (some) savings, and I think we'll be able to make the situation really workable.

But, I reaming frustrated and disappointed in Netflix. Poorly done guys.

The TV Girl

Did That Really Happen: Torchwood Promotion

2011-07-08T10:32:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I met a friend in Georgetown for lunch. It was the best way to spend my day off: catching up with someone I hadn't seen in over 2 years, talking about books, her kids, and how gift cards are little ticking time bombs of stress. So, because the weather was warm but otherwise perfect we decided to get coffee and walk around the ridiculously clean streets of I-Can't-Afford-to-Live-There-Town.

All of a sudden my friend breaks off in mid sentence: "and what is this?" I look up and tried to get my brain to process what I was seeing. Coming towards us on the sidewalk is a group of people carrying signs (not an odd sight in DC by any means, protesting is a full time job for some). What was terribly confusing was that the group were all wearing white face masks with black lines for eyes and mouth, some had teardrops. Not what you want to see on a brightly lit street early on a Thursday afternoon.

As we approached each other the signs became easier to read: "Save Us," "Miracle Day." I chuckled, and my friend and I pointed out to each other the people who were texting or had tissues stuck under their chins. After we'd passes the group she laughs:

-So Andrea, that must be about a TV show.

-It is. It's for a show called Torchwood. Their new season starts Friday. I wasn't planning on watching. It ripped my heart out, stomped on it and then set it on fire at the end of last season.

-Ah, the trust is broken.

-Very much so. Plus, I just don't know what to do with a promotion like that. I mean, WTF?

-No idea. Wait, what was I saying before?

I would like to say that Torchwood is a better show than to stoop to off the wall street demonstrations to get people to watch. It is. But, on the other hand, yesterday was the most interested I've been in this new season. More than just willfully ignoring that this season is going to happen, I just haven't cared. I love Jack and Gwen, but between a whole new set of character to adjust to, the move to America, and the day-of-no-death premise, the combination of circumstances didn't do much for me.

But, I'm almost intrigued enough to see what they've come up with that this is the way they advertise it:

Images from The Washington Post

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: And Then There Were Zombies

2011-07-07T23:37:00.000-04:00

(1.08, “The Pointy End”)

Arresting Ned Stark didn’t go maybe as smoothly as Cersei envisioned, evidenced by the ringing sound of swords throughout the Red Keep. As yet unaware of danger, Syrio and Arya are having morning practice, the lesson of the day is true seeing. According to Syrio, looking is not seeing, and the mouth will lie, but the eyes won’t. Sansa’s Septa doesn’t need the lesson, one look at the Lannister men coming towards them and she sends Sansa to hide in her room. Syrio too suspects that the Lannister men, and the Knight of the King’s Guard, don’t mean Arya any kindness, and he tries to send her away. Underestimating Syrio as an opponent, the thugs attack, and Arya stands shocked as Syrio beats down three armored knight with only a WOODEN PRACTICE SWORD! As the King’s Guard decides to take matters into his own hands, Syrio commands Arya to run, and she finally listens. Sansa too is running, but she runs into Sandor Clegane, sent by the Queen to retrieve Joffery’s fiancée. Arya stumbles into the carnage in the yard, and finding her trunk spilled open, searches for Needle, which she finds just in time to defend herself from a stable boy who wants to take her to the Queen. Arya kills the boy, and runs. In the shockingly silent dark of the dungeons, Ned gets a visitor. Varys brings water, news and rebukes for Ned. Alleviating Ned’s most pressing fear, Varys tells him that Sansa has been captured, Arya has escaped, but neither are confirmed dead, unlike ALL of rest of his household. Just to rub salt in the wound, Varys asks Ned what madness possessed him to inform Cersei he’s figured out who her baby-daddy was, and because Ned is a self-destructively honorable man, he replies “the madness of mercy that she might save her children.” Varys’ response is half pity/half rebuke, “your mercy killed the king.” Varys then proceeds to inform Ned that he doesn’t even have the bargaining chip that he thought he did: Catelyn no longer holds Tryion. (But he was the wrong brother to use to cow Cersei anyway.) Faced with little hope, Ned demands that Varys kill him and be done with it, but Varys chides him that it is not his day to die. Confused, Ned asks Varys whom he serves, and Varys surprises him by responding, “the realm my lord, someone must.” Far away on the Wall, the rangers have found the body to which the hand Ghost found used to belong; the Brothers gather around a pallet with the two dead rangers, the only sign of the party that went out with Benjen all those months ago. The brilliant Sam notices that the bodies don’t smell, quite an oddity. Jon suggests they burn the bodies, but Lord Commander wants Maester Aemon to have a look at the non-stinky dead first. The Lord Commander is alerted to a raven from King’s Landing. Jon, as his steward, follows him, and is instructed to pour a drink for Mormont and one for himself. Mormont shares the letter with Jon, informing them of Ned’s arrest for treason. Agitated, Jon insists that it can’t be true; his father would never commit treason, and worries that there is no news of his sisters. Aware of Jon’s temper, the Lord Commander admonishes Jon not to do anything stupid. If only Sansa had someone to give her the same advice, because the poor girl is getting bullied by the Queen and Council. According to the always truthful Cersei, Pycelle, Varys and Littlefinger, Sansa isn’t fit to be Joffery’s queen, since she is the daughter of a traitor. Sansa applies all of her logic to the problem, telling them that she loves Joffery and she will be a good queen just like Cersei. Watching Sansa fold like a cheep tunic, Cersei gets around to her point, assuring Sansa that if she writes a letter to Robb and one to Catelyn telling them to come to King’s Landing and pledge fealty then it will prove that she will be a loyal and true wife. Sansa’s letter doesn’t go over so well in Winterfell; Robb crumples it up, declares that he will go to King’s Landing, and that Maester Luwin should call the bannermen. Theon looks like he’s going to choke with glee, the northerners are marching to war. Despite his ire, Robb’s hand is shaking, he must be afraid, which Theon tells him is a good thing. (Lots of advice given out in this episode.) A host of crows erupts from Winterfell, the call to those loyal to the Starks. In the Eyrie Catelyn isn’t just furious over the news in Sansa’s letter, she’s furious that Lysa kept the letter from her. She was feeding Robin, she was busy. Catelyn begs her sister to call the Knights of the Vale to aid Robb, Lysa flatly refuses: the Knights of the Vale are staying in the Vale. Where they are very much needed, as Bronn and Tyrion find out when they’re attacked by one of the mountain tribes on their way out of the Vale. As quick as you can say, “I like living and I’m WAY smarter than you” Tyrion offers the hill men weapons in exchange for their protection, and with those weapons he will give them the Vale. He offers an alliance, for they have a common enemy, and Tyrion has decided it is time for new Lords of the Vale. It might’ve be time for a new Master at Arms on the Wall. Ser Alliser just can’t resist the opportunity to taunt Jon with Ned’s arrest, and predictably, Jon attacks him. The Lord Commander puts a stop to things, and Pyp and Grenn manage to get a hold of Jon, who’s confined to his quarters. Ghost doesn’t appreciate the bed rest, and refuses to stop prowling at the door, so Jon goes investigating. Calling for the Lord Commander but receiving no answer, Jon finds in his chamber not Mormont, but the dead ranger brought in earlier. And the dude is walking around. And trying to kill. Jon stabs him, and thinks he’s dead, Mormont comes out with a lamp to see what all the commotion is, but swords just aren’t doing the trick, because zombie-boy is undeterred. Jon grabs the lamp from Mormont, burning his hand, and throws it at his former Brother, burning him dead-er and saving the Lord Commander. (Yay Jon!) Across the sea, the Dothraki are on the rampage, sacking a town of the sheep-people, in order to fund Dany’s campaign for Westeros. She objects to the rape of the captive women, and not as Jorah suggests because she has a gentle heart. Dany commands Jorah to stop the Dothraki from raping the women, as she is taking them under her protection. Highly displeased, the warrior takes the matter up before Drogo, whose willing to give Dany what she wants. Rape-boy then decides to make an even better decision, and spits on Drogo for being led around by his foreign wife. Not one to take insult lightly, after allowing his opponent a courtesy stab, Drogo kills the every living bejesus out of him; he literally rips his tongue out from his throat. Worried for her husband, Dany insists that he accept the help of a healing woman, one of the woman Dany has protected, and like a good husband, he agrees to make her feel better. Isn’t that nice? Healer may be needed back in Winterfell. The bannermen are a bit more contentious than Robb had anticipated, Greatjon Umber in particular. Not impressed with Robb’s battle plan, since apparently Umbers don’t follow Glovers in the race of who gets the honor of dying first, aka, who gets to lead the vanguard. Threatening to take his men home with him, Greatjon brandishes his knife and Grey Wind jumps across the table and bites a couple of Greatjon’s fingers off. Unfazed by his pet attacking a man he needs to help him fight a war, Robb sternly informs Umber that it’s rather offensive to bare your steel to your lord, and should Greatjon decide to go home, when he’s finished with Joffery, Robb will return and rout Greatjon for an oathbreaker. Impressed that Robb isn’t as green as he thought he was, Greatjon decides to see the humor in the situation, and everyone laughs and goes back to eating. Later, Robb goes to Bran’s room to say goodbye. Bran asks to go, but Robb charges him that there must always be a Stark in Winterfell, and that is his duty now. (They grow up so fast.) After Robb leaves, Rickon sneaks into Bran’s room, dodging Robb. Bran encourages Rickon to say goodbye to Robb, but Rickon is as brilliantly stubborn as only small children can be, and refuses, on the ground that none of his family that he’s said goodbye to has come back. Baby needs a hug and there’s no one left to give it to him. (My heart, it breaks.) In the morning, Bran prays in the Godswood for the safety of his family, and Osha, who observes the Old Ways too, teaches Bran to listen to the Gods’ response, the wind. Full of dire prediction, Osha tells Bran that Robb is marching the wrong way; the real threat is to the north. Then there is obligatory male full frontal nudity. Up at the Wall, they’re having a bonfire of the zombies, and Sam, whose been doing some research in the library, informs his compatriots that their Brother’s rose because they were touched by the White Walkers, ancient creatures who sleep under the ice for thousands of years. His lesson causes everyone to look at the Wall, and maybe pee their pants a bit. Catelyn arrives at Robb’s camp, where the mens-folk are discussing Jaime’s harassment of the River Lords (Catelyn’s family). Mommy dearest wants a word with her first born, and those words are as helpful as ever. All Catelyn has to add is, “don’t loose or we are all going to die.” (Does Robb consider trading one parent for another as hostage to Cersei? Just a thought.) On the other side of the battle lines, Tyrion and his escort have arrived at Lannister base camp. His father, not really impressed. Which is ridiculous, because Tyrion has brought him some fierce fighters to help squash the Starks, and thought Tywin is perfectly willing to immediately take full advantage of the new recruits to the Lannister cause, with promises of even more reward than Tyrion has already promised, he doesn’t bother to thank Tyrion. In fact, Tywin gladly sends Tyrion into battle as the mountain mens’ collateral. Tyrion better get ready, the Northmen are planning away. Pouring over the map, Robb and the bannermen debate who to attack, Tywin or Jaime, in face of the serious problem that either way they need the permission of Lord Frey to cross the river at the Twins. The discussion is cut short, because a Lannister scout has been caught. After asking for what information he’s gleaned, which as it turns out isn’t entirely accurate; Robb decides to send the man back to his lord, much to the chagrin of the assembly in his tent. The scout runs off with bad intel, the army prepares to head for Jaime. Down in King’s Landing, King Joffery is handing out promotions: first to Janos Slynt the captain of the City Watch, and second to his grandfather Tywin, the new Hand of the King. Demotions are apparently in order too; Cersei calls up Ser Barristan and removes him as a Knight of the King’s Guard, offering him a nice retirement package. He decline, throws his sword in front of Joffery and leaves the hall. Sansa steps forward to beg for mercy for her father. Pleading with Joffery that a) Ned was lied to by Robert’s brothers and b) the only reason he said Joffery wasn’t king was that he was not in his right mind because his injury was being treat with milk of the poppy, she wins Joffery over, and he agrees to spare Ned if he will bend the knee.

The internet and I had a HUGE disagreement as to whether I would be allowed to watch this whole episode, in its entirety, uninterrupted. It turned out to be a draw, but I must say, the altercation messed with my GoT mojo. Stupid internet.

I didn’t mean that. Internet, I love you.

Okay, back to the show!

This was the first episode in which I really noticed the condensation of time. In everyone’s defense, there was a huge amount of story to get through. In places, it was distracting from all the glorious story-ness. For instance, as visually appealing as the ravens leaving Winterfell was, this is a universe without printers, those messages had to be handwritten, it’s unlikely that Robb could just snap his fingers and his orders are ready to go out. Similarly, assembling the bannermen, marching south, preparing for a war, all that would take time, time that it didn’t feel like was passing for the rest of the characters/places. What seemed to be a day or two on the Wall was what would have had to be months in the south. I suppose, in the end, an occasional break in my suspension of disbelief is worth keeping the brisk pace that this show needs.

She’s an idiot, but in a way I love Sansa. Let me be very clear, as the kind of person I would want to model my life after, I don’t like Sansa; she’s selfish, unkind, whinny, and stupid. She doesn’t have the good sense God gave a grapefruit. I pretty much want to punch her in the face. But, her behavior in response to the other characters is amazing. Sansa is completely guileless; she says exactly what she means/wants without any idea that other people will want to use her motivations/desires to manipulate her. It doesn’t even cross her mind that Cersei is trying to use her, that her future mother-in-law has plans that might not be in Sansa’s best interest. Because she hides nothing from others, Sansa can’t see that Cersei’s I-understand-and-sympathize smile is really really creepy. In a way, you can’t feel sorry for her that everyone plays her like a fiddle, because it isn’t that she’s innocent; she doesn’t have a giving heart and kindness towards mankind. Furthermore, the irony, that she can never hear, in what she says provides some of the only levity on the show. It’s a testament to what wonderful liars everyone is that Varys, Littlefinger and Cersei didn’t burst out laughing when Sansa said she wants to be queen just like Cersei, the woman whose brother father her children and then may or may not have arranged for her husband’s murder. Between the murders, the betrayals, and the univocally bad decisions, it’s nice to have an occasional chuckle, even if it is at the expense of an appallingly obtuse tween.

On the not funny side, ZOMBIES! Nothing can make all the royal jockeying and cloak-and-dagger plotting look like so much play yard bullying as the dead coming back to life and only being vulnerable to fire. That is some bullshit, that people are getting thrown in jail and fingers bitten off over the issue of who did or did not diddle Cersei while a bunch of cold, understaffed, and in some cases morally suspect guys are fending off attacks by the undead. But, it’s a safe bet that saving the Lord Commander’s life will get Jon off the hook for flying off the handle at Ser Alliser. Too bad about his hand.

Too bad about Tyrion’s dad. Your son manages to use nothing but his words to a) get himself released from the oh so insane Lysa Arryn who was determined to throw him off a mountain, b) convince some less than reasonable mountain men to not only not kill him but to protect him, and c) to gather even more mountain clans to follow him, but for all that you don’t even have a “good job” for him? How is it possible that Tywin Lannister, who approaches the vanquish of his enemies with the cold calculation of a hunter skinning his prey has absolutely no respect for his son’s brilliant ability to read a situation and draw out the conclusion that he needs? If you’re at the head of an army that is sort of starting a civil war, wouldn’t you want someone who is intelligent, prudent, and (mostly) impartial to be on your side? At the least give the poor guy a glass of wine! What a terrible example of missing what you could have over bitterness that you didn’t get what you want. Life lesson everyone.

And for the love of all, can someone give Rickon Stark a hug!

The TV Girl

Sons of Anarchy: S4 Trailer

2011-07-01T00:42:00.000-04:00

No joke, can it please be September already?

The TV Girl

Top 5: (Current) Character Deaths I Would Like to Facilitate

2011-06-30T22:05:00.001-04:00

And to conclude, for now, my rather morbid fascination this week: characters I would kill.

This is off course purely in the realm of speculation, I have no control over any of this, but as a discerning (or overly opinionated, however you choose to see that) TV viewer, I have felt from time to time that certain shows could do without some characters and their ensuing storylines. Even on the best of shows, there can be a lemon: a character who detracts to an extreme degree from the general awesomeness, or a character that just happens to annoy the ever living crap out of me.

Castiel, Supernatural
Sorry fangirls, this isn't personal, but if there is any hope for Supernatural to recapture it's glory, Castiel needs to die, and quick. Remember when Sam and Dean were remotely competent at their job? When they would find a mystery, investigate, and try try again until they found a solution? Now they are sent on a job, call Bobby first thing, and then ask Castiel to fix it. The former was engaging TV, the later is dull and baffling (if I were evil I wouldn't be afraid of these two either). As much as I find Castiel amusing (and he really is), he's hobbled both the familial relationship between, and the professional capabilities of, Sam and Dean. Goodbye Castiel, hello better show.

Becky, Friday Night Lights

(Alright, so this is cheating, since this show is technically finished, but I haven't watched all of it yet, so...) I unapologetically morally disagree with Becky's choice to abort her child; I'm pro-life and always will be. And yes, I know that sounds ridiculous within a post about how there are characters I would like to see no more of, and no more possibility of, on my nightly TV line-up. But, that isn't why I'm putting her on this list. Becky commits the fundamental sin in my book: she is dumb as shit. She's not just not very bright, there are plenty of TV characters that are kind of dim (but their usually funny, making them sometimes/somewhat redeemable/useful), Becky is unrepentantly stupid. She actively pursues, and insists that she is in love with, a guy that had sex with her mother! Really? Really? It's like she saw The Graduate and thought it had a happy ending.

Ezra, Pretty Little Liars
It isn't just the fact that Ezra is the (legal) adult in the most annoying relationship on any show I watch at the moment, but honestly that would be enough. They are a blight on an otherwise entertaining show. Every time Ezra and Aria interact I want to turn off PLL and never watch again. Their insipid and repetitive conversations, mostly revolving around their inability to face the icky reality of their situation, eat up time that could be used so well with other characters. Add on to this that Ezra has apparently never heard the term "statutory rape," and his hipster vests, and I just get beyond livid that on a show with such violent tendencies Ezra hasn't yet met with an "unfortunate accident." Make this happen A.

Britta, Community
Boring. So boring. I think of Britta much like Mark on Parks and Recreation: a supposed love-interest that didn't pan out and then no one knew what to do with him. And no one can argue that P and R has benefited immensely for swapping the sad-sack Mark for the amazing Ben (played by the oh so adorable Adam Scott) and the male-Leslie-Knope, aka Chris. I'm not actually proposing to swap Britta for anyone, just kill her off and let the rest of the funny, messed-up, way-too-meta, darling characters get up to their high-jinks. And what couldn't Abed do with a major character death? Meta-tastic!

Ser Alliser Thorne, Game of Thrones
This is purely, spitefully, because he is mean to Jon. Which is evidence that he is bad at his job, and were this Soviet Russia, maybe that would be all the justification I would need. There is being tough on your pupils in order to prepare them for difficult or unpleasant tasks, and then there is torturing young people because you are bitter about the way your life turned out. Ser Alliser falls into camp B. Bad enough, but, singling out Jon as his favorite punching bag is unforgivable in my eyes. Jon doesn't need another person telling him that he is worthless, predisposed towards malevolence because his daddy wasn't married to his mommy, and that he was undeserving of the company of his siblings and attention of his father; he had enough of that growing up. (Catelyn, I hate!) There's nothing instructive or corrective about Ser Alliser's taunts and accusations; it is the jealous lashing out of a wretched man. I'd welcome a bad end for him.

The TV Girl

Top 5: Character Deaths I Rejoiced Over

2011-06-28T11:41:00.000-04:00

I guess I've got death on the brain right now. Oh well. On we roll!

Not every character that bites the dust is a cause for tears and consternation. Sometimes human beings, me specifically, are just vindictive bitches and we like to see a shit character get what he/she deserves. And other times a character is so insufferable that being spared their presence makes for a much better, or at least less annoying, show. Fictional worlds are better off without some people, that's just the way of it.

Coover, Justified
I'm sorry his mother smashed his hand with a hammer, that was sad, but Coover was frakking awful and I clapped in triumph when Raylan shot him and he fell into the mine shaft. Coover wasn't just loud, vicious, useless, and a potential serial killer. He was, jointly with his brother, responsible for Loretta being kidnapped by a pedophile, which caused her father to call the cops, an act of betrayal that Mags killed him for. And then he tried to kill Loretta. Done. Coover had to go. More than a necessary act of self-defense and defense of others, Coover's end was all the justice a little girl was going to get.

Ruby, Supernatural
Back in S4, when SPN wasn't a shameful disaster, there was a demon, a seal, and Sam. But the real demon was Ruby, the seal was Lilith, and Sam was a pawn used to release Lucifer from his prison. So even though it wouldn't change the outcome of events, Dean stabbed the crap out of Ruby, for the pure fact that she was an evil bitch, and it was perfect. There was much shouting in my kitchen as the lights (literally) went out in Ruby's eyes. It was nice to see Dean vindicated in his 2-season-long campaign espousing Ruby's evilness, it was canonical within the show (because a) if you have sex with Sam you're either going to die or you're evil and b) if you're an actress on the show who happens to be dating Jared Padalecki in real life your character will be killed), and honestly, another season of the rather grating Genevieve Padalecki (I believe it was Cortez at the time) wasn't what anyone needed. Those were the days.

Trinity, Dexter
Since Dex is a vigilante, tracking down and methodically killing the vile people who escape the law, almost every episode of Dexter has a little thrill of seeing a bad person punished. But, Dexter dispatching the Trinity killer was especially gratifying. A season-long game of cat-and-mouse between Dexter and Trinity, perpetuated in equal parts by Trinity's "ordinary" facade and Dexter's reactionary existential crisis, culminated in both Trinity's release from his torment and Dexter's reclamation of his life's purpose. It really was the world set to right, and who could help but be overjoyed by that? Everything was glorious! (Expect for that pesky fact that, unbeknownst to Dex, Trinity had brutally murdered Rita. Depending on your perspective, this was a double win for Dexter. I don't see it that way, but some people do. Poor Rita.)

Marissa, The O.C.
Marissa dying in a car crash when her crazy-pants ex-boyfriend drove her car off the road was sad. She was a whinny dumb-ass with very little personality and even less dignity, but Ryan loved her and you just wanted the kid to be happy, so as an audience we paused respectfully for Marissa's untimely demise. Until S4, and it became clear just what a drain on the show she was and how fun things could be without her. Freed from Marissa's endless self-pity and univocally bad life choices, the way was clear for the hilarious scheming of her younger sister Caitlin, the surprising heartwarming pairing of Ryan and Taylor, and Summer's transformation from vapid party girl to ideological crusader. I wonder if the show runners had known just what an improvement Marissa's exit would be whether they would have killed her off sooner?

Jimmy, Sons of Anarchy
So many happy deaths to choose from I'm almost overwhelmed. But for me, seeing Jimmy get got was magical. Jimmy was a double-crossing little toad, without loyalty to either cause or kin, and everyone from the muckity-mucks of the true IRA to the Russian gun dealers wanted, and in some cases needed, him dead. What made Jimmy's termination so fulfilling was that Chibs got to do the deed. For Chibs it was a personal act of retribution against the man who stole his wife and a preemptive strike to prevent his daughter being raped. No way around it, Jimmy had to die, but because Chibs hastened him to the afterlife there was a sense of cosmic balance to it that left this viewer in awe.

The TV Girl

Top 5: Character Deaths I Never Got Over

2011-06-27T17:11:00.000-04:00

Some shows, like Lost, earn a badge of honor by how unexpectedly and ruthlessly characters can be killed off. Other shows only kill characters when they have run out of all other melodramatic options. In the former type you end up spend a great deal of your viewing time simply counting down the minutes until someone bites it, while in the later type the whole thing is so overwrought and drawn out you, instead of the character, end up feeling like the one who has been released from suffering by death. But for shows that simply accept death as an essential part of the human experience, a character's death can be as irrevocable to the show and the viewer as that of a real-life loved one. Here are 5 characters that I still get a little choked up when I see them on a re-watch/they're mentioned/something stupid happens on the show they vacated/the actor luckily went on to another job.

Ianto Jones, Torchwood

Pretty much everyone who could die was dead by the end of Torchwood. (I'm not acknowledging this mythical S4 until it is in front of me, and even then I will probably ignore it, so as far as I'm concerned this show is at its end.) Owen and Tosh were sad, Jack's grandson was gruesome, but Ianto was just unforgivable. Loyal, kind, competent Ianto stood by Jack's side, ultimately to his detriment. His love outweighed his sense of self-preservation, and the futile nobility of it was heartbreaking.

Donna, Sons of Anarchy

In the timeline of the show, Donna has been dead for less than 6 months (I think, I might be off about this). At the end of S1 Donna was gunned down by Tig, mistaking her for Opie, on Clay's order because Stahl framed Opie as a rat. There is a lot of human collateral damage on this show, but Donna will always be the benchmark of tragedy. As Donna drove down the street we waited for some miracle, something that would stop the forthcoming devastation, but in the unrelenting candor that is SoA, there was no such rescue. In a shower of bullets Donna's life, the opposing forces of which she had recently rectified, spilled on the street. And as far as I'm concerned, Charming will never be the same.

Chris, Skins
I cried and cried and cried. I might cry thinking about it. I have re-watched Skins S1 and 2 up until the end of "Chris" and I cannot get any farther knowing that in the penultimate episode of S2 funny, messy, loving Chris will fall victim to the same genetic condition that killed his brother Peter. I, like Cassy, just want to run away from it.

Fred, Angel

Fred. Seriously, Fred. Fred survived being trapped on a demon planet where she nearly lost her mind hiding in caves, got rescued and sane again, fell in love twice, became an essential member of Team Angel and the successful scientist that she was always meant to be, only then to have her soul burned to cinder when an ancient demon took over her body. It would have been sad on it's own, but what pushes Fred past the limits of tolerance for character death is that after she died the thing that killed her walked around in her body, mentally and emotionally torturing the people who loved Fred, especially Wesley. Without Fred, Wesley succumbed to a world without hope and (essentially) drank himself to death. Even judged on the Whedon-Scale-of-Tragedy, this was horrifying.

Billy, Battlestar Galactica
Characters of greater significance died (and came back) on BSG, and for the most part, they were all sad, but for me, Billy's death was too much. Mostly because it was so unnecessary. Billy wasn't a solider, he was an administrative aid with a very good heart who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. So despite the fact that she was on a date with another guy, Billy sacrificed himself for that bitch Dualla!!! Yes, that is my interpretation of events, feel free to disagree with me. He was trying to be a hero, because by being with Lee, Dualla was clearly stating that Billy wasn't the kind of man she wanted, and so he made a very foolish choice based on that impetus. So, a good and ordinary person, the kind of people that the fleet was supposed to be protecting in order to rebuild the human race, died, casting doubt on the efficacy of the Galactica crew, and reminding us (as every episode tended to do) that there would be no (lasting) relief for the remains of civilization. Oh, and if all that didn't make you want to crawl into a hole, because Billy died we were subjected to the unmitigated atrocity that was Lee and Dualla's marriage. Shudder. Puke. Shudder.

The TV Girl

P.S. Yes, I know that there is a SIGNIFICANT character death on Game of Thrones that I haven't written up yet (actually that I haven't watched yet, long story), but I can't even begin to tell you how upset/outraged/frustrated I am about that. But I will tell you, eventually, later this week, I hope.

My Weekend Fling: Monday Monday, Season 1

2011-06-13T16:34:00.000-04:00

I'm going to have to rename my blog "What Andrea Watched When She Couldn't Sleep."

The combination of a nasty head cold and the emotional fall-out of some dear dear friends moving out of DC made sleep an impossibility the other night. So good old Netflix rescued me with Monday Monday Season 1.

Okay, maybe rescued is too strong a word, because honestly, this show isn't fantastic. It's not terrible, but I'm pretty sure if it were different circumstances I wouldn't have picked the ease of just clicking "next episode" until I finished and the sun came up.

Monday Monday is one of those workplace comedy/dramas and our main protagonist is the overworked and unappreciated Sally (Morven Christie), who just happens to be as romantically challenged as she is professionally stagnate. In the employ of faltering supermarket chain Butterworths, Sally is the PA (personal assistant, I know that should go without saying, but it took me forever to figure it out, maybe the accents) to HR Manager Christine (Fay Ripley), a hardcore alcoholic. The company is down on it's luck, with the recession and all, so the headquarters has just moved from London to Leeds, and despite the fact that her job is awful, Sally makes the move. It might be that her fiancee has just called off their wedding. To improve performance, the board has hired watchdog Aylson (Holly Aird), much to the chagrin of longtime head Roger (Peter Wight) and his faithful PA Jenny (Jenny Agutter). Trying to give her new life a shot, Sally goes home with Steven (Tom Ellis), a nice fellow she meets in a bar, and as if throwing up in his shoes weren't humiliating enough, it turns out Steven is Alyson's PA, and secret boyfriend.

Things proceed pretty much as you'd expect: Alyson is so career driven she'll stop at nothing to cut the dead weight, but when her life circumstances change it might turn out that she has a heart after all; Christine abuses Sally relentlessly by forcing her to do all the work for the department while demanding constant reassurance of her worthiness before flitting in and out of rehab; Sally and Steven fall in love, but he just can't seem to get disentangled from that pesky affair with his boss. There are a few surprises: Christine isn't keeping her job in the way that you'd expect; Roger has additional reasons for being suspicious of and resenting Alyson. But by the end, mostly you just find out that these people are a lot less pleasant than the genial format and comfortable staging would like you to believe.

As a girl filled with shame and regret about the life choices that lead to her soul crushingly dead-end job and who hasn't even managed to bother to like a guy in the last 5 years, you would think I would really connect to a show like this, feel a deep empathy for Sally and her struggles. And to an extent I did. It is sad to see a basically decent person mired in mediocrity and humiliation. I wanted better for Sally. But then I just got mad about this stupid lie that TV is trying to tell women: just wait around at your crappy job because that really cute guy you happen to work with will eventually fall in love with you. Uggg, enough.

So, aside from insomnia, is there any reason to watch Monday Monday? The cast is pretty good. They approach their characters (as limited or grating as those may be) in a straightforward and polished way: no one really changes all that much, but you easily believe that they are who they are. And Tom Ellis really is quite handsome, so there's that in the plus column. Miranda Hart (the amazing comedian who stars in the phenomenal show Miranda, (which also features Tom Ellis)) has a small part, playing the tall half of a PA team both named Karen. Ms. Hart is an unending delight to watch; she is so distinct and remarkable, her humor both dry and slapstick, so even though she is a very minor character, she really brightens up the show.

Essentially, Monday Monday is a pass-the-time show. Neither exceptional nor dreadful, it fills in the space that you aren't interested in filling with anything you care about.

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: First Impressions Aren’t Often Wrong

2011-06-12T19:02:00.000-04:00

(1.07 “You Win or You Die”)

In the sea of red, the Lannister camp, the mighty Tywin Lannister is skinning a stag. Yes, that both is and is not a metaphor. There’s no better time to have a heart-to-heart with your son than while removing the entrails and skin of a recently deceased animal. Tywin’s not so impressed with his son Jaime, rebuking him for attacking Ned, but also for letting Ned live. Despite believing Jaime has wasted his potential so far, Tywin insists on giving him 30,000 men to go retrieve Tyrion, who though the lowest of the Lannisters is still family, and if a Lannister can be abducted without retribution then their name will no longer be feared. And it is the name that will live on after the current generations have passed, so Tywin’s done waiting for Jaime to decide to be the man he is supposed to be. In King’s Landing Ned and Cersei have a singularly unpleasant conversation about paternity. Ned reveals that he knows Cersei’s children are Jaime’s and that that fact is what Jon Arryn died for. Unashamed, Cersei explains that, as twins, she and Jaime belong together, and that when she first married Robert she loved him, but he was still in love with Lyanna (Ned’s dead sister). Ned encourages Cersei to take her children and get as far from King’s Landing as possible, because he’s going to tell Robert the truth. Cersei practically laughs in his face, chiding him that he should have taken the throne the day the city fell during the rebellion, since after all “when you play the game of thrones you win or you die, there is no middle ground.” Littlefinger has a new employee, Ros the whore of the north, but she isn’t up to par. Littlefinger gives her some advice about sexually satisfying her clients, she has to go slow enough to convince them to forget that they paid her, which makes for a nice analogy to how he must proceed in his pursuit of the girl and the glory. Theon seems sadly affected by Ros’ relocation, because he tries to get friendly with Osha after they have a really confusing geography/etiquette discussion. Maester Luwin interrupts, which is probably for the best, since Osha looks like she could break Theon in half, which he might have preferred to being reminded that a hostage can be treated very well. After Theon beats a hasty retreat, Osha clues Luwin in to the fact that there are some monsters stirring in the woods north of the wall. Atop the wall, Jon and Sam see a horse approaching from the north, but without a rider. It turns out to be Benjen Stark’s horse, but without a trace of Benjen, an understandably upsetting event for Jon. Ned’s upset too; due to the fact that Renly runs up to him to tell him that Robert’s been gored by a boar while hunting. Hobbling to the sickroom, Ned finds Robert, surrounded by friends and family, telling Joffery that he should have been a better father, and then he kicks them all out so he can talk to Ned. Robert knows he’s dying, and that he hasn’t left the kingdom in the best of shape, so he charges Ned as Protector of the Realm, to help Joffery be a better king than he was. He has Ned take down his last testament, but Ned balks, and instead of writing Joffery he writes “true heir,” unable to tell Robert on his deathbed the monstrous lie his life is, but unwilling to perpetuate Joffery’s fake claim to the throne. Finally, Robert informs Ned that he’s changed his mind about Dany, and to do what he can to stop the assassins sent after her. Leaving Robert to be heavily medicated, Ned lets Varys know about Robert’s changed of heart, but Varys has some bad news of his own, for it’s his opinion that it’s too late to call back the birds on Dany’s death. Not yet knowing the danger she’s in, across the sea Dany is having some trouble convincing Drogo that he should pursue the Iron Throne, because though his son will be the stallion that mounts the world, he believes the world ends at the sea. Dany is frustrated. Nothing like a walk to make you feel better. Jorah and Dany go walking in a market, where he takes off to see if there are any letters for him. The letter he’s been waiting for actually has arrived; his royal pardon! Time for Jorah to go on home. But when he walks back towards Dany he sees a wine merchant chatting her up, trying to give her a fine cast as a gift. Suspicious, Jorah insets himself, demanding that the merchant try the wine, and Dany picks up on his wariness. Knowing he’s made, the wine merchant/assassin makes a break for it, but Dany’s bodyguards catch him in no time flat. Maybe Jorah is more committed to Dany than he thought. Back on the Wall Jorah’s dad has some news of his own, assignments in fact. Jon and his class are ready to take their vows, to be men of the Night’s Watch, in one of three departments: builders, stewards, or rangers. Sam and Jon are joking around, both kind of happy, and agreeing to take their vow in front of a heart tree/the old gods. That is, until Commander Mormont reads from his list, naming Jon a steward. Shock. Furious at being named a glorified maid for the rest of his life, he storms off. Sam, being the good friend and voice of reason that he is, follows Jon, and doesn’t even mention that Jon told him moments before that there is honor in being a steward. He explains to Jon, that despite the fact that he’s wanted to be a ranger forever, by being the Lord Commander’s steward, Jon will be groomed for future leadership. And as just another example of why Sam is awesome, instead of leaving Jon to feel like shit for acting like a shit, he tells him that he always wanted to be a wizard when he was growing up. It’s funny. Not so funny is Renly approaching Ned suggesting that they take Cersei and her kids into custody and crown Renly himself instead of his older brother, and Robert’s heir, Stannis. Ned has two problems with that, the first that he won’t disturb Robert’s last hours by apprehending his “family” and the second that Stannis is the rightful successor and Ned isn’t just going to ignore that because Stannis is unqualified. Littlefinger goes to visit Ned, whose just sent a letter to Stannis. Littlefinger encourages Ned to support Joffery’s claim, to act as the protector, thereby rule by proxy, and if Joffery proves unmanageable they can reveal his paternity. Ned refuses, determined that they follow the letter of the law, which puts him in an awkward position. Knowing that he doesn’t have enough men to stop her if Cersei decides she won’t go quietly, Ned haltingly tries to ask without asking if Littlefinger can bribe the Gold Cloaks to fight for them. Littlefinger, sensing and taking advantage of his distress, agrees to support his plan, since after all, the Gold Cloaks protect the man that pays them. Ready to forsake all payment, Jon, Sam and some witnesses head beyond the Wall to the heart tree. Jon and Sam say their vow, rise men of the Night’s Watch, and there are hugs. It’s wonderful. Until…Ghost comes bounding up with a human hand in his mouth. Ick. Loosing a hand is the least of the wine merchant/assassin’s worries, seeing as he’s tied up in a tent and Jorah tells Dany he’s going to be dragged behind the horses in the morning, whether he can walk or not. Drogo arrives, checks on Dany, and then proclaims for all that he will take the Iron Throne. It’s on bitch. King Joffery might want to watch out. Yes, the little squint is on the throne, summoning Ned to bend the knee and prepare for his coronation. Undaunted, Ned produces Robert’s will, which Cersei tears up, almost laughing in Ned’s face. With a nod to the Gold Cloaks, Ned calls for her arrest. With a second nod the Gold Cloaks slaughter Ned’s men. With a knife to his throat, Littlefinger remind Ned that he told him not to trust him.

From a certain perspective, this wasn’t the most exciting episode: light on the sword fights and the wow-I-didn’t-see-that-coming information, heavy on the talking and the veiled threats. I can see how this thought could cross someone’s mind, but instead of focusing on what this episode wasn’t, let’s look at what it was, namely a perfectly crafted succession of conversations: sifting through the fragments left behind by momentous acts, arranging the pieces to (perceived) best effect.

And the mighty Tywin is on the scene now. Whatever your disagreement with his message, you have to admit, there is no better way to get across that you mean business than to scold your child while skinning a giant animal that represents the house of your enemy. Tywin’s cold precision, as if the entrails he was discarding were an afterthought, brilliantly reflected his estimation of Jaime, a man he sees as having wasted his talents in ways that do not solidify the Lannister’s as the house that will always be respected. It can only emphasis your words of disappointment in your golden son when you say them wiping blood from your hands. Tywin stages his scene masterfully, both reiterating Jaime’s flaws, as well as acting out what he is trying to make Jaime understand; it is by methodical pursuit, not rash outburst, will the enemy fear him. The joyous irony is of course that Tywin doesn’t address, either because he doesn’t know or he doesn’t want to know, Jaime’s gravely misguided behavior that will really bring shame on the Lannisters. Tywin doesn’t see his children as individuals, as people, he sees them as Lannisters, and it sort of makes sense that if you view your family as an undifferentiated whole, you might not notice that Jaime and Cersei were more attached than brother and sister should be. Tywin misses this big issue, but because he makes no distinction between a Lannister and the Lannisters, he also misses the small ones. Tywin doesn’t hear in Jaime’s voice that he loves Tyrion, that Jaime isn’t concerned that Catelyn abducted a Lannister, he’s concerned about his brother’s welfare, and in missing that, Tywin misses that he and his son are to some extent talking across purposes. Tywin can browbeat and manipulate his son into acting the way he wants him to, but unless he can convince him to care about the same things, he will never really have his son’s loyalty.

And loyalty is hard to come by. I pretty much ignore Dany and all that in my analysis, and there’s a pretty simple reason. I don’t care. I don’t find her a particularly compelling character, since she is, as yet, pretty much a blank slate that everyone draws his or her desires upon. Furthermore, everyone is pretty much in agreement that a “claim” to the Iron Throne is determined on whether you can take it and keep it, not on any cosmic ordination of legitimacy, so Dany doesn’t provide any kind of just contrast to Robert’s dynasty; her family could not keep their crown, so she would be equally a usurper to Robert that Robert was to her father. Therefore it’s hard to think of her as some underdog that we really want to root for. What she is, a trait that could help her become more interesting, is pragmatic. She doesn’t turn away from reality in front of her, no matter how unpleasant it is. She is not always good at recognizing initially a situation for what it is, she needed Jorah to point out that there was something fishy about the wine merchant, but she ties him naked to her horse as the preferred punishment of her adopted people, taking the situation for what it is. In this way, she is much like Tywin Lannister. But with a marked difference: Dany engenders loyalty because she inspires love.

Sorry, I must digress into my love for just a moment. I love the Night’s Watch’s vow, the actual words. I read it over and over again in the book, just relishing how finely balanced the simple sentence structure is, how it builds to this sense of heroic finality, how it is a straightforward ideology that completely stands apart from the every shifting ambiguity of thought all the other characters are either trying to figure out or trying to manipulate. Watching Jon and Sam take their vow, and then Jon help Sam stand up, actually got me a little choked up. Here are these young men who have no place in the world, who are reviled and mistrusted for no other reason than birth or disposition, and with a single paragraph they are give a code by which they can structure their lives and orient their hearts. I love it.

And I love Sam. Yes, it’s a total must-have for the fantasy genera to have a fat sidekick named Sam, but Sam Tarly is sort of magical. Maybe he could have been a wizard. Sam has that rare combination of humility and low self-worth that allows him to see what is best in other people even if he cannot always see what is best in himself. He doesn’t indulge Jon’s (correct) paranoia that Thorne has gotten his revenge by denying him a position as a ranger, because Sam knows Jon doesn’t need that. (I’ll admit, when I was reading the book and Jon was named to the stewards I actually let go of my book to clap my hands over my mouth in surprise, and then I was super thankful that I was reading on my bed because it was my Nook, and it had fallen on the floor it might have broken, and then I would have been really unhappy.) He know that his friend has spent his life being told what he won’t have, he needs to be told what he can have, what his commander is giving him a chance to earn. And he doesn’t leave Jon to feel unhappy, he gets him to laugh, coupling comfort with correction. Sam’s father was an idiot: Sam would have made a wonderful lord.

Don’t we all kind of wish Ned had a friend like Sam in King’s Landing. I suppose at one time that was Robert (or maybe more likely Robert was Jon and Ned was Sam, but this isn’t really important). It most certainly isn’t Littlefinger. It never occurs to Ned, a man who wants so little, that Littlefinger could want so much, could want to punish Ned for ending up married to the woman he loves (I still say, Catelyn, really?) as well as position himself for whatever his next move will be. The saddest part is that in this case, Jaime’s assessment of Ned is true: “brave man, terrible judgment.” Littlefinger made his views clear, told Ned outright what he wanted for the kingdom, Joffery to be king, and how that was going to be achieved, through money, and Ned willfully ignored all that. Ned limps towards his own doom because he is participating in a game that he is not acknowledging, and it is just heartbreaking.

The TV Girl

Top 10: Shows That Could Be Used For Therapy

2011-06-06T16:09:00.000-04:00

KP and I were texting yesterday. At the end of the exchange she informed me that since she was having kind of a rough day she was going to watch some Friday Night Lights for therapy. I heartily encouraged her in her plan, and it got me thinking. There's art therapy, music therapy, but could there be TV therapy? So here is my suggestion of what to watch if you are experiencing some of the common difficulties that drive people to the couch.

If You're Grieving Watch: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Sounds counter intuitive, but if you've lost someone the little show about the girl who saved the world over and over is exactly what you need. At it's core, Buffy is a show about how we live day to day with the inevitability of death, and slowly but surely this show will reveal to you that there is no easy answer to that conundrum of humanity, but rather an ever shifting balance of love, humor, sacrifice, bravery, and purpose that must always be reevaluated with each new experience.

If You're Heartbroken Watch: How I Met Your Mother
What better way to come to terms with you romantic disappointment then to watch how it is possible to re-frame your own failures, humiliations, and triumphs in love as pieces of the whole person you have to become in order to find a fulfilling relationship? It's simple everything-happens-for-a-reason, but post break-up who can remember that? Let Ted, Marshall, Lily, Barney and Robin remind you.

If You're Having an Identity Crisis Watch: The Big Bang Theory
The geek-gods of TBBT are absolutely and completely themselves. Even Leonard, uncomfortable with being dismissed by women and the social stigmas associated with being a nerd, ultimately lives his life as the person he is. You might not want to emulate their taste in movies or hobbies, but we should all want to be that determined to love what we love, to be the fullest version of ourselves, no matter what anyone says.

If You're Having a Career Crisis Watch: Spaced
Spaced is my go-to safety blanket show: I curl it around me to protect and comfort me in almost any mood I might be in. But, if you happen to be in the midst of a professional meltdown this is what you want. Tim, Daisy, Brian, Mike and Twist bounce constantly between knowing what they want to do with their lives and the external/internal obstacles hindering their achievement of those goals. Sometimes it's the circumstances (lousy job market) and sometimes it's us (laziness), but there will be a time in life when you're not the shiny star of your field. But if you can have as much fun despite that as these North Londoners do, you're doing just fine.

If You're Having (Temporary) Insomnia Watch: Castle
A prolonged sleep problem (which sucks more than you can imagine if you don't have one) requires much different coping mechanisms, but if you're experiencing a short bout of disruption to your normal sleep pattern, Castle is excellent company for the wee hours. As a show that really has something for everyone it's pretty much the O Negative of TV: charming cast, fun mysteries, exciting chases, tender family moments, requited-but-not love, wit galore. If you are to be denied the sweet restoration of a good night's sleep this perfect balance of highs and lows, joys and sorrows will help those hours pass blissfully.

If You're Having Anxiety Watch: Sons of Anarchy
Again, counter intuitive. Seems like the last thing that would help anxiety would be a show about a gun-running biker gang that is relentlessly violent and soul-scorchingly tragic. Never ever underestimate the power of catharsis. A single episode of SoA will stretch your nerves past the point you would think possible and then shatter them like glass, leaving you completely wrung out but immensely more relaxed that you were before.

If You're Overwhelmed Watch: Friday Night Lights
We all make mistakes. We all do things for which we think can never be forgiven. We all face challenges we think we can never overcome. We all confront the defeat inherit in our human limitation. Inertia is a common response, but often that is the route to despair. Or, there is the FNL route. FNL offers an example of the unwavering belief that a life lived with dignity and humility is essentially beautiful and valuable; that the only true failure is to turn adversity into bitterness. We won't always win the big game, but that doesn't mean we lost, as long as we persevere.

If You're Having Family Conflict Watch: The Riches
Imagine if all your ordinary family problems were compounded by living under a revolving door of assumed identities and sustaining your lifestyle by a series of ruses and rooks. I promise, the Malloys will make you think your family is functional and normal, in an at-least-I'm-better-off-than-that type way. Most families get the chance to deal with their problems but if you are preoccupied by what your name is this week and which string of your web of lies that you need to pull, it's more than likely that more typical family conflicts will not receive the attention necessary for resolution. So at least that's not your family, right?

If You're Contemplating the Ultimate Meaning of the Universe Watch: Lost
Because any philosophy/belief system/principles/life path that you can come up with on your own is better than this gibberish.

If You're Rendered Incapable by Fear Watch: Pushing Daisies
Fear is totally natural, it's part of our instinct for self-preservation. But allowed to run wild fear can swallow our life. Every character on Pushing Daisies was afraid of something, and more often than not that fear led them to keep secrets that eventually hurt someone they loved. Even so, the Pie Maker and his cohorts all faced the choice between fear and the bright magical colorful world and (eventually) none of them picked fear. This show threw the world into relief: everything was just a bit exaggerated because (every so often) that is how we have to see the world in order to remember that it really is a miraculous gift to us and our fear will never be worth loosing that.

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: Justice, Too, Is an Abstract Concept

2011-06-06T01:09:00.000-04:00

(1.06 "A Golden Crown")

I'm feeling this unbearable self-pity about my job lately (I don't like being a harpy, it just happens) but then I remember that at least if I were to get stabbed through the leg by my boss' spouse's sibling then I would probably get workman's comp, so life really isn't that bad.

Ned wakes to find Cersei and Robert hovering over him, obviously very concerned about his well-being after Jaime’s attack. He takes the blame for Catelyn’s abduction of Tyrion, an act according to Cersei is the highest act of treason. She justifies Jaime’s attack of Ned (and the murder of Jory) by claiming that Ned was stumbling drunk out a brothel and attacked first. Everyone has the good grace not to laugh at how preposterous that is. Cersei cannot keep her mouth shut, telling Robert off for being to weak to punish Ned and Robert slaps her across the face. Ned does nothing, she leaves. Robert insists that he doesn’t care “what happened between you and those yellow-haired shits” and that since the kingdom owes a great deal of money to one Tywin Lannister, Ned has to make peace by having Cat return Tryion and not pursuing Jaime (whose bound home to Casterly Rock). Robert reinstates Ned as Hand and goes off hunting. Across the Narrow Sea Dany contemplates her dragon eggs, deciding to put one in the fire. When she takes it out her servant grabs the hot rock out of her hands. Dany’s hands are unburned, unlike her overly zealous employee. North in Winterfell, Bran dreams of walking after the three-eyed crow again, waking to his newly finished saddle. While Bran rides whooping through the forest, Theon tries to convince Robb that he must call the Winterfell bannermen to pursue Jaime for his attack on Ned. Robb reminds Theon that neither of them have the right, but that Theon doesn’t even have the duty, as he is not a Stark. Riding out of sight, Bran is set upon by wildlings on their way south, who could make good use of his shiny pin and his pretty horse. Robb manages to kill two and take one, but the leader gets a knife to Bran’s throat. As Robb is about to surrender, Theon puts an arrow through the wildlings back, barely missing Bran. The Starks have a new hostage; the woman (who happens to be played by one Natalia Tena, aka Harry Potter’s Tonks) surrenders and throws herself on Robb’s mercy. Robb is less forgiving to Theon, furious for almost killing Bran, but Theon is less than apologetic, for in his eyes “there was only one thing to do so I did it.” Tyrion is in less than comfortable circumstances, rolling over in his sleep only to wake and find himself dangling off the sheer drop from his sky cell. Eager to get out, he calls Mord the turnkey, but isn’t able to convey the concept of bribery to the simplistic Mord. Arya, distressed by her family’s loss and maiming, is a bit quicker on the uptake, quickly grasping Syrio’s point that since battle takes place in times of trouble she must learn to focus on the moment. But Syrio is both fighter and philosopher, for according to Syrio, there is only one God, Death, and the only thing one says to Death is “not today.” Dany is having a big day in the sacred city of the horse lords, partaking in a ritual where she eats an uncooked horse heart and a wise-woman proclaims prophecy about her unborn baby. Viserys is less than impressed that Dany’s son will be the stallion who mounts the world and unites all people into one herd. Angry over the love and respect shown to Dany by the Dothraki, Viserys tries to steal her dragon eggs to fund his invasion plans. Jorah stops him, unmoved by Viserys’ argument that he cannot lead without “wealth or fear or love” and forces Viserys to drop the eggs before letting him go. After another false start, Tyrion convinces Mord to take a message to Lysa for him: Tyrion is ready to confess his sins. Prepared for some gloating, Lysa summons the nobles and the knights to witness, but everyone gets a bit of a surprise. Tyrion launches into an amusing account of his many transgressions: whoring, gambling, even filling his uncle’s boots with goat shit. As interested in his stories as Robin is, when Catelyn reminds Tyrion that he stands accused of hiring someone to kill Bran and conspiring to kill Jon Arryn, Tryion takes the crowd to task for the shame of justice Lysa is putting on. He demands a trial by combat, to which many a knight wants to stand for Lady Arryn. Tyrion upsets the applecart, asking for his brother Jaime as his champion, but Lysa refuses to send for him. Facing a hostile room, Tyrion searchs the faces for anyone who’ll stand for him, and at the last second Bronn the sellsword steps forward. Tramping through the forest looking for something to kill, Robert waxes poetic about the good old days of forthright enemies and willing women. Renly counter-argues that the good old days were bloody and bleak, finally furiously storming off. Somewhat unfazed, Robert keeps on a drinking. Ned could use a drink too, listening to the complaints of the kingdom in Robert’s stead. Men from the Riverlands have come to tell their tale of woe: brigands are burning their crops, raping their women, setting their children on fire, and leaving fish, the symbol of House Tully, all over the place. The men describe their attacker as lead by a huge man, clearly Ser Gregor the Mountain. Littlefinger, in the most hilariously obvious manipulation, asks if there is any reason Tywin Lannister would send his mad dog against Cat’s people. Ned, ever brave and not at all falling for Petyr’s bullpucky, denounces Ser Gregor, names him an outlaw, assigns Ser Beric Donndarion to take 100 men to apprehend him, and summons Tywin Lannister to court to answer for his bannerman. Littlefinger, suddenly nervous about goading Ned into declaring war, reminds Ned that coin trumps soldiers, a point Ned scoffs at, for “why then is Robert king and not Tywin Lannister.” Back in the Eyrie, Tyrion is hoping that the combination of coin and soldier can win his freedom, as the single combat battle over his innocence beings. After a few minutes of slash-and-dash around the room the tide turns for Bronn, and he battles the champion of the Eyrie to the Moon Door, the hole in the floor that drops one hundreds of feet as the form of “elegant” capital punishment the Eyrie has to offer. With a last significant examination of Cat and Lysa, Bronn executes his opponent and “makes him fly.” Catelyn doesn’t look. Now freed from his shackles, Tyrion gets his money back, bows to the (former) Tully ladies and takes his leave to head home. Sansa has a look of displeasure similar to her mother’s, as she baits and bitches at her septa, but when Joffery arrives she’s all smiles. Apologizing with a necklas, Joffery promises Sansa that she is his lady and he will never be cruel or neglectful of her again. Proving herself to be a real cheep date, Sansa falls all over herself to forgive him. Ned, finally, decided to send Sansa and Arya home, a decision met with much protestation. Arya doesn’t want to leave Syrio, Sansa wants to marry Joffery and give him golden haired baby lions. Arya reminds her that his father’s house is a stag, but Sansa insists that Joffery is nothing like Robert. Struck by thought, Ned sends his daughters to pack and consults the book on the Houses of Westeros that Jon Arryn was reading before his death. Turns out Baratheon men have been dark haired, up until Joffery. Ned is on to something. Viserys thinks he’s onto something too when he shows up to dinner drunk, and assaulting Dany. Demanding the crown he was promised in exchange for Dany, Viserys threatens to cut out her baby for Drogo to keep when Viserys takes Dany back. Drogo agrees to give him his crown, and once Dany is safe, takes Viserys in hand, melts the golden belt he was wearing, and crowns Viserys by pouring the melted metal over his head. Dany will not turn away, disgusted by her brother, who would not have been burned if he were a true dragon.

For some reason this episode took me forever to write up. I ended up watching it three times, but just couldn’t get around it to putting thoughts to keyboard.

So, is there justice in the Seven Kingdoms?

Depends on who you ask.

I have been waiting for Tyrion’s trial in the Eyrie since this show started (yes, six weeks, patience is not my thing) and I was not disappointed. It was brilliant. A shiver ran up my spine when Lysa described flinging someone hundreds of feet to be dashed upon the rocks as the “elegant” form of execution. In a single word, delivered by a disturbed woman, the breach between fact and expression in the Eyrie, and by extension the rest of the kingdom, lit up like a Christmas tree. To call an ugly thing by a pretty name only makes the ugly thing uglier. And Tyrion called her the frak out on her hypocrisy, using it to earn his freedom! Because he isn’t willfully turning away from reality Tyrion could use the tools available to him in order to actually get a chance at justice. Watching him wind up the crowd with smutty stories to then spring the trap that he deserved to be treated equally under the king’s law was like being balanced on a pin: the viewer’s tense expectation paralleled Tryion’s forced restraint as he used his captor’s ammunition against them. The battle of looks between Catelyn and Tyrion was a perfect mirror to the sword fight between the champions: him allowing himself only as much exuberance as would be a balance to her alarm as she saw her case fail in the clash. Maybe saddest of all, at the moment of death for the brave knight, who just had the bad luck to be picked for a thankless task by his nutso lady, Catelyn closed her eyes. She demanded a trial but could not face the consequences, expressly opposed to what her husband taught their sons.

Ned does not close his eyes. He’s perfectly aware that Littlefinger is making a show of baiting him in front of the court, but part of his job as Hand is to keep the king’s peace, to pursue justice for those under the king’s protection, and even knowing that his action could, and probably will, provoke war, he proceeds. Though there is the possibility that his denunciation of Ser Gregor is tainted by his silence when Robert strikes Cersei. I wouldn’t, but the argument is there.

Is Theon’s argument really there though? Does Robb have any right to act in his father’s place if it meant a chance to right the wrong done against him? Robb balks due to his own lack of authority, Theon demonstrates the authority of pragmatism.

No matter what side of the justice issue you fall on, there’s one point upon which all can agree. There is a war coming and EVERYONE knows it. From the king and his counselors to the whores and the cart drivers, all of Westeros seems pretty aware that the state of things is soon to become no longer tenable.

But for the record, if Peter Dinklage doesn’t get an Emmy then there is no justice in this world.

The TV Girl

I'm basically adding this picture just because he's hot, not because it helps me prove a point.

Game of Thrones: Sex, Lies and Stabbing

2011-05-22T22:53:00.000-04:00

(1.5 “The Wolf and the Lion”)

This episode had everything!

In King’s Landing the tournament continues. Ned questions Ser Barristan as to how Ser Hugh afforded the nice armor that he died so quickly in, but the noble knight has no answers, only the gossip that Robert plans to joust. Ned finds Robert in his tent, no having his armor put on by his squire Lancel Lannister, because, as Ned points out, Robert is too fat to fit into his armor. (It’s hysterical.) Ned convinces Robert that as king has no place competing in the tournament, which to Robert is simply another disagreeable aspect of being king. The tournament is turning into quite the fiasco: Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of the Flowers, gives a rose to Sansa and a wink to Renly before riding his frisky mare to face off with the Mountain, whose own mount is so, um, distracted, he’s unseated. The Mountain attacks Ser Loras with his sword, but his brother the Hound jumps in to save Loras’ life, becoming the winner of the tournament. (What an honor.) Surprise sword fights abound in Westros. When the bag is removed from his head, Tyrion realizes that he, Catelyn and her band of merry men are not on the King’s Road. Apparently it was her cunning plan to shout to everyone that she was taking Tyrion to Winterfell, so that they can make it to her true destination: the Eyrie, the home castle of her sister Lysa Arryn, the ruler in the Vale. Tyrion warns Catelyn that her sister might not be in her right mind, but similarly to his protestations of his innocence, Catelyn isn’t listening. A tribe of lawless hill men attack, and despite reservations, Catelyn cuts Tyrion’s hands free. Longingly looking towards to the horses and his escape, Tyrion kills a man who’s about to kill Catelyn, bludgeoning him with a shield and saving her life (because he’s the best). Bronn suggests his reward for his first kill should be a woman, but Catelyn’s the only option. Back in Winterfell, where Catelyn belongs, Theon is practicing his archery while Bran learns his geography on Great-Houses-of-Westros history with Maester Luwin. Bran’s heart isn’t in his studies, angered over the words of his mother’s house (Family, Duty, Honor), and insisting that his mother cannot be protecting the family if she is not with the family. Because Bran is kicking his ass in their argument, Maester Luwin convinces Bran that he can be taught to use a bow from horseback. That night with apparently the only whore in town Roz, Theon makes a case for the nobility of House Greyjoy (and our first penis shot of the series), but Roz counters that thought he calls himself a ward of Lord Stark Theon is still a hostage. (They also talk about her tumble with Tyrion. Apparently Tyrion’s very skilled. All in all, the conversation is odd.) Back down in King’s Landing Arya is chasing cats, and Varys is chasing down Ned, letting him know that Robert is doomed, the same poison used on Jon Arryn (The Tears of Lys) could be in Robert’s future and that Jon Arryn is dead because he started asking questions (after his 17 years of service as the Hand). Chasing a cat into the dragon skull filled dungeon, Arya overhears Varys and “an unknown foreign dignitary” discussing that events are moving too quickly, and that even though he’s found the bastard, Ned must be delayed because Drogo will not move until his son is born. On their way to a Small Council meeting, Littlefinger and Varys trade barbs about eunuchs, whoremongers and murders, and some threats about each telling a royal party about the other’s companions. Renly interrupts their angry baiting with news that Robert is actually going to attend the council meeting. After she finally convinces the Guards at the Red Keep that she is Ned’s daughter, Arya tells her father that she overheard men threatening to kill Ned because of the bastard and the savages. Hesitant to believe her, Ned doesn’t have a chance to really discus the matter with Arya, because Yoren arrives to tell Ned that Catelyn has taken Tyrion hostage. Catelyn and Tyrion have made it to the Vale and are being escorted to the “impregnable” Eyrie by some less than receptive knights. Tyrion finds an ally in dirty jokes in Bronn. The hits just keep coming for Ned down in King’s Landing, since on the heals of finding out about Catelyn, Robert summons him to Small Council, informing him that he orders Dany’s assassination. Ned pleads that there is no need for such an action, but Robert blusters that fear and blood keep the realm together not honor. Everyone else stands by Robert, because apparently Dany’s kid is bringing the apocalypse and her death will spare the lives of millions. Ned refuses to have anything to do with something so cowardly and resigns his post. Packing to leave, Ned gets a visit from Petyr, promising that if Ned gives him an hour he will provide him with information on Jon Arryn’s death. Jon Arryn is way better off dead! No words can prepare one for a six-year-old breastfeeding, but honestly, Tyrion undersold it to Catelyn. I can’t say this strongly enough: LYSA ARRYN IS A CRAZY BITCH! She receives a disgusted Tyrion and a horrified Catelyn in the Eyrie’s throne room, with her son on her lap, I guess having lunch, accuses Tyrion of murdering Jon Arryn, and because little Robin wants to “see the little man fly” she throws him into a cell with only three walls (the forth is a thousand-foot cliff face). Lysa isn’t the only one with ideas; we find out while he’s shaving Renly’s chest that Loras thinks Renly should be king. According to Loras, even though Renly has never been in a battle and fourth in line of succession, he’s the most qualified man for the job, because the people love him. Then Loras shows Renly how much he loves him. In a less amiable domestic scene, Robert and Cersei have a nice long chat: Cersei thinks they can win a war because the Dothraki are undisciplined but Robert counters that if Dany should land in Westros the nobles could stay safe in their stone castles but the people would be enslave and the land decimated. Eventually the realm would call for Viserys as the true king because an army only wins when united by one purpose under one strong leader the last of which for the men of Westros was the Mad King. Cersei then asks what Lyanna was like, something she’s never done before, and Robert admits that he will never heal from loosing her, so even if he and Cersei were suited to each other, their marriage (which is what’s holding the realm together) never had a chance. The mother of Robert’s youngest bastard, a very cute baby girl, wants nothing more than to make the king happy, but the best assurance that Ned can give her is that her child will be provided for. Outside the brothel Ned and Jory are surrounded by Jaime (and Lannister men) demanding that Ned release Tyrion (because Ned tells him that Catelyn took Tyrion on his order). Ned informs Jaime that his brother will die if he kills him, so Jaime settles for killing Jory and allowing one of his men to stab Ned in the leg with a giant steak. Leaving Ned bleeding in the street, Jaime repeats that he wants his brother returned.

No joke, this episode had everything!

How is it that with a wife like his Jon Arryn didn’t pitch himself off the battlements? I would devote myself to my work too if I were married to a freakishly delusional woman, no wonder he was (by all accounts) a wise and reliable King’s Hand for almost 2 decades. For the love of the Seven, she is breastfeeding a schoolchild! That has to be child abuse. Now, I see the family resemblance of throwing out accusations of guilt at inappropriate times, but even Catelyn has the good sense not to parade her crazy for all and sundry. I know that she’s a bit more concerned with wildly flinging allegations (without anything resembling evidence) of Tyrion’s responsibility for Jon Arryn’s death, but Lysa really should consider the long-term repercussions of her determination to cultivate her son’s Oedipal complex. How exactly are any of his knights going to take Robin (little Lord Robert Arryn) seriously when he’s giving orders as an adult if he’s sitting on the same throne where they watched his mother insist on his nutrition impoverishment? So. Frakking. Gross.

Nothing Lysa said or did indicated that she is going to listen to Tyrion, to give a fair hearing to the crime (sorry, now crimes) he stands accused of. Catelyn presumed upon her history with her sister, asserting (in her mind) that such a relationship would remain fixed independent of any personality alteration that takes place over time to either party. She’s made the error that (unbeknownst to her) Bran accuses her of: if you are not with your family you cannot take measure of them, you cannot know what is best for them (and adding fuel to Lysa’s nutball fire wasn’t good for her) or what aid they can give to and/or receive from you. Not that it does Bran much good to know he’s right.

Sansa Stark has the worst taste in men ever. She’s been pining for Joffery, who may or may not be a teeny-tiny sociopath, and then she makes googley eyes at Loras Tyrell who is a damn schemer. (Sorry, you don’t want to get beaten to a bloody pulp, don’t win a tournament with cheep tricks.) During his whole conversation with Renly he speaks in the present tense as if Robert were already dead and the crown were up for grabs. At least everyone else seems to have the decency to talk about Robert’s demise as if it is to be a likely conclusion based on the combination of his poor life choices and power hungry enemies, while Loras on the other hand has the bad taste to talk as if Robert’s death is so inevitable it is a present fact and instead of trying to prevent it his brother should be concerned with how to profit from it. Renly doesn’t seem like a bad guy, just easily swayed, but as he should be able to see so clearly from Robert’s current problems, the character of the counselor will determine the course of the reign. A man who asks you to behave as if your brother is already dead isn’t necessarily someone you want to listen to.

Renly would be better off actually talking to his brother, who can actually be a rational human being in private. Pycelle made the argument that Dany has to die to save lives, but he didn’t explain it in nearly the way Robert did to Cersei. Recognizing that it would be the lowly who would die and that with their support Viserys would win showed both a keen understanding for how public opinion is formed and influences events as well as a genuine concern of the well being of his kingdom. If he had had that conversation with Ned, he might have made Ned understand the severity of the danger, but because his Small Council expects him to be a bombastic dolt, that is how he behaves with them. Robert didn’t have to be a bad king, but he was allowed to be one.

Oh, and Theon, proclaiming your superiority to a woman you pay for sex is kind of absurd. She’s right to mock you.

Yes Tyrion, that is a long fall.

Game of Thrones: I Have a Tender Spot in My Heart for Tyrion

2011-05-22T14:17:00.000-04:00

(1.4, "Cripples, Bastards and Broken Things")

Bran is walking around Winterfell, following a crow that turns out to have three eyes. He’s having a dream, and he awakens to Theon summoning him on behalf of Robb to greet their visitors. Tyrion has stopped in on his way south, but Robb is suspicious of his presence, a fact he does nothing to hide. Tyrion has brought Bran a gift, he’s designed a saddle that if fitted to the right horse will allow Bran to ride, and be as tall as any man. Tyrion chooses to spend the night in the town brothel instead of accepting Robb begrudgingly offered hospitality. Theon sees Tyrion to the gate, letting it slip that Catelyn isn’t in Winterfell. Tyrion goads Theon about his deference to the Starks despite the fact that he is a hostage because of his father’s rebellion against Robert. At Castle Black there is a new arrival, Samwell Tarly, an overweight young man who falls at the first practice sword blow and is unwilling to get back up and continue training. Jon stops Throne from continuing to beat him, for which Sam is thankful. Sam admits to being a coward, an admission that doesn’t endear him to Pyp and Gren, but makes Jon thoughtful. Dany and the Dothraki arrive at the City of Horse Lords. Viserys has finally found something he likes; the pleasure slave he bought for Dany, and we as viewers are subjected to a really uncomfortable conversation about the Targaryen family history. Ick. Things are only slightly less uncomfortable in King’s Landing, as Sansa admits to her septa her fear of having only daughters as well as her determination to remain angry with Ned for Lady’s death. The Hand’s Tourney is causing drunk and disorderly conduct in the streets of the capital, but Ned insists that the money can be found for more security. Ned talks with Pycelle about Jon Arryn's death, which Pycelle claims to believe was an unfortunate cruelty of nature, but admits to Ned that Jon Arryn asked him for a book detailing the noble families just before his death, which he happily lends to Ned. Pycelle is less willing to concede to Ned’s suggestion that Jon Arryn was poisoned. On his way to read his newly acquired book, Ned finds Arya balancing on one toe at the top of the stairs, her lesson for the day from Syrio. Arya asks Ned what Bran will do now that he cannot be a knight as he wanted to be, and Ned makes it clear Bran has a happy future ahead of him, but when Arya asks if she can rule a holdfast he tells her that her sons will be the rulers, she reminds him that he’s talking about his other daughter and returns to her training. On duty atop the Wall, Sam is sent to join Jon as his watch partner, revealing his fear of heights and bad eyesight. Jon asks Sam what he is doing at Castle Black, and Sam tells him that his father told him that he would take the Black or his murder would be made to look like an accident. Appropriately aghast, Jon lets the rest of the training group know that they aren’t going to hurt Sam in the training yard anymore, but he has to use Ghost to help convince some of the others. Thorne isn’t fooled for a second the next day that Jon isn’t responsible for the class’ unwillingness to bloody up Sam. Intrigue abound down south, as Littlefinger guides Ned in a round of spot-the-spy (seems everyone is on someone’s payroll) and continues his helpfulness (you know, because he promised Cat) by pointing Ned towards Jon Arryn’s former squire and an armorer Jon Arryn visited several times. Jory goes looking for the squire, whose a knight now, and has no interest in talking. Ned visits the armorer, who’s talented but sullen apprentice Gendry (Joseph Dempsie) Jon Arryn was visiting. Ned takes a good look at his dark hair and blue eyes and figures out that he’s Robert’s bastard son. Viserys is back to his old self, furious that Dany invited him to dinner and made him a vest in the Dothraki fashion. He attacks her, and looked like he was going to rape her, but for the first time, Dany fights back, smacking him in the face with a golden belt and informing him that if he ever lays a hand on her again she will have that hand cut off. She’s a bit scary, but in a good way. Far from the warm grass, Jon and Sam are scrubbing tables and doing what young men do when they have time on their hands, talking about girls. Sam is suspicious when Jon admits to being a virgin as well, prompting Jon to tell him a kind of sad story. Jon was unable/unwilling to bed the whore bought for him because as a bastard he couldn’t stand the idea of the possibility that he would get the whore pregnant and that another child would have a life like his. Sam manages to cheer up his friend, but Throne comes in, basically for the sole purpose of telling Sam and Jon that they are not men, will die in the next winter, and if need be, will be eaten by their brothers in order to survive. Now that is a man who should be in a position of power over others! As much as it isn’t what she thought it would be Dany realizes that she needs to make her home with her husband and his people, because she and Jorah agree that Viserys will not be able to take them back to Westros, as he is no king and no dragon. In King’s Landing, the Hand’s Tourney has begun, but Jon Arryn’s former squire is the first to fall, jousted to death by Gregor Clegane, Sandor’s older brother. Horrified by the blood, Sansa listens to Littlefinger tell her the story of the Mountain and the Hound: as children Gregor found Sandor playing with one of his toys and so he held his face in the fire while his face melted off. Instead of watching the fun, Ned is working and receives a visit from Cersei. She’s apparently in a fence-mending mood, admitting that her demand to have Ned kill Lady was an extreme reaction but reasonable because it was in defense of her child. She asks Ned why he’s in King’s Landing, claiming that he cannot change Robert into a better king. She scoffs at Ned’s reply that it is his duty to serve his king, reminding him that he was a younger son, not born to leadership. At an inn headed home, Catelyn runs into Tyrion at an inn and decides to take the lead herself. Calling on her father’s bannermen scattered throughout the room she takes Tyrion prisoner to answer for his “crimes.”

I'm going to try and write this review without it turning into a soppy love letter (a friend once told me that I'm a much better writer about things I hate and he was right, the jerk), though I make no promises that I can achieve this, as I was so enamored of this episode that I have already watched it twice (in lieu of watching some other show that I'm behind on, and there are many). It was watching this episode (the first time) that prompted me to admit something to friends that made them shake their heads in pity: I realized that when GoT comes out on DVD I won't be able to wait the time it will take for it to go on sale and due to the combined facts that HBO shows are really frakking expensive and that I live on an extremely constricted budget, I should start a savings fund now for my future purchase. Yup, there was shame-to-know-me in their eyes.

What are you doing here? That was the question of this episode, both asked from one character to another as well as what some characters should have been asking themselves. This question was meant in both a completely literal as well as a rather existential way, illustrating that there is a connection between our suspicions of others and our understanding of ourselves. What an action is is at least in part defined by why an action is taken.

Tyrion designs a saddle for Bran because he knows the difficulties of being handicapped, in addition to the freedom that will be available to Bran if he can ride a horse, and he is upfront with Robb when asked for his motivation. What he is doing and why he is doing it are perfectly transparent and harmonious, lending less credibility to the claim that he tried to have Bran killed. In contrast, Sansa should have been questioning Petyr’s motivation for telling her the Cleganes’ dirty little secrets, but she has so little awareness of why she does what she does she doesn’t even think to question why someone else does something completely and utterly inappropriate and unnecessary. And if he’s telling people things they don’t need to hear, and could even harm them, doesn’t that call into question what/why he’s telling others?

The same fundamental question provides an array of views about the concept of duty. Cersei derides Ned’s motivation for staying on as Hand because she assumes that as the second son, born to follow not to lead, he is no more than a soldier following orders. She exposes her own belief that duty isn’t a real human virtue; rather there are only those who command and those who obey. Finding out that Sam would be murdered if he were not on the Wall, Jon recognizes it as his duty to protect him; he responds to the internal impulse to do what is right even when he know it will be difficult. (Okay, despite my above stated goal, how can you not love Jon?) But things are not always so clear. As a Knight of the Kingsgaurd, Jaime stands duty outside the door while Robert has a tea party with a variety of whores. Obviously, this bothers him as an affront to his sister’s honor (um, hypocrisy much?) and as a waste of his skill with a sword, yet still he stands. But he won’t pass along a letter from Ned to Robert, as he doesn’t serve Lord Stark. What does he consider his allegiance to, his king or his vow to protect his king? What does he consider his duty? Conversely, Catelyn decided that she must act in opposition to her word to her husband, and in order to do so called on the duty of others to help her. She has attempted to exploit an attribute in others in an act that subverts that attribute in herself, and in such a scenario one must be completely assured of the truth. Does she have any right to impose on the obligation of others when she shouldn’t be doing what she’s doing in the first place?

And in the end, can a hostage be anything but a hostage? Based on the Lannister assessment of Theon, the prevailing answer is: no.

The TV Girl

The Vampire Diaries: I Should Be Ashamed That I Un-Ironically Enjoy This Show

2011-05-14T17:10:00.001-04:00

(2.22 “As I Lay Dying”)

I wake up in the middle of the night with heart palpitations because I’m turning 28 in a few months and I have no idea what I’m doing with my life, have no illusions that I am a responsible person, and haven’t yet mastered the delicate balance of both paying bills and buying groceries in the same week. Despite all that anxiety (and knowing how to fix it!), I can’t give up silly shows like The Vampire Diaries. It’s just too gloriously fun. I feel less bad about this because one of the patients where I work, who is almost twice as old as I am and whose life I very much envy, is also way into this show. We talk about it whenever she comes in, so you could say that it’s part of my job to watch this show…

Or not.

Never mind, just fun.

But, I’ll admit, not the shocking season finale I was expecting. The previous episode was more of a high-stakes thrill ride, but that isn’t to say that “As I Lay Dying” wasn’t top-notch TVD. (And yes, I was trying to see how many clichéd phrases I could get into that sentence, thanks for noticing.)

Damon is dying from his werewolf bite, trying to make amends and end it all without the debilitating hallucinations, but Stefan wants to save him, so he locks him the cellar, has Bonnie talk to the unhelpful but chatty dead witches, who let it slip that Klaus can save Damon, so Stefan’s off to Alaric’s apartment. After his completely unexpected betrayal, Elijah has been keeping an eye on super-Klaus (um, you would think these people had never seen Underworld) and now that everyone is human looking again, bargains must be honored; it’s time for a first vampire family reunion. Too bad for Elijah, Klaus means for that reunion to be in the pent-up realm of the rest of the siblings. Everyone who isn’t drunk Alaric is watching Gone with the Wind in the town square, but keeps getting up during the movie (rude) to chase after a fevered Damon, because Caroline’s mom let him escape. Gotta find him, because Stefan agrees that in exchange for Klaus’ blood, the cure Damon needs, he will become Klaus’ little pet. But Klaus wants drinks-human-blood-and-murders-everyone-in-sight Stefan, so Stefan has quite a few blood bags to down before Klaus will hand over the cure. Jeremy should have stayed out of the Damon hunt, since Sheriff Liz shoots him dead, despite her vampire daughter’s attempt to save him. (But this is a season finale, so of course Jeremy is going to die and come back.) Bonnie goes bugging the dead witches again, and after a tearful “but I love him!” they make Jeremy all alive again, but warn that there will be a price. Stefan pays enough that Klaus gives Katherine the cure, and she actually delivers it to a brink-of-death-Damon, who has just had a really nice heart-to-heart and kind of icky kiss with a devoted but still-in-love-with-Stefan Elena. Damon’s going to live, but Katherine lets them know that Stefan gave up Elena, and everything else, for the cure. But is Stefan really that upset about it all? He did look mighty evil/happy when Klaus made him chase and kill some random girl as a final test before they left town. Oh, and Jeremy’s price for resurrection? That would be: being stalked by dead vampire ex-girlfriends Vicky and Anna.

One episode people, this show moves quick.

Honestly, it was Damon and Elena’s conversation on his bed while he was sweating to death accompanied by heartfelt pop music that (again) made me realize that I just might be a bit too old for this show. While watching I could just imagine that 10-15 years ago I would have just swooned at how romantic but doomed it all was, but today it’s more along the lines of “Damon you ass-hat, bitch is leading you on even when you’re dying and Elena if you want to hit that then just admit it and deal, stop being so damn wishy-washy!” When Katherine, selfish schemer and unending turncoat, voices sentiments closest to my own opinions (“It’s okay to love them both, I did.”) it’s a bit of a reality-slap reminding me that I am not the target audience of this show. Teenage girls are (pretty much) watching to see which brother Elena picks, I’m (pretty much) watching to see who dies next.

But one of the (many) advantages to not being a tween is that I have the wherewithal to welcome evil Stefan as the wonderful plot development that it is (you know, instead of bemoaning the fall of the golden boy). It’s completely within Stefan’s character to this point to be willing to sacrifice himself for Damon, but the nobility of the act somewhat diminished with Stefan’s pained delight in each successive blood bag he devoured. The more enjoyment he took, and don’t kid yourself that he didn’t enjoy killing that girl at the end, the more we got to question if Stefan was so eager to forfeit his abstinent life and his lady love because he really did miss being an evil killing creature of the night. And really, while there is a balance than can be achieved, I will pick kill-y vampires over talk-y vampires.

Of course I have to ask, now that Elena and Jeremy have no living relatives and no legal guardians, Rick is going to step in to fill the void (but let’s be honest, despite her very sad end, Jenna was a total deadbeat “parent” so he doesn’t have much to live up to), but how exactly are they going to explain this to any sort of child services agency? At some point someone has to notice the state of affairs besides the Sheriff and the Mayor. But now that the Sheriff and Caroline are sort of reconciled (meaning that she isn’t trying to shoot her daughter with wooden bullets) maybe she’ll help Elena and Jeremy continue their highly-unsupervised lifestyle.

Not that Jeremy doesn’t have people watching over him! Okay, being haunted by dead exes as the consequence of rising from the dead (in I presume a not-zombie-way), neat twist I didn’t see coming. It worked perfectly though. Jeremy got shot because he was unwilling to let Bonnie leave him behind when running out to do dangerous stuff and despite not protecting him, she gets to have him back. Therefore it makes sense that he would have to live with the people he didn’t protect, that they would come back (in whatever way they have) too.

So, though not as action-packed a finale as I could have asked for, all in all it was a genuinely satisfying end to an exciting season and an intriguing set-up for the next.

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: Well, The First Man I Killed Was...

2011-05-13T14:37:00.000-04:00

(1.3 "Lord Snow")

I'm totally joking. I don't remember anything about that guy.

The royal party has made it to King's Landing! After a tense conversation with Jaime in front of the Iron Throne, about how Jaime (and 500 other people) stood silently when Aerys the Mad King murdered Ned's father and brother but that Jaime murdering Aerys wasn't justice, it's right to work for Ned, meeting with the small council: Robert's brother Renly (Gethin Anthony), Catelyn's childhood friend and master of coin Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen), and Varys the master of secrets, and Grand Maester Pyrcell. On the top of the to-do list, a tournament in honor of Ned's appointment, and event Ned really doesn't want to have when he is informed that kingdom is millions in debt and Robert can't be bothered to do anything about it. Not Ned's only problem though, as his daughter's are at each other's throats, Arya blaming Sansa for her friend's death, Sansa blaming Ned for not realizing that she has outgrown dolls. Ned discovers Arya with Needle (she doesn't rat Jon out for giving it to her) and he explains to her that even though Sansa will have certain responsibilities as Joffery's wife the Starks must stay together not fight among themselves. Ned doesn't know just how true his fears are, because he doesn't know that Cersei has made it clear to Joffery that the Starks are their enemies. It would be nice to say Ned's other kids are doing better, but not so much. Bran is awake, and asking for scary stories from Old Nan but getting some messed up life advice about freezing to death instead. Robb comes to talk to him, to ask Bran what he remembers, believing their mother that Bran couldn't have fallen, but Bran doesn't remember anything. Bran is more concerned with the fact that he will never walk again, wishing that he had died instead, a wish Robb fervently opposes. Nearer to freezing to death would be Jon, training at Castle Black on the Wall, and making no friends, as he has the most experience and is acting like an ass about it. (In his defense, he is a bit put out that he believes his father sent him off to die.) Tyrion Lannister to the rescue! Tyrion is taking the measure of the Night's Watch, discussing the state of things with Commander Mormont (and I recognize the actor but I can't think of who it is and I can't find his name and it's driving me nuts) and he is able to use his knowledge to keep Jon from getting his ass kicked by the other recruits. Tyrion's help comes at a price, the price that Jon must acknowledge that he should help his soon to be brothers become better fighters. Jon is distressed to find out that his uncle Ben is going on a mission north of the Wall, but things are stirring in the forest and wildling are fleeing south. The Night's Watch is understaffed and in trouble, but Tyrion agrees to bring the matter to his sister's attention. Too bad Cersei is a bit preoccupied with Bran being awake and all, but Jaime (whose had a rather morbid conversation with Robert and Selmy about the first man each killed) assures her they can out-fox a 10 year old, but that if the truth comes out he will fight it out with Robert (because that seems like a good plan). They should be more concerned about Catelyn, whose made it to King's Landing and after being hidden away at a brothel by Petyr, she presents the dagger used attempting to kill Bran, a dagger Petyr lost to Tyrion wagering on Jaime in a joust. Ned sends Catelyn home with both warnings to hold her temper and assurances that he will gather more evidence against the Lannisters and bring it to Robert's (who by his own admission is surrounded by Lannisters) attention. Across the sea, Dany and Viserys have a little fight, him being less than appreciative of her new authority as the Khalessi, but she spares him. She's in a giving mood, because she's pregnant. She thinks it's a boy. Her happy news prompts Ser Jorah to ride for Qohor. Tyrion is also about to ride, south for King's Landing by way of Winterfell, just after he pisses off the edge of the world (the top of the Wall) and says goodbye to a humbler and more helpful Jon, who sends Tryion with a message for Bran (I miss you and would visit if I could). Since Jon isn't there to teach Arya how to use her sword, Ned hires Syrio Forel, a Braavosi water dancer (sword fighter) to teach his eager, and quick-learner, daughter, though his pride in her aptitude is shadowed by memories of war.

You got all that?

Nope, me either.

I'm sure I missed something, I'm sure it was important. I kept getting distracted by odd thoughts running through my head.

For instance, Catelyn, really? She's worth dying over? Was it her sense of humor that made Petyr think it was a good idea to fight Brandon Stark a duel for her hand? Or maybe her quick wit? Let me guess, it was that she was going to make a wonderful mother? Sorry for your scar Petyr but the joke is on you, because you just can't see that you got the better end out of that deal. Come on, someone she used to know as a child tells her what she wants to hear and that's all she needs to burst into court with accusations against a hugely powerful family? Not a bright bulb. Not to mention that this is a woman who seems determined not to see that, except for Sansa, Ned's kids are all ridiculously awesome? I mean seriously, something has gone right in life if your kids are kind and helpful (Robb), brave and imaginative (Bran), decisive and hard-working (Arya), and just plain adorable (Rickon). She laments that she can't see her girls when she's leaving King's Landing, but she doesn't give Ned a message for them, doesn't have anything to say to them. Robb is in her place, giving Bran the comfort that he needs, reminding him that he is loved and his life is important, regardless of if he can remember how he fell. Not winning mother-of-the-year on that one. Proud, foolish and imprudent (plus a bitch to Jon), I'm just not seeing Catelyn as the prize everyone treats her as.

But, as baffling as it seems to me, Ned loves her and lucky for their kids, he actually is a good parent and a good man. As unappealing as the place might be, he sends Jon to a life where he has the opportunity to earn a place of honor, be respected by those around him, which (as much as his siblings love him) was not an option at Winterfell. He does his best to make Sansa happy; despite having little understanding of what she thinks will make her happy. He reprimands Arya when she needs it, listens to her concerns, and then provides her with the tools she needs to succeed in her chosen path. Ned’s responsibility, honesty and generosity towards his children reflect the way he treats (almost) everyone, and he sees that honor reflected back in his children. As with everything else, Robert should be taking notes! Well, maybe at least Robert should be asking Jaime the right questions…

Because really, what Aerys said when Jaime killed him (Robert’s question) is kind of unbelievably less important than WHY Jaime killed him (Ned’s question). You have this guy in front of you who extra special fancy swore to protect his king and then stabbed him in the back, and you’re not even going to demote him in the new regime, so wouldn’t you want to be absolutely with out a doubt sure that history wasn’t going to repeat itself? I would.

But that is of course the challenge inherent in Jaime’s continued existence. It’s not as if Robert had a huge choice in the matter of whether to pardon Jaime, since it wouldn’t help him to piss off a really powerful man (Tywin Lannister) but making an example out of his son, but what do you do with a man whose word you know you cannot believe? But a pardon is not forgiveness, but I would question if, even though his life was spared, whether Jaime was really pardoned. The constant humiliation of naming a man after his greatest crime (“Kingslayer”) seems an unmercifully slow death to the soul. But is that justice? Should regicide be repaid with swift mercy or prolonged correction?

Tyrion would know. I wish I could ask him.

The TV Girl

Fringe: Cheating Time and Breaking Hearts

2011-05-10T21:58:00.001-04:00

(3.22 "The Day We Died")

I'm going to say it, so if you haven't seen this episode, please stop reading.

PETER NEVER EXISTED!

At least according to the Observers gathered on Liberty Island witnessing the parley between Over-Here and Over-There.

15 years in the future Fringe agent Peter Bishop is injured and rushed to the hospital, where he is met by Astrid (with a fabulous hair cut), newly minted agent Ella Dunham, and eventually his wife Olivia (with some seriously unflattering news anchor hair). Peter will be fine, but theo-terrorist Moreau (Brad Dourif, in a fantastic piece of casting) won't let up, setting off a technologically advanced light bomb in an opera house. Peter needs help understanding the mechanics of the bomb, so he visits Walter in prison (convicted of causing the end of the world by kidnapping Peter), but Walter cannot help him from his cell. Peter must call in a favor from his old friend Senator Broyles (sporting a fancy artificial eye). Released, Walter reunites with Olivia, who can now control her super-human abilities, and sets to work figuring out the bomb, though he knows that it won't matter all that much even if he does, because Over-Here is still breaking down. Turns out the two universes were inextricably linked; one could not survive without the other, therefore when Peter went into the machine and destroyed Over-There, our doom became inevitable. This hasn't sat so well with Walternate, who as it turns out became trapped Over-Here when he crossed over to petition for peace and his universe ended, so he's decided to build weapons for Moreau. Walter traces a radiation signature from the bomb, but it leads Peter back to the cabin by the lake, and while he and Walternate talk about Walternate's plans to destroy Peter's life before he destroys his universe, Moreau blows a hole in the amber covering a wormhole in Central Park that leads to prehistoric times. Walternate in the cabin is just a hologram, he's really at Central Park, and he get out of a truck and shoots Olivia in the head. After Olivia's heartbreaking Viking funeral, Walter has a revelation and goes to convince a distraught (and maybe drunk) Peter that they can change things. Walter believes they can cheat time in that Walter is the one who sends the machine back through time via the wormhole and if they can somehow get a message about the consequences of using the machine to past-Peter (aka our present-Peter) that Peter can make a different choice and avoid doom. Present-day-Peter gets the gist and uses the machine to bring Walternate and Fauxlivia across to the Statue of Liberty Over-Here with Walter and Olivia. Everyone glares at each other, starts some yelling/blaming, Peter starts to say that they have to figure out how to get along because they are the First People, Walter specifically, and then Peter becomes blurry and disappears. The two sets of scientist and agent don't seem to notice, deciding that it is time they talked. And outside, one Observer remarks to another that those inside don't remember Peter. Why should they, the second Observer replies, Peter served his purpose and anyway, he never really existed.

I've been obsessing about this episode since last friday and I just don't know what to think.

I'm of like 4 minds about it all.

One the first hand, up until the last 30-second scene, this was a spectacular episode of Fringe.

There were so many beautiful moments that referred to and fulfilled the promises of the previous episodes. Once again, we meet Walter bearded and imprisoned, but we meet Peter a changed man. Peter seeks out Walter's advice instead of having to be dragged kicking and screaming into conversation with him. Before Peter was loath to admit that Walter had been anything but a plague upon his life, but now Peter assures Walter of his love and devotion as his son in an act of comfort. Later on in the lab, Peter quietly puts down a package of Red Vines next to Walter, to help him work; it is so simple but so touching. Walter and Ella discussed the story he told her, and though her childhood belief in happy endings has been lost in the face of personal tragedy (which as far as I could tell went unnamed but must have been the death of her mother Rachel), Ella and Walter are able to connect through the shared memory of better times, and Gene. Olivia is still the relentless agent she has always been, but she is finally happy, comfortable with herself and her past. She might not be ready to have kids, but she is no longer a frightened child herself, evidenced by her control of her abilities.

On it's own merits, the future was exciting. A silver-haired Walternate feeding technology to terrorists with a religious agenda was brilliantly devious and terrifying. In the face of ultimate destruction, Walternate has become even more fervent and generous in his hatred, now determined to punish the son he believes betrayed him, his megalomania even more pronounced in comparison to Walter's humility. Was it the loss of his eye that convinced Broyles to take his stern demeanor and clear head to the floor of the senate? Or did the incident in Detroit sever his belief in his efficacy in the FBI? Was Nina involved in some way, wanting another friend with high influence? The unknown mutually-assured-destruction link between the universes was a lovely nod to the Cold War genesis of so many science fiction tropes. And the tension and hostility of the face-off between Walters and Olivias looked to be enough to rip the universes back apart.

On the second hand, I feel like I got punched in the face and then spat on.

Is it really possible that there has been a lie at the heart of the show in which I have invested years of my time, empathy and intellect? Of course, because this is Fringe, "never existed" could mean something different than it sounds. How exactly has all this happened if Peter hasn't been real? Why would Walter go Over-There in the first place, and why would Walternate want to destroy Over-Here? How would Fauxlivia have Henry? How would Olivia grow from very damaged introverted workaholic to slightly less damaged vaguely awkward workaholic? And what exactly has been the point? So, the Observers, or most likely someone/something else concocted "Peter" in order to bring the two universes together? Why?

On the third hand, there really won't be a season finale as controversial as this one.

If the measure of success is getting people to talk about your show until it starts up again in the fall, Fringe is clearly THE show that will be discussed this summer. People will be asking all of my above questions and more. I'm sure as time passes I will have more questions, change my mind a dozen times about the whole thing, and by September I will just want to know so badly what they are going to do with this situation that I will watch even if I think it will make me angry. Tying everything up in a neat little package might leave the viewer satisfied but without anything to speculate about between seasons that satisfaction can easily turn to apathy, so from that perspective it's understandable to shock us in the final scene, but I'm not sure it was entirely necessary, considering that giving us a glimpse of the future and then bringing together the two universes posed questions and opened possibilities I would gladly tune into Season 4 for.

On the fourth hand, it could be too soon to tell if this is the (inevitable?) Abrams disappointment that will make Fringe unwatchable or if this is a brilliant new avenue for the show that will be as interesting and engaging as the previous 3 seasons.

Whatever happens from here, I think it's fair to say that Fringe will never be the same.

The TV Girl

RIP Peter, maybe...?

A Visitor from Barefoot and Pregnant? Welcome!

2011-05-06T10:53:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm being personal again. Sorry.

A couple days ago my friend Calah gave me a shout-out on her fantastic blog Barefoot and Pregnant and my traffic report is telling me that her wonderful readers have been giving me a glance upon her recommendation. Thank you Calah love.

Since mine is a really really different type of blog than Calah's I wanted to say hi, and maybe assure you guys that Calah isn't friends with some total nut case. I'm not sure that reading our respective writing that you would think Calah and I are both practicing Catholics who struggle daily to answer God's call in and through our vocations. Obviously mine isn't within the realm of marriage and motherhood, but rather single life. The element of my vocation that I choose to share with the world, on this blog, is my feeling that I am called by God to investigate the created representations of the human soul. Because I haven't been given the responsibility of forming particular souls, I have the luxury of indulging my endless curiosity, maybe to a degree that is unhealthy...

So it you've come here looking for the insight and honesty about marriage, motherhood and all that that entails, which you find from Calah, that's not so much my deal. But if you want to know what TV show is worth whatever free time you might or might not have, I can totally help.

Andrea

Fringe: Salvation Will Always Cost

2011-05-03T23:22:00.000-04:00

(3.21 "The Last Sam Weiss")

After an epic battle with Francie who wasn't really Francie, Sydney woke up in Hong Kong alone to find Vaughn married and no memory of the last three years.

Wait, I'm talking about the wrong show.

Peter is not waking up but it's possible no permanent damage was done. Deciding that the machine is misbehaving because it thinks Peter is already inside (because Over-There's turned on first) Sam Weiss, the fifth of his name, takes Olivia on a treasure hunt for a key to a box that will contain a crowbar that will allow Peter to get into the machine and turn it off. Massachusetts is being ravaged by dry lightening, and after a verbal ass-kicking from Astrid, Walter gets his kite out to take some measurements of the lightening so that they might be able to help. Based on all the evidence, they realize that because the machines in the two universes are quantum entangled, a fault line is forming between their respective locations, so Walter convinces Broyles to move the machine to Liberty Island, to minimize the damage. Sam and Olivia find the key, open the box, but the crowbar is a picture of Olivia, which they take back to Walter, who rolls it up and decides that Olivia will be able to telekinetically open up the machine. She practices her skills on the shapeshifter typewriter, and despite a vote of confidence from Walter, she isn't able to make the keys move. Peter wakes up, leaves the hospital, heads to New York and buys a coin, but he's confused, thinking that he is Over-There and asking to talk to his father Walternate. Walter and Olivia sort him out, the typewriter turns on, having saved up all the sentences Olivia wrote with her mind. After telling him she loves him, Olivia opens the machine for Peter, he gets in, and...

Agent Peter Bishop of Fringe Division awakens in New York City fifteen years in the future and wounded in the battle ensuing throughout the streets beneath (completed) Freedom Tower.

See how I got confused there?

Okay, despite the, um, similarities between Fringe and Alias, I have no argument for how this is going, because, well, damn if what we saw is Peter "saving" Over-Here, I would rather he didn't. (Ooooo, this is like Dollhouse...)

Can I just take a moment to sing the praises of one Agent Astrid Farnsworth. Astrid is amazingly patient and giving, spectacularly level-headed and hard-working, and so quietly loving to Walter, Peter, Olivia and Broyles without ever asking anything for herself. It would be so easy to think of her as some throwaway doormat of a side character, but (similarly to Broyles) Astrid is a steady counterbalance of both compassion and practicality and a spine of steel. She holds Walter's hand when necessary, and intervenes in his self-pity when necessary, an assistant with being subservient. I hope real FBI agents are as awesome as her.

Astrid doesn't need any pep talks to do what she needs to do, but our poor Olivia does. It wasn't until Walter and Olivia were talking, when he was explaining to her that in our weaknesses we will find our strengths, that I realized just how sad Olivia is. It's not that I didn't get that she is very rarely happy, or that she has some deep seated emotional issues that prevent her from easily trusting others or smoothly interacting with the world, but her face was just so bleak when she couldn't make the typewriter work. Ignored, used and assaulted by almost everyone she's ever encountered, Olivia isn't just walled in self-doubt, she is fortified in negation. Despite the fact that she has overcome every shite situation thrown at her (she got herself back from an alternate reality for pete's sake!), the task-at-hand is simply insurmountable to her. But somewhere inside she believes in Walter's vision of her: she trusts that he believes the way he sees her is in fact the truth of her character, and that she cannot make that truth her own is her real grief. But because she is Olivia, when the world needs her, and with Peter by her side, her mind can actually bend the world around it.

Now again, that isn't necessarily in our best interests.

The TV Girl

(Not to be way too political, but there is something crazy that this episode aired on Friday and then on Sunday Pope John Paul II (who always encouraged us to rise about our doubt to be the men and women God made us to be) was beatified and Osama bin Laden (who help mastermind 9/11) was confirmed dead. Wow.)

My Weekend Fling: Pretty Little Liars, Season 1

2011-05-02T14:26:00.000-04:00

(I feel that I should preface what I'm about to say with: remember that I watched all 22 episodes of this show.)

I think my insomnia is starting to rot my brain, because Saturday night when I couldn't sleep I just kept watching episode after episode of Pretty Little Liars, and as the sun rose in the morning sky I realized that I didn't think the show had been utterly terrible. How sad.

At a slumber party 15 year old Alison (Sasha Pieterse) goes missing, fracturing the bonds between longtime friends Spencer (Torian Bellisario), Hanna (Ashley Benson), Aria (Lucy Hale) and Emily (Shay Mitchell). A year later, Alison's body is discovered, reuniting the girls, but the identity of her murderer is only one of the many secrets in Rosewood, PA. While Spencer tries to manage the expectations of her overly ambitious family, Aria tries to hid her sexual relationship with her English teacher from her parents that are splitting up because of her father's infidelity, Emily tries to come to terms with her sexual orientation, and Hanna tries to counterbalance her mother's indiscretions without sucuming to an eating disorder, all four girls are harassed by "A": a shadow deterimined to expose their flaws and wrongdoings at the same time as leading them to Alison's killer.

Honestly, for the most part PLL is over-the-top, verging on the completely ridiculous, but it's fairly enjoyable. That is, if you can get over a few things.

First, there is the fact that, with notable exceptions, the vast majority of males in this fictional town are either dead-eyed sociopaths, dead-eyed sexual predators, or both. (And the actors all seem to have trouble making facial expressions. It's very annoying for a while, then it just becomes funny.) I'm not kidding, there is a serious problem with the men in this town understanding what is an acceptable age gap between partners, and since they are ALWAYS the older parties, that where I'm putting the emphasis: Ezra Fitz, a recent college graduate, pursues a relationship with Aria, his sixteen year old student; Spencer becomes the object of desire for her older sister Melissa's past/present/future boyfriends/fiancées; Alison was dating an older mystery guy; and Aria's father has had an affair with a woman at least 20 years his junior. The actual teenage boys that are hanging around these girls aren't a great deal better: at worst leveraging either information for power (Noel) or useful skills for money (Caleb); at best greedily absorbing attention while repaying it with scorn (Sean). There is the possibility that this show is a brilliant evisceration of female vulnerability, but...well maybe. Probably not.

And the above is a huge part of the second serious detraction in PLL. The giant gaping black hole of suck in this show is Aria and everything having to do with her: her icktastic boyfriend, her oblivious parents, her wardrobe. Of the four girls, Aria is simply the least interesting. Obviously intended to be the most "free-spirited" and "artistic" of the group, Aria doesn't seem to have any particular skills, talents, or activities. It's offhandedly mentioned once that she reads books aside for the ones she's assigned and she's "really excited about fiction" but that's about it. While Spencer, Hanna and Emily all participate in at least one sport or club activity (and are seen at some point or another doing homework), Aria pretty much goes to school for the sole purpose of flirting with her teacher, goes home to lecture her younger brother, and goes then goes to Ezra's apartment to cook. From what what we see, she doesn't do, create, or think much of anything. Her utter lack of personality, or basic connection to reality, is perfectly matched in her equally vacuous "boyfriend." Mr. Fitz, who never seems to grade homework or need to make lesson plans despite being a first year teacher, is supposedly a talented writer but since we only hear snippets of what he's written we have to take that on the authority of Aria or her father (because they have such trustworthy judgement). And that is the extent of his character: likes underage girls and writes. I know I sound like I'm harping on the Aria/Ezra relationship, but it takes up a significant portion of every episode, so I am only bitching in proportion to how much they subjected me to it. These two literally have the exact same conversation at least 22 times (once an episode) if not more. Here it is:

One: I hate that sneaking around is so difficult because you are the most amazing person I've ever met.
The Other: I agree. But this is very difficult.
One: I don't want to give up on us.
The Other: Me either, but what about the necessity of having coffee in public with your significant other?
One: I don't need coffee in public, as long as I have dinner in secret with you.
The Other: You're the best.

If it weren't bad enough to watch two boring people, having to listen to them say the same thing over and over and over again is like Chinese water torture. If you are going to assert the normalcy of a legally and ethically inappropriate relationship, it helps if the viewer doesn't want to slip into a coma every time either character is on screen. (PLL show runners, please see Chris and Angie from Skins UK Series 1 for a student/teacher relationship that was equally as inappropriate but was dramatically and emotionally engrossing TV.)

How lame Aria is stands out because the other girls are appealing and entertaining characters.

Star scholar and well-rounded college applicant Spencer is ambitious, competitive, suspicious, prickly, and combative. But she is also funny, loyal, and she is the driving force behind trying to discover Alison's killer. She's unofficially the leader, but she doesn't manipulate the other girls, as numerous flashbacks clearly demonstrate that Alison did when she was queen. She doesn't want to live resentfully in the shadow of her older sister's achievements, and she does the best she can in the face of Melissa's staggering megalomania. Spencer's eventual relationship with stoic neighbor, and initial suspect in Alison's murder, Toby has a faint similarity to the greatness that was Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls, at least in part because their first kiss is also in a motel parking lot. (Although, in comparison, Toby's familial circumstances makes the Echolls family look well-adjusted and functional.)

Swimming phenomenon Emily struggles to be honest with herself and eventually everyone else about being gay without a great deal of angst or self-loathing. She is fearful of the changes her honesty could mean for her life, but when the time comes to tell her father she does so in a brave and straightforward manner. Emily is unfailingly forgiving, determined to give everyone a second chance. Emily is shy, and therefore not often the instigator of events and sometimes needs a nudge to move out of her comfort zone, but she isn't a doormat either. She stands up for herself and her opinions patiently and respectfully. Emily is a great example of treat-people-how-you-want-to-be-treated.

Recently minted It-Girl Hanna is the opposite of your typical bitchy popular girl. Hanna fluctuates between rebellious outburst, like high-end shoplifting, and having to provide stability and support to her mother, who makes really really poor life choices. Hanna was previously the chubby girl of the group and often on the receiving end of Alison's venom, but instead of becoming the likeness of her antagonizer, Hanna is kind and generous to a fault: she befriends outcasts, attends abstinence-group meetings with her boyfriend to understand his viewpoint even though she wants to have sex, and lends a couch to the teen homeless. Granted, these things usually don't work out in her favor, but when Hanna finally looses her cool with people abusing her amity it is one of the best moments all season.

The real strength of this show is the pacing. Much like The Vampire Diaries, they pack a lot into each hour of PLL. A doesn't really take a day off, relentlessly airing secrets, divulging tidbits of evidence and setting traps for the girls. We move along for shocking-reveal to unforeseen-plot-development at a fairly brisk pace, thereby minimizing emoting time and avoiding beating every storyline (completely) to death. The viewer is encouraged in watching the next episode, because we know that something will happen even if it won't necessarily be the answer to our questions. Now, the season finale revealed Alison's murderer, but the case is far from closed, we still don't know who A is, and they have opened the door for the whole situation being much bigger than we thought, so you could say that we ended up with more questions than answers, but if next season continues in the same vein, we should know something more pretty quickly.

Wait, did I just admit that I intend to watch the next season?

Well, I do kind of want to know what Jenna, the blind girl with an ax to grind, is up to.

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: Isn't The Problem That Lady Wasn't There?

2011-05-01T15:36:00.000-04:00

(1.2 "The Kingsroad")

It's been a month since Bran's "fall" and the time has come for everyone to leave Winterfell. After smacking Joffery around for being a twat, Tyrion informs his siblings he's off to piss off the end of the world, aka, going to the Wall. After the most painfully awkward goodbyes, and gifting a sword to Arya, Jon sets out for the Wall with his uncle and Tyrion. Tyrion and Jon do some sharing and trust building over some wine, discussing why the former reads so much (books are a whetstone to the mind) and why the former is taking the Black (what options does a bastard have). After a ineffectual guilt trip from the stricken Catelyn, Ned sets off with King and Co. for the capital with his daughters. Along the way Ned and Robert discuss the realm's preparedness should Daenerys land on their shores with her new husband's army. (The consensus is Westros wouldn't fair so well, but don't worry, horse lords won't cross the Narrow Sea.) Dany's got more, um, immediate issues, as her marriage isn't going so well. Her brother is still hanging around and her husband is less than respectful of her in their bed, so she enlists the help of one of her slaves to teach her about sex, and as soon as she establishes some eye contact, she and Drogo start getting along much better. (Yay, I guess.) Luckily Catelyn turns away from the fire that's been set as a diversion and locks eyes with the man whose getting ready to kill Bran, and much to the determent of her hands, wrestles the knife from him and while Summer (Bran's direwolf) rips out the would be assassin's throat. She investigates the tower Bran fell from and decides that he must have been pushed, a theory she shares with Robb, Theon, Rodrik, and Luwin. Catelyn decides to go south to share her suspicions with Ned, Rodrik insists on escorting her. Ned has enough problems already, since while camped Nymeria (Arya's direwolf) attacks Joffery after he attacks her and her friend practicing sword fighting, and when Sansa will not tell the truth to the King about the incident, Cersei insists that if Nymeria has run off Lady (Sansa's direwolf) will be executed for the unprovoked attack on the completely innocent Joffery. Robert does nothing to curtail his queen's cruelty nor pays heed to his old friend's plea for mercy, so Ned dutifully kills his daughter's direwolf. And Bran wakes up.

So we've had a nice introduction to the Starks, let's get to know the Baratheon/Lannister clan a little better.

Tyrion can beat Joffery black and blue with all of my blessings. Tyrion doesn't hit Joffery for the fun of it (though I have to think he kind of enjoyed it, who wouldn't), he is trying to teach Joff a very simple lesson: there are respects due to people who pledge you their fealty, and without that you cannot hope to PEACEFULLY keep the love of your subjects. Of course, there is little hope that Joff listened to his uncle, but even if he had, Lady's execution proved the opposite point. What hope is there for the future, or the present really, when the King literally can not be bothered to enforce the ruling on a matter that he has just given. Robert does not answer Ned when he asks if it is the crown's will that Lady should die in the place of Nymeria, and in that act he effectively hands his power over to Cersei, and his son in turn learns that an effective lie told to the right person with the appropriate show will allow you to exert your will over others. Tyrion uses a strike to teach Joffery about kingship, Cersei uses a hug to teach Joffery about tyranny.

But is Cersei a cold manipulative bitch out of necessity or out of vainglory? Initially I was really disgusted by Cersei visiting Catelyn in Bran's sickroom and telling a story about her first son who died (I think) shortly after being born. It seemed so vile that you would try and empathize with another mother grieving for her child when you are responsible for the condition of that child (and yes, I hold Cersei as responsible for Bran as Jaime). Did loosing her son convince her of a malevolent universe that she must protect herself against without regard to ethics or repercussion? There is no question that her regard for the distinction of her children need have no relation to the truth of their character or the justice of the situation.

In contrast, Catelyn's quest for rank and justice for her children leaves them more humiliated and vulnerable than before. When Sansa goes walking with Joffery she leaves Lady behind in the camp, (mostly) unintentionally choosing her future husband's family over the one she is born into, and her fear that she will loose the chance to be queen, to be esteemed by all, is why she crumbles when asked for the truth about Joffery's injury. Catelyn's abhorrence of Jon, because he is an assault to her honor, has trickled down to her daughter, teaching her that the social perception of a person is more important than their inner substance. And poor Bran has woken up to find both his parents and most of his siblings are gone. His mother, in the name of protecting him, exposes him to the (possibility) of the very real dangers inherent in fear and abandonment.

And Ned sees clearly the danger to his children if they are divided against themselves.

The TV Girl

(I actually started this post a week ago when the episode aired, but well, then it just didn't get finished.)

Fringe: Ummm, WHAT!

2011-04-24T13:12:00.000-04:00

(3.19 "Lysergic Acid Diethylamide" and 3.20 "6:02 AM EST")

So, Bell and Olivia are not cohabitating in her brain so well, and in order to keep her consciousness from disappearing Bellivia, Walter and Peter take some LSD and send their consciousness into Olivia's to find her. Surprisingly to them, but somehow this didn't shock me too much, Olivia's brain is a hostile place, and everyone tries to kill them, both as regular 3-D people and as really cool animation. Peter figures out that since Olivia runs and hides when she is frightened, and wouldn't you be frightened if someone shoved their brain into yours, Olivia is hiding in the last place anyone would ever look for her, her home on the military base in Jacksonville. While zeppelining there, Bell tells Walter that he believes Walter is a different man then when he was young and that he will make the right choices for the future, and Peter unlocks a room where a man he's never seen before is hiding. Peter finds Olivia, she stands up to her fear of her step-father, and Bell fades away, leaving Olivia as the sole proprietor of her body. Everyone comes down from their high, and all seems happy, until Olivia tells Peter that the man in the locked room is the man who is going to kill her. AND if that wasn't bad enough, Walternate uses Henry's (Peter and Faulivia's super cute super baby!) blood to turn on the machine, turning on the machine Over-Here as well, causing wormholes across the eastern seaboard, signaling the beginning of the end, and our heroes are at a loss how to stop or even contain the wormholes. Nina sends Olivia off to find Sam, hoping he has some way of turning off the machine. Peter decides to go into the machine to try and turn it off, which despite the pain it causes him, Walter agrees to help him do. Over-There, Fringe Division registers the energy emissions that are "healing" Over-There and Fauxlivia figures out that Walternate has turned on the machine, despite the fact that it will kill Peter. Unwilling to accept Walternate's decree, Fauxlivia leaves Henry with Lincoln, breaks into Liberty Island and tries to get Over-Here. Peter's attempt to go into the machine doesn't go so well, as the machine shocks him into a coma. Sam finds Olivia, and takes her off to save the world (in the next two episodes). Fauxlivia didn't make it Over-Here, and is now the new tenant in Olivia's cell. All in all, really sad for everyone.

Now, we all know that Olivia has some rather enhanced observational abilities, but she know whose going to kill her? If this guy is locked up in Olivia's mind then it seems like he is someone she knows, but as far as we know she didn't tell Peter that she is convinced a guy she's met before is going to kill her. But considering that there seems to be no end to the ridiculous bullshit Olivia has to go through, it's not outside the realm of possibility that Olivia does know that there is a man that is going to kill her. I would think that this is part of next season's story, but who knows, in the last two episodes of this season we might have an answer.

Or we may not even have answers to the questions we have now. (Or maybe the Lost reference struck too much fear into my heart. It probably wasn't intended to strike fear, now that I think about it.) As best I can understand, the machine works by fixing one universe with pieces from the other, which will leave one whole and one destroyed. (I have to wonder if sheep are really worth 6 billion lives, but I guess I should wait to experience a totally breakdown in the laws of physics before I judge.) Peter probably couldn't get into the Over-Here machine because Walternate turned on the Over-There machine first, which means Fauxlivia is Over-Here's only hope, but Peter's coma is probably more than a coma, so he might be able to figure it all out.

Even if he doesn't, I have a feeling that Walternate made a HUGE mistake pissing of Fauxlivia. She just doesn't strike me as a girl who takes kindly to someone trying to kill her baby-daddy and then locking her up in a dark cell. Olivia just wanted to go home and make the best compromise for everyone, but Fauxlivia is probably going to bust out and go all revenge-y on Walternate. Plus when Lincoln finds out his dear unrequited love is his boss' captive, I foresee he will take it poorly.

Alright, problems solved, let them take care of it, and Over-Here can live happily-ever-after.

Wow, what an unsatisfying conclusion to this season that would be. Unfortunately we've reached that point where we just have to wait to see how this season is going to turn out: the big reveal is waiting for us, as soon as all the pieces are in place.

The TV Girl

Texting with LilBro

2011-04-19T19:27:00.000-04:00

I had to share this because it's still making me laugh. This is part of a text conversation between me and my little brother.

The TV Girl

Friday Night Lights: God May Open a Door, But Your Phone Won't Work

2011-04-19T11:12:00.000-04:00

(5.1 "Expectations")

I watched all of S4 over the weekend, and while I have many thoughts about it, I'm not really ready to voice those. So I've decided to just skip ahead to the new(-ish) episode from Friday.

Having said that, do I really have to put up with another whole season of Becky? Maybe spaced out week to week she won't make me want to offer up myself to invasive medical research. Maybe. I don't know that there is much hope that she will get any smarter, but in smaller doses I may find her relentless desperation slightly less oppressive. I'm sorry her mom went to work on a casino boat and that her step-mom didn't want her around, but... ok, I'll stop.

So, Tami is the guidance counselor at East Dillon, and she finds the teachers somewhat apathetic and the parents rather absent. Becky is going to live with Billy and Mindy, since no one else wants her. Billy is going to assistant coach the Lions, because he wants to be around the good influence of Eric. And no one can question what a good influence Eric is, since not only did he manage to make the Lions into a cohesive team that can win (more than twice), you've got to give him some credit for Vince's wonderful advice to Jess' brother about responsibility. After a last Crucifictorious performance and a trip to the Landing Strip, Landry and Julie went of to their respective colleges.

Buddy Garrity in his full on Buddy-Garrity-mode is just priceless. Of course he knows that Ruckle is a Welsh name, because he has probably lifted Hastings' fingerprints and knows every detail of his life, since little pesky hiccups like personal privacy or human dignity won't stop Buddy in pursuit of the perfect football team.

On the other hand, how uncomfortable is Billy's guilt? Not that we aren't kind of used to this, since Billy's entire life is one overcompensation after another, and letting you kid brother take the fall for your illegal activity is a shit move, but Billy introducing himself to the Lions was downright painful. It would be really nice if by the end of this series Billy had a tiny bit of self-respect.

Did I miss the part where they said what college Julie is going to or did they not actually say it? Julie isn't be written off the show, since she is the daughter of the main characters that would be a little awkward. Looks like there will be more mistakes and meltdowns from dear Julie, who despite her tendency to be a bit unpleasant I can't seem to really dislike.

But this may have been the last time we see Landry, and can we just take a moment to appreciate the wonderfulness. Landry wasn't often the hero, never really got the girl, and his band lacked stage presence, but was good-hearted, kind, willing to forgive, and appreciative of his blessings in life. Nothing showed Landry's character better than his farewell to Mrs. Saracen. He took the time to say good-bye to his best friend's grandmother, to give someone who had influenced his life the respect she deserved. Lance, best of luck at Rice, you deserve it.

Here is my problem, not with the episode, with my life. I want to watch The Chicago Code (which means catching up with the whole season so far because it got away from me). I would like to enjoy this final season of FNL the way it was intended, week by week. These two desires conflict, because of Matt Lauria. I don't know that I can concurrently watch an actor play characters in such vastly different circumstances without my suspension of disbelief suffering. I sound like I'm begrudging someone their success, and really I'm not: I like him and one of my great joys is seeing actors and actresses I like on new/different shows. I'm just afraid that in this instance my experience of one or both shows will lessen. Anyone (hint hint KP) have any advice?

The TV Girl

Game of Thrones: Lions, and Direwolves, and Stags, Oh My!

2011-04-18T17:26:00.000-04:00

(1.1 "Winter is Coming")

I'll be honest, I have no idea how to talk about this show. My head is thrashing back and forth between that-was-different-than-the-book nitpicking and did-you-see-that-shit giddiness. Please bear with me if this post ends up being total gibberish, I'll find it before the season ends.

Now that I have excused myself from being coherent, organized, or focused, Game of Thrones was damn cool television.

What you need to know: Ned Stark (Sean Bean) rules the North from Winterfell where he lives with his family: wife Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), sons Robb (Richard Madden), Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), and Rickon (whose name I cannot find on IMDb), daughters Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya (Maisie Williams), and bastard son Jon Snow (Kit Harington). When Ned's mentor John Arryn dies, Ned's lifelong friend King Robert (Mark Addy) travels to Winterfell with his wife Cersei (Lena Headey), his son Joffery (Jack Gleeson), and Cersei's brothers Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), to offer Ned the position of Hand of the King (a truly thankless job). Across the sea, Viserys (Harry Lloyd) and Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) the surviving children of the Targaryen King that Robert defeated 15 years before are engineering their return to Westros by marrying Daenerys to Kahl Drogo (Jason Momoa), the leader of a large and powerful horse-lord tribe. When Ned and Catelyn receive word from her sister Lysa Arryn that John Arryn was murdered, they decided Ned must accept Robert's offer and find out the truth of what's going on in the capital. Unfortunately, Bran finds out a truth when he catches Jamie and Cersei having sex, a discovery for which Jaime throws Bran out of a tower window.

Now let's all try and remember there is no way, no possible way, for every detail from this massive book (the first in a massive series) to make it into a TV series. That said, I am blown away by just how much they managed to get into this first hour, and how well they did it.

So what's different? The most noticeable thing to me is that they have aged the Stark children. In the book Robb and Jon are 15, Sansa is 11, Arya is 9, Bran is 7 and Rickon is 3. To me, Robb and Jon look more like 18 or 19, Sansa says she is 13, they say Bran is 10. I'm inclined to think this was a good decision on the parts of Misters Benioff and Weiss. While it might stunt the emotional impact of certain events, it will be less distracting in the long run when it comes to wars and marriages, since the viewer will not have to keep reminding him/herself that the characters are barely older than children.

The second most obvious change is they have made Catelyn's hostility towards Jon completely out in the open. In the book (at this point) Catelyn treats Jon with repressed hostility, not the open contempt she looks at him with when he was cleaning up the arrows from Bran's target practice, and Jon was included in the feast for the royal family, though he was no allowed to sit with his siblings, while in the show Catelyn does not allow him to attend, on the pretext that his presence would offend the Queen. Here is where I have to admit my bais, where my opinions formed from the book influences the way that I'm watching this show, because I think making Caetlyn's attitude towards Jon so apparent is a spectacular choice on the show runners' part. Jon is one of my favorite characters and Catelyn might be my least favorite. (I'm actually hoping that the show can maybe make me hate Catelyn less, but that won't happen if they stick to the source material.) I think that the way she treats Jon exposes her pride and folly, and that the viewer now has a very good grasp on the principles from which she is going to make her future decisions.

A third difference as we move medium is Jamie's prominence. In the book Jamie is one of the main actors who shapes events: it is his (impulsive) choices that others must respond to, and if particular characters are not directly reacting to something he did, they seem to still be talking about him. But for all that, I found, Jaime to be almost absent, like he was in my peripheral vision and I knew he was there but I couldn't see him. (Part of this is undoubtedly narrative structure, since Jaime does not speak in his own voice until the third book.) It seems like they are trying to establish Jaime as a character and not just an idea and in the scene between him and Tyrion they did an excellent job of solidifying the former and introducing the latter.

And what an introduction! Tyrion Lannister announced his presence in all of his drinking, whoring, witty magnificence. I will refrain from saying Jamie and Tyrion's interaction was sweet, because well, facilitating your brother's orgy so that he isn't late to dinner is pretty icky, but on the sliding scale of Lannister-dysfunction, it shows that Jaime does care for Tyrion. Tyrion is such an interesting contrast to Robert; a man who has to indulge in his appetites in private rather than public because his gifts are intellectual rather than physical. While I think that the whole cast (so far) is superb, Dinklage's sly delivery and watchful demeanor are exemplary.

On a really silly note, they weren't what I was expecting, but I really liked the opening credits. It was like a Lego map, a tiny whimsical moment in what will most likely turn out to be a less than light series.

All in all, a great start.

The TV Girl

My Internal Debates: If I Could Magic Myself Somewhere

2011-04-12T22:06:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write something cheerful for a friend of mine, she is embroiled in a debate over a very controversial issue, and while she is unshaken in her conviction, I think her spirit needs some lightening, just for a moment.

And that is what I'm here for people: distraction!

Well, that, and totally logical arguments supporting my undeniably correct opinions.

So, if I were a character (that did not already exist) on a TV show (that does exist), which show would it be and what would me character be like?

It wouldn't be Chuck; since I cannot be Sarah, as a female character I would end up either evil, heartbroken, or both. And seriously, what would be the point of being a character on Chuck if I couldn't make out with Chuck?

It would be pretty fun to hang out in Neptune, CA with Veronica Mars, her being of the quick wit and mystery-solving disposition. But Veronica had a plucky female friend (Mac was the cutest!) and I don't know that I could be an adversary knowing that there was no way I could beat her.

There is a lure in the possibility of being a gun-toting badass on Sons of Anarchy. If only there wasn't a high likelihood that I would be kidnapped at some point...

I think that I would have to go with... Fringe.

There are obvious reasons for wanting to be a character on Fringe: getting stoned and listening to music with Walter, your job would always be interesting and never really tied to a desk, plenty of travel, maybe getting replaced in someone else's life, pregnancy only takes 9 hours not 9 months, zeppelins. The drawbacks include impending doom and constant peril, but what is life without a little risk?

But what would my character be like? What would I do? Does it not seem odd to anyone else that Walternate has no adversary Over-There? Yes, Over-Here as an entire universe is his adversary, but is it possible that his control of Over-There is so ironclad? I think I'll just write myself in as one: scientist, former protegee of the Mad Secretary, after discovering his true nature becomes opposed to his version of events and starts rouge counter-agency to foil his plans. Kind of like a mirror of the relationship of the ZFT to Over-Here Fringe Division was in S1. My character would be a bit on the angry side, but resourceful and determined. Definitely a redhead, Fringe could use that.

This is officially as close to fan-fiction as I will ever come. Shame.

The TV Girl

As Through a TV-Screen Brightly: Friday Night Lights and My Relationship With Texas

2011-04-11T12:49:00.000-04:00

I'm going to say up front: this is about me more than it is about TV. Much more.

I lived in Irving, Texas (a suburb of Dallas) for 7 years. I attended an amazing college for my undergraduate degree and my graduate studies. (University of Dallas forever! Go Crusaders!) Pretty much every day that I lived there I thought about how happy I would be to leave. I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and to say that Dallas was a culture shock would be a huge understatement. The pretty much year-round heat and humidity left me constantly sunburned and frizzy haired, not to mention depressed. As a centralized population city girl I was used to walking where I needed to go, so the seemingly ever-growing suburban sprawl that required constant use of a car aggravated me as wasteful and ugly. My suspicious, ironic and detached heart could never truly believe that the boisterous, opinionated and polite Texans were genuine, I was always waiting for them to expose their "real" side. For the first few years no one could understand what I was saying because they claimed I talked too fast (and somehow in order to accommodate the drawl-ers and slow my speech I turned into a mumbler, which now aggravates the hyper-angry DC-ers). In many ways I never acclimated to Texas.

But, all this said, I had a really wonderful life there. I got an outstanding, and reasonably priced, education. I met people who I have loved and who have loved me more than I could have possibly imagined beforehand. I found that bar that will always be my favorite, no matter where I go. I was constantly over-reaching, over-extending myself and getting knocked down, requiring me to be constantly growing into a better person. I cried a lot, but only because there were a lot of challenges that I needed to rise to, and for the most part I at least tried. My days were as unpredictable as the Texas weather: brightly sunny one moment, storm-ravaged the next. Though I often screamed in frustration, I equally laughed with joy.

I cannot say these things about my life now, and for the longest time I simply assumed that my previous condition was entirely circumstantial, completely about what my life was without any relation to where it was. This assumption came crashing down at 1:30 AM this morning, as my desperate insomnia drove me back to a long lost love: Friday Night Lights.

I'm sure it won't be surprising to hear that I fell away from watching Friday Night Lights right around the time I moved away from Texas. It had nothing to do with the quality of the show or my attachment to it, I was simply in a head-space where I wanted to move on from the life I had in Texas and watching a show set there made me feel like I was hanging on to something that I shouldn't. But when the fifth and final season was released on DVD last week, and NBC prepares to air it starting this month, I realized that I missed this show. So thanks to Netflix Watch Instantly (have I mentioned how much I adore this service) I was able yesterday to pick-up right where I left off (which I am embarrassed to say was in the second half of S3).

The Taylors, the Collettes, the Rigginses, the Garritys and the Saracens were all right there waiting for me. And as the hours passed (with the hope of sleep become more dismal) and as I once again became enthralled with the uncertainty and expectation of the game, the harsh realities of small-town politics, the triumphs and trials of loves both enjoyed and sacrificed, and all the amazing humble beauty of FNL, something inside of my finally cracked and I saw that Texas, as a place, was important, in particular, to me.

Needless to say I cried.

It is hard to hide under all that sky and that kind of exposure creates a very certain type of people, a very distinct culture and tradition.

Friday Night Lights is essentially sincere, but not in a cloying way. Texas is not a place for cynicism, which is part of why I always felt so out of place there. You are supposed to say what you mean and mean what you say. It's considered inappropriate to disregard things that you see as a problem with a glib comment and a shrug of your shoulders. The presumption that one should live a life of integrity and courage in conviction is why Texans are tough but not hard. Tami Taylor's tenacious and loving discussion with her daughter Julie about sex struck me as a painful contrast to my own flares of righteous indignation followed by indifferent refusal to try and address a difficult situation. I used to be tough, now I'm just hard (or maybe more accurately, brittle).

I wondered what woman could honestly say she wouldn't want to marry a man like Eric Taylor, and I realized that there were women who had never even met a man like that. For Texans being a man isn't about how expensive your car is or how much power your job allows you to wield; being a man is about being responsible, devoted, honest, and respectful. This isn't to say every guy I met in Texas was a saint, but rather that there is societal understanding that men should be men and not boys: anchored by family and determined in purpose. I realized I wasn't finding this in DC in part because there was no expectation of it. Holding doors open is frowned upon, dismissing other people is par for the course because no one can possibly be in as big a hurry as you are, and what you do for a living is the first thing you inform people of after you introduce yourself. When Joe McCoy not only rejected Coach Taylor's attempts to put aside personal differences and do what was right for Joe's son JD, but went on to maneuver Eric out of job simply for personal revenge, all I could think was "that's a typical DC d**k move."

When Billy convinced Tim that he should go to college because his children and Billy's children needed the familial example that they had the option of choosing better for their lives, it suddenly occurred me that the parents I hear talk about why their child needs to go to this college or that college is so that they can earn a certain amount of money, so that they can make the connections to get the prestigious job, so that the neighbors don't gossip about whose child is more successful. What do I want my children to value, the freedom that comes with an education or the paycheck that comes with a degree?

The DC area is not a cesspool of depravity and vain-glory. There are plenty of wonderful people, an incomparably interesting and significant history, and those cherry-blossoms really are all they're cracked up to be, I promise. But it is not a generous place. It is a sad statement of how far I've come from when I lived in Texas that I needed a TV show to get me to see that.

The TV Girl

Doctor Who: Series 6 Trailer!!!

2011-03-31T11:00:00.000-04:00

I waited until today to watch the trailer for Doctor Who Series 6. Yesterday had enough joy in it, I need to save some for today.

Apparently we are going to get some forward momentum on the River Song storyline. I for one welcome this; I would hate for the show to take forever with the coy little I-Know-You-But-You-Don't-Know-Me game that River's got going on since that would inevitably lead to annoyance and disappointment.

Did anyone else see what looked like creepy walking dolls? Now there is the potential for a really terrifying episode, at least for people like me who are frightened of old-time-y dolls.

And finally, I believe that we are to have the impression that Amy shoots someone. I'm sure she has a very good reason.

April is going to be an exciting month.

The TV Girl

My Internal Debates: Art Versus Artist?

2011-03-30T18:48:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I haven't been writing because I haven't really been watching anything. Don't worry, I get back to Lazyville (my couch) soon enough. But for now...

I'm sure we have all heard all about the big drama drama going on over Season 5 of Mad Men. You haven't? Well:

EOnline!-Mad Men Delay

EOnline! - Twitter Outrage (?)

In all fairness, I should say that I don't watch Mad Men. I watched S1, started S2 and always meant to get back around to it, ya know since everyone and their grandmother thinks it's just brilliant, but I never really wanted to. The pace made me want to gouge my eyes out, every time I saw Vincent Kartheiser I thought "Connor!" which for all you Angel fan out there you know is not a good thing, and for all that Jon Hamm is an extremely handsome man I found Don Draper to be an unbelievably ugly character. I have no personal stake in the result of these negotiations; if Matthew Weiner get 30 million or 30 cents it make no difference to me, and I will continue on without much though to it if Mad Men runs another 2 seasons or another 10.

That said, sounds like a lot of money to me, maybe somewhat disproportional to the audience of his show. It doesn't make me think well of him, and that got me thinking more about something I think about on and off: does it matter if we think that a show's creator/executive producer/show runner is a good person?

I ask myself the same kind of question when I look at Picasso, or read Tolstoy, or watch Katherine Hepburn, and as yet I really don't have a good answer. I'll give you 3 cases in my TV life: Joss Whedon, Ryan Murphy, and Kurt Sutter. (I do not know any of these men personally, I am not attempting to present anything but my own opinion, I am simply giving my thoughts on the public impression they make.)

In my head, Joss Whedon is Santa Clause: a really nice man who just wants to make people happy and therefore continually gives them presents. Is this a projection onto him of my love for his shows? Yes. Have I ever read anything to the contrary? No. I hope that he really is as nice in real life as he is in my head, but barring his turning out to be a murderer or something along those lines, my love to too longstanding to be shaken. I would still watch Buffy and Angel even if he should give an interview that makes him sound like a jerk. I would still cry a bit when Wash dies even if rumors were to surface that Mr. Whedon was a demanding boss or difficult to work with. For me, Joss Whedon has created a body of work that is humorous, thoughtful, and honest. His contribution can stand on it's own should be some sad turn of events I were to find out that he is less than the ideal of kindness that he is in my head.

On the other hand, it made me even less inclined to like Glee when Ryan Murphy started lashing out at musicians who didn't want to license their songs for his show. My low opinion of Glee (such a shame, such wasted potential) dropped even lower as Mr. Murphy's comments displayed an (apparently) inflated ego and uncharitable disposition. More than that, his attitude seemed to me so self-defeating, it made me think he wasn't very bright. (It's possibly a bad tactic to encourage people to work with you by the implicit threat of "I will drag you through the mud if you don't.") When Mr. Murphy had his little hissy-fit at the Kings of Leon, all I could think was "of course someone who makes a show that is that self-indulgent and inconstant would say things like that." The public persona of the creator affirmed, what I see as, the underlying arrogance of the creation: the exaggerated bafflement that different people hold different opinions could have been a speech given by one of his cartoonish characters.

And then somewhere in the middle lies Kurt Sutter, and for those who don't know that name, he is the man behind Sons of Anarchy. I follow Mr. Sutter on Twitter and I read his blog. This (admittedly slim) public record does not give me the impression of a super friendly happy-go-lucky guy, but rather someone who is direct, opinionated, acerbic, and maybe somewhat proud of himself for coming off like a jerk, but also someone who holds himself to the same standards he holds everyone else to. As a friend can attest, I initially found Mr. Sutter's straightforward-ness on Twitter somewhat distressing and from what I can glean, if he and I were to sit down and have a long chat about politics and religion we would most likely have significantly differing opinions (or more likely I would be to frightened to say anything at all). The more I thought about it, the more I began to wonder what I was looking for in a show: was niceness or truth more important to me? Do we really do anyone any favors if we smile while he correct their error or do we only compromise the sincerity of our beliefs in the name of politeness? The beauty and brutality of Sons of Anarchy wouldn't be enhanced if Kurt Sutter (appeared to be) a swell guy to have a beer with. The subject matter doesn't necessitate tact, it necessitates integrity; so while Mr. Sutter (seems) to lack the former, he has not betrayed by his public declarations that he lacks the latter, therefore as yet my view of the show is essentially unaffected by the figure from whose mind it sprung.

But now I have to ask myself if I'm the hypocrite? Am I easy to forgive if I like the show and quick to scorn if I don't? Or is this whole problem a result of the information overload of our age and would I have no dilemma if I just stayed off the damn internets?

Too many questions.

The TV Girl

Fringe: Now I Know Not to Drink Tea in an Alternate Universe

2011-03-21T10:32:00.001-04:00

(3.17, "Stowaway")

Frakking brilliant!

Walter is ecstatic to have his old lab buddy William Bell back from the dead, even that means Bell is occupying Olivia's body, but don't worry Bell has made sure that Olivia's consciousness is just taking a nap, and it'll be like 2 weeks before that does any damage to her. (Pause for incredulous chuckle, since this is Fringe after all and their plans always work out so well.) Broyles gives them 48 hours to find a suitable host body for Bell, Peter tries to avoid trowing up looking at his girlfriend's possessed body, and Astrid mentally catalogues Bellivia's inappropriate advances to cite in her sexual harassment lawsuit. Luckily, everyone gets the distraction of a case. A suicide counselor, Dana Grey (Paula Malcomson), whose unable to die keeps appearing at suicide incidents, and Agent Lee of the DoJ (yaya for alternates!) has been tracking her since she should have been murdered along with her entire family 18 months before. Through plucky investigative work, Peter and Lee discover that she was struck by lightening twice, which accounts for why her molecules refuse to separate, therefore preventing her from dying. Desperate to be reunited with her family, she decides not to prevent an explosion on a train, perpetrated by a disturbed man she didn't try very hard to keep from offing himself, but Peter manages to talk her out of it, and she finally dies in the explosion, but she is the only one. Agent Lee goes back to his regularly scheduled job, but with a funny look on his face. Attempting to have a late night heart-to-heart with Peter about fate and such, Bellivia is ousted out of power and Olivia asserts herself in her own body, but only for a second, causing Bellivia to remark that the present situation may be more "complicated" than supposed. YA THINK?

I watched this episode Saturday and I'm still a bit in awe of it.

First of all, kudos to Peter for convincing a woman not to allow a train to be blown up. Peter gets a gold star for professionalism; doing his job so well in spite of the fact that his personal life turned into a freak show.

Of course, we have to address the issue of Bellivia's voice. At first it was pretty hard to take the whole thing seriously when Bellivia sounds so silly. It almost sounded like Olivia was doing a James Cagney impression (for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, rent "One Two Three" or "White Heat"). But as the episode went on, and as he/she continued to cock his/her eyebrow as if nothing was wrong, the total creepiness settled in. The longer Bellivia talked the clearer it became that Bell feels no remorse, not even any shame, in what he's doing to Olivia, and the jarring voice highlighted the unnaturalness of current events. Add that to how well Bellivia's smug cheerfulness contrasted with Peter's horrified revulsion, and by the end your skin was crawling.

But your brain should have also been working overtime. Let me try and work this out. If I'm remembering correctly at the end of last season, when the Fringe team crossed over to the Other-Side, as they were trying to escape the alt-Fringe Division, Nick Lane (empathy-murderer boy!) recognized Agent Lincoln Lee, right before the later shot the former. (I really need to get S2 on DVD, I've only watched it once and I can't keep all this shit straight.) So, that means that at some point Over-Here Nick and Lee met, which might explain why Lee wasn't too too hesitant to share his theory that Dana couldn't die, and therefore his cute little bafflement in Walter's lab over all the crazy shit there was a bit of an act, but also means that he really did kind of give Peter a "we-will-meet-again" look when they parted ways. So is there another Fringe-type team working within the US government? Is there only one Lee, going back and forth between sides? Is he another of the Cortexephan kids? Am I searching for a conspiracy where there is none?

Or is it just Agent Lee Over-Here's fate to meet up with the gang since his alternative counterpart did? I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a bit nervous when the word "fate" comes up on a J.J. Abrams show. Fringe is so good because it isn't based on fate/destiny/bullshit, it's based on choice and consequence. I'm not saying that anything on the show has denied the possibility of unifying principle or intelligent design, but as soon as Fate (and I'm capitalizing that because that is how it is meant) got mentioned a strange amalgamation of Ron Rifkin and Mathew Fox floated through my head, which is a singularly unpleasant experience. Please spare us all from the pandering to Lost fan who can't just get over it.

And just as an aside, Paula Malcomson, you can attempt to leach off my despair anytime you want. I was really hoping that somehow when un-dying chick died they were going to be able to use her body as a host for Bell, and that way Ms. Malcomson could stay on the show. Doesn't she deserve some kind of awesome new job since Caprica got unfairly cancelled?

See you this Friday on the Other-Side!

The TV Girl

My Current Obsession: Top Gear

2011-03-14T00:43:00.000-04:00

I live alone (sort of, but that is a long story) and I have a tendency to talk to myself, so to curb that habit (because it makes people think your crazy when you accidentally do it in public) I usually have either music or the TV on. The default TV station varies, I go in phases: for months the Cooking Channel and the Food Network accompanied me as I washed dishes and (attempted) to edit papers; a couple of weeks balancing my checkbook and paying bills with Fox News and CNN in the background just about gave me a stroke; you would be surprised how much you can get done to the sound of Benson and Stabler (thank you TNT and/or USA).

My current obsession is turning into an actual one, and it kind of concerns me. I cannot stop watching Top Gear. This is particularly strange and disquieting, because I do not have a driver's license, don't own a car, don't come from a family of mechanics, don't date a Volvo salesman, am constitutionally unable to understand the existence of NASCAR, and did not have a hand in legislating Cash for Clunkers. I am about as far from being a car person as it is possible to be without being Amish.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Top Gear is a talk show from the UK (there are franchises in other countries, but I watch it on BBC America, so they show the original) in which hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond (so listed by me in order of descending height) test drive new cars, discuss automotive current events, participate in challenges (like races, building their own cars, and deciding what is the best car to own if you're in the mafia) both a home and abroad, and take a timed lap with celebrities in a segment called "Put a Star in a Reasonably Priced Car."

This show from start to finish is purely joyful, and that joy is infectious, even if, like me, you have no clue what they are talking about at certain points. The dialogue is all British snarkiness, and the product reviews are honest sometimes to the point of brutal, so there is nothing sweet or cloying going on. But there is a genuine love at the core of this show; a love of craftsmanship and engineering, of spirited competition, of beautiful creations that push the boundaries of possibility. The added bonus for me is that it's really fun to watch people who enjoy their jobs so much, considering that all one hears this side of the pond is doom and gloom about the employment environment.

I think that a part of the reason I like this show so much is my friend Charlie. He is a car guy plain and simple. He love cars, knows all about them, participates and places in races, and just before Christmas I was privileged to be a passenger in the car that he drove from Leominster to Boston (about 60 miles) in SIGNIFICANTLY less time than Google Maps suggested. In general his personality is very childlike and innocent, so watching a show where grown men make a living having Hardy Boy type adventures and driving really fast gives me a strange hope that Charlie too will get to be an adult without having to grow up.

Jason told me the other day that there are seasons available on Netflix Watch Instantly. I did not know this. I am a tiny bit afraid that if I allow myself to go down that road I will never return.

The TV Girl

I don't know yet how this picture came about, but I intend to find out.

Fringe: Olivia Your New Name Shall Be Pincushion

2011-03-13T22:27:00.000-04:00

(3.16 "Os")

I'm supposed to be sending in job applications, but I need a little break from that.

In short: Peter and Olivia are a couple and all cute and happy. Walter is trying to find the answers to protecting our world in William Bell's old research, and he is obsessed with the idea of bring Bell's consciousness back through "soul magnets" which will draw the energy of his consciousness into a new host body. An aerospace scientist (guest star Alan Ruck) is trying to perfect a heavy metal serum that allows the human body to float by testing it on MD patients, in an effort to facilitate a way for his wheel-chair bound son to walk. In talking to the scientist, Walter realizes that the laws of physics are disintegrating on our side the way they are on the other side, making him all the more desperate to get Bell back. Peter tells Olivia that he killed the shape-shifters, and shows her the research he has done on the data cards he harvested from them. Walter figures out the trigger that will call Bell's energy to his new host, which (sadly) is Olivia. Cue creepy voice and tears.

First of all, I think Alan Ruck might be one of my favorite guest stars ever. He was on a few episodes of Greek as an academic dean, in a wonderful send up of 80's college movies, as well as on an episode of Justified as a mob-accountant turned dentist. I think he was underused on this episode of Fringe, but the case-of-the-week story really was secondary to Walter's story line, so there was only a limited amount of stuff for him to do. A parallel of "what would you do for your child's happiness?" and an instance of creating the very problem that you were trying to fix. But I was still glad to see him.

Obviously what we can really take away from this episode is that there is a certain point when parents should take a hands off approach to their children's lives, because trying to protect their happiness will inevitably destroy it. In the case of the scientist, he just hadn't accepted that his son was happy, in Walter's case he was expressly trying to shield Peter's currently contented condition, so you knew from the get go that something bad was going to happen. In a way, Walter is a tragic hero: his determination is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and despite Nina's brave choral warning, he pursued the wrong path for the right reason.

And again, who suffers? Olivia! Seriously! What experiments have not been performed on Olivia?!? (Sorry for all the exclamation points, I'm just a tad put out.) She already had someone else's memories implanted in her and now she has to play roadside motel to a dead guy. This girl just cannot catch a break. She made the decision to be happy, she chose something for herself instead of reacting to the series of unfortunate events in her life, and it really wasn't outside the realm of possibility for her to think "I doubt there are any more secret/illicit experiments that have been performed on me that would impede my having a functional relationship." The whole concept of regathering the energy of your soul into someone's body after you have died is deeply wrong, but to use Olivia as your host is just unbelievably cruel.

Maybe Peter-the-sometimes-killer can enact some revenge on her behalf. On whom, I'm not sure.

The TV Girl

Fringe: So, Alcoholism Runs on Both Alternatives of the Bishop Family

2011-03-09T17:45:00.000-05:00

(3.14, "6B" and 3.15 "Subject 13")

I had a dream last night that I had a long conversation with an alternate version of myself. When I woke up, instead of being frightened by the amount of sci-fi I watch, instead of pondering whatever deep psychological stress is causing me to have such a dream, instead of anything else (like work, Lent, laundry), I remembered that I was an episode behind on Fringe and immediately after my shower went about rectifying my error.

So, because of involvement with a woman whose grief for her husband is so great that it shreds the bounds of reality, Olivia has decided to give it a go with Peter, but low and behold, they have been together since childhood! What the what show?

I really wanted "Subject 13" to be a good episode, but honestly, I'm really unhappy about it. Am I the only one who thinks "young" Peter and Olivia were just a bit too old? Those kids didn't seem like they would just forget everything that happened to them. I don't think that it's plausible that Olivia would trust Dr. Walter enough to confide in him about her abusive step-father and then when she was an adult be shocked to find out that he experimented on her. Did she later receive some sort of head injury from her step-father (we know he didn't stop abusing her because eventually she shot him, and quite frankly, Walter did a terrible job of trying to protect her) that erased all her memories? Peter wasn't hoodwinked one bit that he was in the care of the correct set of parents, and at the end of the episode it was quite clear that Peter was choosing to accept that he would be staying in this world and willing to participate in the deception that he had not been kidnapped but was in fact Walter and Elizabeth's natural son. This episode calls into question every slow reveal, every uncertainty, and every struggle over the last 2 1/2 seasons. Either we are supposed to believe that Peter lied to himself so well that he believed the lie to be the truth and that Olivia was too traumatized to remember her time in Jacksonville, or we are supposed to ignore all of this and pretend that those kids were much younger than they looked and behaved. Plus, why give a new explanation for why Walter did the Cortexephan research? It has made perfect sense thus far that Walter and William were trying to conjure up some psychic army to protect us for thems fiends over there. It is totally unnecessary to now say that Walter was really trying to get Peter back to the other side. Walter is a beautifully human and sympathetic character, but here it's like they flattened out all his complexity and approached him like he's just a nice guy trying to do the right thing. I was waiting for him to say "ah shucks."

I get what this episode was trying to do thematically: trying to establish an epic-ness to Peter and Olivia's relationship, (because they instantly bonded the moment the laid eyes on each other a children and understood each others art and she can change the weather, blah blah blah), and at the same time trying to establish the similarity between Walter and Walternate as that of love being their truest motivation. I also understand that this episode failed, on both fronts. More than failed. Last season's "Peter" filled in the details of what we already knew, and was an exceptionally well done episode. "Subject 13" tried to fill in the details of one storyline (how did Peter adjust to his new home) with another completely separate one (what was Jacksonville like for Olivia), and in doing so botched both of them. This is why flashback episodes are such a tricky thing to do, and should probably be avoided, because you run the risk of detracting from, or possibly ruining, what has taken place on the show. (Angel ended up with this problem and The Vampire Diaries is in great danger of doing the same.)

Can I just ask: it is supposed to be a joke or was it just a terrible oversight that Walter's wife and Peter's mom is named Elizabeth Bishop? I have to think it was just a huge mistake, because they never say her full name. It seems to me that the reason to do another episode set around the events of Peter's kidnapping would be to learn more about Elizabeth, but essentially, we didn't. We learned she snoops around on desks she comes across and that she drinks when she's upset. (Note to Fauxlivia: your baby is predisposed to becoming an alcoholic based on both his father's nature and nurture.)

But the 80's-fied opening credits were cool, so that's something.

The TV Girl

My Internal Debates: When Do You Give Up?

2011-03-07T10:13:00.000-05:00

Why am I still watching Supernatural?

Two weeks ago Jennie, Emily and me gathered to do some catching up on the episodes we'd missed. The move to Friday nights this season hasn't worked out so well for our watching as a group. We soldiered through "Like a Virgin" and "Unforgiven" before packing it in and saving "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning" for another night. Somewhere in the midst of dragons, Purgatorial mommy issues, spider-people and slutty-Sam, I began to wonder (and tweet) if enough was enough? As much as I enjoyed 'The French Mistake" neither it nor "And Then There Were None" has made me think I'm being totally insane.

When do you stop watching a show that you once loved?

I give up on shows all the time. I give a show a couple episodes and if it doesn't hold my interest I move on without a second thought (Sons of Tucson). I watch a whole season, take a step back, realize I don't think it's very good, sometimes advise people against it (Californication), and then find a better show. Scheduling conflicts cause me to push a show off until it comes out on DVD and sometimes by that time I don't bother (The Office S6). But in the majority of these types of cases, though not all, I'm not attached to the show. It wasn't something that I loved, that I've invested YEARS of my life in.

Supernatural is a show that I loved, a show that friends and I watched, debated, and bonded over. I want so badly to have again the amazing show that I had a few years ago, and in light of the weekly disappointment of either a really terrible episode or a somewhat descent episode that doesn't seem to matter all that much, I wonder if I am so attached to the routine of watching Supernatural that even though I know the quality has declined, I can't imagine not watching. There is a routine established that now has in some way little to do with the particulars of the episode.

The worst part is that the show doesn't have to be so bad; there are elements that could be put together in a humorous and meaningful way, but for some reason just aren't. So Gramps Campbell is a total bastard who was willing to sell-out his grandsons in exchange for his daughter being brought back to life, therefore he should be set up as the antagonist for the season and Eve (the Mother of All) should be a backdrop against which the familial conflict plays out. Instead we meet Grandpa Ass-Hat, he betrays Dean and Sam, we don't see him for a while, then he's dead. Waste of storyline potential. On an episode-level even more waste. Bile rises in my throat as I write this, but "Mannequin 3: The Reckoning" could have been less terrible if a) instead of talking about themselves the entire episode Sam and Dean has actually discussed if people have a right to be saved or if there is some justice in the act of a vengeful spirit (like they would have seasons ago) and b) there had been even a pause between "the sister has a kidney from the murdering spirit" and "so now the sister is dead too." Maybe knowing that improvement is possible (if not probably) is kindling false hope in me, preventing me from severing my ties.

There are only six episodes left this season, so having come this far it's a fair bet that I'll finish it out. I don't often hope for shows to get canceled (okay, that's not true, but I never thought I would hope for this show to get canceled) but that would absolve me of the responsibility of making this decision.

I stopped watching Bones when the self-righteousness and the complete awfulness of Dr. Brennen's personality pissed me off so much that I was in danger of forgetting that I ever liked the show in the first place, and I think that is when I'll know it's time to walk away from Supernatural: when I cease to be disappointed, it will mean I've forgotten that the show was once excellent, and then it will be time.

WHAT KP WAS DOING WHILE YOU WERE WASTING YOUR TIME WATCHING GLEE:

2011-03-03T19:27:00.001-05:00

VACATION.

Such a beautiful word. And a beautiful concept. While my boss and her family are on a week vacation in the Caribbean, KP is currently sitting in her parent’s home nursing a mouth full of freshly drilled cavities. For some reason, she thought that her vacation time would be well spent getting (much needed and long overdue) dental work done.

However, this leaves her with plenty of time for her favorite activity. While you were toiling at work and then rushing home to watch Glee, I’ve decided to take full advantage of Netflix Instant Watch, which is a far better use of time and more bang for my buck.

For those of you with no subscription to Netflix, I suggest: 1.) Get one right now; they are fairly cheap and worth it and 2.) Check back next week when I stop being lazy and actually write about something.

For those of you with Netflix, I figure I’m doing you a favor by scrolling through the endless pages of TV to Watch Instantly and highlighting a few noteworthy shows, a few guilty pleasures, and even a few surprises. (A side note: A few of those shows, I realize, are not that worthy but if you can watch them in their entirety without commercials, there’s no harm in trying, right?)

In no particular order and not nearly all of them:

Eli Stone (Complete Series avail)

Scrubs (Complete Series avail)

Battlestar Galactica (Season 1-4.5 avail)

Firefly (Complete Series avail)

Friday Night Lights (Seasons 1-4 avail)

Better Off Ted (Complete Series avail)

Dollhouse (Complete Series avail)

24 (Complete Series avail)

Dexter (Seasons 1-2 avail)

Prison Break (Complete Series avail)

Reaper (Seasons 1-2 avail)

Parks and Recreation (Seasons 1-2 avail)

30 Rock (Seasons 1-4 avail)

Party Down (Complete Series avail)

The Riches (Complete Series avail)

The Office (Seasons 1-6 avail)

The Cosby Show (Seasons 1-8 avail)

Bones (Season 1-5--although in my opinion, only 1-3 is worth it)

Pushing Daisies (Complete Series)

Brotherhood (Seasons 1-2 avail)

Psych (Seasons 1-4 avail)

Samantha Who? (Complete Series avail)

Dr. Who (Complete Series, I think? I confess I’ve never seen this show but heard only good things so it’s on this list)

Buffy (Complete Series avail)

Robin Hood BBC version (Complete Series although you shouldn’t waste your time with Season 3)

Mercy (Complete Series--give it a shot)

Weeds (Seasons 1-5)

Fawlty Towers (Complete Series)

.........................and a plethora of reality shows and multiple seasons of SNL....sorry I’m getting distracted by all the stuff I want to watch now.

Did I mention all the Law and Order: SVU that one could possibly handle?

Happy Watching.

Being Human (US): Not Nearly As Bad As Some SyFy Shows

2011-03-02T18:30:00.000-05:00

So I have been watching Being Human (US). I'm enjoying it.

Do I think it's the best thing ever? My new BSG to fill the sci-fi void in my life? Nope and that's what I have Fringe for. But there is a time and a place for certain shows in your life.

Monday is my ridiculously long work day. I mean long. I have to go in early to make sure everything is set to start the week off right, I have to stay late because the last patient is chronically running behind. I get home around 8:30 PM, sometimes a bit earlier, sometimes a bit later and honestly I'm dead by then. And into this mix of exhaustion, hunger, mild curiosity and dread (of the next day) Being Human has just kind of slipped into my routine. It's a show that doesn't take a great deal of effort on my part: easy plots to follow, easy awkward moments to chuckle along with, easy voice overs to remind you of the point if you happened to drift away. In a way, that's what you need sometimes.

Even the premise is easy! (And borrowed from a UK show by the same name.) In an effort to live "normal" lives, a vampire named Aidan (Sam Witwer), a werewolf named Josh (Sam Huntington) and a ghost named Sally (Meaghan Rath) share the house Sally died in, renting it from her (supposedly) bereaved fiancée Danny (Gianpaolo Venuta). Not all that hard right? Monsters are just like us and we are just like them. So far the dialog is a little clunky and earnest, the characters are underdeveloped, and the tone is somewhat unclear, but so be it.

A few problems does not a disaster make. Evil overlord vampire Bishop (Mark Pellegrino) is sufficiently menacing. Bishop is a man with a plan; he wants to take vampires out into the open, which doesn't sit well with former protégé Aidan. They are two people with a long history and obvious disappointment: the subdued hostility of their interaction is one of the stronger elements of the show. Josh's love interest Nora (Kristen Hager) is a prickly and skeptical person, so even though she doesn't (yet) know that Josh is a werewolf, she is a nice antidote to the dippy-girl-who-falls-in-love-with-evil-but-not-evil-creature type that permeates pop-culture currently. The core trio has a comfortable familial dynamic that doesn't completely consist of important conversations about their particular existential difficulties; sometimes they dig at each other, sometimes they joke.

I don't know that Being Human will ever be better than it is, but I don't have a problem with that. Sometimes things just are what they are, and what they are is good enough after a full day.

The TV Girl

WHAT KP WAS DOING WHILE YOU WERE WASTING YOUR TIME WATCHING GLEE:

2011-02-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

THE CHICAGO CODE

Let me begin by thanking The TV Girl for this great opportunity. There is clearly no love lost between myself and Glee and since a majority of Americans have decided to make the show and its ridiculous plot lines and daytime acting an ever present stain on the wrestling mat of life, I have no choice but to inform people of the error of their ways.

So when I heard that The TV Girl wanted me to write about this and when I heard Glee was airing an entire Justin Beiber-centric episode, I thought, “HOLY SH*&! The world needs this now.”

A disclaimer: Please excuse some of my grammatical errors and poorly formed sentences. It’s been a while since I’ve written anything.

So what I was doing while you assailed your ears: watching The Chicago Code (CC).

The promos for this show were weak but Fox has never been the greatest at promoting shows meant to serve as mid-season replacements. Despite this, The Chicago Code is legit, entertaining, well-crafted and has great potential. I’ve heard some folks compare it to The Wire but I’ll go right ahead and debunk that even though I’ve never even seen The Wire. The CC will never be like The Wire because it airs on Fox and because it lacks the grittiness and depth that HBO shows can do and network television cannot.

The Chicago Code centers on a homicide detective, Jarek Wysocki (Jason Clarke), his former partner now Superintendent of Police Chief Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals), his new partner Caleb Evers (Matt Lauria) as they struggle to tackle corruption in Chicago orchestrated by a deliciously evil Alderman Ronin Gibbons (Delroy Lindo). The plot is relatively simple and pretty standard for a cop drama. Colvin has recently become the first female Superintendent of Police--higher than Chief ranking although I’m still confused about that part--and has made it her goal to take down Gibbons who she rightfully suspects is the root of all corruption and violence that permeates the city. She enlists her old partner, Jarek Wysocki, a sort of local hero for reasons unknown and a good cop, to help her with Gibbons. Det. Wysocki is at first hesitant; he has a niece in the force and his brother was killed in the line of duty but after an attack on Colvin’s life, he changes his mind and decides to fight the good fight.

This show has great potential. Not only does it do an excellent job of showcasing my city (yes, I am based in Chicago) but does not limit itself to long sweeping aerial views of the skyline; rather it utilizes the neighborhoods and films in them as opposed to around them. I’ve often heard that the city is a much a character as the actors themselves and I have no doubt that Chicago will make me proud.

The characters. Only two episodes in and I already genuinely care about each of them. I can attribute this to one man: Shawn Ryan. For those who don’t know, Mr. Ryan was the creator of Terriers, one of my favorite TV shows that unfortunately met an early death that I’m still not over. If you’ve seen Terriers, you know that Mr. Ryan writes characters and relationships better than anyone. The Chicago Code is no exception. Jarek Wysocki is clearly going to have issues. His father was a cop who was a legitimate hero, he is divorced and has a 27 year old fiancee but still finds time to sleep with his ex under the nose of his son, who strikes me as unruly. Yet, you care about this hardened man who has an extreme distaste for profanity, so much so that he fires one partner early on for his repeated use of the word "hell". His second partner, the adorable Matt Lauria is a joy to watch onscreen. The world loves to hate a villan and Delroy Lindo plays it to absolute perfection. You get the sense that the man really has no soul at all; even ordering his secretary to kiss him oozes evil, evil charm.

The only slight annoyance with the show is Teresa Colvin (Jennifer Beals). Perhaps it’s the whole “woman in a high position of power feels she has to get in everyones face to prove that she deserves to be there” but the act borderlines on grating when you realize that she is probably going to do that bit for the remainder of the season. But I give props to Jennifer Beals (girl is 47. 47!), she is a good actress and perhaps she can give more depth to this character.

I worry a little about the plot. There are only so many times the characters can exclaim in exasperation, “Oh, the corruption. It’s the Alderman,” without the rest of the world catching on, yet it allows for new characters to be thrown in the mix and multiple twists to be played out. But then again, network cop dramas are not exactly known for their intricate plots.

I could go on and on but I don’t want to spoil it for you. It’s exciting to see where this show will go and, so far, reception has been good but I’ve never put much faith in the (mainstream) critics. So, enjoy The Chicago Code and think of me every time you see that magnificent skyline.

My Weekend Fling: Justified, Season 1

2011-02-19T15:37:00.000-05:00

F/X Network, you hurt so good.

Justified is the answer to a question no one before thought to ask: what do you get when you mix the Bible with meth?

Set in Lexington Kentucky and the surrounding rural area, Justified follows the idiosyncratic Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant), transfered back to his home state after he shoots a drug cartel's hit-man in a restaurant. Home is a complicated place, both personally and professionally, for our protagonist: what with his hard-drinking, baseball bat wielding, petty criminal father Arlo (Raymond J. Barry); his ex-wife Winona (Natalie Zea) who is still obviously in love with him despite being married to seemingly nice-guy Gary (William Ragsdale); the local girl who could-have-been-if-he'd-stayed-in-town Eva Crowder (Joelle Carter) who has just shot her abusive husband and is now in the shit with his unsavory (in the hillbilly-mafia type way) family; one member of which is Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins), an old friend/nemesis with a taste for robbing banks, ideological tenacity, explosions, and sister-in-law Eva. Raylan's history with the residents, in addition to his tendency to shoot people, makes for an eternal headache for his boss Art Mullen (Nick Searcy) and co-workers Rachel Brooks (Erica Tazel) and Tim Gutterson (Jacob Pitts), but considering all the drug manufacturers, tax evaders and bail jumpers in the area, their job kinda sucked anyway, though they all seem fulfilled by it.

The more that I've talked to people about this show, the more I've realized just how hooked on it I am. This is the first show in quite a while that I want to own so that I can loan it to friends and make them watch too.

The basis for Justified is an Elmore Leonard short story titles "Fire in the Hole" (which is also the title of the pilot, and what Boyd yells right before he blows something up), and tonally the show remains consistent with Leonard. This is the kind of show that F/X really excels at (and that I enjoy a great deal): a show that is dark and serious, while at the same time amiable and funny.

There is nothing lighthearted about the subject matter here. In the context of slightly-less-than-abject poverty, minimal education, long memories and a feudal clan system, plots probing loyalty, moral responsibility, and family descend upon the viewer like pebbles into an avalanche; from seemingly isolated bad choices (on the part of people who arguably may not know any better) the inevitable, but unconsidered, consequences relentlessly unfold, though the conclusion is not forgone. There is equal opportunity to choose the right thing as there is freedom to choose the wrong, but no one is exempt from the fall-out. Eva might not be prosecuted for murdering her husband, but she is more than punished; Art wants a dedicated and competent Marshall in his field office, so he accepts the paperwork and ulcer that accompany having a peculiar employee; Raylan abhors his father's choices, yet isn't confused or offended by the hostility he receives for this attitude.

But as grim as I've made this sound, I promise, it isn't. What makes the viewer able to genuinely enjoy Justified (instead of just endure along) is a wry and self-aware humor, both on the part of the characters and the general perspective of the show. All of the principle characters are compelling and (to varying degrees) charming, able to objectively comment on their own and others' failings and ironic circumstances, and for those characters incapable of such understanding, events will demonstrate their absurdity, and sometimes they get the joke.

One of this show's great strengths is the actors' performances. In one aspect or another each of the characters has an extremity within his/her personality, and it would be all too easy to portray these extremes extravagantly, thereby rendering stereotypes (the religious fanatic, the stoic, the abused woman) instead of people. But the cast is appropriately restrained and artful.

My one major complaint about this show is so minor that it seems petty to even mention it, but what the hell, here it is: the opening credits. I should be a better person than to complain about 30 seconds of a lame song in the midst of 42 minutes of wonderful show, but I'm not. Oh well, nothing my complaints will do about it, just be prepared.

Since this network has a tendency to capture my heart and then stomp all over it, I'm terrified of writing this post, convinced that saying anything will break the spell and the executive powers who seem determined to make me upset will send out a c-word missive. But since S2 has already started, I'm going to risk it.

The TV Girl

Fringe: Mr. Abrams, You Do Not Disappoint Me (This Time)

2011-02-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

3.13 "Immortality"

Even though I haven't posted on this season yet (because I'm LAZY, which I have to keep saying to the universe so maybe I change my ways), I have been genuinely happy with it so far. I love the alternate universe, have really enjoyed the back and forth between cases over here and over there, the dance scene in "Marionette" was one of the creepiest things ever on TV, and watching week by week as Olivia's misery breaks through her stoicism is heart-wrenching.

So I say this not out of any snarkiness: even though we knew from the off that Fauxlivia was going to get pregnant with Peter's universe-defining baby, I still lept up off my couch when her delicate condition was revealed in Friday's episode.

In short: Walter is trying to make himself smarter to combat Walternate, the universe that will survive depends on which Peter picks to spare, Peter may or may not be in his right mind but is at least conflicted about his alliances, Fauxlivia is pregnant and while Walternate insisted that he will not experiment on children in order to "save" his world, his terrifying smile when he said "grandchild" to Fauxlivia shows that he fully intends on using her and her child to get Peter back over there.

And who will end up paying for all of this? Olivia of course.

Well, I don't know that for sure, but history indicates that even though Olivia was the one who got kidnapped, cheated on, brainwashed, and experimented on, she is going to be the one who has to suck it up and save everyone else.

Good thing she's resourceful and determined!

The TV Girl

My Weekend Fling (Part 1): Sherlock

2011-01-31T12:52:00.000-05:00

Dear Emily,

Thank you so much for your television suggestion. I am very sorry that I eyed you quizzically when you first told me that this mini-series was good; your taste is excellent and I shouldn't be so judge-y judge-y. I am very sorry that I was always busy/tired whenever I had the chance to watch this with you and Jennie. I am very sorry that I joined in with making Benedict Cumberbatch's name into a litany of dirty phrases. I am very sorry that despite my enjoyment of this series I will continue to make fun of Mr. Cumberbatch's name.

Love always,
Andrea / The TV Girl

Legend of the Seeker: Sorry About That Cancellation Thing...

2011-01-24T17:06:00.000-05:00

I have to say a proper goodbye to this cheesy and amazing show, and while it was not the most painful of untimely deaths in 2010 (that honor goes to Terriers), I'm really quite unhappy about it. (For a while I avoided watching the last couple episodes because I knew that was all I was getting and I knew it wouldn't be enough.)

First of all, how does a Saturday syndicated fantasy show get cancelled? Wasn't Xena on for like a million years? Isn't Kevin Sorbo wielding terrible dialog somewhere out there as I speak? So what's the deal? I thought the whole point was that this type of show could run forever, entertaining geeks and the hungover without interruption. Why are we fans deprived of the spiffy adventures of Richard, Kahlan, Zed, and Cara?

I will never have a (satisfactory) answer to my query, and so be it. That's the way it goes sometimes.

But what a second season we had!

I'm not saying that anyone should really try and follow the logic of this show. You'd need a huge white board and a rainbow of colored markers to keep track of: what magic does or does not work on which people; whose dead, whose only thought to be dead, whose alive and then very quickly killed off; which back-story was correct, which got rewritten, which got re-rewritten; which set of people were good, which were evil; what town was besieged, what town was besieged but saved, and so on and so on. The episode "Creator" was kind of like a mini mid-S2 round up, like a highlights clip show, and that kind of helped. But comprehensibility wasn't exactly the point of Legend of the Seeker. The point was the triumph of good over evil through crazy sword battles, magic, and love: the ridiculous-ness was part of the fun. In utterly improbable ways over-the-top-cheesy villains met their match no matter what the odds, be it disease ridden hordes from hell or entire brigades of revenge-bent soldiers or single-minded mummy or insanity inducing sand, because the Seeker, the Mother Confessor, the Wizard of the First Order, and the Mord Sith are the sharp-object-brandishing messengers of right and truth. Damn it.

And in the spirit of completely ridiculous and total awesome: Richard and Kahlan's love can literally defeat Death and heal the veil between the world of the living and the underworld? I'm not always the biggest cheerleader for Richard and Kahlan, they are sometimes a bit to earnest for me and I adore Cara (but more on that later), but I have to admit that as sappy as it was, Kahlan's grief over stabbing Richard in the heart (which was amazing!) producing another Stone of Tears was a wonderful ending, very much in line with the tenor of this show. The world was set to right, Richard and Kahlan's abstinence-based relationship continues, Zed got to be proud of his grandson, and though a new threat loomed unforeseen in the background, all was well!

Except.

What I really want is a resolution for Cara. Cara turned out to be a great character: she was moody, hostile, sarcastic, prone to violence, unapologetic and at the same time loyal, defiant, resourceful, courageous, ardent. And it was so obvious that there was more of a story for her. The two last episodes, which proposed an alternative universe in which Cara had never become Mord Sith showed just how important she was. I guess it is a matter of debate if she could have been a genuine competitor for Richard's affections, it was like that was always there as a possibility (Cara at one point says she loves Richard, and Richard always always defends Cara), but really the show never got around to it. I think Richard and Cara would have been a great couple, but regardless, no chick that bad-ass should be relegated to a sidekick (and woe unto anyone who called her so), but that is kind of the impression the viewer is left with. It's just such a shame.

I know that of all the people I know, no one will really love this show the way KP and I do. It was silly and fun, and kind of like a Saturday morning cartoon for grown-ups. So thanks Legend of the Seeker for your labyrinthine plots, your endless supply of outrageous characters, your heartfelt dialog, and all the general merriment you gave us.

The TV Girl

KP Recommends: The Cape

2011-01-24T10:47:00.000-05:00

My friend KP left this as a comment on another post, but I didn't want it to get lost, because I think she makes a good point. I've only watched the pilot of The Cape, but I enjoyed it. And with what she says (because I trust her taste despite her affinity for Lie to Me) I am totally willing to play catch-up.

The TV Girl

I don't understand the recent hate that The Cape has been getting. Despite some of the pedantic, predictable dialogue, the show has it's purpose and does it well. It's not something incredibly witty nor will it have blow your mind plot lines, but it's a story about your typical superhero (without the campiness too often found in No Ordinary Family) who is fighting to prove to his son that one good man can make a difference. And this is a familiar premise I can embrace and I'm surprised that more people can't or don't.

And on a side note, casting is strong. While I'm on the fence about David Lyons, I love James Frain as the villian, Jennifer Ferrin as the suffering wife and of course, Summer Glau as the mysterious Orwell.

Rapid Rant: TV is Made Only for Women?

2011-01-19T11:54:00.000-05:00

I wish that I hadn't taught an acquaintance the term 'TV-boyfriend" because she proceeded to repeat this to her husband ( "I never heard this phrase before Andrea was talking about the fact that she won't watch Off the Map even though Zach Gilford is on it"), and her husband proceeded to 1) ask me to explain the term (which I think is odd, seems pretty straightforward to me) and 2) tell me how TV was made only for women and aside from sports there wasn't anything on TV made for men.

Who to the what now?

You must be kidding me!

This happened over the weekend and I have tried to just forget the incident as stupid shit people say sometimes. Obviously I've failed in this attempt, and partially that is because his main argument in support of his ridiculous statement was "even on procedural shows there always has to be some stupid love story." Ugggggg. I hate hate hate this argument. (And this instance wasn't the first time I heard it, hence my breaking down into bitch mode.) Please tell me how "smoking hot female law-enforcement agent falls for brilliant but damaged middle aged boss/co-worker" isn't blatant male wish fulfillment (or in any way remotely plausible)? Please explain to me how men who have chosen to get married, and thereby pledge their love and fidelity to one woman for the rest of their life, dismiss any romantic storyline as "only there because women need it." Strangely I've never heard a guy make any complaints about male characters who are womanizers; no one seems to be bothered by those whose copious coupling is devoid of emotion and little more than recreational sport. Take the former common complaint along with the later telling silence and what you get is a fictional landscape where love is negated from the human experience, leaving you with flat characters, stagnant stories, and limited insight. Basically, you have Cops. (Which is fine if that is what you want.) But of course, on bad shows you have all those deficiencies plus romantic plots.

But how about the fact that many shows airing now/recently are thematically structured around the father-son relationship or the brother relationship? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that women are excluded from these types of shows, and in fact some, like Fringe, Sons of Anarchy, and Supernatural, are among my favorite-st of favorite shows. I'm just saying that their very existence attests to both the creative and marketing desire for male viewers.

And I'm not even bothering to mention the flood of bromances on TV.

I grant that women watch a great deal of TV (and some of us are damn proud of it), that there are shows designed with a predominantly female audience in mind, and that there are shows that have an added bonus for me because of attractive male leads. I also openly admit that I get super attached to the romantic pairings on my shows. But it is wholly disingenuous to, um, REALITY to say that the only thing for men on all of network, basic and premium cable TV is sports.

The TV Girl

My Internal Debates: US Remakes of UK Shows

2011-01-17T17:29:00.000-05:00

I think about TV much more than I write about it. Lately I've been thinking about US remakes of UK shows, and for good reason. There are a rash of remakes: Being Human is premiering tonight on SyFy; Shameless debuted last weekend on Showtime; Skins is coming soon on MTV. So, do we accept this re-colonization of America?

In general I'm going to say: no. The US needs to get its shit together, make better shows and not just wait around to strip shows from across the pond of the funny accents and socialized medicine.

I'm not trying to be a snob. This isn't a Brit-just-do-it-better thing. There are some British TV shows that are just as awful as some American TV shows (please see Hex if you think I'm wrong, that show is terrible). And The Office stands as a remake more than equal to the original (even if it is a bit long in the tooth). That's always kind of the sticking point: there is a show that transfered continents well, so doesn't that mean it's a good thing to keep trying?

No, because for some reason whoever is in charge of these projects keeps forgetting that Britain is a different country. Britain is a distinct and particular culture with its own political system, class distinctions, social order, ethics and values. In the case of Shameless, America does not (as of yet) have an accepted social class of professionally unemployed people living on the government assistance that mainstream viewers are willing to accept as glorified/normalized in a show. The entire premise of the show literally doesn't translate: we have no frame of reference to understand such a show when it is set in America. As far as Skins is concerned, I can't help but think that a network that produces such gems as 16 & Pregnant and Jersey Shore won't actually understand that Skins wasn't about the fact that Tony & Co did drugs and had sex but that it was about how people construct family in the face of shocking neglect and the difficulties of loving another person when you have no example of sacrifice. MTV is a lowest common denominator network, pandering to voyeurism and narcissism, so the likelihood of a Skins remake as funny, affecting, honest, and textured as the original is slim to none. Need anyone be reminded of the unmitigated disaster that was the American version of Coupling? And what exactly is the point of American Top Gear?

This sword cuts both ways. There would be some epic failures if British TV producers started to remake American shows willy-nilly. There is no way that you could take the premise of a show like Friday Night Lights, transfer it to Bristol and expect to have an equal show. How I Met Your Mother is just as much about living in New York City as it is about finding the love of your life, and when the setting is that intrinsic to the story you can't just pick it up, move it across an ocean and thing you will have the same entertainment result. There is a reason the foreign chapter of Sons of Anarchy is in Ireland not England; let's face it, historically the Brits were the conquerors, they aren't as virulent about their freedom as we (and the Irish) are and Jax's hunt for that is in some ways distinctly American. How awful would Sam and Dean traversing the lake district and the moors be?

So why not just watch the originals? Watching the originals gives you a chance to experience the perspective of a nation that is deceptively similar to America but essentially distinct. Thanks to the internet and Netflix it isn't like it is impossible to get foreign TV. When I watched Skins S1&2 over 2 years ago I pieced together each episode one YouTube video at a time (most of which had Spanish subtitles, so I learned some new words, yay!) and it was absolutely completely worth it.

Okay, I might watch Being Human anyway, just because. Maybe The Office lightening can strike again. Plus I haven't gotten to the second episode of The Cape.

The TV Girl

The Vampire Diaries: I Think Elena Posses a Good Question

2010-12-03T17:33:00.000-05:00

(2.10, "The Sacrifice")

Why should everyone sacrifice themselves for her and she not do the same?

Oh right, because her plan was stupid and wouldn't actually "save" anyone if it had worked. But still, friends, family, boyfriends, and stalkers should all give some thought to her thesis. Might make them reconsider some of their life choices.

What am I talking about, no they wouldn't.

And if all and sundry weren't so hell bent on keeping Elena from being Claus' ritual victim, then Stefan wouldn't have gotten stuck in the tomb with Katherine. How cool was that! All the plans and spells and self-sacrifice from all parties involved and in the end, because Elena was being dumb, the first solution ended up being the outcome; another vampire had to go in and get it. And having the audience watch Stefan listen to Damon and Elena's argument was much better than having the viewer watch them argue for a second time in one episode (thought their fight at Slater's apartment was pretty hot). I think Damon is sincere when he says that he is going to find a way to release Stefan, but it's obvious that Stefan knows that doesn't mean Damon won't flirt with Elena while Stefan is stuck (but by the looks of that preview fidelity isn't on anyone's mind), making this all a very entertaining turn of events. So, thanks Elena, for being so silly this episode.

I hope Rose isn't gone forever, I like having a character around who isn't particularly involved in all things Elena, but isn't as obnoxiously boring and infuriating as Bonnie.

Speaking of Bonnie, that way to make an insufferable character less so is not to add another equally insufferable character for the first to interact with. Was I supposed to care that Bonnie accidental/intentionally sucked the life out of witchboy trying to be competent-witch (instead of just regular Bonnie witch-lite)? Wait, now I don't remember, did Luca live? Bah, not important either way. And while Jeremy's attempt to get the moonstone from Katherine without Bonnie straining her feeble witchy power was noble (I guess), I wonder what Jeremy sees that I missed. She is pretty, but is he into her lively personality, her sense of humor, her unique perspective on world geo-politics, her ability to make more than one facial expression? What? It isn't even like she is damaged enough to be all tragic-and-in-need-of-comfort/protection which would make so much more sense for Jeremy since he has a teeny white-knight complex.

Um Tyler, Caroline might be helping you through your werewolf transformation and all, but that doesn't mean she wants to do you. And Matt is your best friend, so interrupting their "I miss you" conversation (which was so adorable!) was mean on two levels! I'm trying not to get too annoyed, because life just kind of sucks for Tyler. He's kind of a dick anyway, and now he's a werewolf, and according to Mason's journal and video being a werewolf is endlessly painful, so he needs all the help he can get, but I would just appreciate it if he doesn't mess with Matt and Caroline, who need to get back together now.

I'm mildly intrigued by what Elijah is up to.

My Weekend Fling: Parks and Recreation, Seasons 1 and 2

2010-11-29T11:36:00.000-05:00

I watched the pilot of Parks and Recreation when it aired; I wasn't impressed. Jennie advised me to give it another shot, and reviews I read said it had improved immensely, so I gathered up all my love for Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones (I still maintain that Karen was awesome!) and queued up my Watch Instantly.

So glad I did, because this shite is funny. The racist Town Hall murals sight gags are completely worth watching the show for.

Those, and the rest of the writing. Like when Leslie marries the two male penguins. Or when the whole office goes on a hunting trip. Or Jerry's mugging. Or my personal favorite Duke Silver. I could go on.

From what I can tell, the conceit of this show is "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," because no one's intentions are as good as Leslie Knope's and no one ends up in as many hell-ish situations. I mean come on, the premise of the show is turning an actual pit into a park, Dante would be all over this. Or maybe he wouldn't be interested in the bumblings of a small-town's bureaucracy ridden government through the perspective of their Park's Department. Leslie is unfailingly optimistic in the face of tax-payer antagonism, co-worker apathy, and continual personal embarrassment, but her determination, hard-work, and occasional bouts of drunken-ness prevent her from coming across as either cloying or sanctimonious.

The gem of Parks and Recreation is Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman). Ron is the head of the P&R department, a breakfast-obsessed loud and proud Libertarian who wants nothing more than to do as little as possible. He's not just lazy, he is lazy out of principle. And that is the element that separates Parks and Recreation from The Office: self-awareness. The characters have their flaws, they make mistakes, and often end up with a mess on their hands, but for the most part, they know their flaws are flaws, that their mistakes are their responsibility, and that they have to clean up their messes. At this point, particular personality aspects have not devolved into caricature; for example, Tom Haverford's (Aziz Ansari) attempts to pick up women are still viewed and commented upon as creepy and desperate, not jovially dismissed as a fixed and worn affectation.

The only character who is really clueless is Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt, in yet another wonderful dumb-but-lovable-guy role that he does so very very well). Andy is essentially a kind person, just a little dim. The slow evolution of his relationship with surly and disconnected April (Aubrey Plaza) demonstrates a possibility for development, giving me hope that Andy won't degenerate into a one tick pony whose buffoonish behavior pushes the line of cruelty.

The weak link in this show is Mark Brandnawitz (Paul Schneider), but since he won't be a regular in S3, I don't really feel a great need to spend much time here talking about how Mark was boring. Boring, boring, boring. Okay, I'm done.

But can I get an amen for Adam Scott's recurring role as Ben Wyatt? I am in love with this guy, am terribly disappointed that Party Down got cancel, and his character is perfect for Leslie!

So really, is it January yet?

The TV Girl

The Walking Dead: A Show With Bite

2010-11-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

Haha, I feel so punny this afternoon.

Okay, I'll stop. Sorry, I'm sick and I think all my over the counter meds are making me loopy. If this ends up making no sense, then I'll amend it when I'm not, ya know, on the verge of zombie-ism.

I had a professor who told my American Lit. class that he could write an entire book of analysis on the first sentence of Moby Dick. This professor has since passed away, so out of respect for the dead, I won't repeat what I actually said about his claim, but I was rather dismissive. Watching AMC's The Walking Dead last night, I realized that he might have been onto something, because the opening scene of the pilot seemed to be the whole show. (BSG was kind of like this too.) In near silence, we watch a sheriff make his way through a fly-filled shanty town in search of gasoline, and coming upon a small girl zombie, he shoots her in the head. In the most unimaginably changed circumstances we will adapt due to the innate human desire to survive, but how well we adapt, who we become in those circumstances, will depend on what core values we retain for the time we considered normal.

But, as they say, the devil is in the details.

The general details of the first three episodes are: the sheriff is Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) who awakens after a shooting to find out that a virus has ravaged the population and created a race of zombies ("walkers"). A nice man and son give him a run down of the situation, point him towards Atlanta, where survivors are gathering in safety and numbers under the benevolent care of the CDC. Rick makes his way south, radio-ing out to anyone who can hear, which happens to be a camp that tries to warn him not to go to Atlanta, but they get cut off. The camp is where his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies), son Carl, and his partner Shane (Jon Bernthal) are, playing family, because Shane has stepped into Rick's role as husband and father. Trapped in the zombie over-run Atlanta, Rick is rescued by a group of survivors in the city for supplies (on a mission from the camp) and when they all get trapped, he organizes an escape. Too bad they leave a truly horrible redneck handcuffed to a pipe on the roof of the building, because no sooner is Rick reunited with his family at the happy camp in the woods, he decides to go back to the city to retrieve roof dude, who it tuns out has cut off his own hand to escape being eaten by zombies. Lori puts an end to her fling with Shane, who, um, doesn't take it well, much to the detriment of asshole-Ed's face.

So far, this show is just plain cool. As atmospheric as all AMC shows, but there isn't an imbalance of substance and style. The zombies are gross, creepy, and perfectly nightmare-ish: the upper-half zombie crawling across the grass that Rick eventually shoots was super nasty. The dialog is spare, precise, and purposeful: the fear of making too much noise and attracting the walkers puts a special emphasis on what is said and not. The characters are determined to carry on but aware of the desperation of their situation; the discussion about the missing tools highlighted that while most recognize the necessity of co-operation to survive it doesn't make everyone into happy share-y people. The whole thing comes together kind of like an excellent monster movie from times gone by: enough gore to make it exciting, enough intellect to make it interesting.

While it kind of hurts to see her as a (unknowingly) cheating wife, I'm thrilled to see Sarah Wayne Callies again. I missed her.

I have to say this though, I HATE SHANE. I might get over this, I might be having an extreme reaction, he may turn into a great character, who knows. Right now, I am in hate. He obviously had feelings for Lori beforehand, and he used the aftermath of a plague to act upon them, which is so cowardly. He told Lori Rick was dead for pete's sake, that is like premeditated creep. (My conception of Shane's thought process: "The world is coming to an end and surviving would be a total win, but I think my number one priority should be nailing my best friend's wife.") Now, I'm not saying that Ed didn't need to be dissuaded from abusing his wife and daughter, and that on that level there wouldn't have been a bit of vindictive joy in Shane kicking his ass, that is if Shane's actions had had anything to do with protecting Carol or the other members of the merry-band-in-the-woods! But it didn't. Angry at Lori's rejection Shane behaves just like Ed: physically dominating a party not responsible for his disappointment. In fact, Shane might be worse than Ed, because Shane pretended that what he did was for the greater good, not the selfish brutality of a weak man that it was. At least Ed is upfront that he is a piece of shit.

But doesn't every show need a character for me to hate?

The TV Girl

Supernatural: One Step Forward, A Step and Half Back

2010-11-08T18:05:00.000-05:00

(6.06 "You Can't Handle the Truth" and 6.07 "Family Matters")

The last two episodes of Supernatural have had some good moments, some not so good moments, some pluses, some minuses. First, the pluses.

I'll admit it, I kinda dig Robo-Sam. As we now know (though we may have guessed) Sam's body and mind may be here on earth, but his soul is still trapped in a cage in hell with Lucifer and Michael. And if Sam and Dean work with Gramps Campbell to round up creatures for Crowley, then the new king of hell will make Sam all whole again. Not only is Soul-less-Sam a little bit awesome, with the willingness to kill with only minor hesitation and all, this is a chance for the show to do something really interesting. No-Soul-Sam is a separate being from dearly departed Sam Winchester, and that opens a new field of possibility for the show, and I for one hope the writers take advantage.

While I understand and agree that is was necessary for Dean to take his father down off the pedestal, I sort of got choked up when he finally said something good about John after so many seasons. We've all read the Aeneid, we know heroes cannot carry their fathers on their backs forever, but his desire for his father's respect and affection was his defining motivation for so many years, it seems that without finding some empathetic understanding of his father's strengths and weaknesses, that Dean will always be adrift. (And doesn't that seem to be the big problem, that while other people have been trying to force him into a role, Dean has been purposeless.)

And I though I have SERIOUS problems with the little old overarching storyline for this season (which I'll get to in a sec) I will not argue with more Mark Sheppard. I get a little giddy every time he shows up on screen, so fine, let the boys be Crowley's bitches for now.

But make no mistake, I think that Purgatory-is-where-supernatural-creatures-go-when-they-die-and-Crowley-wants-to-find-it is hands down, without a doubt, barring none, THE STUPIDEST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED ON THIS SHOW. Not every episode is the best ("Bugs"), some plot developments have crossed the campy-line into the shamefully preposterous (Anna's grace is in a tree), but I actually got up and left the room (to get another beer) when Alpha Vamp dropped his knowledge on wee little Sam and Dean. Not only is it the lamest idea ever (days later I'm still dumbfounded by this choice of storyline), but they made it so frakking obvious how weak it is. I say the following as a decently intelligent person, a scholar, a TV junkie, and a truly disappointed viewer:
DO NOT ASK SOMEONE IF THEY HAVE READ ONE OF THE GREATEST WORKS OF ART EVER PRODUCED IN HUMAN HISTORY AND THEN "RE-IMAGINE" IT AS ASININE DRIVEL!!!
Some of us didn't go to cut-rate state schools, we actually read "Purgatorio" and if the show wants to make up it's own definition of Purgatory they are free to do so (as much of a mistake as it is) but leave Dante out of it.

I'm so angry I could spit, and I don't think I realized it until I wrote this.

Yet Little Women taught me that I should not let the sun go down on my anger, so, I will end on a positive note. How cool was it when that dentist murdered his pervy patient with the drill?

The TV Girl