Hi!
The Flash
Yes, I’m still watching entirely too much TV. So far I’ve been sort of keeping up with The Flash and skipping Legends of Tomorrow on Monday nights. I’m not super heavily invested in either show. These are shows that are usually just playing in the background while I knit, or clean, or something. They’re fun, not too deep, and I don’t have to follow every convolution of the plot to get them. Sort of like TV watching 101.
Teen Wolf
Last Tuesday I watched the semi last episode of Teen Wolf. I really liked these characters and didn’t enjoy watching this. It’s just too bittersweet. Once again, I was not greatly impressed with this season’s plot, although it was better than last season. Last season’s plot was pretty awful. This season was about The Wild Hunt kidnapping Stiles,and tucking him away from his friends in a ghost train station, while Scott and the others try to rescue him, even though the Hunt erased him from their memories. It’s still the same crazily over the top action, and acting styles. I try to give a pass to very young actors because, well, they’re very young, and a certain amount of schmacting is to be expected, I guess.
The stand out character of this series, for me, was Scott McCall, of course, but what stuck with me was the teen’s relationships with their parents, who took all this supernatural, monster stuff, entirely in stride, especially Scott’s mom. How do you handle the idea that your son is a werewolf? Like a Boss! I wasn’t heavily invested in the show, but I’m gonna miss it just a little. It took what was a middle of the road comedy from the 80s, when Michael J. Fox was at the height of his film career, and turned it into a gorgeous, under the radar show, that didn’t always pay attention to its own mythology, and engaged in waay too much whitewashing, but nevertheless developed a very devoted fandom. It’s a good Buffy successor, which is exactly what it was meant to be.
Riverdale
I don’t normally watch teen shows, so I knew I probably wasn’t going to get too caught up in Riverdale. I remember the comic books from when I was a pre-teen because my mom introduced me to them. I never really liked them because I considered them too girly, but I came to appreciate them as light, fun, reading when I was an adult. Go figure!
Anyway the series doesn’t seem to be much like the books except in people’s names. I wasn’t greatly impressed with the plot or the acting and I think the tone is all wrong for this show. I feel like the creators could have gone with fun and lighthearted, just like the books. But I’m sure some people will like it. I have read some bad reviews about how the show is fucking up its LGBT representation, so you may want to beware of that. I don’t think it’s the kind of thing aimed at someone like me, though. If you’re a fan of Twin Peaks, and 90210, then this show is right up your alley. No judgement!
Taboo:
Wow! Yeah…what to say about this? It’s definitely appropriately named, that’s for sure. I like this show. It’s fascinating, but if you don’t care for political intrigue, murder, prostitutes, business corruption, racism, ableism, psychic rape, thievery, lying, incest…well basically all the shit that’s taboo in society, this is maybe not your show. On the other hand, if you find a conglomeration of all those things, shoved into a coherent plot, to be compelling, then you should, by all means, check this one out. It’s a heavy show, with a very convoluted plot.
James Delaney returns from a sojourn in Africa, and starts completely disrupting the plans of the East India company and the Crown, over a piece of land in America called Knutka Sound, which Delaney inherited, after his father was poisoned with arsenic. He tries to restart his relationship with his half sister, Zephyr, who pretends to not want him, because her husband’s an asshole who suspects their relationship, and constantly needles her about it. This culminates in a beating and an exorcism, after Zephyr mentions James, in their bed one night. That’s because Delaney does indeed seem to have psychic powers, and used those powers to give her happy times, when her husband wasnt home.
Yes, James Delaney is creepy. Yes, he’s got actual psychic abilities, which allows him to get away with playing all sides against the middle, The Americans, The Company, and various people around town that he has suborned into working for him, including the mixed race daughter of a local prostitute, a cross dressing male actor, and a sleazy chemist, who loves to fuck other men’s wives. Basically, this show just made a list of everything that drives people batshit about human society, and threw it all into the plot.
The plot is appalling. The show, on the other hand, like most soap operas, is grandly fascinating, and I can’t seem to tear myself away. So this is my new addiction right now.
The Magicians/The Expanse
Okay, I’m supposed to be reviewing the season premieres of The Magicians, and The Expanse. I may, or may not, get around to these, although I had plans to do so. I just didn’t count on getting so physically run down that I couldn’t keep up. I did review the very first episode of The Expanse, in season one, and I’m going to give season two a try, as I didn’t watch the show much beyond the pilot. It still looks gorgeous, though, and I’ve heard a lot of great things about the characters.
The Magicians disappointed me last season, but I feel it’s worth a look. It is mostly following the books, but I was disappointed in the tacked on romances, some of the acting was a little dodgy, and I didn’t care for the treatment of its female characters, many of whom I disliked. Quentin was too much of a milktoast in season one, and the plot seemed to wander, but this season, Q appears to have gained more confidence, and I’m looking forward to what the writers will do with him. So far, his character seems to be paralleling the books in becoming something of a badass, and I think that might be fun to watch. Also the special effects are especially attractive to me. I’m like a magpie. If I spy something shiny on TV, I will gravitate to it.
Supergirl
I’ve stopped watching Supergirl. That show has too many problems for me to get past. I may take it up again in some later season, but so far, I’m unimpressed with this one. I don’t hate the show as that would require that I had specific expectations from it and I wasn’t invested enough to have those. I’m mostly indifferent. It’s just another hour of free time as far as I’m concerned.
I’m still watching Supernatural, and you can catch my reviews of season twelve on: A Blog Devoted To Supernatural.
Geeking Out About:
I had some health issues I was dealing with in December, so I never got a chance to review Ash vs. The Evil Dead TV show in its second season, but my niece, The Potato, watched some of it, and said it was okay. Then again she’s, like, ten years old, and thinks everything is okay. I was going to compare that show to Stan Against Evil, but never got around to doing that. I haven’t gotten beyond the first episode of Stan, but I planned to do that. It’s not as funny as Ash, but I like McGinley, and it’s snarky enough to attract me.
The Potato and I have made plans to watch the movie The Girl with All the Gifts. When I told her it was about a little zombie girl, she was very excited. Apparently, she really likes zombies, but I still refuse to let her watch The Walking Dead because that show is waaay too heavy for her. The Evil Dead is just a loud comedy, with gore, and so far, she can handle that. We also made plans to watch Train to Busan, but she’s not allowed to watch that one alone. It’s not deep but it is fairly intense. She will love it!
I did watch her first episode of Dr. Who with her. This was unintended. She walked in on me watching the episode about The Weeping Angels, which is one of the scariest episodes of Dr. Who, ever, and she plopped down next to me to watch it. She was unimpressed by The Doctor, but she loved the Angels, because they were properly terrifying. We had a grand time being scared, and discussing the show! I hope to turn her into a Whovian at some point in the future, because after that, she watched a couple of the last seasons Capaldi episodes with me, and seemed to really like Clara. I think I’ll introduce her to the ones involving kids, or Martha. She loves to watch kids, especially girls, having adventures. It really is a great time to be ten years old. There’s a wealth of media out there for little girls and some of it is even for little Black girls! I didnt have any of this at her age, so yes, there has been an improvement in media depictions of PoC, at least somewhat. It’s like that scene from Shawshank. All we got is a rock hammer, and time. But maybe by the time she’s an adult, hers will be the first generation that really grew up believing they can do anything, and knowing it.
Ghostbusters (2016)
I told myself I wasn’t going to watch the new Ghostbusters movie, but it came on TV, and I was curious. It’s not half as bad as a lot of Black people made it out to be, who decided they were gonna boycott it because Patti, the lone Black woman in the cast, wasn’t a scientist. I’m still disappointed that Patti wasn’t a scientist but I’m feeling magnanimous because I just watched Hidden Figures. I really enjoyed the movie, though. It was good forgettable fun, just like the original, when it first came out. I think many trailers are designed to make you hate a movie before you can see it , and I think that’s what happened here. I was satisfied with Leslie’s performance and she mixed well with the other actresses. She gets a lot of screen time, and she’s very funny. I liked that the script, and the other characters, treat her as an equal. My favorite character, of course, was McKinnon’s. The best word to describe her character would be “zany”! I loved her and I’m totally girl crushing on this character, as she got the biggest laughs out of me, as she is having just waaay too much fun. It was also nice to see her and Patti forming a bond. I’d watch a sequel just for their antics.
The surprise character was Chris Hemsworth’s dim bulb, named Kevin. He was hilariously, cheerfully, dumb. I’m sure he had a grand time playing that character, and it shows. There are a few moments where the humor falls a bit flat, and also some genuinely scary moments too, like when Patti gets chased by a dress mannequin. That particular moment had me yelling at my TV, and sitting on my hands. There’s another moment when the ladies get chased by some giant parade balloons, which was both funny and terrifying, and I enjoyed it, but probably won’t watch that moment again. I got a thing about inanimate objects that act alive. (Thanks Steve!) Oh, there were lots of cameos from the original movie, too. Two of the principal actors from that movie are passed on now, but the others all gamely put in an appearance, including Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver. I do wish she’d had a bigger role, as it’s a blink and you’ll miss her moment. Both Slimer and the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man have cameos, which was a lot of fun.
I told myself I wasn’t going to let The Potato watch the movie but I’ve changed my mind. She’ll have lots of fun. It won’t matter to her that Patti isn’t one of the scientists. What will matter to her is watching these women, including an unconventional looking Black woman (who just looks like the kind of woman she encounters in her everyday life), have adventures and save the world. Baby steps people! Baby steps! We’re not on the moon yet, but we can take that first math class. We’ll get to the point where seeing PoC saving the world is a regular occurrence.
Next Up:
I’ll be watching Legion this week and give ya’ll a heads up on what that’s about. I’m not really in the mood to see another show about a quirky white guy, because of Taboo, but I remember Legion from the comic books. In the comics, he’s Professor Xavier’s son, and more powerful than his dad. This show looks like it might be bringing some much needed humor to the X-Men franchise, so I’m gonna check it out.
And at some point, I’ll get back to you guys about The Girl With All the Gifts, (Yes, I read the book and I loved it.) The Magicians, and The Expanse.
TTFN!
Geeking Out about It 