TV-update 2018/19, part 3
May. 25th, 2019 09:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brabbel123Game of Thrones - season 8
Hm, not sure what to think of this final season. I think during the last 2 seasons the series lost its balance somewhere. Maybe even during season 6 which seemed dragged out at some points in the middle. But seasons 7 and 8 jumped all over the place, left miniscule (but important explaining) scenes out, spent lots of time and trivial issues (such as the foreplay to the big battle with the Night King) but little on actually resolving the "Game of Thrones".
No, everyone simply accepts Tyrion's choice of Bran (who everyone else only knows as cripple and a bit strange in the head), Sansa's choice for an independent north also goes uncontested, Jon returns north, Arya pulls a Columbus... I'm not talking about Dany going mad and unleashing fire on King's Landing. That much was foreshadowed, but as said before, it was the little moments that just failed to convey those momentary decisions. Dany lost so much before, 2 dragons, Jorah, Missandei, all in a relatively short time. She saw herself betrayed by Varys, Tyrion and even Jon... but why attack in the moment she had everything in her hands?
It was the same in season 7 when Sansa turned on Littlefinger... the small scene where she's shown thinking and realizing the truth is missing. But it's those small scenes that are all-important. Let's not forget Jon's real name... also rendered unimportant in the end. There was so much setup but little follow-through.
And, honestly, given the way season 8 turns out: I'd have turned the battles around. While the Battle at Winterfell is the bigger one (King's Landing was all destruction after all), nothing much makes sense: sending the Dothraki into the dark, having the Red Witch twice pull fire out of nothing (and for nothing), having Bran just sit around instead of showing some kind of mental battle with the Night Walker, having Arya come out of nowhere to kill the Night King. And the Red Witch waxing about Arya killing someone with brown, blue and green eyes (which she already said in an earlier season) is just unimportant drivel at the end as she doesn't kill anyone with green eyes after all. I think the writers fell a bit too in love with Arya in the end. She's badass, no doubt. But she got a bit too much screen time in the end (needlessly in the battle of King's Landing, just to show some of the civilian victims).
So overall, I still think GoT is a really good show - but the ending just doesn't fit. Again not because of the way the characters took, but how that way was depicted. I wonder whether GRR Martin will ever end the series in book form, and if so, whether he actually has planned to go down this road. After all, the series from season 6 onwards is based on outlays of the books that are still to be published...
Grey's Anatomy - season 15
Still watch this show, and there are always little gems which keep me watching: such as the rape-victim episode, or the episode showing Amelia with her sisters and mother. Those were really good stuff.
But: the whole rest of the Jo-subplot simply didn't work for me. What did she expect when she went to confront her birth-mother? Didn't it once occur to her that mothers could also abandon their children because something happened to them (and abortion wasn't a road they wanted to go down)? Granted, the truth hurts, especially given the abusive past Jo herself has, still... the whole thing just didn't sit right with me.
Link and Amelia, Owen and Teddy (with babybed building Tom on the sidelines... okay. Still can't stand Maggie (and the way she stepped on the road in heavy fog I was counting on a car just hitting her...), and Meredith... well, I think she's outlived her own story. The relationship with Andrew seems a bit forced in a reversed situation with her and Derek, not much chemistry there. And Meredith already forged records, back with Derek's Alzheimer's study, so that's not really new, either.
Well, I'll keep watching. As I said, when it's good, it's really good. Unfortunately, the series mostly meanders very mediocre waters, still... a guilty pleasure.
Hm, not sure what to think of this final season. I think during the last 2 seasons the series lost its balance somewhere. Maybe even during season 6 which seemed dragged out at some points in the middle. But seasons 7 and 8 jumped all over the place, left miniscule (but important explaining) scenes out, spent lots of time and trivial issues (such as the foreplay to the big battle with the Night King) but little on actually resolving the "Game of Thrones".
No, everyone simply accepts Tyrion's choice of Bran (who everyone else only knows as cripple and a bit strange in the head), Sansa's choice for an independent north also goes uncontested, Jon returns north, Arya pulls a Columbus... I'm not talking about Dany going mad and unleashing fire on King's Landing. That much was foreshadowed, but as said before, it was the little moments that just failed to convey those momentary decisions. Dany lost so much before, 2 dragons, Jorah, Missandei, all in a relatively short time. She saw herself betrayed by Varys, Tyrion and even Jon... but why attack in the moment she had everything in her hands?
It was the same in season 7 when Sansa turned on Littlefinger... the small scene where she's shown thinking and realizing the truth is missing. But it's those small scenes that are all-important. Let's not forget Jon's real name... also rendered unimportant in the end. There was so much setup but little follow-through.
And, honestly, given the way season 8 turns out: I'd have turned the battles around. While the Battle at Winterfell is the bigger one (King's Landing was all destruction after all), nothing much makes sense: sending the Dothraki into the dark, having the Red Witch twice pull fire out of nothing (and for nothing), having Bran just sit around instead of showing some kind of mental battle with the Night Walker, having Arya come out of nowhere to kill the Night King. And the Red Witch waxing about Arya killing someone with brown, blue and green eyes (which she already said in an earlier season) is just unimportant drivel at the end as she doesn't kill anyone with green eyes after all. I think the writers fell a bit too in love with Arya in the end. She's badass, no doubt. But she got a bit too much screen time in the end (needlessly in the battle of King's Landing, just to show some of the civilian victims).
So overall, I still think GoT is a really good show - but the ending just doesn't fit. Again not because of the way the characters took, but how that way was depicted. I wonder whether GRR Martin will ever end the series in book form, and if so, whether he actually has planned to go down this road. After all, the series from season 6 onwards is based on outlays of the books that are still to be published...
Grey's Anatomy - season 15
Still watch this show, and there are always little gems which keep me watching: such as the rape-victim episode, or the episode showing Amelia with her sisters and mother. Those were really good stuff.
But: the whole rest of the Jo-subplot simply didn't work for me. What did she expect when she went to confront her birth-mother? Didn't it once occur to her that mothers could also abandon their children because something happened to them (and abortion wasn't a road they wanted to go down)? Granted, the truth hurts, especially given the abusive past Jo herself has, still... the whole thing just didn't sit right with me.
Link and Amelia, Owen and Teddy (with babybed building Tom on the sidelines... okay. Still can't stand Maggie (and the way she stepped on the road in heavy fog I was counting on a car just hitting her...), and Meredith... well, I think she's outlived her own story. The relationship with Andrew seems a bit forced in a reversed situation with her and Derek, not much chemistry there. And Meredith already forged records, back with Derek's Alzheimer's study, so that's not really new, either.
Well, I'll keep watching. As I said, when it's good, it's really good. Unfortunately, the series mostly meanders very mediocre waters, still... a guilty pleasure.
