TV-update 2018/19, part 6
Aug. 25th, 2019 04:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brabbel123The Handmaid's Tale - season 3
I have very mixed feelings about this season. First of all, the Nichole-issue... took way too much space, especially the media pressure that was exerted with all the handmaids "praying" for her safe return. And then it just petered out.
Overall, the Canadians were portrayed quite strangely. I mean, Luke, Emily, Moira, Nichole, they're all refugees... and still Nichole is just a thing to be played with when it looks as though it's possible to get Serena to give up Fred? She has no claim on Nichole, especially considering that Gilead isn't recognized as a sovereign state - therefore, the ritual rape of women and taking away of their children can't in any way be talked away as some kind of regional custom, it's a war crime since Gilead's still at war with the legitimate US (at least the remnants of the US).
Gosh, it felt good to see that idiot Fred is put on trial... but it felt even better that Serena might at least have to stand up for some of her crimes as well. No way she's just an innocent, having to watch all the crimes committed in Gilead. She forced June and Nick to have sex (no matter that they were in a relationship), she instigated the rape in season 2 to induce labour... no, Serena's beyond any kind of hope and redemption and even considering letting her near Nichole, the daughter of someone who she routinely humiliated and let be raped, held her down even... despicable, in my opinion even more despicable than Fred's greed and lust for power (over women, and June in particular).
Fred's final act, the semi-public ceremony at the Lawrences' house, meaning Lawrence and June would have to go through with it (which felt a bit like all 3 involved, the Lawrences and June, were raped at that point, though my compassion with Joseph, one of the masterminds behind the idea of Gilead, isn't exactly overwhelming)... in a way that was the hardest moment in that season. Maybe because I still see Zoe and Josh from West Wing which makes that kind of act even more disgusting. And hearing June's internal mantra again was heart-wrenching, as was hearing it the next episode when Winslow was about to rape her - and she finally fought back.
The writers are toeing a pretty fine line with June right now. She's willing to sacrifice (almost) anything, first to get to Hannah, later on to get the children out of Gilead... and yes, her motivations changed from her own need to get her daughter to a more selfless goal, but the bodies are starting to pile up in her wake: her walking partner this season, Lawrence's wife... they were (indirect) victims of her hatred and calculation resp. But I certainly don't condemn her for killing Winslow, a despicable human being parading his 6 children and mutilated handmaids alike. And let's not mention his advances toward Fred, a crime in Gilead (we remember what happened to Emily and that Martha)... but double-standard of course. Washington overall actually reminded me a bit of the depravities in Panem's capital, just came to my mind.
Still don't get Lydia... she's so full of hatred, of herself, of women in general... the episode focused on her said she worked in family law, then as a teacher... I get that you see things there where the well-being of a child is neglected left and right because of the parents' selfishness... but it still didn't explain her decline into routinely indoctrinating women (albeit in her eyes depraved women, adulteresses, homosexuals etc) into their "right" place as servants and rape-victims.
Marthas still rule, the plan in the end to get those children out of Gilead out succeeded (and OMG, I was in tears when that plane landed... finally something that worked out, some kind of positive outcome) - I'm just looking forward to seeing how that changes things: Winslow and Waterford are gone, who's taking over in Gilead? Where's Nick (storywise, not geographically, we know he's fighting in Chicago but that can't be it for this character)? Where's June going to go next? Can she stay with Lawrence even though he's a widower - or will she be reassigned? Assuming of course, she survives... which I actually have mixed feelings about as I think her story should come to a close before she loses every ounce of humanity.
I hope we'll see more of the refugees next season, Moira, Luke, Emily, the children... that could have been more of a focus this season, especially in the first half. Still a very intense programme.
Elementary - season 7
The final season... a bit of a hit and miss to be honest. Reichenbach's little "Minority Report"-scheme which of course leads to Sherlock having to fake his death in order for the authorities to properly investigate everything... blah... Also could have done without that possible daughter popping up which apparently was dismissed right away anyway. Would have liked to see Moriarty in person again, but honestly, the show wasn't about her, and she wasn't Sherlock's main interest any longer anyway. I think they took a bit of a cop out with the end of season 6 and getting Sherlock and Joan back to New York, but it was just a 13 episode season and some things had to be solved quickly, I guess.
But the underlying relationships, the platonic love between Sherlock and Joan was beautifully portrayed, especially in the final episode - I will miss seeing that on TV because it's such a rare occurence for a relationship to simply work without them falling into bed (and the tension simly fizzling out after that).
Chernobyl
a 5 epiosode mini-series about the nuclear catastrophe in 1986... even more relevant because I still remember the reports about the soil contamination, the ban to collect mushrooms for example from my childhood - and every outcry about nuclear plants in the near vicinity including buying iodine-tablets etc. So, Chernobyl was an event where many things coincided, but it perhaps showed for the first time just how dangerous this technology can be.
And this series does just that, burned faces, the cover-ups back then... but I think it's short-sighted to just point at the USSR - just look at what happened at Fukushima. And now a swimming nuclear reactor in the polar sea... money and the need for ever more (cheap) energy still prevail.
Anyway, back to this mini-series: I think it could have been told in 4 episodes as especially episode 4 dragged out a bit with the scenes of the exterminators in the woods near the Chernobyl plant - but episode 5 where all came together definitely more than made up for it.
Agent Carter - seasons 1 & 2
Follows up on Agent Peggy Carter from "Captain America: The First Avenger"... and I loved this series, especially season 1. It's a spy-show, the first season about Howard Stark incriminated in weapons' sells, the 2nd about the occurence of something called Zero Matter which popped up after on of the US nuclear tests. The characterization is spot on, Jarvis is a delight (even if he sometimes degrades to comic relief in season 2), Howard Stark is his pompous selfish ass, Peggy the capable woman who's more or less 50 or 60 years before her time.
Some might say that the end of Endgame contradicts Agent Carter... but why? Parallel universes, people!
FBI - season 1
about a counter-terrorist unit in New York... it's a bit of a run of a mill programme, nothing we haven't quite seen yet. But the characters are likeable, the cases interesting (the backdoor pilot to the spin-off promises to be even more interesting, at least main character-wise). I'll keep watching.
I have very mixed feelings about this season. First of all, the Nichole-issue... took way too much space, especially the media pressure that was exerted with all the handmaids "praying" for her safe return. And then it just petered out.
Overall, the Canadians were portrayed quite strangely. I mean, Luke, Emily, Moira, Nichole, they're all refugees... and still Nichole is just a thing to be played with when it looks as though it's possible to get Serena to give up Fred? She has no claim on Nichole, especially considering that Gilead isn't recognized as a sovereign state - therefore, the ritual rape of women and taking away of their children can't in any way be talked away as some kind of regional custom, it's a war crime since Gilead's still at war with the legitimate US (at least the remnants of the US).
Gosh, it felt good to see that idiot Fred is put on trial... but it felt even better that Serena might at least have to stand up for some of her crimes as well. No way she's just an innocent, having to watch all the crimes committed in Gilead. She forced June and Nick to have sex (no matter that they were in a relationship), she instigated the rape in season 2 to induce labour... no, Serena's beyond any kind of hope and redemption and even considering letting her near Nichole, the daughter of someone who she routinely humiliated and let be raped, held her down even... despicable, in my opinion even more despicable than Fred's greed and lust for power (over women, and June in particular).
Fred's final act, the semi-public ceremony at the Lawrences' house, meaning Lawrence and June would have to go through with it (which felt a bit like all 3 involved, the Lawrences and June, were raped at that point, though my compassion with Joseph, one of the masterminds behind the idea of Gilead, isn't exactly overwhelming)... in a way that was the hardest moment in that season. Maybe because I still see Zoe and Josh from West Wing which makes that kind of act even more disgusting. And hearing June's internal mantra again was heart-wrenching, as was hearing it the next episode when Winslow was about to rape her - and she finally fought back.
The writers are toeing a pretty fine line with June right now. She's willing to sacrifice (almost) anything, first to get to Hannah, later on to get the children out of Gilead... and yes, her motivations changed from her own need to get her daughter to a more selfless goal, but the bodies are starting to pile up in her wake: her walking partner this season, Lawrence's wife... they were (indirect) victims of her hatred and calculation resp. But I certainly don't condemn her for killing Winslow, a despicable human being parading his 6 children and mutilated handmaids alike. And let's not mention his advances toward Fred, a crime in Gilead (we remember what happened to Emily and that Martha)... but double-standard of course. Washington overall actually reminded me a bit of the depravities in Panem's capital, just came to my mind.
Still don't get Lydia... she's so full of hatred, of herself, of women in general... the episode focused on her said she worked in family law, then as a teacher... I get that you see things there where the well-being of a child is neglected left and right because of the parents' selfishness... but it still didn't explain her decline into routinely indoctrinating women (albeit in her eyes depraved women, adulteresses, homosexuals etc) into their "right" place as servants and rape-victims.
Marthas still rule, the plan in the end to get those children out of Gilead out succeeded (and OMG, I was in tears when that plane landed... finally something that worked out, some kind of positive outcome) - I'm just looking forward to seeing how that changes things: Winslow and Waterford are gone, who's taking over in Gilead? Where's Nick (storywise, not geographically, we know he's fighting in Chicago but that can't be it for this character)? Where's June going to go next? Can she stay with Lawrence even though he's a widower - or will she be reassigned? Assuming of course, she survives... which I actually have mixed feelings about as I think her story should come to a close before she loses every ounce of humanity.
I hope we'll see more of the refugees next season, Moira, Luke, Emily, the children... that could have been more of a focus this season, especially in the first half. Still a very intense programme.
Elementary - season 7
The final season... a bit of a hit and miss to be honest. Reichenbach's little "Minority Report"-scheme which of course leads to Sherlock having to fake his death in order for the authorities to properly investigate everything... blah... Also could have done without that possible daughter popping up which apparently was dismissed right away anyway. Would have liked to see Moriarty in person again, but honestly, the show wasn't about her, and she wasn't Sherlock's main interest any longer anyway. I think they took a bit of a cop out with the end of season 6 and getting Sherlock and Joan back to New York, but it was just a 13 episode season and some things had to be solved quickly, I guess.
But the underlying relationships, the platonic love between Sherlock and Joan was beautifully portrayed, especially in the final episode - I will miss seeing that on TV because it's such a rare occurence for a relationship to simply work without them falling into bed (and the tension simly fizzling out after that).
Chernobyl
a 5 epiosode mini-series about the nuclear catastrophe in 1986... even more relevant because I still remember the reports about the soil contamination, the ban to collect mushrooms for example from my childhood - and every outcry about nuclear plants in the near vicinity including buying iodine-tablets etc. So, Chernobyl was an event where many things coincided, but it perhaps showed for the first time just how dangerous this technology can be.
And this series does just that, burned faces, the cover-ups back then... but I think it's short-sighted to just point at the USSR - just look at what happened at Fukushima. And now a swimming nuclear reactor in the polar sea... money and the need for ever more (cheap) energy still prevail.
Anyway, back to this mini-series: I think it could have been told in 4 episodes as especially episode 4 dragged out a bit with the scenes of the exterminators in the woods near the Chernobyl plant - but episode 5 where all came together definitely more than made up for it.
Agent Carter - seasons 1 & 2
Follows up on Agent Peggy Carter from "Captain America: The First Avenger"... and I loved this series, especially season 1. It's a spy-show, the first season about Howard Stark incriminated in weapons' sells, the 2nd about the occurence of something called Zero Matter which popped up after on of the US nuclear tests. The characterization is spot on, Jarvis is a delight (even if he sometimes degrades to comic relief in season 2), Howard Stark is his pompous selfish ass, Peggy the capable woman who's more or less 50 or 60 years before her time.
Some might say that the end of Endgame contradicts Agent Carter... but why? Parallel universes, people!
FBI - season 1
about a counter-terrorist unit in New York... it's a bit of a run of a mill programme, nothing we haven't quite seen yet. But the characters are likeable, the cases interesting (the backdoor pilot to the spin-off promises to be even more interesting, at least main character-wise). I'll keep watching.
