TeeVee

I watched Arrow up until about halfway through the episode where Laurel's mother showed up and Helena returned, and somewhere in between Roy calling Thea a "rich bitch" and Diggle referring to Helena as "your psycho ex-girlfriend," I realized not only was no woman between the ages of 20 and 30 was ever going to appear of the show without being thrown at Oliver, and, remembering spoilers I've read about Shado, the only way the comic book ladies were going to appear on the show and still be allowed to fight is if they were evil killers (and I'm still rather enraged from earlier in the season when Helena and Dinah/Laurel were made rivals who apparently can't stand each other over Oliver.)

The Lady Vanishes: A BBC TV movie that, like the Alfred Hitchcock movie, is based on Ethel Lina White's novel The Wheel spins, in which a young woman travels by train from Croatia to England in the 30s. On the train, a woman from her compartment disappears, and the other passengers in the car claim she never existed, leading the rest of the train to believe the young woman is delusional because of sunstroke. I can't compare it to the book or the Hitchcock movie, but I enjoyed it a lot, though I question Our Heroine's love interest falling for her while believing she's insane and would benefit from temporary instutionalization, and Our Heroine has some very cringeworthy xenophobia in the first half (it doesn't go away in the second, but she seems to have realiazed that xenophobia is not cool and only causes problems after a while) but her xenophobia is actually an important plotpoint, as opposed to the narrative agreeing with her when she's going on about how people in other countries should learn English for the convenience of British tourists and it's silly to speak any other language.

Person of Interest 2.19:

( spoilers )

As both Arrow and Once Upon A Time appear to have abruptly been cleared off my slate (maybe I'll netflix them when I'm over my current annoyance- and I'm still very behind on Bomb Girls, Nikita and Beauty and the Beast, but I intend to catch up with them, and I think The Borgias is back too), I'll take a moment to list new/somewhat new-ish shows that I've been thinking about checking out (not including some Asian shows I need to watch and a few other British series that have finished airing):

The Americans
DaVinci's Demons (though not until I've heard feedback that isn't about "ZOMG SEX")
Deception
Defiance
On Top of the Lake
Orphan Black
The Vikings

Please feel free to PM me trigger warnings for any of the above(misogyny, rape, racism, homophobia, ableism, the woobifying of white men who like to engage in the above, and excessive gore) or leave non-spoilery general warnings in the comments. Graphic sex for the sake of graphic sex/shock value/"being edgy" also isn't exactly a favorite thing of mine and is a bit of a turn off. (I actually have seen a list of trigger warnings for TotL and am pondering, as I can handle most in a narrative that handles them properly, but I'm not sure about all of them at once.)

In non-new-TV news, I finished revisiting canon for RareWomen (more accurately: I skimmed it a while back, planned and plotted, and rewatched all the scenes with the character who will be the subject of my fic) and am sad that there will be mo more of it ever. I also watched the first season of Sarah Shahi's shortlived Fairly Legal and simultaneously enjoyed it a lot (though I didnt enjoy the fact that her character is apparently white, and so want her to be secretly adopted) and wasn't really surprised that it didn't last long, as it doesn't fit easily within any strict "categories," and USA likes its categories. Very disappointed the second season apparently wasn't released on DVD, and probably won't be.

(PS-I've read your comments re: Adam Horowitz and rape-apologia and nod with each of you.)

(no subject)

 Guys, is there a single US TV drama that has debuted this spring that does not involve any of the following?:

1. Rape (including "rape laws can't apply in this case because clones/mind-control-but-we-call-it-compulsion/shapeshifters/alien pheromones don't actually exist in the real world", and things fandom likes to call "dubious consent")

2. Serial killers (especially as main characters)

3. Cannibals (especially as main characters)

4.  Graphic onscreen violence against women, either sexual or non-sexual (not to be confused with "violence involving women", ie, women getting hurt in fights that they're active agents in and such)

5.  Graphic sex for the sake of graphic sex.  (What do I care about sex scenes where I have no reason to have an emotional investment in the characters and/or their relationship? )

There is absolutely nothing sarcastic about this post.  Well, as lacking in sarcasm as I can manage, at least.  But as near as I can tell, at least with the new dramas on my radar, Defiance is the only one that doesn't have at least one of the above.  (And not that there's anything wrong with you liking those shows.)