Of Swords and Parasols

The Borgias 2.1: I don't know about this episode at all.

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Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries 1.8: Phryne's "Hello, Jack" is becoming one of my favorite sounds ever. It's just so mischevious and devious. (At this point, they're basically courting vicariously through their sidekicks.)

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Missing 1.5:

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Ringer 1.21:

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Titanic (2012): Currently airing UK miniseries. Three episodes are out and the last will air this Sunday. The story is somewhat nonlinear: the first 30-ish minutes of each episode is pre-iceburg and the last 3rd is people trying to get themselves/their families off the ship, and each episode adds scenes to the time period already covered, or expands previous scenes. The expanded scenes probably work better when watched a week apart, instead of all three episodes within 24 hours. It's entertaining and good, but there are too many characters and plotlines for any to really get the development they could have, and I think Fellowes is relying a bit much on "IT"S THE TITANIC!!" to carry things and tie them together at times. I'm hoping the last episode devotes itself to the actual sinking/survival and doesn't revisit the covered timeline as much. Character and acting-wise, Geraldine Somerville seriously steals every scene she goes near. She's just so amazingly snobbish and catty. Maybe she wants to grow up to be Maggie Smith? (I was also wondering why I found it odd that her character was named Louisa until I realized that she was also named Louisa in Gosford Park, which I believe is also written by Fellowes. Though i largely associate her with playing Daphne de Maurier.) Perdita Weeks is also all grown up now, and no longer looks like a carbon copy of her sister. I mean, they still looks alike, but she used to look exactly like a miniature version of Honeysuckle Weeks.

Lost Girl 2.20:

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Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries: This one was really fun!

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Nikita 2.17:

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Once Upon A Time 1.16: Emma, you're doing that awkward thing again where you're having more chemistry with your biological mother than anyone else. Please stop. And Rumples didn't annoy me for the first time since...sometime back.

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Ringer 1.18:

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I also finished season 4 of Chuck. Despite going "What...no..." at the last scene (we'll see how it goes) it it temporarily bringing back one narrative aspect I dislike in earlier seasons, I likedthis season a lot, though I admit to being a bit distracted by Linda Hamilton, and all the Terminator/Sarah Connor references. (I suspect they asked her to do the pullups scene and she went "That was twenty years ago!" because someone clearly wanted it there.) Timothy Dalton's character was also a hoot. I admit, though, that I've forgotten most of season 3? I only really remember what happened with Orion, and the parts I liked.

Lost Girl 2.18: THIS SHOW WHUT!!!! I don't really knowwhat to say about this episode save that I love this show even when it's being terribly wrong and awful and threatening to go very bad places even if it stops itself in time. I am very sad, though, that Kenzi did not save Bo through the power of their sismance.

Show, I see what you're doing with Trick and Bo there, and if you aren't very careful with it, we may have to have words. Actually, lyssie and I havebeen discussing the possibility that Trick is actually Aoife's father, which would explain a lot about Bo and Aoife in general, and about the prices Trick's had to pay.
(I'm so disturbed that I don't hate or even dislike Ryan, guys. You have no idea.)

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries 1.1-1.3: MFMM is a new Australian mystery series set in the 20s about Phyne Fisher, a rather shameless rich woman who sets herself up as a private investigator after solving a murder mystery. Like many detectives, she attracts both dead bodies and strays like flies and she's rather bulldozerlike when it comes to shoehorning her way into police investigations (The show has a clear desire that I ship her with the inspector whose toes she habitually steps on, but episode 2 implied he either is married or was in the past, and I'm not going along with that if there's a wife still in the picture. I'll go along with the sidekicks though, because they are adorable.) It's rather lightweight despite the dead bodies and some of the other plot elements, such as the apparently rather awful death and/or disappearance of Phryne's sister some years prior to the series, but's its rather delightful and has lots of Bechdel passing and adorable characters.


Once Upon A Time 1.14: Hmm...I thought this was going to be the Red Riding Hood episode, but apparently that's the next episode.

( spoilers )Person of Interest 1.17: Show! Your trailer promised me tons of "reclusive paranoid billionaire and angssty ex-spy/assassin-turned-vigilante with baby!" giggles and giggles AND DID NOT WARN ME ABOUT ACTUAL SERIOUS DANGER TO BABY!!!! (I feel a bit traumatized despite the TV!baby being just fine and the actual real baby naturally being in no danger...)

( spoilers )Ringer1.16:

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Bomb Girls: Season 1: Bomb Girls is a Canadian series about women who work in a munitions factory in WW2. Despite some developments I'm not sure about in the last episode (I guess they had to create some future Drama for the second season?), it is fairly awesome? If you like "what life was like in this time and place" period dramas, this is a pretty good one, and it feels a lot like some of the good BBC and ITV period dramas, in terms of story and characterization, if not production quality. (Which reminds me that I haven't watched Land Girls yet.) I suspect a lot of the actresses are inexperienced, but they still did a good job. It's kind of irritatingly white in many ways, with a couple exceptions, and the plotline with the lesbian character plays out a bit painfully, if realistically (but with plenty of hope for the future) and I don't know what I think of the romantic plotlines (I want to like them but am a bit iffy, though Gladys's fiance is winning me over against my will) but I like almost all the characters and don't think there are any I actually dislike, and it passes the Bechdel test in about 6 out of 7 scenes, and I think there are maybe 10 minutes of the series without one woman or another around. Warning for a rather gruesome (though less graphic than many shows would make it) factory accident in the first episode, that gets flashed back to in the last.

Lost Girl 2.14-2.16:

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Nikita 2.10-2.15: 2.14 and 2.15 are a good example of why it's sometimes good to be the sort of person who tends to hoard TV until you have a few more episodes to watch together. You don't have to wait for the resolution to a cliffhanger that way.

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Once Upon A Time 1.8-1.12: Emma, stop having chemistry with your bio!mom. Even if she is magically enchanted to remain your age forever and you aren't convinced she's your mother. Anyway, it's a tad awkward.

Most of fandom seems to think this show is getting better and better, but I'm having the opposite reaction? Despite problems, I really loved the first 4 episodes but since then, it...hasn't been the show I thought it was going to be? It's still fun and I largely enjoy the plot twists that don't involve cheating, rape, or portraying slavery/imprisonment as romantic, but it's not the show I wanted and the narrative's approach blocks my investment, particularly when it's going out of its way to woobify Rumples (who I enjoy as a villain, but am increasingly losing interest in the more they make me want to forget his treatment and manipulation of women and just feel BAD for him and his PAIN-I'm starting to make narrative connections between him and TV!Damon Salvatore, and that's a very bad path for me, even if Rumples entertains me way more than Damon ever did, actually has redeeming value for me as a character, and, uhm, Robert Carlyle actually possesses the ability to act) and increasingly make Regina more and more one-note evil (FUN one-note evil, but still one-note).

TBH, right now I mostly pay attention to the Emma, Ruby/Red and Snow White/Mary Margaret stuff (I'm apparently in the minority that didn't care for the Beauty & the Beast part of the latest episode but love the Galentines day subplot), and the Snow White retelling parts.

Pan Am 1.9-1.12: Show, please don't be cancelled! If anyone had told me at the start of the fall season that Pan Am and Revenge were going to be my favorite new shows (I was expecting it to be Secret Circle and Once Upon Time) I wouldn't have believed you because I initially only checked Revenge out because of the concept and Pan Am because it was a period drama with a predominantly female cast.

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Show! Get renewed!

Revenge 1.14-1.15: Emanda x White Gloves = OTP? Seriously, wardrobe was on a roll in ep 14.

( spoilers )Ringer 1.11-1.13:

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Sense and Sensibility (2008): I can't quite remember what the feedback on this one was, but aside from the opening bit (which I can see the logic of, but I don't think it should have been the very first thing in the series) and the soundtrack (were those electric guitars I heard?) I liked it. I think liking but not being overly attached to the book helps me not care as much about the changes. I really liked the cast, especially the Dashwood women, and Dan Stevens tried really hard to get me to like Edward Ferrars, but didn't succeed. (That said, on a shallow note, the longish dark hair is much better for him than the short light hair he has in Downton Abbey.)

White Collar 2.11-2.14:

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Neverland part 1: The first half of a 2 part miniseries that serves as a prequel to Peter Pan. I admit, I mostly watched for Anna Friel as Anne Bonny. Uhm...Anna Friel as a villain is something else? Entertaining except for the part where Hook was a charming rogue who loved his little orphan boys so terribly much and just wanted to take his proper place back, until Anne Bonny and her evil evil vagina got ahold of him for 5 seconds and made him go bad. In case we weren't sure that was what was happening, Peter makes sure to point it out to us. Repeatedly. But nice visuals and fun aside from that part. I'll probably eventually watch the second half, but feel no real drive to right now.

Once Upon A Time eps 1.5-1.6:

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Haven Christmas Special/2.13/whatever-SyFy-is-officially-calling-it: I love how this episode starts with bright and cheery Christmas music during a montage of all the creepiest/most awful bits of things that have happened and then suddenly it's "la la la DID HER ARM JUST FALL OFF?" And so it went for the next 40 minutes. With the weird creepy spooky LALALA CHEERY HOLIDAY MUSIC, not the random bodyparts falling off. This episode was basically just lots of fun, and probably a good jumping on point (maybe intended that way?) if you're curious about the show.

Ringer 1.10;
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Lost Girl 2.9-2.11: In general, I think these episodes were pretty solid?

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I've decided to move Homeland to being a DVD show instead of a "try to watch as it comes out" show. Not because I don't like it, it just falls into that category for me where I like it but in "When I have it" way instead of a "NEED NOW so I can talk about it" way, Also, I am apparently trying to watch too many shows at once. (Particularly too many + watching the few asian shows I'm watching ATM.)

There was no Revenge this week! I was not emotionally prepared for that and felt rather bereft and lost. I should find a community to help me keep up with these things. (What am I going to do if it gets cancelled? If it gets cancelled before confirming that Emanda and Charlotte are half-sisters, I may be devastated! I refuse to consider that they may not be!)

Also, I find it very tragic that Pan Am and Covert Affairs are not on the same channel. If they were, I feel positive that Danielle and Annie would suddenly have a second cousin or godmother or great-aunt-by-marriage with red hair who used to tell them about her adventures back when she was a flight stewardess who moonlighted as a spy during the cold war, and that that's what really triggered annie's interest in languages and the CIA. (Sadly, the years just can't work for Kate to be their mother or grandmother...)

( Lost Girl 2.7 )


( Nikita 2.7 )
I haven't watched this week's episode yet.

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Homeland 1.1

This is going to be very awkward show for me. See, regardless of whether or not Damien Lewis's character is a traitor, I sympathize with him because if he did turn, he was obviously relentlessly physically and mentally tortured.

However, I have a deep need for Claire Dane's analyst character to be RIGHT and for Morena Baccarin's character (she plays Lewis's wife) to be HAPPY, which basically means that I want the male lead to be a traitor. (I am also a bit iffy on how very easy it would be for the show to go into the realm of complete Fail with both their arcs.)

But it's...interesting? And has a lot of excellent actors. Not something I'll be able to watch in large doses, but I'm curious to see where it goes.

That said, there are exceptionally awkward sex scenes (and by "awkward" I mean "WTF?" and "Whoa what? Uncomfortable much?" in chronological order) and I feel the writers may be slightly too devoted to Life and possibly think they're writing an AU.

( Covert Affairs 2.12 )

( Ringer 1.8 )

( Pan Am 1.7 )

Or at least,onces I've checked out/plan to check out.

Ones I'm watching:

Revenge:  Blonde leading lady.  (Character is bottle blonde, unless she was dying itdark as a teen.  No idea about the actress.)  All but 1 supporting female character is brunette. Other is blonde.

Ringer: Blonde leading lady in dual role.   All but 1 supporting female character is brunette. Other is a redhead.

Once Upon A Time:  Blonde leading lady.  All supporting female characters in pilot were brunette, except the grey haired granny.

Pan Am:  So far, the screen time is fairly evenly divided between the four leading ladies: 1 blonde, 2 brunette, 1 redhead.  However between being the new girl + the fairly central sister relationship + being 1/2 of the 2 romances the show is building up to = heavier narrative and POV focus the blonde, though not, so far, to the point of actua putting her forward as a corelead as opposed to part of an ensemble.

Shows I checked out but will not be watching more of unless people whose judgement I trust start consistently saying things about them that make me think I'll likethem more than what I hav seen would lead me to believe:

Grimm:  I think the main cast list onl has 1 female character, but I'm not sure if it's the aunt (bald) fiancee (I think light brown?) or the blonde monster lady.

Secret Circle:  Blonde female lead, other female characters in her age group brunette, I think both female characters in the older generation were blonde?

Show I intend to check out:

Homeland:  As I haven't watched it yet, I obviously don't know the full cast, but the female lead is blonde.

(The problem with Homeland is that I've heard a variety of things good and bad, but from all of them I get the feeling that I will desperately want Claire Danes's character to be right, but then that means I'll be wanting the male lead to be a traitor...)

Now, I quite like all the blondes I mentioned and a while back there were a bunch of ladies in various fandoms who were all blonde that I was seeing hated on all at once so I went and added "little blonde heroines" to my now-woefully-out-of-date interests in a fit of pique so I don't exactly have an issue with blondes, and I knowthere are other new shows where the female lead isn't blonde, but that's some trend there, at least in my viewing.  (Is this a trend that just mostly showed up in the shows more likely to interest me?  I remember last fall's new shows being more skewed towards brunettes, at least in the ones I checked out.  Though, were there any new shows beside Nikita and Undercovers last fall that I watched?  I actually can't remember now.)

TBH, I actually have no idea what I think of it beyond the normal going on about standards of beauty and such, I just notice these things...

Pan Am through 1.4: Followup episodes have, I think, been stronger than the pilot. It’s still much lighter than I tend to prefer my period dramas, but the serious bits that it has had so far have been handled well. That said, while it’s been pretty good at saying “no, that’s sexist” so far, it’s clearly going to shy away from any other issues (Maybe that’ll change if it gets picked up for a second season? Sadly, I hear the ratings aren’t very good.) and doesn’t really want you to think about things too deeply. Still, I like all the characters (Including Ted, apparently. Don’t ask me how that happened. Though I hope Kate never stops popping up with her “I keel you if you try expression anytime he tries to flirt with Laura.) and am willing to go along with the things it clearly wants me to ship, though I side eye both a bit, and it still has lots of Bechdel passing and women with agency who have positive relationships with each other, and given the promos and the concept, does a surprisingly good job of not fetishizing or objectifying the female leads. Also, I can’t be the only one who laughs at how Kate’s Secret Mission almost goes wrong EVERY TIME while still wanting her and Bridget adventures or something together. Incidentally, I deeply question wardrobe’s choice of hair and makeup for Christina Ricci. The hair isn’t bad in and of itself, but it’s bad for her, and the makeup makes her look so wildeyed.

Ringer 1.4-1.6:  I have decided that Bridget's MO is to take two steps forward and the 1 1/2 steps back.  But progress is progress?

 

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Nikita 2.3-2.5:  Still not the show I wanted it to be (which would largely be the show it was for the first 3/4 of season 1) but fun, and better than I thought it would be after the season finale.  Also, may I just mention how impressed I am with Shane West's balance?  I know Maggie Q is small and all, but that lady is strong and launched herself at him in a flying tackle hug with a running head start, and he not only didn't fall on his butt, but caught her with one arm!  (I wonder how much they had to practice that...)
 

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Revenge 1.3-1.5: Does anyone else who watches both shows find it hilarious that both Revenge and Ringer opened with "YOUR SECRETS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED!" nightmares?

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