meganbmoore | Entries tagged with tv: vampire diaries

I appear to have accidentally broken up with The Vampire Diaries. I fully intended to watch this season but have only watched the pilot and appear to have deleted all my caps of the second half of season 2. Onhe one hand, there's a lot less reactionary RAGE towards TV on my part when i'm not subjecting myself to Damon Salvatore and the show's crush on him and conviction that the more he abuses women, the more hot and compelling her is. On the other hand, it means that Bonnie Bennett is not in my life. (Along with a number of other characters I like on the show, but Bonnie is my favorite TV girlfriend even when I'm not watching. Granted, based on season 2, watching just her scenes would probably only take 15 or 20 minutes for all the aired eps for this season.)

I watched the 2007 version of Mansfield Park recently (short version of thoughts: fun, but aside from Hayley Atwell and Blake Kitson, it felt like a production with a ton f good actors who were completely miscast) and was filled with hatehatehate when Fanny's brother showed up and was very confused about why as there was absolutely nothing wrong with him and then I realized that it was Joseph Morgan/Klause. Unless he joins Somerhalder in talking about how fun rape and abuse plotlines are and how tragic (for his character) it is that his character can only express himself while violating women physically and mentally, i'm sure I'll get over the instinctive reaction soon.

I'm also almost out of Parks and Rec DVDs. Aside from the pilot (which I disliked) the only flaw with that show is the criminal underuse of Natalie Morales. I want to br Leslie Knope when I grow up.

Pan Am:

The second episode aired today, but I've been catching up with almost-everything airing US tv for the last week and need a switch. Probably to Warrior Baek Dong Soo and Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei, as I'm behind on both.

Anyway:

Downside: To all appearances, by the people who think Mad Men is about the aesthetics and nostalgia.

Upside: To all appearances, not by the people who think Mad Men is about how 60s ad men were cool and charming and that Don Draper is a brilliant and awesome and amazing man who's lucky enough to get laid whenever he wants by whoever he wants.

Pretty, a bit lighter than I really like my period dramas, but not so much that it's a turn off. Lots of girls and Bechdel passing and the women all appear to have positive relationships, and I don't hate the men. It's also a nice counterweight to both Revenge and Ringer.

Returning shows.

Haven: I'm current. Based on the end of the latest episode, I assume it's time for a midseason break? Aside from the show's general inability to keep any woman but Audrey around for more than a few episodes, I remain very fond of the show, and contrinue to like the metaplot a lot. However, what they did in episode 2.9 pissed me off so much that I watched the next 3 episodes ready to drop it forever if it did a singlething to annoy me. (The tail end of 2.10 did help a bit with the RAGE though.)

Nikita: Also current. Apparently, I disliked certain things in the tail end of season 1 that I now just watch for Maggie Q's fight scenes. Honestly, I do still enjoy the show a lot when it isn't reminding me of the things that annoy me, but it doesn't inspire the passion or "OMG EEE!" that the first season did until about the midteens.

The Vampire Diaries: Let me know when Bonnie comes back.

The Secret Circle: Ok, not returning, but I read the books? I watched part of the second episode and decided that life was too short to watch Kevin Williamson take another woman-positive text with inoffensive men and turn the men into assholes who treat women like crap and focus on how INTERESTING and FASCINATING the men are and eventually quit giving the women any scenes together, and this has the same earmarkings of that that early TVD did, if with less rape. I may come back if I hear it it beats my expectations, or check out the DVDs just in case. (Yes, I too am sad that my bitterness over what TVD has spilled over into what might turn out to be a perfectly decent show if I could separate Kevin Williamson projects in my head.)

Basically, I want Once Upon A Time to start, and The Borgias and Covert Affairs to come back. And White Collar, but not quite as much as the other two.

Spoilers for all shows welcome in comments.

TVD: This show watches pretty fast when anything involving Damon, Klaus, women being abused, or men bonding over dead women was watched in a fastforward mode that was just slow enough to be followed. Though, this week, that basically left Caroline's scenes, which is quite a change from the beginning of the series. What I did watch at regular speed, I liked, barring the lack of Bonnie.

TSC: FYI, if you watched the show and haven't read the books, most of Cassie and Adam's conversations were between Cassie and Diana in the book, and I do not like how we seem to be headed to "female rivalry over boys" territory. And then there was the bonus of basically opening the show with a woman slowly burning to death. And the reveal about Natassja Henstridge's character at the end. Notably the only living mother of the teens that we know about. But there were lots of girls talking and the gothic and supernatural bits were mostly fun, so I''ll stick with it for a bit and see how it goes.

Feel free to ask me about specific plot points for either in comments.

75 x The Borgias
75 x Paladins in Troubled Times
75 x Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei/Vigilantes in Masks
75 x The Vampire Diaries

the rest at my lj

My reaction to the dreaded parts of the finale was about the same as my reaction to the end of ep 2.8: torn between being grossed out both at what was going on and the idea that it was supposed to be romantic, and laughing at the absurdity of the dialogue and emo. (Look, there are certain kinds of emo that I devour, and the rest either bores or annoys me. At it’s absolute best, Damon’s emo is annoying but unintentionally hilarious.)

Also, I’m pretty sure that the finale was supposed to convince me that Damon loves Elena and only Elena? But, IMO, it only made it even more obvious that she’s nothing but a replacement Katherine who he can control.

( spoilers )Anyway, my viewing of next season shall consist of:

Bonnie
Caroline
Katherine
Elijah
Caroline/Tyler
Liz and Carol
Witches
Ghosts
Flashbacks that aren’t about Damon being a woobie.
Parts about the mythology, problematic as it can be.

Things I will do my best not to pay attention to:

Klaus (except for what’s directly tied the Originals/mythology)
Damon as the angst romantic hero
Elena and Stefan’s characters (and no doubt their relationship as well) being sacrificed in the name of furthering Damon as the angst romantic hero, and to try to make Damon/Elena look romantic instead of creepy and abusive.

Based on the second half of this season, I’ll be paying attention to 10 minutes top each episode, but probably closer to 5 more often than not.

I will now try to figure out how this show went from something that reminded me that I can like vampire fiction not named Buffy or Spinoff of Buffy in the first season, and then became 90% about everything I hate about the genre, and 10% things I love and cannot leave.

For people tired of me talking/complaining about this show: THERE IS NO MORE FOR SEVERAL MONTHS.

1. JENNA HAD A CROSSBOW. I cannot believe no one thought to mention that.
2. There was no Bonnie. The combined might of Tyler, Jules, Liz, Carol and Elijah doesn't quite make up for that.
3. But there was Caroline, and Tyler made me happy by shooting many looks of Pining her way. ~~Rock on, starcrossed emo gothic supernatural teens.~~
4. Elena finally said what I've been wanting pretty much every vampire's human girlfriend ever to say.
5. Matt was useful for possibly the first time ever in this show.
6. Klaus is still very icky. I can't believe that, when Elijah first showed up, I was all "Why must I put up with this guy instead of having Klaus?"

I am not discussing the other part for the sake of my bloodpressure. Though there better be "This is what an abusive relationship" icons circulating.

That said: As much as everyone rightly points out that the show FINALLY criticizes Damon's actions, after the first 10 minutes, all the framing and dramatic cues and the structure of the plot in the episode made it very clear that this show now considers Damon to be The Hero.

I guess steadily increasing, deliberate violence and sexism towards women is irrelevant in the face of Angst. (And I'm told people consider him hot. Even when he worked for me as a character in the first half of season 1, his personality and actions kept me from finding him hot. But his supposed hotness is a major factor in why he's an amazing character, I'm told. Like how he has to force women to be his girlfriend because no one would believe such a hot guy would be single for long. As stated by Kevin Wiliamson and Ian Someralder in an interview.)

Meanwhile, the Secret Circle trailer and some promo clips have surfaced. I officially want it more than season three of The Damon Diaries. Though Kevin Williamson's involvement makes me very leery.

Also, for the first time since the pilot, I'm excited for this week's Camelot, and I haven't had a chance to watch it yet.

I mean, look at this clip! (Ignore Merlin being a creepy bald guy missing the good old days when you could kill women for treason without proving you had a reason to and focus on Claire Forlani being ridiculously gorgeous and awesome.)

Context: That's not who he thinks that is.

( spoilers )

P.S.: Mad Men fans, please tell me there are icons of Sally Draper reading Nancy Drew. I may need one.

So, I'm still shunning Vampire Diaries until after the season finale so I can be properly judgmental all at once (Atually, while I am geerally a spoilerphobe, there are certain thinks people are advised to warn me of, and so between that and recent episodes of most, I'm kind of annoyed with all the US shows I'm following-including Mad Men, as NetFlix is sending me season 4 now-and have been spending the weekend watching wuxia and slightly-older BBC historical dramas. I feel this was wise of me.) but I was advised that Caroline was cradling Tyler's naked, agonized body again, and so scampered to youtube to find this.

Well, most of the show may have become the perfect example of my issues with the depiction and romanticization of vampires an the "dark" supernatural in general in US media, but it's nice to know certain things still have the ability to reduce me to nothing but an excitable, emo-wallowing 13-year-old.

Sadly, except for Bonnie, I'm pretty sure I've now seen all the worthwhile parts of the latest episode.

More through Things Going On than design, I've managed to fall two episodes behind on The Vampire Diaries (this is also true of Nikita, but I have a habit of holding off on it so that it can serve as therapy when something else inevitably really annoys me, and I can watch Nikita imagining Nikita shooting things. And with only two episodes left to air in the season, I'm pondering whether or not I'd be better off just waiting. I mean on the one hand, I understand Elijah, Jules and Tyler are back. (Ok, while I've come to sympathize with Tyler and am interested in his plot, I still hold his former wannebe-date-rapey ways against him, and my main use for him is his scenes with Caroline.) And, you know, all the other characters I like who haven't been gone for a while. On the other hand, having to wait to see what new ways Damon will find to abuse women as treat Elena as an identity-less object for him to order around and call it love, as opposed to getting it all out of the way at once.

Poll #6806

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

View Respondents

Do I catch up now or wait for the last two episodes?

View Answers

Watch now. For all you know, Elijah rips off Damon's ring and dropkicks him into the sunlight, and then Caroline and Tyler have a celebratory makeout session while Bonnie salts and burns the remains. Or something else a fraction as satisfying as that.
0 (0.0%)

Wait. It's only 2 more weeks and you actually notice Damon a bit less when you're bingeing. You also escape the agony of (as many) cliffhangers that way.
2 (100.0%)

29 x The Borgias
60 x Damages
62 x Paladins in Troubled Times
62 x South Riding
68 x Upstairs Downstairs 2010
63 x The Vampire Diaries

icons at my LJ

( Spoiler: Bonnie Bennett is more epic than you. )

Somerhalder on Rose.

I do not know. I think I need to stop reading Somerhalder's comments. He used to be all sensible and have his head together, but now he goes around talking about how it's tragic that Damon can only express himself honestly when he's violating women and how fridging is good storytelling or something.

Show, you're doing that thing again where you put things that should be saved for the episode before the seaso finale in a random episode. Not that I'm complaining.

( spoilers )

I held off on White Collar episodes for a bit after hearing about the ep supposedly everyone hated so that I’d have good episodes to follow it up with. The episode was as bad as reported. The main plot mostly made me want Covert Affairs back already, because it does that kind of plot with way, way less fail. (Which is not to say Covert Affairs is perfect in that regard, but it’s at least somewhat aware of the RaceFail that often comes into play with Hollywood and foreign governments and spy plots and manages to avoid the worst of it, whereas White Collar just kinda…blindly bulldozed into it.) Then there was Neal’s character development bit. Let us pray that bit never surfaces again. But the two episodes after that were quite good, and had some adorable June and Neal and Elizabeth and Mozz bits, and had parts that played into my “Whee!” tropes. Like remote puzzle solving and dancing and publicly hidden treasures and stuff. Though, didn’t they just make Hilarie Burton a regular? Seems odd that we haven’t seen Sara since Burke’s Seven, though that status may be for season 3.

Then there’s Vampire Diaries which wasn’t as good as most of the last 2 episodes (basically, most but for the parts where Damon is the walking embodiment of Rape Culture Is Sexy And Tortured) but way better than The Descent, which, aside from the parts with Jules, Elena, Rose, Tyler and Caroline (which make up less of the episode than that list would imply) is by far my least favorite episode.

( spoilers )Five weeks until a new episode! Well, I need a detox from certain parts anyway.

What alternate universe am I living in where John Gilbert is suddenly more tolerable than Alaric Saltzman?

( spoilers were actually VERY HAPPY about this ep for the most part )

So, Caroline seems to have…very good knowledge of Bonnie’s “sex face.” Just an observation.

Anyway..uhm, after the awful post hiatus episode, the episodes are…steadily improving?

( spoilers are way less irate than in the last 2 episodes )

Warehouse 13 was first described to me a “a show about the warehouse at the end on Raiders of the Lost Arc,” and that’s…basically what it’s about. Myka and Pete are secret service agents who get to middle-of-nowhere South Dakota, to work for the reclusive, paranoid, and scarily detail oriented Artie, who sends them out to collect frequently-dangerous objects that have some sort of supernatural power . (Many of them of mythic origin, which also tends to add an appropriative element at times.)

There’s also Mrs. Frederick, their unaging boss, Leena, who runs the B&B everyone lives at and sees auras, and Claudia, Artie’s sidekick who is trying to get him to realize that modern technology is not evil. Sometimes, Myka and Pete’s old boss shows up to grump about Artie stealing his people, and Artie’s Mortal Enemy shows up to…actually, I don’t get his “destroy everything!” issues, but whatever. (The show thinks it needs a metaplot? Sometimes, you really don’t.)

Oh, and Mark Sheppard shows up, because he’s Mark Sheppard, and he’s like that.*

I roll my eyes at how Myka and Pete inevitably fall into “she’s smart and detail oriented and by-the-books and he has intuition and thinks outside the box” though the narrative preference for the latter is considerably less obnoxious than in many other cases. Mostly, it has the comfortably feel-good small town feeling of other Skiffy shows like Eureka and Haven, despite, uhm, not actually having much small town-ness.

Basically, it’s fun and kind of like brain popcorn, and easy to binge on. The last is particularly good for times like when you specifically shuffled up several series in your Netflix queue to make sure you didn’t burn out of any and then Netflix completely ignored your requests for The Lost World, Painkiller Jane, and Jonathan Creek and sent you the whole series at once.

*“Who is Mark Sheppard?” you ask. This is Mark Sheppard. As you can see, Mark Sheppard is determined to put in at least one appearance in every US TV show ever, and he’s making good headway there.

In fact, I hear that The Vampire Diaries still hasn’t cast Klaus. (I think they were looking at a guy, but no official announcement was made.) This apparently is because they’re having trouble finding someone who can “out-Damon Damon.” Urm…unless they’re trying to find an actor willing to be even more of a sadistic, self-righteous murderer and rapist…well, I don’t think it would take much to outdo Damon in most categories? Maybe the emo whining. Anyway, I vote they cast Mark Sheppard and Klaus. I mean, really, a vampire may be the only thing he hasn’t played yet. If Damon tries anything, he could just chunk his resume at him, and that would be that.

Actually, more than this week’s TV, as I’m a bit behind in posting on Pretty Little Liars. (And less than this week’s TV, because I haven’t watched White Collar. It seems to be universally regarded as Bad, so I’ll wait until there’s a good ep to follow it up with.)

1. Nikita was, well, Nikita. Dealing with foreign politics. This is not the show’s strong suit. But there was Nikita with guns. And Michael actually using his brain. (This is a show where the bad guys can’t use their brains too much, or the good guys’ plans will fall apart altogether. I really should be more critical about that.) But the best part was Nikita breaking off her heals because you can’t run and fight in high heals. Hmm…unless the best part was Nikita apparently, uhm, actually caring about minors drinking.

2. Pretty Little Liars continues to be giddy fun. Like, I don’t even care that the on guy who wasn’t creepy, a pedophile, or a Nice Guy left in a (understandable but misguided) huff, even though I really, really don’t like it when I dislike everyone of one gender in my shows.

( spoilers through 1.15 )3. Vampire Diaries was much better this week than it was last week. Not that that would have been hard. But it’s the whiplash effect, where one episode, I’m all “I WANT TO DROP THIS SHOW AND NEVER TOUCH IT AGAIN! Except for this part.” and the next episode is “OMG! OMG! OMG! Except this part. OMG!”

( spoilers through 2.13 )

I have laryngitis. If you're doing the math, yes, this is twice in less than six months. I didn't have all the coughing to go with it this time and am off work tomorrow, so hopefully it'll clear up on its own this time.

Meanwhile have a poll of grave import, shamelessly stolen from

a_white_rain and modified.

Poll #5802 Stefan Salvatore is...

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 10

View Respondents

Team Edward or Team Jacob?

View Answers

Team Edward. Because Bella's choice in romantic partners should be respected, regardless of Stefan's personal thoughts on the matter.
0 (0.0%)

Team Jacob. Because at least Jacob is slightly less of a controlling alpha male, at times, and even a guy dating a girl 150 years younger than him appreciates the value of age appropriate dating.
0 (0.0%)

Team Bella. Because, really, she's better off without them. Though if she insists, she insists.
1 (11.1%)

Team Alice. It's more emotionally healthy. Though the part where they're both in love with angstridden vampires may be a slight issue.
3 (33.3%)

He cannot answer on moral grounds. Said moral grounds bein that he still hopes he broods more like baby!David Boreaniz, and not Robert Pattinson.
0 (0.0%)

He cannot answer this question until he consults with Elena for the proper answer.
2 (22.2%)

Stefan has remained blissfully unaware of Twilight. Caroline plans to fix that.
3 (33.3%)

This isn't ticky? I hate you.

View Answers

Yes.
6 (100.0%)

Well that was...not really an awesome return? Like, at all, except for a few scenes.

( spoilers )

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meganbmoore

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Of Swords and Parasols

I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle it.

Entries tagged with tv: vampire diaries

I wonder if this is how Ann perkins felt when it took her 2 weeks to realize she'd been dumped.

Pan Am 1.1 + returning shows

The Vampire Diaries 3.1, The Secret Circle 1.1

icons/bases: wuxia, the borgias, the vampire diaries

Vampire Diaries 2.21-2.22

Vampire Diaries 2.20 (and other TV that I have not seen yet)

Vampire Diaries 2.19

(no subject)

To catch up or not to catch up?

icons/bases: various TV

Vampire Diaries 2.18

When did Ian Somerhalder stop being...not awful?

Vampire Diaries 2.17

White Collar, Vampire Diaries

Vampire Diaries 2.15

Vampire Diaries 2.14

Warehouse 13, season 1

This week's TeeVee

(no subject)

Vampire Diaries 2.12

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July 2020

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