another TV post!
Apr. 10th, 2014 10:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhBecause some stuff has ended. A little old news that had to sink in, and some super new news.
I CANNOT WAIT for the new season of Brooklyn Nine Nine! And that finale was so well done, from everything happening with Jake to dealing with poor broken-hearted Boyle. Like everyone else, my heart went up in my throat a little when he woke up in bed with a lady, then I shouted in relief when it was Gina (who'd been pushing for him to have meaningless sex in the first place). Can she help Boyle get over his tendency to immediately fall in love?
I'm not a huge Jake/Amy shipper, but again, I like that Jake said something, but didn't do it in an obligatory way, just an "I know this can't happen but I want you to know" way because hey, he's gone for six months anyway.
And everything Holt did to make it happen! This show is so great!
Outside the cut I'll say: people who are patting themselves on the back for never watching HIMYM either because of the ending or because it was sometimes problematic can GTFO. Tons of shows end disappointingly (hello BSG and Lost) or have issues (every show and also hello Teen Wolf) so not watching HIMYM really doesn't make anyone a better person.
I wish that video that edited the ending was still online, because it was perfect. It just deleted the death and the getting with Robin thing entirely, and just went straight back to the train platform, and it was beautiful.
The thing is, I wouldn't have minded Tracy's death or Barney's divorce as such, if they weren't such obvious means to the ends of Ted/Robin, which I felt—it wasn't that it was a trick ending haha, but that it threw away years of emotional and character development. I was into Ted needing to get over Robin. I wasn't into Ted being rewarded with Robin, or Barney being single forever when he'd been doing so much and not just with Robin but also Quinn and Nora. If the show had only lasted 4-5 seasons, sure, but it went too far down the road to come back, I think.
That said? I'm not sorry I went all the way down the road with this show. It had its problems, sure, like being an all-white cast in New York City, or the weird gross trans jokes, or the uncertain attitude about homosexuality. But it was also a really funny show with a lot of heart, which I think is why people were so upset about the ending. I can't wait until the "alternate" ending they are apparently packaging with the DVD hits the internet. One bad episode and a couple of rough seasons won't permanently damage nine years of television—over 200 episodes! You let me down at the end, HIMYM, but you gave me so much in the meantime that I'm willing to overlook it.
Okay season 5 of Justified wasn't the best—I saw a rundown where someone said, 2,3,4,5,1; I might say 2,4,3,5,1, but that's quibbling. Darryl just wasn't compelling enough in a season that was mostly about Boyd and Ava being total failures and Raylan not being much better. It was good to have a season about how they all were failing, but there wasn't anything else about it to make us care.
But man, I think season 6 is going to give us a ton of things, most importantly: all the Rachel. We've been screaming about this for a while but she was able to make the decision that neither Art nor Raylan could: to get the AUSA to go after Boyd. He'd used them one too many times. I'm really excited to see how this show ends.
So that's the end of Suits Season three, and the end of me watching Suits. I don't hate the show—far from it; it's perfectly enjoyable. I'm really glad it's successful and I recommend it as a fun silly not as dumb as it looks kind of show. But it's always going to be circling around the same stuff and I'm bored. The finale truly exhausted me, especially with what it did to Scottie, not to mention how it continues to treat Rachel and Donna, and the end of day epiphanies from both Harvey and Mike. The best reason to just let them fuck each other is that they'll just continue to be kind of shitty to the women in their lives while they're all about each other.
But I just don't want to watch those kinds of shows anymore. By which I mean, things keep happening on dramas because things need to keep happening, not because they come out of anything that makes any sense. It's this constant need to roll forward and never leave anything resolved, endless fake resolutions with no real ones, and I don't find it engaging; I find it exhausting. I like endings. I like feeling that the story is over. Which is probably why I'm willing to stick it out with Justified and White Collar, both of which will end with their next seasons.
Comedies are different; the stakes are low and the ongoing stories are light and relatively ridiculous. But dramas, I don't know. Being out on dramas in many ways means being out on fandom, which is weird? But I might be out on dramas.
I CANNOT WAIT for the new season of Brooklyn Nine Nine! And that finale was so well done, from everything happening with Jake to dealing with poor broken-hearted Boyle. Like everyone else, my heart went up in my throat a little when he woke up in bed with a lady, then I shouted in relief when it was Gina (who'd been pushing for him to have meaningless sex in the first place). Can she help Boyle get over his tendency to immediately fall in love?
I'm not a huge Jake/Amy shipper, but again, I like that Jake said something, but didn't do it in an obligatory way, just an "I know this can't happen but I want you to know" way because hey, he's gone for six months anyway.
And everything Holt did to make it happen! This show is so great!
Outside the cut I'll say: people who are patting themselves on the back for never watching HIMYM either because of the ending or because it was sometimes problematic can GTFO. Tons of shows end disappointingly (hello BSG and Lost) or have issues (every show and also hello Teen Wolf) so not watching HIMYM really doesn't make anyone a better person.
I wish that video that edited the ending was still online, because it was perfect. It just deleted the death and the getting with Robin thing entirely, and just went straight back to the train platform, and it was beautiful.
The thing is, I wouldn't have minded Tracy's death or Barney's divorce as such, if they weren't such obvious means to the ends of Ted/Robin, which I felt—it wasn't that it was a trick ending haha, but that it threw away years of emotional and character development. I was into Ted needing to get over Robin. I wasn't into Ted being rewarded with Robin, or Barney being single forever when he'd been doing so much and not just with Robin but also Quinn and Nora. If the show had only lasted 4-5 seasons, sure, but it went too far down the road to come back, I think.
That said? I'm not sorry I went all the way down the road with this show. It had its problems, sure, like being an all-white cast in New York City, or the weird gross trans jokes, or the uncertain attitude about homosexuality. But it was also a really funny show with a lot of heart, which I think is why people were so upset about the ending. I can't wait until the "alternate" ending they are apparently packaging with the DVD hits the internet. One bad episode and a couple of rough seasons won't permanently damage nine years of television—over 200 episodes! You let me down at the end, HIMYM, but you gave me so much in the meantime that I'm willing to overlook it.
Okay season 5 of Justified wasn't the best—I saw a rundown where someone said, 2,3,4,5,1; I might say 2,4,3,5,1, but that's quibbling. Darryl just wasn't compelling enough in a season that was mostly about Boyd and Ava being total failures and Raylan not being much better. It was good to have a season about how they all were failing, but there wasn't anything else about it to make us care.
But man, I think season 6 is going to give us a ton of things, most importantly: all the Rachel. We've been screaming about this for a while but she was able to make the decision that neither Art nor Raylan could: to get the AUSA to go after Boyd. He'd used them one too many times. I'm really excited to see how this show ends.
So that's the end of Suits Season three, and the end of me watching Suits. I don't hate the show—far from it; it's perfectly enjoyable. I'm really glad it's successful and I recommend it as a fun silly not as dumb as it looks kind of show. But it's always going to be circling around the same stuff and I'm bored. The finale truly exhausted me, especially with what it did to Scottie, not to mention how it continues to treat Rachel and Donna, and the end of day epiphanies from both Harvey and Mike. The best reason to just let them fuck each other is that they'll just continue to be kind of shitty to the women in their lives while they're all about each other.
But I just don't want to watch those kinds of shows anymore. By which I mean, things keep happening on dramas because things need to keep happening, not because they come out of anything that makes any sense. It's this constant need to roll forward and never leave anything resolved, endless fake resolutions with no real ones, and I don't find it engaging; I find it exhausting. I like endings. I like feeling that the story is over. Which is probably why I'm willing to stick it out with Justified and White Collar, both of which will end with their next seasons.
Comedies are different; the stakes are low and the ongoing stories are light and relatively ridiculous. But dramas, I don't know. Being out on dramas in many ways means being out on fandom, which is weird? But I might be out on dramas.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-11 05:26 pm (UTC)Brooklyn Nine Nine was such a pleasant surprise for me this season; I really was not looking for another show and I wasn't even really aware of it coming in this season. Actually, I made more of a point to watch The Crazy Ones for James Wolk than anything, but I stopped watching that too. The season finale was great and set up a lot of change without feeling overdone.
I wanted to ask about Boyle. My understanding about the Nice Guy Trope was that the guy has to be really pushy about his feelings and nasty towards the woman when she doesn't return them; and I don't feel like Boyle would revoke his friendship from Rosa for not liking him the way he liked her. He just came across pathetic. I do feel like there is another trope of someone with a crush being pathetic about it and then the opject of affection realizes how the person is worthy; and it seems that most audiences (or a vocal subsection) seem to feel like the male characters deserve the be liked in return and will eventually get angry at the object of affection if she doesn't; while if the genders are reversed, the female with the crush will be treated with scorn especially if she isn't the physical ideal while the male object of affection is. Even thinking of examples in comedy, the idea of a less than standard attractive female desiring a physically attractive male is hardly considered anything beyond a joke. I don't watch Mad Fat Diary but I see it on my dash.
This is a long comment but I needed to speak on Suits: part of me likes that they went for the change but I know it won't last full term. I've always felt that the premise of the show (Mike's Big Lie) was more of a weight than an actual impetus behind what made the show click, and the more the show brought up The Secret, the more irritated I got.
COmedies just do not have a strong fannish presence. There are moments: like I know HIMYM had a surge and BBT. Serious dramas don't really either; it's more of a middle of the road thing. I don't know how you feel about Marvel but I know there is some presence for Agents of Shield.
no subject
Date: 2014-04-12 02:45 am (UTC)I can't imagine that Mike will stay away from the firm that long, though having him as a client will probably make for some fun in the start of the season. But I totally agree with you about Mike's big lie, and it really is a giant weakness of the show, the way they have to dance around it all the time. It makes Mike into a more important character than he should be and pushes the show out of balance. It also makes Rachel into a shrew which is annoying.
The HIMYM and BBT surges were mostly about shipping, though, and they were very messy. Community, similarly in terms of fic, though it's a great visual fandom to follow on tumblr. Agents of SHIELD is definitely a great place and I'm looking forward to all the femslash; Marvel is probably going to be my big remaining active fandom. It's just weird not to be looking beyond that to something else, or to have anything else going on, after a really long time of multifannishness. That said, tumblr makes it easy to have a low-level participation in even the smallest of fandoms, so that's awesome.
Thanks for this long thoughtful comment!!!