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July 14th, 2017
 | 10:16 am - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend? More Like Lazy Sex Curl, Friend!
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend may be one of the most brilliant, revolutionary, important, yet criminally underrated shows in the history of television, and I am only being partly hyperbolic here because wow. The brainchild of Rachel Bloom of "Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury" fame and Aline Brosh McKenna of The Devil Wears Prada fame (and as much as Rachel Bloom is the public face of the show, it's important to remember they're equal partners in this endeavor), with musical assistance by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne fame, this show will sing and dance its way into your heart and then fuck with your brain.
Rachel Bloom plays Rebecca Bunch, a well-educated, high-powered New York lawyer with clear mental health issues (our first real look at her is stark and pained). On the same day she's offered a big promotion, she runs into Josh Chan, with whom she had a summer camp romance as a teenager (making her an ex-girlfriend), and then...quits her job and follows him to his hometown of West Covina, California (making her crazy). If you think about it, though, this kind of wild, spontaneous act is the core of so many romantic comedies, but here it's portrayed as A Very Bad Idea That Everyone But the Protagonist Realizes Is a Bad Idea, and that's what makes this show tick.
Once in West Covina, Rebecca makes it her mission to win back Josh, even though he's been dating the same woman for years. Aiding her in this mission is her co-worker Paula, who is the enablingest enabler who ever enabled. Studying her is her neighbor Heather, whose dry, Daria-esque demeanor cannot be penetrated by Rebecca's boisterous delusions. Employing her is her boss Darryl, who wants to be everyone's best friend. But hold up, there's a wrinkle in the form of Josh's friend Greg, who instantly falls for Rebecca himself. Shenanigans will ensue. Oh will they ever.
On the surface, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend looks like a typical romantic comedy, but as it cleverly leans into all your favorite (or least favorite) tropes, it's slyly planning to subvert them hard. This show systematically deconstructs everything popular culture has told us about love and relationships, implicitly criticizing them simply by playing them straight and explicitly criticizing them in both dialogue and song. It's an aggressive assault on the expected narrative, and it doesn't stop at rom-com tropes. It addresses various "taboo" topics like periods, UTIs, abortions, and such (so by taboo I mean female) candidly, as if...as if they are just parts of everyday life for women and we shouldn't constantly avoid talking about them. Despite the focus on a heterosexual romance, the show has prominent, non-tragic queer characters and eventually leans in hard on the side of female friendships. Where most shows would zig, it refreshingly zags. Plus the love interest is Filipino-American, there are a couple women of color, and all of these various characters get focus. They have their own stories, they are their own beautiful, rich, complex people. (They are also kind of awful people much of the time, but the show recognizes their awfulness and both has enough heart to sympathize with them despite their bad choices and allows them to grow.)
Oh, right, it's also a musical with amazing songs that span musical genres from country to hardcore punk, with a healthy dose of traditional musical theater in the middle. As in any good musical, the songs drive the narrative and illuminate character, and they're catchy as fuck. Each one functions as a cute parody of something you're familiar with while also being a great example of that thing, with hilarious lyrics about texting or ping pong.
I could write so much more about why Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is incredible, but it's even better to experience it for yourself and let it continue to surprise you with its dedication to callbacks and skillful episodic plotting, not to mention some of the best tags since Community. It's smart as hell and also fun, whose realistic darkness never drowns out its whimsical silliness. It's not every day I encounter a show that constantly makes me think "How is this a real show, how was this allowed to happen?" Also the cast is uniformly wonderful. The characters drink a lot of boba tea. There's some great metahumor. One of the writers is a Patel and named a character Sunil. Okay I'll stop now.
BLAM!
Current Mood:  impressed
Current Music: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - The Math of Love Triangles
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July 11th, 2017
 | 02:33 pm - Brown Nation? More Like Clown Station!
A few months ago when the new season of Master of None came out, I found myself on the Wikipedia page for "American television shows with Asian leads" and discovered that there existed a Netflix show called Brown Nation that was practically ALL Asian leads! South Asian leads, even! How had I never heard about it? Seeing that it was only 10 20-minute episodes, I started watching during my lunch break at work.
Brown Nation follows the trials of tribulations of Hasmukh (yeah, this show is about a motherfucker named HASMUKH, this show is Desi as fuck), who runs Shree Ganesh Computers Limited Inc, a struggling IT company specializing in Citrus (presumably a take-off on Citrix). His wife, Dimple, loves her little dog, Bobby, and her Papaji, but she wants to explore her artistic side. (In true sitcom fashion, of course, Hasmukh is an average-looking schlub whereas Dimple is the opposite of that.) His friend Hyder (Lebanese, everyone else is Indian) is fun comic relief with his endless get-rich-quick schemes. Hasmukh's company is staffed with Indians as well but for one white guy, Matt, the only white man in the credits. Of the workers at Shree Ganesh, the endearingly dim Balan is the most memorable, but Roli, Gautam, and Mookie (these names!) also make their impressions.
Creator Abi Varghese describes Brown Nation as "Everybody Loves Raymond meets The Office," and that's a fair assessment. It's a single-camera comedy with a multi-camera sensibility. It's generally cute and amusing, occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, but it knows what it is. It doesn't have extremely high ambitions; it's not trying to be a Master of None-style manifesto on Life as an Indian-American. There are some ongoing storylines, but continuity isn't a huge concern. It wants to be light fun.
And that's what's so great about it. It's light fun...that just happens to be all about brown people. Plus, it exists in this beautiful middle space where it can appeal to both American audiences and Indian audiences without pandering to either. It doesn't go so far in We're So Indian that it alienates non-Indian viewers (even if you don't recognize Bollywood film stars' names, you can understand in context who's famous and who's not), and it doesn't attempt to homogenize these characters and gloss over their essential cultural differences. Plus, given the recent conversation about the trend in popular media to show brown men pursuing white women, I do appreciate that this show features several brown men with brown women. It happens!
Brown Nation is not perfect by any means. It could have stronger continuity, the supporting characters are underserved, and it could be funnier. But it's consistently enjoyable, and I stretched out my viewing as long as I could because I was growing more and more fond of these characters. It's a wonderful cast, and I hope to see them in other projects. Perhaps even Brown Nation S2!
Current Mood:  full
Current Music: Ulrich Schnauss - A Letter from Home
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April 21st, 2017
 | 08:13 pm - Rick and Morty? More Like Dick and Shorty!
A couple years ago, people started raving about this show Rick and Morty, some weird cartoon co-created by Dan Harmon of Community fame. It was wacky sci-fi and it was brilliant and I would love it, they said. Flash forward to this year when my brother and sister-in-law were flabbergasted that I had not seen one of their favorite shows ever, and then flash forward to now, when I have watched it. Time travel is fun, right??
Rick and Morty is about Rick and Morty. Rick is a mad scientist, and Morty is his dimwitted grandson. Both voiced by co-creator Justin Roiland, their repartee is always sharp, ridiculous, hilarious, and utterly unique in its cadence and delivery, thanks to Rick's intermittent belches and tendency to address Morty by name multiple times and Morty's extreme anxiety and stuttering. It's a treat to listen to Roiland characterize them simply through his voice. Rick and Morty go on wacky sci-fi adventures, much to the consternation of their family. Beth, Rick's daughter and Morty's mom, loves her father despite the fact that he's a raging alcoholic asshole. Jerry, Beth's husband and Morty's dad, has no such love for his father-in-law; also it is clear where Morty gets his dimwittedness from. Summer, Morty's sister, takes more after her mother (who, I should mention, is a horse surgeon). This is a show about a family, but it is by no means a family show.
The show delights in playing with genre tropes and extrapolating to the darkest, most disturbing conclusion. Someone described it as a darker version of Futurama, and that's not far off, actually! It also has a bit of Doctor Who in its DNA, although in retrospect I am surprised that there weren't more direct references. Rick and Morty travel to different planets and dimensions, and Roiland and Harmon revel in being absurd and scatological but also very clever in how they approach these well-worn elements. Expect things to go wrong and people to die because that forces the writers to truly examine the consequences of these things we take for granted. But while they're having fun with these stand-alone adventures, Roiland and Harmon are also building a universe with continuity and telling a larger story on a pretty epic scale.
And yet they are also telling a smaller story on a more intimate scale. Because for how completely out there this show is, it's surprisingly grounded when it comes to its character relationships. Sure, they are placed in some fucked up situations, but the interactions ring true. Beth and Jerry must take a look at their shitty marriage. Beth wants to have a closer relationship with her father. Rick is an asshole to Morty (and, uh, everyone) but maybe secretly has a heart. Morty enjoys going on adventures with his grandfather but that doesn't mean Rick gets a free pass to be an asshole. Summer is discovering how she fits into this weird-ass family.
Rick and Morty isn't for everyone, for sure. You've got to roll with its brand of sophomoric humor and freewheeling plotting. But it's a lot of fun, and it's smarter than it seems. Also there is a character called Mr. Poopy Butthole.
Current Mood:  pessimistic
Current Music: Maggie Rogers - Alaska
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April 9th, 2017
 | 11:16 am - Fargo? More Like Fargo Fuck Yourself!
I am a fan of the Coen Brothers' films, including Fargo, and I had heard many good things about Fargo the TV Show, but it wasn't until watching Legion that I decided I need to see more of Noah Hawley's work because he is making some incredibly daring television.
Fargo, like American Horror Story, is an anthology series, so each season tells a self-contained story, though there are some connections and they definitely take place in the same universe (in the same universe as the film, even). One could review each miniseries as its own show; hell, each miniseries could be its own show. There is enough story and character to sustain a multiseason arc and yet by telling it all in ten episodes, Hawley creates a huge sense of urgency and ends up with a more powerful narrative experience.
Season 1 is my favorite of the two so far. In some ways, it is a cheeky remix of the original film, but it is very much its own clever beast. The first episode packs several episodes' worth of plot into one in order to do what seems to be Hawley's MO: set up a status quo that appears to be a story seed and then blow it up to tell a much more interesting story. By the end of the pilot, Hawley establishes the clear Good Guys (the cops) and the Bad Guys (the criminals), and the entire season is a complex game of cat-and-mouse where we both want the Bad Guys to be caught but we are also impressed with their cleverness and resourcefulness. It makes bold, potentially disastrous choices, but by the end Hawley has earned your trust in him as a storyteller. Again, because it's a single season, he has an end in sight and he knows how to get there.
Season 2 expands the scope and has a different vibe, thanks to the period setting. Whereas the first season felt more personal and intimate, the second season introduces warring crime organizations, and it pumps up the violence. Once again, it's still clearly cops vs. criminals, but this time, there's somewhat more depth to the criminals, even if there are way more of them, which means that they don't get to be as fully developed and shine nearly as brightly as the two standouts in the first season. It's a bit better on the non-white and female characters, though; two of the best characters are POC and unlike in the first season where nearly every female character with a couple notable exceptions was a twit, nearly every female character here is fleshed out and compelling. 0This season also makes bold, potentially disastrous choices that don't completely work; an increase in the number of stylistic flourishes signals Hawley's evolution on his way to Legion, where he can be as self-indulgent as he wants. But yet again, the man knows how to construct a story, as the payoff is worthy of the setup.
So what unites these two seasons of Fargo? The show certainly takes its setting and tonal cues from the film and the Coens in general. It's a black comedy, mixing both darkness and decency, and the anthology format means that you can't be ensured of the safety of (almost) any character. It's marked by explosive, sometimes quirky violence, which can often occur when civilians find themselves in sticky situations and discover that they may not be as good a person as they think they are. It believes in a universe ruled by cosmic forces of justice that do not necessarily care about what's fair but do care that human morality is what we make of it. Good and bad are not what we are but the choices we make. And the choices we make will always have consequences. The show also believes strongly in family and the power of genuine decency and human kindness. It adores its characters, who are all incredibly well acted by fantastic actors. On top of all the excellent writing, the show looks and sounds great, with smart musical choices and bravura directing. The use of titles and end credits makes each episode feel like a cinematic experience in your own home.
I am absolutely on the Noah Hawley train now. You've got another great season of Fargo in you? Okay then.
Current Mood:  hungry
Current Music: Perturbator - Humans Are Such Easy Prey
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March 21st, 2017
 | 11:12 pm - The Good Place? More Like The Food Race!
The Good Place begins with a woman named Eleanor Shellstrop being introduced to The Good Place, the heavenly afterlife that is her eternal reward after a lifetime of good deeds. There is frozen yogurt everywhere, her house is designed specifically to her tastes, and everything is wonderful.
Except that the Eleanor Shellstrop who did all those good deeds...is not her. This woman was not a very good person at all. She does not belong here. This is the first surprise Michael Schur throws at us, and it is far from the last.
On the surface, The Good Place looks like a silly sitcom about a bad person trying to act good so she doesn't get kicked out of heaven. And some showrunners would be happy making that show, but this show is much, much smarter. Which is not to say it isn't also deeply silly—so much of the humor and fun comes from the ludicrous conception of The Good Place and the absurd goodness of all the other residents, especially in comparison to Eleanor. It's a comedy with a great deal of worldbuilding, and almost every single episode reveals some new aspect of this creative cosmology. A point system here, a strange rule there. Luckily, Michael, the architect of The Good Place, is here to explain how the world works, as is Janet, the delightful helper A.I. who can also magick you some clothes because, hey, this is paradise! A paradise now tainted by the presence of Eleanor Shellstrop. How long can she remain undetected?
It's high-concept as hell, but Schur and his diverse team of writers are up to the task, managing to take a fantasy comedy and use it to explore philosophical and ethical conundrums every week, examining the very nature of morality and introducing the layperson to terms like "consequentialism." It contains the funniest joke about Aristotle on network television or any television, and also someone gets killed by an air conditioner. That's just the kind of show this is, and it wouldn't work if the characters pondering what makes a person good or bad—and why someone would deserve to be in The Good Place versus The Bad Place—weren't so damn endearing.
Eleanor consistently shows herself to be kind of a shitty person. Not an evil person, just a shitty one. But Kristen Bell makes you like her anyway, and sells both "Eleanor is trying to be good" and "Eleanor is trying to be good but hoo boy" equally well. Her soulmate/ethics tutor Chidi is a bundle of neuroses I can relate to; he and Eleanor make a wonderful odd couple. William Jackson Harper is a gift, taking the art of exasperated and/or confused reaction to new heights. Tahani initially seems like a cloying, condescending bench (sorry, you can't curse in The Good Place), but Jameela Jamil finds that perfect balance between UGH and AWW. Her soulmate/Buddhist monk Jianyu has taken a vow of silence, but Manny Jacinto still shines. I will pretty much love any A.I. character, but D'Arcy Carden as Janet is comic gold every time she's on screen, her perky, straightforward delivery nailing the joke every time. Finally—notably the only white man in the main cast—Ted Danson is utterly charming as Michael, who of course has no idea he's got a rogue in his perfect construction, and as much as you don't want Eleanor to be found out, you also don't want Michael to be sad. It's a fantastic cast from top to bottom, all the more impressive given that most of them apart from Bell and Danson are relatively unknown.
The Good Place starts out strong and gets better with each episode, and by episode five or six, it's firing on all cylinders, really finding its groove. It's a serialized tale with a clear story to tell, and it's extremely binge-able thanks to its constant cliffhangers. Seriously, a show should not be allowed to surprise you this many times in one forking season. In thirteen episodes, you witness six major character arcs that culminate in a finale that's easily one of the best of all time, a brilliant conclusion to an intricately constructed narrative. I was on a Great Television High for hours afterward, I was so impressed. What an incredibly clever, smart, thought-provoking, funny, heartwarming, fucked-up season of television.
Current Mood: impressed
Current Music: Hybrid - Every Word
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December 22nd, 2016
 | 03:17 pm - Cleverman? More Like Neverran!
A sci-fi series based on Australian Aboriginal mythology, created by an Aboriginal and starring Aboriginals? Cleverman sounds like a fantasy of its own!
It's the near future, and for some unexplained reason, a new species of people known as Hairies (because they're hairy) have emerged into the public eye after being hidden for tens of thousands of years. They look like the Geico cavemen, and although they're looked down upon as subhuman, they have superhuman strength and agility. Which is, of course, why they're confined to the Zone (think District 9). Much of this will have more resonance to people familiar with Australia's horrible treatment of Aboriginals, which the Hairies are obviously meant to represent, and I appreciated that even though the major racist oppression metaphor takes center stage, the show acknowledges that non-metaphorical, non-sci-fi racism still exists for the Aboriginal characters.
Set against this dystopian backdrop, Cleverman tells a lot of stories about a lot of characters. A Hairy family captured and separated, each enduring their own form of oppression. A Hairy rights activist. His wife. His daughter. His mother. His brother, a pub owner. That guy's best friend. His girlfriend. A media mogul. His wife, a doctor who works in the Zone. And that's just the main cast. I think. The standout characters are media mogul Slade, a slippery bastard who has his fingers in a lot of pies; Hairy rights activist Waaru, who has a lot of shit going on, not the least of which is his angst over not being chosen to be Cleverman; and pub owner Koen, reluctant Aboriginal superhero with the power to connect to the Dreaming.
So Koen is the titular Cleverman, a figure drawn from Aboriginal mythology. Creator Ryan Griffen named him after his son because he thought his son should have a superhero who looked like him, which is an admirable cause and I fully support it. I do find it curious that he then made this character such an asshole. Koen is not very likable...at all. He spends the majority of the season not wanting to accept his powers, which is a superhero trope except they're usually not such dicks about it. While this does give him room for an arc, it's a rough ride, but Hunter Page-Lochard's performance makes the character a complex, flawed person rather than an unsympathetic, one-dimensional jerk. Performances are great all across the board, actually, and this makes most characters pretty likable and interesting, even if we don't know much about them.
Cleverman is definitely blazing new territory in its commitment to authentically telling Aboriginal stories, which I've never seen before. But this first season is kiiiiiiiind of a mess. It doesn't feel boring and every episode ends pretty dramatically, whetting my appetite for the next one, and it definitely builds to a finale. But there is just too much. It crams so many stories into six episodes that nearly every one feels underserved. For instance, in the finale there's what appears to be an emotional scene between two characters that did not land because we had barely seen the relationship between these two characters. In addition, much of the mythology is unexplained, which makes the relevance of some subplots unclear. There's connective tissue missing in places.
The first season finale ends on an upswing, and I hope for more confident, cohesive storytelling in the second season. It's high time for more stories like this.
Current Mood: full
Current Music: Karmacoda - Wonder
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June 7th, 2016
 | 09:04 am - Star Trek: Voyager? More Like Bar Dreck: Dowager!
For some reason Star Trek: Voyager does not have the same fandom popularity as Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Could it possibly be because it has the first female captain? Or that has a large focus on female characters? Or that it has the most diverse cast? WHO KNOWS, because it's certainly not because it sucks. In fact—and I know my opinion is biased by having seen a very abridged version—it nicely combines the excellent standalones of TNG with the serialization and character work of DS9. The best of both worlds, if you will (and that is a very pointed reference, given how central the Borg are to the series).
Voyager has a deceptively simple (if somewhat ludicrous) premise: the starship Voyager gets transported seventy-five million light years away and ends up stranded in the Delta Quadrant. So now they have to get back to the Alpha Quadrant, by hook or by crook! M-mostly by hook because Janeway is no crook (that is a recurring theme). On top of the general How Do We Get Home? is another cool idea baked into the setup: the crew of the lost Voyager includes both members of Starfleet and members of the Maquis (and many of these terrorists are former Starfleet). How are they all supposed to work together...and what are the chances of a mutiny?
Captain Kathryn Janeway (aka Space Mom) loves two things above all: coffee and Starfleet principles. The two things that are going to get her through this ordeal. Time and again, we see Janeway turn to the Federation charter for guidance, some way to know how to act in lawless space and still maintain her humanity, and it's an admirable quality, despite the pressures it puts on her and her crew. There's the easy way and there's the Janeway. Chakotay (aka Space Dad) often offers the Maquis perspective, the "whatever, Starfleet RULES" perspective, but he also has to keep Janeway in check when her adherence to a strict moral code (or potential deviation from it) may put the ship at risk. I can't think of many other positively portrayed Native American characters in science fiction, and even though his may not be the most accurate representation, he's a great character. Harry Kim is quite adorable, a precious cinnamon roll who wants to get home and see his family, but the show doesn't give him a whole lot to do most of the time. Tom Paris starts out as Entitled White Guy, a pilot with a chip on his shoulder, but he eventually reveals an endearingly nerdy side; I was not very fond of him for a while but I grew to like him. B'Elanna Torres is half-Klingon but the opposite of Worf: she hates everything Klingon and has no desire to connect with that side of her. She's also a brilliant engineer, and she gets to geek out with science nerd Janeway a lot. I love B'Elanna a lot and was surprised she doesn't come up in discussions of awesome Star Trek women! Tuvok is a black Vulcan with a history with Janeway, and he is...very Vulcan! Like, even more Vulcan than Spock, much more stern without as much lightness to him, but that just makes me love him more somehow. The Doctor is a self-aware hologram who becomes one of the best characters on the show, thanks to both Robert Picardo's entertaining performance and all the different ways the show makes use of him as a hologram. Neelix is a Talaxian who is responsible for crew morale and food; he's a bit irritating at first but once he settles down he's a good guy. Kes is an Ocampan with a sexy-as-hell voice and...a poorly written character. Finally, though she doesn't join the show until later, Seven of Nine is one of the best written and best acted characters, a former Borg drone torn between her Borgness and her developing humanity; she is my Spock, my Worf, my Odo. Jeri Ryan's performance is wonderful, and the character is fascinating, and her sometimes-contentious relationship with Janeway is compelling, and it's a real shame she often gets dismissed as a sexy fanservice thanks to her skintight costume.
Although TNG has the more iconic characters thanks to their place in history, I think Voyager has much better developed characters who actually grow and change in noticeable ways throughout the series (TNG, of course, was more of a reset-to-the-status-quo kind of show). While its plot arcs aren't as complex as DS9's, I loved that there were times when I would watch an episode that had a huge plot twist that had been set up over the course of several episodes but I still felt the impact because the episode itself slyly provided all the necessary information to experience the twist. Voyager is rather skillful at crafting episodes, especially ones that open with a WTF scenario that is then explained as an alternate future or a daydream or a hologram (this show really knows how to use the holodeck). I also loved at how well it tied character development into the crisis of the week (especially with regards to Seven of Nine); I know I watched the best episodes but goddamn there is some fine writing in this show and it deserves to have a better reputation.
I enjoyed Voyager so much that I wasn't even halfway through my very abridged list before I realized that I would want to watch more, that 40ish episodes was not enough. I am glad I got the compressed experience of this crew's journey, but I want to have more adventures with them!
Current Mood:  sleepy
Current Music: Panic! at the Disco - Don't Threaten Me with a Good Time
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May 24th, 2016
| 10:50 am - Where No Cow Has Been Lost in Space Before
My Star Trek experience was supposed to end with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but my friend Olivia was so insistent that I watch Star Trek: Voyager—and some other friends were fans as well—that I decided that while I did not have the time to dedicate a true abridged watch, I was interested in getting a taste of the show to see what the deal was, so I asked her to curate a Greatest Hits version, distilling the whole show into, like, 30 episodes. Which became more like 40 episodes, thanks to various two-parters. She used the Bechdel test as a criterion for inclusion, which helped narrow the list down; when Bryan Fuller got the new Star Trek gig, I also asked for some good Fuller episodes. Voyager has a plot arc so some episodes are essential, but it's not as heavily serialized as DS9, so it was a matter of choosing enough episodes for me to be able to follow the general plot while also giving me some of the best standalones the series has to offer.
For reference, here is the list! I am more than halfway through it and I'm really enjoying the show!
( Coffee! I think that's Janeway's catchphrase.Collapse )
A WHOLE NEW SET OF SPACESHIP BABIES.
Current Mood:  stressed
Current Music: Babymetal - Karate
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May 5th, 2016
 | 04:34 pm - Star Trek: Deep Space Nine? More Like Bar Dreck: Sleep Mace Line!
Remember when I said that for many people Star Trek: The Next Generation is the definitive Trek? Well, for many other people, it's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a show I had been wanting to watch for years ever since I learned it was essentially Ron Moore's training ground for Battlestar Galactica. And hot damn, was it ever fun to spot all the connections between the two shows!
This show is, in many ways, the anti-Trek: it takes place on a space station! They're not even trekking! They are chilling out next to a friggin' wormhole with aliens who have incredible powers and no sense of linear time and a planet with people who worship said aliens, believing them to be their Prophets. That planet is none other than Bajor, first introduced in TNG, now free from the Cardassian Occupation (the first few seasons of DS9 run concurrently with the last few seasons of TNG, so I did come into the show with one spoiler for a plot point that was supposed to be initially introduced on this show). DS9 brings over the Bajorans, the Cardassians, the Ferengi, even the Trill—all alien races from TNG characterized by the classic Trek motto "One Race, One Character Trait"—along with old favorites like the Klingons and Romulans...and deepens them all as it examines what it is actually like for the Federation to share space with these other aliens. The DS9 motto seems to be "Thanks for all these toys, TNG, now we're going to break them!"
Deep Space Nine, unlike the Enterprise, feels like a real place where people other than the main characters live, people who can be affected by the consequences of Our Heroes' actions. We see so many different areas of the space station rather than spending most of our time on the bridge. And who are Our Heroes? Benjamin Sisko, who's almost as unlike Picard as Picard is unlike Kirk. He's proud, fierce, and righteous, but he's a bit more flexible morally and ethically: he's a realist, not an idealist. And he's a father! His son, Jake, grows up over the course of the series, and Sisko's relationship with Jake is one of the show's strong points; it's far better than the one between Beverly Crusher and Wesley Crusher, which...barely existed. Kira Nerys, a former Bajoran freedom fighter (or terrorist, depending on who you ask) who serves as the liaison between Starfleet and Bajor (this character was supposed to be Ensign Ro, and in the early episodes, I imagined a show with Ro, but Kira becomes a wonderful character of her own, with a troubled past and also some flexible morals). Jadzia Dax, a female Trill science officer who knew Sisko when she was the male Kurzon Dax, whom Sisko affectionately referred to as "Old Man." I love the relationship between Sisko and Dax a lot because they have so much more history than anyone else on the station. Julian Bashir, charming genius medical officer with the utmost concern for his patients, whoever (or whatever) they may be. Miles O'Brien, Everyman engineer with a wife and kid. Odo, shapeshifting security chief with a mysterious past. Quark, Ferengi bar owner with the utmost respect for the ways of Ferenginar. I mean. Just look at that fucking character list. Realize I haven't even mentioned awesome supporting characters like Quark's brother and nephew, Rom and Nog, and Garak, the only Cardassian on DS9, a plain and simple tailor. AND DON'T FORGET PERPETUAL BARFLY MORN. Put all these incredibly different characters on a goddamn space station and just watch what happens.
As with previous Treks, I watched an abridged version, but this was the least abridged of the three series, as I ended up watching more than 75% of the episodes. The biggest cuts were in the first season, understandably, as the show was still figuring itself out, but once it started introducing serialized storylines, it really took off. I wasn't sure how the storytelling would work in a static environment, but they made it work. Since they weren't on a starship that could go out and find trouble, trouble often came to them! And they could also take smaller ships out exploring (often through that friggin' wormhole) and discover a whole host of trouble. I don't even want to say anything about the host of stories because they came as a surprise to me, but as a rule some of the most successful stories involved the Cardassians—who are trying to deal with losing control of Bajor just as the Bajorans are trying to deal with interacting with their former oppressors in any civil way—and some of the least successful stories involved the Prophets—who basically make no sense and speak in riddles and can do anything the plot requires them to. That being said, this is the best depiction of religion I've seen in science fiction since...well...Battlestar Galactica. It is a show that respects that people have beliefs, and that their beliefs are important to them, even if others don't believe the same thing.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is an amazing show that was ahead of its time. This is what we want from our television today, and it was doing it in the nineties. A diverse ensemble cast, with characters getting spotlight episodes, even ones not in the main cast. Long-term arcs full of surprises and emotional payoffs. A charismatic villain who has one of the best character arcs in the series. Complexity and moral greyness up the wazoo. This is top-notch science fiction right here.
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December 21st, 2015
 | 11:26 am - Where No Cow Has Remained in One Place Before
I loved Star Trek The Next Generation, and I always had my eyes set on watching Star Trek Deep Space Nine afterward! But, uh, abridged, of course. I used this list of essential episodes as a starting point and let my friends flesh it out.
In the end, my "abridged" DS9 is about 75% of the series, as opposed to about 50% of the series for TNG. Which sounds about right!
For reference, here is my list! As before, I don't need you to tell me I have to watch every single episode or complain that your favorite episode is left out. They will all still be there when I'm done for bonus space station babies. (They're not my space station babies yet. But they will be!)
( Engage! Wait, no, that was Picard, I don't know if Sisko has a catchphrase.Collapse )
Get excited with me, everyone! I'm going to watch DS9!!
Current Mood:  busy
Current Music: Veruca Salt - Shutterbug
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December 10th, 2015
 | 08:37 am - Steven Universe? More Like Gem and the Stevengrams!
For the longest time, I thought of Steven Universe as "that annoying show that took over the Adventure Time AV Club comments." I had no idea what it was about, but I was irritated by it on principle. Then, out of nowhere, it became the show du jour among my people! Twitter would not shut up about this goddamn Steven Universe show! THIS CARTOON FOR CHILDREN wait people were right about Adventure Time though.
Steven Universe begins harmlessly enough. There's a loud, boisterous boy named Steven, and he's...he's a Crystal Gem? He's got a gem stuck in his belly. And it's supposed to give him special powers. That appear to be activated by his favorite ice cream, Cookie Cat. Uh, okay. And he lives with three other Crystal Gems, whatever those are. Pearl, tall and skinny and lithe like a dancer, very prim, very meticulous. Amethyst, short and squat and buff like a fighter, very crass, very feral. Garnet, tall and built and calm like a Zen master, very soft-spoken, very enigmatic. And they all have magical powers or whatever. Okay, that was a decent eleven minutes of story, but what's the big deal?
Oh. You guys. This show is a big fucking deal.
The absolute genius of Steven Universe lies in how the show slowly reveals itself to be so much more than you thought it was, and on top of that, so forward-thinking that it's clear that they knew all of these incredible worldbuilding and character details from the beginning. This is a show that will focus on a cheeseburger backpack and a stack of waffles but actually tell you all about the world and backstory if you pay attention to the setting and the dialogue. This is a show that can introduce a character and then make me cry about her in seven minutes. This is a show that will drop earthshattering worldbuilding into episodes when you least expect it. The S1 finale contains a moment that is one of the most brilliant things I have ever seen done in any medium, a culmination of tremendous character and storytelling work.
My challenge here is, as it always is, to attempt to sell the show without spoiling it, especially since I came in knowing nothing so even basic worldbuilding things like "What the hell is a Crystal Gem?" were unknown to me, and I enjoyed learning every new piece of information as the show told it to me since I was learning it along with Steven. Steven learns more and more about what the Gems are, who they were, where they came from, what they are here for, and what they do, as he attempts to fulfill his own destiny as a Gem and aid them on missions. Often...poorly, since he can't seem to activate his own powers, and also he's Steven, and he's a doof. A lovable fucking doof. (This line tells you everything you need to know about Steven: "We can totally build a spaceship! People have done it before, and we're people!") But they're going to keep Beach City safe. And also weird. KEEP BEACH CITY WEIRD.
Beach City is very weird, you guys. Here are the titles of some episodes from which you may be able to glean weirdness: "Cat Fingers," "Tiger Millionaire," "Steven's Lion," some other feline stuff, "Watermelon Steven," okay, that's enough. I came to the show expecting something like Adventure Time, but they are very, very different shows, the only commonalities being an excitable boy and a surprising amount of worldbuilding and emotional destruction. Steven Universe is far more coherent and interested in telling character-focused stories, whereas Adventure Time often seems to just delight in weirdness for weirdness's sake. And I love Steven Universe far, far more than I love Adventure Time now (I still like Adventure Time though). But my point is that the show has delightfully bizarre standalone episodes that highlight the town's inhabitants, like Sadie and Lars, who work at Steven's favorite donut shop; conspiracy theorist Ronaldo, who has a very important blog; Mayor Dewey, who, like most fictional politicians (and, uh, real ones, I guess), is terrible and incompetent; Onion, who...who...I don't even know about Onion, you guys, but I love that weird little dude; the Pizzas, who run a pizza shop. And so on. The show has more diversity onscreen and offscreen than most shows, too! In addition to Garnet and the Pizzas, Steven's best friend, Connie, is Indian, and nearly all the voice actors are women of color.
Besides the consistently amazing writing and ever-more-complex characters (every single character has hidden depths, is far more interesting than you think they are initially), I love how fucking positive this show is. It promotes love, but not in a cheesy THE POWER OF LOVE way, but in the real way that people care for and about each other. Steven and the Gems have conflicts, but they resolve them by talking about them and understanding that they are not perfect. Steven fucks up a lot, but the Gems are his family, and they always forgive him: they know he means well and they know that making him feel bad won't solve anything. There are some episodes in the second season that I could not believe, because I'd never seen conversations like this on television, and this was on a show for children, not sugarcoating the world for kids, allowing them to see that the world is messy but still beautiful, that relationships are hard but they are worth it.
Steven Universe starts out a weird children's show and then proves itself to be legitimately good science fiction with a more nuanced and mature depiction of friendship, romance, and relationships between women than most live-action dramas. It is an amazing fucking goddamn show, and more people need to be watching it.
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Hamilton - Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)
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October 10th, 2015
| 04:05 pm - Star Trek: The Next Generation? More Like Bar Dreck: The Sext Configuration!
For many people, Star Trek: The Next Generation is the definitive Trek, and now I see why: after a rough start, this show got really fucking good! I had an advantage in that I watched an abridged version, allowing me to skip most of the first couple seasons and concentrate on the higher-quality episodes. Like Star Trek: The Original Series, this show follows the Enterprise on its mission to explore space and learn more about the universe and the life within it, but it's a whole new crew! A new generation, if you will. The next one.
I am not really sure how anyone could choose Kirk over Picard in any sort of competition because Picard is simply an amazing human being. He prizes integrity and truth above all else, with loyalty a close second (personal loyalty and honor come before loyalty to the Federation, whose authority he is willing to question if he believes that they are wrong). Patrick Stewart imbues him with natural gravitas, and he is at his best when portraying a broken man, which he gets the opportunity to do multiple times. Riker, his Number One, is eminently likable, even if he's a bit caddish at times; if Picard is the dad, then Riker is the cool big brother. Jonathan Frakes occasionally gets to show his chops when Riker gets meatier stories about his conflicted loyalties, struggling with his personal ambition and his duty to the Enterprise. Data, predictably, was one of my very favorite characters because he's an android who wants to be human! Brent Spiner is fucking fantastic, and the show takes full advantage of his skills by allowing him to play multiple characters and show different sides of Data. Worf, surprisingly, was also one of my very favorite characters because he's a Klingon who has grown up in a human world, and thus he experiences a huge cultural conflict, wanting to stay true to his Klingon roots despite preferring some of the beliefs he's learned from humans. Worf episodes were usually strong because of his ongoing story, and Michael Dorn took what could have been a simple RAWR WARRIOR character and made him someone far more complex. Dr. Crusher is always the smartest human in the room (also the hottest), and I loved how her scientific mind constantly worked to solve problems. Gates McFadden sold her as a strong, independent, intelligent woman with a sharp sense of humor. LaForge also worked problems with science, and I loved his friendship with Data. LeVar Burton rarely got to do more than be amiable and knowledgeable, but he did that well! Troi, uh, sensed really obvious emotions with her mind. Marina Sirtis, uh, did the best with what she had.
The core main cast acquitted themselves well, but the show also had great recurring characters, like John DeLancie's Q, space trickster, and Whoopi Goldberg's Guinan, space bartender. Special credit to Whoopi Goldberg for turning a cryptic advice-giving cipher of a character into one of the most memorable figures in the show, thanks to her warm presence and sense of infinite knowledge, like she was a retired Doctor. And of course familiar faces continually turned up in guest roles (Ashley Judd??).
Over the course of seven seasons, TNG told a lot of different kinds of stories, and I enjoyed most of them. Holodeck episodes were usually a good time, especially when Data played Sherlock Holmes. I loved how both the holodeck and the transporter were basically story phlebotinum, able to malfunction in new and interesting ways when it would make for a cool story. The show dipped into the time travel well quite a bit too, usually to good effect. New alien races provided a source of material as well, and aliens were generally denoted by looking completely human except for, like, a fucked-up brow ridge. Since that's how evolution works! My three favorite episodes were "The Measure of a Man," "Remember Me," and "Darmok," each notable in its own way, but I loved a lot of episodes and admired the storytelling. The show often faltered with two-parters, either setting up more than it could pay off, or stretching a one-episode plot to two, but I still mostly enjoyed those as well (I finally know why it matters that THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS). And endings, boy, does this show know how fuck up endings. Even though it's more serial than the original series, and the various ongoing plotlines and callbacks were awesome, it is at its heart an episodic show, meaning things have to return to the status quo at the end, so there's usually a rushed resolution, and then some meaningful exchange as characters look out into the stars and the episode abruptly ends. Thankfully, the series finale is easily one of the best ever, beautifully tying the series together and giving the characters a proper sendoff.
I am going to miss my spaceship babies, but I skipped half the episodes, so they will always be there, waiting for me! I've gone where no one has gone before (except, uh, most of everyone), and I'm already itching to go back.
Current Mood:  anxious
Current Music: Silversun Pickups - Ragamuffin
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February 17th, 2015
 | 11:27 am - Where No Cow Has Gone Before
It took me over a year to watch every episode of Futurama (one of the three of you still reading please comment on that poor lonely entry!), and, well, now that I have been focusing more on writing, I have less time to mainline television shows!
So when I decided to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation, I decided that I would do an abridged version, as I had done for Star Trek: The Original Series. I used Max Temkin's "Star Trek: The Next Generation in 40 Hours" as a starting point and then doubled the list using recommendations from friends. I think I have a pretty good list here, and I've already burned through the first two seasons this way! ALL OF MY FAVORITE EPISODES ARE DATA EPISODES.
For reference, here are the episodes I'm watching, if you would also like to experience TNG without watching a million hours of television. Please do not tell me that I am DOING IT WRONG by not watching every episode or rend your hair because I have left out an episode that you personally believe I should watch. I am happy with my list. The other episodes will still be there when I'm done.
( Engage!Collapse )
Would you like to share in my excitement for finally seeing why everyone loves TNG so much? Make it so!
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January 25th, 2015
| 05:27 pm - Futurama? More Like Suture Llama!
Over 17 months ago, I decided to start watching all of Futurama, along with Louie (which I gave up after a season). I had watched scattered episodes (including, yes, "Jurassic Bark"), but I hadn't watched every single episode, and I thought that was something worth doing.
Good news, everyone! I was right!
Futurama begins with a ridiculous premise that sets the tone for the entire show: Philip J. Fry, hapless pizza delivery boy, delivers pizza to a cryogenics facility on the last day of the millennium and falls into a cryogenic pod, as you do. He wakes up a thousand years later and begins working for another delivery service, Planet Express. Fry is a dolt in the Homer Simpson mold, and, like Homer Simpson, he becomes implausibly dumb for the sake of a joke. But he's far more endearing, especially thanks to his enduring crush on Leela, the one-eyed captain of the ship, who thinks he's sweet but does not return his affections. Bender is a hard-drinking, violence-loving robot in the Homer Simpson mold, and, like Homer Simpson, he becomes implausibly cruel for the sake of a joke. But he's...not very endearing, really, though he has his occasional moments of sweetness that are quickly forgotten when he once again acts in complete self-interest. Amy Wong is so rich she doesn't understand money and so promiscuous she doesn't understand commitment. Hermes is a Jamaican accountant, the ultimate bureaucrat and limbo master. Professor Farnsworth gives the orders and performs all manner of mad science.
It is hilariously appropriate that I forgot Zoidberg, the crustacean alien doctor whom everyone hates except the audience because he is wonderful. His always pathetically sincere "Hooray!" has become my definitive conception of the exclamation.
Character development is not necessarily a concern for the show; pretty much everyone is fundamentally the same at the end as they were at the beginning, even though they've gone through a lot. Fry and Leela's relationship ebbs and flows, and Amy finds love for a while, but I think we get far more character development in backstory than we do in the present storylines, and those are quite fun! Since everyone's character traits and quirks are highly exaggerated, I enjoyed watching the writers attempt to justify them and give them real resonance.
While Futurama holds very little regard for the laws of physics, reality, and even general logic at times, there's no question it's a smartly written show, full to the brim with math and science in-jokes and veritably overflowing with puns ranging from groanworthy to incredibly clever. I was impressed with how many variations on characters' catchphrases they could come up with; who knew "Good news, everyone!" could be so versatile? Who knew there were so many different reasons Hermes could cry, "My manwich!"? How many things could Bender say are 40% something? Not to mention the many, many variations on "Bite my shiny metal ass." Although there isn't a huge amount of continuity, it's little things like these that reward the dedicated viewer. And the many recurring characters, be they as unimportant as the old lady who says "Kajigger" all the time or as plot-relevant as possibly my favorite recurring characters, the Robot Mafia (CLAMPS!). The show builds a huge universe—literally, the crew goes on adventures all over the damn universe—and it will bring back small elements as cameos or to play key roles (Nibbler and his race being one example).
It's hard to sum up 140 episodes of sci-fi humor in one post, so I thiiiiiiiiink I'm going to stop trying. There's far too much to talk about! So much creativity! So many memes! So much added to the cultural lexicon! It's a great body of work, highly entertaining, all the way to the end.
Current Mood:  tired
Current Music: Screaming Trees - All I Know
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September 3rd, 2014
 | 08:23 pm - Clone High? More Like Joan, Cry!
After loving Phil Lord and Chris Miller's movie work, I wanted to see that show I'd been hearing about for years anyway before I knew that I would love the movies of the people behind it! That show is Clone High, in case you couldn't tell. What is Clone High about? Well, take it away, Abandoned Pools!
Way way back in the 1980s
Secret government employees
Dug up famous guys and ladies
And made amusing genetic copies
Now their clones are sexy teens
Now they're going to make it if they tried
Loving, learning, sharing, judging
Time to laugh, and shiver and cry
That's right, this is a cartoon about clones of historical figures in high school because WHY NOT. Abe Lincoln, unlike his real-life counterpart, is insecure and awkward, not a natural leader at all. Gandhi is a fast-talking jerk about as far away from original Gandhi as you can get. Joan of Arc is a Jane-from-Daria-esque redhead madly in love with Abe. Cleopatra is the popular Mean Girl, completely full of herself, and JFK is a womanizing lunkhead. These sexy teens have teen angst; meanwhile, in the Principal's office, Principal Scudworth has his own plans for the clones (warning: they are stupid plans). The Scudworth stories are generally the weakest element of the show, as they usually exist independently of the main storylines, but they are worth it for Mr. Butlertron, a sweater-wearing robot who only speaks in two tones and calls everyone Wesley.
As one would expect from the genre-savvy, trope-subverting humor of Lord and Miller's films (as well as Bill Lawrence's TV shows), Clone High revels in skewering the tropes of high school TV shows. Every episode is a "Very Special Episode" of Clone High, and the Previouslies and Next Time Ons are friggin' hilarious. The show takes on hard-hitting topics like ADD, drugs, littering, and makeovers.
Also, it's incredibly quotable:
"I can't stand to not see you not make the biggest mistake of one of our lives!"
"Do you know what hurts the most, Joan? This nail I just stepped on."
"I'm a Kennedy! I'm not accustomed to tragedy!"
"It can’t be true. But then again, it rhymed, so it must be."
The show is just off-the-wall bonkers, with plenty of running gags (for some reason there's a dolphin in every episode) but also some heart! I'll admit it's almost needlessly cruel how much the show torments Joan in playing up Abe's complete and utter cluelessness with regards to her feelings for him, but it's satirizing that whole relationship dynamic in high school shows and leads to some wonderfully self-aware jokes in the finale. Clone High turns everything up to 11 with no regrets, and that's admirable.
Clone High also has a slew of great guest stars (most of the cast of Scrubs, for instance), some dated and some timeless, such as "Michael J. Fox as Gandhi's remaining kidney," which tells you everything you need to know about this show, probably. It has a fairly sincere indie rock soundtrack, which is cute, and the theme song is super catchy. There's plenty of cloned historical figure humor.
Honestly, I don't think I have to write a review to sell Clone High. It's fucking called Clone High. Watch it!
Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: Poe - Walk the Walk
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July 20th, 2014
 | 11:00 am - Revolutionary Girl Utena? More Like Fence Fence Revolution!
I was first recommended Revolutionary Girl Utena after watching Princess Tutu (obligatory PRINCESS TUTU IS THE BEST OMG) seven years ago, and I've been wanting to watch it ever since! While I wasn't able to watch it to follow along with Mark Watches Utena, I was put on a Worldcon panel about feminism and magical girls so now watching it became research.
When Utena Tenjou was a little girl, she met a prince, and the prince gave her a ring and told her to be noble, and she decided that when she grew up, she was going to be a prince. Not a princess, a prince. Now, as a teenager, she's at Ohtori Academy, and she discovers that her ring marks her as a Duelist, like the members of the Student Council, who duel for possession of the Rose Bride, Anthy Hememiya, who, as they have been told by "End of the World" (whatever or whoever the fuck that is), will grant them the power to bring revolution to the world.
You guys, this is the first episode.
On a superficial level, Utena is confusing and repetitive. Literally minutes of every episode are taken up with reused sequences either leading up to duels or transformations during duels—or, later...other things. Episodes begin to feel incredibly formulaic, designed to be written around these plots, and character motivations can feel muddled, more like "Welp, this character has not yet dueled Utena, so let's give them a very flimsy reason to do so" rather than anything approaching actual human feelings. Also, a great deal of what is shown onscreen makes so little sense it's unclear whether it's even real, from random kangaroos to, well, anything that happens in the dueling arena.
But Utena, like a lot of anime, speaks in metaphors and symbolism and emotions: deeper, emotional truths take priority over logic. I don't normally see subtext but this is the most homoerotic anime I have ever seen, a show where the subtext is practically text. At times, I wasn't even sure non-incestuous heterosexuality existed in this world. Oh, yes, homoerotic subtext, incestuous subtext, there is a lot of subtext here. There's bizarre sexual tension between siblings like it's not even weird. Sometimes the men just lie around with pretty hair and bare chests because that's what real men do, I guess. And this is a high school show so of course HORMONES, everyone is fucking. As a result, a lot of characters are driven by jealousy and competition for men or women, and it's simply turned up to anime levels. There is a lot going on about gender and sexuality, and the general theme is basically FUCK THE PATRIARCHY, as Utena consistently rejects traditional gender roles, from choosing to be a prince to wearing the boys' uniform at school. Roses symbolize lust, there are phallic symbols everywhere, who even knows how much meaning is really buried in this show beneath all the fucked-up manipulation and deceit.
It took me a while to really get into the series, and it probably wasn't until more than halfway through that I really got into it, as the plot began to thicken in more and more incoherent and coherent ways. And while I wasn't entirely satisfied by the ending, I think it's more a matter of my not having properly followed the story. Which is difficult to follow. Revolutionary Girl Utena is a challenging show, but with its strong focus on character relationships—particularly between Utena and Anthy—and thematics, it's ultimately rewarding.
Current Mood:  dirty
Current Music: Howling Bells - Slowburn
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June 19th, 2014
 | 10:32 pm - Orange Is the New Black? More Like Red Is the New White!
Once again, the Internet was right: Orange Is the New Black is fucking fantastic. Mixing the cheeky humor of Weeds with the prison drama of Oz, it creates something fresh and original (based on a memoir).
Everything's going great for Piper Chapman: she's white, she's blonde, she's pretty, she's well off, she's engaged, she's arrested, wait, hold up, that's not supposed to happen. Just like that, a torrid lesbian relationship with a drug runner comes back to haunt her, and she's sentenced to a year in a women's prison in Litchfield. Piper is the audience's POV character, a fish out of water, and she is our gateway to a cast unlike any other on television: women, women, women, of all colors and sizes and backgrounds. White women, black women, Latina women, Chinese woman, Japanese-Scottish woman, transwoman, it's basically unreal. I loved how different everyone looked, not just from the usual women you see on television but also from each other. And even better, they sounded different; so many different (literal) voices on this show, from Morello's hybrid East Coast accent to Miss Claudette's authoritarian Caribbean accent, from Yoga Jones's Patty Mayonnaise voice to Miss Rosa's husky voice.
Although the show is ostensibly Piper's story, it's the stories surrounding her that are the most compelling. And there are so many because everyone has one. Todd VanDerWerff calls Orange Is the New Black one of the most empathetic shows in the history of television, and he's right: this show cares about its characters. Everyone is a person, for better or for worse. Through flashbacks, we learn how the characters ended up in prison, and many—perhaps too many—are victims of circumstance, committing crimes to get out of a bad situation, usually for love, familial or romantic. The show does not absolve them of guilt or responsibility, but, again, it empathizes with them. Even the few male characters, most of whom are pretty terrible people, are drawn well enough that we understand why they're terrible and, in some cases, even feel the teensiest bit bad for them. In the end, nearly everyone's story boils down to a story of identity: who are you? Who were you out of prison? Who are you in prison? Which is the real you? And what kind of power does it give you to answer that question?
I could wax rhapsodic about how much I love all the characters, about how Taystee is the best because she loves Harry Potter, about how Crazy Eyes lives up to her name but isn't just a joke, about how I have never seen an episode of television like the one focused on Sophia, a transwoman. I could marvel at how intricately plotted the show is, especially in its second season, where multiple character arcs interweave and converge upon each other. I could point out the major flaw, which is Larry, Piper's fiancé, who is supposed to be our eyes on the outside to show what Piper is missing, how the world moves on without her, but instead makes us wish the show would get back to Litchfield already.
I could do all of these things, but you've got 26 episodes on Netflix sitting right there, waiting to be watched.
Current Mood: full
Current Music: Jets Overhead - Blue Is Red
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April 27th, 2014
 | 09:36 pm - The Dresden Files? More Like Wizard Detective, Dear Viewer!
I love The Dresden Files, the book series, but I had not heard many good things about The Dresden Files, the TV series, even though it was the reason I first heard of the book series. But some people did like it, so I wanted to check it out.
My first reaction, of course, was EVERYTHING IS WRONG WHY DID THEY CHANGE ALL THIS AAAARGH. The basic premise of the series remains: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, consults with the police department to solve cases involving the supernatural. But most of the details have been altered. Instead of wielding a rune-covered staff, Dresden wields a...hockey stick. Instead of being a crass, wisecracking talking skull, Bob is an occasionally crass, mostly proper British ghost who lives in a skull. And so on and so forth. Backstories, names, personalities: changed! They do make two notable changes to increase the racial diversity of the series, though: Lieutenant Murphy becomes Latina and Morgan becomes black. (Sadly, one of the few characters in the book series who is not white becomes white in the TV series, but since she's only in one episode, it kind of evens out? Over centuries of white supremacy? I don't know.)
But to judge the series as an adaptation would do it an injustice. You don't have to have read the books to enjoy the series (and, in fact, you're more likely to enjoy it if you haven't). How does the show work as an urban fantasy series?
Fairly well! The show does have its hands tied by making Murphy ignorant of magic, which makes her trust in Dresden slightly mystifying, but otherwise, it's as fun as expected to watch Dresden and Murphy solve cases together, with the help of a centuries-old ghost who has a treasure trove of knowledge. I appreciated that the show made up lots of cool magical detectiving ideas that are not in the books. Dresden does face some of the same foes from the books: vampires, werewolves, bodysnatchers, etc. But most of the stories are wholly original, and they acquit themselves well, frequently doing the Supernatural thing where you spend half the episode thinking the villain is one thing when in fact you've been looking at it all wrong.
(The special effects are crap, though.)
Even though the early episodes are a bit rough, the show's main strength is its excellent cast. Paul Blackthorne nails Harry Dresden, world-weary and sarcastic, delivering dry, noir-ish voiceovers. Terrence Mann, though not the Bob of the book, is a delight every time he's onscreen. Valerie Cruz, though not the Murphy of the book, balances warmth and tough-nosed cop. Conrad Coates leaves a lasting impression as Morgan, the Warden (wizard cop) who's always cleaning up after Harry and also blames him for everything because black magic.
For about half the series, we get worldbuilding and character development, and about halfway through, continuity begins to kick in, and the series upgrades from mediocre to good. And then its last few episodes, it upgrades to really good, as it finds its voice, how best to tell stories with the characters it has in the world it's created. You guys, obviously a ghost can't die and the show still made me fear for a ghost's life. It does such a great job grounding everything that the magical elements never seem absurd or out of place, and even though it keeps things light at times, it understands that it needs real emotional stakes, and it goes for them.
The Dresden Files only lasted 12 episodes, and although it never comes close to attaining the brilliance of the book series—which has a much larger scope—it had the potential to become something very special. Thankfully, it does not end on a painful cliffhanger. I'm glad Harry Dresden got to be on television, but it's too bad he didn't set SciFi on fire. Er, in a good way.
Current Mood:  okay
Current Music: Frou Frou - Shh
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April 2nd, 2014
 | 11:02 pm - Top of the Lake? More Like Drop of the Cake!
When I—like the rest of the Internet—got hooked on True Detective, I—like the rest of the Internet—did note the very male focus and lack of strong female characters. Oh, for a show like True Detective with a female lead! The Internet informed me that the show I sought already existed in the Emmy-nominated miniseries Top of the Lake, which I had been vaguely interested in because of Elisabeth Moss. Now I was more than vaguely interested in it.
Top of the Lake begins with a pregnant 12-year-old half-Thai girl trying to drown herself in the lake, and it doesn't get any happier from there. Tui Mitcham soon disappears, the identity of the father of her child unknown, and the search begins. Robin Griffin (Elisabeth Moss) is visiting her New Zealand hometown to spend time with her sick mother, and she takes charge of the investigation. That's right, this woman is a true detective! And every single man in this town is super skeevy. Tui's father, Matt Mitcham, is easily the most compelling, complex character in the show, a man with a strong sense of family who will do something despicable a few scenes before performing an act of kindness. Robin's boss, Al, keeps hitting on her even though she's engaged. Even Tui's half-brother, Johno, with whom Robin has a history, has this lingering sense of skeeve all over him even though he's halfway decent; it's like that fucking town has tainted him. Fuck the patriarchy, and so on.
As if to deliberately contrast with the misogyny entrenched in Laketop, an enigmatic woman named GJ (Holly Hunter) sets up a commune for women on the outskirts of town called Paradise. They live in trailers and walk around naked and talk about their feelings. Boy, do they ever walk around naked. One thing that's cool about Top of the Lake is that everyone looks like a regular person. They're not all movie-star hot, and with the exception of the actual sex scenes, the show parades around non-sexualized nude bodies like it's completely normal. The group of women are mildly developed, only one or two getting real characterization, the most memorable being, of course, GJ, who is also the show's biggest misstep. She never makes any goddamn sense, she speaks completely in non sequiturs, and Holly Hunter's performance is, frankly, bizarre. She should be a female Rust Cohle and instead she's...who even knows what she is.
Like True Detective, however, it has a unified voice—every episode is written by Jane Campion and Gerard Lee—and directorial vision—every episode is directed by Jane Campion and/or Garth Davis. The cinematography provides atmosphere. This isn't Middle Earth New Zealand, though; it's more about desolate mountains and sparkling lakes than lush forests with talking trees. I haven't seen any of Campion's films, but her storytelling style here is understated to an almost baffling degree. Huge moments are not highlighted, episodes often end on a downbeat with no hook, scenes play out with no apparent relevance. It's the kind of the show that will put a massive plot twist at the beginning of an episode instead of at the end of the previous episode. It's not the sort of storytelling I'm used to, and I found it hard to engage with for a while. Halfway through, however, I became much more invested, and the second half has more momentum, leading to a hell of a finale.
Top of the Lake ought to come with a bucketload of trigger warnings (the premise itself implies rape/child abuse), and critics more eloquent than I have talked about the show's portrayal of rape culture. There's much more to the show than its central mystery, but to be honest, I would be less positive about the show if the mystery resolution hadn't been satisfying (instead it makes little clues scattered throughout the series all fall into place, which is how I like it). Overall, I found the show to be a little too meandering and obtuse, but it was incredibly refreshing to watch a show with so many interesting, well-rounded female characters. Robin is not always sympathetic, but Elisabeth Moss shows us all the sides of her, however ugly they may be. The same goes for Peter Mullan, who plays Matt Mitcham. In conclusion, this show is pretty fucked-up.
Current Mood: full
Current Music: Jay-Z vs. Nena - 99 Luft Problems
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February 23rd, 2014
 | 08:46 pm - Baccano!? More Like The Unkillables!
Certain combinations of words pique your interest. Zombie dinosaurs. Guitar ninjas. Plane golem. So allow me to introduce you to Baccano! with the following two words:
Immortal gangsters.
Sold? Good, that was easy. But I'll continue. "Baccano" means "ruckus" in Italian, and, my God, is there ever a ruckus in this series. There are ruckuses. Rucki. Ruckus, ruckus, everywhere. The fantastic opening credits set the scene with a raucous, jazzy tune that takes you through the introductions of 17 characters. Not all of them are hugely significant, and not all significant characters in the series get introductions. But notice how the scenes transition fluidly from one to the other, through the simplest of connections. The interconnectedness of these characters' lives is at the heart of Baccano!
In fact, the series begins with two characters discussing who the main character of the story is. Whose story is it? The story focuses mostly on the years 1930, 1931, and 1932, centering on the hijacking of a train from Chicago to New York. How did the characters end up on that train? What did they do on it? What did they do afterward? With so many characters who all have their own agendas, how do you choose the "main" character? Isn't everyone the main character in their own story? Of note, the title of the first episode is "The Vice President Doesn't Say Anything about the Possibility of Him Being the Main Character." All the titles are like that. It's wonderful.
The first episode of the series makes no goddamn sense at all: it drops you into the world and into the story with no safety net. Clearly, this story is about warring gangster families. It also appears to be about immortals. Whatever happened on that train, it was bad. It shows you the aftermath and then tells you what happened.
In glorious, non-linear fashion. Baccano! adapts a series of light novels—each of which detail what happens to the characters in one year—by putting chronology into a blender. It jumps from 1930 to 1932 to 1931 with sheer audacity, sometimes cluing you in with a year card but most of the time expecting you to recognize what time period it is based on the circumstances. A scene will begin in one episode and continue five episodes later. A scene from one episode may be put into context three episodes later. It does have some mercy on the viewer, though, and tells most of each individual story in chronological order, but sometimes one character's story in 1930 will intersect with another character's story in 1930, and it turns out that one was before or the other, or vice-versa. It's not as confusing as I'm making it sound! It's very skillfully done.
None of this would matter, however, if the characters weren't so endearing. Sure, nearly all of them are thieves, bombers, murderers, or the like, but you still root for them. Even the psychotic killers have layers! Seriously, I was honestly surprised how much I liked some of the characters so full of wanton bloodlust that essentially no one was safe around them. Of course, to balance them out, you have the Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque comic-relief duo, Isaac and Miria, who are THE ABSOLUTE BEST because they are beyond naive and have no idea what the hell they've stumbled into, but, by God, they're going to make things right. By stealing. Throw in an explosives expert and a guy with a badass sword tattoo and a bounty on his head. How about a new initiate into the mob? Here's a mysterious young child. Who is that woman in fatigues? So many characters, you guys. But as we move backward and forward through time, we learn more about who they are and why they are. Wait, I didn't even mention the silent woman with the knives! So many characters, you guys.
For me, one reason I loved the characters so much was because of the dub, which is one of the most highly acclaimed dubs I've heard of, where even people who normally watch subs were recommending the dub. And I heartily endorse that course of action because this dub is so good it makes me want to watch more dubs. The dub director watched tons of gangster movies portraying the Prohibition era in order to get the right feel for the dialogue, and the voice actors use period accents, which helps bring the setting to life, not to mention distinguish the characters from different countries and cities.
Baccano! is a hell of a lot of fun, and I love the theme of interconnectedness that pervades the narrative. Some of these characters start off in completely different worlds and then end up becoming friends. Some of them do things that have unforeseen consequences for people they never meet. It's a bit overstuffed and could have used one or two fewer plots, but I really enjoyed trying to piece together the story, constantly being surprised and learning new things about the characters. It's bold storytelling that requires the viewer to put in some work, but it's a rewarding experience.
Current Mood: full
Current Music: Lorde - Team
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