Of Swords and Parasols

Lots of stuff ended,this week, either for the season, or forever.

1. My opinion of Agent Carter was pretty consistent throughout. I enjoyed it, I want more of it, but was consistently disappointed in how it chose to present 1946. If there is a second season, I hope they have Angie becoming a spy, or at least getting involved in that part of Peggy's life. (I actually thought they might start to go there, at one point.) Really I just hope they develop her more. I like her a lot, but am aware that, without carryover feelings from Nikita, I'd mostly just find her amusing.

2. Sleepy Hollow never regained the charm of the first season, though it did improve somewhat in the second half, despite problems. The finale had some very fun parts, and the end set up good possibilities if the show gets removed, however...

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3. This season of Parks and Rec is the only one I've followed as it aired, as opposed to binging on the whole season. I'm sure a lot of people didn't like the time jump, but it's one of the few times I think a time jump was actually a good idea, and things had really gotten a bit stale in some areas in the last couple of seasons. Aside from that one realtionship that should never be fractured being fractured at the beginning of the season, I really enjoyed the season, and mostly enjoyed the finale. really, there were only 2 things about the finale that I didn't like.

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4. Empire is still great. There are things in it that I have issues with, and when my coworkers find out I watch it, every single one of them says they didn't think it was the kind of show i'd like. And really, they're right? It isn't my normal kind of show, but Taraji Henson as Cookie makes everything better, though I am starting to get attached to other characters.

5. The 100 is also still great, and recent developments have certainly been interesting. Apparently, I even like Jasper again? I'm starting to get a feeling of dread about the next few episodes, though.

6. How to Get Away With Murder went from a show I appreciated but didn't think I'd get invested in to one that I felt I had to brace and prepare myself for this week. The finale was mostly amazing, but the very long, lovingly filmed choking scene was right up there with the scene that kept switching between the autopsy and the sex scene earlier in the season. SIGH. It's getting a second season, to no one's surprise, and I'm thrilled, despite my yech-ness over that part.

7. A week or so ago, I also watched the first season of Grantchester which is a mystery series set in the 50s in which a strapping young vicar (who has PTSD from the war, is a borderline alcoholic, and is in love with an upper class girl who's finally given up on waiting for him to make a move) teams up with an atheist inspector to solve crime.

The relationship between the leads went something like this:
EPISODE ONE:
VICAR: So, uhm, for reasons I cannot disclose, I believe the guy who committed suicide was actually murdered.
INSPECTOR: This is a very bad sports week for me, so you have very bad timing. Also your evidence is circumstantial and your theories aren't that logical.
VICAR: I shall run around visiting people in my concerned vicarly way, and maybe you won't notice that I'm also investigating.
INSPECTOR: I have jail cells, you know. I might introduce you too them once I finish banging my head against this pillar here.
VICAR'S HOUSEKEEPER: I very loudly disapprove of the company he's keeping this week, but you can't lock him up, because he has to write a sermon.

EPISODE TWO:
VICAR: Inspector, I know that this murder involves my sister, as well as the woman I'm pretending not to be in love with, and her friends and family, and you think my sister's boyfriend did it, but I promise not to interfere this time.
INSPECTOR: Actually, it's a funny thing. Did you know people are more willing to talk to vicars than inspectors? Especially vicars who they know? Especially when it's a bunch of young ladies having a handsome young man wanting to make everything ever better for them? Wanna come?
VICAR: YES PLEASE. I mean, uhm, I know I don't act like it, but I actually do have a full time job that's important, and NO WAIT I AM COMING.
VICAR'S HOUSEKEEPER: You will have him home by dinner, and then he will write his sermons.

EPISODE THREE:

INSPECTOR: Hey. vicar, did you know there was another murder?
VICAR: No, that is awful.
INSPECTOR: Come along, then.
VICAR: Come what now?
INSPECTOR: Funny thing, but people STILL seem to be more comfortable talking to handsome young vicars than grumpy middleaged inspectors.
VICAR: But, I mean, I really do have a job and-are you actually dragging me away?
INSPECTOR: FUNNY THING, THERE'S A MURDER INVESTIGATION, AND PEOPLE ARE MORE COMFORTABLE TALKING TO VICARS THAN THE POLICE!
VICAR: But my parishioners!
VICAR'S HOUSEKEEPER: The dead man was one of those, you know.
VICAR: Who's side are you on, anyway?
VICAR'S HOUSEKEEPER: God's.
VICAR: But my sermons!
VICAR'S HOUSEKEEPER: Funny thing, I JUST finished helping your new curate settle in to his new bedroom.

It was a bit odd watching it a couple weeks after watching the third series of Father Brown, which is set around the same time and features a catholic priest and his friends and sidekicks running around, solving murders and annoying the local inspector. Between the two, I do think Father Brown is better (but it's not exactly a fair comparison since I've seen 6 episodes of Grantchester and around 40 of Father Brown) but Grantchester is certainly a more fannish type of show.

Covert Affairs3.15-3.16:

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Haven 3.9: I actually could have gone for this one lasting a few episodes.( spoilers )

Once Upon A Time 2.7: This was pretty good despite some terrible dialogue, and apparently combining two episodes into one. I mean, Once doesn't exactly have the best dialogue ever, but it's usually better than this.

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Person of Interest 2.7: Apparently on tumblr, there's some sort of wank between PoI and Sherlock fans because PoI fans were referring to Finch as "their hedgehog" and Sherlock fans took offense. I have no idea what the significance is, but it certainly created some imagery when watching the episode.

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Revenge: I'm current, but forget what the actual episode numbers involved are. This season is doing plot things that I don't really care about (Pretty much most plot things not directly related to Emily) and so I'm having trouble paying attention to some of it, particularly given how irritating I find the narrative's attitude towards Amanda and Ashley to be this season. Really, I don't know. I liked the first couple of episodes of the season a lot because of the Emily/Charlotte/Victoria focus but the episodes since have left me cold despite my affection for some of the characters. I'm starting to wonder if it's one of those series that has a excellent first season but only really had about a season's worth of truly maintainable plot. (TBH, there seemed to be a fair bit of that going around last fall.) And, unfortunately, it's having the same problem as Once Upon A Time, which is an overabundance of (typically scruffy) white dudes in roughly the 30-40 range being shoehorned in and taking attention away from the more interesting characters and storylines. (Revenge, at least, was nice enough to cast J. R. Bourne and Michael Trucco as two of theirs, so at least there's some actor affection going there, but their characters pretty much exist to give a couple white guys things to do outside their relationships with women, so...) This is made even more annoying by the fact that right now, Revenge is probably doing the worst of the shows I'm watching in terms of female character relationships and how the women treat other women. Only Charlotte, apparently, is allowed to have anything positive in her relationships with other women, and even then they're all lyin to or manipulating her, and while Emily can somehow find sympathy for all the men in her life, she seems to have nothing but contempt and disdain for other women, particularly Amanda.

Revolution 1.8:

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And because I didn't get around to posting on last week's TV until after this week's Revolution aired:

Revolution 1.9: Not exactly filler as it was mostly character development (apparently largely designed to cater to shippers) But the only real plot momentum was with Rachel. My thoughts on Rachel are that I am very happy that this TV season and this show in particular is providing me with plenty of mothers who are morally ambiguous if not outright shady and have things going on besides thier kids while still being written as sympathetic and loving their kids.

Scandal 2.6: Have we actually had two whole episodes and no Fitz? Is it early Christmas?
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The latest Arrow and Beauty and the Beast were good but felt like filler with a few important bits thrown in. Elementary was interesting on the Watson front but the Mystery Of The Week was brought down by a trope whose execution I didn't care for with Gregson's old partner.

I've pretty much finished Rich Man Poor Woman and Naniwa Shounen Tanteidan, the two jdramas I started a few months ago and got sidetracked from. "Pretty much" because, the last time I looked, the last episode of Naniwa hadn't been subbed yet. RMPW floundered a lot in the middle but got back on track in thel ast two episodes and had a pretty strong ending. Naniwa was pretty hit-and-miss in terms of the cases, but the characters and character interactions were great. I also finished season 4 of Fringe, which had a lot of interesting ideas going on but seemed determined to strip Olivia of agency in as many ways as possible. Like with AltLiv's storyline in the second half of season 3, I keep wanting to write up a rant but dissolve into inarticulate raging before I even get started. Then there's season 4 of Parks and Rec, which was largely very fun (as expected) but while I like Leslie/Ben and Leslie running for office, I dislike how it seemed to isolate them from the rest of the cast for large chunks of the season, and I'm unable to comment on Ann/Tom.

This is kinda awesome:



Meanwhile, I've spent my birthday basically watching Parks & Rec and reading Marjorie M. Liu.

Leslie is so overwhelmingly earnest and sincere that she'd fot in in Once Upon A Time. She'd decide Emma was her new BFF and that Regina just needed a hug. Emma would accept that she has once again be forcibly adopted as hero by another overly wholesome person and Regina would wonder why her curse doesn't work on pesky blondes.