Let's Fold Scarves

Every time, they make it so real.

Dollhouse – “Instinct” (Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters)

This has to be one of the daftest premises for an episode of anything. Just how long was Echo going to be Jack’s mother? Until his father had got over his wife’s death? And then how long was Jack going to take to get over his mummy’s disappearance? Furthermore, how could Mr Jordan afford two dolls?

Perhaps the most unbelievable thing in the episode is that the police believed her.

And Topher ain’t that much of a genius. Apparently, hormones and massaging can induce breast milk in women who have not been mothers. And based on my own instinct, I say nonsense to anything called a maternal instinct and, particularly, on the notion that it overrides anything else. Eliza was once again good though.

I adore Olivia Williams. She is the Pete* of this show. Her character can do anything and I still love her. I loved the scene between her and (as we need to refer to her now) Madeline where she made me laugh just by swigging tea.

It was lovely to see Miracle Laurie who looked absolutely magnificent. Madeline may not be sad any more but there is definitely something missing: she felt a little flat, almost soulless.

Accents are funny things: Sierra sounded authentically American to me while Alexei Denisof sounded fake.

And is this the first episode in which Echo doesn’t get hit?

*yikes, I spoke too soon…

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Wait. Who did they make me this time?

Dollhouse – “Vows” (Joss Whedon)

Thirteen things:

One, Olivia Williams’ hair is not “ugly”, does not “look awful”, and does “flatter her”. Seriously, did these complainers see the dos she had in S1?

Two, the A story (I assume the story with Echo is the A story) was ill-conceived and poorly executed. Think about any of it for more than ten seconds and it turns into Emmental cheese. It was terrible. And it consumed a large chunk of the episode. And I could moan about all of it.

Three, I am happy to report that Eliza Dushku rocked her different roles. This is the first time that I have felt she was on top of them all.

Four, conversely, Dichen Lachman was found out: she can’t do posh (which is weird – everyone can do posh) and that two minutes of an Anglo-Asian in pink was excruciating and unfunny.

Five, Adelle fingering Victor’s scars was still not enough Victor.

Six, Olivia Williams was in tremendous form. She really relishes her role as Adelle. Andy thought she looked a bit thin. I didn’t really notice. However, I will be mightily disappointed if her face ever loses its mobility and its lines.

Seven, freaky accent changes from Jamie Bamber and Alexis Denisof.

Eight, Tahmoh Penikett sets me on edge. He walks funny, he stands funny, he speaks funny. And the character he plays doesn’t interest me.

Nine, Ballard’s push ups were just so cringeworthy and unworthy. Cheap.

Ten, talking of cheap: I hadn’t really grasped what was going on in the scene between Whiskey and Echo until I rewatched it and, eek, that was tacky. She’s having her vagina checked out (with hands of blue) and she has a sexy flashback. Urgh.

Eleven, I was dismayed at Ballard hitting Echo in order to get her to drop into ninja mode. Dismayed that this sort of violence is barely commented upon. Dismayed also because it’s a crappy device. Dismayed because it is totally unrealistic. Yes, I know this is fantasy but things have to make sense within the reality of the fantasy. One slap from a man built like Ballard would put little Echo in a seriously bad place. And bored of it too. How many times is Echo going get hit? Every.single.episode?

Twelve, I don’t understand quite why Whiskey attempted to have sex (or not) with Topher. This lack of comprehension I accept may be my fault. However, Amy Acker slumped against a wall saying “because I don’t wanna die” was the best part of the show.

Thirteen, as it ended,  I turned to Andy and said “I don’t know if I can be arsed watching this anymore”. A rather pointless statement because I will continue to watch it. Damn you Joss, if this was made by anybody else, I would have said goodbye a long time ago (see Alias, Lost, Heroes, The X-Files, The West Wing).

Posted in Dollhouse, Television | 2 Comments »

Well, he was evil, and people got killed, and now he…bakes. It’s a thing.

Get It Done (Douglas Petrie)

Okay, Kennedy has started to really annoy me. Though not as much as the “what the hell was that?” speech from Buffy.

Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe? Let me. Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it’s easy. Just, think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I’ll find room for you next to her and Annabelle. I’m the Slayer. The one with the power. And the First has me using that power to dig our graves. I’ve been carrying you. All of you. Too far, too long. Ride’s over.

It may seem interminable but really it’s not been that long. Plus, poor Chloe, yes, she got done by the First but I do believe that Spike was also a victim…speaking of Spike, I truly find him an objectionable character. “Nancy” as a term of abuse? Not nice.

“We’ve got a bunch of fighters with nothing to hit, a Wicca who won’t-a, and the brains of our operation wears oven mitts.” Funny, but surely the brains belong to Giles?

Nice skirt.

Ha, over at TWoP: “Every time Willow does a locator spell, a little part of me dies.”

There was a lovely cute Dawn moment when she teases Buffy.

All the potentials are sent up stairs but when Spike is thrown through the ceiling he lands in an empty room. What a wasted opportunity because Spike scattering potentials would have been funny.

The shadowcasters scene was nifty.

Erm.

Is this the moment that prompted SMG to say "enough!"?

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What the hell just happened?

Mad Men – “Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency” (Robin Veith & Matthew Weiner)

What an episode.

Random observations:

• Jared Harris made me think of of his dad, Richard, as Dumbledore when he addressed the whole office.
• The title of this episode is cheeky.
• I write a blog post about how humourless the show is and then this comes along. It was extremely funny.
• Joan is a great character. And Christina Hendricks makes her even more compelling. This episode showed that the entire series could be about her. Her scene with her husband where she tries very hard to make him feel better was riveting. The actor who plays Greg (Sam Page) was pretty good in scene too.
• Don and Joan have such extraordinary chemistry. And Christina said the following lines perfectly:

But that’s life. One minute you’re on top of the world, the next minute some secretary’s running you over with a lawn mower.

• Peggy desperately trying to talk to Joan was frustrating because she didn’t say what she wanted to say before…
• The riding mower incident was very close to being a jump the shark moment but I think they pulled it off. I think the guy playing Guy was brilliant in his agony and seeing Joan in full efficiency mode was wonderful.
• Betty gets a lot of flak for being a poor mother. What I think many people fail to see is that she is quite an ordinary mother because, guess what, mothering isn’t something we can do perfectly just because we have a vagina. She tries and she sometimes fails. What we rarely see (never?) on the show is her parenting triumphs.
• I see a bit of my parenting in Betty. I lose my temper and get frustrated and it takes Andy to step in and defuse the situation. And that happens the other way around too.
• Betty accepts Sally’s apology rather sweetly, however, that is rather overshadowed by Don’s parenting triumph in the conclusion to this episode.
• Pete catches Peggy when she faints.

• I love the exchange between Guy and Pete. It is hard to tell which part of Guy’s statement that Pete is referring to.

Guy: I know everything about you. You’re a very impressive fellow.
Pete: I wish I could return the compliment.

• Don looked like California Don in the first scene he has with Sally.

• Don and Betty have a normal conversation when she offers him leftovers for his tea and he asks her if he would like to go to London. They actually seemed like a normal couple for a while eating Ritz crackers and drinking Budweiser.
• Roger had the best line:

Paul: He might lose his foot.
Roger: Right when he got it in the door.

• I didn’t really understand why Guy’s career in advertising was over. Douglas Bader lost more than a foot and he managed to fight in the Battle of Britain. However, in light of the fact that Lane was asked to remove his glasses when he met the other English executives seems to indicate an intolerance of imperfection which is an odd characterisation of the English.
• I may have got over my fear of Ken. I think he may just be an uncomplicated fellow.

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A bidet. Like a bidet of evil.

First Date (Jane Espenson)

I almost said to Andy before it started that this episode was likely to be one of the worse ever because all I could remember was that Xander had a date and that she was played by a pop star I hadn’t even heard of then, never mind now.

However, except for Xander’s dire story this was a fun episode. Poor Xander, his story was plainly daft and poorly acted. Just what this random demon was going to do with the ubervamp wasn’t adequately explained and highlights a problem that periodically reoccurs in Buffy in which something which had been so crucial or so important or so precious at one point is then treated cavalierly later. And just how Xander sent Willow that text message will remain a mystery.

Actually, I have just remembered something worse than Xander’s story and that was the stupidity of Giles and Chao-Ahn. Yeah, Giles would definitely be that oafish and the jokes were just silly, no, just cheap and wince inducing. Why would she eat ice cream if she was lactose intolerant?

Oh dear, that just leaves Buffy and Robin. And Andrew and the First. Luckily it’s Buffy’s story and she got the majority of screen time, but I have to admit that now I have reached a peaceful state regarding Andrew’s presence on the show I think he is generally quite appealing. Ow, my expectations have dropped. I blame Angel.

Anyway, the best things in the show involved Buffy. I particularly enjoyed the scene of Willow balling socks (exciting day on the set for Ms Hannigan) and the conversation they have. Any dialogue that mentions a bidet of evil is just class. Willow laughing at Buffy and her counselling skills was cruel but amusing.

I keep reading the transcript and I keep coming across stuff I don’t like. I don’t mind Anya being jealous but I detest the use of “whore” and “slut”. Anya’s role is so shitty these days.

On the other hand, Giles’s gruesome flashcards were a treat. And this is what I do like about Buffy, this is like whizzing back to “Hush” and his presentation in the lecture theatre.

Buffy is struck dumb by the realization that Principal Wood is a white-hat and says it all by saying nothing.

I remember being greatly excited when Robin was told that Spike killed his mother. Oh, revenge. How thrilling.

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Random BtVS screencap #17

In honour of Sarah Michelle Gellar becoming a mother.

Posted in Buffy Season 7, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Screencaps | No Comments »

Gloomy Mad Men

Two blog posts from outside my usual Mad Men sphere brought me up short when I read them and made me think: do I actually like Mad Men?

It can be hard work and it is dour and oppressive. The sixties weren’t that miserable. Self-Styled Siren has a post on the whole dourness of it and suggests watching films from the period instead. Now, I find it hard to like or, indeed, find films from that era so I’m not so sure though I guess North By Northwest could be a good start (ok, not a melodrama). It is, after all, also about an incredibly handsome ad executive… I’m wittering but I do think the Siren sums it up succinctly: “It’s like Saint Augustine wrote the scripts.”

Lance Mannion goes further and criticises the show’s lack of humour. And while I think Pete is hilarious, he does have a point: “It’s a comedy with all the jokes removed” and “Mad Men is one of the most relentlessly and deliberately humorless shows in the history of television drama”.

(He is incorrect about none of the characters being musically inclined because we know Paul is a singer and that Joan can play the accordion – but she isn’t an ad woman (but should be) – however, his blog post predates “My Old Kentucky Home”.)

Well, I do like Mad Men, nay love it, but I can’t help but thinking it would be even better if there was more scherzando like the scene when Pete and Trudy danced in every episode.

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I left my lunch pail on the bus and I’m having a baby.

Mad Men – “The Fog” (Kater Gordon*)

*the first episode this season not co-written by Matthew Weiner

This was an excellent episode chock full of great moments and scenes.

I’m already bored with Don’s relationship with the teacher, Suzanne. The worst thing about “The Fog” was her unlikeliness, her modernity, her empathy, her touching (oi, get your mitts off), and her razzled phonecall. The only bright spot involving Suzanne is when she asked why the Drapers didn’t call the school or send a note about Sally’s grandfather’s death which allowed me to cry in reaffirmation that “they are terrible parents”.

I also felt the conversation between Don and the prison guard (with a suspiciously modern looking number one haircut) was heavy-handed. Yes, we get it, Don is a poor father and a poor husband.

Betty’s fog was nasty stuff and the birthing scenes emphasised her childishness because she was treated like someone who can’t be trusted to make informed decisions. It all seemed pretty believable to me though I don’t get why fathers stayed at the hospital at all when they weren’t expected to partake in the joy of bringing a new life into the world. The average labour for a second/third pregnancy is 6-8 hours so most daddies to be were in for a long, long wait.

Aran, a commentator at Basket of Kisses noted that Don is not seen at any time to touch or hold his new son which is a point worth reiterating.

Betty’s reluctant getting up in the middle of the night for her new child was only the beginning of it. I remember the first few weeks being absolute hell. Perhaps, after the initial euphoria they were actually the worst few weeks of my life and I had the absolute support of my husband. Of course, nobody expected men to help back then. A point made strongly in this episode when Don is reprimanded for taking half a day off work.

Peggy and Pete are such interesting characters and are, by a long distance, my current favourites.

Pete brings out Peggy’s funny side though I suspect he wouldn’t agree. I love her brittleness when they are together.

I was distinctly underwhelmed when I realised that Duck was to make an appearance in this but his dealings with Peggy and Pete made for a couple of great scenes.

Note Pete’s concern when he thought it was his Uncle Herman on the phone. I loved Pete’s indignation when he saw Peggy at Duck’s table and whether he only stormed off because Duck wasn’t courting him alone, he was right to storm off. Pete’s conversation with Hollis was cringeworthy and hilarious. And Pete’s natural charm (well, I see it) came through in the end when they both smiled at the baseball mention. I think I would appreciate Pete’s idea of integrated ads if I knew exactly what they were.

In reality, I think Peggy would take the first opportunity to leave Sterling Cooper but, since I guess it is unlikely that we will be spending screen time in another ad agency, she isn’t going anywhere. Her scene with Don was marvellous though I do think she could made more of the paperclips remark to protest that she brought more to the firm than wee bits of metal. I don’t think she was deliberately manipulative when she stared at and touched the bootees but it certainly got Don’s attention though maybe Peggy telling him he had everything might have made wish he had stopped listening. Don asked his favourite question “what do you want me to say?” and Peggy’s reply “I don’t think I could have been any clearer” followed by “what if this is my time?” was tense stuff.

There was a technical goof in the scene in Paul’s office when the bright light behind Pete’s head kept disappearing. This is the first time I have noticed a goof like that.

Posted in Mad Men, Television | 1 Comment »

We should have been forever

The Killer in Me (Drew Z. Greenberg)

This is the Buffy has a cold episode. It has three separate story-lines of varying degrees of interest. The Spike story is as engaging as any Spike story this season although the funniest joke came about because of this line: “Who you gonna call?” Both Andy and I said “Ghostbusters” and then Spike spoke again “God, that phrase is never gonna be useable again, is it?” (very funny Drew).

Giles had a wonderful exchange with Buffy at the beginning and I reckon her description of the vision quest was pretty accurate although she appears to have omitted mention of the gourd.

I am obviously a keen and close watcher (ho ho) because I was blissfully unaware first time viewing that Giles was behaving out of character and that many many people thought he might be the First. Oh well.

Giles being pounced on by “a teenager, a powerful former demon, and two big geeks” was very funny and although Giles’s line: “you think I’m evil…if I bring a group of girls on a camping trip and don’t touch them?” was ooc, it was still the second funniest joke in the episode.

My initial reaction to the Willow story-line is that it was well acted and nicely dramatic.

I don’t understand why Joss & co thought that Willow should get over Tara and find a new partner over the course of S7. If you remove my bias towards Tara, it still doesn’t make sense. The death of Tara resulted in Willow doing unspeakable things (that’s obviously a turn of phrase because Willow blabs it all over the place as if it wasn’t that important (including in LA)). But, anyway, why should she get over it and move on?

I actually find Iyari Limon quite appealing as Kennedy. She’s okay. She’s no Seth Green or Amber Benson but she is okay.

What isn’t okay is her behaviour. From the very beginning she has behaved in an inappropriate and pushy manner. From the moment she sees Willow she is flirting with her. And in this episode she fakes illness and asks intrusive questions. I totally understand the dislike of her character because of these reasons but, don’t blame her, blame the writers. However, I do draw the line at Kennedy being Prince Charming and kissing Willow’s misery away.

Kennedy likes to get into everybody's personal space.

Amy’s involvement doesn’t make sense and her motivation even less so. Amy is jealous of Willow’s ability? How could she know? Amy was a rat for most of the time that Willow developed as a witch. True, she had ensouled Angel but floating a pencil was hard work and we only saw her doing that after Amy was ratted. I would totally have believed any explanation from Amy that involved her being upset at being a rat for three years.

So the best thing about this episode is that Tara and Willow’s feelings about her were directly referenced.

Writing all this down makes me realise that on a superficial level this episode dealt with a lot of issues in an easy to swallow way. However, digestion is bloody hard.

Still funny

Posted in Buffy Season 7, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Television | 3 Comments »

“mums aren’t good at being funny”

Don’t ask why but I recently watched an edition of The One Show (broadcast on 22nd July 2009) with Hugh Dennis as the studio guest.

The presenters asked him about the lack of women on such shows as Mock the Week (Dennis is one of the team captains) and he responds that although there are “lots of very, very, very funny women but I guess they don’t tend to be, you know, stand ups” which is why they aren’t on the show. Anyway. They moved on to a clip from the special Outnumbered produced for Comic Relief (13th March 2009) to illustrate that women aren’t funny. Dennis (as the dad) does an impression of Eric Morecambe catching an imaginary pebble in a bag and the children laugh heartily. Claire Skinner (as the mum) also does an impersonation of Eric Morecambe by poking her head around the door and being dragged out of sight by her own hand. The children don’t laugh and when she asks why not, the boy says that “…mums aren’t good at being funny”. This is a link to the first part of the whole thing and apparently mums are good at tidying, nagging and saying no.

Back in The One Show studio, Dennis says that in reality “it worked the other way round completely. I did that thing and neither of them laughed. And Claire did her thing and they both laughed”. I think he then says “so it’s cheating”.

Fabulous stuff from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin that doesn’t at all reinforce stereotypes. And thanks to The One Show for digging out a clip to illustrate something that isn’t true. And look here!

Posted in Female thinking, Quotes, Television | 1 Comment »