Parks and Rec and The Good Wife
Mar. 9th, 2014 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessI watched these shows on Thursday, but then there were time pressures and broadband problems, which I hope have been solved.
Parks and Rec 3.7 Harvest Festival
This was glorious.
That helicopter shot of the carnival, with the maze and the Sweetums tent made me go ‘Look what you did!’ at Leslie, with no irony, just pleasure.
I think they played it right (with one caveat that I’ll get to) from the cult of Little, sorry, L’il Sebastian – who even got Ron and April smiling, heh – to the moment on the Ferris wheel where Ron told everyone off, to the ridiculous Leslie/Ben handshake (‘Get a room’ indeed, although the more telling thing was how disappointed she was in him bailing on her – but she sorted things inimitably all on her own steam anyway) and the whole Wamapoke/Pawnee’s shameful past and its effect on the present.
The one thing that I didn’t love was how they didn’t use the fact that the show is a mockumentary in the moment that L’il Sebastian went missing. It was crying out for a rewind to the moment the pony/little horse ambled out while Tom did his thing. I also thought there was a confusion of cameras and POV’s with the reporter.
Okay, there was also the elephant in the room of April’s paramour being extraordinarily thick – not just in the trope of not knowing how to handle an ‘I love you’. Although I totally guffawed at Andy thinking L’il Sebastian was on the big wheel with them.
3.8 Camping
Heh. Less to say but I was laughing pretty heartily at this too. I suppose the pressure of having to follow up a great idea with another was a bit of courtesy of the writers room, but although we had a stressed to the point of mania Leslie (ha, until Ron got his great idea) of course she was always going to do what April predicted. She is the Energiser Bunny of ideas, even if that is the least tactful way of putting it.
The Tom-Ben odd friendship is growing apace.
I’d sort of like to see a Parks and Recreation/Gilmore Girls crossover, mainly to see what Chris made of Stars Hollow, literally the most X town he’s ever seen (not that I want the town council to go bankrupt and if it did after season 3, I don’t want to know.) Everyone from Pawnee should go up, actually, and end up at Luke’s diner, and...
(All I’ve got is that bandiage and hijnks would ensue, which is why I want someone else to write it for me.)
The last thought is probably all because of that weird bed and breakfast. RTP Cat Lady. I thought killing you off was harsh.
I looked up the airing dates of the show to help me not to get spoiled when reading fic and this season only has 16 episodes. I am quite tempted to give the Harvest Festival episode a rewatch.
TGW 5.6
And the war is on, with Diane as this week’s most obviously wounded casualty (so far). Well, until Lockhart & Gardener started turning the tide against ‘Florrick and Associates’ (heh). But both Alicia and Will are so angry (so is Diane, of course, she’s done being polite, although I wonder when the crash is going to come for both her and Will and what lines exactly they’re all going to cross).
It’s fascinating to watch the new firm prove, or at least try to prove, their criticism of the top-heavy firm, partners-swan-in thesis. Will Alicia be able to shape the rest into a firm? Is the other Cary Christian enough to leave a sixteen year old girl alone? I did get Alicia’s anxiety about her innocent daughter now living in a house invaded by men, but I was amused by Grace’s response to the visit to Kurt and what she saw there (also Alicia was talking down to her a little) and Zach being ordered just to drag his sister out of the danger zone aka the kitchen.
I was really pleased by how the Marilyn plotline developed – and that she picked up on one of Cary’s weaknesses. Not to mention Peter’s weakness in going all guns blazing when someone attacks his family, which Will also raised (only in a way that revealed how messy his feelings are WRT Alicia and Peter and takes us back to the war.)
While I appreciate David Lee being around – have they added the actor to the main cast this year, or did they do it before and I didn’t notice? – although they lampshaded it, he didn’t need to be at the conciliation meeting, unless if Will was seriously thinking about having HIM replace Diane. I appreciated the returning lawyers and judges, as ever, and how their past interactions shade their current interactions with the regulars.
And the Kalinda-Diane scenes were just right.
So, another top-quality episode in what is shaping up to be an enthralling season. I liked the hook of seeing the characters wake up (Alicia wins the nightclothes battle) and the song.
Parks and Rec 3.7 Harvest Festival
This was glorious.
That helicopter shot of the carnival, with the maze and the Sweetums tent made me go ‘Look what you did!’ at Leslie, with no irony, just pleasure.
I think they played it right (with one caveat that I’ll get to) from the cult of Little, sorry, L’il Sebastian – who even got Ron and April smiling, heh – to the moment on the Ferris wheel where Ron told everyone off, to the ridiculous Leslie/Ben handshake (‘Get a room’ indeed, although the more telling thing was how disappointed she was in him bailing on her – but she sorted things inimitably all on her own steam anyway) and the whole Wamapoke/Pawnee’s shameful past and its effect on the present.
The one thing that I didn’t love was how they didn’t use the fact that the show is a mockumentary in the moment that L’il Sebastian went missing. It was crying out for a rewind to the moment the pony/little horse ambled out while Tom did his thing. I also thought there was a confusion of cameras and POV’s with the reporter.
Okay, there was also the elephant in the room of April’s paramour being extraordinarily thick – not just in the trope of not knowing how to handle an ‘I love you’. Although I totally guffawed at Andy thinking L’il Sebastian was on the big wheel with them.
3.8 Camping
Heh. Less to say but I was laughing pretty heartily at this too. I suppose the pressure of having to follow up a great idea with another was a bit of courtesy of the writers room, but although we had a stressed to the point of mania Leslie (ha, until Ron got his great idea) of course she was always going to do what April predicted. She is the Energiser Bunny of ideas, even if that is the least tactful way of putting it.
The Tom-Ben odd friendship is growing apace.
I’d sort of like to see a Parks and Recreation/Gilmore Girls crossover, mainly to see what Chris made of Stars Hollow, literally the most X town he’s ever seen (not that I want the town council to go bankrupt and if it did after season 3, I don’t want to know.) Everyone from Pawnee should go up, actually, and end up at Luke’s diner, and...
(All I’ve got is that bandiage and hijnks would ensue, which is why I want someone else to write it for me.)
The last thought is probably all because of that weird bed and breakfast. RTP Cat Lady. I thought killing you off was harsh.
I looked up the airing dates of the show to help me not to get spoiled when reading fic and this season only has 16 episodes. I am quite tempted to give the Harvest Festival episode a rewatch.
TGW 5.6
And the war is on, with Diane as this week’s most obviously wounded casualty (so far). Well, until Lockhart & Gardener started turning the tide against ‘Florrick and Associates’ (heh). But both Alicia and Will are so angry (so is Diane, of course, she’s done being polite, although I wonder when the crash is going to come for both her and Will and what lines exactly they’re all going to cross).
It’s fascinating to watch the new firm prove, or at least try to prove, their criticism of the top-heavy firm, partners-swan-in thesis. Will Alicia be able to shape the rest into a firm? Is the other Cary Christian enough to leave a sixteen year old girl alone? I did get Alicia’s anxiety about her innocent daughter now living in a house invaded by men, but I was amused by Grace’s response to the visit to Kurt and what she saw there (also Alicia was talking down to her a little) and Zach being ordered just to drag his sister out of the danger zone aka the kitchen.
I was really pleased by how the Marilyn plotline developed – and that she picked up on one of Cary’s weaknesses. Not to mention Peter’s weakness in going all guns blazing when someone attacks his family, which Will also raised (only in a way that revealed how messy his feelings are WRT Alicia and Peter and takes us back to the war.)
While I appreciate David Lee being around – have they added the actor to the main cast this year, or did they do it before and I didn’t notice? – although they lampshaded it, he didn’t need to be at the conciliation meeting, unless if Will was seriously thinking about having HIM replace Diane. I appreciated the returning lawyers and judges, as ever, and how their past interactions shade their current interactions with the regulars.
And the Kalinda-Diane scenes were just right.
So, another top-quality episode in what is shaping up to be an enthralling season. I liked the hook of seeing the characters wake up (Alicia wins the nightclothes battle) and the song.
