dancing and singing
Oct. 1st, 2014 07:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessIt Takes Two – Monday A ridiculous opening, but Zoe’s puppyish exhuberance and kindness to the guests are always welcome. The objectifying of Aljaz less so. Congratulations to Karen, before I saw the distracting cushions and she made her announcement, I did half-wonder. I disagree with the Judy Murray = Marmite point. I like the woman, I hope she has a blast from this experience, but it doesn’t mean I can’t see she’s a weak dancer. I know liking the celebs (and pros) does come into it somewhat and colours your perceptions, but I’m already preparing for the point in the show where I get irritated that people are keeping Tim in longer than better dancers.
I also watched most of last night's episode (Tuesday) but don't have much to say except that Iveta made me laugh.
Cilla 3/3
I think three parts stretched the material too much, really. On the comic side, the line about the father having gone to sea and being a man of the world was knocked out two times too many. Meanwhile, dramatically, the singing performances started to get a little same-y, and, if I’m honest, some of the tics seemed like affectations, even if that was sometimes the point (like the performance that was too big for the American club that Cilla was booked at). But I don't think the show was clever or subtle enough to be trying to show why Cilla's singing career tapered off because everything got a bit same-y.
They also didn’t manage the sympathy very well. As Cilla was getting slightly diva-ey, she was also bossing Bobby about without committing to the relationship. I’m not saying she should have slept with him, but the very kindest interpretation of what she was doing was letting the professional bleed over into the personal, and really, I wasn’t minded to be kind. I didn’t see much loving on her side, rather, she was taking Bobby for granted until Brian said he missed him too.
And that’s another thing, generally, we were told and not shown. Brian kept saying that he liked Bobby, but I thought you could read what we’d seen even up until the offer of a singing-writing contract another way (i.e. pragmatic acceptance that he came along as a package with Cilla, and that offering him as a contract was a way of getting him out of the way). It could be argued that he worked as a reasonable buffer for Cilla, but at other times, he was the one arguing with Brian while Cilla acquiesced.
And Brian’s spiral seemed to happen quickly.
The take-out was not ‘I want a butler’, but I sometimes really, really want a butler (of the Alfred, not Carson variety.)
Still, the singing often (tics aside, and almost setting the fact that she was playing a real person aside - ugh, I know I've been contradictory about Smith's singing on the show) was powerful. The pining was A+ (Barnard looked like a muscular Elijah Wood gone half-albino AND YET). The actor playing John Lennon still knew he got the best lines.
I also watched most of last night's episode (Tuesday) but don't have much to say except that Iveta made me laugh.
Cilla 3/3
I think three parts stretched the material too much, really. On the comic side, the line about the father having gone to sea and being a man of the world was knocked out two times too many. Meanwhile, dramatically, the singing performances started to get a little same-y, and, if I’m honest, some of the tics seemed like affectations, even if that was sometimes the point (like the performance that was too big for the American club that Cilla was booked at). But I don't think the show was clever or subtle enough to be trying to show why Cilla's singing career tapered off because everything got a bit same-y.
They also didn’t manage the sympathy very well. As Cilla was getting slightly diva-ey, she was also bossing Bobby about without committing to the relationship. I’m not saying she should have slept with him, but the very kindest interpretation of what she was doing was letting the professional bleed over into the personal, and really, I wasn’t minded to be kind. I didn’t see much loving on her side, rather, she was taking Bobby for granted until Brian said he missed him too.
And that’s another thing, generally, we were told and not shown. Brian kept saying that he liked Bobby, but I thought you could read what we’d seen even up until the offer of a singing-writing contract another way (i.e. pragmatic acceptance that he came along as a package with Cilla, and that offering him as a contract was a way of getting him out of the way). It could be argued that he worked as a reasonable buffer for Cilla, but at other times, he was the one arguing with Brian while Cilla acquiesced.
And Brian’s spiral seemed to happen quickly.
The take-out was not ‘I want a butler’, but I sometimes really, really want a butler (of the Alfred, not Carson variety.)
Still, the singing often (tics aside, and almost setting the fact that she was playing a real person aside - ugh, I know I've been contradictory about Smith's singing on the show) was powerful. The pining was A+ (Barnard looked like a muscular Elijah Wood gone half-albino AND YET). The actor playing John Lennon still knew he got the best lines.
