Nashville AND Parks and Rec
Sep. 27th, 2015 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessNashville
3.17 This Just Ain’t A Good Day for Leavin’
I didn’t expect Juliette to take too kindly to her baby shower being interrupted, given that we’re still in wacky pregnancy hormones territory with her, so I laughed at her reaction to Rayna’s reason for ditching the shower, while recognising there are good reasons she didn’t have any girl friends there.
We saw Maddie reverting to teenagering a bit, but when her voice broke as she called Teddy, she sounded like more of a child (and Rayna’s absence at this moment, while for valid reasons, was NOT GOOD) whose world had been ripped apart. And Maddie’s world has had to be stitched back together a lot of late. (Yet Daphne is pretty level-headed having gone through quite a lot of it.) Huh, it took cancer to get Deacon and Teddy to be civil co-parents.
Poor Sadie. You’d have thought the lawyer would just push ‘self-defence’ harder, but I’m glad the focus was on the emotional fall-out for her of what had happened and what she’d done. The question of how much support Rayna could realistically give her (because leaving her alone to sleep after what happened? Not a good call) without spreading herself too thinly was nicely developed.
I do like what the actor playing Luke is doing. He’s making the stubborn, impulsive, vengeful mule sympathetic. Still. Again. I mean, more so than many of the other actors when their characters have been acting out and behaving badly.
Well, Juliette’s baby is taking after her momma in the dramatic stakes. First, Juliette deserved to be shouted at by St Rayna her mother figure. Second, Panettiere’s face as Juliette realised her water broke made me forgive how broad and clichéd the moment was.
Ditto with the next scene, we’ve needed Scarlett and Gunnar to talk some of this stuff through forever (how DOES Liam fit into that account of history you’re telling there, Scarlett? Although I had forgotten that Gunnar proposed. Ahem. Overall, I still think that his behaviour after Jason’s death and starting something with Zoey is way worse than anything Scarlett did.) And then again, the bus braking and their being thrust into each other’s arms was so OTT, but Jackson sold Avery’s reaction to his dramatic daughter deciding to be born three weeks early, and who can blame Avery for rushing away to her and Juliette from his two idiot bandmates?
Speaking of, I LOVED their song (and bar the random YouTube star Luke hired, that was the first song of the episode). Real world, on a night when they’re coping without Avery, Gunnar pulling that move was ridiculous. But it sort of made sense if Scarlett was shutting him out, because his brain would think that music is where they connect and so it would be a good idea. Whatever, it totally worked as drama. Furthermore, I liked the melody, the falsetto (although I didn’t understand the lyrics until Bowen started singing) and the body language. Okay, so it wasn’t subtle, but the way she only came so close to him and then there was all this tension in how she held herself and BOOM! chemistry, and more than the aw, shucks boy-and-girl stuff that they’ve always had locked. (I speak as someone who always resented that it was Jason’s death that made them resolve their UST as opposed to what Scarlett called the right reasons.)
While I applaud Sadie’s decision to face what she’d done for her own sake, I didn’t think that rushing off right then on no sleep was the best thing. At least we got a goodbye scene with Luke, otherwise I’d have felt that that was unfinished business. I’m not sure how I feel about him being the knight to rescue the damsel in distress – surely the trajectory of the shot and good lawyering should have exonerated her – but I suppose it’ll do him no harm to hear from the first woman after Rayna he’s had a spark with that he’s a good man. But it feels like they invested a lot in the character before just dropping her (oh wait, see also Tandy and Zoey and various love interests). They tore through a lot with Sadie in that episode.
I’d argue Scarlett was lying (to herself?) about what happened during the song, but OF COURSE, Gunnar mainly handled them wrong. Like he always has since it became serious and mattered. So, despite everything, we’re still where we were with Scarlett/Gunnar.
No more diva strops from you, momma Juliette!
I am a sucker, because the lullaby worked for me, although they looked staged, they sounded sweet – Panettiere’s voice always sounds better when she’s singing unplugged – and we all needed to see Rayna hug her girls.
Parks and Rec
4.17 Campaign Shake-Up
Lots that was funny about this episode – the interaction with Pawneeans and the shenanigans in the office while Leslie and Ben were cute (although Ron and April got the biggest ‘aww!’)
I enjoyed that they’d brought in a lady campaign manager for the opposition, and Hahn was great as the winning-at-all-costs Barkley - I hope we actually see her around Bobby Newport. The obvious next move is to record Barkley badmouthing Pawnee or admitting she lied, no? Or have I been watching too much of The Good Wife. BUT SHE MOCKED Little Leslie’s video. Both harsh and perfect.
The other plot was uniformly great from Chris horrifying Ron; the perfectly horrifying but hilarious Ron as a six year old plus cats anecdote, brilliantly delivered; necessity making Ron let Ann in; their not mentioning Ann/Tom until midway through the episode; Ann getting bossy and shouty. And yeah, that is a disgusting quirk regarding the water fountain – I loved that they got that Mr Extra of Extras (you know, that guy). Ugh, April, I thought you’d moved on from being so petty about Ann. But the twisted take on the mentor/mentee relationship between Ron and April was really sweet (they’ll have to do a dance to manage April using her brain more while remaining happy with Andy, though).
4.18 Lucky
I love that Pawnee’s premiere fashion boutique is called The Lady Place.
I had forgotten Andy’s Women Studies course.
It feels mean that Ann and Tom are so tight because they’re picking on my favourite character (although I did mock the cardigan). Also because of alcohol.
Actually, I thought that Buddy picking on Pawnee would be what got slightly sozzled Leslie going into a rage spiral, as in physically launching herself on him. Still, the interview went quite badly, but more importantly Pawnee got its revenge. Would have thought they’d have made a little more of Ben not realising Leslie’s state pre-interview, but the use of the limo space was funny.
Tin woman April continues to have a heart – but I...wasn’t surprised the professor wanted something with Ron over a relationship with Chris. I love that Andy didn’t actually remember he was throwing Ron’s words back at him.
Glad they had the Donna-Gerry interaction – it was nicely odd.
3.17 This Just Ain’t A Good Day for Leavin’
I didn’t expect Juliette to take too kindly to her baby shower being interrupted, given that we’re still in wacky pregnancy hormones territory with her, so I laughed at her reaction to Rayna’s reason for ditching the shower, while recognising there are good reasons she didn’t have any girl friends there.
We saw Maddie reverting to teenagering a bit, but when her voice broke as she called Teddy, she sounded like more of a child (and Rayna’s absence at this moment, while for valid reasons, was NOT GOOD) whose world had been ripped apart. And Maddie’s world has had to be stitched back together a lot of late. (Yet Daphne is pretty level-headed having gone through quite a lot of it.) Huh, it took cancer to get Deacon and Teddy to be civil co-parents.
Poor Sadie. You’d have thought the lawyer would just push ‘self-defence’ harder, but I’m glad the focus was on the emotional fall-out for her of what had happened and what she’d done. The question of how much support Rayna could realistically give her (because leaving her alone to sleep after what happened? Not a good call) without spreading herself too thinly was nicely developed.
I do like what the actor playing Luke is doing. He’s making the stubborn, impulsive, vengeful mule sympathetic. Still. Again. I mean, more so than many of the other actors when their characters have been acting out and behaving badly.
Well, Juliette’s baby is taking after her momma in the dramatic stakes. First, Juliette deserved to be shouted at by St Rayna her mother figure. Second, Panettiere’s face as Juliette realised her water broke made me forgive how broad and clichéd the moment was.
Ditto with the next scene, we’ve needed Scarlett and Gunnar to talk some of this stuff through forever (how DOES Liam fit into that account of history you’re telling there, Scarlett? Although I had forgotten that Gunnar proposed. Ahem. Overall, I still think that his behaviour after Jason’s death and starting something with Zoey is way worse than anything Scarlett did.) And then again, the bus braking and their being thrust into each other’s arms was so OTT, but Jackson sold Avery’s reaction to his dramatic daughter deciding to be born three weeks early, and who can blame Avery for rushing away to her and Juliette from his two idiot bandmates?
Speaking of, I LOVED their song (and bar the random YouTube star Luke hired, that was the first song of the episode). Real world, on a night when they’re coping without Avery, Gunnar pulling that move was ridiculous. But it sort of made sense if Scarlett was shutting him out, because his brain would think that music is where they connect and so it would be a good idea. Whatever, it totally worked as drama. Furthermore, I liked the melody, the falsetto (although I didn’t understand the lyrics until Bowen started singing) and the body language. Okay, so it wasn’t subtle, but the way she only came so close to him and then there was all this tension in how she held herself and BOOM! chemistry, and more than the aw, shucks boy-and-girl stuff that they’ve always had locked. (I speak as someone who always resented that it was Jason’s death that made them resolve their UST as opposed to what Scarlett called the right reasons.)
While I applaud Sadie’s decision to face what she’d done for her own sake, I didn’t think that rushing off right then on no sleep was the best thing. At least we got a goodbye scene with Luke, otherwise I’d have felt that that was unfinished business. I’m not sure how I feel about him being the knight to rescue the damsel in distress – surely the trajectory of the shot and good lawyering should have exonerated her – but I suppose it’ll do him no harm to hear from the first woman after Rayna he’s had a spark with that he’s a good man. But it feels like they invested a lot in the character before just dropping her (oh wait, see also Tandy and Zoey and various love interests). They tore through a lot with Sadie in that episode.
I’d argue Scarlett was lying (to herself?) about what happened during the song, but OF COURSE, Gunnar mainly handled them wrong. Like he always has since it became serious and mattered. So, despite everything, we’re still where we were with Scarlett/Gunnar.
No more diva strops from you, momma Juliette!
I am a sucker, because the lullaby worked for me, although they looked staged, they sounded sweet – Panettiere’s voice always sounds better when she’s singing unplugged – and we all needed to see Rayna hug her girls.
Parks and Rec
4.17 Campaign Shake-Up
Lots that was funny about this episode – the interaction with Pawneeans and the shenanigans in the office while Leslie and Ben were cute (although Ron and April got the biggest ‘aww!’)
I enjoyed that they’d brought in a lady campaign manager for the opposition, and Hahn was great as the winning-at-all-costs Barkley - I hope we actually see her around Bobby Newport. The obvious next move is to record Barkley badmouthing Pawnee or admitting she lied, no? Or have I been watching too much of The Good Wife. BUT SHE MOCKED Little Leslie’s video. Both harsh and perfect.
The other plot was uniformly great from Chris horrifying Ron; the perfectly horrifying but hilarious Ron as a six year old plus cats anecdote, brilliantly delivered; necessity making Ron let Ann in; their not mentioning Ann/Tom until midway through the episode; Ann getting bossy and shouty. And yeah, that is a disgusting quirk regarding the water fountain – I loved that they got that Mr Extra of Extras (you know, that guy). Ugh, April, I thought you’d moved on from being so petty about Ann. But the twisted take on the mentor/mentee relationship between Ron and April was really sweet (they’ll have to do a dance to manage April using her brain more while remaining happy with Andy, though).
4.18 Lucky
I love that Pawnee’s premiere fashion boutique is called The Lady Place.
I had forgotten Andy’s Women Studies course.
It feels mean that Ann and Tom are so tight because they’re picking on my favourite character (although I did mock the cardigan). Also because of alcohol.
Actually, I thought that Buddy picking on Pawnee would be what got slightly sozzled Leslie going into a rage spiral, as in physically launching herself on him. Still, the interview went quite badly, but more importantly Pawnee got its revenge. Would have thought they’d have made a little more of Ben not realising Leslie’s state pre-interview, but the use of the limo space was funny.
Tin woman April continues to have a heart – but I...wasn’t surprised the professor wanted something with Ron over a relationship with Chris. I love that Andy didn’t actually remember he was throwing Ron’s words back at him.
Glad they had the Donna-Gerry interaction – it was nicely odd.
