shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2016-03-25 02:20 pm
shallowness) wrote2016-03-25 02:20 pm
two episode reaction posts
Doctor Thorne episode 3
So many scenes left me thinking ‘But that’s not the point!’ in this closer. Perhaps this adaptation might have worked better as a feature length, although I’m still not entirely sure what the point of it all was, it’s satire was never biting enough, and it never went deep enough to have a moral purpose or emotional heft. Front and Nicholls were very good as their caricatures and Hollander deserves better material.
I know Mary and Frank being stopped from kissing was meant to be cute, but they’re Victorians! They shouldn’t be kissing in the street! On the other hand, the polite avoidance of mentioning how drunk Louis was until they had to was very Victorian - he’d passed tipsy before he’d left the Thornes’. He also epitomised knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Frank’s idea that he should call on Louis was so stupid. I would be SHOCKED if he gets a good degree from Cambridge what with the level of intelligence (and tendency to skive) he’s been showing.
The scene between the sisters and the Oriels was a bit weird, subtracting my belief in Mr Oriel and Beatrice as a couple, and adding nothing, whereas it felt like there were a couple of things that they could have shown in this episode and chose to elide.
Half of what Lady Arabella said to Mary in the attempt to get her to renounce Frank could have been thrown right back at her, because I’m with Louis that the main cause of this was Frank’s father getting into debt. If Lady A had expended some of the energy she spent on breaking up her son and his sweetheart on stopping her husband spending so much, they wouldn’t be in this pickle.
Louis made some valid points about how he’d been a social reject and so on, but took no responsibility for his own part in anything, like shoving his mother.
Drunk in charge of a horse? Meet the fatal branch of PLOT.
We found out the Doctor’s real name is Thomas! I’d been wondering if it was always going to remain a mystery.
And then Mary went and did the noble (but stupid) thing of breaking up with Frank (offscreen). And her uncle wasn’t going to tell her that she was now rich because...???? Obviously, it was for maximum drama in the reveal, but his silence caused Mary (and Frank) a little more suffering than was necessary.
But never mind that and cue happy endings for all, with Hollander and Brie doing heavy lifting in one exchange about hunting to make Doctor Thorne/Miss Dunstable a viable thing other than ‘she’s rich and he’s not too old for her!’. Except stupid Augusta. And it’s all very well Lady A putting on the big wedding breakfast, but we all knew which purse was going to pay for it.
Scorpion
2.16 Fractured
I presumed that they weren’t showing the advertised episode because of the terrorist attacks in Brussels (and given that the title of episode 2.15 was ‘Da Bomb’ and what I've subsequently read up, that makes sense). Yes, I did research. Yes, the show gets a tag.
Anwyay, I hadn’t actually seen the introduction to the show before, where the character of Walter introduces himself and Team Scorpion. He also introduces himself as the boss of Team Scorpion and the intro is pretty upfront about the Walter/Paige throughline. And it’s highlighted that it’s based on a real person.
This episode, the team had to Save The City after a big earthquake rocked Los Angeles. That was the overarching aim, but, split into three groups, before they could converge and STC, they had to surmount other obstacles/low volume emergencies, which usually escalated. If it weren't for the light-heartedness this show could be described as nightmarish. Fortunately, unlike everyone else, they had a working comms system, because they are geniuses. And there was the whole genius thing working in their favour also.
I think my favourite strand involved adorable Sly and Ralph. Sly the hypochondriac worrier was terrified of mama bear Paige’s warnings about taking Ralph on a field trip for his scientific studies and then there was an earthquake. As a glasses wearer, I think he lost his head in not asking Ralph to look for the glasses or not kneeling down to fumble for them - not that I've been in an earthquake in my life, but I have had incidents with my glasses - but they wanted the comedy crunch and the extra difficulty of his dodgy eyesight for everything the duo had to do next. Basically ‘indoor cat’ and child Ralph had to guide Sly driving, pop into a car that could have been crushed by a landslide to save a lady, do driving stunts and act as a full member of the team. It was adorable although that is not the best child acting I've seen in my life.
The episode also had Happy and Paige working together, which is something I wanted, alongside Cabe, with Happy doing geometry and Paige doing heroics.
And, as set up in the opening scene, Toby and Walter were bickering and had been sent to a therapist (who was wacky, of course) when the earthquake hit. Neither are blessed with McPhee’s voice but we still had a running gag of their singing ‘More than Words’ together to try to get on. Things improved between them as – get this – they had to work together to Save the City. Walter reached out (twice!) very graciously to get at the underlying reason for Toby’s sniping. Toby eventually admitted that he was picking fights because his life was so good and he was self-destructive like that.
Of course, the big reveal (or middling reveal, because the way Toby was standing by his door when Walter came calling for this conversation was so obvious he was lucky it was Walter, who wouldn’t pick up on the signs) was that Happy was over at his and a big part of the reason Toby’s life was so good. So they had a kiss and I felt like we’d missed something big in the last episode taking them from Happy not admitting her feelings to Toby to Happy making a move. Having said that, the only thing that I understand happened in the previous episode was Walter referring to their connection and no 'Quintis' moment being showed.
I note that Walter referred to Toby as his friend and Toby referred to him as his boss (and is keeping the burgeoning relationship with Happy quiet, because there's a no fraternisation rule. OF COURSE THERE IS.)
Aww, beta couple always get a move on while the alpha couple is stuck in the mire of will they won't they (I saw a clip of Paige ordering Walter's beloved fish food in the last episode and the adoring look he gave her, even though he'd been dating someone else at the start of the episode.)
So many scenes left me thinking ‘But that’s not the point!’ in this closer. Perhaps this adaptation might have worked better as a feature length, although I’m still not entirely sure what the point of it all was, it’s satire was never biting enough, and it never went deep enough to have a moral purpose or emotional heft. Front and Nicholls were very good as their caricatures and Hollander deserves better material.
I know Mary and Frank being stopped from kissing was meant to be cute, but they’re Victorians! They shouldn’t be kissing in the street! On the other hand, the polite avoidance of mentioning how drunk Louis was until they had to was very Victorian - he’d passed tipsy before he’d left the Thornes’. He also epitomised knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Frank’s idea that he should call on Louis was so stupid. I would be SHOCKED if he gets a good degree from Cambridge what with the level of intelligence (and tendency to skive) he’s been showing.
The scene between the sisters and the Oriels was a bit weird, subtracting my belief in Mr Oriel and Beatrice as a couple, and adding nothing, whereas it felt like there were a couple of things that they could have shown in this episode and chose to elide.
Half of what Lady Arabella said to Mary in the attempt to get her to renounce Frank could have been thrown right back at her, because I’m with Louis that the main cause of this was Frank’s father getting into debt. If Lady A had expended some of the energy she spent on breaking up her son and his sweetheart on stopping her husband spending so much, they wouldn’t be in this pickle.
Louis made some valid points about how he’d been a social reject and so on, but took no responsibility for his own part in anything, like shoving his mother.
Drunk in charge of a horse? Meet the fatal branch of PLOT.
We found out the Doctor’s real name is Thomas! I’d been wondering if it was always going to remain a mystery.
And then Mary went and did the noble (but stupid) thing of breaking up with Frank (offscreen). And her uncle wasn’t going to tell her that she was now rich because...???? Obviously, it was for maximum drama in the reveal, but his silence caused Mary (and Frank) a little more suffering than was necessary.
But never mind that and cue happy endings for all, with Hollander and Brie doing heavy lifting in one exchange about hunting to make Doctor Thorne/Miss Dunstable a viable thing other than ‘she’s rich and he’s not too old for her!’. Except stupid Augusta. And it’s all very well Lady A putting on the big wedding breakfast, but we all knew which purse was going to pay for it.
Scorpion
2.16 Fractured
I presumed that they weren’t showing the advertised episode because of the terrorist attacks in Brussels (and given that the title of episode 2.15 was ‘Da Bomb’ and what I've subsequently read up, that makes sense). Yes, I did research. Yes, the show gets a tag.
Anwyay, I hadn’t actually seen the introduction to the show before, where the character of Walter introduces himself and Team Scorpion. He also introduces himself as the boss of Team Scorpion and the intro is pretty upfront about the Walter/Paige throughline. And it’s highlighted that it’s based on a real person.
This episode, the team had to Save The City after a big earthquake rocked Los Angeles. That was the overarching aim, but, split into three groups, before they could converge and STC, they had to surmount other obstacles/low volume emergencies, which usually escalated. If it weren't for the light-heartedness this show could be described as nightmarish. Fortunately, unlike everyone else, they had a working comms system, because they are geniuses. And there was the whole genius thing working in their favour also.
I think my favourite strand involved adorable Sly and Ralph. Sly the hypochondriac worrier was terrified of mama bear Paige’s warnings about taking Ralph on a field trip for his scientific studies and then there was an earthquake. As a glasses wearer, I think he lost his head in not asking Ralph to look for the glasses or not kneeling down to fumble for them - not that I've been in an earthquake in my life, but I have had incidents with my glasses - but they wanted the comedy crunch and the extra difficulty of his dodgy eyesight for everything the duo had to do next. Basically ‘indoor cat’ and child Ralph had to guide Sly driving, pop into a car that could have been crushed by a landslide to save a lady, do driving stunts and act as a full member of the team. It was adorable although that is not the best child acting I've seen in my life.
The episode also had Happy and Paige working together, which is something I wanted, alongside Cabe, with Happy doing geometry and Paige doing heroics.
And, as set up in the opening scene, Toby and Walter were bickering and had been sent to a therapist (who was wacky, of course) when the earthquake hit. Neither are blessed with McPhee’s voice but we still had a running gag of their singing ‘More than Words’ together to try to get on. Things improved between them as – get this – they had to work together to Save the City. Walter reached out (twice!) very graciously to get at the underlying reason for Toby’s sniping. Toby eventually admitted that he was picking fights because his life was so good and he was self-destructive like that.
Of course, the big reveal (or middling reveal, because the way Toby was standing by his door when Walter came calling for this conversation was so obvious he was lucky it was Walter, who wouldn’t pick up on the signs) was that Happy was over at his and a big part of the reason Toby’s life was so good. So they had a kiss and I felt like we’d missed something big in the last episode taking them from Happy not admitting her feelings to Toby to Happy making a move. Having said that, the only thing that I understand happened in the previous episode was Walter referring to their connection and no 'Quintis' moment being showed.
I note that Walter referred to Toby as his friend and Toby referred to him as his boss (and is keeping the burgeoning relationship with Happy quiet, because there's a no fraternisation rule. OF COURSE THERE IS.)
Aww, beta couple always get a move on while the alpha couple is stuck in the mire of will they won't they (I saw a clip of Paige ordering Walter's beloved fish food in the last episode and the adoring look he gave her, even though he'd been dating someone else at the start of the episode.)
no subject
Frank is very naive when it comes to many things. He just seemed so very, very young. On the other hand, Louis was near 30 and he too acted as if he were 10 years younger. Cheesy and expected as it was, I did enjoy Lady Arabella's reaction when she learns how much poor Mary Thorne is actually worth.
I looked up the series on Wikipedia and saw what the future is like for everyone. I wonder if they plan on adapting more from the books or is this just a one-off?
no subject
I was trying to make a case that the doctor linked most of the characters and storylines, but realised he didn't really, and it could just as well have been called Mary Thorne, but, again, the focus wasn't entirely on her either. This makes more sense as a novel in a series of linked novels.
I kept expecting Frank to grow up big time. In his favour, he stood up for letting Mary's voice be heard and clearly loved her to bits.
You're right about Louis seeming immature for his age. I suppose his father had kept him dependent and stunted his growth in many ways.
You inspired me to have a bit of a look about what happened next.
I wonder if they plan on adapting more from the books or is this just a one-off? I would imagine it depends on how well it's done and if Fellowes wants to carry on.