shallowness (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shallowness) wrote2013-01-06 08:45 am
shallowness) wrote2013-01-06 08:45 am
Entry tags:
- castle,
- downton abbey,
- tv,
- uk
Catch-up TV
I missed 2.22 Food to Die For of Castle, so I hope it was a standalone without too cool guest stars, but saw 2.23 Overkill, which was mainly about Castle being jealous of the return of the robbery detective who’s decided to stick around and be Kate’s new beau. Entertaining as ever, especially Benny the lowlife motel clerk-gambler and Fillion played Castle’s hurt beautifully. Demand five didn’t show the last seconds(?) of 2.24 A Deadly Game. It wasn’t quite the big finale I was expecting really, although there were nice nods to continuity and several anvils.
Downton Abbey Christmas special 2012
I had a delighted ‘are they going there with the Doctor and Isobel?’ moment, and I loved how it played out. Perhaps another moment will come for them after Isobel's loss of her son and how it could affect her, or perhaps not and it would have happened, had it happened, during the war.
I also enjoyed Mrs Pattmore’s romance, how her tongue was still sharp, but she was obviously flattered, and how it ended with her and Mrs Hughes being BFF. They are brilliant. I like Daisy being wiser than Ivy (who was made particularly stupid for exposition’s sake right at the beginning) and I wonder what Daisy's hardline attitude towards saving rather than squandering money meant WRT the farm. Perhaps that, like Tom’s situation, didn’t quite gel with the special being set one year later – although, then again, if this was the first time everyone else had left, his world would be topsy-turvy. I think we all knew what was coming from the time Edna opened her mouth. No, before that, the look back wasn't subtle. But let us thank her for shirtless Branson. Even if I wish Fellowes would stop writing this type of maid now - Edna was pretty much Ethel meets Jane.
Carson with Sybbie was so very cute.
You could tell they had a much bigger budget for this fair than the first series.
In the tug of war between Visit England and Visit Scotland, Scotland won, most decisively – morris dancers vs. Scottish reels? And as back up, shots of the Highlands. No contest.
The Scottish lady’s maid was a slightly worthier foe for O’Brien than Thomas, but as with Alf, Daisy and Edith, you wonder if she’s actually going to get away as was hinted by her sucking up. Very little Violet, but there was a cast of thousands. I still think Fellowes has a blind spot when writing Cora – we heard all the men’s opinions about Mary’s fragile state, but not hers. Surely all her grief about losing Sybil would have been focused as much on the daughter that was about to give birth as Rose and her mother's relationship.
Anna and Bates would be insufferable if they didn’t have a sense of humour (and I have the biggest weakness for vids of them). Rose is slightly less insufferable now that we have seen her horror of a mother, but I’m not all that excited about her being a Bright Young Thing in Downton, and I really hope that the tragedy will put the brake on Edith’s dash to infamy. I know she has a reason to avoid weddings, but WHAT WOULD JANE EYRE DO? Exactly.
And finally, I knew that Dan Stevens wasn’t really coming back for the next series, so I wondered if it would be a hunting accident or some complicated exchange with Shrimpy or...towards the end...a car accident. I rolled my eyes at the besotted speechifying, especially as Mary had been really bitchy towards Edith and I have never been as bothered by Mary/Matthew as the show itself. But the moment where Michelle Dockery started pulling naturalistic faces at the baby was adorable, though. But I was more upset for Tom. NO MORE BROS. I was also amused at the repositioning of Robert/Cora as the show's OTP. I suppose having an heir was an endgame, but Mary/Matthew was the driving force.
It worked well as a hybrid, continuing stories in a way that made more sense than after some past time jumps, with some juicy enough self-contained subplots to draw us in, and the contrast of settings and of families/households. So long as I get my fill of clothes, hats and tiaras and some of the women characters getting to be awesome, I can live with it. I doubt I’ll ever get as worked up as I did when Sybil (or the Sainted Lady Sybil) died. As ever, I'm out of step with fandom and normal people who watch the show.
Actors wanting to try their luck in Hollywood is proving to be a more ruthless killer than the First World War and/or the Flu in Downton!
Downton Abbey Christmas special 2012
I had a delighted ‘are they going there with the Doctor and Isobel?’ moment, and I loved how it played out. Perhaps another moment will come for them after Isobel's loss of her son and how it could affect her, or perhaps not and it would have happened, had it happened, during the war.
I also enjoyed Mrs Pattmore’s romance, how her tongue was still sharp, but she was obviously flattered, and how it ended with her and Mrs Hughes being BFF. They are brilliant. I like Daisy being wiser than Ivy (who was made particularly stupid for exposition’s sake right at the beginning) and I wonder what Daisy's hardline attitude towards saving rather than squandering money meant WRT the farm. Perhaps that, like Tom’s situation, didn’t quite gel with the special being set one year later – although, then again, if this was the first time everyone else had left, his world would be topsy-turvy. I think we all knew what was coming from the time Edna opened her mouth. No, before that, the look back wasn't subtle. But let us thank her for shirtless Branson. Even if I wish Fellowes would stop writing this type of maid now - Edna was pretty much Ethel meets Jane.
Carson with Sybbie was so very cute.
You could tell they had a much bigger budget for this fair than the first series.
In the tug of war between Visit England and Visit Scotland, Scotland won, most decisively – morris dancers vs. Scottish reels? And as back up, shots of the Highlands. No contest.
The Scottish lady’s maid was a slightly worthier foe for O’Brien than Thomas, but as with Alf, Daisy and Edith, you wonder if she’s actually going to get away as was hinted by her sucking up. Very little Violet, but there was a cast of thousands. I still think Fellowes has a blind spot when writing Cora – we heard all the men’s opinions about Mary’s fragile state, but not hers. Surely all her grief about losing Sybil would have been focused as much on the daughter that was about to give birth as Rose and her mother's relationship.
Anna and Bates would be insufferable if they didn’t have a sense of humour (and I have the biggest weakness for vids of them). Rose is slightly less insufferable now that we have seen her horror of a mother, but I’m not all that excited about her being a Bright Young Thing in Downton, and I really hope that the tragedy will put the brake on Edith’s dash to infamy. I know she has a reason to avoid weddings, but WHAT WOULD JANE EYRE DO? Exactly.
And finally, I knew that Dan Stevens wasn’t really coming back for the next series, so I wondered if it would be a hunting accident or some complicated exchange with Shrimpy or...towards the end...a car accident. I rolled my eyes at the besotted speechifying, especially as Mary had been really bitchy towards Edith and I have never been as bothered by Mary/Matthew as the show itself. But the moment where Michelle Dockery started pulling naturalistic faces at the baby was adorable, though. But I was more upset for Tom. NO MORE BROS. I was also amused at the repositioning of Robert/Cora as the show's OTP. I suppose having an heir was an endgame, but Mary/Matthew was the driving force.
It worked well as a hybrid, continuing stories in a way that made more sense than after some past time jumps, with some juicy enough self-contained subplots to draw us in, and the contrast of settings and of families/households. So long as I get my fill of clothes, hats and tiaras and some of the women characters getting to be awesome, I can live with it. I doubt I’ll ever get as worked up as I did when Sybil (or the Sainted Lady Sybil) died. As ever, I'm out of step with fandom and normal people who watch the show.
Actors wanting to try their luck in Hollywood is proving to be a more ruthless killer than the First World War and/or the Flu in Downton!