Playing catch-up
Apr. 4th, 2013 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shallownessParks and Rec
I didn’t realise the first series would be so short (so British length, even!) At least BBC4 are carrying on straight away with the second series.
2.01 Pawnee Zoo
Glad that they’re admitting Chris Pratt (really playing on home turf) to the credits. That Andy was living in the pit made me laugh. Typical Leslie cluelessness, until she lost her temper. Her friendship with Ann does make me think of primary school.
2.02 The Stake-Out
This was funnier for me, I was chuckling throughout. Nice mix of Tom being his horrible crazy self and opening up. And just as I was starting to think there was a lack of continuity with the garden in the pit – wouldn’t they have noticed that Andy was there? – they covered that nicely, and it’s not hard to believe that they wouldn’t actually notice a tent. The Ron-April stuff was very much part of what made me laugh.
The Good Wife 4.10 Battle of the Proxies
I had a slight battle with the buffering in watching it BUT I can choose to watch the next episode live tonight on my tellybox WITHOUT SUBTITLES because I have sorted out the TV situation. Finally. HOORAY.
What a weird set-up that two people should be facing a trial for the same case at the same time. Still, the sho wrung out all the drama from the situations. As usual, a nicely ambiguous resolution, where our firm is much more tarnished than they’d like to be. Good to see Stephen Root’s judge back and Matonda. I would still care more if it was Cary facing off against the State’s Attorney’s office than Helen, although she’s growing on me – such a big deal, quietly done, that she accepted drinks from Will. But aren’t they going to make anything of all that history? Also both her and Will were being cocky at various points, so I didn’t care who won the case because of that, although (predictable!) Will owes those fines, which I’m sure the trustee won’t be pleased with. But at least the firm faced the question of their client’s guilt, for once.
Oh, and Will and Alicia’s opening phone conversation felt like a bone to us shippers. He was being so solicitous, but she’s just been driven back to Peter, so I almost feel they could have left Will/Alicia on the backburner, but this show is never not going to be about the complications.
Of the other strands, the one including the accordion-playing DOJ chap was the best. He was droll. Diane as Eli’s attorney was cool. We got to find out a bit more about what the photographs were about. Of course Mrs Gold was just an opening gambit, but I tend to think that this is political and that Peter isn’t guilty of anything much in this area (or no more than anyone else, given the first episode of this season). So, the question is it the other candidates playing dirty or ‘vested interests’?
Then we had the Chum-Hum previous searches strand and Alicia facing up to the fact that little Gracie’s old enough to fall for teenage bad boys. The awkwardness was nicely played, Alicia has to be so poised in her job, and this was flummoxing her. A nice contrast.
The weakest strand involved Kalinda’s revolting Nick and Kalinda dealing with him for good. For starters, this should have started last episode after Cary was beaten up. It was the elephant in the room for me that Kalinda had missed that horking big event. Nick threatening Alicia (and I was conditioned to think of the kids because they were on the show) as the escalation that tipped Kalinda over just didn’t work for me because of that. What Nick does to Kalinda hasn’t ever been quite convincing enough. It was good to have her back in the yard. Plus Marc Warren just makes Panjabi’s accent wobble. I can’t bring myself to get too invested in whether Kalinda killed him or not or if she had another plan B. It’s just good that she and Alicia are drinking buddies again.
The next scene between Alicia (bonus points if Zach is there) and Jackie should be...interesting.
Nashville 1.8 Where he leads me
Oh, WELL DONE 4OD for putting a picture from THE NEXT EPISODE up for this one. A really spoilery picture too.
Apart from knowing what was coming in one regard, then...
Aww, Gunnar and Scarlett got all emotional (and how is ‘You’re amazing. You need someone to tell you that every day’ not adorable?) and not quite in the way that I thought they would, with Hayley trying to get rid of Scarlett instead of facing up to Gunnar giving himself away directly. In that context, meeting up with Avery felt like her saying goodbye, and though I prefer them duetting, Gunnar’s heart was so much on his sleeve in singing that song. But of course she was confused. My heart says she should just keep kissing him, of course. Aww, Summer, but you make such good music together that that you’re going to have to work together!
The Rayna finding out storyline didn’t break as I was expecting, but this was more satisfying, because it felt honest. Although those big pictures of their daughters and constant mentioning of them without showing them didn’t work for me, TV show constraints or no. But from her finally getting a grasp of how much her sister and father were managing Teddy, how Teddy had reneged on being the trustworthy man she thought she’d married and how far Peggy had gone because of it was really powerful. Noted that Teddy didn't share with Rayna the truth that Peggy wanted there to be something romantic between them.
That glass of champagne really was taken away from Rayna before she could drink it down, wasn’t it? And so, she’s nicely manoeuvred into where the label wanted her anyway.
Glad she’s noticing some of her new producer’s imperfections, although has she really gauged how alcohol dependent he is? And Rayna is, of course, at bottom, what made Deacon hesitate – well, that and maybe not wanting to grab at the spotlight. But they can’t be writing him off, can they?
Although the little sister was cute, the performance at the church was too showy (but at least it wasn’t Amazing Grace). Juliette played Sean’s girlfriend perfectly, in almost a febrile way. And then his mother put the pin in.
I didn’t realise the first series would be so short (so British length, even!) At least BBC4 are carrying on straight away with the second series.
2.01 Pawnee Zoo
Glad that they’re admitting Chris Pratt (really playing on home turf) to the credits. That Andy was living in the pit made me laugh. Typical Leslie cluelessness, until she lost her temper. Her friendship with Ann does make me think of primary school.
2.02 The Stake-Out
This was funnier for me, I was chuckling throughout. Nice mix of Tom being his horrible crazy self and opening up. And just as I was starting to think there was a lack of continuity with the garden in the pit – wouldn’t they have noticed that Andy was there? – they covered that nicely, and it’s not hard to believe that they wouldn’t actually notice a tent. The Ron-April stuff was very much part of what made me laugh.
The Good Wife 4.10 Battle of the Proxies
I had a slight battle with the buffering in watching it BUT I can choose to watch the next episode live tonight on my tellybox WITHOUT SUBTITLES because I have sorted out the TV situation. Finally. HOORAY.
What a weird set-up that two people should be facing a trial for the same case at the same time. Still, the sho wrung out all the drama from the situations. As usual, a nicely ambiguous resolution, where our firm is much more tarnished than they’d like to be. Good to see Stephen Root’s judge back and Matonda. I would still care more if it was Cary facing off against the State’s Attorney’s office than Helen, although she’s growing on me – such a big deal, quietly done, that she accepted drinks from Will. But aren’t they going to make anything of all that history? Also both her and Will were being cocky at various points, so I didn’t care who won the case because of that, although (predictable!) Will owes those fines, which I’m sure the trustee won’t be pleased with. But at least the firm faced the question of their client’s guilt, for once.
Oh, and Will and Alicia’s opening phone conversation felt like a bone to us shippers. He was being so solicitous, but she’s just been driven back to Peter, so I almost feel they could have left Will/Alicia on the backburner, but this show is never not going to be about the complications.
Of the other strands, the one including the accordion-playing DOJ chap was the best. He was droll. Diane as Eli’s attorney was cool. We got to find out a bit more about what the photographs were about. Of course Mrs Gold was just an opening gambit, but I tend to think that this is political and that Peter isn’t guilty of anything much in this area (or no more than anyone else, given the first episode of this season). So, the question is it the other candidates playing dirty or ‘vested interests’?
Then we had the Chum-Hum previous searches strand and Alicia facing up to the fact that little Gracie’s old enough to fall for teenage bad boys. The awkwardness was nicely played, Alicia has to be so poised in her job, and this was flummoxing her. A nice contrast.
The weakest strand involved Kalinda’s revolting Nick and Kalinda dealing with him for good. For starters, this should have started last episode after Cary was beaten up. It was the elephant in the room for me that Kalinda had missed that horking big event. Nick threatening Alicia (and I was conditioned to think of the kids because they were on the show) as the escalation that tipped Kalinda over just didn’t work for me because of that. What Nick does to Kalinda hasn’t ever been quite convincing enough. It was good to have her back in the yard. Plus Marc Warren just makes Panjabi’s accent wobble. I can’t bring myself to get too invested in whether Kalinda killed him or not or if she had another plan B. It’s just good that she and Alicia are drinking buddies again.
The next scene between Alicia (bonus points if Zach is there) and Jackie should be...interesting.
Nashville 1.8 Where he leads me
Oh, WELL DONE 4OD for putting a picture from THE NEXT EPISODE up for this one. A really spoilery picture too.
Apart from knowing what was coming in one regard, then...
Aww, Gunnar and Scarlett got all emotional (and how is ‘You’re amazing. You need someone to tell you that every day’ not adorable?) and not quite in the way that I thought they would, with Hayley trying to get rid of Scarlett instead of facing up to Gunnar giving himself away directly. In that context, meeting up with Avery felt like her saying goodbye, and though I prefer them duetting, Gunnar’s heart was so much on his sleeve in singing that song. But of course she was confused. My heart says she should just keep kissing him, of course. Aww, Summer, but you make such good music together that that you’re going to have to work together!
The Rayna finding out storyline didn’t break as I was expecting, but this was more satisfying, because it felt honest. Although those big pictures of their daughters and constant mentioning of them without showing them didn’t work for me, TV show constraints or no. But from her finally getting a grasp of how much her sister and father were managing Teddy, how Teddy had reneged on being the trustworthy man she thought she’d married and how far Peggy had gone because of it was really powerful. Noted that Teddy didn't share with Rayna the truth that Peggy wanted there to be something romantic between them.
That glass of champagne really was taken away from Rayna before she could drink it down, wasn’t it? And so, she’s nicely manoeuvred into where the label wanted her anyway.
Glad she’s noticing some of her new producer’s imperfections, although has she really gauged how alcohol dependent he is? And Rayna is, of course, at bottom, what made Deacon hesitate – well, that and maybe not wanting to grab at the spotlight. But they can’t be writing him off, can they?
Although the little sister was cute, the performance at the church was too showy (but at least it wasn’t Amazing Grace). Juliette played Sean’s girlfriend perfectly, in almost a febrile way. And then his mother put the pin in.
