Saturday, October 5, 2013

Fall TV dramas

Well it's October already and the new TV season is underway. I'm glad that the CW finally announced the air dates for Nikita's last season. It will certainly give me something to watch during the holidays.

As for shows that are on the air now, I've been disappointed. The premise of Sleepy Hollow is rather ridiculous, and as a non-Christian, the storyline about the Bible and the Apocalypse is non-appealing. But I watched because John Cho was in the pilot, and the promos for the show made Tom Mison look appealing. I have a weakness for British men. Once I saw the show itself, though, he had little effect on me; he's got a nice accent, but not half as alluring as I thought. Still, Lyndie Greenwood from Nikita is in it, and it turned out that John Cho's character came back to life. The lead actress is good too, and there's a sort of campy fun to the show, when it's not trying to be scary. I guess I will stick with it, and it can be my replacement for Grimm. I'll miss Monroe and Rosalie, but the neverending amnesia plot and Renard's royal conspiracy that never ever reveals any secrets whatsoever have turned me off the show permanently.


You might wonder why I don't give up on Elementary too, since I hated their Irene Adler. In the long run, Elementary only pissed me off in a handful of episodes out of 24, whereas BBC's Sherlock ranged from offensively irritating to piss-poor shit in 5 out of 6 episodes that I watched. It's a wonder I didn't dump the show before season 2, but rabid fans kept reassuring me that Moffat and Gatiss "knew" canon and wouldn't ruin it. Instead, they made it into a piece of crap, like Person of Interest's writers destroyed their show with Root's insane gobbledygook and retconning Harold's past with Grace.

Besides, on Elementary this season, Watson finally got to beat somebody down and be a badass with a single-stick. And the most recent episode was full of character moments and even long pauses of silence where she and Holmes could emote about her grief and guilt over her lost patient. The friendship is so good and equal; they might just manage to save each other.

My other big disappointment this season was Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I hate the hacker Skye, and the fact that she seems to be the main point of view character besides Coulson. Reminds me too much of Root. I wish that she'd at least be more like Birkhoff on Nikita, full of snark and cynicism. I don't care about Skye's idealism or conflicted feelings or whatever she's still doing with Rising Tide. Fitz and Simmons are really annoying too with their fast talking; the only thing mildly amusing are the names of their tiny flying drone things. I would much rather concentrate on Coulson, Melinda May, and even villains like Camilla Reyes. I guess I just don't like any of the younger characters. I identify with the older ones now. I'll stick with it for now and hope for more balance.

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