Over Marvel

Speaking of TV, I'm disgusted that stores are already advertising Christmas sales. It's too soon after Halloween, and stores are gonna make their staff work ridiculous hours for Thanksgiving.

Anyway TV networks are starting to announce midseason shows now, and I am wondering if I should watch the Agent Carter series when it premieres. It sounds like it will be a good, female-centric show, and yet I hated Agents of SHIELD, and the writing was awful. The character I really wanted to learn about, Melinda May, was always just flat and stoic, while Coulson's mystery had no real answers. So why should I think Agent Carter would be any less hateable?

I'm kind of over Marvel nowadays. They hype their brand too much, and have hubris. I finally watched the Guardians of the Galaxy movie recently and found it meh. I don't know why it was so universally praised in the summer. I mean, it was fun with the songs and the action adventure, but it was nothing special. We got no elaboration on Gamora's backstory as an "adopted daughter" who was the favorite. She just announced to Quill that she was going to betray her father by selling the orb, but didn't say why or how she planned to get away with it. Besides, if she hated her father all along, then why did she choose this moment to defy him? She didn't know yet that the orb contained an infinity stone, and could destroy the world. Why is her sister just a minor villain, barely fleshed out with "I'm jealous of my sister" motives? Then on a dime Nebula suddenly decides to join her father's enemy as if all along she too wanted to betray their father. What paper-thin emotions they have, purely for plot device. I mean, I can accept a talking raccoon and a tree, but if the story doesn't make sense, then why should I suspend my disbelief? Try harder, guys.


This is also the reason Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was somewhat spoiled to me. I mean, I did enjoy seeing Caesar again, and loved the deviousness of Koba's machinations to start the war with humans, but Cornelia's role was so tiny. She was Caesar's mate, and yet she hardly got a word of dialogue, either spoken or signed. Even when her son came back from a hunt with visible scars, she didn't ask, "Are you all right?" or "What happened?" or even ask Caesar about it. Sure she just gave birth, but I would think she would care about Blue Eyes too. The human female character got more realistic family interaction with her stepson. When Koba takes over, it's mentioned in passing that he had the female apes and children moved somewhere for safety, but we never see Cornelia with her baby, struggling to keep the other apes from panicking while herself mourning Caesar. There's no time to even see where they're holed up now that their home camp is destroyed, or whether they know that Koba has killed Rocket's son, or imprisoned some apes with the humans, or anything. The drama is all about Blue Eyes and Caesar realizing that they've been betrayed. Cornelia is given no emotional depth or significant actions, which is very disappointing. It was a total waste of Judy Greer, playing such a passive character. If there's more sequels, I hope they have more women, with more depth. War does not mean that only male characters are important.