What I’m watching now

The hacking of my website has given me renewed interest in (almost) all things web.  Including posting more regularly.  So, I thought now would be a good time to talk about some of the (other than Supernatural) scifi shows I’ve been watching.

• Stargate: Universe—I’ve never watched any of the other SG shows, except for an occasional SG-1 episode, so I don’t really have anything to compare it to.  It’s one of those shows I watch on the DVR, so I can fast-forward through the stuff I don’t like, like the “3 stooges” (I didn’t think up this term, but it’s so appropriate!) who are currently lost from Destiny because they didn’t stay in one place.  What I do like is the juxtaposition of the military vs. the civilian scientists.  I’ll get into my thoughts on that in a later post.
• Merlin—I’ve always been a fan of the Arthurian legend, so I’m glad I found this show.  I don’t know why I never found it on NBC.  And I’m ok with the changes in the mythology.  After all, we already know the outcome of the legend, so something new and original is always welcome.
• FlashForward—yep, I’m still watching it, but only via DVR.  I do think it’s gotten better since its hiatus, and last week’s episode with Janis’s back-story was great.  I don’t think I hit the fast-forward button at all.  (I knew Janis  had to be a double-agent! )   But I still think it might be uneven.  I say this from a cursory look at this week’s episode.  It doesn’t look as compelling to me.  But I could be wrong.
• V—another series that warrants viewing by DVR only, although I do think it, too, is getting better.  I’m particularly enjoying all the double & triple lying going on, particularly with Lisa, whom I never thought I’d like.  I missed the introduction of Hobbs, again failing to realize the show had come back from hiatus.  So he’s still an enigma.  But my favorite character is Joshua.  He really needs to be made a regular.  Perhaps he can replace Chad the reporter.  (Don’t like him, don’t trust him.)
• Legend of the Seeker—I’ve already written about my mild enthusiasm for it this year.   And I got a comment that said my love life must suck because I criticized the show.  Hee!  I deleted the comment rather than post it because it violated not one, but two of my comment policies.  It was a personal attack (which actually made me laugh rather than bothered) and used “u” instead of “you.”  I still have access to it in my trash.  Perhaps I’ll pull it out one of these days to use as an example.
• Warehouse 13—ok, it hasn’t started its second season yet, but I’ll be there when it does!
• True Blood—the jury’s still out on whether I’ll watch the 2nd season or not.  I want to support Raelle Tucker, but I’m just not that into the series.

So, what shows are you watching?  Caprica?  Something else I’ve missed?  I’d love to know.

Round up Recap, pt 1: True Blood

Oh my God!  Where have I been?  Cleaning out my den.  And catching up on Mad Men.  Oh, and working on a banner for the new (yet to be published) version of Sci Fi Chick/s.  So, let’s finish up our way-overdue True Blood season 2 thoughts.

Season finale:  Beyond Here Lies Nothin’

While they didn’t have their best writer on the script, it was still fairly satisfying.  The Maryann shenanigans have come to an end, but at the expense of Gran’s wedding dress.  However, I’ll forgive the show since it was an awesomely beautiful white bull who did her in.  I was pretty sure it was Sam, although I couldn’t figure out how he’d survived the sacrifice.  I’d forgotten about the healing power of vampire blood.

It was nice to see Bill and Sam working together.  They seem to have a good rapport.  I like it much better than when they’re at odds.  But then I’m one of those wimps who hates confrontation.

I guess this will be the end of the Jason/Andy friendship.  I’ll miss drunk, rebellious Andy.  I liked him a lot better than righteous, uptight Andy.

The Best & Worst of Season 2

As with season 1, I blew hot and cold about the second season.  Nonetheless, I think there was more to love this year.  And more to hate.  Let’s take a look:

The Worst

• Maryann.  Oh jeez that got old fast.
• The Dallas trip.  Well, most of it.  Lorena, Eric’s manipulations, that kind of stuff.
• The Newlins.  I fast-forwarded through a lot of the Fellowship of the Sun crap.
• The queen.  Maybe I’d feel differently if the actress could act.  (I don’t care if she is dating Alexander Skarsgård.)

The Best

• Eric’s new hairstyle.  It made Eric look less severe, but also less menacing. Or maybe Alexander Skarsgård just didn’t want to wear the wig.
• Lafayette lives! ( I knew he would since he was such a hit character in season 1.)  Even if he is more subdued now.
• Godric.  I shall miss his quiet leadership.  Not to mention Eric’s undying love for him.
• Hoyt and Jessica.  I found myself grinning from ear to ear whenever they were on.  Well, until the last two episodes.
• The unlikely team of Jason and Andy.  I would love to see their friendship continue, but I’m afraid they’ll revert back to their respective roles of dick detective and town horndog.

Well, lookie there.  I have more likes that dislikes.  I guess that means I liked the season.  With reservations, of course.

Next up:  my saga of trying to read the novels.

3 shows, 3 comments

True Blood

I finally watched “Frenzy” at normal speed.  I am still not impressed.  Even more so because the actress who plays Queen Sophie-Anne is really awful.  But, kudos to Bill for winning the penis-mearuring contest with Eric.  And kudos to Eric for this episode’s line of the week, “Goodnight, tiny humans. 😉 ” (Let’s not forget the wink!)

Warehouse 13

More to come on “Regrets.”  The show really seems to be finding its groove.  This is about the 4th or so episode in a row that I really loved.  And the Dartmouth hoodie returned!  (I missed it last week.)

Supernatural

I stopped at Target on the way home from work and bought the season 4 DVD set.  (It was the last one out, as far as I could tell.  So, good timing, me!)  I will be spending the rest of the evening in front of the tv drooling.

True Blood: Let’s FF

Oh, get your mind out of the gutter.  That’s Fast-Forward, not… you know, the other F word.

But first, let’s discuss last week’s episode, since I didn’t get my review up.

New World in My View

It’s official.  I am loving Jason Stackhouse.  Underneath that horndog exterior lies a heart of gold.  Using his “soldier of God” (or whatever it was called) training to rescue Sam and Andy was great.  Even if it didn’t go quite as planned.  Posing as Bacchus (I’m going to call him by his Roman name because it’s a lot easier to spell than Dionysus) was genius.  The unlikely trio of Sam, Andy and Jason was just too much fun.  I kept wondering why Sam didn’t just turn into a fly again, but the way it was done put a polishing finish on the events.

Lafayette is once again awesome (and I actually liked his green eyeshadow).  He gets the line of the night.  “This has got to be worst mother-fucking intervention in history.”  That may end up being as classic as “Who ordered the hamburger with AIDS?”

I’m so glad Sookie and company are back in Bon Temps.  That Dallas shit was getting old.  Besides, I wanted Sookie to come back and reclaim her home.  Ok, that didn’t turn out so well, did it?

It must have been a good episode.  I didn’t notice the makeup at all.

Frenzy

Ok, I admit it.  I haven’t really “watched” last night’s True Blood.  I fast-forwarded through most of it, stopping to watch only a few scenes.  I’ll go back and watch it in full tonight.  If something better doesn’t come along.

I’m am so sick and tired of the black-eyed plague.   How many weeks have we been subjected to this (literal) madness?  Four?  Five?  The entire damn season?  Enough already!

What the eff was the purpose of getting Tara to come out of her stupor, only to be stuper-fied again?  Seriously!  It made the whole intervention scene feel like filler.

Alan Ball wrote this episode and I have to say, I am not impressed.  Maybe I will be after really watching tonight.  But at this rate, I’ll actually be glad when the season ends.

True Blood: I Will Rise Up

What’s not to love about this episode?  Maryann.  And maybe Tara and Eggs by association.  And Eric’s manipulation of Sookie.

Sookie, don’t you think you could have just pulled the shrapnel out of Eric’s body with your fingers?  Well, I suppose if I’d just survived a suicide bomber, I probably wouldn’t be thinking clearly either.  But Eric certainly was.

I am no fan of Eric, but this was definitely Alexander Skarsgård’s night to shine.  From opportunistic self-serving asshole, to smug satisfaction at one-upping Bill, to tender lover (I think I heard half the country explode during Sookie’s dream), to fiery protector, to anguished, grieving soul.  (That is, if vampires even have souls.)

Oh episode, let me count the ways loved you.

1. Sookie and Jason’s heart-to-heart talk.  I was the crying right along with both Stackhouses.  (And it was nice to give Ryan Kwanten something other than Jason’s bare ass, or his inability to think with his upstairs brain).
2. Hoyt and Jessica.  (Does everyone else get this goofy-assed grin on their faces when these two are on screen?)  Hoyt standing up to his mama.  Jessica saying she became a vampire against her choice.  But Mama Fortenberry just wasn’t having any of it.
3. Sam’s escape from jail.  Boy, it sure must be nice to be a shape-shifter when you’re stuck in jail.  (I actually thought Sam would turn into a rat, but a fly was so much better.  You don’t have to worry about gravity.  And people don’t jump on a chair shrieking when they see a fly.)   I’m wondering if Sam is going to finally corroborate Andy’s pig/orgy story.
4. Lafayette.  Just because he’s Lafayette.  And he loves his cousin.  And he’s a bad ass.  And his mesh shirt with matching glove-like thingie and denim vest so rocks.
5. I even loved the Newlins, appearing on tv with a big ol’ bruise from being paint-balled between the eyes last week.  Ha!  And Sarah trying to establish her ownvoice behind Steve’s yabbering, but it only coming out as gibberish.  Double ha!  Bonus love points for Jason seeing them for the nutcases they are.

And Godric’s goodbye.  I loved it so much, it doesn’t even get a number.  A lot of people are tired of Sookie’s “damsel in distress” mode, but I love her big, open heart, feeling the need to be with Godric at the end because he saved her life.  In the process, she saw Eric’s vulnerable side.  The bond between Godric and Eric was so beautiful, “Father, brother, son.”  I suppose seeing Eric’s enormous grief will soften Sookie towards him.

True Blood: Timebomb

Let’s start with an open letter to Alan Ball.

Dear Mr. Ball,

True Blood: Release Me

So, HBO has received 99 prime time Emmy nominations, eh?  And several for True Blood?   There better not be a nomination for make-up in there.  Good grief, Bill has looked positively horrible this year.  And not horrible as in “Ooh, scary vampire!” but horrible as in “Geez, that make-up is so fake and overdone.”  Granted, I’m watching this season in high-def, but even last year I noticed Eric’s pasty face abruptly end at his hairline.   You’d think for such a popular tv show on a premium cable channel, they’d at least find a way to blend vampire coloring into the scalp, wouldn’t you?  And how is it that Bill looks paler than Eric, who’s 900 years older?   And Godric, whose 2000 years old?  Well, maybe Godric is still going through puberty.

Oh!  And let’s not forget Arlene’s hideous heavily applied green eyeshadow.  Yikes!

If you’ve read my True Blood reviews at the previous SciFi Chicks [site is gone], you know I love me some Raelle Tucker.  She wrote last year’s two best episodes, and then this year’s fabulous “Scratches.”  So I expected “Release Me” to be an excellent episode.  For the most part, it was.  It looks like the Church of the Light Fellowship of the Sun (whatever the heck it’s called) crap is finally coming to a head.  I was actually able to watch some of the Jason Stackhouse moments without fast-forwarding. “We know who you’re working for!”  “The road crew?”  Ha!   The spy was revealed.  Maryann was revealed (but still not “outed”).  But the Lorena and Bill crap has gone on way too long. I don’t care if it’s only been one episode, that’s way too long.  And please!  Enough with the flashbacks!

I really felt Raelle Tucker’s Supernatural roots in the scene where Daphne tells Sam about Maryann.  So, she’s a maenad.  That means jack-squat to me, so I pull out my Bullfinch’s Mythology (oh,  like you don’t have copy in your house!), which tells me zip.  But, it does mention Dionysus.  (Ack!  Too much information, Mr. Bullfinch!)  And while Bullfinch doesn’t say so, Daphne tells Sam that Dionysus is also known as the horned god.  Sam makes the leap from horns to devil.  So does that mean that wine is evil?

Of course, Hoyt and Jessica are just too stinkin’ adorable for this world.  I really disliked Jessica when she first turned, but she’s grown on me.  (Maybe it’s the humanity that Bill is teaching her.  I don’t think she got any of that while living with Eric and Pam.) I love how, even though she’s a vampire, she’s still at heart a teenage girl.

I think I’m beginning to see the appeal of gay fanfic.  Two words:  Eric, Godric.