This week's telly
Nov. 12th, 2010 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightSome telly stuff.
This week saw the end of Downton Abbey, Mad Men hit a bum note for the first time (IMO) and the welcome return of Misfits.
Stuff about those behind cut, with spoilers.
I ought to be ashamed for enjoying Downton Abbey so much, I know I ought. I'm pretty certain it presented a very false picture of the relationships between masters and servants in the Edwardian period, with everything being way fluffier and more respectful on both sides than it really was, and the Duke of Wotsit (can't remember where he was duke of) being pretty much a candidate for sainthood. That all said, :shrug:. I enjoyed it enormously, even though part of my enjoyment is still derived from thinking, Hah! WW1 is about to start, you're all going to die horribly, you posh bastards!
Mind you, that doesn't really work, since the Duke of Wotsit doesn't have a son who's the right age to die horribly, just a surrogate son/third cousin he's sort of fond of, plus some footmen, one of whom is evil and gay - and also clever enough to see which way the wind's blowing and sign up for the army medical corps before the actual war had even kicked off. The Duke of Wotsit did nearly have a son, though, but he was foiled again by a horrible soap opera cliche (literal soap opera, in this instance, since O'Brien the grumpy ladies' maid, thinking she was going to be sacked, had left the soap just where the pregnant Duchess of Wotsit was bound to slip on it, cue instant miscarriage). Meanwhile, two of the the Duke of Wotsit's three dreadful daughters are causing him -and each other - grief. Lady Mary, the eldest (the Almost Too Old to be Marriageable One), discovers that her middle sister Edith (the Plain, Spiteful One) was the one who spread the rumours in Society (that's society with a capital 'S')about her being 'damaged goods' and promptly wrecks Edith's romance with Boring Lord Wossisface. Silly Lady Mary! She could have been rid of Edith for good, but no, she has to go and hint to Boring Lord Wossisface that Edith thinks he's boring too, and he walks out (not surprisingly). Meanwhile the youngest dreadful daughter, Lady Sybil (the Daring One) is getting a bit too friendly with the Irish socialist chauffeur. Fun, fun, fun! And that's only above stairs.
The final episode ended with the Duke of Wotsit announcing to the assembled guests at a garden party that Britain is at war with Germany. There's to be a second series. I wonder if it'll be set in the war years or skip them and jump straight to the 1920s, so Lady Mary and co can bob their hair and flounce around in flapper dresses? We'll see.
Then there was Mad Men, which was, as stated previously, utterly brilliant, except for the scenes involving Lane Pryce and his horrible dad. I'm so disappointed by this, though I don't really know why. Lane Pryce was quite cliched in season 3. Even his decision to stay in New York was a bit cliched (stuffy Englishman finds a new zest for life in the dynamic, go-getting new world), but I did hope Mad Men would avoid the worst of the cliche, and they haven't. :( I hope that episode was the last we'll see of Lane Pryce. I don't want him to come back. Otherwise, though, the episode was brill - Joan and Roger, Don's panic attack, Sally's screaming when Don told her he'd got her tickets for the Beatles. All utterly wonderful.
Finally, last night saw the return of Misfits, which I absolutely loved. It's dark, it's rude, it's grungy. The main characters are a bunch of foul-mouthed ne'er do wells, who keep killing people without meaning to, and yet I like them all so much. Especially Kelly. She's my favourite. They really don't need anyone with superstrength in the group, do they? Want anything hit? Just ask Kelly. I still think Alycia's power is rubbish, though.
This week saw the end of Downton Abbey, Mad Men hit a bum note for the first time (IMO) and the welcome return of Misfits.
Stuff about those behind cut, with spoilers.
I ought to be ashamed for enjoying Downton Abbey so much, I know I ought. I'm pretty certain it presented a very false picture of the relationships between masters and servants in the Edwardian period, with everything being way fluffier and more respectful on both sides than it really was, and the Duke of Wotsit (can't remember where he was duke of) being pretty much a candidate for sainthood. That all said, :shrug:. I enjoyed it enormously, even though part of my enjoyment is still derived from thinking, Hah! WW1 is about to start, you're all going to die horribly, you posh bastards!
Mind you, that doesn't really work, since the Duke of Wotsit doesn't have a son who's the right age to die horribly, just a surrogate son/third cousin he's sort of fond of, plus some footmen, one of whom is evil and gay - and also clever enough to see which way the wind's blowing and sign up for the army medical corps before the actual war had even kicked off. The Duke of Wotsit did nearly have a son, though, but he was foiled again by a horrible soap opera cliche (literal soap opera, in this instance, since O'Brien the grumpy ladies' maid, thinking she was going to be sacked, had left the soap just where the pregnant Duchess of Wotsit was bound to slip on it, cue instant miscarriage). Meanwhile, two of the the Duke of Wotsit's three dreadful daughters are causing him -and each other - grief. Lady Mary, the eldest (the Almost Too Old to be Marriageable One), discovers that her middle sister Edith (the Plain, Spiteful One) was the one who spread the rumours in Society (that's society with a capital 'S')about her being 'damaged goods' and promptly wrecks Edith's romance with Boring Lord Wossisface. Silly Lady Mary! She could have been rid of Edith for good, but no, she has to go and hint to Boring Lord Wossisface that Edith thinks he's boring too, and he walks out (not surprisingly). Meanwhile the youngest dreadful daughter, Lady Sybil (the Daring One) is getting a bit too friendly with the Irish socialist chauffeur. Fun, fun, fun! And that's only above stairs.
The final episode ended with the Duke of Wotsit announcing to the assembled guests at a garden party that Britain is at war with Germany. There's to be a second series. I wonder if it'll be set in the war years or skip them and jump straight to the 1920s, so Lady Mary and co can bob their hair and flounce around in flapper dresses? We'll see.
Then there was Mad Men, which was, as stated previously, utterly brilliant, except for the scenes involving Lane Pryce and his horrible dad. I'm so disappointed by this, though I don't really know why. Lane Pryce was quite cliched in season 3. Even his decision to stay in New York was a bit cliched (stuffy Englishman finds a new zest for life in the dynamic, go-getting new world), but I did hope Mad Men would avoid the worst of the cliche, and they haven't. :( I hope that episode was the last we'll see of Lane Pryce. I don't want him to come back. Otherwise, though, the episode was brill - Joan and Roger, Don's panic attack, Sally's screaming when Don told her he'd got her tickets for the Beatles. All utterly wonderful.
Finally, last night saw the return of Misfits, which I absolutely loved. It's dark, it's rude, it's grungy. The main characters are a bunch of foul-mouthed ne'er do wells, who keep killing people without meaning to, and yet I like them all so much. Especially Kelly. She's my favourite. They really don't need anyone with superstrength in the group, do they? Want anything hit? Just ask Kelly. I still think Alycia's power is rubbish, though.