AoS and Treme
Oct. 19th, 2013 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightThan which there could not be two more different shows.
Again, I thought ep 4 of AoS was an improvement, but that still doesn't mean I think it's good. Spoilers behind cut, also for season 1 of Treme that I finished watching the other day.
Okay, Stockholm looks very nice. In fact, that's probably the most positive thing I can say about this episode, except maybe that the girl playing Akela was quite good, and Clark Gregg's Coulson continues to be quite watchable.
That apart, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (the Marvel bit is quite important, it is ultimately Marvel's show) is still sputtering badly, mainly due to the fact that the actors playing Ward and Skye are so terrible. Okay, they're not terrible terrible, but they really aren't very good. And as a consequence of that, nothing quite works. The quippy dialogue is dead in their mouths, the supposed UST between them isn't there, the father/daughter thing between Skye and Coulson just doesn't work. It's just...bland.
Ming-Na Wen isn't helping either. Four episodes in, and I'm beginning to think she only has one expression.
Which is a pity, because if it weren't for that, this episode could have been quite enjoyable - this despite the ridiculousness of the first scene, with the men in identical suits and masks marching through the centre of Stockholm like a bunch of scary storm troopers. I mean, it just seemed like a ridiculous way to hide the identity of whoever was really carrying the diamonds, having them all stick together. Also, are we supposed to believe that when the lights went out on the underground train, Akela killed them all, just like that, when she couldn't even beat Melinda in a fight?
Silly!
Mind you, Joss's (and Joss's alumni's) plots often are, but you can forgive that if they do other stuff - the character stuff, the drama, the humour - well. But that's not working either. Also, Joss (and alumni) are repeating themselves. That scene where Skye, Fitz and Simmons are asking Ward what they should do if they need to pee, and what if they're hungry, was just a re-hash of the scene from FFL where Xander, Willow and Anya are eatingcrisps chips while poor old Riley's trying to be stealthy. Except that the scene in FFL was funny. Here, it just fell flat, because the girl playing Skye isn't good enough.
Meh!
As for Treme, anything I could say about season 1 would be inadequate to describe just how good it is. I loved it, from start to finish - the setting, the wonderful music, the great, great characters (including many great female characters, which was not so true of The Wire (what female characters there were in that were wonderful, but there weren't that many of them)). The final episode made me cry. Poor Toni, and poor LaDonna (though I loved it when she started dancing in the second line), and it also sent chills down my spine - the confrontation between the Mardi Gras Indians and the cops. Somehow, though, in spite of the sadness, and in a complicated, messy way,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beer_good_foamy (who always knows) is right about this show. It's about reconstruction.
The polar opposite of meh!
Highly recommended.
Again, I thought ep 4 of AoS was an improvement, but that still doesn't mean I think it's good. Spoilers behind cut, also for season 1 of Treme that I finished watching the other day.
Okay, Stockholm looks very nice. In fact, that's probably the most positive thing I can say about this episode, except maybe that the girl playing Akela was quite good, and Clark Gregg's Coulson continues to be quite watchable.
That apart, Marvel's Agents of SHIELD (the Marvel bit is quite important, it is ultimately Marvel's show) is still sputtering badly, mainly due to the fact that the actors playing Ward and Skye are so terrible. Okay, they're not terrible terrible, but they really aren't very good. And as a consequence of that, nothing quite works. The quippy dialogue is dead in their mouths, the supposed UST between them isn't there, the father/daughter thing between Skye and Coulson just doesn't work. It's just...bland.
Ming-Na Wen isn't helping either. Four episodes in, and I'm beginning to think she only has one expression.
Which is a pity, because if it weren't for that, this episode could have been quite enjoyable - this despite the ridiculousness of the first scene, with the men in identical suits and masks marching through the centre of Stockholm like a bunch of scary storm troopers. I mean, it just seemed like a ridiculous way to hide the identity of whoever was really carrying the diamonds, having them all stick together. Also, are we supposed to believe that when the lights went out on the underground train, Akela killed them all, just like that, when she couldn't even beat Melinda in a fight?
Silly!
Mind you, Joss's (and Joss's alumni's) plots often are, but you can forgive that if they do other stuff - the character stuff, the drama, the humour - well. But that's not working either. Also, Joss (and alumni) are repeating themselves. That scene where Skye, Fitz and Simmons are asking Ward what they should do if they need to pee, and what if they're hungry, was just a re-hash of the scene from FFL where Xander, Willow and Anya are eating
Meh!
As for Treme, anything I could say about season 1 would be inadequate to describe just how good it is. I loved it, from start to finish - the setting, the wonderful music, the great, great characters (including many great female characters, which was not so true of The Wire (what female characters there were in that were wonderful, but there weren't that many of them)). The final episode made me cry. Poor Toni, and poor LaDonna (though I loved it when she started dancing in the second line), and it also sent chills down my spine - the confrontation between the Mardi Gras Indians and the cops. Somehow, though, in spite of the sadness, and in a complicated, messy way,
beer_good_foamy (who always knows) is right about this show. It's about reconstruction.The polar opposite of meh!
Highly recommended.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 09:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 10:02 pm (UTC)Maybe the HBO and AMC series - which don't count.
But neither to quite this extent. Also, their characters were more engaging.
You can have crack writing (see Sleepy Hollow) but if you have an engaging cast, on-screen chemistry, and a bit of fun thrown in...
no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 10:29 pm (UTC)I can't even remember what happened in the first 3 eps of this show. That's how bland it is.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-19 10:49 pm (UTC)I think it's doing well, because a lot of people are "hoping" it will get better. (98% of the people posting about on lj have more or less said exactly that). I hate to say this? But I really don't see that happening - although on the off chance it does, even I hang in there. I want it to be better...I want to be wrong. But I don't think I am.
no subject
Date: 2013-10-21 04:32 pm (UTC)I don't either. Actors who are unengaging and dull aren't suddenly going to become the opposite.