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shapinglightOkay, so migraine gone, and I have a spare hour or so, so here's the threatened promised post about The Man in the High Castle and Jessica Jones, both of which I finished watching this week.
Lots of spoilers behind cut.
Also, I need some JJ icons. Not so sure about MitHC ones, as the character I found most interesting was a high-ranking Nazi, and I don't think I want an icon of an SS officer on my LJ. ;)
Last time I mentioned Jessica Jones, I was griping a little about how David Tennant as the villain, Kilgrave, was putting on an English accent (like he did for Doctor Who, though he's actually Scottish, in case you didn't know). That gripe still remains, but I have to admit, he was very, very good. Completely convincing as a total psychopath, who not only didn't care about anyone but himself, but genuinely couldn't understand why anyone would (which leads me to wonder if those of you who can stand to be on Tumblr for more than five minutes at a time have seen any posts comparing Kilgrave and his obsession with Jessica to Spike and Buffy. Wouldn't surprise me if you had, though IMO when it comes to unhinged villainy and unhealthy obsession, Kilgrave makes both Spike and Angelus look like amateurs). Anyway, I was really, genuinely pleased when Jessica killed him. I was afraid they were going to drag the story on into season 2. But they didn't. Also, kudos to the show for exploring in a fairly realistic fashion what the consequences of Kilgrave's actions were to his victims - and for actually going there when Hope was desperate for an abortion.
So yes, great villain. Good riddance to him. I wish the same could be said for the Simpson-the-cop-turned-murderous-supersoldier plot line, because I didn't like it (not least because Simpson murdered Lester Freamon - something no fan of The Wire would ever forgive him for. Plus, I can see that storyline re-surfacing at a later date to tie Jessica Jones more closely to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for which I have a pretty big hate-on still for f**cking up the comics universe so much (though of course they're still denying that's what they're doing), not least by replacing the X-Men with the boring, boring Inhumans).
As for Jessica Jones herself - as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
beer_good_foamy said on his post, she's basically Faith. She looks like Faith, she acts like Faith, and her power-set is very similar to a Slayer's. In Jessica's case, though, Kilgrave's interference means that the sins of her past really aren't her fault, and it's good to see her slowly dealing with that and coming out of the other side (though the final episode is far from positive. She kills Kilgrave, but killing someone changes you (someone said that, I'm not sure who), and she looks a lot less happy about it than, say, Trish. Though that could be, I suppose, because she wishes she could have done it sooner, before Kilgrave hurt so many people just to get to her. So, yes, I liked Jessica. I like her relationship with Luke, and will be interested to see how it develops (I know how it develops in the comics). I also love her friendship with Trish - really the most important relationship in the show, which is something you very rarely find in TV shows (the relationship between two women being the most important thing, I mean). I also like Malcolm very much. I hope he sticks around. Jessica needs someone gentle and kind in her life, and Malcolm is the closest thing to it. I also like Jeri, the demi-evil lawyer.
It did get a bit more violent towards the end, but even so I only had to look away a couple of times. Nothing like the unpleasantly OTT gorefest of Daredevil anyway. So yes, I'll be watching season 2.
As for The Man in the High Castle, it was a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest. Lots of it was very, very wonderful (the settings, the costumes, the world-building). Where it fell down badly, IMO, was in the three main characters. I didn't mind Juliana so much at first, but by the end she was driving me crazy. I wanted to scream at her not to be a bloody idiot when she once again put everyone's lives at risk to help a f**king Nazi (excuse language), because she 'believes' in him and thinks he can change. As a Spike fan, I'm probably supposed to be up for that, aren't I? A man can change for love of a good woman. I'm not, though. Not really. For me, it's a one time deal. Plus, all through the series right up to the end, we've seen Joe (the Nazi in question) lie, and lie and lie - to Juliana, to his boss, to the woman he lives with in New York. He's a little shit. I pretty much hate him.
So if the show was trying to get me on his side by the end of the series (there's to be a season 2 - which, given how short the original novel is, boggles the mind a bit), they failed miserably. I'd also gone off Juliana, who waltzed through the series, blithely getting other people killed and being forgiven over and over. Frank (who I also didn't like much) was an idiot to take her back, IMO. And the resistance people were idiots to keep giving them chances to get away, which they kept blowing (putting everyone else in danger in the process). Stupid.
But apart from the two idiots and the lying Nazi, the characters were wonderful. In particular, there were some terrifically nuanced performances from Joel de la Fuente as Chief Inspector Kido of the Japanese secret police, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagama as Trade Minister Tagomi (the only one of the three who is wholly sympathetic), and Rufus Sewell (using an American accent), as Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith. Quite shocking to realise he really is a man of principle, even if his principles are complete sh*t. I admit, my main reason for watching another season is to find out what he'll do about his son (diagnosed with an incurable congenital disease, which means he has to be 'humanely put down'), though I don't think there's really any doubt. Kudos to Sewell for managing to make such an appalling man, if not sympathetic, then complex and interesting.
Well, I'll also watch because I want to know who is making these mysterious alternate history newsreels. The final episode makes it look like it could even be Hitler himself (he's a man, and he lives in a high castle), but I don't think it is. We'll see.
But I certainly won't be watching again because I'm invested in the three main characters. I'm not. They all three irritate me.
Speaking of mixed bags, have to admit I didn't much like the Doctor Who finale. Boy, did they drag it out? Also, while I liked the Doctor/Clara fine in the previous series, I'm back to finding Clara really irritating in this one, and not much enjoying the way, with Moffatt, each companion has to be more 'special' than the last one. As it is, Clara's practically taken over the Doctor's entire history. Good riddance to her. I won't miss her at all.
Lots of spoilers behind cut.
Also, I need some JJ icons. Not so sure about MitHC ones, as the character I found most interesting was a high-ranking Nazi, and I don't think I want an icon of an SS officer on my LJ. ;)
Last time I mentioned Jessica Jones, I was griping a little about how David Tennant as the villain, Kilgrave, was putting on an English accent (like he did for Doctor Who, though he's actually Scottish, in case you didn't know). That gripe still remains, but I have to admit, he was very, very good. Completely convincing as a total psychopath, who not only didn't care about anyone but himself, but genuinely couldn't understand why anyone would (which leads me to wonder if those of you who can stand to be on Tumblr for more than five minutes at a time have seen any posts comparing Kilgrave and his obsession with Jessica to Spike and Buffy. Wouldn't surprise me if you had, though IMO when it comes to unhinged villainy and unhealthy obsession, Kilgrave makes both Spike and Angelus look like amateurs). Anyway, I was really, genuinely pleased when Jessica killed him. I was afraid they were going to drag the story on into season 2. But they didn't. Also, kudos to the show for exploring in a fairly realistic fashion what the consequences of Kilgrave's actions were to his victims - and for actually going there when Hope was desperate for an abortion.
So yes, great villain. Good riddance to him. I wish the same could be said for the Simpson-the-cop-turned-murderous-supersoldier plot line, because I didn't like it (not least because Simpson murdered Lester Freamon - something no fan of The Wire would ever forgive him for. Plus, I can see that storyline re-surfacing at a later date to tie Jessica Jones more closely to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for which I have a pretty big hate-on still for f**cking up the comics universe so much (though of course they're still denying that's what they're doing), not least by replacing the X-Men with the boring, boring Inhumans).
As for Jessica Jones herself - as
beer_good_foamy said on his post, she's basically Faith. She looks like Faith, she acts like Faith, and her power-set is very similar to a Slayer's. In Jessica's case, though, Kilgrave's interference means that the sins of her past really aren't her fault, and it's good to see her slowly dealing with that and coming out of the other side (though the final episode is far from positive. She kills Kilgrave, but killing someone changes you (someone said that, I'm not sure who), and she looks a lot less happy about it than, say, Trish. Though that could be, I suppose, because she wishes she could have done it sooner, before Kilgrave hurt so many people just to get to her. So, yes, I liked Jessica. I like her relationship with Luke, and will be interested to see how it develops (I know how it develops in the comics). I also love her friendship with Trish - really the most important relationship in the show, which is something you very rarely find in TV shows (the relationship between two women being the most important thing, I mean). I also like Malcolm very much. I hope he sticks around. Jessica needs someone gentle and kind in her life, and Malcolm is the closest thing to it. I also like Jeri, the demi-evil lawyer.It did get a bit more violent towards the end, but even so I only had to look away a couple of times. Nothing like the unpleasantly OTT gorefest of Daredevil anyway. So yes, I'll be watching season 2.
As for The Man in the High Castle, it was a bit of a mixed bag, to be honest. Lots of it was very, very wonderful (the settings, the costumes, the world-building). Where it fell down badly, IMO, was in the three main characters. I didn't mind Juliana so much at first, but by the end she was driving me crazy. I wanted to scream at her not to be a bloody idiot when she once again put everyone's lives at risk to help a f**king Nazi (excuse language), because she 'believes' in him and thinks he can change. As a Spike fan, I'm probably supposed to be up for that, aren't I? A man can change for love of a good woman. I'm not, though. Not really. For me, it's a one time deal. Plus, all through the series right up to the end, we've seen Joe (the Nazi in question) lie, and lie and lie - to Juliana, to his boss, to the woman he lives with in New York. He's a little shit. I pretty much hate him.
So if the show was trying to get me on his side by the end of the series (there's to be a season 2 - which, given how short the original novel is, boggles the mind a bit), they failed miserably. I'd also gone off Juliana, who waltzed through the series, blithely getting other people killed and being forgiven over and over. Frank (who I also didn't like much) was an idiot to take her back, IMO. And the resistance people were idiots to keep giving them chances to get away, which they kept blowing (putting everyone else in danger in the process). Stupid.
But apart from the two idiots and the lying Nazi, the characters were wonderful. In particular, there were some terrifically nuanced performances from Joel de la Fuente as Chief Inspector Kido of the Japanese secret police, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagama as Trade Minister Tagomi (the only one of the three who is wholly sympathetic), and Rufus Sewell (using an American accent), as Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith. Quite shocking to realise he really is a man of principle, even if his principles are complete sh*t. I admit, my main reason for watching another season is to find out what he'll do about his son (diagnosed with an incurable congenital disease, which means he has to be 'humanely put down'), though I don't think there's really any doubt. Kudos to Sewell for managing to make such an appalling man, if not sympathetic, then complex and interesting.
Well, I'll also watch because I want to know who is making these mysterious alternate history newsreels. The final episode makes it look like it could even be Hitler himself (he's a man, and he lives in a high castle), but I don't think it is. We'll see.
But I certainly won't be watching again because I'm invested in the three main characters. I'm not. They all three irritate me.
Speaking of mixed bags, have to admit I didn't much like the Doctor Who finale. Boy, did they drag it out? Also, while I liked the Doctor/Clara fine in the previous series, I'm back to finding Clara really irritating in this one, and not much enjoying the way, with Moffatt, each companion has to be more 'special' than the last one. As it is, Clara's practically taken over the Doctor's entire history. Good riddance to her. I won't miss her at all.
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no subject
Date: 2015-12-12 01:14 pm (UTC)As to Killgrave/JJ and Buffy/Spike parallels - I havn't seen them on tumblr. In those rare instances when BtVS comes up in JJ discussions, it's either is about Faith or about S6 depression arc in general or about "strong female characters".
no subject
Date: 2015-12-12 01:22 pm (UTC)Yeah, that's my fear too, especially as I believe they're building up to doing a Defenders series on Netflix, which will feature Jessica, Luke and Daredevil (not sure who else) as a sort of lesser-powered, gritty, realistic version of the Avengers.
I'm glad you haven't seen those parallels. Someone would have been bound to jump on that hobbyhorse back in the day.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-13 07:04 pm (UTC)Looks good, too. I like all the street shots. This and Agent Carter give me hope for Marvel yet.
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Date: 2015-12-14 09:03 pm (UTC)As for female heavy drinkers, I only really know one, and she is a whisky drinker. ;)
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Date: 2015-12-22 04:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-07 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-06-13 10:40 pm (UTC)The series looked sumptuous and even the CGI wasn't too annoying / intrusive. Overall I enjoyed it as it took its time to build up the characters and also build a world. So in spite of the annoying leads, I became engaged in it and look forward to seeing the next series.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-14 10:05 am (UTC)Did you finish Jessica Jones? What did you think of it?
no subject
Date: 2016-06-14 10:21 pm (UTC)JJ had its cliched moments, but overall I thought it was fresh and engaging - even the theme music went in an unexpected direction. Kilgrave was a very creepy villain and Krysten Ritter acted her socks off being vulnerable, damaged yet strong at the core despite her fear. The (many) deaths hit much harder than in Daredevil - not so cartoony and ultra-violent. I'm looking forward to the next series and hope it manages to retain the goodness.
Just started Mr Robot tonight.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-15 11:05 am (UTC)Like you, I haven't bothered with the second series of Daredevil. Mr K has watched it and he says it's even more violent that season 1 which...sort of beggars belief, have to say.