TV stuff, mostly Westworld
Aug. 5th, 2018 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shapinglightI did the disappearing thing again - partly because, as usual, I've been gadding about from place to place a lot, and partly because (as usual these days), I feel I have nothing of interest to say. :(
The last few days, though, there's been a third reason, which is that I've been binge-watching (something I very rarely do) season 2 of Westworld.
Spoilers for Westworld behind cut. Also brief mention of Versailles season 3 and Picnic at Hanging Rock.
This is a bit of a surprise to me too, have to say. The only comment I posted about season 1 after watching it in 2016 is as follows (from a review of TV I'd watched that year):
Westworld, which I was kind of ambivalent about. I liked Thandie Newton's character, but again it was excessively (unnecessarily) violent and a bit up itself.
I suppose season 2 was still both of those things, and I still had the same difficulty that I had in season 1 (but didn't mention in my brief review) of not warming to Dolores (any version of her) at all, which - given that she and Bernard are the main characters and in so many scenes - is a problem. However, I really loved season 2.
Okay, it was still up itself in the sense that the plot was tricky to follow at times, and some characters - Dolores and Ford in particular - were way too apt to make portentous (and ambiguous! why could they never just say what they meant?) speeches, which left the audience as baffled as poor old Bernard with his fractured memory, but it was also clever and ambiguous, and some of the character development was wonderful. I loved the adventures of Maeve and her band of misfits, and was really sad when Lee died (though pleased for him that he came so far as a character), and am really hoping that with the help of Lutz and Sylvester (who underwent their own -understated - heroes' journies), Maeve, and possibly Hector, will return in season 3.
I also liked that we got outside of the Western-themed part of the park, exploring new areas of it, and that new characters were brought to the fore with such skill. In fact, the best episode of the entire series, IMO, was the one from the POV of Akecheta the ghost warrior. Second best, Maeve and companions in Shogun World.
It was still very violent of course (a disease which has thoroughly infected modern TV), but possibly a little less so than season 1, or possibly less hard to deal with because the Hosts had developed agency, I'm not sure?
Anyway, I'm glad there'll be a season 3, though storywise I don't think there actually needs to be (except that Maeve needs to come back).
Apart from that, I've been keeping up with the final season of Versailles - usually on catch-up. I had thought the series was cancelled unexpectedly, but this interview with Alexander Vlahos, who plays Philippe of Orleans, suggests otherwise. Also interesting to me is that, with his revocation of the Edict of Nantes, thus ending religious tolerance in France, King Louis has pretty much become the villain of the piece. Does this show the Anglo-Saxon Protestant origins of the showrunners (presuming here, for all I know they're Catholics), or does it just show their modern liberalism? Maybe a bit of both? Who knows? Anyway, I like the show a lot and am sad it's over, even though I hated what happened to the poor queen and that Sophie, who otherwise I would have wanted to get away with everything, got away with it. Also, astrepkos has pointed out, there haven't been nearly enough gay orgies in season 3.
I've also been watching Picnic at Hanging Rock, veering between finding it eerie and dreamlike, then finding it unpleasantly prurient. Hmm. Anyone else been watching this?
In completely unrelated news, I've been missing my fanfic writings days somewhat. Sawpetzipellepingo pimping the IWRY marathon today and realised I've missed all the ficathons for two years now - Seasonal Spuffy, Summer of Giles etc. Oh well.
When it comes to IWRY, I'm pretty sure I didn't have another Bangel story in me anyway.
The last few days, though, there's been a third reason, which is that I've been binge-watching (something I very rarely do) season 2 of Westworld.
Spoilers for Westworld behind cut. Also brief mention of Versailles season 3 and Picnic at Hanging Rock.
This is a bit of a surprise to me too, have to say. The only comment I posted about season 1 after watching it in 2016 is as follows (from a review of TV I'd watched that year):
Westworld, which I was kind of ambivalent about. I liked Thandie Newton's character, but again it was excessively (unnecessarily) violent and a bit up itself.
I suppose season 2 was still both of those things, and I still had the same difficulty that I had in season 1 (but didn't mention in my brief review) of not warming to Dolores (any version of her) at all, which - given that she and Bernard are the main characters and in so many scenes - is a problem. However, I really loved season 2.
Okay, it was still up itself in the sense that the plot was tricky to follow at times, and some characters - Dolores and Ford in particular - were way too apt to make portentous (and ambiguous! why could they never just say what they meant?) speeches, which left the audience as baffled as poor old Bernard with his fractured memory, but it was also clever and ambiguous, and some of the character development was wonderful. I loved the adventures of Maeve and her band of misfits, and was really sad when Lee died (though pleased for him that he came so far as a character), and am really hoping that with the help of Lutz and Sylvester (who underwent their own -understated - heroes' journies), Maeve, and possibly Hector, will return in season 3.
I also liked that we got outside of the Western-themed part of the park, exploring new areas of it, and that new characters were brought to the fore with such skill. In fact, the best episode of the entire series, IMO, was the one from the POV of Akecheta the ghost warrior. Second best, Maeve and companions in Shogun World.
It was still very violent of course (a disease which has thoroughly infected modern TV), but possibly a little less so than season 1, or possibly less hard to deal with because the Hosts had developed agency, I'm not sure?
Anyway, I'm glad there'll be a season 3, though storywise I don't think there actually needs to be (except that Maeve needs to come back).
Apart from that, I've been keeping up with the final season of Versailles - usually on catch-up. I had thought the series was cancelled unexpectedly, but this interview with Alexander Vlahos, who plays Philippe of Orleans, suggests otherwise. Also interesting to me is that, with his revocation of the Edict of Nantes, thus ending religious tolerance in France, King Louis has pretty much become the villain of the piece. Does this show the Anglo-Saxon Protestant origins of the showrunners (presuming here, for all I know they're Catholics), or does it just show their modern liberalism? Maybe a bit of both? Who knows? Anyway, I like the show a lot and am sad it's over, even though I hated what happened to the poor queen and that Sophie, who otherwise I would have wanted to get away with everything, got away with it. Also, as
trepkos has pointed out, there haven't been nearly enough gay orgies in season 3.I've also been watching Picnic at Hanging Rock, veering between finding it eerie and dreamlike, then finding it unpleasantly prurient. Hmm. Anyone else been watching this?
In completely unrelated news, I've been missing my fanfic writings days somewhat. Saw
petzipellepingo pimping the IWRY marathon today and realised I've missed all the ficathons for two years now - Seasonal Spuffy, Summer of Giles etc. Oh well. When it comes to IWRY, I'm pretty sure I didn't have another Bangel story in me anyway.