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Entry tags:
- mad men,
- merlin,
- recs,
- recs: merlin,
- sga
Television thoughts + Merlin recs
Slow day at work, so y'all get treated to my blathering about TV. (Count yourselves lucky I will probaby never finish and post my in-depth 7 page essay on High School Musical.)
This is actually the first and only episode of SGA where I really really wished I hadn’t seen it at all (something not even “The Tower” or "Irresponsible" managed to do). Just ugh.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
01100100’s and _inbetween said just about everything that bothered me about it, especially in terms of John and my feeling toward SGA in general. If I thought they had the skillz, I’d almost think TPTB were actively *trying* to ruin everything I love about the show.
ETA: On the other hand, THIS is awesome. *wishes she knew how to quit show, etc. etc.*
Went to a Mad Men Finale Viewing Party with the roommates last night, hosted by the ladies from Basket of Kisses. It was surprisingly fangirly. And Matthew Weiner came by at the end! For serious! Very cool.
I've been pondering over the finale all morning.
I loved the way it was framed against the background of the Cuban Missle Crisis. The end of the world feeling was a great choice tonally. What I most liked about it was the way the building threat of nuclear war was a great foil to the narrative tension- Don and Betty's marriage, Peggy and Pete and the baby*, and the fate of Sterling Cooper in general- with one very significant difference. While Cuban Missle Crisis was a disaster that was averted, the characters on the show didn't get such an escape. The last 10 minutes felt like a narrative bomb had hit, the fallout frustratingly uncertain until Season 3.
I still don't know what to make of Don and Betty's marriage. I used to think that Don did love Betty underneath it all, but I don't know anymore. I'm pretty sure he loves his children, but I don't know if he knows or respects Betty enough to love her as more than the Housewife Barbie she plays in his grand attempt to overwrite his own crappy childhood.
I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that he came to some sort of pat realization in California about how important his family is to him- the show is too smart for such a simple explanation. What I *can* see though is Don selling the lie of his loving family for so long that he finally begins to believe it (see the Carousel speech at the end of Season 1)- and that maybe California lead to the realization that he doesn't know who he is without them anymore (and I don't quite mean that in a good way).
It's just so amiguous! The final haunting image of the two of them clutching hands after Betty dropped the pregnant bomb was great in that regard. On the one hand, they were reconnecting, on the other I think that was more of a sad moment than anything else. Also, did she finally take him back because she was pregnant? Because of the letter (which I cry bullshit on, considering the entire thing seemed to have more to do with the idea of something than Betty herself)? Because she got her revenge fuck and the playing field is somehow even now? All three reasons? All questions I don't really have an answer to. (Oh show.)
*One interesting thing learned from Matthew Weiner- Peggy's sister apparently is NOT secretly raising her baby. She just gave it away for normal adoption- the child at the end of that one episode was her sister's kid. She was only supposed to be so freaked out by it because it reminded her of her own. Huh. Also, LOVED Peggy and Pete and the baby last night. <3 them both so much. They're so NOT MFEO and it's awesome like that.
Lastly, and a happier note, I finally bowed to the collective will of my flist and started watching Merlin. Loving it so far. The premise is intrinsically slashy, and everyone’s adorable and Anthony Head is it and there’s crappy CGI and clichés and ridiculous magic storylines of the week and it’s totally my fandom happy place right now. I really hope that more writers start coming over to play, because I feel that the universe lends itself beautifully to those of usfleeing coming over from a Fandom O’ Crack like SGA. (Note to self, must get icon.)
Also, Merlin fic recs!
There’sjanne_d’s And None But We Can Be Such Kings. This one is really adorable, with good oblivious!Merlin. I also really liked reveal moment near the end- pitch perfect.
One of my very favorites so far ispaperclipbitch’s Next Time, I Will Remember This And I Will Say 'No'. It actually has a good plot (one of that totally should be an episode). Even better, what could have been just an amusing set up for wacky hijinks and mistaken identities turns into a seriously interesting examination of power and the power dynamics between Merlin and Arthur in particular. It’s not saccharine or schmoopy and it does an excellent job of showing-not-telling (a problem with a lot of fic I’ve read in this fandom so far). Highly recommended!
This is actually the first and only episode of SGA where I really really wished I hadn’t seen it at all (something not even “The Tower” or "Irresponsible" managed to do). Just ugh.
01100100’s and _inbetween said just about everything that bothered me about it, especially in terms of John and my feeling toward SGA in general. If I thought they had the skillz, I’d almost think TPTB were actively *trying* to ruin everything I love about the show. ETA: On the other hand, THIS is awesome. *wishes she knew how to quit show, etc. etc.*
Went to a Mad Men Finale Viewing Party with the roommates last night, hosted by the ladies from Basket of Kisses. It was surprisingly fangirly. And Matthew Weiner came by at the end! For serious! Very cool.
I've been pondering over the finale all morning.
I loved the way it was framed against the background of the Cuban Missle Crisis. The end of the world feeling was a great choice tonally. What I most liked about it was the way the building threat of nuclear war was a great foil to the narrative tension- Don and Betty's marriage, Peggy and Pete and the baby*, and the fate of Sterling Cooper in general- with one very significant difference. While Cuban Missle Crisis was a disaster that was averted, the characters on the show didn't get such an escape. The last 10 minutes felt like a narrative bomb had hit, the fallout frustratingly uncertain until Season 3.
I still don't know what to make of Don and Betty's marriage. I used to think that Don did love Betty underneath it all, but I don't know anymore. I'm pretty sure he loves his children, but I don't know if he knows or respects Betty enough to love her as more than the Housewife Barbie she plays in his grand attempt to overwrite his own crappy childhood.
I'm not sure if we're supposed to believe that he came to some sort of pat realization in California about how important his family is to him- the show is too smart for such a simple explanation. What I *can* see though is Don selling the lie of his loving family for so long that he finally begins to believe it (see the Carousel speech at the end of Season 1)- and that maybe California lead to the realization that he doesn't know who he is without them anymore (and I don't quite mean that in a good way).
It's just so amiguous! The final haunting image of the two of them clutching hands after Betty dropped the pregnant bomb was great in that regard. On the one hand, they were reconnecting, on the other I think that was more of a sad moment than anything else. Also, did she finally take him back because she was pregnant? Because of the letter (which I cry bullshit on, considering the entire thing seemed to have more to do with the idea of something than Betty herself)? Because she got her revenge fuck and the playing field is somehow even now? All three reasons? All questions I don't really have an answer to. (Oh show.)
*One interesting thing learned from Matthew Weiner- Peggy's sister apparently is NOT secretly raising her baby. She just gave it away for normal adoption- the child at the end of that one episode was her sister's kid. She was only supposed to be so freaked out by it because it reminded her of her own. Huh. Also, LOVED Peggy and Pete and the baby last night. <3 them both so much. They're so NOT MFEO and it's awesome like that.
Lastly, and a happier note, I finally bowed to the collective will of my flist and started watching Merlin. Loving it so far. The premise is intrinsically slashy, and everyone’s adorable and Anthony Head is it and there’s crappy CGI and clichés and ridiculous magic storylines of the week and it’s totally my fandom happy place right now. I really hope that more writers start coming over to play, because I feel that the universe lends itself beautifully to those of us
Also, Merlin fic recs!
There’s
janne_d’s And None But We Can Be Such Kings. This one is really adorable, with good oblivious!Merlin. I also really liked reveal moment near the end- pitch perfect. One of my very favorites so far is
paperclipbitch’s Next Time, I Will Remember This And I Will Say 'No'. It actually has a good plot (one of that totally should be an episode). Even better, what could have been just an amusing set up for wacky hijinks and mistaken identities turns into a seriously interesting examination of power and the power dynamics between Merlin and Arthur in particular. It’s not saccharine or schmoopy and it does an excellent job of showing-not-telling (a problem with a lot of fic I’ve read in this fandom so far). Highly recommended!