![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rozkThe next few weeks are going to be a Darwinian nightmare as I decide which shows make the final cut for downloading in the morning when torrents are fast, downloading later when they are slow, and leaving out entirely. Some shows will get cancelled and others will turn on me and bite me in the ankles and others are shows to which I am committed by work - this week was one in which several of my favourites started as well as one or two newbies that may or may not make the final cut. Next week it is all going to get serious, with shows whose pilots I had already seen joining the queue of new episodes.
Oddly, one thing that may get droppped from downloads is one of my favourites; I shall watch Ugly Betty first chance I get, which means that for the next few weeks at least I'll be downloading it. But it starts on Channel 4 this coming Friday which means it will only be one episode behind, and that may mean that we get ahead of the US the moment hiatuses start...Which will be weird.
The stuff with Hilda's Santos hallucinations was a neat use of the double-bluff - the fact that he first appeared from the shower was a good joke about television cliche, but we did know, I think, that he was really really dead. Claire and Yoda are amazing - we so know that this is a prison romance for all the tough talk and mutual manipulation; I love the way that they both think they are the dominant partner. Wilhelmina was as competent as ever, but there is the real question whether actually Mode should really be doing a photoshoot of makeovers of disaster victims. Wilhelmina has endless competence, but no sense or taste; I am still agnostic about the idea that she is meant to be the rightful editor.
The new editorial assistant, Sheila, is wonderfully dreadful.
As to the actual editors, Daniel was sweet and shamefaced and looking after Betty in the nicest possible way. The plot about Alexis' amnesia is something that may turn into a little bit of a sticking point depending on where they take it. Oddly, I have some experience here - one of my transwomen friends did get an attack of the very rare syndrome we may as well call 'soap opera amnesia', in that she simply lost a decade of her life. As with Alexis, this did include her actual transition - but she adapted to the fact that she had transitioned as she always meant to quite quickly. The problem was that she had no sense of her relationships with anyone she had met in that ten years and no especial interest in acquiring one. The very interesting question was not whether or not her memory loss was genuine; it was whether it was just the result of head trauma or a way in which her brain coped with a lot of unhappiness.
After all, Alexis has always stated that as Alex she knew she was in the wrong place/body; and now as 'Alex' she is sort of implicitly denying that that was true. All of which may be symptomatic of her deep unhappiness with the way everyone has treated her, the disaster of the relationship with the Brazilian guy, her attempt to kill her father, her viciousness towards her kid brother and her discovery that she is still in love with Jordan. Announcing that she is 'Alex' and all of this is totally weird may be plausible as a way of her dealing with her situation and taking a break from it or it may be a cheap joke at her expense; this could be awesome and oddly poignant or it could be so crass I have real problems with it, and there is no way of finding out until it happens.
Another of my shows Dirty Sexy Money, and I think I can say this after one episode, is also going down an iffy road with trans-representation and we shall have to see how it works out. It is nice that they cast Candis Cayne, who is trans, as the transwoman mistress of an ambitious politician, more worrying that thus far she is a clingy mess whom the show's protagonist Nick thus far refers to with contempt. On the other hand, this is a show about Nick discovering complexities he didn't know existed and this may be one of them.
Even before I had to watch it for trans content, this was going to be one of my probables. I love Peter Krause and he does his usual baffled good guy thing confronted with Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh as the patriarch and matriarch of the decadent rich Darlings and their brood of charming degenerates. It is all a bit like Arrested Development played for drama not just laughs. I loved the way that Tripp Darling makes Nick the offer he cannot refuse; Nick always swore he would not take over from his father as the Darlings' lawyer, but they offer to fund all his pro bono work...
I was amazed how correctly I had called much of Grey's Anatomy. As I guessed, Meredith and Christina using the honeymoon tickets became the subject of a joke by Alex about girl/girl action which they neither confirmed nor denied; Richard dropped heavy hints that he promoted Callie over Miranda because he wants to be able to make Miranda his successor. I like Lexie so far - as the kid sister no-one knew about, she needs pairing with Dawn in fic. I don't know why so many people hate Izzie - she is crazy and manipulative and adulterous, this is true, but she isn't trying to destroy the world or anything; the stuff with the deer was awesome. I love Meredith and Cristina, of course, but I love Izzie and Alex almost as much...Meredith, break-up sex is not break-up sex; it is not-breaking-up-quite-yet sex and proves that Derek really is a scumbag. Just saying...
I am reserving judgement on Private Practice for a week or two; I am watching it for the divine Kate Walsh but she may not be enough. Heroes was fabulous and confusing and I don't know yet.
There will be more of this in a while - there are a couple of things I have downloaded but not watched yet.
Oddly, one thing that may get droppped from downloads is one of my favourites; I shall watch Ugly Betty first chance I get, which means that for the next few weeks at least I'll be downloading it. But it starts on Channel 4 this coming Friday which means it will only be one episode behind, and that may mean that we get ahead of the US the moment hiatuses start...Which will be weird.
The stuff with Hilda's Santos hallucinations was a neat use of the double-bluff - the fact that he first appeared from the shower was a good joke about television cliche, but we did know, I think, that he was really really dead. Claire and Yoda are amazing - we so know that this is a prison romance for all the tough talk and mutual manipulation; I love the way that they both think they are the dominant partner. Wilhelmina was as competent as ever, but there is the real question whether actually Mode should really be doing a photoshoot of makeovers of disaster victims. Wilhelmina has endless competence, but no sense or taste; I am still agnostic about the idea that she is meant to be the rightful editor.
The new editorial assistant, Sheila, is wonderfully dreadful.
As to the actual editors, Daniel was sweet and shamefaced and looking after Betty in the nicest possible way. The plot about Alexis' amnesia is something that may turn into a little bit of a sticking point depending on where they take it. Oddly, I have some experience here - one of my transwomen friends did get an attack of the very rare syndrome we may as well call 'soap opera amnesia', in that she simply lost a decade of her life. As with Alexis, this did include her actual transition - but she adapted to the fact that she had transitioned as she always meant to quite quickly. The problem was that she had no sense of her relationships with anyone she had met in that ten years and no especial interest in acquiring one. The very interesting question was not whether or not her memory loss was genuine; it was whether it was just the result of head trauma or a way in which her brain coped with a lot of unhappiness.
After all, Alexis has always stated that as Alex she knew she was in the wrong place/body; and now as 'Alex' she is sort of implicitly denying that that was true. All of which may be symptomatic of her deep unhappiness with the way everyone has treated her, the disaster of the relationship with the Brazilian guy, her attempt to kill her father, her viciousness towards her kid brother and her discovery that she is still in love with Jordan. Announcing that she is 'Alex' and all of this is totally weird may be plausible as a way of her dealing with her situation and taking a break from it or it may be a cheap joke at her expense; this could be awesome and oddly poignant or it could be so crass I have real problems with it, and there is no way of finding out until it happens.
Another of my shows Dirty Sexy Money, and I think I can say this after one episode, is also going down an iffy road with trans-representation and we shall have to see how it works out. It is nice that they cast Candis Cayne, who is trans, as the transwoman mistress of an ambitious politician, more worrying that thus far she is a clingy mess whom the show's protagonist Nick thus far refers to with contempt. On the other hand, this is a show about Nick discovering complexities he didn't know existed and this may be one of them.
Even before I had to watch it for trans content, this was going to be one of my probables. I love Peter Krause and he does his usual baffled good guy thing confronted with Donald Sutherland and Jill Clayburgh as the patriarch and matriarch of the decadent rich Darlings and their brood of charming degenerates. It is all a bit like Arrested Development played for drama not just laughs. I loved the way that Tripp Darling makes Nick the offer he cannot refuse; Nick always swore he would not take over from his father as the Darlings' lawyer, but they offer to fund all his pro bono work...
I was amazed how correctly I had called much of Grey's Anatomy. As I guessed, Meredith and Christina using the honeymoon tickets became the subject of a joke by Alex about girl/girl action which they neither confirmed nor denied; Richard dropped heavy hints that he promoted Callie over Miranda because he wants to be able to make Miranda his successor. I like Lexie so far - as the kid sister no-one knew about, she needs pairing with Dawn in fic. I don't know why so many people hate Izzie - she is crazy and manipulative and adulterous, this is true, but she isn't trying to destroy the world or anything; the stuff with the deer was awesome. I love Meredith and Cristina, of course, but I love Izzie and Alex almost as much...Meredith, break-up sex is not break-up sex; it is not-breaking-up-quite-yet sex and proves that Derek really is a scumbag. Just saying...
I am reserving judgement on Private Practice for a week or two; I am watching it for the divine Kate Walsh but she may not be enough. Heroes was fabulous and confusing and I don't know yet.
There will be more of this in a while - there are a couple of things I have downloaded but not watched yet.
