tv & movie thoughts

Here's some thoughs on Star Trek: Picard season 3, Teen Wolf - The Movie and The Pact.

Star Trek: Picard - Season 3 (the final season)

I'm loving 7of9's arc through the series - she's been looking for a place to belong ever since Voyager returned to Earth, but nothing is right for her. I do love seeing her in Starfleet uniform, but the Starfleet rules and regulations are chafing against her personal sense of right and wrong and even her identity.

In the first episode when Picard and Riker waltz up to Titan and Captain Shaw and try to deceive him and Shaw basically keeps going "Nope. Nope. Nope. Not fooled by your bullshit. I'm going to do exactly what Starfleet ordered me to do no matter how much you old has-beens would like me to go against my orders." I loved that scene and hooted with laughter it was so funny.

I can't stand that they're using the music from the TOS films for season 3 - everytime the music swells I'm brought out of the story and reminded that "wrong people! wrong era! for this music".

Everytime the story switches to Raffi and her terrorist plot, it grinds to a halt and I have to fight the urge to speed forward the video to the interesting story line. I have zero interest in this terrorist plot or Raffi's personal struggles being a ex-druggie undercover or her family troubles. Whose bright idea was it to put a druggie undercover as a drug user, anyway?! This is a really, really boring!

All that said, I'm enjoying season 3 a lot, but I have to admit a lot of it is because Jeri Ryan is so great and 7of9's arc is touching and interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing all the TNG characters and learning what they've been doing since the movies!

Teen Wolf: The Movie

This one didn't feel like a movie, but a two-parter tv episode which was just shown as a movie. I enjoyed it, but noticed that I had forgotten so much about the nogitsune and the character relationships that I felt like googling things while watching it.

The story wasn't Oscar worthy (but certainly better than seasons 4-6 as far as I'm concerned) but I very much enjoyed seeing Derek, Scott, Sheriff Stilinski, Lydia, Parrish, Argent, Allison, Jackson and Melissa again! The story was grounded enough in what came before that it didn't feel contrived or unbelievable to me, or rehashing the old either which are things I feared going in, knowing Crystal Reed was in it. I wasn't bored at any point even though it's a long movie: 2 hours 20 minutes. I was entertained and enjoyed spending time in this world again :)

I'd missed these characters more than I realized, and I'm glad the movie was based more on the seasons 1-3 than the later seasons - I did watch the whole series, but didn't much enjoy it after season 3. Loved seeing Derek again (he's always been my favorite, along with Allison) but when on Earth did he get Eli and who is Eli's mother??? Scott said that it's been 15 years since Allison's death, and someone said that Eli is 15 years old, so Eli should've been around the last few seasons of the tv series. But on the other hand, as far as I remember, Derek kept disappearing and re-appearing randomly after season 3, so I guess we only saw a small part of his life in those seasons. I didn't like Derek's fate in the movie and I'm just going to ignore it - not canon as far as I'm concerned! On the other hand, nobody stays dead in this show so it isn't written in the stone.

I didn't recognize Liam at all at first - both the character and the actor, and then when I did remember him, I didn't recognize the actor at all; I was certain he was played by a new actor but apparently not. I do remember Mr. Harris very well (he's one of my favorites from the first two seasons) but not his original fate, and didn't recognize the actor at all; was also convinced that he was played by another new actor but also apparently wasn't.

But ugh: at least 32 year old Scott getting together with like 17 year old Allison and everybody apparently being okay with it! Admittedly, her being dead for 15 years muddles things, but I got the impression that she's for all intents and purposes resurrected the same age and person as when she died. In any case, Scott has 15 more years of lived life experience and maturity (hopefully!) than her and it makes all the difference when she died at like 17 and he didn't and instead went on to live for another 15 years and is now over 30 years old. No matter how much he is still supposedly in love with her.

I haven't seen Holland Roden in anything besides Teen Wolf but I thought she'd improved her acting a lot! I was just sad to see that TPTB had put Lydia in a totally office-inappropriate costume for that scene taking place in her work. Bare skin cleavage all the way to her waist and the skirt much too short for office! Sad and ridiculous. I think Lydia has more sense of style than do that! Especially because it wouldn't have taken much to make that outfit appropriate for office.

The Coach hadn't changed/aged at all! So funny considering all the other characters had clearly aged or at least change in some small way!

The Pact

Series 1 was was well done but not that original. Series 2 two was great! Rakie Ayola was the only actor returning, but played a completely different character than in series 1. It was weird but she was good in S1 but amazing in S2. The second series story was very mysterious, slowly unfolding and revealing things as episodes went by and the final reveal for me, was truly surprising even though I had thought of like a dozen different scenarios of what was what. For once I couldn't guess it :D

There's no word yet, but I'd love there to be series 3 of The Pact, again with only Rakie Ayola returning and again playing a yet another completely different character!

Recently I've been watching The Last Kingdom. Here's two wallpapers and some random thoughts about the show!

Started watching The Last Kingdom a couple of weeks ago! I vaguely remember watching the first episode when it aired, but apparently I totally forgot the series existed after that because all the other episodes have been new. I'm enjoying the series a lot, it's interesting and fun seeing an era of history explored on screen that I don't think another series has focused on? Except maybe for Vikings but I'm not sure how much of a fictional fantasy that show is, haven't checked because I watched the first season of that one.

The thing about this show is that literally all my (even mildly) favorite characters had been killed off by episode 4.03 - and so many so early, that by the end of season 1 I had already realized that was not a series that kept characters alive. Just in season 1 many of my favorite characters were killed off: Macfadyen!Uhtred, Rutger Hauer's character, Leofric and Iseult along with several characters I liked a lot but who didn't make it to favorite list such as Skorpa, Aethelred of Wessex and Earl Ragnar. Now that I'm half way through season 4, the way it's going, literally all named characters will be dead, including the main character Uhtred son of Uhtred, by end of series finale 😭 😂

Another thing about this show is that there are a lot of interesting and fun characters! And strapping men playing Danes with fun hair styles. Somehow the show succeeds in making me care about all the characters... even when I hate them! They're making them fun to hate - such as Aethelwold - instead of making me wish they'd die and disappear already. I can't remember the last time when a show had so many fun characters. Brida is the only one I'd like to go and die already - from the latter half of season 1 through to first half of season 4 she's been a superfluous, pointless character that I don't enjoy watching. She's the only one so far... all the others are at least interesting to watch, or fun to hate.

More fun things: the various accents all the characters have - it really helps to set apart the different tribes and nationalities. All the characters whose names start with "Ae" - whenever there's a new character, I'm always curious to see what's the ending of their name!

I think maybe the most interesting character has been King Alfred because the writers explore kingship, religion, responsibility, friendships when you're the King etc. through him. David Dawson has really impressed me in the role; even when he needs to be kingly, distant, controlled and expressionless in the face of hard decisions, you can see it all going on behind his eyes.

Another thing about the series that delights me is the lighting and color work of seasons 1 and 2 - the show looks absolutely beautiful in seasons 1 and 2, lively colors and so well lit! Especially all the scenes that take place in the old Roman villa that is Alfred's palace. Sadly, seasons 3 and 4 which I believe Netflix made along with season 5, are lit much darker, desaturated, murkier and with a blue/gray tint. :/ So much so that I've had to adjust the brightness, contract, hue and saturation settings on MPC-BE to see what's happening well. That's my only complaint with the show so far!

Random TV Thoughts: The Lazarus Project, House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power behind the cut...

The Lazarus Project

I loved this British scifi tv series! Guaranteed British quality tv series! I've waited a long time for this since it was announced, but somehow I missed that it's name had been changed from Extinction to The Lazarus Project at some point, so I'm only watching it now. Scifi, action and drama asking moral questions & being murky. I love it that it looks at the questions of what it means and when to turn back time to save the world from extinction, and the cost on the persons who remember what has been before and the cost of personal as well as even worldwide losses they have to endure, or the hard work of reliving the same harrowing, sometimes, oftentimes, torturous events over and over and over again in trying to find a working solution. I did feel that the middle episodes (4-6) dragged a little bit as far as Paapa Essiedu's character goes, but the exploration of the other characters evens it out a lot and then it picks up again with episode 7. I think there's going to be a second series which I'm looking forward to very much! I hope series two make more use of the other two members of the team (the Dane and the blond girl) and we get to know them better too.

The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power

First, I haven't read any of the books, and have only seen Peter Jackson's movies, and most that I know of The Lord Of The Rings comes from those films. I haven't read much LOTR fanfic, only a handful, but I know a lot of names and terms from fandom osmosis but have no solid knowledge about what/who they are and whether they're important and why or why not. I tried to read The Lord Of The Rings (only the first book) 20+ years ago, but didn't make it through and have forgotten everything I read. So with that in mind...

This show is incredibly beautifully shot, just like the Peter Jackson trilogy is. The scenery is to die for, so many fabulous vistas both CGI and natural - mountains, vales, sea, fantasy cities such as Moria in all its glory and the Elven cities. Just, give me all the scenery porn and I'm a happy gal!

I'm not really feeling most of the characters - I feel like I have trouble connecting with them because whenever there's someone I think I could like and will be notable going forward, they get killed. Where as the Meteor Man I don't care about all, and the Harfoots bore me, so whenever the scenes center on the portion of the story, I'm like "okay, let's go do something interesting already!". I've read that the Meteor Man could be Gandalf and because I didn't like Ian McKellen's Gandalf or Ian McKellen (he's a good actor but not suited for LOTR or Magneto) so that just further reduces my interest in these scenes.

My favorite character scenes so far (1x04) have been with the Darwes. I feel like their characteristics are much more thought out and expressed than any of the others. I love Disa and Durin is good too!

I want to like the Elves... Especially Galadriel and Elrond but I'm having a hard time accepting that these are the same characters that Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving played. Their Galadriel and Elrond were easily my faves in the Peter Jackson movies, and my fave actors in them as well. It doesn't help that Galadriel's actress only shows one expression and emotion so far IMHO (determination). Although watching the 4th episode I had better time! Galadriel and Elrond have turned into sort of OC random elves in my head instead of Galadriel and Elrond, so I had easier time to believing in them.

I like the Numenor scenes, love seeing Cynthia Addai-Robinson again and I LOVE her jewellery hair-dresses! The city is beautiful. Although I was puzzled about the mystery around Cynthia Addai-Robinson's character's (Miriel? I should check her name) father - a couple of times a scene was shot so that the father wasn't shown/was circled around to slowly and mysteriously the way tv and films do when there's a twist such as the character is a corpse or a monster and it's a revelation. Here's the twist is that the character is... sick and bed-ridden? Like everyone says he is? That was weird. Maybe I just missed something. The Numenor part of the series is my favorite, and I wouldn't mind spending the entire rest of the series there! But I guess that won't happen.

Also the Elven males' short hair-dos (wigs, presumably?) look absolutely ridiculous! Especially Celebrimbor's. They take me out of the story every time. The hair-dos looks like those photos in the books of hair models the hair dressers used to have for browsing & inspiration when I was growing up! And I've always tought Tolkien's Elves have long hair? Although I've seen the actor who plays Celebrimbor in a lot of British tv shows and I can't imagine him with long hair...

One big thing that bothers me is that there are so many scenes in each episode where I feel like I should know who this person is, what this term means, why this is an import omen... and I don't because the story hasn't gotten there yet, having only passing familiarity with the source material. Like when that new metal Mithril was introduced or character of Isildur - the term Mithril is familiar to me, I know it's from LOTR but I haven't know who or what it is or I still don't know what it means. But the scene played out like the viewer should immediately go "Ooh! They found Mithril/this is Isildur which means this and that and has this and those repercussions X time from now!". The series is full of moments like this for me, and I think there's something off about how they're doing that. It doesn't feel like just a nod to those already in the know - it feels like if you don't already know what this means, you don't really matter. Or at least that's how if feels to me, a very casual viewer. Maybe the series isn't intended for casual viewers??

All in all, what's aired so far is okay as far as I'm concerned but in a popcorn-flick kinda way! The story-telling isn't wowing me so far. The scenery porn is wowing me! The series itself in general is visually very pretty! But the scenery is honestly the main reason why I'm sticking with the series so far but I can imagine it tipping over a point with those negative-to-me bits where I lose interest and quit watching.

House Of The Dragon

First of all I'm very happy I decided to cap House of the Dragon! It's my most popular gallery and has gotten more views and bandwidth used in just over a month than many of my sites ever did. Also, it's a novel experience to be there at the start of a new fandom!

I'm enjoying returning back to ASOIAF world! I love seeing more of The Red Keep, the King's Landing and other areas. So far I've liked what I've seen - I like the politicking, scheming and the occasional battle. Helps that I'm familiar with pretty much all the actors playing grown-up characters and like them. Although I'm surprised how well Matt Smith is fitting the character of Daemon! I didn't think he would be right one to play that character. He's perfect as a chaos prince! The only actor so far I'm questioning is Milly Alcock who plays the teenage Rhaenyra. She's so expressionless most of the time in her interactions with other characters that it's like it's just a statue there - but then in a few interactions with yet other characters (especially in 1x03 with the Kingsguard while they're out in the woods) where she gets to show e-motion instead of being expressionless, she's much freer and livelier and feels like a real person. So I'm not sure what's going on with that. I also think that for a princess who presumably has grown up knowing and understanding the woman's place in this world, Rhaenyra seems remarkably keen on blaming her friend Alicent for daring to have married Rhaenyra's father who is the bloody King - which means, forced to marry the King, actually, by the said King and Alicent's father. But she's still a teenager so I guess that explains it. And then later Alicent reaction & feeling betrayed by Rhaenyra not telling her took her bodyguard to bed is overly dramatic too IMHO

The pacing has been odd - there are time jumps when you least expect them and a lot of things happen off screen that you'd expect to see on screen in an another show. Like when Viserys announced his marriage to Alicent and we got reaction shots of both Alicent and Rhaenyra but no dialogue and I think then the episode ended, if I remember correctly. The next episode enough time had passed that Viserys and Alicent had been already married long enough for her to bear a child and that child being like 1 year old or something. So 2-3 years maybe? That's my biggest complaint - how quickly things are moving. I'd have loved more time with many of the characters such as Daemon's wife (2 minutes of screentime before she was killed off), and the pacing would benefit from more exploration of any of the major shifts in personal and political situations. Honestly everything feels kinda rushed.

And apparently, going from Rhaenyra and Alicent's behaviour towards each other, their friendship ended at that marriage announcement and Rhaenyra is really cold towards Alicent. But apparently there's feelings of betrayal and feelings that there should still be trust between them and things and stuff, from the fews short scenes we get in later episodes? I say apparently because we never actually see how the two faired after the marriage announcement because all the fallout was skipped. So I say apparently because in the latest episode Alicent's reaction of declaring war on Rhaenyra with that emerald gown is so over the top. I also feel like we don't actually get to know Alicent - we only know that she does what her father tells her to: get close to the King, marry the King, birth heirs to the King. She doesn't seem to be into her children, she isn't into the King, she lost her friend when she married the King. That's all we know. She may or may not be/have been in love with Rhaenyra, which if true, is maybe the only thing to explain her over-reaction to Rhaenyra taking a lover. Unless she's very devout (she's shown praying once, I think) that that's why unmarried sex disgusts her. I really hope the show explore's Alicent's character more going forward!

I'm like the show a lot more than I thought even with the faults! I'm enjoying the political intrugue and machinations, I don't miss physical battles at all. But I'd like to see more of the dragons - for a story about dragon riders, there's been remarkably little about dragons! I wish they'd explore more the relationship between a dragon rider and their dragon.

Ahing that I'm curious about is Daemon's dragon - why is he so differently built from the other dragons seen in Game Of Thrones and even in this show? I supposed I could google it, but I'm hoping for an in-series explanation/information.

I hope we get lots more of Rhaenys! She gave some interesting truths and straight talk to Rhaenyra in an early episode.

I'm both amused and miffed by the opening music - that they were so slazy and creedy they couldn't be bothered to create music for the theme. But every time an episode starts and episode starts I'm thrown right back into Game ff Thrones world which is fine by me LOL

Oh, and The Iron Throne, the actual chair, is bloody funny - by all means, have a throne which slices and dices your royal self when you sit on it, leading you to literally rot from your unhealing, infected wounds! Nothing like a throne that slices the king of the realm into ribbons! LOL

All in all I'm enjoying the show a lot! It's my favorite right now, and I'm happy with the views my gallery is getting! Somehow Sunday always comes so quickly now - I watch and cap the new episode on Monday/Tuesday, watch the view counters go up so much the next several days and suddenly it's Sunday again! I'm having fun!

I've been meaning to get this post out now for like two months! Here it finally is. Thoughts on make-up on Murder, She Wrote and Dynasty, random thoughts & notes on The Staircase, The Time Traveler's Wife, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Shining Girls, Downton Abbey: A New Era and Westworld season 4.

Murder, She Wrote & Dynasty - The Make-up

As I've been watching these two tv series there's one thing that I didn't notice at all during my previous watches: the women's make-up. It's so, so strong even in middle-of-the-day scenes - strong eye shadow, bright red/pink shiny lips, red cheeks - even in casual settings, and when it's a party scene it's reaally caked on! Every time a man kisses Alexis on the lips I shudder in disgust because of her lipstick! Maybe it's just because I never use make-up myself, but to me it's all so strong and thick even on characters like Krystle who are less made up that I keep going "What's that gunk you have on your face? Time to wash up!"

It's odd because when I watch say Star Trek TNG which first seasons were made around the same time, I do note the make-up is quite strong but I don't get the instinctive "get that gunk off your face!" reaction I do with the other two. I'm going to be watching/re-watching other things 1980s things such as Magnum, P.I. (never seen it that I can remember) and Miami Vice at some point - I wonder which reaction those cause in me!

I have to say I much prefer the way the actors are done up today, it seems to me the make up is much more natural and looks less caked on, whether that's how it is or not.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

I LOVE the first season! It's so happy and colorful. It feels like the first real Star Trek since VOY; that the characters are happy and excited to be exploring space and happy to do it together and are enjoying each other. There's a feeling camaderie which is IMO lacking in DSC, AOS etc. I enjoy all the SNW characters, love that if feels a true ensemble the way TNG and DS9 always felt, love that the episodes are episodic with but with continuing character plots and arcs. So far the only thing I don't like is the obsession of having lighting fixtures **everywhere** which is a problem I have with all the nu!Trek. There's so much lighting glare that I have trouble forming an accurate mental bluprints of the environs: such as the bridge - I know it follows TOS, but is bigger and the lights glare from everywhere makes it fuzzy to me. I already love SNW a lot more than I ever did ENT and probably even VOY - except for 7of9, I like the SNW characters much better than VOY characters, I pretty much love them all so far! And it's the only show of the new Treks that's made me laugh outloud frequently :D I do miss Spock's violet eyeshadow though - they should totally put that on Peck!

I loved the attention given to Spock and T'Pring, it's fun to see how Vulcans do relationships and I love that this modern T'Pring has her own motivations and interests and that her life life doesn't only revolve around Spock/love interest. I'd actually happily watch a T'Pring show if they made one! I'm also so happy to see Vulcan again! I hated what the AOS movies did with Vulcan and Vulcans and could never forgive that.

I'm sad Hemmer didn't get an episode of his own, but he did have good stuff in a couple of episodes, especially with Uhura. Sam Kirk is being annoying - first he was like a TPTB's humorous fuck you to the audience by not making him THE Kirk after all the noise and basically being a damsel in distress in the first episode he was in. But in episode 9 he was written as an annoying, panicking almost-coward. Nobody else was losing their cool even though everyone was scared, only Sam. I don't like him! He's useless/meaningless as a known character, they could have just as easily created a new character for the series and have it mean the same - he's done nothing so far that would justify bringing THE Kirk's brother aboard. I did worry a little that he'd get a lot of screentime because of that, so I'm relieved and also amused that he's been absent most episodes.

I hope Ortegas gets an episode in season 2 - it really stands out that she didn't even get a secondary plot episode, much less a dedicated episode. I like the actor a lot, so that's why I'd like Ortegas to get more to do as well! I also hope Chapel gets her own proper episode next season, one that doesn't revolve around her crush on Spock.

I was so disappointed there's only 10 episodes in season 1... somehow I thought there'd be a full season. I'd have happily watched a full season!

Not sure about Paul Wesley as THE Kirk. First, he's too old to Play Kirk IMHO at this juncture - shouldn't Kirk be in his mid-20s at this time? And I'm not sure I like him being in the show... okay, the I can accept that it made sense to have him in the season finale considering the plot which stemmed from Pike's character arc. But I don't want to see him in season two; this is not his show. He's had his show, and movies too. There are other stories to tell, with other characters.

Also, majorly kinda regretting adopting out my Star Trek site now... SNW is available in 4K/UHD too unlike PIC and I'd love to cap it in 4K for fans!

The Time Traveler's Wife

Finally Rose Leslie has a starring role :D I liked her a lot in Downton Abbey, loved her in Game Of Thrones and been delighted her showing up in a few random things I've seen since then. I kept hoping she'd be cast as the main in something and here it is. She's really great in this, and the actor who plays the time traveler is good too or at least I like him in this, never seen him in anything else. I'm always there for time travel shenanigans, and this is looking interesting! And because it's based on a book, I doubt it'll be prolonged past it's life.

Shining Girls

I loved this supernatural thriller series, based on a novel by Lauren Beukes. It's really well done and written. I loved that it didn't treat the viewers like we're idiots and need to spoon fed what's going on. Elizabeth Moss is again really really good, just like in The Handmaid's Tale, as the main character who lives in a shifting reality and is haunted/hunted by a mysterious, brutal serial killer. I do kind of hope The House would have been explained more, what it is and where it came from, but I'm also good with the ambiguity. I think I'll read the book at some point, a big part of me wishes I'd have heard of the book before the tv series so I could have read it first. This sort of story is right up my alley.

The Staircase

Colin Firth plays the main character, and boy! He's so grey and your-boring-next-door-neighbor looking in this that I have real trouble recognizing him! There's no nothing left of Mr Darcy anywhere to be seen! And also... he got old at some point! Shock! LOL In my mind he's the handsome and charismatic Mr Darcy from the 1995 Pride And Prejudice... How dare he get old?!

The story is based on true crime, and at this point, I have no idea what the truth is as shown in the series! Maybe the owl did do it. I can say I'm happy to see Sophie Turner again even if it's a minor role - I've only ever seen her in Game Of Thrones and Dark Phoenix (and maybe some other X-Men movie? if she was in one. I can't remember.) but mainly I remember her as Sansa Stark on Game Of Thrones. It's so nice to see her allowed to emote again - reminds me of the first four seasons of GOT. For the rest of the seasons, as far as I can tell, she wasn't allowed to move her face.

I have no idea how many episodes this series has, there's been at least three episodes so far that I thought was the finale. I feel like it's sort of meandering on, endlessly. I'm vested enough to watch a few more episodes in hopes of Sophie Turner getting bigger scenes, or getting a final resolution to the murder. But if it goes on for much longer, I'll drop it.

Edit to add: I did watch to the end. I felt it dragged a bit there and could have used some tightening up - I felt like it was about two episodes too long. The ending was ambiguous, I guess. I think he did do it.

Downton Abbey: A New Era

I enjoy spending time with these character in their world! It's so carefree, a total escape from reality! It was fun to see how films were made in the silent film era moving to voice movies era, and the troubles and worries the change brought to actors when suddenly not only good looks were important, but having a nice, compelling voice and manner of speaking as well too. Reminded me a lot of Singing In The Rain in that. I did enjoy this movie a lot, almost as much as the first season of the tv show which has always been my favorite one.

Westworld - Season 4

Westworld's season 4 has been awesome! I did enjoy S3 as well, but it wasn't as great as the first two seasons. But season 4 is excellent! I'm so happy the series wasn't cancelled although after the end of season 3 I thought that might be the best so that it wouldn't go bad. It's interesting how Maeve has become my favorite character - that wasn't something I ever thought could happen while watching season 1; the character seemed quite rudimentary, a side character that wasn't interesting enough to become a main one but man, how wrong I was! Maeve's development has been so profound and hard won, and Thandiwe Newton has been giving an outstanding performance since her very first scene!