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selenakMore catching up post Holidays: so there will be one more Clone Wars Season! On the one Hand, I'm pleased. This is my era of Star Wars; not the OT, not the sequels, though I am fond of both, but for me, the prequel era is the one that touched my heart most, and The Clone Wars is my favourite incarnation of it. Incidentally, note to the sequel creators: the way The Clone Wars managed to individualize the Clones and make them sympathetic hammers home that what will happen is their tragedy as well, with the added outrage that their entire existence from artificial creation to death is basically glorified slavery. One thing that frustrated me about the sequels is that while we have in Finn one stormtrooper managing to break free, the rest are still treated as faceless plastic figures, i.e. Finn never wonders whether he could persuade some of the others and shows no hesitation to kill them once the situation arises. The Clone Wars may be a cartoon series primarily aimed at children and teenagers, but, say, the early arc in the unfinished s6 when first one and then another trooper starts to figure out the truth about what's waiting for them, and they're framed by Palpatine so they'll be hunted down by their own comrades and the Jedi, offers instead a lot of angst and heartbreaking pathos among the characters, and you believe these are people who have fought at each other's side for years. Now I know that Rex makes it into Star Wars: Rebels, but hooray one more outing for the other clones before Order 66 strikes!
On the other hand: the s5 finale in terms of Ahsoka as an individual, Ahsoka and the Jedi, as well as Ahsoka and Anakin, can hardly be topped dramatically. So I'm afraid that whatever Ahsoka's s6 story will turn out to be, it will feel anticlimactic by comparison. What I do hope for is that Filoni will put Padme's cut subplot from Revenge of the Sith about organizing parliamentary resistance against Palpatine together with Bail Organa into this last season, and maybe Ahsoka's story could interweave with this?
Also recently watched, due to it being on Netflix: season 3 of I, Zombie. Which was as entertaining as ever, though I do have some serious and not so serious complaints. Early in the season, Ravi continued the unfortunate late s2 trend of making me forget why I liked him so much by displaying an irritating case of Nice Guy Syndrome vis a vis Peyton. Thankfully, by mid season this was over with, and he got back to being an endearing character. The very last scene of the season between him and Liv was one of the show's most emotional and best and earned by three seasons of friendship and trust. This also was the first season where all of Liv's nearest and dearest knew about zombies, which simplified things a great deal by no longer forcing Liv to come up with increasingly ridiculous explanations
Speaking of alterations of the status quo, the s3 finale actually went through with the major game changer foreshadowed since the s2 finale. Which makes sense in terms of all the preceding events, though less in terms of having to suspend disbelief as to the reaction such an event would cause in anything resembling the current day US. Which reminds me: I'm usually not a "but think of the children" type of viewer, but Rob Thomas, did you have to use a nefarious scheme for your big evil finale revealed plot that could have been dreamt of by an anti vaccination nut? In the current climate?
And one more thing about the finale: I figured that Chase would turn out to be a red herring and not the ultimate big bad because Thomas used Jason Dohring to play him, but that still meant the true villain was the poc civilian woman which the narrative because it wanted to do a twist only let appear a few times rather than the white military guy who had replaced another woman as the ambiguous shady head of a zombie organization earlier as well.
On to the good stuff: other than my complaint about Ravi, I felt on board with how the Peyton-Blaine-Ravi situation ended. To wit, that Peyton didn't look like an idiot - it made sense that she was drawn to supposedly amnesiac Blaine and that she tricked him into a reveal when she considered the possibility he could be faking, that Blaine was didn't have an evil scheme in mind, he was just using the situation to enjoy a fresh start all around by concealing his memory had returned, and that his innate selfishness in this (which prevented Major and Liv from being cured in time) was what ultimately tripped him up, and that Ravi screwed up his chances with Peyton all on his own, not because of Blaine. Incidentally, given that s2 gave Blaine that quintessential attribute (in the eyes of a considerable part of any fandom) of a redeemable villain, a mean dad, I continue to be pleased by the way the show handles this, i.e. Blaine truly had a rotten childhood, but no, that doesn't mean he doesn't own all the crimes he committed as an adult, and these days he's not so much redeemed as he's neutral and willing to fight with our gang if it's to his own long term advantage (such as when the reveal of zombiedom is threatened). David Anders continues to have fun with the role. That the show later brings in the erstwhile Logan Echolls as another morally ambigous blond into one of Team Good might mean his days are numbered, though?
Clive had a good season, to the point where at times he felt like the co-lead. Given the finale's events, though, I wonder whether the show's case of the week format won't be gone or at least radically altered next season, which makes me wonder about which role he'll have then. Anyway, while we got Ravi's early season romantic woes and Major's long term social angst due to the s2 events, it's noticable that Clive, who in late s2 sacrificed a major relationship (as far as he knew forever) for friendship and the greater good, never spent much time navel-gazing but focused on the job throughout, without this feeling like he'd just forgotten what he'd lost.
Whereas with Liv it felt like the season wanted to avoid letting her react in anything other than a short scene at the end of the season opener to something enormous she had to do in the s2 finale, and that this got lampshaded in a later episode which told us she threw herself into her vision-caused alternate personalities to avoid processing might have been a rueful acknowledgment of this. If you think about how the first season took its time letting her process her zombiedom and used this as a depression metaphor, the contrast is pretty startling. Incidentally, I am relieved her third non-Major love interest did not die like Lowell and Drake, but while Justin is a likeable enough character, his entire romance with Liv felt a bit like the show was marking time because Liv won't be allowed to get back together with Major before the series finale. That we saw more of Justin bonding with Major than what drew Liv and Justin together to begin with didn't help in this regard.
All in all: nitpicks aside, I do like this show a lot, and am very curious indeed about season 4.
On the other hand: the s5 finale in terms of Ahsoka as an individual, Ahsoka and the Jedi, as well as Ahsoka and Anakin, can hardly be topped dramatically. So I'm afraid that whatever Ahsoka's s6 story will turn out to be, it will feel anticlimactic by comparison. What I do hope for is that Filoni will put Padme's cut subplot from Revenge of the Sith about organizing parliamentary resistance against Palpatine together with Bail Organa into this last season, and maybe Ahsoka's story could interweave with this?
Also recently watched, due to it being on Netflix: season 3 of I, Zombie. Which was as entertaining as ever, though I do have some serious and not so serious complaints. Early in the season, Ravi continued the unfortunate late s2 trend of making me forget why I liked him so much by displaying an irritating case of Nice Guy Syndrome vis a vis Peyton. Thankfully, by mid season this was over with, and he got back to being an endearing character. The very last scene of the season between him and Liv was one of the show's most emotional and best and earned by three seasons of friendship and trust. This also was the first season where all of Liv's nearest and dearest knew about zombies, which simplified things a great deal by no longer forcing Liv to come up with increasingly ridiculous explanations
Speaking of alterations of the status quo, the s3 finale actually went through with the major game changer foreshadowed since the s2 finale. Which makes sense in terms of all the preceding events, though less in terms of having to suspend disbelief as to the reaction such an event would cause in anything resembling the current day US. Which reminds me: I'm usually not a "but think of the children" type of viewer, but Rob Thomas, did you have to use a nefarious scheme for your big evil finale revealed plot that could have been dreamt of by an anti vaccination nut? In the current climate?
And one more thing about the finale: I figured that Chase would turn out to be a red herring and not the ultimate big bad because Thomas used Jason Dohring to play him, but that still meant the true villain was the poc civilian woman which the narrative because it wanted to do a twist only let appear a few times rather than the white military guy who had replaced another woman as the ambiguous shady head of a zombie organization earlier as well.
On to the good stuff: other than my complaint about Ravi, I felt on board with how the Peyton-Blaine-Ravi situation ended. To wit, that Peyton didn't look like an idiot - it made sense that she was drawn to supposedly amnesiac Blaine and that she tricked him into a reveal when she considered the possibility he could be faking, that Blaine was didn't have an evil scheme in mind, he was just using the situation to enjoy a fresh start all around by concealing his memory had returned, and that his innate selfishness in this (which prevented Major and Liv from being cured in time) was what ultimately tripped him up, and that Ravi screwed up his chances with Peyton all on his own, not because of Blaine. Incidentally, given that s2 gave Blaine that quintessential attribute (in the eyes of a considerable part of any fandom) of a redeemable villain, a mean dad, I continue to be pleased by the way the show handles this, i.e. Blaine truly had a rotten childhood, but no, that doesn't mean he doesn't own all the crimes he committed as an adult, and these days he's not so much redeemed as he's neutral and willing to fight with our gang if it's to his own long term advantage (such as when the reveal of zombiedom is threatened). David Anders continues to have fun with the role. That the show later brings in the erstwhile Logan Echolls as another morally ambigous blond into one of Team Good might mean his days are numbered, though?
Clive had a good season, to the point where at times he felt like the co-lead. Given the finale's events, though, I wonder whether the show's case of the week format won't be gone or at least radically altered next season, which makes me wonder about which role he'll have then. Anyway, while we got Ravi's early season romantic woes and Major's long term social angst due to the s2 events, it's noticable that Clive, who in late s2 sacrificed a major relationship (as far as he knew forever) for friendship and the greater good, never spent much time navel-gazing but focused on the job throughout, without this feeling like he'd just forgotten what he'd lost.
Whereas with Liv it felt like the season wanted to avoid letting her react in anything other than a short scene at the end of the season opener to something enormous she had to do in the s2 finale, and that this got lampshaded in a later episode which told us she threw herself into her vision-caused alternate personalities to avoid processing might have been a rueful acknowledgment of this. If you think about how the first season took its time letting her process her zombiedom and used this as a depression metaphor, the contrast is pretty startling. Incidentally, I am relieved her third non-Major love interest did not die like Lowell and Drake, but while Justin is a likeable enough character, his entire romance with Liv felt a bit like the show was marking time because Liv won't be allowed to get back together with Major before the series finale. That we saw more of Justin bonding with Major than what drew Liv and Justin together to begin with didn't help in this regard.
All in all: nitpicks aside, I do like this show a lot, and am very curious indeed about season 4.
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Date: 2018-07-26 07:01 am (UTC)Okay, if you put it like that, I'm up for another Ahsoka and Anakin scene as well. :)