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unsent_letters_exchange. The tag set is here. I found this to be a low key and stress free exchange last year, since the format - see title - makes it easy to write something plot free if you can't come up with one, so I'll probably join this year as well. Also, two of my tv fandoms of old - Babylon 5 and Alias - are options, as are my new fandoms like Star Trek: Discovery and the usual historical suspects.
The French-German tv network ARTE has put up all the episodes of Servant to the People, the political sitcom which, so newspapers have told me, made Volodymyr Zelensky famous in his comedian days - in the original language, subtitled in German or French, depending where you are - , and I've watched the first three, which strike me simiilar in tone to Armando Iannucci's brand of comedy. Seeing Kyviv as the main location in sunshine, whole and undestroyed is something else again. As are references to Putin and Lukashenko. Funny and sharp so far, with an melancholic rl subtext now.
On the other end of the media scale, Netflix has put up a Vikings spin-off, Vikings: Valhalla. Now I've stopped watching Vikings early in s5, following my policy that if you've reached the stage where consuming something, be it a book or a show, causes you far more annoyance and/or unhappiness than viewing/reading enjoyment, you should opt out instead of making yourself and ongoing fans miserable. But the spin-off so far consists only of eight episodes and is set a century later, so I thought, why not? And found I liked it. Like Vikings, it's none too fuzzy about dates (I'm no expert, but shouldn't Emma of Normandy and this Harald Sugurdson be a generation apart?) , but historical accuracy isn't what you watch it for. Most of the characters made me care about what happens to them, and hey, they include Emma of Normandy, about whom I've been intrigued since she was an off stáge but often referred to presence in Dorothy Dunnett's Macbeth novel King Hereafter! So far, she, played by Laura Berlin, is definitely my favourite. And it cracks me up that David Oakes - who was Juan Borgia in The Borgias, and George of Clarence in The White Queen yet again managed to land one of the shadiest guys of the show, though in complete contrast to Juan and George Godwin is very very competent and not prone to act first, think later. He and Emma are clearly competing for smartest person and best survivor at court, and so far, this is very entertaining to watch. (Also Canute falling for Emma because he can see she's a wily planner? *chef*s kiss*) As for the titular Vikings, Leif Erickson and sister Freydis are that rarity in historical or pseudo historical tv, siblings who neither want to kill or have sex wsith another but are mutual supportive strong allies. (One can tell Michael Hirst is no longer involved with the writing.) They also both get involved with crafty ambitous yet also well intentioned (so far) Harald. Freydis is clearly intended as the metaphorical successor of Lagertha as a warrior woman, but is her own characte, and very satisfyingly gets to do her own avenging when wronged. The mixture of scheming, double crossing and gory battles is about what you'd expect from a Vikings spin-off, and so are the relligious clashes. All in all, it's not must watch tv, but I was entertained, and will watch the next season.
unsent_letters_exchange. The tag set is here. I found this to be a low key and stress free exchange last year, since the format - see title - makes it easy to write something plot free if you can't come up with one, so I'll probably join this year as well. Also, two of my tv fandoms of old - Babylon 5 and Alias - are options, as are my new fandoms like Star Trek: Discovery and the usual historical suspects. The French-German tv network ARTE has put up all the episodes of Servant to the People, the political sitcom which, so newspapers have told me, made Volodymyr Zelensky famous in his comedian days - in the original language, subtitled in German or French, depending where you are - , and I've watched the first three, which strike me simiilar in tone to Armando Iannucci's brand of comedy. Seeing Kyviv as the main location in sunshine, whole and undestroyed is something else again. As are references to Putin and Lukashenko. Funny and sharp so far, with an melancholic rl subtext now.
On the other end of the media scale, Netflix has put up a Vikings spin-off, Vikings: Valhalla. Now I've stopped watching Vikings early in s5, following my policy that if you've reached the stage where consuming something, be it a book or a show, causes you far more annoyance and/or unhappiness than viewing/reading enjoyment, you should opt out instead of making yourself and ongoing fans miserable. But the spin-off so far consists only of eight episodes and is set a century later, so I thought, why not? And found I liked it. Like Vikings, it's none too fuzzy about dates (I'm no expert, but shouldn't Emma of Normandy and this Harald Sugurdson be a generation apart?) , but historical accuracy isn't what you watch it for. Most of the characters made me care about what happens to them, and hey, they include Emma of Normandy, about whom I've been intrigued since she was an off stáge but often referred to presence in Dorothy Dunnett's Macbeth novel King Hereafter! So far, she, played by Laura Berlin, is definitely my favourite. And it cracks me up that David Oakes - who was Juan Borgia in The Borgias, and George of Clarence in The White Queen yet again managed to land one of the shadiest guys of the show, though in complete contrast to Juan and George Godwin is very very competent and not prone to act first, think later. He and Emma are clearly competing for smartest person and best survivor at court, and so far, this is very entertaining to watch. (Also Canute falling for Emma because he can see she's a wily planner? *chef*s kiss*) As for the titular Vikings, Leif Erickson and sister Freydis are that rarity in historical or pseudo historical tv, siblings who neither want to kill or have sex wsith another but are mutual supportive strong allies. (One can tell Michael Hirst is no longer involved with the writing.) They also both get involved with crafty ambitous yet also well intentioned (so far) Harald. Freydis is clearly intended as the metaphorical successor of Lagertha as a warrior woman, but is her own characte, and very satisfyingly gets to do her own avenging when wronged. The mixture of scheming, double crossing and gory battles is about what you'd expect from a Vikings spin-off, and so are the relligious clashes. All in all, it's not must watch tv, but I was entertained, and will watch the next season.