Courtesy of streaming: shows marathoned
Jan. 31st, 2018 02:15 pmMarathoned in recent months:
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, first season: in a word, living up to its title. The heroine is indeed marvelous, most of the characters around her are endearing in varying degrees but always entertaining, the scripts are witty, and the overall premise of the season – 1950s New York housewife suddenly finding herself sans husband and home starts to strike out on her own as stand-up comic – is delivered with verve. It’s a show that passes the Bechdel test in every episode without even trying, not least because of the key relationship between Miriam „Midge“ Maisel, our heroine, and Susie Myerson, who runs a bar/improv stage and, spotting Midge’s talent, wants to become her manager. Ideal if you’re looking for smart entertainment without violence but with a (comic) punch.
Wynona Earp, season 2: continues to remind me of 1990s fantasy shows in its mixture of cheesiness and emotional power. I do have some nitpicks: ( which are spoilery. )
All this being said: still loved the season, everyone’s relationships developing further, the flashbacks with their new intel on pre-demon Bobo, and the general mixture of humor and drama. Keep at it, show!
Lastly, because watching Discovery made me hungry for more Star Trek again, I decided to give Enterprise another shot. To recapitulate: originally watched the first three episodes s1, was not impressed and dropped it, years later watched the entire fourth and final season at![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bimo‘s recommendation who also said it’s more or less its own thing, and I did like the fourth season, though not so much I was motivated to watch the rest of the show. Now I’m well into s1 and am happy to report that Archer, whom I found insufferable for the first three eps back then (still do during those eps; he wasn’t the only reason why I didn’t watch the show, but he certainly was one of them), later on becomes tolerable. (I’m prepared for this to change again later as I was warned s3 is when post 9/11 syndrome strikes in the writing.) And I do like the rest of the crew, plus the first season’s emphasis on exploration. (Had a weird moment when I realised the sight of the Klingons in their post TOS, pre-Discovery design Space Viking glory made me feel downright nostalgic, and the Klingons were never favourites of mine, but still – oh, for the days when the Klingon actors weren’t entirely covered in latex!) It’s not a series that captures me the way Discovery managed to once we were in 1.4 or 1.5. territory, but the first ENT season actually holds up reasonably well when compared to such duds as TNG’s first season (TNG together with DS9 is my overall favourite Trek, but I don’t think any TNG fan in the world will claim that the first season was good.) T’Pol being stuck with the cat suit, well, what else is new. (As has been observed several times, you can tell that Discovery is the first Trek show ever with a female costume designer.) There even are some not predictable episode endings, as with the last one I watched, with its emphasis on Dr. Phlox.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, first season: in a word, living up to its title. The heroine is indeed marvelous, most of the characters around her are endearing in varying degrees but always entertaining, the scripts are witty, and the overall premise of the season – 1950s New York housewife suddenly finding herself sans husband and home starts to strike out on her own as stand-up comic – is delivered with verve. It’s a show that passes the Bechdel test in every episode without even trying, not least because of the key relationship between Miriam „Midge“ Maisel, our heroine, and Susie Myerson, who runs a bar/improv stage and, spotting Midge’s talent, wants to become her manager. Ideal if you’re looking for smart entertainment without violence but with a (comic) punch.
Wynona Earp, season 2: continues to remind me of 1990s fantasy shows in its mixture of cheesiness and emotional power. I do have some nitpicks: ( which are spoilery. )
All this being said: still loved the season, everyone’s relationships developing further, the flashbacks with their new intel on pre-demon Bobo, and the general mixture of humor and drama. Keep at it, show!
Lastly, because watching Discovery made me hungry for more Star Trek again, I decided to give Enterprise another shot. To recapitulate: originally watched the first three episodes s1, was not impressed and dropped it, years later watched the entire fourth and final season at
bimo‘s recommendation who also said it’s more or less its own thing, and I did like the fourth season, though not so much I was motivated to watch the rest of the show. Now I’m well into s1 and am happy to report that Archer, whom I found insufferable for the first three eps back then (still do during those eps; he wasn’t the only reason why I didn’t watch the show, but he certainly was one of them), later on becomes tolerable. (I’m prepared for this to change again later as I was warned s3 is when post 9/11 syndrome strikes in the writing.) And I do like the rest of the crew, plus the first season’s emphasis on exploration. (Had a weird moment when I realised the sight of the Klingons in their post TOS, pre-Discovery design Space Viking glory made me feel downright nostalgic, and the Klingons were never favourites of mine, but still – oh, for the days when the Klingon actors weren’t entirely covered in latex!) It’s not a series that captures me the way Discovery managed to once we were in 1.4 or 1.5. territory, but the first ENT season actually holds up reasonably well when compared to such duds as TNG’s first season (TNG together with DS9 is my overall favourite Trek, but I don’t think any TNG fan in the world will claim that the first season was good.) T’Pol being stuck with the cat suit, well, what else is new. (As has been observed several times, you can tell that Discovery is the first Trek show ever with a female costume designer.) There even are some not predictable episode endings, as with the last one I watched, with its emphasis on Dr. Phlox.
