Political Animals 1.06.
Aug. 21st, 2012 04:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which this miniseries ends and I wonder whether Adrian Pasdar's roles have something of a flying jinx.
First off, the bad: boo, hiss on Georgia as villainess, Susan presented as having the moral high ground and Alex the jerk as a noble rescuer. I'm all for shades of grey, but you know, he did stop Georgia's stories because they slept together; we've seen him do it. And Susan lost objectivity and made herself part of the story even before having sex with Doug, so her lecturing Georgia on journalistic morality is extremely hypocritical. And frankly, the plot device of letting Susan show Georgia the letter to she can be all indignant about Georgia wanting to run it was mindboggling. Extremely disappointing for a show that had a feminist manifesto, that whole plot line.
Meanwhile, at the ranch: I called Garcetti offering Elaine the VP-post on the ticket, but didn't see his death by air plane crash coming at all. Actually given this happened to the Polish president this was the least soapish thing in the entire saga. And now it makes sense why they hired Dylan Baker for the VP role; he always gives a good villain, but his scenes had been limited that season and another actor could have done the job. If, however, they intended him as the main villain/antagonist for a possible second season, it was a good choice. Also the likelihood of Elaine beating an incumbant president of her own party if that man is the former VP who got the post by death of predecessor is that much higher. Though I hear the ratings were bad and thus I don't think we will get a second season. I can't say I'm heartbroken; I did enjoy this series, and I don't mind a good soap, but it wasn't so addictive that I absolutely want more, splendid cast aside, and also, well, without getting overly nostalgic for The West Wing which was by no means perfect, but the last scene was a blatant homage to the end of s2 (Elaine/Jed Bartlett aren't shown to say yes to the question whether they'll run because by their expression alone we can tell what the answer will be), and this rubbed in the fact that in the end in this show the soap overwhelmed the politics instead of the other way around and that's okay for one limited miniseries but less so for a continuing show dealing with politics.
All this being said? I still liked the scene. And as opposed to Alex, I didn't have the impression the show was trying to sell me Bud as better than he was at the expense of a female character, so I'm all on board with the Elaine/Bud ship of divorced for good reasons yet also still getting each other better than anyone else for good reasons coupledom. I do wish they'd have made it a bit more difficult for Elaine to manouevre the VP into not immediately taking the oath because it's more enjoyable seeing a heroine triumph if the opposition doesn't crumble at the first shot, but Sigourney Weaver as through the entire miniseries made it still believable by force of personality.
Doug: I like you a bit less for throwing a fit and blaming your mother for not understanding why you went behind her back immediately, as opposed to her showing some natural anger, but okay, crisis reactions can be over the top.
Trivia: good to know this 'verse has a female French President. This means it's neither Sarkozy nor Hollande.
In conclusion: lightweight saga with classy actors I enjoyed watching, but won't miss. And still: boo, hiss on the Georgia bashing.
First off, the bad: boo, hiss on Georgia as villainess, Susan presented as having the moral high ground and Alex the jerk as a noble rescuer. I'm all for shades of grey, but you know, he did stop Georgia's stories because they slept together; we've seen him do it. And Susan lost objectivity and made herself part of the story even before having sex with Doug, so her lecturing Georgia on journalistic morality is extremely hypocritical. And frankly, the plot device of letting Susan show Georgia the letter to she can be all indignant about Georgia wanting to run it was mindboggling. Extremely disappointing for a show that had a feminist manifesto, that whole plot line.
Meanwhile, at the ranch: I called Garcetti offering Elaine the VP-post on the ticket, but didn't see his death by air plane crash coming at all. Actually given this happened to the Polish president this was the least soapish thing in the entire saga. And now it makes sense why they hired Dylan Baker for the VP role; he always gives a good villain, but his scenes had been limited that season and another actor could have done the job. If, however, they intended him as the main villain/antagonist for a possible second season, it was a good choice. Also the likelihood of Elaine beating an incumbant president of her own party if that man is the former VP who got the post by death of predecessor is that much higher. Though I hear the ratings were bad and thus I don't think we will get a second season. I can't say I'm heartbroken; I did enjoy this series, and I don't mind a good soap, but it wasn't so addictive that I absolutely want more, splendid cast aside, and also, well, without getting overly nostalgic for The West Wing which was by no means perfect, but the last scene was a blatant homage to the end of s2 (Elaine/Jed Bartlett aren't shown to say yes to the question whether they'll run because by their expression alone we can tell what the answer will be), and this rubbed in the fact that in the end in this show the soap overwhelmed the politics instead of the other way around and that's okay for one limited miniseries but less so for a continuing show dealing with politics.
All this being said? I still liked the scene. And as opposed to Alex, I didn't have the impression the show was trying to sell me Bud as better than he was at the expense of a female character, so I'm all on board with the Elaine/Bud ship of divorced for good reasons yet also still getting each other better than anyone else for good reasons coupledom. I do wish they'd have made it a bit more difficult for Elaine to manouevre the VP into not immediately taking the oath because it's more enjoyable seeing a heroine triumph if the opposition doesn't crumble at the first shot, but Sigourney Weaver as through the entire miniseries made it still believable by force of personality.
Doug: I like you a bit less for throwing a fit and blaming your mother for not understanding why you went behind her back immediately, as opposed to her showing some natural anger, but okay, crisis reactions can be over the top.
Trivia: good to know this 'verse has a female French President. This means it's neither Sarkozy nor Hollande.
In conclusion: lightweight saga with classy actors I enjoyed watching, but won't miss. And still: boo, hiss on the Georgia bashing.
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Date: 2012-08-21 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2012-08-21 05:14 pm (UTC)