Adolescence: British miniseries in four episodes, conceived and written by Stephen Graham (who also plays one of the key roles) and Jack Thorne, directed by Philip Barantini, who, as the review of the Guardian put it, must be a glutton for one take punishment, because one very noteworthy element of this miniseries is that each of these four episodes is filmed in one uncut take. Now despite watching a lot of movies and tv, long takes aren't something I immediately notice, and sometimes only after they were pointed out by someone else, but not here, because the long take that starts with the episode and ends with the episode (meaning each of the four episodes are "in real time" is thematically highly relevant and not a fancy gimmick - it really heightens that sense of claustrophobia and intimacy, feeling locked up with the characters it depicts.

The cast is terrific, both the adults and the young cast, with the three outstanding teens being fifteen years old Owen Cooper playing thirteen years old Jamie Miller (who "only" appears on screen in two episodes but is much talked about in the other two), Amelie Pease who plays his older sister Lisa and Fatima Bojang as Jade, the best friend of Katie, the girl whose murder kicks off the plot. Now this miniseries is explicitly not a whodunit - the only episode in which that is even a question is the first one, when we follow Jamie being arrested in the povs of both the leading detectives and his father (played by Stephen Graham) who is horrified and of course believes his son's "I didn't do anything" denials - but a "whydunit" - i.e. why would a thirteen years old boy kill his female classmate of the same age? ( More somewhat spoilery observations follow. )

Daredevil ?.04: Okay, the "We build this city" school choir was hysterical, and had me giggling for hours afterwards. On the more serious side, the spoilery encounter was superbly played by both actors.

Wheel of Time 3.04.: Awesome aesthetics. ( Vague spoilers to follow. )

Aside from being RL busy and getting the daily horror show from the US like everyone else, I did watch a couple of fictiional things. My collected reviews:

Zero Day (Miniseries, Netflix): solidly suspenseful, but ultimately fails at what it wants to be, i.e. a 70s style political thriller. Not least because it was to be a political thriller without taking a stand in rl politics. Also, there are a couple of moments where you glimpse what could have been a really good work of fiction but then the narrative swerves from what it has seemingly set up to a far less interesting turn. Starring Robert de Niro as retired President George Mullen, the last President, we're told, to command bi partisan respect. When there is a cyber attack that shuts down all online traffic on every device in the US for a solid minute, with a threat of more to come, he's put in charge of a commission to investigate the causes. Said commission is given even more extra powers and habeas corpus suspensions than the Patriot Act after 9/11, and the reason why George Mullen gets appointed by his successor, who is black and female and played by Angela Bassett, is because only he is trusted to not abuse those powers. Other players include an evil tech billionaire (female), a slimy Mr. Speaker (male), George's estranged daughter, a Congresswoman, and an populist influencer who has Tucker Carlson's mannerisms but a pseudo left wing vocabulary. No party affiliations are mentioned for anyone, but it's pretty obvious the Speaker is supposed to be Republican and George's daughter a liberal Democrat. Emphasis on "supposed", because like I said, the miniseries shies away from any actual politics. We're told, repeatedly, that the country is deeply divided and nothing can be done anymore, but no one ever mentions issues the country is divided about. There are the usual red herrings while George investigates - and like I said, technically the miniseries is solidly suspenseful, and de Niro is good in the part - but each time the show could rise above avarage, there are these frustrating turns. For example: ( Spoilers ensue. )

But what really pushed it from "suspenseful with flaws" into "failed" territory for me was the ending( . Spoilers are willing to accept stories with witches and ghosts, but not THIS type of fairy tale. ) In conclusion, you can skip this one, despite some fine actors present.

Paradise (First season, Disney + outside of the US which is where I am, Hulu inside the US): Now we're talking. This one, otoh, does everything right. It's not just suspenseful, it's twisty, with lots of interesting characters whose motivations make sense. And excellent actors, including Sterling K. Brown in the lead, James Marsden as the second most important male role, Julianne Nicholson in the most important female role and Sarah Shahi. If you're unspoiled, which I was, the pilot first makes you believe it's just a murder mystery (it opens with a dead body, so that's no spoiler) with some political trappings since the murdered man is a (former?) President, and our lead part of the team of Secret Agents responsible for his security and inevitably both an investigator and a suspect. But before the pilot is over, the first of many great twist lands, because the setting is revealed: no, we're not in some idyllic town where the President has retired after his term of office, we're really ( in a very different spoilery genre ) And more questions pop up through the season as some are answered. The mixture of twists and reveals is handled just right. Whle Xavier remains the lead throughout, the way the episodes give the central spotlight to a different character in addition to him in each episode, thus introducing the ensemble who each have their own stories and motivations reminded me a bit of Lost. As did the way the interlocking stories sometimes return to the same scene(s) from different povs.

Now, this series when it tackles politics doesn't shy away of actually going deeper than just "we're so divided, but surely a patriotic speech and an outside threat will fix it". Here, too, we have a shady female tech billionaire. (Btw, I'm not complaining that we get tech sisters instead of tech bros in those thrillers. The women might be evil, but they are far more human and interesting than You Know W'ho. Well, Samantha aka Sinatra is, not so much the lady in "Zero Day". The reason why Sam(antha) is code named "Sinatra" is because of a cruel but not inaccurate joke Cal's (also billionaire) father made, telling his son "you think you're Dean Martin, but you're not, you're just Peter Lawford, only in the Rat Pack because of who you're related to". Sinatra is the one with the actual power in the top hierarchy, but while she's the season's main antagonist (not the killer, though), we also get an entire episode focused on her early on (second or third episode, I think), learning her backstory and what made her who she is. This series gets the difference between explaining and excusing so very right, it's awesome. And each time I was afraid it would go for the easy way out - ( as with a spoilery fear ) it didn't. And everyone was so human, including those with limited screentime.

Sterling K. Brown delivered a fantastic lead performance, and there wasn't a weak link in the cast, including the younger actors. And the last but one episode where we finally saw how ( a spoilery momentous event took place ) And despite the ( spoilery ) genre, as many examples of people following their better nature as there was of people following their worst. In conclusion: this one is a must.

Daredevil: Born Again (episodes 1 + 2): Which technically is a first season, except it's not, it's a fourth season of the Netflix show, now produced by the House of Mouse. Now as opposed to Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, Matt Murdoch and friends actually finished their Netflix show in a better place than where they started from, with the Netflix showing having used its third season for a reconciliation arc, so I was in two minds when I heard about this sequel. Because a state of happiness does not Daredevil drama make, so it was a given things woiuld have to get worse again. Otoh I was delighted by the Matt cameo in Spider-Man: No Way Home and his turning up in She-Hulk, and also liked The Other Guy's (to put only vaguely spoilery) appearances in Hawkeye and Echo, so concluded I was in the market for this now show.

( Spoilers for the first two episodes ensue. )

Dear Writer,

this exchange will be a highlight in my Februar, and I'm very grateful to you for creating something for me in a fandom we share. My prompts are just that, prompts, not absolutes; if you have an idea that doesn't fit with any of them, but features (some of) the characters I asked for, I'll love it with added joyful surprise.

General DNWs:

A/B/O - if you want to write a werewolf AU for any of the canons I nominated, be my guest, but I'm really not into this particular type of story -, infantilisation, golden showers. Character bashing. If the characters in question canonically loathe someone, you can of course include this, but I think you know the difference between that and having all characters agree about how terrible X is. Rape, unless it's canon and you want to explore how Character Y deals with the aftermath, or something like that.

General likes:

Character exploration, characters helping each other recover from trauma, messed up and/or co-dependent family relationships, witty banter, friendship against the odds, the occasional light moment in a darker story or conversely some serious character stuff thrown into a comedy fic.

Treats: are very welcome.

( 18th Century RPF )

( Highlander: The Series )


( Agatha All Along )


( Black Sails )

( Star Wars: Ahsoka )

A first few Yuletide recs:


Agatha All Along:

Smart and Powerful: in which Jen encounters Agatha for the first time in the early 20th century. Banter, UST and foiled murderous intentions ensue.


Dune:

Adam's Rib: in which Irulan attempts to interview Paul for her histories between Dune and Dune Messiah. (It works for the Villeneuve movies as well until we get the third one, at least.) Very plausible take on these two and what they do and don't share, having grown up as the first born of great houses with Bene Gesserit training.


The Godfather:

Valediction: Tom Hagen and Connie Corleone after Sonny's death.


Macbeth:

The Future in the Instant: Lady Macbeth makes a choice, which involves talking to her husband at a key point of the narrative.


North and South:

Plum Pudding & Clustered Grapes: Margeret wants to host a Christmas dinner for the workers. No one else thinks this is a good idea...


The Odyssey:

The Hekubiad: In which Hecuba did make it to Ithaka post Troy, and provides us with her own pov on ensuing events.

Roma Sub Rosa Series - Steven Saylor

Sub Rosa: Saylor's take on Lucius Sergius Catilina was for me one of the most captivating elements of the book series, and this short story captures a lot of why, as we get a glimpse on Catilina and Meto shortly before the final battle.

The week: happened. I'm still ping-ponging between horror, disgust, "rage, rage against the dying of the light" whenever I'm thinking about it, but it's bloody exhausting, and we need to gather emotional strength for what's ahead. So I treasure reminders of humanity in the better sense, of resilience, kindness, compassion, which we're also capable of. Real or fannish. Which is why I offer this tiny package of links:

Lord of the Rings/The Rings of Power:

Rivendell: The survivors of Ost-in-Edhil have found the hidden valley of Imladris. How long can this safety last? A lovely, short and poignant story about Elrond after one cataclysm, not knowing whether the next one is around the corner, doing his best for the survivors and finding it in him to carry on.

Now, one of several reasons why I've enjoyed RoP as much as I did was that Bear McCreary is writing gorgeous music for it. ((And I actually used to skip the songs when reading Tolkien back in my younger days.) Here are some of his most beautiful compositions for the show, Poppy's song This Wandering Day from season 1, and Old Tom Bombadil (lyrics: JRRT), both in the original versions from the show and in the covers by Rachel Hardy.

This Wandering Day (original)

This Wandering Day Cover by Rachel Hardy

Old Tom Bombadil Original

Old Tom Bombadil Cover by Rachel Hardy

(I'm not quoting Gandalf-to-Frodo this time around, I did that already in 2016, but I'm thinking it. I am also thinking of Celebrimbor-to-Galadriel, the one from the finale.)

From Middle Earth to Agatha All Along:


The Ballad of the Witches Road, live performed by the cast at D23. Which I didn't watch pre show as I didn't want to spoil myself, but it's amazing how they are in character in this performance.

Memories that never fade away: ( post show story with spoilery description. )

Star Trek:Jeri Taylor has died. I associate her mostly with Voyager and Janeway - who was very much her creation -, but she did get her start in TNG and wrote The Drumhead, which to this day remains one of my favourite episodes. (Also a good example of why one episode with this basic premise works and another doesn't, when compared to a season 1 of Battlestar Galactica episode. In both cases, an actual act of sabotage happens and the investigation escalates to a MacCarthy-esque (as we said back in the day; this was before the last two decades, where more modern comparisons would apply) paranoia exercise, with civil liberties being dispensed with left, right and center, until it's the show's leading man on the dock. Here are my two main reasons why Jeri Taylor's version works for me better than Ron Moore's does: 1) in the TNG episode, one of the people on team Dispense with Civil Liberties In This Investigation is Worf, i.e. a sympathetic, heroic regular. Who doesn't snap out of it until late in the game. Whereas the BSG episode has only unsympathetic people on Team Paranoia, and our heroes holding firm. (Well, this is season 1. In later seasons....) Which robs the episode of some of it power and point that The Drumhead makes, i.e. that you can be full of good intentions and in still let your belief in "in times of danger, we have to dispense with the niceties and get our hands dirty for the greater good" drive you to a place where you do something unjustifiable. There is no magic protection against it by virtue of being a good person. The other better writing choice is that the original defendant in The Drumhead is a half Romulan whom the audience doesn't know, whereas as far as I recall, in BSG the ones on the lines are two sympathetic recurring characters. The difference is that Picard and friends have no more idea whether or not the half Romulan is guilty than the audience does. The emotional stakes are simply easier if it's someone we know and like getting accused from the start. So yeah: Jeri Taylor, I loved that episode.

Speaking of female showrunners, here's an interview with WandaVision and Agatha All Along show runner Jac Schaeffer about the latest episode. I rewatched some of WandaVision since we have to wait for another week for the Agatha All Along finale, and I have to say it holds up really well, and my two problems with the finale aren't really that heavy anymore. For external reasons, in a way. Meaning: stuff not in the show itself but what came after. What was most bothering me during my original watch was Monica's line in the finale where she told Wanda ( spoilery things ) I no longer think that, not least ( because of spoilery things )

Something else that watching Agatha All Along and WandaVision back to back hammered home to me is that Jac Schaeffer really excells at creating Marvel shows with multiple female roles that simultanously work as acting tour de force showcases. Elizabeth Olsen in none of the MCU movies has the chance to showcase the sheer variety she does in WandaVision, but as much as the show is built around her, it also offer a meaty character driven storyline for Monica Rambeau (who essentially gets (re-)introduced here as an adult character, does a great job with Darcy Lewis (a better one than the later Thor movies, imo) as a supporting character, and of course introduces Agatha as a great new MCU villain. Which isn't to say the male roles are background noise - Paul Bettany as Vision(s) also gets more to do, acting wise, than in any MCU movie save perhaps in his original appearance in Age of Ultron, and my rewatch had me paying more attention to the kids for obvious reasons, so I noticed ( one scene in particular ) which might have given Ms Schaeffer the idea to ( Read more... ) Also, the flashback to Agatha and her original coven and mother in Salem was especially interesting to me regarding the question as to whether or not Agatha can control her power when attacked by another witch. ( And the answer is spoilery. )

In which we get the backstory of *redacted*

( Spoilers are MCUs very own Dybbuk )

( Agatha All Along 1.04 )

( Rings of Power 2.08 )

Rings of Power 2.05 and 2.06: In which things go really bad for dwarves and (some) Numenorians, but really well for Sauron.

( Spoilers really want to surpass Feanor )

Agatha All Along: Episodes 1.1. and 1.2 A very enjoyable start. Keep it up, Disney, and Secret Invasion might be forgiven.

( Spoilers really want to leave Westview )

This year's Unsent Letters ficathon has gone live. I couldn't participate, but I've been enjoying reading through the collection. Here are some favourites, and you'll notice it was a year of crossovers:


Buffy/Highlander: Watchers : in ye olde days of my early fandoms, decades ago, I remember there were quite a few crossovers between Highlander: The Series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and not just because of the fact both shows feature a secret organisation called "The Watchers" monitoring the supernatural folk of which the titular hero(ine) is a part, so finding this made me feel all nostalgic. It's a good take on the trope in its own right, with perfect Giles and Joe Dawson voices. Very enjoyable.


Elementary/Doctor Strange (MCU): A Strange Correspondence . In which it turns out Joan Watson and Stephen Strange spent a few years in med school together, and they're living in the same city, so when he needs a good detective, he knows whom to ask. It wasn't until I actually finished the story that I recalled the "Cumberbatch and Miller both played Sherlock Holmes in a modern adaptation at the same time" factor, and it's because this story isn't about that, there's no winking at the audience because of the casting. Instead, we get what feels to me a very ic series of exchanges in various media between Strange and Joan, and Strange and Sherlock, and I smiled and wonder whether I will ever have the time for an Elementary rewatch because it was a show with such lovely character work, and I'm still deeply fond of it. Darth Real Life being hot on my heels, it might be a good long while, but in the meantime, there's good fanfic like this.

Doctor Who: Until I see you again: in which Jo Grant, living her best life, writes to the Doctor, every now and then, through the decades, and the author captures her voice both from her original appearances and that of older Jo as seen in The Sarah Jane Adventures perfectly. I also loved the choice of Doctor who finally gets the letters and writes back.

Jane Eyre: Letters and Articles: which to me felt like a Wilkie Collins take on a Charlotte Bronte novel - the story does a great job both with the letters Jane writers to her former teacher Miss Temple, and with the various articles and their officious Victorian tone. I felt charmed, and also now curious about Miss Temple's post Lowood life in a way I never was before.