Quick musing of shows.

[rogueslayer452]

Game of Thrones: I didn't watch the last episode, though I got the gist of what happened. I'm just waiting for the next episode because THE BEAR PIT and DANY. ♥

Hannibal: Everyone should be watching this show. I'm not just saying this because it's dangerously on the verge of not getting renewed (which I really hope it does), but also because it's a very, very good show, and very gorgeous too. Grotesquely gorgeous, in fact. Even if this isn't your preferred genre, it's still rather fascinating to watch. Someone said that it's very dreamlike, and indeed it is. Also, the best part about it is that you already know who Hannibal is and what he does. Everyone else around him is completely oblivious so it's just a matter of inside jokes with himself and the audience (ex. "It's always nice to have friends over for dinner.")

Defiance: Continues to be amazing. Also another show people should be watching if you aren't already. I pretty much love everything about the Tarr family, Stahma in particular because she is just so cunning and manipulative in a very calm, polite way. If she were to play the game of thrones, she would win hands down.

Elementary: Continues to be happy-making. JOAN AND SHERLOCK = FOREVER CHILDREN AND ADORABLE BFFS. ♥_♥ And we get Irene Alder this week! :D

Doctor Who: I haven't watched anything passed the Christmas episode, to be honest. It just hasn't really enthused me as it used to. I'm thinking once Clara's identity is revealed that will determine whether I will continue watching or not.

Comments

[silverusagi]

Re: the comment above about them not revealing all of Clara this season: Ugh, REALLY? They haven't progressed with her mystery at all, and the episodes have been sort of blah, mystery aside. I want the reveal and then they can spend story lines after that sorting it out.

HANNIBAL. OMG YES. I can't shut up about this show. I've written more about it than I have anything else lately. It's just good on so many levels. The main draw for me is that Hannibal is allowed to be the worst. I'm just sick of redemption stories, and you know you won't be getting that here because the end is already written. His 'softer side' is drugs and brainwashing, and that's when he LIKES you. A compelling bad guy who's is actually bad, yet deep and complex, without being a stock psycho, or an 'endearing' type of evil (snarky, etc), or the bad guy you love to hate. It's very interesting and I suspect very hard to pull off.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I want the reveal and then they can spend story lines after that sorting it out.

It's sort of my annoyance too, if it's true. Because they've been making such a big deal about her reveal and about when it finally happens for months now, and if they don't actually deliver on that front it's gonna be a huge letdown.

A compelling bad guy who's is actually bad, yet deep and complex, without being a stock psycho, or an 'endearing' type of evil (snarky, etc), or the bad guy you love to hate. It's very interesting and I suspect very hard to pull off.

Agreed so hard.

Like, I do like redemption arcs but I think I prefer them to characters who are mostly morally ambiguous and live in that gray area. Characters who are straight up villains, who operate by a twisted code and who are genuinely irredeemable but also have a complexity in their own right are much more compelling than having some kind of redemption arc for them. We all know the outcome of Hannibal, so seeing this is much more fascinating to watch. I can imagine it being tough to pull off convincingly without going into those common tropes of villains, which is why I think this is something special to NOT CANCEL because it gives us something different in this sense.

[silverusagi]

I don't mind redemption arcs in some cases, but they seem to be running rampant in the shows I watch. Like TVD. Klaus was the biggest of the big bads, and now, while he's not specifically been 'redeemed', they've made him soft in order to keep him around the main cast. Then there's Meg on SPN, who had to turn good at the end or something. Because bad guys are only interesting if they suddenly turn good.

But I suppose from a narrative perspective, it's interesting. If you're a bad guy, you basically have two options. Turn good and live, or eventually be killed off. Hannibal gets neither of those. Even Dexter, which is the closest "RL" analogy show (not supernatural), has Dexter questioning his nature and wondering if he could have been normal, trying to stop killing at points, etc. And that totally works for Dexter. But it's just so amazing to have a show where the bad guy is a main character who's doing none of those things, a killer who is never going to have an existential crisis to try to make up for all the people that he killed. Who we KNOW is going to get caught, yet there is still tension. That's the amazing thing.