Tuesday TV thoughts

[yendi]

If it's Wednesday, I must be ranting about Tuesday TV. Who'd have thought that Gilmore Girls would be the show I enjoyed least last night?

Spoilers Rake (one cannot maintain a garden with hoes alone, of course).


Buffy:

I liked this episode. Technically, it was just the first half of the finale. But things moved forward nicely. We finally know where Caleb gets his power from. We finally get more info on the origins of the Slayers and Watchers. We finally see Angel in Sunnydale again. We finally realize that no one in Sunnydale would recognize a scythe if it bit them in the ass.

Okay, so it wasn't perfect.

But it was still fun. Buffy -- the real Buffy -- was back this episode. Everyone was sharp and in character. Xander got wonderful lines. All major characters had at least a moment or two. Buffy kicked Übervamp ass. She kicked Caleb's ass. The Guardian was nifty until she died. Spike's whiny ass didn't bring down the show overmuch. Principle Wood was M.I.A. And we had a Rocky II Wheelchair Tribute Fight.

My only real non-scythe complaint was the overkill on the foreshadowing of Anya's death. Joss needs to know when to tone it down a notch.

One week. Then no more new Buffy. :-(


Smallville: Now this is what the show should be like. Lex and Lionel conniving against each other and everyone else. Lex's dark side starting to show through. Lex's lust for Clark coming between him and his marriage (I mean, who the fuck makes a sixteen-year-old their best man?).

Okay, it wasn't great. Pete and Chloe had ten lines between them, and the Chloe/Lana/Clark thing is getting out of hand. Although it seems as if Chloe, at least, will get a much more significant role next season, once she accepts Lionel's offer.

The show is pure cheese, so I hold it to lower standards than I do the other shows.



Gilmore Girls: Note to the WB: If I wanted to watch a fucking pilot for the "Jess and his wacky California Family Show," I'd watch it. I don't mind the actual characters -- the wacky relatives are a lot less annoying than Jess, and his annoying whiney attitude plays nicely off of them. But this episode could have had a real Lane plotline. It could have moved the buying-an-inn plotline forward. It could have had Paris in an A-plot (although she at least got some good moments). It could have furthered the Dean storyline. We might even have heard something about Sookie's pregnancy. Or even seen Kirk be a schmuck. But shit. It wasted half the fucking episode on a pilot for a wanker's spinoff. Much as I love Sherrilyn Fenn, I love the folks in Stars Hollow more.

That said, I like the forwarding of the Emily/Rory/Lorelai plotline. The financial aid one is okay. All other plots were basically backburnered.

In terms of little things, I like Jess's future step-sister. And I'm going to miss Madeline and Louise as minor characters. And I do like that the seeds for Paris to go to Yale have been sown. I wonder if the religious psycho college that Lane is off to is near New Haven? If they'd had time, I'm sure they could have mentioned it.

Comments

[shawnj.livejournal.com]

I have a Buffy nitpick. Now, granted I'm not a frequent watcher (I've only watched the first two seasons and some of the third), but one thing really irked me.

Why the hell didn't she dice Caleb's body into a thousand little bits given the chance?

[branwynelf.livejournal.com]

She probably would have if not in hormonal overdrive 'coz Angel was there and needed kissing. ;)

[astrophysicat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, chopping his head off really seemed appropriate, I mean hell she just sliced his guts, he shouldn't have even fallen that quickly.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Same reason she couldn't spare the arm-gesture to decapitate him with it when she found it, and he was scared and backing off, and she was running out of the room.

That reason, is, of course, that… uh…

That is…

Let me get back to you.

[yendi]

Same reason she couldn't spare the arm-gesture to decapitate him with it when she found it, and he was scared and backing off, and she was running out of the room.

That reason, is, of course, that… uh…

. . . she saw the preview for next week's show, and knew that Caleb had to stick around.

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Given the way he looked in that preview, I'm guessing that she DID kill him, actually, and he's more zombie than man. I mean, that black-blood-running-out-of-the-eyes look is just NOT pretty.

[yendi]

What really drove me nuts is that on the Dracula episode from Season 5, she made it perfectly clear that she knew that big bads (and even medium bads) don't stay dead the first time. She's not a newbie slayer anymore.

[skylion.livejournal.com]

This is just what I was saying to the TV the whole time. "Alright, chop his head off, chop his freekin' head off. Now the leg, the leg. Arrrrgh!!!"
Most of the weekly crowd watching at our place was hoping for the same. Ugh....bad plot pacing.

[bobthegoat.livejournal.com]

I agree with the scythe thing. I guess the prop department didn't really get the script. Or they're illiterate (irony alert: I spelled they're as their the first time around. damn karma).

Didn't know about Anya's death. Damn. Still placing bets on whether or not Buffy survives (my money's on no).

Definitely a better episode than the last few...

[piratejenny.livejournal.com]

Oh, Buffy'll survive. If she doesn't, there couldn't be a movie. Another movie? You know what I mean.

[auryn29a.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why it's called a scythe either. But it did give me a thrill since I had my issues of Fray out in front of me when I was watching it. "Look! See! Same weapon! Ooh! Aah!"

I don't think I can forgive Dawn for taking out Miss Kitty Fantastico.

My only real non-scythe complaint was the overkill on the foreshadowing of Anya's death. Joss needs to know when to tone it down a notch.

Umm...buh?

[bobthegoat.livejournal.com]

Damn! I knew that thing looked familiar.
huh...

[yendi]

My only real non-scythe complaint was the overkill on the foreshadowing of Anya's death. Joss needs to know when to tone it down a notch.

Umm...buh?

"Oh, Anya. You'll live through all this while I die. You're a survivor, etc."

"Oh, I now love humanity. I kinda like being one of them. And humans are always so surprised when they die, even though they know they're mortal."

etc.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Why am I always the only person who comments on Gilmore Girls?

Yeah, I was totally annoyed by all the Jess crap. Enough already. And Clint had the same thought about the book!

The financial aid plotline ... I don't think it's making any sense. If she has the capital to start buying an inn (which it looks like she'll give up for Rory's tuition), the $75,000 gift wouldn't have mattered anyway. And there are merit scholarships--quite a few of them, and Rory obviously more than qualifies. The writers on this show are totally incompetent when it comes to college issues; it's like none of them went, or have kids in college. I hope they do some research before Rory actually starts attending :p

Lane needs to turn 18, give her mom the finger, and run off to UCSC or something.

[mizdandylynn.livejournal.com]

Total agreement on the Jess storyline... bah... Boooooringgggg!!
I want to see Lane's mom get a romance or something... and can we please stop having Lorelei hopping back and forth between the same men? How about they find some other way to ensnare the elder Gilmores without having it be about money?

/me goes to put her bib on to drool over Luke once more....

Re:

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Lane's mom in love. That's a scary thought. It's like Satan dating or something. ;p I swear, that woman is the Antichrist.

Re:

[mizdandylynn.livejournal.com]

Yeah.. but think of all the things they could do with her personality... they could... make her softer to someone.. but same otherwise.. and watch her switch back and forth until her head is spinning like a demon....

Re:

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe she could be distracted just long enough for Lane to go to Columbia or something. :p

Have they ever told us what happened to Lane's dad? (Clint says "Mrs Kim ate him!" but I don't think so ...)

Re:

[mizdandylynn.livejournal.com]

I think he might have been a bit tough and stringy.. running from all her verbage. Maybe he ran away to join the Korean Foreign Legion.. and will mystically return one day...

The Guardian was nifty until she died

[skylion.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with you on alot of stuff, but nifty isn't it, here. This was one of the biggest smoking plots holes I have ever seen outside of ST:TNG; which can only result in the use of what my old group of friends used to call 'splackle', or plot spackle. Yep, just slap on any old gobbeldygoop, anything too eat up another five minutes of air time. To be serious, I find this whole "We have been hiding" routine a very poor point. Good guys don't just hide when the job is getting done. But this is all par for the course for Buffy.