Too Much Sunday TV
Apr. 2nd, 2012 10:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shipperx* I missed Once Upon a Time because I was watching HBO, which was playing "Bridesmaids". I know that Bridesmaids was a hit, but honestly, I was quite meh about it. I don't enjoy toilet humor or humiliation humor too much. I'll watch "Once" when it pops up OnDemand.
* Game of Thrones... First of all, that black raven cawing during the HBO 'up next' sends my dog into a tizzy of barking. She really hates that raven. :)
On to actual episode stuff behind the cut:
* Joffrey really is a useless little shit. He has no limits. He insults his mother (which I don't have a lot of sympathy for Cersei, but she is Joffrey's mother. He at least should respect her). He insults his grandfather (that's a bad idea). He's clueless about Tyrion. He basically has not one redeeming quality. It's not just that he's vile, it's that he's dumb and vile. That said, I'm not certain that he ordered the slaughter of the innocents. It could have been Cersei, as Littlefinger bringing up the bastards may have moved her to protect her son's claim to the throne.
However, most of the time the person who you think did something in GOT isn't actually the person that did it (although they may as well be because the cause and effect will have long since passed before they reveal the true culprit). The 'think she didn't but she didn't" seems particularly true of Cersei (which I don't know whether that speaks better of her than her reputation or worse, because she'd actually be more intelligent if she were behind some of the things that she isn't behind.) That said, I don't actually remember who ordered the slaughter of the innocents. I'm thinking it played a bit more 'off stage' in the books because I remember the implication of it, but I don't remember exactly how it came about.
Based purely on the show, my guess would be that it was Joffrey.
* I find it hard to believe that Petyr Baelish tipped his hand to Cersie. However, given the fact that the note about Twincest has already been spent around the kingdom, I guess it was now useless information and it was perhaps better to make it sound as though he's known and kept it to himself, making him appear to have some intelligence to Cersei but not so much intelligence that she fears him (because Cersei has enough paranoia to see virtually anything as a threat.)
* Myrcella sure looks as though she's grown. I barely recognized her and wondered whether she was the same little girl as last year.
* Tyrion rocks, but then he usually does. I alwalys appreciated that he alone had compassion for Sansa.
* I noted that that Samwell's awful dad had hooked up with the Tyrells who are supporting Renly's claim to the throne.
* It also somewhat amused me--for no reason--that Dany depemds on Jorah Mormount while Jon depends on Jorah's dad, Jeor. (I'm not sure why that amused me this ep but it did).
* Robb really should listen to his mother a bit more. Cat gets a lot of hate from fandom because of her mistakes such as seizing Tyrion last season, but sometimes it feels like she can't win or is doomed as Cassandra because even when she's right it does little good. And even though she says she wants to go home to Bran and Rickon she is so often blamed by fandom for not doing so (personally I place no blame on her for not returning to Winterfell more quickly. She's caught in a war, everything is going to hell around her. She has one son and two daughters in danger while Bran is home with Maester Luwin who actually is an excellent tutor who is teaching Bran well. Now, Rickon, on the other hand... who the hell ever knows what's up with Rickon?!
* Dany's dragons looked cool.
* The direwolf confrontation looked fake, but I liked the Robb/Jaime scene (that didn't exist in the books. But given the POV characters, there's no reason to think it couldn't have happened even if we didn't know about it, which is a hallmark of a good insert scene).
* Melisandre has clearly been working on her resistance to ioccaine powder [/Princess Bride reference]
* And did I mention that Joffrey is a shit?
Mad Men
* I laughed at Pete getting the jump on Roger.
* I hope that Peggy didn't make a mistake (and that new copywriter looks familiar. Not sure why. It's bugging me).
* I noticed that on the dinner when the Heinz wife said talking business was boring, Megan agreed but didn't look like she agreed.
* Megan listening to the commercials also seems to indicate that she actually does have some interest in her job even as she sort of coasted to her position on Don's coattails... which is why I bristle a bit at people who say that Megan is a Mary Sue. No. She isn't. She's actually supposed to have good and bad points. She has a brain, but she did get a promotion by marrying her boss. She wants to do her job, but swans in at 11am and leaves at 3pm. She married Don because he looked great on paper (and, honestly, he looks great) but that generation gap is going to cause trouble. And I was actually suprised last week at how well she had Don's number sexually, so she isn't as naive as she initially looked. Plus... she must be driving Betty insane
* Speaking of Betty, I felt sorry for her this week. I know that the writers were trying to cover the fact that when filming started January Jones was 8months pregnant, but jeebus, what they did to her was awful. I felt really sorry for her having gained weight and clearly (still) being depressed.
* I did laugh last week at Don referring to her a Morticia,m though. Looking at that house, it's like Betty has moved into an earlier time period. I was struck by how --other than the pink applicances -- her kitchen looked like something out of the 1930s. And the house, while having amazing woodwork, looked like a Victorian coffin. That said, I'm sure her Victorian fainting couch looks infinitely more appropriate in that house than the 1960s suburban living room she had before her divorce.
* Also, Don really has lost his bead on the culture if he thought he had a hope in hell of talking the Stones into doing a commerical for Heinz. Seriously, Don, you have to drag your head out the sand. The culture is passing you by.
* Game of Thrones... First of all, that black raven cawing during the HBO 'up next' sends my dog into a tizzy of barking. She really hates that raven. :)
On to actual episode stuff behind the cut:
* Joffrey really is a useless little shit. He has no limits. He insults his mother (which I don't have a lot of sympathy for Cersei, but she is Joffrey's mother. He at least should respect her). He insults his grandfather (that's a bad idea). He's clueless about Tyrion. He basically has not one redeeming quality. It's not just that he's vile, it's that he's dumb and vile. That said, I'm not certain that he ordered the slaughter of the innocents. It could have been Cersei, as Littlefinger bringing up the bastards may have moved her to protect her son's claim to the throne.
However, most of the time the person who you think did something in GOT isn't actually the person that did it (although they may as well be because the cause and effect will have long since passed before they reveal the true culprit). The 'think she didn't but she didn't" seems particularly true of Cersei (which I don't know whether that speaks better of her than her reputation or worse, because she'd actually be more intelligent if she were behind some of the things that she isn't behind.) That said, I don't actually remember who ordered the slaughter of the innocents. I'm thinking it played a bit more 'off stage' in the books because I remember the implication of it, but I don't remember exactly how it came about.
Based purely on the show, my guess would be that it was Joffrey.
* I find it hard to believe that Petyr Baelish tipped his hand to Cersie. However, given the fact that the note about Twincest has already been spent around the kingdom, I guess it was now useless information and it was perhaps better to make it sound as though he's known and kept it to himself, making him appear to have some intelligence to Cersei but not so much intelligence that she fears him (because Cersei has enough paranoia to see virtually anything as a threat.)
* Myrcella sure looks as though she's grown. I barely recognized her and wondered whether she was the same little girl as last year.
* Tyrion rocks, but then he usually does. I alwalys appreciated that he alone had compassion for Sansa.
* I noted that that Samwell's awful dad had hooked up with the Tyrells who are supporting Renly's claim to the throne.
* It also somewhat amused me--for no reason--that Dany depemds on Jorah Mormount while Jon depends on Jorah's dad, Jeor. (I'm not sure why that amused me this ep but it did).
* Robb really should listen to his mother a bit more. Cat gets a lot of hate from fandom because of her mistakes such as seizing Tyrion last season, but sometimes it feels like she can't win or is doomed as Cassandra because even when she's right it does little good. And even though she says she wants to go home to Bran and Rickon she is so often blamed by fandom for not doing so (personally I place no blame on her for not returning to Winterfell more quickly. She's caught in a war, everything is going to hell around her. She has one son and two daughters in danger while Bran is home with Maester Luwin who actually is an excellent tutor who is teaching Bran well. Now, Rickon, on the other hand... who the hell ever knows what's up with Rickon?!
* Dany's dragons looked cool.
* The direwolf confrontation looked fake, but I liked the Robb/Jaime scene (that didn't exist in the books. But given the POV characters, there's no reason to think it couldn't have happened even if we didn't know about it, which is a hallmark of a good insert scene).
* Melisandre has clearly been working on her resistance to ioccaine powder [/Princess Bride reference]
* And did I mention that Joffrey is a shit?
Mad Men
* I laughed at Pete getting the jump on Roger.
* I hope that Peggy didn't make a mistake (and that new copywriter looks familiar. Not sure why. It's bugging me).
* I noticed that on the dinner when the Heinz wife said talking business was boring, Megan agreed but didn't look like she agreed.
* Megan listening to the commercials also seems to indicate that she actually does have some interest in her job even as she sort of coasted to her position on Don's coattails... which is why I bristle a bit at people who say that Megan is a Mary Sue. No. She isn't. She's actually supposed to have good and bad points. She has a brain, but she did get a promotion by marrying her boss. She wants to do her job, but swans in at 11am and leaves at 3pm. She married Don because he looked great on paper (and, honestly, he looks great) but that generation gap is going to cause trouble. And I was actually suprised last week at how well she had Don's number sexually, so she isn't as naive as she initially looked. Plus... she must be driving Betty insane
* Speaking of Betty, I felt sorry for her this week. I know that the writers were trying to cover the fact that when filming started January Jones was 8months pregnant, but jeebus, what they did to her was awful. I felt really sorry for her having gained weight and clearly (still) being depressed.
* I did laugh last week at Don referring to her a Morticia,m though. Looking at that house, it's like Betty has moved into an earlier time period. I was struck by how --other than the pink applicances -- her kitchen looked like something out of the 1930s. And the house, while having amazing woodwork, looked like a Victorian coffin. That said, I'm sure her Victorian fainting couch looks infinitely more appropriate in that house than the 1960s suburban living room she had before her divorce.
* Also, Don really has lost his bead on the culture if he thought he had a hope in hell of talking the Stones into doing a commerical for Heinz. Seriously, Don, you have to drag your head out the sand. The culture is passing you by.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 03:16 am (UTC)Word. I did not enjoy that movie at all. It failed to elicit a single laugh from either me or Mr. IB. I couldn't believe it got an Oscar nomination for screenplay; I thought it was trite, predictable, and patently unfunny. It wasn't even so bad that it was good. It was just bad. :-P
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 03:44 am (UTC)That was inevitable, right? He'd be the age group to not get counter-culture.
LOVED GoT.
Agree w/ you on Bridesmaids.
It's funny, I know a lot of people who say GoT is horrible to women, but love Bridesmaids. I felt the latter was far worse for women because it is in a modern context, versus a fictional medieval one. It implies endorsement of the shaming and misogyny.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 05:02 am (UTC)Re Megan on MM: She has a brain, but she did get a promotion by marrying her boss. She wants to do her job, but swans in at 11am and leaves at 3pm. She married Don because he looked great on paper (and, honestly, he looks great) but that generation gap is going to cause trouble.
Last week Don said the reason she was in the office is because he wanted to look at her all the time. That will wear thin extremely quickly, because I think she does have a bit of ambition and will want to do things without being under his thumb (or at his sexual beck and call) all the time. Their honeymoon is not over yet, but when it is and his natural inclination to dominate and compartmentalize his women reasserts itself, everything will go kerblooey between them. That will be interesting, because I don't know if Megan will do as Betty did and run to another man immediately. Megan just might take Don for everything he's worth and then go and self-actualize herself.
About Betty: I dunno - the foam chin and major padding seemed a little much, and also seemed as if it were a way to punish the character or the actress, and maybe both. The tumor thing also seemed like a way to shoehorn her into the story, which was a weird choice. The whole thing just didn't sit well (and that horrible dark Victorian house didn't help much either).
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 06:17 am (UTC)People say Megan is a Mary Sue? O_o Because being married to Don is such a ~fantasy.
I had wondered what the thing with Betty was--if this story line was to cover up something, or if they were going to do it anyway.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 07:59 am (UTC)I was sure I'd seen him in something Whedon-related, but I think it's just that he looks a bit like David Krumholtz.
The culture is passing you by.
Which I'm guessing is going to be a big theme this season. Last episode we had the Heinz delegate remind Peg (who's supposed to be the new generation) that beans dancing ballet doesn't go well with student protests. Scratch at the surface, and it would appear they're still selling a Versailles lifestyle to a world that's about to storm the Bastille. Remains to be seen if they want to scratch even deeper than that.
Melisandre has clearly been working on her resistance to ioccaine powder
MTE. Brain twins!
ETA: Also, re: Littlefinger - if I was a known schemer talking to a powerful person who I knew to be a) slightly paranoid and b) not entirely dim, I wouldn't pretend to NOT know something they know that I must know. You know?
Furthermore, I think Joffrey should be slapped in every episode.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 09:31 am (UTC)The thing that gets me about Tommen and Myrcella is how nice and normal they seem to be. What on earth happened to Joffrey to make him so nasty?
no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 12:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-03 12:49 pm (UTC)Still traumatised after seeing Donald Sutherland kill a cat in 1900.