Speak Up Saturday

[feurioo]

Welcome to the weekly roundup post! What are you watching this week? What are you excited about?

Comments

[shadowkat]

1. Department Q on Netflix. Saw the first episode, it's really good and reminds me of Slow Horses, and quite dark. Darker than Slow Horses, film wise and content wise.

2. Really dumb movie on Netflix - A Family Affair with Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron, who both look a bit too photo-shopped and plastic for their own good. I felt sorry for Kidman's daughter and his assistant all the way through, the lead couple are kind of insufferable. It's supposed to be comedic but is more Hallmark lite romantic melodrama?

3. Buffy - I'm almost done with S2. There are a handful of episodes that don't quite date well, but honestly they didn't work well then either? Go Fish is still gadawful, with a few lines that I can't quite decide if the writer knows they are inappropriate, or if they are oblivious to it? Buffy is weird that way - sometimes I can't tell if they are being subversively sarcastic or serious? And I skipped over Bad Eggs, because why would you not? There's four episodes in S2 that...ugh. Inca Mummy Girl (ugh), Bad Eggs (ugh), the frat party episode (ugh), and Go Fish (ugh) - and all feature Xander in a main role. Found out that Charisma Carpenter had been doing Malibu Shores at the same time she was cast as Cordy, and was basically playing the same role on two shows. It's why she was so good as Cordy - she'd already nailed it for the Aaron Spelling series.

S2 is actually at its best when Spike and Dru are on, the best episodes have them featured. Also, there's a few stand out episodes: School Hard, Lie To Me, Innocence, Passion, I Will Always Have Eyes for You...and of course the Becoming Two Parter, and the What's My Line two parter.

4. Andor S2

And I'm sure there's something else...oh Good Night and Good Luck - Live tonight on either CNN or HBO MAX. Also the Tony Awards on Sunday- on CBS and Paramount +.

ETA: Forgot - Murderbot. I'm watching as they drop, apparently.

[author_by_night]

y - sometimes I can't tell if they are being subversively sarcastic or serious? A

I don't remember the particulars of those episodes, but in general, I had the same conflicted feelings. I think it can be a bit of both - perhaps tackling things in a way that would have been subversive then, less so now.

I also think they missed a huge opportunity to make the Inca character a Slayer, but I'm not sure how much Slayer lore had been established at that point. But it could have set up the idea that the Watchers really did use the Slayers essentially as a sacrifice. I don't know. I think the biggest issue with that plotline was the cultural sensitivity factor, and... yeah. Not gonna happen at that point. :/

[shadowkat]

I don't remember the particulars of those episodes, but in general, I had the same conflicted feelings. I think it can be a bit of both - perhaps tackling things in a way that would have been subversive then, less so now.

I should provide an example?

Xander: Yes, yes, before you say it, I ran away like a girl.

Cordelia: You may want to work on running "not" like a girl.

[I think Caulfield who played Anya, and Marsters who played Spike, were better at snarky delivery than Charisma was...because it may be the delivery of the line that makes it hard to tell. It's written by David Fury and his wife/writing partner, and he's known for snarky one-liners.)

This statement is an annoying one, which didn't start going away until about ten years ago. I was a runner in school, and could out run a lot of boys (I was taller than they were and had longer legs).

That said? I can't decide what the writer's intent was there? It can be interpreted more than one way.