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Apr. 24th, 2013 08:09 am( Gaeilge )
No, no Irish yesterday, or languages of most any kind, was busy writing and resting up as well. And panicking about writing. And resting.
So, I started watching Defiance. And I find it all right? The more I think about it the more I think it only comes across as something I like in comparison with everything else that's new right now. I still haven't seen Orphan Black, which I hear is well received. I saw DaVinci's Demons, which turned out to be one manic DaVinci, one Fbashir (seriously, he looks like and serves a similar narrative purpose to Floki on Vikings, and he's played by Bashir), and a collection of conspiring old white dudes. I have no interest in watching a collection of conspiring old white dudes when the show can't be bothered to spend enough time on any one faction to differentiate them properly. I saw Rectify, which appears to be basically the same premise as Life but with a much, much less charismatic lead even accounting for the lack of manic behavior patterns. And then there's Defiance.
The premise is intriguing. The languages that are commonly spoken that aren't English have actually been worked on by a linguist so if I start picking them apart to find copulas and commonly used nouns I might stand a chance of finding patterns, which gives me a considerable squee. (Look, you knew I was a language dork, all right? Stop looking at me like that. ;) ) Sadly, after two episodes there's a conspicuous lack of any really interesting characters. So far the ones I find the most interesting are the protagonist's adopted alien (for extra bonus culture clash!) daughter, the anti-protagonist-hero-guy whose role doesn't pigeonhole well and who is also an underworld boss and who is also played by Tony Curran so we know he's shady, and the sheriff's deputy who was the sheriff's last deputy and who is pretty damn clever and capable and not white. Which is unusual. But apart from these three characters everyone seems to be pretty stock, not that these aren't stock. It's just that they're either snarky or different enough to be intriguing to me. The dialogue is stock without being very boring with the exception of two moments in the pilot that were about "Okay, what, did they just copy paste from Rousing Speeches I Have Known?" and "Well, he was clearly killed off to make room for the hero." The alien races are intriguing without being different in any way that really grabs my interest. It's just so very... not revolutionary. Not that everything has to be, but if it comes down to I only have time to watch certain shows, that one's going to fall first. Still, Tony Curran and Stephanie Leonidas buy it some interest from me.
Right. Today's statements of intent: White Lightning, get the blog post about the serial out (EEEK) though first finishing edits on that, so I guess that's the first thing I'll do today, and then tonight I have a little over 10 minutes left on Person of Interest. Good god last week and last weekend was full of crap, and I severely overestimated my ability to do everything in a weekend. Must. Stop. That. It's not like it's the first time. I also need to check in, probably this afternoon at the usual scheduled time. This past week has just shat on everyone's schedules and states of mind, really. Tally ho? Sally forth. And all that good stuff.
No, no Irish yesterday, or languages of most any kind, was busy writing and resting up as well. And panicking about writing. And resting.
So, I started watching Defiance. And I find it all right? The more I think about it the more I think it only comes across as something I like in comparison with everything else that's new right now. I still haven't seen Orphan Black, which I hear is well received. I saw DaVinci's Demons, which turned out to be one manic DaVinci, one Fbashir (seriously, he looks like and serves a similar narrative purpose to Floki on Vikings, and he's played by Bashir), and a collection of conspiring old white dudes. I have no interest in watching a collection of conspiring old white dudes when the show can't be bothered to spend enough time on any one faction to differentiate them properly. I saw Rectify, which appears to be basically the same premise as Life but with a much, much less charismatic lead even accounting for the lack of manic behavior patterns. And then there's Defiance.
The premise is intriguing. The languages that are commonly spoken that aren't English have actually been worked on by a linguist so if I start picking them apart to find copulas and commonly used nouns I might stand a chance of finding patterns, which gives me a considerable squee. (Look, you knew I was a language dork, all right? Stop looking at me like that. ;) ) Sadly, after two episodes there's a conspicuous lack of any really interesting characters. So far the ones I find the most interesting are the protagonist's adopted alien (for extra bonus culture clash!) daughter, the anti-protagonist-hero-guy whose role doesn't pigeonhole well and who is also an underworld boss and who is also played by Tony Curran so we know he's shady, and the sheriff's deputy who was the sheriff's last deputy and who is pretty damn clever and capable and not white. Which is unusual. But apart from these three characters everyone seems to be pretty stock, not that these aren't stock. It's just that they're either snarky or different enough to be intriguing to me. The dialogue is stock without being very boring with the exception of two moments in the pilot that were about "Okay, what, did they just copy paste from Rousing Speeches I Have Known?" and "Well, he was clearly killed off to make room for the hero." The alien races are intriguing without being different in any way that really grabs my interest. It's just so very... not revolutionary. Not that everything has to be, but if it comes down to I only have time to watch certain shows, that one's going to fall first. Still, Tony Curran and Stephanie Leonidas buy it some interest from me.
Right. Today's statements of intent: White Lightning, get the blog post about the serial out (EEEK) though first finishing edits on that, so I guess that's the first thing I'll do today, and then tonight I have a little over 10 minutes left on Person of Interest. Good god last week and last weekend was full of crap, and I severely overestimated my ability to do everything in a weekend. Must. Stop. That. It's not like it's the first time. I also need to check in, probably this afternoon at the usual scheduled time. This past week has just shat on everyone's schedules and states of mind, really. Tally ho? Sally forth. And all that good stuff.
