tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post6169275220301424..comments2024-03-28T10:18:00.370-05:00Comments on Gentlemen of Leisure: Last Week in Pop Culture #21Austin Gortonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-40072335248611307492014-03-29T13:03:41.996-05:002014-03-29T13:03:41.996-05:00@Michael: After five years, I'm finally throwi...@Michael: <i>After five years, I'm finally throwing in the towel on "Glee." It's just off the rails.</i><br /><br />My wife's not far behind you...<br /><br />For me, I'm sticking around mainly out of abject curiosity over just how batshit insane/narratively nonsensical it can get (and because, frankly, I'm enough of a completist and it's close enough to its end that I feel compelled to stick out until the bitter, bitter end). <br /><br />Plus, there are few moments, such as in the last Nationals episode, that I do genuinely enjoy, as well as a few musical performances, so I'm not entirely hate-watching at this point, even if those moments are fewer and farther between these days. <br /><br /><i>Rachel has done so many terrible things to so many people on the show that I'm just left feeling that she is a bad person who cannot learn from her past mistakes.</i><br /><br />Seriously, I was all about Santana in this episode for just that reason. Watching her come in, usurp Rachel's big number and completely own it felt great, just because of how awful Rachel has been lately. Just desserts, and all that. <br /><br />Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-25464786096871731872014-03-11T09:58:52.636-05:002014-03-11T09:58:52.636-05:00After five years, I'm finally throwing in the ...After five years, I'm finally throwing in the towel on "Glee." It's just off the rails.<br /><br />I noted last season that the show was suffering an identity crisis: Was this a show about the McKinley High School glee club (and thus featured a rotating cast as kids entered and exited high school) or was this a show about the dozen or so characters we met in glee club during seasons one and two (and thus would follow those characters after high school)?<br /><br />It appears that Ryan Murphy finally has the answer to that question. Unfortunately, it appears that the answer is "Neither, this is a show about Rachel Berry."<br /><br />Trying to turn an ensemble show into a spotlight show would probably never work -- but it simply cannot work as the writers insist on making Rachel the least likable character on the show.<br /><br />Rachel has done so many terrible things to so many people on the show that I'm just left feeling that she is a bad person who cannot learn from her past mistakes. Seeing her be awful to her friends -- again -- is not fun.Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03665503542091489778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-3372874036439816432014-03-10T15:17:51.601-05:002014-03-10T15:17:51.601-05:00@Dr. Bitz: was there a reason to dismiss the idea ...@Dr. Bitz: <i>was there a reason to dismiss the idea that GH didn't stand for Guest House, the facility's name?</i><br /><br />Maybe? Obviously, the GH stood for "Guest House" in terms of the facility, but then when it was written on the alien dude's tank, I assumed it also referenced its name or species in some way, and that the "GH" in the name of the medicine didn't stand for the name of the facility where it was stored, but the name of the being from which it originated. <br /><br />That's all assumptions on my part though, so I could be wrong. <br /><br /><i> It's a non-S.H.I.E.L.D. facility that S.H.I.E.L.D. uses? Doesn't that make it, by definition, a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility?</i><br /><br />I read it as, like, a facility created, used, and staffed by some other organization (A.I.M, Hydra, I dunno) for which Nick Fury made some kind of Faustian bargain to use in order to bring Coulson back - that's why it was off the books and what not. <br /><br />But again, I could just be reading too much into a line that meant to establish it was deeply top secret and nothing else. <br /><br /><i>And yes, their response was forceful, but isn't that the exact same response any secret government facility would give to people who forcibly breaks into the premises without proper clearance?</i><br /><br />The armed guards didn't bother me, level of response-wise, and Coulson and friends probably should have found a non lethal way to get in (what happened to their stupidly-named Night Night guns?). I was just deferring some of the blame to the outright destruction of the facility to whomever planted the charges and set the timer - if the research being done there is so critical, maybe blowing it up in ten minutes isn't the best course of action, especially if only two guys are guarding it? <br /><br />Also, in terms of lots of people dying for Skye, it should be noted that now not only is she a super-hacker with a mysterious, possibly alien origin, but now she's also got this weird drug derived from some non-human being coursing through her veins. <br /><br />It's not quite a Mary Sue since none of that (yet) has translated into special abilities, but how much "specialness" can/should one character handle? Especially one as relatively blah as Skye? Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-64651282874221823092014-03-10T14:17:56.443-05:002014-03-10T14:17:56.443-05:00"Could be an Inhuman too, though I can't ..."Could be an Inhuman too, though I can't think of one in particular who is larger than the average human or whose name could roughly translate to "GH" (not that any Frost Giant maps to that either...)."<br /><br />So, I may have missed it, but was there a reason to dismiss the idea that GH didn't stand for Guest House, the facility's name?<br /><br />"Ha! Seriously though, were they good guys? I got the impression that was a non-SHIELD facility (it was off the books or something) that SHIELD used to bring back Coulson."<br /><br />Well, now I'm confused. It's a non-S.H.I.E.L.D. facility that S.H.I.E.L.D. uses? Doesn't that make it, by definition, a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility?<br /><br />My impression was that the Guest House was like, SUPER black ops. It was so under cover that not even Coulson knew about it. But that doesn't mean it wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D. sanctioned.<br /><br />So, to me, those two guys were just soldiers put in place to guard that super black ops S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. And yes, their response was forceful, but isn't that the exact same response any secret government facility would give to people who forcibly breaks into the premises without proper clearance?<br /><br />Yes Phil Coulson said they were in need of medical attention but doesn't that sound like the exact kind of lie any would-be-threat trying to gain access would use?Dr. Bitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13568570859981368717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-68016804648828791042014-03-10T13:39:17.934-05:002014-03-10T13:39:17.934-05:00@Sarah: I also heard on the interwebs that there&#...@Sarah: <i>I also heard on the interwebs that there's a possibility the big guy could be a frost giant (why? Though SHEILD does have a closer relationship to the THOR franchise than any of the others) or an Inhuman (which i know nothing aboot)</i><br /><br />Ah, yeah, Frost Giant could be the case. They're certainly blue-ish and big in the movie like that guy, and <i>SHIELD</i> does seem, as you say, more connected to Thor than any other property (for whatever reason). <br /><br />Could be an Inhuman too, though I can't think of one in particular who is larger than the average human or whose name could roughly translate to "GH" (not that any Frost Giant maps to that either...). <br /><br />Dr. Bitz: <i>I'm not sure the utilitarian calculus works out on that one.</i><br /><br />Ha! Seriously though, were they good guys? I got the impression that was a non-SHIELD facility (it was off the books or something) that SHIELD used to bring back Coulson. But maybe that was just me expecting the other shoe to drop as far as Paxton or Not Falcon being evil. <br /><br />And hey, SHIELD didn't blow up the facility and the miracle cures - the base's paranoid security measure did. Whoever runs the place didn't HAVE to respond to intruders so forcefully (which makes me think whatever was there in terms of medicine is probably somewhere else, too). <br /><br /><i>Also, I felt really bad for the wife at the end. They were newly weds! It was...sad....</i><br /><br />Aw, he does have a heart :) <br /><br />That was sad - I'm hoping the next episode will allow for the hoodwinked husband to return to his wife with an explanation she accepts, but I doubt the show would be concerned enough with an ancillary character like that to allow it to happen...Austin Gortonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14281239771248780430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-41843529431089208052014-03-10T11:49:24.451-05:002014-03-10T11:49:24.451-05:00Sleepy Hollow:
I was kicking myself for not cons...Sleepy Hollow: <br /><br />I was kicking myself for not considering the season would end on a cliff hanger. Of course it would once it got picked up. I'm, personally, kind of over season ending cliff hangers. But I know they're not going away.<br /><br />But I too didn't see John Noble being War but felt like I should have.<br /><br /><br />Marvel Prevents: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: <br /><br />If someone was around, I would have lost a lot of money betting that what Phil Coulson was going to discover was his own dead body. What he did find was...odd to say the least.<br /><br />I would be remiss not to point out that in order to save Sky's life S.H.I.E.L.D. killed two seemingly innocent people. (And who knows what kind of medical miracle cures were destroyed.) I'm not sure the utilitarian calculus works out on that one.<br /><br />Also, I felt really bad for the wife at the end. They were newly weds! It was...sad....Dr. Bitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13568570859981368717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-21552486863281535542014-03-10T10:04:11.459-05:002014-03-10T10:04:11.459-05:00Ugh. *SHIELDUgh. *SHIELDSarah Ahiershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02795455714801965956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7266470995513648978.post-46032281994931998772014-03-10T10:03:48.800-05:002014-03-10T10:03:48.800-05:00We laughed so so hard when Boyle was showing how h...We laughed so so hard when Boyle was showing how he was going to kick his expelled magazine into the throat of a perp and then exclaims "My butt holes!!"<br />I love shows that continue to play off past jokes.<br /><br />And there was just so much underlying tension in SHEILD just because we didn't trust Paxton AT ALL. <br />I also heard on the interwebs that there's a possibility the big guy could be a frost giant (why? Though SHEILD does have a closer relationship to the THOR franchise than any of the others) or an Inhuman (which i know nothing aboot)<br />Sarah Ahiershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02795455714801965956noreply@blogger.com