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I get the impression that Dickinson is not getting as much attention as some of Apple TV’s other originals like The Morning Show and See, it doesn’t seem like many people are talking about it at all which is a shame. I found it to be such a charming and funny coming of age tale, and there were some genuinely heartbreaking moments too when it came to Emily’s relationship with Sue, with Ben, and with her father. I can understand it not being for everyone, but personally I thought that the anachronisms were hilariously done when they suddenly came out with modern slang, or followed up a formal dance by twerking. It doesn’t sound great on the page, but it came off as so charming and delightful on the show imo. Definitely a big fan of that one, I hope more people discover it
And not completely sure what my thoughts are on Dracula at the moment. Like practically everyone else it seems, I definitely preferred the episodes set in the 19th century. I absolutely loved the production and direction and how epic it all felt, you really felt like you were watching feature films with those episodes. Also loved all of the one-liners and the familiar references, many of the horror moments were incredibly effective such as when the undead were crawling out of the coffins, and of course the casting for Dracula and Sister Agatha was perfection. Annnnd then there’s the third episode
I actually didn’t hate it as much as everyone else seemed too lol, but I can’t deny that there were some serious pacing issues there. I enjoyed the beginning of it with all of the humour with Dracula adjusting to the modern age, and the ending for me was also memorable, but the middle definitely dragged at times. It felt like way too many new characters were introduced, the scenes of the modern day characters hanging out together in clubs was especially such a drag for me, and for e.g I didn’t really get the point of the younger guy with the crush on Lucy when there wasn’t enough time to develop that effectively in 90 minutes and make you care when he had to stake her.
Quite disappointing after I did fall in love with most of the characters on the ship in the same length of time, and of course Sister Agatha and Jonathan in the first episode were both fantastically portrayed as well, but there just wasn’t the same connection with any of the modern day characters for some reason, everything about their intros felt so rushed and lacking in comparison. Even Sister Agatha’s modern day counterpoint just made me miss the original if I’m honest. All of which meant that there wasn’t really any character in this episode to connect with other than Dracula, and he was so much more fun to watch when he was playing off Sister Agatha in the past and we’re watching them turning the tables on one another. I mean I don’t want to overstate it, the third episode had its moments still, but it just didn’t live up to the greatness of the first two episodes for me sadly.
Oh and one thing that does have me a bit confused is that Tv Time seems to suggest that it will be continuing, but I always thought that it was intended as a complete mini-series in itself?
And not completely sure what my thoughts are on Dracula at the moment. Like practically everyone else it seems, I definitely preferred the episodes set in the 19th century. I absolutely loved the production and direction and how epic it all felt, you really felt like you were watching feature films with those episodes. Also loved all of the one-liners and the familiar references, many of the horror moments were incredibly effective such as when the undead were crawling out of the coffins, and of course the casting for Dracula and Sister Agatha was perfection. Annnnd then there’s the third episode
I actually didn’t hate it as much as everyone else seemed too lol, but I can’t deny that there were some serious pacing issues there. I enjoyed the beginning of it with all of the humour with Dracula adjusting to the modern age, and the ending for me was also memorable, but the middle definitely dragged at times. It felt like way too many new characters were introduced, the scenes of the modern day characters hanging out together in clubs was especially such a drag for me, and for e.g I didn’t really get the point of the younger guy with the crush on Lucy when there wasn’t enough time to develop that effectively in 90 minutes and make you care when he had to stake her.
Quite disappointing after I did fall in love with most of the characters on the ship in the same length of time, and of course Sister Agatha and Jonathan in the first episode were both fantastically portrayed as well, but there just wasn’t the same connection with any of the modern day characters for some reason, everything about their intros felt so rushed and lacking in comparison. Even Sister Agatha’s modern day counterpoint just made me miss the original if I’m honest. All of which meant that there wasn’t really any character in this episode to connect with other than Dracula, and he was so much more fun to watch when he was playing off Sister Agatha in the past and we’re watching them turning the tables on one another. I mean I don’t want to overstate it, the third episode had its moments still, but it just didn’t live up to the greatness of the first two episodes for me sadly.
Oh and one thing that does have me a bit confused is that Tv Time seems to suggest that it will be continuing, but I always thought that it was intended as a complete mini-series in itself?
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(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 03:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 12:27 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 08:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 12:40 pm (UTC)Definitely a LOT better than Buffy’s version of the Count *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 11:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 12:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 11:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 12:50 pm (UTC)I’m just not sure which Apple series I want to watch next now *g* I’m torn between The Morning Show or Truth Be Told at the moment
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 12:37 pm (UTC)Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 11:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 02:34 pm (UTC)I liked the idea of Lucy and her death wish. But she was sadly undeveloped as a character. Also, to me, it seemed that by drinking her, and absorbing her personality, Dracula finally found the courage to die- but it was not dwelled upon, and the ending, though I liked the conclusion, felt oddly abrupt.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-08 12:13 am (UTC)And agreed that I liked the idea of the ending, and how beautifully directed it all was as well, but there was definitely something about it that felt a bit rushed when you suddenly find out that Dracula is feeding on Zoe. I guess they wanted it to be a final twist to surprise us with when you discover that he had decided to commit suicide in the end, but it did all happen so quickly that it was a bit hard to take in. I liked the idea, but maybe the execution of it could have been better somehow
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 08:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-07 11:47 pm (UTC)And For All Mankind does seem like it has great reviews! At first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to watch it or not tbh as the premise sounded a bit dull to me, but a lot of people have been raving about it and said that it gets really amazing towards the end, so I’m probably going to check that one out at some point too.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 12:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 01:24 pm (UTC)Otherwise the only forthcoming shows they have that really interest me are the ones that are based on books, but I do wish they had a bit more variety and comedy shows to go with all of these prestige projects. Dickinson was an enjoyable watch for me partly because it was a bit lighthearted and fun at times, but some of their other shows just sound like they would be a real slog and you have to be in the right mood for them
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 01:57 pm (UTC)I will have to check out what else they have to offer. I haven't really found anything lately I was terribly excited about. I'm glad "Burden of Truth" is back.
And yes, I find you have to be in the right mood for a lot of things or they are a total slog. Like I finally made it through all ten seasons of Smallville. And I have so many feelings but since fandom is dead on LJ and I'm 10 years late who do I talk to? Go figure. (And of course now I need a Lex/Lana icon but where to find it...)
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 11:45 pm (UTC)And yeah For All Mankind never particularly excited me either, it was only after I heard some positive responses to it that I considered that it might be worth checking a few episodes out to see what I think. None of the upcoming show descriptions for Apple Tv have been really drawing me in so far either, it’s really only the ones based on books that I’m a little curious about
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-12 11:01 pm (UTC)So as for SV since I'm a first time viewer, I realised it must be strange for people who have watched it while the show was one and watched it week by week or my friend Liz who did that and then bought the DVDs and has re-watched it numerous times ever since (she told me to give it a shot and finally give in and watch it) and here come little me and watches all 10 seasons in 15 days. I suspect my viewing experience was much different compared to other people. I'm not very knowledgeable about the Superman mythos, however, even if I hadn't know about Allison Mack's descent into this crimnal sect ... it was weird to watch now on two levels, first because it was weird to watch her unbiased but I could separate the character from the actress at some point but barely... especially in later seasons when she got so thin... but mostly I think my problem was that I didn't care for the Chloe character. I know now (mostly by talking to my friend) that she was a fan favourite at the time but it bothered me that she was often made to appear more like the cool girl you'd want to be at Lana's expense. Meanwhile Lana often got terrible storylines. My personal lowpoint was season 4 – I loved that Lois finally appeared but the whole thing was just so disjointed and Jensen Ackles was just there in my opinion because The WB had promised him a job and now had to deliver at the expense of the story. The whole magic stuff was awful in my view. The only moment when I thought okay why not was when Lana killed Genevieve and Lex helped covering it up but unfortunately they weren't a dynamic crime duo in that moment and Lionel swooped in and took over and had more reason to scold Lex. Despite all the tropes I enjoyed the first few seasons. I enjoyed Lex and Lana's friendship, how he valued her intelligence and challenged her with making the Talon what it became. It was frustrating to watch all the scenes ever where Clark lied to his friends – obviously that was the premise but still. I haven't really felt much of a shipping bug lately but I guess because it was that kind of show it was unavoidable … so yes, I did get totally into Lex/Lana (and hated how the writers screwed that up... I mean the second half of season 6 was like they brought in new people who though oh no, we have to correct this and get her back with Clark, a relationship that proved time and time again not to work, and thus annilihating the mature relationship Lex and Lana had progressed into from their years of friendship and to top it off with that icky storyline of making her believe she was pregnant) and also Lois/Clark – I liked their banter and them investigating things together. I enjoyed Jimmy as a character because I like the actor, same is true for all the actors from the old guard: Annette O'Toole, John Schneider , Sarah-Jane Redmond and John Glover. I would have really liked to have seen more of Lucy Lane in particular and also the General., I really appreciated the episodes they were in. Later I did appreciate the addition of Tess though I sometimes thought they could have spent more time on her character development, especially after she found out about her heritage. So yeah... I really want to write a ~1500 word fanfic or so but have no beta. And sadly don't know where to find any these days. And that not withstanding it would be generally super lovely to have somebody to talk to about all these things about...
I get what you are saying about re-watches. Lots of new stuff and then SV isn't a small thing to tackle!
I only started watching 'For All Mankind' because I was finished with 'Dickinson' and had a really bad day. I wanted to give up after the pilot but the second episode was already out and I thought okay... one more and it got better so I stuck around. I will say, for me it was something that grew on me slowly (especially since I watched
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-12 11:43 pm (UTC)And wow, all 10 seasons in 15 days is seriously impressive, that really must have been a very different experience from watching it week to week!
You found yourself preferring the earlier seasons then? Same for me I think, a lot of the fans that came in later with season 4 or 8 can be quite dismissive of the high school seasons because they are in it more for the comic book mythos, but I always found the early years to be quite charming when it came to the characters, even when the individual episode plots could be very repetitive and cheesy at times
My least favourite season was 7 I think, but yes I wasn’t that fond of season 4 either. That is one that the comic book fans seem to adore, but there there were just way too many silly filler episodes that season for me. I know the showrunners talked about it being a response to the ratings falling after how dark things got in season 3 with the Luthor’s, but then even they acknowledged that they did go a bit overboard with the possessed episodes in season 4 in the end!
And agreed on not being a fan of how much Clark used to lie. I get that at times he had no choice, but it also seemed like it was just habit for him at times when he could have just as easily told a half truth about being infected by meteors or something. Lol it was quite contentious between Clark and Lex fans for a while there because a lot of us were taking sides and getting frustrated with how hypocritical Clark could be when he’d call Lex out on being his best friend and lying to him
And I was sad at how everything switched over with Lexana as well, it was not a popular couple at all tbh. Most Lex fans hated him being paired with Lana when she was not a popular character among them, and Lana fans were nearly all rooting for Clana. I know there was a big fan campaign to reunite Clana, and you can definitely sense the writing start to switch over midway through season 6 in response to that. The fake baby was just so so obviously a last minute retcon imo, and I agree with you on Jasons’s storylines being a mess too, even though the writers would have you believe that they had the storylines completely planned out from the beginning in both cases 🤨 I agree that I liked how Lex supported Lana, you could really see a contrast there between Clark saving her all the time and treating her as the damsel, versus her actually being pretty kickass with Lex. It felt like they were really on one another’s wavelength at the beginning of season 6/end of season 5
And I wasn’t a big fan of Jimmy when he was paired with Chloe tbh, but I did enjoy his friendship scenes with Clark and wish that could have got a lot more focus. I also didn’t care for Lois much at first, I found her very aimless in season 5 especially, but she did grow on me in seasons 8-10 when there was a bit of a reboot and she was actually working at the DP with Clark. It felt like they didn’t know what to do with her really in seasons 4 and 5 when they had the rights to her character, but were not allowed to portray her as a reporter
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 12:22 am (UTC)I completely agree with you though I so miss the fannish discussions on LJ – I feel like it is the idea platform to have these things given the comment thread structure and all.
Yes, you got that right – I mean to our eyes early seasons of TheWB shows must alwasy be slow and somewhat cheesy but I do happen to appreciate that all the tropes aside they took time for character building. Now, I wasn't into the slash aspect of it all but I really enjoyed how slowly they built the Clark/Lex friendship or like I said before the Lana/Lex friendship... there was no crazy rush to throw everything on the wall and see what may stick.
I wasn't a fan of season 7 – see Clana felt unnatural to me, forced even. Clark constantly (even in season 6) insisted how she couldn't love Lex although Lana most certainly did throughout the end of season 5 and beginning of season 6... and then there was the awkward Bizarro storyline and finally FINALLY Clark said with such contempt to Lana "Well, you were the one who fell in love with Lex." ... and she did not deny it. That was such a relief because finally they stopped retconning Lana's love for Lex. I mean I was okay with a few things in that season like Lana keeping secrets from Clark and getting more "evil" -- it made me hope for a Lexana reunion but of course the writers didn't want that.
Yeah see, since I wasn't around I had no clue that Lexana wasn't popular and that there was a Clana campaign. In hindsight that is like... oh why... I mean fanservice is nice to a certain degree but not like that. I never understood in Season 6 why Lana would go back to Clark after she found out his secret. It's not like he finally confided in her. No, she had to trick him and he didn't know she knew. Meanwhile (let's ignore the icky pregnancy storyline for a moment though really ... look if Lex is really this evil mastermind and doesn't want Lana to leave him, has this doctor at hand, and at some point Lana was sedated why just give her hormones? You have crossed the ethicial Rubicon already, lad. Why not impregnate her with your child? That whole storyline made NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.) at least Lex told her for the most part what he was up to and I think had they continued their relationship he would have confided in her further. Why would Lana decide she was suddenly totally in love with somebody again who told her he wasn't in love with her to her face and lied to her all the time but told Chloe all about his abilities? That made no sense.
I just didn't care for season 4 because Lana was mostly disconnected from the group because of Jason. Also I think that was season 5 though when she got together with Lex and Chloe and Clark gave her an ear full about it, Lois came to her and said "look I'm not one for girltalk but if you need an unbiased ear" --- then she came back to the Luther Mansion, Lex asked her where she was, she told him she had coffee with Lois for three hours and Lex said darkly that will land them on the front page of the Inquisitor but Lana said it wasn't like that and she was right... that was one of the the things that bugged me... unfulfiled potential. I felt they could have been good friends.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 12:22 am (UTC)But yes, I agree... it was a bit painful these mid-seasons when neither Lois or Clark had a proper job and it was Chloe with the career at the Daily Planet. It wasn't right.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 12:56 am (UTC)Smallville definitely stalled for way too long at times, it was originally a five year plan and it was going to end sometime after Jonathan died, but then it just kept getting renewed and they kept stretching out Clark’s journey. Honestly in seasons 8-10 they may as well have just had it as a Metropolis spin-off and called him Superman, it was a stretch to insist on still keeping him at the farm and calling his alter ego the blur. And then Tess at the Luther mansion as well when it would have made way more sense to give her a sleek new office set in Metropolis
It always made me laugh how characters kept making these supposed quick trips back and forth to their homebase at the Talon, the timeline there frequently made no sense at all
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 09:46 am (UTC)Another thing that doesn't even seem to make a lot of sense within the show. So Chloe had her first time with Jimmy when she was a summer intern at the Daily Planet and then they basically didn't keep in touch and Chloe seemed rather down like that one episode where we got the sex talk after "don't throw your virginity away"... and then he resurfaces, suddenly his feelings are super strong and he is totally jealous of Clark then of Davis... it was too much.
I guess they wanted us to make the connection that Tess is really Lena Luthor by having her move into the mansion but yeah I agree it seems an awefully long commute. Especially and that made me sad as somebody who comes from the town where all these luxury sports cars of the Porsche and Mercedes persuasion that Lex drove were built, what did Tess get, the one time she was driving? A Nissan? I guess personally I got attached to the farm but I agree about the fact that they basically made a show about Superman without Superman too long.
Oh yes, it makes me wonder how far away these places really are. I think I googled map of Smallville at some point. Sadly this is not really a map because it's missing a scale and a north arrow but let's say that bridge between Metropolis and New Gotham is 2.5km long then it's about 25-30km from Smallville to Metropolis and it doesn't look like motorway.
I guesss I wanted to ask one thing that I forgot previously – again since I wasn't there, so if Lana/Lex was so hated how was the fan reaction to the Lana/Jason relationship? Personally I found it unbearably boring and out of nowhere. (But then I thought the whole season was a slog for the most part.) He didn't even make a good villain in the end in my personal view.
Hm... I need some icons...
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 01:07 pm (UTC)And hmm I don’t remember people caring about Jason/Lana much one way or the other, his switch to being a villain definitely felt very abrupt, but even his whole romance with Lana as well happened way too fast for me to care about. From what I remember it was a network request for Jensen to be added to the show for season 4, and then (although they denied it and said it was all planned from the beginning) they quickly switched him over to working with his mother after Jensen got the pilot for Supernatural and obviously wasn’t going to be sticking around for another season.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 04:29 pm (UTC)Yeah, I get the not caring part. Jason was such a wet blanket and nobody really understood what he was doing there except for separating Lana from the rest of the group, which was annoying. I think I read somewhere that Jensen had a decision to make 'Smallville' or 'Tru Calling' and he chose the former, probably wisely thinking they'd finally give him his own show after a season. I mean the casting choices were so very weird and usually I thought 'Smallville' did so well with them but it was hard to buy Jane Seymour and Jensen Ackles as mother and son.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-14 04:12 pm (UTC)And hmm yeah I know what you mean, after Jason was introduced to us as Lana’s bf and a football coach, it was hard to square that with him supposedly being Jane Seymour’s son and being from old money. I think that Jensen is better at playing more blue collar and roguish characters tbh, and Jason never really played to his strengths as an actor
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 11:14 am (UTC)The problem with Jason was always that we were only told things – we were told he was from old money but to explain why he lives how he lives we are told he was cut off ... however then we learn that his family is involved in this cabal with the Luthors and the Queens etc. and his mother has possibly engineered his meeting with Lana so why cut him off once he followed her to Smallville where Lex and possible things they want from their ancient cabal are anyway? It was really nonsensical. And okay then his mother shows up and that's fine we believe she is sophisticated and from old money but the way Jason speaks and dresses, we don't want to be judgmental but unless he is still in his rebel phase in his late twenties, then it's hard to reconcile? It was really messy in my opinion. I read through some posts on tumblr and maybe even ancient LJ posts and somebody said that season 4 was the best and where SV reached its peak. And I was baffled because … I thought it was mostly a slog. Every other episode somebody seemed to have been possessed or body switched or snatched and then didn't remember at all anymore after waking up. I'm exaggerating but not many of my favourite moments were in that season. I found more before or after.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 12:59 pm (UTC)IMO also season 3 was a *far* stronger season than season 4, ironically the writers talked at the time about season 3 getting too serious and adult’ with all of the time spend in secret labs with the Luthors, that hurt them in the ratings with younger viewers, and so season 4 was a reaction to that. They specifically said at the beginning that they wanted to go back to high school and bring in more of a sense of fun in season 4, hence Clark playing football, Lois going back to high school etc, and yet for some season 4 is seen as when SV first becomes adult and worth watching 🤷♀️
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 01:35 pm (UTC)Personally I’d argue that season 5 would be the more obvious cut-off from the high school seasons in fact
I agree, because as much as like you said I appreciated the attempt at a storyline that was going all season long it was also called on just as many tropes as the meteor freaks... I mean let's just remember the episode where Lana, Lois and Chloe were possessed with Lana's ancestor and her friends and they were witches? I guess the production had costumes and props from the set of Charmed on loan for that but it was immensely cheesy. Whereas season 5 took on a much darker tone again getting back into the whole alien/Krypton saga.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 01:51 pm (UTC)It definitely was a relief not to have every episode end on Clana looking at one another in the loft with sad music playing, really I don’t get why the writers didn’t just put them together in seasons 2 and 3 and let them actually date and be the high school sweethearts, it would have been far less annoying than all of the pining. I was surprised to actually find them pretty cute together when they did briefly date in season 5, because most of their scenes in seasons 1-3 had just been so repetitive and painful to sit through. Tom and Kristen were both fairly new to acting, and they tried their best, but those scenes in the loft were so clearly not playing to their strengths.
The funny thing is you say people perceived seasons 1-3 as cheesy but like you said I found season 3 much darker
I mean tbh I do recall that some of the new season 4 viewers never even watched the earlier seasons, there was talk about it only being worth getting into when Lois showed up, so that could be part of the disconnect you are coming across with season 3 being dismissed as childish? I’m not sure if that’s still the case or not, I’d like to think that most viewers would have watched from the beginning by now, but there were viewers at the time saying they didn’t see the point in catching up with seasons 1-3. Season 3 definitely wasn’t just one-off meteor infected episodes like seasons 1 and 2 were, Shattered, Asylum, and Memoria were some of the darkest episodes they ever did, and there was even a bit of a seasonal arc running through it all with Lex and Chloe trying to take down Lionel. Certainly one was better developed than the stones and the witches from season 4...
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 07:30 pm (UTC)Yes, that was hard to stomach – I wasn't feeling it so badly in season 1 because there at least we still had Whitney (I will admit I liked 'Flash Gordon' where the actor migrated to) but yes the impossible chaste love with contemplative music in the barn attic was not happy times. I mean generally, the actors were all so young and I felt at the time they did their best but it they truly profited from being in scenes with veterans O'Toole, Redmond, Schneider and Glover.
Like I said, I love Lois to pieces and with time she evolved into my favouriet character but I found the early seasons not really childish. I mean coming from 'Roswell' fandom – not directly obviously but this what Smallville basically followed on The WB at the time and I watched back in the day and still remember well– I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get storylines that were going like a read thread through the whole season but I appreciated the morsels of character development and like you said season 3 was intense. Especially with Lex being hospitalised. That was hard for me to watch and I hardly think could be called childish.
At least the stones did come up again from time to time later but the witches were a weird one off.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 08:26 pm (UTC)Frankly I think that the witches storyline were just there to give Kristin something to do. I think they admitted really struggling with finding things to do with Lana outside of being the love interest, and season 4 was kind of the inbetween place when Clana were temporarily less of a focus and Lexana wasn’t happening yet, and so I guess they needed to give come up with a separate storyline for Lana as she was one of their leading characters. I remember them talking about always wanting to get to Lexana and a Clexana triangle eventually, but season 4 felt too soon when Lana was still in high school, so I guess the witches storyline was what they resorted too instead? I think they struggled with making Lana interesting in her own right because so much of the show was geared around Clark and Lex’s interest in her, and that really comes across at times when they have to resort to random storylines like her being a descendant of a witch named Isobel...
And I’d probably add season 6 to my list my favourites as well actually, although it definitely does get a bit rockier in the second half. Season 9 I didn’t really care for though because I wasn’t a big fan of the storyline with Zod quite honestly. I thought it started off interestingly when you’re wondering about the flashes to the future, but I just didn’t care for how Zod was portrayed. I found him a really one note bad guy with all of the clenched jaw shouting, and I had been so much more into the arc the previous season with Davis where he’s really struggling and fighting against his darker nature.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 09:22 pm (UTC)I wasn't crazy about the Zod storyline either in season 9, I think what I liked about the season though were that Lois and Clark finally worked at the Planet together. I think my joy was more in these non-Zod episodes tbh. And as for the Zod episodes I guess it wasn't so much about him, more about Tess putting the pieces together etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 12:50 am (UTC)Definitely :( With both tumblr and Twitter I feel like I mostly only ever reblog other people’s content, it’s hard to get any sense of your own personality across at all when there’s less room for comments and discussions
And it was a little bit odd how season 7 did almost seem to be setting up a much darker Lana at first, and then they backtracked on that and just had her and Clark getting cosy on the farm together and told us that Isis was all about helping people only, but idk it felt like it should have at least been a bigger deal that she was holding a man hostage at one point? You even had Lionel backhandedly complimenting her as being darker than he had ever realised, and then it never really went anywhere
Lexana was VERY unpopular sadly, but yes I totally agree that it never made much sense to me how fast she switched to loving and trusting Clark again. She must have already at least suspected that there was something different about Clark, so I don’t get why seeing his super speed and strength would have been the dealbreaker there in her wanting to get back together, even though he was actually still lying to her about everything. It wasn’t like his reveal in Reckoning which really was incredibly romantic when he takes her to the fortress with that super jump, and so I get why she would be swept up in that moment, but her season 6 discovery was literally just lying a trap for Clark to find out what secrets he’s hiding
I also didn’t feel like they properly developed why she no longer seemed to love Lex halfway through season 6. I totally get it after finding out about the faked pregnancy of course, but during the wedding and after she was already acting miserable and almost repulsed by Lex’s touch, it was like she lost all feeling for him as soon as she found out that Clark had powers?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 09:28 am (UTC)I never had a Twitter – because how much can you really say in so few words? I mean sure you can but not when you're not trying to be polarizing or it's something that only calls for a concise comment. And with tumblr, maybe things have changed now but yes – it was just this reblogging other people's entries and maybe putting your own thoughts under it.. made me uncomfortable that there wasn't a real comment structure. At least when I was on.
A bit of a darker Lana – that wouldn't have been anything I would have hated. Funnily both Lionel and Lex complimented her on it – Lex on stealing the money from him and setting him up, Lionel even on his own abudction. At the end of the day we never saw Lana help anyone really with her ISIS Foundation (I guess Chloe later tried), we were just told. What we saw were her obsession with spying on Lex – I mean she left the cozy Kent farm in the middle of the night to do what? Check that Lex was really in is study having a glass of brandy and going to bed? And then she had a secret lab (much like Lex and Lionel though I guess they have many). I also remember this one scene very vividly where I thought... what are these directors doing? Kara has amnesia and Lex – basically thinking she is the key to Clark and his secret – offers her to get her help at Summerholt. Lana tells Clark and Chloe she knows a secret way into her old home through the tunnels. They get in and surprise Kara in her room. But only Kara and Chloe leave the mansion. What did Lana do? Stay for some snuggles with Lex and her old Egyptian cotton sheets? Unclear. But that's my interpretation because everything else in the episode took so long for Kara and Chloe to accomplish, until Lex found out that he was duped, which should have been much earlier. It was such disjunction writing. So yes all that and I mean also like you said the fact that in season 7 Lana gets cosy on the Kent farm with Clark but lies to her about the purpose of her foundation. So... I don't understand how fans of the couple could have been in favour of that because that was clearly not the same Lana. And when they tried to make her the same docile Lana again, she was discontent and mostly felt judged by Clark... hence her feeling a bit better with the Bizarro version but that wasn't ideal either. I don't think.
So since I'm an SV fandom baby, perhaps you can explain to me what made Lexana so unpopular with fans. Was it the shipper thing with Clana? Obviously, I really enjoyed the Lana/Lex relationship – my issues came with all the poor writing in say the middle of season 6 but even then there were glimpses where I though okay... salvagable if it hadn't been for the stupid fake!baby and I was majorly irritated at when he hit her. I felt that was so gratuitous also... in a way... to show what? That he was like Lionel? (I'm trying to remember the flashbacks but while he was grabbing her uncomfortably at one point, Lionel never hit Lillian from what I remember. Of course he hit Lex... anyway.) I'm struggling with – do I just not want this to be in character or is it really out of character. But in my thought system I do not see Lex Luthor hitting Lana Lang.
why she no longer seemed to love Lex halfway through season 6
Yeah there was no development and I don't think they said that she didn't love him only the whole gibberish that she loved both Lex and Clark. It was such a cop out.
but during the wedding and after she was already acting miserable and almost repulsed by Lex’s touch, it was like she lost all feeling for him as soon as she found out that Clark had powers
Which again I found nonsensical because it's not like Clark suddenly trusted her with anything. Meanwhile (of course with hindsight we know now about the stupid fake pregnancy and have to hate Lex for it) she thought she was pregnant with another man's child, one she actually had feelings for – as in we saw these feelings progress for six seasons? Why would knowing about Clark's superspeed and heatvision change any of that. It was just infuriating to watch.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 01:17 pm (UTC)And yep, I remember arguing that at the time when Lana and Clark and planning to run off together, it made them both look absolutely horrible to me when they believed that she was pregnant with Lex’s baby. Just deciding to leave him a note and stand Lex up in front of Lionel and the entire town was such a low move imo, but I guess the writers thought that it was all excused because Lex was up to shadiness behind Lana’s back, even though she didn’t actually know any of that when she was kissing Clark and making plans to run off with him. I mean Clark himself was originally turning Lana away at the end of the episode Hydro and pointing out that she’s pregnant with Lex’s baby, but then by the time of the wedding it seemed like none of that was meant to matter any more, Clana just wanted to be together at any cost?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 04:15 pm (UTC)And yes to everything you said in the second paragraph. That was so... I mean okay, the audience knew by then about the fake baby. But still that didn't make any of their actions okay because Lana and Clark did NOT know. And that's why I'm asking myself if the writers didn't understand that this is a huge problem? Or were just so deep into the Clana fanservice that they couldn't care less?
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-14 04:36 pm (UTC)And I totally agree on seeing the potential for Lex and Lana to work together as some kind of evil team, but not quite. Especially when they had both been frustrated with Clark lying to them, and at one point in early season 6 they both seemed onboard with not trusting aliens or the meteor infected because of their experiences with them, and so it seemed like they were being set up to be working together against the future Superman, only for it to be switched over again when Lana started to withhold stuff from Lex and be drawn back to Clark again. I suppose that Lexana as a functional relationship was never going to happen though when the writers knew that they needed to get Lex to the comic book end point, so they were never going to allow too much lightness or love into his life because of that endpoint that they needed to get too. At least there was the episode Lexmas as a heartbreaking look at what might have been :(
What did you think of the ending with the cloned Lex by the way? That was something that I was extremely frustrated by when he had all of his memories wiped, because it seemed to make much of the journey we had been watching pointless...
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 10:59 am (UTC)I suppose that Lexana as a functional relationship was never going to happen though when the writers knew that they needed to get Lex to the comic book end point
While that's true, I still think it could have been handled in many different ways. They could have kept the relationship functional and them investigating things... and it seemed that both Kreuk and Rosenbaum wanted out anyway at the end of season 7... so why not have some disaster similar to Lexmas happen in the end that would embitter Lex so much towards Clark that he would have reached said comic book endpoint. Though that may have also landed us in trope land somehow, I feel things may have been less arbirtary with less back and forth –
So yeah the ending was Lex wasn't dead against all odds but had all these clones made to harvest parts of them and then as the final piece needed alt!Lionel's heart to survive? The whole storyline was frustrating because we got all these Lex clones who weren't really Lex. And then the only scene we got between Lex and Tess was where they basically kill each other because I mean taking his memories like that is essentially killing him, is it not? Because those it went back to his earliest childhood. I took it as – we're making an argument for it's his nature to be evil because he will become Superman's antagonist no matter what and for that he'll need to have forgotten about Clark. I thought one thing was weird about the memory wipe though – it only showed scenes where Lex must have realised (albeit in hindsight) that he was (in the) wrong.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-15 01:24 pm (UTC)so why not have some disaster similar to Lexmas happen in the end that would embitter Lex so much towards Clark that he would have reached said comic book endpoint. Though that may have also landed us in trope land somehow, I feel things may have been less arbirtary with less back and forth
I do get the sense that the show was originally leading up to the Clark and Lex rivalry being partly caused by something happening to Lana and them blaming one another for her death? It’s interesting to almost feel like they misstepped because they didn’t fridge the main female lead, but idk sending her off with Clark’s powers instead just always felt so arbitrary to me. It was especially weird when she’s actually coming across as better adjusted than Clark is when she’s handling powers that he took years to learn, and telling him that no he can’t kill Lex because they don’t kill people. They did the same thing with Supergirl actually coming out to the public first, which maybe this is really anti feminist of me to be disagreeing with lol, but surely Superman was meant to be the first superhero and symbol of hope, not following in Lana and his cousins footsteps?
Lana’s ending was a better ending for her character of course, but I’m not sure how much it added to the show itself and to Clark’s journey, especially when it was never really mentioned or addressed ever again after those five episodes in season 8.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-12 11:02 pm (UTC)Hm... I don't even know what books they are based on. Somebody told me that there'll be a new 'Emma' movie coming to the theatres soon...
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 12:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 12:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 01:21 pm (UTC)https://www.macworld.com/article/3245534/list-of-apple-tv-plus-shows-and-series-news-actors-trailers-release-dates.html
(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-13 03:50 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 09:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-01-09 11:50 pm (UTC)And yes I absolutely loved episode 2, I can’t really decide which is my favourite out of the first or the second episode