Several things, randomly strung together

[norwich36]

1. Dear certain people on my friends list, and I'm sure you know who you are: I am really hoping you are eventually going to post reviews of the Smallville finale. Not that I've been obsessively refreshing my flist for the past few days or anything.

2. I saw Thor tonight (going in with no expectations whatsoever, as I am completely unfamiliar with comic canon) and really, really enjoyed it. If you reviewed it, could you drop me a link?

3. I saw Priest this weekend, and other than having a half-formed essay about the role of religion in that movie, I really have nothing to say. Karl Urban looked pretty badass? That's about it.

4. In case you don't have her friended, butterfly has been posting some pretty amazing analyses of the Vampire Diaries finale--the most interesting one here about pack morality and the show, which has really interesting insights into some of the more disturbing decisions Elena and crew have been making lately.

5. I swear I have posted and deleted at least 4 versions of a reaction post to the H50 season finale--deleted because I couldn't contain my rants at other fans' reactions to the episode. It's starting to look to me like H50 is going to be a show that I enjoy watching and talking about with maybe 2 people that I trust, but I'll have to avoid the fandom for my own sanity.

Edited to Add: Expect spoilers for all of these (SV finale, Thor, Priest, TVD finale, H50 finale) in the comments.

Comments

[starry-dawn.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link to the TVD meta! I always enjoy reading those.

What's the problem with H5O? I am not really in the fandom, so I don't know what's happening. Fill me in, please?

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, on H50 it's just character-bashing stuff, as usual targeted mainly at a female character who is perceived as breaking up the main slash pairing, though to be fair they're also bashing a couple of the main male characters--and in at least one case it's based on what I see as an obvious misreading of the text. (Do you know any canon? Do you want me to be more specific? It will spoil the finale).

[starry-dawn.livejournal.com]

Is it Jenna-bashing? Because I've seen a bit of that, but most of the reviews I've read so far have been pretty positive towards her. I'm also seeing a lot of talk about Danny and adultery, but I think that's warranted.

And yes, please go into specifics! I've watched the finale already.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

I think probably we aren't going to agree on this, because the collective meltdown on the adultery thing is driving me BATSHIT INSANE. It's perfectly ok if Danny tortures suspects (e.g. tying them to car roofs) or flings burning hot coals in their faces when pursuing them, but what makes fandom break up with him is sleeping with his ex who's leaving her husband. OKAY. The fact is, Danny has never been the moral paragon fanon has made him out to be.He only looks that way in comparison to Steve.And I'm not in love with the fact that they hooked up before she officially broke up with Stan, but they're human beings, they were married for 10 years, they have a kid together and Danny just almost died.

And the female bashing I'm talking about with is Rachel, who is taking a lot of the heat (e.g. I've seen a lot of bitching about her inability to use birth control, her making Danny leave Steve, etc. etc.) I've seen comments rooting for her death. And that's just...reminding me why sometimes I hate slash fandom. Because it doesn't matter how awesome a female character is, if she gets in the way of the main pairing she gets targeted.

And a surprising number of posts have been talking about Chin betraying the team, as if it isn't COMPLETELY obvious that he went back to HPD to be their man on the inside. He pretty much told them he was going to do that in the scene where he warns Steve that HPD is coming for him.

[kristiinthedark.livejournal.com]

I saw Priest this weekend, too! Amazingly, you summed up my feelings towards the film EXACTLY.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Hee! Not even Maggie Q's doomed love for whathisname could save it. Sad, because the worldbuilding was fairly interesting, but they wasted all their time fighting hideously ugly monster-pires. (I would say they totally missed the point of vampire movies, which is that vampires are simultaneously dangerous AND sexy, except they had Karl Urban exuding sex, and then barely gave him anything to do.)

I really wanted a different movie where Karl Urban isn't joining the ugly monster-pires, he's creating his own new hybrid race by seducing all the priests. YUMM. That would have been an agenda I could get behind.

[starry-dawn.livejournal.com]

Oh, don't worry, I'm completely in agreement with you. I only said that the talk on Danny and adultery was warranted, not that it deserved bashing. I don't expect fictional characters to be paragons of virtue, and while I'm not the happiest person that Danny and Rachel didn't wait until after her divorce with Stan was final, I don't think either of them deserve to be hung for it, especially not when they clearly showed regret/guilt at their sneaking around behind Stan's back.

Re: Rachel, I quite like her, to be honest. I don't think there's anything wrong in her wanting to get back with Danny, because from the very first meeting, we were shown that she wasn't completely over him. Now, I'm not sure what the pregnancy thing is about, because it seemed a bit fishy and out of left field, and the whole "let's go back to Jersey RIGHT NOW" thing felt unnecessarily hurried, but that's because I feel like Wo Fat's behind it somehow. How that plays out will decide where I fall on the "Rachel's trying to get Danny to choose between his job and his family". Even if Wo Fat has nothing to do with it, and it was all genuine, I really don't blame Rachel for wanting a life with Danny that isn't encumbered by his all-consuming work. Not every wife can be expected to be perfectly alright with her husband being away for a majority of the time (not everyone's Lois Lane :P) and I find it realistic that Rachel might have that problem.

As for Chin betraying the team, have these people not watched the show for the past season? Chin's been shown to be the most reasonable and level-headed of them all, even when he's making self-sacrificing decisions, and most importantly, he's the kind of person who can really think ahead and plan longtime. I have no doubts that whatever Chin is doing, he's doing it so he can help the team out. I find it significant that we weren't shown him accepting the offer, which only solidifies my belief that he did it in a hurry as soon as shit went down with Steve.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

I considered seeing Priest this weekend, for the sake of Karl Urban, Paul Bettany, and Maggie Q, but everything I was hearing made it sound... not so good, and I was tired, so I decided not. And everything I've heard since then just confirms that. So... *adds to Netflix queue*

I also thought Thor was really good, way more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

About H50... while I agree that the finale was not all I could have hoped for (I swear they all but threw the kitchen sink in there), and I am not best pleased by the actions of some characters (STEVE, YOU IDIOT!), I do think the reaction to Rachel's (and Danny's) actions is disproportionate. I don't like what they did (really, really dislike adultery myself), but let's get a grip, people.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

It's funny, because I'm also not a fan of adultery, and yet the fandom reaction to H50 has driven me completely in the other direction. And yeah, Steve was really not making good choices at the end there--probably at least partly because Danny wasn't there to talk him down. But at the end, when he was going after the Governor, I was screaming at my TV. Oh, Steve. There are times when the ninja response is not the best response.

Yeah, Priest is not something I would recommend paying full price for. They clearly blew all their money on the special effects budget rather than the writing.

[ciaan]

Yeah, it had a lot of potential, none of which reached fruition at all.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Sorry! I think I have become way oversensitive to the response to Danny and Rachel, which is silly because people have the right to their own reactions--I should just know better than to read certain reviewers.

I have encountered the Wo Fat theory in a couple places, and while I like parts of it (I would much prefer the pregnancy to be fake than for it to end in miscarriage or Rachel's death), and it certainly explains why Rachel thought she had to leave immediately, I almost think it's giving too much credit to the writers? But maybe I am wrong. I would love that to be the case.

I also kind of hope that it turns out that the Governor wasn't evil (or at least, not completely evil--like maybe she was being blackmailed by Wo Fat? Or playing a long game that failed?) because I really liked the character, and while part of me thought her death was a little easier to take since she was a bad guy, part of me was really sad they went that route.

And yeah, Chin is above all other things loyal, so the idea that he's betraying the team just makes me go O.O

[clari-clyde.livejournal.com]

I will, I will. When finals are over, I’ll be able to rewatch and review. And then I need to start hunting down SV finale reviews.

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, for once eat_crow has quite a comprehensive collection.

[elandrialore.livejournal.com]

Sorry about #5, dude. If it helps any, even though I'm pretty pissed off about the Danny/Rachel thing (though more for the execution of it by the writers than the actual adultery/baby part) you can totally talk with me about it. Even though I may not agree, I can still lend an ear:)

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think I'm over it. I just need to avoid certain people's reviews and I'll be fine. But thanks for the offer!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Definitely.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to assume you're talking about me (among others) in #1, but if you are, it's coming. Probably sometime this weekend. I just have to finish packing up my old place so I can move to my new one on Monday!

[norwich36.livejournal.com]

Well, yes, you were one of the people I was thinking of in #1, but moving is a good excuse. And really I will be kind of sad to read your very last Smallville review ever, so take your time.