Trying to ration things out here
Aug. 30th, 2014 10:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieAre they contractually obligated to have a character who annoys the shit out of me every season? First it was Cherry--although she got much better by the end of S1--then it was Wayloo, and now it is Vinnie. Goddamn it, Vinnie, please step in a mud puddle that happens to be quicksand and sink to your death. You were cute for five minutes. The crazy lovelorn suitor act wears thin after that. It especially wears thin after THREE EPISODES.
And Bernard. Bernard I am still not fond of either. I think in part it's because he drags McMurphy off into their own little plotlines that have nothing to do with the rest of the cast, and I preferred it when she had greater interaction with others. They even have physical distance from the rest of the group out in the bush or at his house. STAY IN THE FOLD, MCMURPHY! Don't let him drag you off to the hinterlands of B plot!
(This is all starting to remind me of Maggie O'Connell and Mike Monroe, which did the same thing to Maggie. And we all know how much I hated Mike. At least McMurphy isn't baking vegan, chemical-free zucchini bread. YET.)
The whole surprise!children and surprise!crazy-wife-in-a-mental-hospital in "Independence Day" was rather Mr. Rochesterian of him, too. I'm glad McMurphy gave him the cold shoulder for a while. If only it had lasted.
Admittedly, her "Let me introduce you to an American custom" in the car was amusing. So was "I don't think I can live up to this dress."
(Also interesting: Just in the previous episode, Richard had been reminiscing about his own formative sexual experience in the back of a car. Spooning featured heavily in that conversation, and look what he and McMurphy ended up doing earlier in that episode. Shut up. Now that I've been convinced to ship it, I'mma ship it good. On that note, while I'm sure his "Or someone steals her while you aren't looking" in 3.05 was meant to be about Beth Ann, it's probably no coincidence that the conversation was actually about McMurphy and Bernard. HMMMM.)
But back to complaining. Did the sound editor just get access to a fancy dual tape deck this year or something? Because mixing the score and whatever 60s music they're playing does not lead to awesome, it leads to DISCORD, and it is DISTRACTING. Those notes don't harmonize! QUIT MAKING THEM TRY TO HARMONIZE. In fact, maybe you could get a new composer? The instrumentals here are wretched. I don't hate the themes--the heroic theme is halfway decent, the "love scene" theme is okay--but the orchestration is godawful and intrusive. Quiet that crap down, put it on a violin or a lone guitar or something, not a synthesizer and half a brass band. Also, they've introduced a new instrument this season that sounds like nothing so much as a tinny electronic cell phone ring. I seriously keep expecting a character to reach for their phone when I hear it.
Right. Anyway, there were good things. Like Holly!* I expected to hate Holly, and then there was "With a Little Help From My Friends." It was obvious from the beginning of the episode that Hong was somehow going to be behind the grenades (and I like that they left a bit of mystery as to whether she actually planted them or just provided the guitar strings), but I felt for Holly anyway. The conversation between her and KC where KC reveals that they don't actually know Hong's name, and just call her Hong Chee because Chee means girl/woman, was a nice touch. It was a much better way of commenting on the imperialist adventuring of US forces in Vietnam than the overblown debating in "Independence Day," that's for sure. Also, the duet to "Blowin' in the Wind" was lovely.
KC's story in "Ghosts" was very compelling. The line about "What he took from me can't be put in a box" was gut-punching, given everything that's been implied about her father's sexual abuse of her. And her getting straight A's in fifth grade was a nice little detail. KC. :(
Poor Beckett and Mai. :( I was a little nonplussed at her description of him as a boy rather than a man, because he doesn't read that young to me. He reads about the same age as everyone else, all of whom I peg around 30. (To be fair, I think all the actors were actually around 30.) Well, okay, obviously Lila and Sarge are older, and Richard reads as a few years older, maybe 35. And Hiers is a little younger. But everyone else looks about 30, no matter what age they're supposed to be.
Onward! I'm trying to ration myself and make this season last a little longer than S2 did. We'll see how that works out.
* Speaking of Holly, I may or may not be contemplating fic where she becomes Shipper on Deck for McMurphy and Richard after walking in on them in "Ghosts." She would annoy the absolute bejeezus out of both of them, and amuse the hell out of me.
And Bernard. Bernard I am still not fond of either. I think in part it's because he drags McMurphy off into their own little plotlines that have nothing to do with the rest of the cast, and I preferred it when she had greater interaction with others. They even have physical distance from the rest of the group out in the bush or at his house. STAY IN THE FOLD, MCMURPHY! Don't let him drag you off to the hinterlands of B plot!
(This is all starting to remind me of Maggie O'Connell and Mike Monroe, which did the same thing to Maggie. And we all know how much I hated Mike. At least McMurphy isn't baking vegan, chemical-free zucchini bread. YET.)
The whole surprise!children and surprise!crazy-wife-in-a-mental-hospital in "Independence Day" was rather Mr. Rochesterian of him, too. I'm glad McMurphy gave him the cold shoulder for a while. If only it had lasted.
Admittedly, her "Let me introduce you to an American custom" in the car was amusing. So was "I don't think I can live up to this dress."
(Also interesting: Just in the previous episode, Richard had been reminiscing about his own formative sexual experience in the back of a car. Spooning featured heavily in that conversation, and look what he and McMurphy ended up doing earlier in that episode. Shut up. Now that I've been convinced to ship it, I'mma ship it good. On that note, while I'm sure his "Or someone steals her while you aren't looking" in 3.05 was meant to be about Beth Ann, it's probably no coincidence that the conversation was actually about McMurphy and Bernard. HMMMM.)
But back to complaining. Did the sound editor just get access to a fancy dual tape deck this year or something? Because mixing the score and whatever 60s music they're playing does not lead to awesome, it leads to DISCORD, and it is DISTRACTING. Those notes don't harmonize! QUIT MAKING THEM TRY TO HARMONIZE. In fact, maybe you could get a new composer? The instrumentals here are wretched. I don't hate the themes--the heroic theme is halfway decent, the "love scene" theme is okay--but the orchestration is godawful and intrusive. Quiet that crap down, put it on a violin or a lone guitar or something, not a synthesizer and half a brass band. Also, they've introduced a new instrument this season that sounds like nothing so much as a tinny electronic cell phone ring. I seriously keep expecting a character to reach for their phone when I hear it.
Right. Anyway, there were good things. Like Holly!* I expected to hate Holly, and then there was "With a Little Help From My Friends." It was obvious from the beginning of the episode that Hong was somehow going to be behind the grenades (and I like that they left a bit of mystery as to whether she actually planted them or just provided the guitar strings), but I felt for Holly anyway. The conversation between her and KC where KC reveals that they don't actually know Hong's name, and just call her Hong Chee because Chee means girl/woman, was a nice touch. It was a much better way of commenting on the imperialist adventuring of US forces in Vietnam than the overblown debating in "Independence Day," that's for sure. Also, the duet to "Blowin' in the Wind" was lovely.
KC's story in "Ghosts" was very compelling. The line about "What he took from me can't be put in a box" was gut-punching, given everything that's been implied about her father's sexual abuse of her. And her getting straight A's in fifth grade was a nice little detail. KC. :(
Poor Beckett and Mai. :( I was a little nonplussed at her description of him as a boy rather than a man, because he doesn't read that young to me. He reads about the same age as everyone else, all of whom I peg around 30. (To be fair, I think all the actors were actually around 30.) Well, okay, obviously Lila and Sarge are older, and Richard reads as a few years older, maybe 35. And Hiers is a little younger. But everyone else looks about 30, no matter what age they're supposed to be.
Onward! I'm trying to ration myself and make this season last a little longer than S2 did. We'll see how that works out.
* Speaking of Holly, I may or may not be contemplating fic where she becomes Shipper on Deck for McMurphy and Richard after walking in on them in "Ghosts." She would annoy the absolute bejeezus out of both of them, and amuse the hell out of me.