True Detective and Women

As I briefly mentioned yesterday, I’m obsessing over True Detective the same way everyone with HBO is. I don’t need to tell you why it’s so great, you’ve either already heard or already written it off, I assume. I watched the first five episodes in fairly quick succession, and I was ready to bestow the mantle of “Better Than Breaking Bad” on it, when it was pointed out that some people feel that it’s depiction of women is less than great. It’s always a bad feeling when I find out something I like is found questionable, as if I am guilty by association. Instead of repeating what I’ve read or defending the show, I’ll just link to these two articles. The first by Emily Nussbaum from the New Yorker, the second from Britt Hayes at Screen Crush. I think both make valid points, but I especially like Hayes’ piece. Of course, I would, because it puts me at ease and validates my thoughts that just because women are treated poorly on the show, it doesn’t mean they’re treated poorly by the show. I still wonder though. I mean, I think I know what the makers of True Detective are trying to say, but are there still a  bunch of jerks out there who think the depiction of tough guys and submissive women is cool, and something to aspire to? What do you think?

"This place is like someone's memory of a town, and the memory is fading."

I’m so bad at keeping up with this. Rest assured, I am watching just as much TV as usual, the stuff I’m watching just isn’t easy and fun to write or talk about. Except True Detective, which is a goddamn masterpiece. Unfortunately I didn’t start watching until it was a few weeks in, or else I would have probably wanted to post about it. I’m sure there will be a True Detective post eventually.

I’m not making any promises, but I’m going to try and post a little more, especially with Game of Thrones, Veep and Mad Men(!) returning. I think I’ll do it a little different, and probably just write a few thoughts and supply some links to recaps and articles from other sites. It’s all about the comments section anyways, right?

So is anyone out there? What have you been watching?

Thoughts on the Walking Dead mid-season finale...

Spoilers abound! Hit the jump for some short thoughts that I pretty much just copy and pasted from an email.

Too Many Shows!

Ironically, I saw this tonight while I was trying to clear space on my DVR.

I'm Back

Dang. I certainly dropped the ball, huh? Truth is, towards the end of September work got real busy, which makes me not want to do as much at home. Then along came October, which means most of my media consumption focused on horror movies, and the TV I did watch didn’t get written about. During that time I set up a Letterboxd account to keep track of what I movies I watched. It’s pretty helpful because my memory is going south, and while I can usually remember what I’ve seen and if I liked it, I can rarely remember what I liked (or hated) about it. Anyways, because of all the movies I’ve watched, I fell behind on the TV I planned on watching.

You’ve seen my post on the first episode of Walking Dead. You could probably tell I wasn’t too impressed, and that first episode just didn’t keep me interested to stay on top of the series. I will catch up eventually. From what I’ve heard it’s getting better, so I guess I’ll catch up soon.

I’ve watched the first five episodes of Boardwalk Empire. Now that it’s out from Breaking Bad’s Sunday night shadow, it’s back on the top of my list. The fifth hour, titled “Erlkönig” was particularly great, and extremely beautifully shot. I may still do a post for that.

American Horror Story: Coven has also stepped firmly to the top of my list. It’s so creepy, pulpy, sleazy and gross, but in all the right ways. Plus the cast is pretty stunning. Jessica Lange, Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates all play great, strong, interesting characters, and watching them interact with each other is great every time. I haven’t seen the latest ep, but I may try and start with weekly writeups, especially if anyone else is watching.

The last thing I’ll say is I really miss Mad Men. Now that the story of Walter White is complete, I’m reminded how much I want to see Don Draper’s story continue. I’m pretty unhappy with AMC’s decision to split the season in two (the same way they did with the last season of Breaking Bad), but what am I going to do, not watch it? I think this article is what really got me thinking about Mad Men again. It reminds me of the good times speculating on the secrets of LOST. Anyways, I’m not sure if Mad Men is a better show than Breaking Bad, but I may find it more interesting. That’s easy to say now that Breaking Bad has wrapped up and there’s still a lot of story to tell with Mad Men, so take that statement with a grain of salt.

The Walking Dead 4.1 "30 Days Without An Accident"

Now that Breaking Bad is over, I have a big hole in my heart and Sunday night TV schedule. So it’s a bit unfair for Walking Dead. I don’t think anything is ready to live up to the expectations, let alone a show that I struggled to stay interested in during its last season.  

The previous season of Walking Dead left me feeling a bit indifferent to the series. Season 3 felt like such a slog to get through. As a reader of the comics I knew the Governor was a bad dude (though I feel he was a much worse dude in the books) so it was tedious watching the story line develop, and when all was said and done I just didn’t care enough about any of the characters, who mostly went undeveloped save for fluctuations in their mental stability.

So I was actually pleasantly surprised to find our survivors somewhat leveled-out, living a closer-to-normal communal life in the prison. It seems to be re-fortified, they’re starting to farm and there’s a council to provide a little governance. Honestly,I find this setting much more interesting than a bunch of scared folks hiding out in a dark prison, facing attack after attack from walkers and humans alike. It gives us some stakes. Something for them to lose other than human life, and, let’s be honest, the show is pretty willy-nilly about when it decides to give any importance to the death of a human being.

It’s also strange to see smiles from the likes of Michonne, Daryl, and Rick. I’m not sure which was stranger, Michonne riding a horse through the gates with a smile and armful of comics for Carl, or Carol calling Daryl “Pookie.” Of course, outside the walls the world hasn’t got much better. Rick runs into a woman with an accent (was she Irish?) who he forces to carry a Chipotle burrito back to her camp in order to answer 3 riddles. Of course, she’s gone off the deep end, and she was going to feed Rick to her husband (or baby?) who is kept under some burlap.

Meanwhile, on a supply run, we get a fun scene where zombies come crashing through the ceiling and explode, or chase survivors around, or dangle by their intestines. Some really gross things happen (many of which don’t really make sense biologically, but questioning the realism of this show would make my head explode.) We get some hints at an alcoholism subplot with the ex-Army medic, and Beth’s possible love interest gets bit. I saw that coming, but maybe not quite so soon.

The only bit of mystery we get from this episode comes from young Patrick, who wanders into a shower and starts bleeding from his face. Probably from banana peel smoking or Mollys or butt-chugging, or whatever the kids these days are into. Or maybe the virus is mutating!

As if it’s not obvious, I’m still having trouble caring about this show. It’s nice that’s it’s not constantly bleak so far. I’m excited to see how the communal living develops. Honestly the only characters I care about and find interesting are Hershel, Maggie, Glenn, and now Beth. I’d be happy if the rest of the series was about the remnants of the Greene family on their homestead with the occasional walker wandering through the background. I’m sure that’s not what I’ll get, though, but we’ll see if they can offer up anything else to keep me interested.

Breaking Bad Series Finale - "Felina"

Well, I sure didn’t predict that. I was expecting a curve ball. Instead I got a finale that was so nicely wrapped up and straight forward I feel like I should feel disappointed. But I’m satisfied. I feel like every question was answered, and pretty much everyone got what they deserved.

More after the jump.