Criminal Minds S05E18 Recap: Setting up a Spin Off

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

This post contains spoilers for Criminal Minds S05E18 “The Fight”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Doctor Who, End of Time, Part Two

Friday, January 1st, 2010

I have just finished watching David Tennant’s very last Doctor Who episode. Spoilers for both parts of End of Time below.

End of Time was clearly the wrong name for this. It should have been called The Long Goodbye for obvious JUST DIE ALREADY reasons. This will likely be a highly unpopular opinion but the drawing out of the death was a little too much for me. Yes it was nice to get a LOOK WHAT THEY’RE DOING NOW sequence with all of Ten’s companions but on the whole I would have preferred the regeneration to take place right away.

BUT OH THE ANGST! I will miss you most of all. And “I don’t want to go”? Completely fitting. Ten seemed to be the one that was too attached to himself, too fond of his own cleverness, and I think that line was great, especially combined with the crazy moment where he had to choose to save Wilf or not and Wilf was all “shrug, okay, it’s fine if I die, I’m an old dog and all that, jolly good ride”. Thematically, it was a lovely bittersweet moment, and character-wise I think it was spot on.

More awesome Wilf-Doctor conversations, and lovely moments with the Master. I loled so hard when Ten was all strapped in and gagged, and then he called the Master beautiful and I was all JUST SNOG ALREADY. Lol.

Wilf, we did not see nearly enough of you, but you did get to be bad ass and shoot missiles with lasers like Chewy from Star Wars, so we’ll always have that. And Donna, you are still un-Donna and were terribly underused and WHY did we get the firey-brain bit if nothing came of it and it wasn’t important to the plot at all? UM WHUT? At least her fiance wasn’t aiding and abetting a space spider this time.

Also:

• Martha/Mickey lolz. Somewhere a man named Tom is plotting the Doctor’s demise for introducing his fiancee to Mickey Smith, and I’m looking forward to that adventure. SMITH AND JONES INDEED. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, RTD. Their short clip of badassness together was pretty awesome, though.
• JACK/ALONSO LULZ OMG. Jack is all “MY IANTO WHEREFOR ART THOU?” hardcore angsting, but the Doctor clearly cannot stand to be out-angsted. I hope this means we’ll see Alonso in the next season of Torchwood, ’cause that kid was kinda cool.
• It was kind of awesome to see Joan in there. Obviously she meant more to him than he let on, and that’s the awesome fic-worthy part. Please note that he did not visit Renette during his montage.
• Rose, in passing, and the bit about 2005 being a great year. Somewhere in Pete’s world Rose is figuring it out and smacking Handy around. FIC ME THIS PLZTHX.
• Apparently that woman in the white suit haunting Wilf was supposed to be the Doctor’s mother? Who was the other woman? Romana maybe? Or something?
• Douchey Time Lords FTW! On purpose genocide is way cooler, though it makes all his guilt a little stranger. As soon as he figured out they were coming back he was all ZOMG NOT ON and didn’t really hesitate. I struggle to understand how killing one person is easier than genocide for this character, but it is and that’s part of why he’s so interesting.
• So far Eleven seems very Tenish but with bad hair (and even he thinks so, lol). And “geronimo” is light years less awesome than “allons-y”. Catchphrase fail, Moffat.

The plot overall was pretty lame, the Master Race and the pointless cactus people and Gallifrey rolling down upon Earth like the boulder in that Indiana Jones movie. And the goodbye was long and really broke the story for me. I would have preferred Ten regenerated in the plastic booth; I’m sure there are many ways These Are The Days of Your Life could have been inserted that didn’t involve all that time between being killed and actually dying. Almost everyone is bound to disagree with me on that, but BRING IT I WILL FIGHT YOU! :D

So begins the Moffat era. *crosses fingers*

Doctor Who End of Time Reaction Post!

Friday, December 25th, 2009

I have only fifteen minutes so this is going to probably be a whirlwind of bullet points based on notes I took while watching. I have very little thoughtful commentary at this point because I have to let the whole thing steep a bit.

• Seriously, I ♥ Wilf. I did before he became an official companion and I will continue to. The dynamic of the Doctor and an older male companion is complete win.
• I did not know whether to roll my eyes or lol heartily at the image of the TARDIS in the church stain glass window. It is possible I did both simultaneously. Also, LOL @ “the sainted physician”.
• “The king is in his counting house…” Why/how do nursery rhymes always manage to give things +10 creepy points? Because they do.
• Obviously the Secret Book of Saxon is a hilarious plot device and should be mocked at every opportunity.
• I thought for a minute they were going to actually use Lucy’s body and morph him out of her, which would explain the blond hair. I’m pretty glad they went elsewhere, though Lifeforce Sucking Master is probably equally as ridiculous as LucyMaster. Lucy continues to be badass I guess, but I kinda miss her crazy. Her crazy was part of her win.
• OMG DANCING WILF! AND HIS DOCTOR-FINDING ARMY! GO GO SILVER CLOAK! I love this show so, so much. “Modern sort of hair, all sticky upy.” I WILL MISS THAT HAIR SO  MUCH. D:
• So we have a super-jumpy-lighting-spraying-skeletor-super Master. THIS SHOW, IT IS SO MUCH WONDERFUL CRACK.
• OMG THEY CAN SMELL EACH OTHER. THEY SNIFFED. AND SMELLED EACH OTHER. I AM DYING FROM LULZ RIGHT NOW, BOTH PRESENT LULZ AND FUTURE LULZ ABOUT FIC THAT WILL BE WRITTEN ABOUT EAU DE TIME LORD.
• The conversation in the cafe just… wow. I love this show. Did I say that already? I love it. “Even if I change it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away. And I’m dead.”  Also: “Like she’s so sad and can’t remember why.” DONNNNNNNA! Be your awesome badass self forever and ever. OMG DOCTOR TEARS! D: D: YES, YOU DO NEED DONNA YOU STUPID DOCTOR! GOOD OLD DONNA! LISTEN TO WILF YOU CRAZY STUPID TIME LORD!! I could probably provide you with a full transcript of the cafe scene, but that seems like overkill. Suffice it to say I will be watching that bit several times more.
• This narrator is driving me a bit batshit, and while I was watching it I correctly predicted what was up there.
• “I had estates.”  With red pastures.  and   are you both listening and taking notes on this because this is like a gift from the crack gods. “We used to run across those fields all day”. Oh RTD, you ship Doctor/Master SO HARD and you don’t even try to hide it. :D
• OMG DOCTORDONNA MOMENT WIN! YEAH THAT’S RIGHT SHE’S STILL FIGHTING FOR IT! BECAUSE SHE’S DONNA AND AWESOME AND HURRAH!
• “I thought it’d be cleaner.” LOL. Have I mentioned how much I ♥ Wilf yet? I think I have. I should say it again. I ♥ Wilf.
• Intrigued and overly helpful Master is probably not a good sign, people. DON’T YOU KNOW THIS?
• What is the point of the cactus aliens other than an excuse to have the Doctor use the word “shimmer” as many times as possible in one minute? I believe that might have been the only point.
• OMG THE DOCTOR CALLED THE MASTER SKELETOR! MY LIFE IT IS COMPLETE. It’s like a Christmas present from RTD just for me.
• The not!Obama cameo was kind of strange.
• A planet of Masters. Many of them wearing dresses. Oh. My. God. The entire planet is laughing. The other planets are like WHUT IS SO FUNNY SHUT UP EARTH.
• Aaaaaand no one is surprised to see the Time Lords and Gallifrey will be back/are back. This is my not-shocked face. I’m actually kind of okay with it, mostly because I think there’s only so much I AM THE LAST angst one show can do before it’s all old hat, and I don’t think Moffatt will do it as well as RTD. But I guess we’ll see how it goes.

That was a lot of caps.

In general, I think there was probably too much going on, but I don’t have time to talk more about that because Christmas Continues and I have dinner to eat and family to hang with, so I must leave you with just lots of all caps and leave thoughtfulness for later.

Dexter S04E12

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Many major spoilers for the end of Dexter Season 4 (the one with the Trinity Killer) below.

Given this show has a twisty history unlike most others, I’m laying bets there’s a good chance it wasn’t Trinity who killed Rita. If it was, fine, but I’ll probably be a little disappointed, since typically nothing on this show is what it seems. I won’t be surprised if next year sometime we find out it was someone else, and they staged it to look like Trinity.

Rita was definitely stuffed in a fridge, and while I’ve never been really wild about Rita, her being fridged is a pretty good illustration of why I feel "meh" about her: the character has always been about the writers needing to put Dexter somewhere or make Dexter do something or complicate Dexter’s life. Rita’s pretty much always been a backboard to bounce Dexter off of and never a real character in her own right. I was honestly not at all surprised. As much as I like this show and as much as I like some of the female characters — especially Deb — the writing of Rita has always been full of fail.

I do wonder what kind of aftermath we’ll see, because ,while that’s not typically how fridging goes, the aftermath and Dexter dealing with suddenly being a single father of three might be the point in this particular case. And how is Dexter’s going to explain all this at work, because he has to report it and, whether Trinity killed her or not, it looks like he did; everyone’s going to be asking why, especially ’cause she doesn’t fit the pattern. Also, at some point won’t the Miller family talk about that Kyle Butler fellow that kept showing up and seemed to know something was up with Arthur? Talk yourself out of THAT one, Dexter Morgan. I double-dog dare you.

I hope the writers are setting up Deb to figure Dexter out next season, because I think that would be an interesting story to tell, and ’cause Deb is awesomecakes and I want lots more of her. Also it seems like they’re setting up the dominos in just that way, what with Deb figuring out about Dexter’s mom and all that.

Anyway. Good season finale. Looking forward to next year. I am already grumbly about having to wait so long.

Waters of Mars: Ye Olde Reaction Post

Sunday, November 15th, 2009

First reactions: ZOMG AWESOME.

Coherent reactions: Honestly, I’ve been wondering and hoping we were going to get a crazy Ten arc (even a small one, which it looks like is all we get but I digress) because the build up with Runaway Bride then all of season four and even the little small things over the last two specials what with Ten refusing companionship… it just seemed to be heading in that direction. RTD, I am glad you do not disappoint or fake me out.

Ten has always been a little bit crazy in a way Nine wasn’t, especially since losing Rose the first time but even before that. The only thing that ever kept him sane were his companions, and what with this self-imposed loneliness over the last who knows how long, I’m not at all surprised to see him crack apart. The last ten minutes of this episode, watching him take on the laws of Time and abandon all his principles, was really excellent. And then his calm unrepentant arrogance with Adalaide at the end just before Time comes back and backhands him? Chilly. Oncoming storm indeed.

Adalaide was fantastic, and it was excellent to see him always running to keep up with her. From the time he lands on Mars, for maybe the first time in a long time, the Doctor isn’t in control and RTD played that beautifully. Every step of the way the Doctor is either battling with his own demons and completely unable to beat them down without someone, and even physically he’s constantly behind Adalaide, who has a date with fate and yet still manages to be in better control of the situation than the Doctor is.

His speech about fixed points and destiny? Really lovely. Inspiration and joy painted over sadness. Well delivered and well received. One of the things I love about this series is how most of the time the Doctor can change or meddle or adjust things except sometimes when it matters. Generally universes embrace one thing or the other, but this show manages to say that sometimes both are true and somehow that makes them both mean more. This special was about that, how some moments in time are necessary and important and unbreakable, and yet those are the ones he wants to change the most. You always want the thing you can’t have.

I kind of wish we could have more crazy Ten. I think a three or four episode arc of crazy Ten could be totally and completely awesome. But it doesn’t look like that’s what we’ll get, so I guess I have to be okay with ten minutes of it. Ten, I will miss your angst most of all. Who will lonely-eyes when you’re gone? I think maybe Ten invented angst. It’s probably an adventure we didn’t see. Someone fic it for me, ‘kay? :D

Also: unexpected Ood was unexpected. And weird. I’m assuming that will all make sense at Christmas, otherwise you can expect some sort of WTF OOD post at that point.

But ZOMG DONNA! I adore Donna. I want her back and I want her awesome so badly, and all throughout this episode all I could think of was how much the Doctor needed Donna. Not Rose, Donna. I hope somewhere Donna woke up and had an irrepressible urge to yell at someone.

And WILF! And platinum blond skeletor!Master. *cackles*