TV Show Reviews: Summer 2017

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Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Master of None, Netflix, Orphan Black, reviews, Shameless, streaming TV, TV, TV Programs, TV reviews, TV Series, TV Shows

Hey everyone!

I hope you’re all enjoying the last days of summer! I certainly am, trying to enjoy the last bit of warm days as the cooler weather sets in.

I just want to make a note about a slight change to this blog. Earlier I said I would blog every Friday. Well, I’ve decided to instead blog every Monday due to my schedule. I do have a busy schedule, and I’m hoping Monday would be much easier for me to write on this blog. So let’s see…

Anyway, it is that time for me to review the TV shows I watched since the last TV review post. Like many, I prefer TV shows over movies, and I’ve been active on my TV viewing (or Netflix, or live streaming, whichever method). Here goes on my reviews…

WARNING: spoilers up ahead!

MASTER OF NONE:
I really did not like this second season. It started off being funny, but the part where Dev Shah started to fall in love with the engaged Francesca, I started to lose interest. That was the second time Dev got involved with a woman already taken (remember Claire Danes’ character in Season 1?), and I just felt uneasy with it. Yes, there was chemistry and love can be complicated. But, I just…I don’t know, felt uneasy. I kind of hope he and Francesca do stay together, but at same time I do not. Let’s see what Season 3 brings.

ORPHAN BLACK:

Image via Flickr via Creative Commons

The final season to one of the my favorite shows! Tatiana Maslany’s acting was great as always; it never fails here. I liked how there were flashbacks to when Allison and Helena learned they were clones. I’m glad Cosima and Delphine are still going strong. I also liked how at the end, they talked about the many clones all over the world, and the best part was the humbling of superbitch Rachel. The sad part was obviously when S was killed. I really like the actress, Maria Doyle Kennedy, and looking forward to see where she’ll pop up next. Heck, I’m ready to see where Tatiana will pop up next. This is not the last of her great acting. She’s got a lot to do in the future, and I’m looking forward.

HOUSE OF CARDS:

Image via Wikimedia Commons

Whoa, this show is something else.However, I felt this season, HoC got in over its head. There were too many deaths and “accidents” that can’t not be linked to Frank and Claire Underwood. Yes, it was obvious those characters would have met violent ends; that’s the way the show and the Underwoods’ work. But I felt this time it was overdone. And now the Underwoods are going to go against each other? Is Frank going to somehow kill Claire and make it look like an accident? Are these two going to kill each other in the end? Eh, it just seems like too much now. The psychopathy of the Underwoods just seems overdone. But that’s just me…

GAME OF THRONES:
What would a review post be without Game of Thrones? Like many, I obsessively watched and overanalyzed the show this season, and feeling devastated that it won’t be back until 2019 or so. But I’m glad Jon Snow’s parentage and real identity has been revealed in full, just as we take a look at the actors’ ass during an incestuous sex scene (sorry, I had to go there!). I’m also thrilled that Littlefinger has finally been killed off, by symbolically getting his throat slit. I, like many, got a little nervous with Sansa and Arya fighting. But I also read the many articles about those two, and was relieved to remember Arya had handed Sansa the dagger, and therefore was not going to kill her older sister. Whew!

But now there are only 7 episodes left for GoT. I can see the writers and producers cramming things into those episodes and not doing such a good job at it. I mean, I could see the final season for GoT be really rushed. If this past season was rushed, imagine what the next and final one would look like. But we’ve got a long wait…

SHAMELESS:

Image via Wikipedia

This is another show that I recently joined on the bandwagon. I binged on this Showtime show late last year, and this June, watched its seventh season on Netflix. I really like it, because the show is simply shameless. I mean, the characters have no shame! From Debbie raping a guy and then aimlessly getting pregnant, to Lip’s self-destructive ways, the characters live up to the show’s moniker. But it does it in a funny way! Like, there’s humor attached to the lousy behavior of everyone on the show. Amazing how that’s been worked out. I also like how the show brings to light bipolar disorder through Ian. Other programs, like Homeland and the movie Silver Lining Playbook, don’t treat bipolar disorder with much education and kindness. Shameless does, and I give it a lot of credit. I suspect next season will be the last, as it will be the eighth season. Looking forward to it!

 

 

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Book Review: “Kushiel’s Avatar” by Jacqueline Carey

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book reviews, books, Jacqueline Carey, Kushiel Trilogy, Kushiel's Avatar, novels, reading, reading a book, reviews, trilogies, Trilogy

While I was reading “On Writing” by Stephen King, I was also reading the final book of Jacqueline Carey’s trilogy about Phèdre nó Delaunay, the famed courtesan of Terre d’Ange, an alternative look at the history of France and the rest of the world. You may remember that I didn’t particularly enjoy the second book in this trilogy, but I just had to find out what happened to certain characters in the third book, “Kushiel’s Avatar”.

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Like its predecessors, “Avatar” is long, and slow moving in some parts. There’s a lot going on, a lot of history, and a lot of traveling. There’s a lot of characters, but only some are hard to remember. It’s a wild journey here, that includes some moments that are tender, fascinating or intense. Even more so, there are moments that are difficult to read because of the brutal abuse done to Phèdre and other characters. Remember, Phèdre has been chosen by the angel-diety, Kushiel, to experience pain and pleasure as one. And she has a mission to fulfill as the deities of Terre d’Ange guide her to stop an evil presence, so her tendency to experience pain and pleasure come in handy – for better or for worse. For this reader, it was for worse.

At the same time, Phèdre is on her own quest to free her childhood friend from a curse. This quest leads her to find the true name of God from a forgotten tribe and to risk her own safety by revealing that name at the appropriate time. While we never know what the true name of God is, we are hinted it through translations from various people who overheard.

The book then ends with a festival in Phèdre’s honor, who is at peace after nearly 15 years of defending her country, freeing her friend, seeing the world, and enduring pain that she sadly found pleasurable at times.

I found this book to be more entertaining than “Chosen”, mainly because Phèdre is more tolerable here. She is not the arrogant, foolish character she was in the previous book. Here, she is more humble, though probably because she endures suffering beyond many people’s comprehension. I still found her to be boring, however. I don’t know, Phèdre is just not an interesting character to me. She seems flat at times, with no real personality. I found many of the other characters, particularly Joscelin, Queen Ysandre, Hyacinthe, Kaneka, and the villianness Melisande Shahrizai, to be more fun to read about. I guess it had something to do with the narrative. Maybe Phèdre just isn’t a good narrator for her story, but she is for others.

The philosophy of this trilogy, love as thou wilt, also doesn’t seem to be fully shaped. Maybe I didn’t get it or something, but I also think because Phèdre is not an interesting character, it is hard to see what love as thou wilt means. I do like how the author, Jacqueline Carey, is trying to create a world where love is the law, and love rules. Or at least I think she is. I don’t know, I just felt confused at times.

What I did love about this book was the numerous countries explored here. Places that are obviously Egypt, Iraq, Ethiopia and the Congo, are lavishly described and one can imagine these places as being very beautiful – or in the place we know as Iraq, very ugly and horrifying.  I found it interesting while reading this book that the place we call Iraq, but known as Darsanga here, has a great evil coming from it that could destroy the world, and yet in our world, ISIS is the great evil hurting the world, and its coming from Iraq. Not that I think Jacqueline Carey foresaw the future, but what irony!

Anyway, the book ends happily and peacefully. The best part of this trilogy, for me at least, were the many countries and cultures explored and reimagined. I also liked Phèdre and Joscelin’s enduring love. In the previous book, those two were strained, and Joscelin did a lot of pouting, it seemed. Here, he is more vibrant and stronger, and you could feel the love between those two from the pages. It’s real, with its ups and downs and trials.

There are more books about Terre d’Ange from Jacqueline Carey, but I am not sure if I would read them. I feel as if I’ve explored the world she created enough, and its time for me to read about other worlds. It’s been a great journey, really, even though I wished Phèdre was better guide. I still recommend this series, though I do warn the reader about its shortcomings. What I believe is as soon as a reader finds what they like about the adventures of Phèdre no Delaunay, they’ll be able to read past what they don’t like about her story. One thing for sure, they’ll be in for a wild ride!

 

 

True Blood Season Finale 5

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HBO, reviews, season finales, Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood, TV, TV Shows

Sunday saw the season finale of True Blood’s fifth season. It had been a long, lackluster season for me, and I was hoping for a good finale to make up for all the dullness. I figured most of what happened this season will carry over to next year, and I’m pretty damn right.

However, I had no way of predicting how much this show will veer off course.

Holy shit, did this finale leave me confused and disappointed. The previous finales always gave me excitement over what could happen next year and leave me dreading over waiting months for the new season.

But this time, I am not looking forward to next year.

Where do I start?

OK, I thought Russel Edgington died too soon and not fantastically enough. I love to hate this guy! And he goes so soon? OK, it was good for Eric to finally kill his nemesis, but I was expecting a bigger battle. But no…

What was with Maurella giving birth to quadruplets? How silly! Oh, and don’t even mention her orgasmic labor. I take it that scene was supposed to be funny, but it was far too overdone to me.

Then came the last few minutes. I loved how Sam killed that annoying vampire by making her explode, and how Luna told the world what the Authority was doing. But now it looks like she may be dying. Or is that a cliffhanger that won’t have much of a story next time?

Then came the moment when Salome and Bill were to finally face off. I guess all viewers of True Blood saw this happening, but not sure how it will go about. Interesting how Bill laced Lilith’s blood with silver but kept some for himself. Certainly shows you how evil and power-hungry he has become, and how blind Sookie was to his true self.

So, Sookie was unable to get through to Bill and he drank Lilith’s blood. He then dies. I thought, Shit! Bill is dead! They finally killed a major character! What will happen next year?

The answer came a few moments later when Bill emerged from his own blood as a vampire god – kind of how Lilith was throughout this season.

That was when I thought, What the f*ck?

And I knew I could not be excited for next year’s True Blood. I just couldn’t feel the anticipation of what season 6 will bring. I found Bill being reincarnated as the male version of Lilith was beyond stupid and I wonder if the writers for this show have gotten lost and don’t know what to do with the show now.

I always felt this season’s theme – the religion of the vampires – was bizarre and didn’t make much sense. It seemed like the writers wanted to prove once and for all that vampires were indeed evil and that was why. But to me, it didn’t help much.

So now what? Is Bill going terrorize Bon Temps as a vampire god? Is he going to battle Eric forever? Is Sookie going to be in more danger than ever? And will all this conflict result in one massive finale for season 6, and even more so, the entire series?

While watching this season, I got the impression that since most of the story lines this time around won’t be resolved by the finale and will carry over into next season. For that one, there will be a major war between the vampires, humans, faeries, werewolves and shifters, and that would be the end of True Blood. It could happen.

But with Bill as an evil vampire god? It’s like the writers didn’t want to get rid of him for some reason. He should’ve stayed dead, and Eric and Sookie would hook up again. Mind you, I’m not exactly on Team Eric here, I just felt that would make more sense.

But Bill had to rise up from his blood.

And where the hell is Warlow? This whole season hyped him up and nothing happened. I expected him to appear for this episode and possibly get into a duel with Russell. But no, I guess we’ll have to wait till next time.

I don’t know if I want to wait till next time. I was really disappointed with this finale. I may be in the minority, and maybe I need time to think this over, but I feel no anticipation and only bewilderment over how this season ended.

I’ll tune in next June to see what happens. Hopefully things will work out.

It’s cool Tara is a vampire and has found love with Pam. Poor Jessica is alone again. Jason is on a mission to destroy vampires, and Alcide is a pack master at last. Lafayette is back to his wise-cracking self. That’s all good.

But…meh. Part of me wonders if the actors read the script to this episode and reconsidered their contract with this show.

EDIT TO ADD: OK, so I saw the extra scene where Jason is looking for Warlow and Nora seems scared of Warlow. That makes me interested in next year, but I am still not buying Bill as a vampire god. Nope. Sorry!