it's season finale season (non-spoilery)

[cimorene]

Along with catching up to the season finales of our favorite shows (CSI, Bones, Lie to Me, Criminal Minds, Dollhouse), we also watched the Supernatural finale in the last couple of days (while I was wasting away, gradually coughing up damp bits of lung: seriously, the NoobFlu sucks) (I don't know if it still qualifies as one of waxjism's favorite shows, but if it does, I prefer not to know about it. I'm just watching so the Dean/Castiel fanfiction will make sense). And, like, just a few episodes ago Wax and I were saying "You know, I really like Ruby, and not just because this actress is really hot" and "I hope she doesn't turn out to be evil". It's not like we were holding out any hope, but the finale was still really WHOA-revolting in the Misogynist Visual Symbolism and Stereotypes Sweepstakes. I can't believe that I occasionally see people blaming the misogyny on the fanbase. That right there was the woman-hating coming from inside the building (of canon writing), and from several directions simultaneously (and increasingly poisonously). Ew. Just... ew.

In CSI news, Lawrence Fishburne continues to be retina-searingly awesome and adorable, and yet somehow, the overall production levels, budget for secondary characters, and writing have kicked up a notch on this already-outstanding show, and he's not even really the most awesome part. I'd say the increased subplots for all the beloved secondary characters are, especially Hodges and the Coroners.

And in Lie to Me news, they must have got a budget increase with being renewed, because besides keeping Sean Patrick Thomas as a recurring for Monica Raymund's hot, hot Secret Service boyfriend, they've added Mekhi Phifer as a new regular, and he's providing ass-kicking, FBI training, and access-character perspective (someone not indoctrinated in Tim Roth's truth-detecting methods) as well as intriguing signs of possibly being a Natural. Oh, and a nice current of burgeoning Mentor relationship with Tim, too: he's about the same age as Brendan Hines (Loker), but Loker's already graduated the Mentor School and has a more adult relationship with the boss. Other signs also point to Jennifer Beals as Tim's ex-wife continuing to recur frequently, to which I have only this to say: she's way too hot for him. I love me some Tim, but dude, he's an ankle-biting, charming little troll. There's no way he'd score with her.

And Dollhouse continues to be obviously trying, and apparently unaware that it's still failing regardless. Sort of like a puppy. Well... at least it's trying? And it's very entertaining. I vote for lots and lots more Alan Tudyk next season.

Comments

[bluesbell]

I used to enjoy Supernatural so much, but lately I've spent more time cringing and/or fuming from the ears than being entertained by it- and yeah, the finale was extremely disgusting. I'm not sure I'll be able to watch S5 even if I want to know what happens next; I've srsly had it with the stabbing of women and the race fail. >:(

There's Alan Tudyk in Dollhouse? I gave up on that show after a few episodes.

I hope you guys feel better soon! (You're still in town, right?)

[cimorene]

Wax isn't sick, just me. And yeah, we're here until we can get a ride out to Ängisbacka - probably this weekend sometime.

[cimorene]

Re: Dollhouse, I think it got a lot better later. And in retrospect, it even looks like he was spending a really long time on setting up a whole long series of twists on purpose - too long, in my view, but there's a rumour that that was the doing of the studio execs' demands.

[potted_music]

I can't believe that I occasionally see people blaming the misogyny on the fanbase.

I think it's a little more complicated than that. The TPTB are very well aware of the fanbase's reactions to female characters, so they don't have any choice but to kill the girls off.

I liked that Ruby had her own agenda (as opposed to just pining for Sam), and that she outsmarted many a stronger player. I hated that they killed her & the way they killed her. And I HATED the fandom for turning it into a reason for celebration.

[cimorene]

The TPTB are very well aware of the fanbase's reactions to female characters, so they don't have any choice but to kill the girls off.

1. They obviously do have a choice.



2. That choice isn't even limited to just "killing them" or "keeping them and enraging the fans" - they could, for example, write women out without killing them, or kill them in a way that's not cheap or horribly offensive, or theoretically even try including them in various different ways and see how it goes.



3. Having some agency is preferable to none, but when it turns out to be villainous agency, well, it's better than arm candy, but it still frankly sucks. Re-enacting the role of Eve in a Christian mytharc and portraying her actions as wholly premeditated and planned for the advancement of the side of Evil? ...Bad enough that the earlier complexity of her character is totally no longer worth it - a view apparently shared by TPTB since she became disposable immediately afterward to Sam as well as the plot, and he helped his brother kill her via Penetration With A Righteous Knife.

[potted_music]

Maybe my standarts for commercial TV are lower than they should be, but my impressions are, they live off complying to the viewers' expectations, which artistic/ideological/whathaveyou considerations kept to a bare minimum. The predominant fandom sentiment throughout S4 was "Ruby disrupted the brotherly bond, and so she should die in the most gruesome way possible (preferrably reinstating said brotherly bond by so doing)", and so it happened.

Moreover, yes, SPN had been an old-fashioned, patriarchal, working-class ode from the start, so the misogyny fail in S3-4 had been hardly surprising. Women's roles had been strictly divided into either the saintly mother or the whore from the very beginning, etc.

[cesare]

Other signs also point to Jennifer Beals as Tim's ex-wife continuing to recur frequently, to which I have only this to say: she's way too hot for him.

Well, NOW she is. Ten or fifteen years ago, Tim Roth was still a pretty handsome guy and they would have made a nice match. But as an actor he's allowed to age, and as an actress, she isn't, so he looks every year of 48, but she doesn't look anywhere close to 46, even though those are Roth's and Beals' respective ages. :-/

[cimorene]

Hahah. Respectfully disagree, and as a Tim fanatic: even young, he was a profoundly funny-looking, adorable little dude. I mean, funny-looking and adorable dudes do sleep with hot chicks sometimes, demonstrably, even if they're not rich or famous or geniuses, so obviously it could happen. I believe his wife is pretty hot, in fact. But I still find it rather improbable. Statistically - outside those mitigating factors - people tend to match up with partners around their own attractiveness level.

[cesare]

even young, he was a profoundly funny-looking, adorable little dude.

Seriously? I thought he was attractive and sexy. I guess he's just my type or something. I am kind of a sucker for big heavy-lidded blue eyes.