You're No Good: True Blood Pros and Cons (spoilers)

My hope is growing with each episode!  Of course there are still some bumps that I am really not enjoying ::cough cough Andy Bellefleur cough cough::.  I think that even though they have strayed so far from the books, they are finally reeling it back in, allowing the show to actually make sense.  Oh happy day!  I'll start with the cons first, because the pros are awesome.

Cons

• The brief nudity warning at the beginning of the show.  That is surely not enough nudity for a sex scene.  Damn, no sex scenes.
• The vampire concentration camp thing is a bit lame, especially because we've done this before.  Come on True Blood, you can do something more original.
• Are they really leaving Fangtasia?!  This needs to be untrue.
• The VUS.

• Bill's overzealous Jesus-ey-ness.  I'm kind of over the religious angle on this show.  
• THE WEREWOLVES SUCK!  EVEN ALCIDE IS UN-LOVABLE!  Alicide is one of the most lovable characters in the books, now even his shirt coming off isn't enough, I'm not telling you to stop, but you're still a dick even with your glorious body.

• Can somebody please tell me why Andy has such a big plot line still?  I mean, he is a great/hilarious secondary character, and I get that his fairy children will be playing some big part in Bill's Lilith plans, but that doesn't mean he needs to be having shooting lessons with his ex-witch gf.  Just sayin'.
• Can I just ask... who the hell is running Merlotte's?  How is it still even open?
• The fairy Ben is still alive.  I get they are building him up to be bad or something, but I don't want Sookie to sleep with him.  Only Eric.
• Wait... How late is that class Jessica walked in on being held?  That's a late ass college class.
• VUS, what the fuck did you think would happened when you sneak up on a pack of white trash werewolves?

Pros

• ERIC IS A BADASS AGAIN!  We have got seasons 1 & 2 Eric back!  I'm not even talking about his memory loss, he was getting kind of lame even before that, but this... this is the Eric we all think about alone at night.  I know what you're doing.

• Jessica and Bill's relationship is adorable.  Go ahead judge me.  I don't even care that she isn't even a character in the books, their dynamic is adorable and I love it.

• Grandpa Nial is awesome.  I love him in every way, there is nothing I would change about the casting or performance.  +10.
• Uhhhh, LaFayette said HUNTY!  
• GINGER IS BACK!  She is hilarious and the way that Eric treats her is even more hilarious.
• I love how Nial "read" the blood.  That was a really cool moment.
• Sookie and Jason are brother and sister again!  I mean, not that they weren't, but they have had almost no relationship since season 1.  It's nice to see them acting like a family again.
• Ah, good, Eric has the bleeds.  So that still is a thing.
• STEVE NEWLIN IS BACK!  Even if his ex-wife Sara is annoying, I LOVE STEVE NEWLIN!

• The scene between Bill and Sookie was EPIC!  "You're dead to me!"  OUCH!  YES!  Hurt me so good True Blood, hurt me so, so good.
• I love that Andy is still saying "Vampire Bill"

So here is the real question... WHAT IS GOING ON WITH JASON!?  Is this going to be a Buffy The Vampire Slayer thing where he just has a regular old illness like Buffy's mom, and it's hard to believe because they live in a supernatural world!  I'm am like hyperventilating about Jason's situation.... What is Sookie's mind-reading all his life gave him a tumor!  PLEASE DON'T LET IT BE A TUMOR!  IT'S NOT A TUMOR!  AHHHHhhh I can't wait for next week!

ELEMENTARY FANS! REJOICE!

RHYS IFANS WILL BE PLAYING MYCROFT HOLMES!  I'll give you all a chance to run to the bathroom as you must be pooping yourselves with JOY!  Whoever is casting Elementary is a fucking genius.  Seriously, first Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller making a wonderful team, then Natalie Dormer as the (spoiler) Irene/Moriarty dual personality and now THIS!  Casting Department of Elementary, this is for you:

Now if you don't know who Rhys Ifans is, your wrong, you do.  I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that most Elementary fans are Harry Potter fans.  Lets face it, most human beings are Harry Potter fans.  Ifans adorably played Luna Lovegood's zany dad Xenophilius.  Or, most recently, he played Dr. Connors AKA the Lizard in The Amazing Spider-man.  But I have been in love with Rhys Ifans since I saw Notting Hill in the theatres when I was 13 with my mom.  Don't judge me, I know it's a lame love story, but I remember being obsessed with Ifans portrayal of disgusting roommate Spike.  I just thought that he was not only hilarious, but endearing.  From then on when Ifans was in something I wanted to see, well I would always do a happy dance.  Like this:

   Now, if you still have no clue who Rhys Ifans is may I suggest watching some of my favorite performances of his, some of which I already mentioned:

1. Neverland (2 part miniseries)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
3. Pirate Radio
4. Notting Hill (just watch his bits)
5. The Amazing Spiderman
6. Little Nicky (I know whatever I love him in it, deal)

I think Ifans is a perfect foil for Miller's Holmes.  Now, in the books, Mycroft is Sherlock's older brother who posses the same genius and deductive reasoning as his little bro, but is to lazy to do anything about it.  But, despite his laziness, Mycroft holds a VIP government job.  The Mycroft/Holmes relationship has been explored in both BBC's Sherlock and The Sherlock Holmes movies in very different ways.  Though both versions of Mycroft are played with a certain kind of laziness (Mark Gatiss never seeming to stand and Stephen Fry a naked lounge lizard/party animal) their relationships with Sherlock are portrayed differently.  The Cumberbatch/Gatiss relationship is strained to say the least, Cumberbatch seemingly despising his older brother while Gatiss looks down on his little bro with haughty disapproval.  Downy and Fry portrayed the brothers with warmth, respect and love, quite a contrast.

However they decide to play it, I trust the writers of Elementary to do something brilliant!  Even if, in some freak writing disaster, they do a bad job developing Ifans character it doesn't matter.  This is the guy who rocked out in LITTLE NICKY.... The only performance I actually remember in Notting Hill!  THIS MAN IS AMAZING!  Trust me, we will not be disappointed.

True Blood: The Sun Pros and Cons (spoilers)

True Blood fans!  Could it be?  Could it be... a good season?  I am so full of hope!  Maybe it's all the vampire bible talk, but I feel uplifted.  I feel like the women at church in the show's opening!   Characters that normally irritate me to no end, only slightly annoy me (I'm looking at you Nora) and characters I wanted to die now have my permission to live (I'm mis-quoting Bane to you Tara).  Now, since the show still has far to many characters and plot lines, I've decided to do this whole season as a list of pros and cons for each episode, otherwise I'd be up all night writing this thing.  So, here it goes, pros and cons of "The Sun":

Pros:

• Sookie's Fairy Godfather!  One of the characters from the books I was praying would come to the show and he is finally here!  I was hoping Amelia from the books would make an appearance as Sookie's witch friend who gets it on with Pam, but I will settle for Pop-pop fairy.  Not really sure about the Doctor Who looking outfit he has going on though.  
  
• You can see Lilith's merkin through her dress.  That merkin is epic.
• The blood hooker scene was one of the most interesting acts of violence on the show since Bill twisted Lorena's head around while anger banging her.  
  
• Whenever Eric pretends to be somebody else I giggle and clap my hands like a little girl.  His portrayal of a nerdy bird fanatic was epic.  Anytime Eric is in costume acting like a loser I am all in.  I love you Alexander Skarsgard.  We should have half Swedish half Italian babies together.
• Jason said Boba Fett.
• There is finally a good explanation about the Warlow/Sookie's family bloodline story.  Even if it is a little lame that Sookie's family is the original fairy bloodline, cheesiness has always been one of the best parts of the show.
• That Dracula-esque moment between Eric and the Mayor's daughter was both beautiful and epic.
• The "They're all going to burn" cliffhanger makes me want to keep watching.

Cons

• Why are Alrene and Terry still dealing with the Patrick plot line.  The Afrit thing was the worst thing to ever happen to True Blood.  JUST LET IT DIE ALREADY!
• Great.  Another new character who isn't from the books.  While Sookie does date other people in the books, its a WERETIGER... not another fairy.  A WERETIGER.  
  
• What happened to the bleeds?  Like half the vampires in this episode were up all day and not ONE of them had the bleeds.  WTF?  Did we just get rid of that plot point orrr...?
• I fucking HATE Andy's plot.  I. HATE. IT.
• How the hell does the government make special UV bullets and contacts to stop glamoring, but don't know vampires fly?
• When did the werewolves become so fucking trashy?  I really don't care if the all die.  I am over the wolves.
  
• THERE IS NOT ENOUGH LAFAYETTE!

Please feel free to leave comments, I love to hear what other people have to say!

Feeling It Out: Journaling About True Blood (some spoilers)

So, do to extenuating circumstances, I wasn't able to watch last night's season premier of True Blood until tonight... and honestly I wasn't really looking forward to it anyway.  Let's be real, the show has been going a bit downhill lately.  In my humble opinion it's been going down hill since season 2, and yet I continue to watch, mostly for my favorite characters.  Even the Nudity and Adult Content warning at the beginning of Sunday nights premier episode couldn't cheer me up.  Here's what I think happened to True Blood and how it just may save itself.

I'm one of those people who read the books.  Not all of them, I stopped reading once the show had gotten so far away from the original material watching became unbearable.  But there is something the books do very well that the show utterly utterly fails at.  The books are from Sookie's point of view, so there isn't room for a million different characters and plot lines.  In fact, half the characters that share the book and the TV show are either dead, in jail, or such minor characters that they hardly show up.  Alan Ball doesn't have... well the balls that GoT's David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have.  He is just unable to kill characters, so much so, that when characters die it is almost a relief.  Unfortunately, for every character they kill, two more are magically added.  There are just TOO MANY PLOT LINES!  TOO MANY!  We do NOT need to have every single character having their own separate story.  It's overwhelming!  Just because characters are popular with the audience does not mean that a) they have to stay alive or b) if you keep them alive they need their own plot.  Watch the Red Wedding and learn something Ball.

But, the season premier is looking up.  Here are the pros and cons of the first episode:

Pros:

1. Bill was not stuck as crazy blood soaked Billith.  We seem to somewhat have our old gentlemen Bill back.
2. They seem to be headed back to an Eric/Sookie love story, which is a huge part of the books.  I know she rescinded his invitation, but HE LOVES HER SO MUCH!
3. Despite my hatred of so many characters having their own plots, the Andy fairy babies plot adds much needed humor to the reining Billith plot line.
4. Pam is fucking awesome.
5. Sam's girlfriend died.  I know I'm awful, but somebody had to go.
6. Most of the characters are entangled in the Billith/Warlow plot which revolves around Sookie.  As they should.

Cons:

1. Didn't Jason do this already?  Like twice?
2. What the hell is going on with the werewolves?  I have no idea why this plot exists, how it effects Sookie, what happened to the relationship between Sookie and Alcide, why they are all still on V...  the of whys and whats involving this plot is endless.
3. What the hell is Sam doing in life?  
4. When the fuck did Tara become the wise voice of reason?  WHO ARE YOU TARA?!
5. I hate Eric's sister.  I don't understand why she exists.  I'm on Pam's side all the way.
6. The Governor.  Great.  A new character.

It's too soon to tell if the show will turn around, because honestly I almost stopped watching last season.  Here's to hope!  Praise Billith.

In The Flesh: Three Night Zombie Event (Spoilers)

When commercials for In The Flesh started running on  BBC America I was beyond excited.  I love the zombie genre, and in the last few years zombies have been overtaking vampires in public popularity.  Like vampires, their nature has been subverted in new and interesting ways.  We've had fast zombie, zombies that can learn, and even a zombie cured by love. The In The Flesh trailers reminded me of one of my favorite YA steampunk book series Gone With Respiration (Book 1: Dearly Departed and Book 2:  Dearly  Beloved).  In the Gone With Respiration novels, some zombies are able to live semi-normal lives through science, so it stands to reason that I would fall just as hard for In The Flesh.... that was unfortunately not the case.  It wasn't that I didn't like In The Flesh, it was just... it seemed very... incomplete and there were a lot of plot holes.  Here are my thoughts on the three part series, a list of pros and cons, spoilers if you haven't watched all three episodes.

The Plot

My biggest problem with In The Flesh was it's used up beaten to death plot line.  They could have gone so many ways with such a brilliant idea, but they went with the obvious, overdone racism/segregation/no tolerance in a small town plot line.  I mean, of course, that would have to be an element, I would be afraid if a "rehabilitated" zombie moved in next door, but they went all Nazi Germany on us.  Not to mention that Keiren Walker was already an outcast to begin with as a gay artist in love with the town bigot's son, Rick.  Of course, Rick does anything to make his Papa proud, so he ships off to Iraq to be blown up by an IED, causing Kieren to kill himself.  

When they are both brought back home zombie-fied, we get a Brokeback Zombie situation, both men know they love each other and while one is pretty open about it, the other lives multiple lies in order to fit in.  And just like in Brokeback Mountain, when Rick tries to get his father to see the truth, he ends up murdered... again... by his own dad... and you could see it coming a mile away.

Did I enjoy the story despite it's many cliches (Kieren's dad who won't talk about his feelings, his sister Jem who is an angsty teen filled with anger, quirky girlfriend Amy who is too big for a small town)?  Yeah, I mean, we all go see the same love stories and comedies retold over and over again, but with this I was hoping for something epic and different.  The British always blow my mind with their innovative stories and unique characters but that was just missing.

What Was Missing

The issue for me though was how many awesome looking plot points were brought up, but never finished.  As I watched the last episode I kept checking the time, wondering how they were going to get to everything mentioned since episode one.  I was most interested in the Undead Liberation Army, with the Undead Prophet as their leader.  This could be EPIC!  Not to mention the drug the ULA's followers took to re-zombifie them.  I could see so much potential from this but it never went anywhere... even when Amy goes to join up and Keiren warns of the dangers... nothing, we hear nothing more of it.  Why was this only three episodes?  It's not like Sherlock with its full hour and a half episode... this was just not enough content! Maybe that's why what we did see seemed so lame.

Also, I would have loved to see more of a back story of what life was like during the zombie apocalypse and how science was able to cure the condition.  There could be a whole episode dedicated to corralling the "rotters" and subjecting them to crazy experiments.  We did see some of Keiren's flashbacks from that time, but they only involved the day he killed Jem's friend.  The most powerful moment was during Keiren's flashback of climbing out of his casket and the subsequent panic attack that followed.  Look, in the end, three episodes was just not enough and while we were dangled some juicy goodness, we were left with nothing but the skeleton that a great show could have been built around.

The Makeup

Dem eyes!  I love movie makeup, especially movie monster makeup.  One of the best parts of In The Flesh was the makeup design... I was even willing to look past the few flaws to give it an 8/10 on the awesome scale.  First of all, those contacts were AMAZING!  I mean, I'm sure the poor actors hated having them in, but the effect was beautiful and chilling.  I also loved the idea that the zombies wore makeup and contacts to look more human.  Even with the makeup on, the makeup artists brilliantly showed the bits of zombie through.  For example, Kieren (who wears an epic amount of humanizing makeup) always has blue lips... no matter how hard he tries to cover up, there is always that bit of blue.

My only problem with the makeup is that when Keiren is full zombie, he has heavy brow with sunk in eyes... but after his treatment he is looks totally fine.  They could have explained this away easily, but just left in hanging in the ether.

Luke Newberry

The actor behind the puppydog-eyed Keiren Walker made this show for me.  His performance kept me watching through the tired plot.  He could deliver a perfect Pinter Pause and in the next moment burst through with strong passionate emotion.  No matter how much makeup they slathered on his face his performance broke through, every emotion readable, even through infected yellow eyes.  I just fell in love with him!  It was only three episodes but I wanted more Luke Newberry!  I need there to be a second season just so I can see more Keiren Walker.

In the end, despite my issues, I did enjoy watching, even if it was mostly because of Newberry's performance.  Supposedly the show will continue in 2014, but it really needs to be more than three episodes, that's just not enough time.

Some 50th Anniversary Pondering

As I am home feeling rather unwell on this Saturday night, and I can't bear to sit through the endless amount of commercials during In The Flesh (which I will post about tomorrow), I've been sitting and thinking about 50 Year Anniversary episode of Doctor Who.  Okay, it's not as sad as it sounds, I'm not literally sitting around thinking about Who, but while I was in the shower a thought occurred to me.  How can the 10th Doctor meet the 11th?  But then... some questions that I've always had about Rose could possibly be answered.  Wait I'm getting ahead of myself, lets start from the beginning of my thought process.

Okay, so my initial thought when I heard that Tennant would be reprising his role as the 10th Doctor was that we would be seeing his alternate version, human self.  You know, the one the grew out of his severed hand when Donna Noble touched?  Meta-Crisis Doctor.  The Doctor who got to grow old with Rose.  But, having seen pictures like the one above, it doesn't seem that is the case.  So, it stands to reason that when the 11th Doctor and Clara leave his time rip, they get off at the wrong time and end up face to face with his former self.  Well okay, it wouldn't be the first time... the 10th Doctor and the 5th Doctor ran into each other once:

But, in this short special, the 10th Doctor remembers this moment and knows how to fix the situation.  If the Doctor is meeting his former self in the 50th anniversary, than when he goes from 10 to 11, he would know things like a) his new regeneration is not a girl and b) he is once again not ginger.  He would probably also know how to avoid death and we would have more seasons with Tennant but that's neither here nor there.  But this situation would explained something that has always irked me.

It has always annoyed me that Rose knew that something bad was going to happen to Donna.  In the episode "Turn Left", Rose saves Donna from a Time Beetle that has rewritten the course of history.  At the end of the episode, the alternate version of Donna must sacrifice herself.  Now, throughout the season, people keep apologizing to Donna and basically telling her she is going to die.  Even River hints to Donna about her sad future, but of course River would know as she comes from the Doctor's future.  In "Turn Left," Donna is relieved, thinking that her alternate self's death is what everybody is talking about, to which Rose replies "I'm sorry."  HOW DOES SHE KNOW?!  Could it be that 11 spills the beans?  Or more likely Clara... or maybe she sees something in the time vortex?  It could finally make this plot point make sense...  Okay, yes it's highly unlikely, but I would like to think this irksome plot point would finally make sense.

I've also been discussing at length the role of John Hurt with fans.  People keep throwing around that he will be the new regeneration, but I think that is way off base.  While he is billed as The Doctor, I personally do not believe this to be a regeneration, but more of a physicalization of a  symbol.  Like in the episode "Amy's Choice," Toby Jones played a pysicalized version of all the bad inside of the Doctor... I think Hurt is playing who the Doctor was before he chose his new name.  This version obviously did something so bad that it took form in the Doctor's subconscious.  Also, whatever he did is NOT his destruction of  Gallifrey because that's not a secret.  The 11th Doctor specifically said that whatever Hurt did was a secret and everybody knows the Doctor destroyed Gallifrey to end the Time War... but what could be worse than killing your own people?

Anyway, I hope this post makes sense as I feel like crap and may be writing delusional nonsense, but I would love to hear from you.  Comments are much appreciated and I love hearing theories.

Like Every Blog Out There, Some Fantasy Casting For The New Doctor

That was pretty much my reaction when I heard about Smith's departure from Doctor Who this coming this December.  Now, I had mentioned in other posts that Smith's Doctor had seemed to be... well... tired this year.  I don't know if it came from a choppy season, or it was Smith manifesting his readiness to leave, but though I am sad, I think the Who team is making the right move.  The 11th Doctor got too tied to the Ponds, and when the city I live in took them away, well, it seemed there was no way this Doctor would be able to go on, and really, he didn't do a great job of it.  I mean, he only went after Clara because she was an enigma, sure he became attached to her, but only during his search to figure out who she was.  Anyway, every blog out there is trying to figure out who the next Doctor could be, so I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon, all be it a little late.

Now, back in 2012 on Graham Norton's radio show, actor Adrian Lester had expressed a desire to play the  Doctor.  When a caller asked if Lester would consider playing the doctor, this was his answer "I've had chats with my agent about it.  We're going to-and-fro about considering it.  Not that it's on my lap to consider, but any actor offered that role would."  Personally, I am not that familiar with Lester's work, but I'd be open to falling in love with him as I have every other Doctor.  Who was recently called out for being "thunderously racist" which is really the biggest load of BS ever, and I hope that if Lester is cast it's on his talent and not the fact that he is a black man.  In no way do I see Doctor Who as racist (they have a black queen of England in the future!) but I think having a black Doctor would bring new diversity to a string of skinny white guys.

The next theory is the gender bender.  A woman Doctor!  I actually would be really down with that, but when Tennant was making his exit, rumors that he was being replaced by a woman caused the internet to break.  People were really upset, but honestly I can't understand why.  The Doctor has made mention on several occasions that Time Lords can do an instant sex change... in fact the 11th Doctor thought he was a girl post-regeneration.  And in "The Doctor's Wife" the Doctor Talks about the Corsair being both a man and "a bad girl".  On a blog I saw the suggestion of Tilda Swinton and I flipped.  She would make and incredible Doctor, and a ginger one as well!  Swinton has the perfect androgynous look, I think people could really get behind her as the Doctor.  But, Swinton may be a bit to "big" for the role, still it would be pretty kick ass.

This is a picture of my dreams!  Here is my personal choice for the new Doctor, Being Human's Russell Tovey.  He has the perfect range for the Doctor, his character on Being Human going from side splittingly hilarious to so powerful you cry for 5 days.  Can't you just see him in the TARDIS being goofy and quick witted with alien races, or crying out in rage and pain when he loses a companion (and they all lose companions).  If Tovey gets cast I may actually cry, and it would absolutely cushion the blow of losing our dear darling Smith.

I think the #1 choice of Whovians seems to be Rupert Grint.  I personally even thought of him when discussing the new Doctor with a friend.  He's a gingers, he's a great actor, he has the range, he's a bit young, but the Doctor does seem to get younger and younger... but there is one huge problem.  Grint is already signed on to a pilot for CBS called Super Clyde.  There is no way Grint will be able to play the Doctor, even if the pilot totally bombs, there won't be time for him to turn around and become the Doctor, filming for the new Who would probably begin sometime in October.  So, while I think Grint would be a suburb choice, it just doesn't seem plausible... maybe he'll be lucky #13 and we will see him duke it out on Trenzalore.

No matter what, trying to guess who will be the new Doctor is impossible.  The Who production team does a great job at keeping secrets, if they don't want us to know, we probably won't.  Besides, when Smith was cast as 11, nobody saw it coming, most people didn't even know who he was.  There is a good chance Moffat will bring on some fresh blood.  Speaking of Moffat, will he depart with Smith?  There has been some recent epic battles on forums about Moffat's years as show runner, some people really really hate him and some will defend him to their last breath.  I honestly am pro-Moffat, but I can see where after this kind of pieced together season it may be time for a graceful exit.