Big Bad Wolfy's Musing in the Mirror

wolfy - it's like a wolf, but you can cuddle it. Fighter, lover, dancer, occasional cook and writer. This is what psychosis tastes like. Also there are pictures and music.

[loneboyofleona]

I’m afraid I seem to have abandoned Tumblr...

If you feel like keeping up with what I’m doing, the things I create, the things I review, or just feel like reading strange ramblings, come visit loneboyofleona.blogspot.com.

Enjoy.

[loneboyofleona]

UPDATE: Where in the World was the Lone Boy?

So, life conflicted with blogging (or tumblring) for a while. 

This will change soon. More details on http://loneboyofleona.blogspot.co.uk/  (HINT: involves an upcoming move to California, not 1 but 2 new blogs coming soon, and the inclusion of video)

[loneboyofleona]

Dresden Files Movie - Fantasy Cast

I stumbled across a page with this on it the other day, and it got me thinking - who would I cast in an ideal world?

I gotta admit, it's not easy. Here are my thoughts though.

HARRY DRESDEN:

I actually liked Paul Blackthorne quite a lot. I thought he fit the snarky, kinda battered, not quite leading man looks very well. My major problem with most hollywood adaptations is the way that everyone He looked really good as the character, but...I don't know, something wasn't quite right. My key to the decision, I think, is "could they pull off the duster?" And I'm not sure Blackthorne could. Would like to see the screen test though.

Another actor I like is Karl Urban. He did such an awesome job on Almost Human - the grumpy nature, the snark, the banter with his partner...he even sold me on the irritation with his disability - ever a huge part of his character unless he was messing with people or using it as a slight moment in the scene. very nicely done. I can really see him as Dresden - but from Harry's description, hes too handsome. Maybe we can chalk that up to Dresden being hard on himself? After all, Lara don'T seem to mind him too much.

Tentative pick - Urban. some minor flaws, but I reckon he could pull it off. 

MURPHY:

Summer Glau - if she goes blonde. That kinda strong but flexible, dancer/gymnast look? DOWN. Ability to look cute but still tough? DOWN. Good actress? YUP. I really think Glau could pull it off - IF she goes blonde.

EDIT: screw that - can we just get Stana Katic? I mean, the Castle/Beckett relationship is very damn close to Dresden/Murphy, and I really really really really really like Stana Katic. Really. So...yeah. That's my pick. And I've seen the blonde look. It works. So really, can we go with her? Really?

BOB:

Paul Bettany. I envision a kind of Tony Stark/JARVIS relationship anyway, which makes Bettany perfect. For any doubters, imagine Paul Bettany reading the line "Rip her clothes off!" from a romance novel (trashy, no less) with Bob-esque enthusiasm. SOLD.

THOMAS:

Matt Bomer. I'm not actually a massive fan of his if I'm honest. I don't know what it is, but just....eh. On the other hand, he has that irritating pretty-boy look (being a caveman type, possibly why I don't like him) that would make him perfect for the role of irritating pretty vampire. Maybe Henry Cavill as well, though he's a bit bulkier than I see Thomas.

MORGAN:

Clive Owen. This was a tricky one, because I had to balance Morgan's obsessive, rulebound side with the sword-wielding, vampire-slaying awesomething. I like Owen though, and I can see him in the role fairly well  the slightly haunted and gaunt look he exhibits in roles like Children of Men play nicely with how I envision Morgan looking, especially after his description in Turn Coat. Adam Baldwin also entered my mind - a mix between Casey in Chuck, Vance in Leverage and Hamilton in Angel - I can dig it. Maybe Liev Schreiber? I like Owen most though.

MICHAEL:

I like Gerard Butler. Obviously he can pull off the more physical aspects of the role, and I THINK he can do the caring father bit as well. He had some golden emotional moments in Law Abiding Citizen, and I thought he was incredible in Machine Gun Preacher. That's exactly the kind of crusader spirit I would like to shine through Michael.

KINCAID:

I like the thought of Adam Baldwin here as well. I like to see him and Morgan as similar, but different. One is motivated purely by money, one is motivated purely by duty. Kind of like Casey vs Jayne Cobb. I could see Butler there too, playing it a bit rougher...or maybe Sam Worthington. A tricky one, for sure. There'S a couple of guys who do really good assassin-type roles (Jeffrey Donovan, for instance) but I feel like Kincaid has to be a BIG guy. I don't know why - I just do. Hell, Karl Urban also comes to mind. The problem with Kincaid is I have lots of actors I like for him....but they all also fit other characters!

I think I'd pick Baldwin overall. Butler...just doesn't click for me, and I don't know enough about Worthington.

As for Urban....he'S a popular choice, but my thoughts (as accurately as I can write them) go something like this - If Karl Urban squared off to me in lets say a bar, would I be inclined to respond with "come on then..." as I usually would? Yes. I think I would. If Adam Baldwin stepped to, would I react like that? Probably, but only cause it's me - it'd definitely make me pause for a minute or two. Most pictures don'T do him justice - the dude is the same height as me, and built the same, like a tank. Even carrying a few extra pounds he doesn't look gentle - give him a month in the gym and you have yourself a very good Hellhound.

MARCONE

Ian McShane at his most clean-cut. Or Viggo Mortensen. Actually, no... I like Sasha Roiz. Renard in Grimm is a brilliant example of magnificent bastardry, and I think he'd be an excellent Marcone.

EBENEZER:

Sean. Goddamn. Connery. Your arguments will not work on me, Connery is the ULTIMATE In wise badass mentors and I will physically fight anyone who says he is not the perfect damned blackstaff. SEAN CONNERY IS EBENEZER BLACKSTAFF MCCOY. END OF STORY.

MOLLY:

...drawing a blank. Sorry. I really don'T know who would do the best job of encapsulating all the facets of our dear Grasshopper. Some of the Molly Quinn/Alexis Castle bits of dutiful student, but needs a bit of a wilder streak I don't know she could pull off. Maybe Ksenia Solo? That feels too far the other way.

SANYA:

Idris Elba, and that's that. I mean, DUH

Actors I want to be in there somewhere: Bruce Campbell, Anthony Head, Mark Sheppard

That'S all I got for now. Hope you approve. 

Lone Boy, OUT 

[loneboyofleona]

Shameless self-plug

I'd just like to remind everyone that way more of my work is up on my blog at loneboyofleona.blogspot.com. 

There you can read about the fun of trying to choreograph a dance showcase piece without the first clue of what I'm doing, using Judas Priest....or maybe you can read about a tiger in love....or what options rank a coffee shop as A+ instead of A....or you can settle for the complicated tangents my thoughts head off on about screen names and the relationship to Arthurian knights. You can even tell me what you want to see, and I'll try and oblige. 

AND!

You can read all of that safe in the knowledge I wrote it wearing my blogging hat. Not even slightly joking. It's fluffy.

Once again - loneboyofleona.blogspot.com. See you there.

Lone Boy, OUT

[the-history-of-fighting]

[loneboyofleona]

The first thing that any TRUE gentleman must learn is when to stop being one.

[loneboyofleona]

The Librarians - Season 1 Impressions

As you will know, if you're reading this (and if you don't know, sorry to surprise you), TNT's new series "The Librarians" has just concluded its first season. As promised in a number of other reviews, here are my impressions of the series.

Fair warning - I am a disagreeable individual. I don't really go in for gushing praise, and there are certain things that I just think should be gotten right as a matter of course. Also, I am probably gonna nitpick, because I am (among other things) a weaponry geek, and a myth/legend/sometimes history enthusiast. So...yeah, the wrong sword or gun being used? It gets to me.

ON WITH THE REVIEW!

This season was...good. Maybe even very good.

I liked it a lot, and made sure to watch every episode. I will actively lobby for a second season, and I will watch it just as religiously. I really did enjoy it - the storylines were compelling, the core concept and dynamic is one of my favourites - the team dynamic on shows will win out over shows focusing on one or two core characters and the world shifting around them - I think that's why I can watch shows like Buffy, Castle, Leverage or Firefly over and over again, over a period of YEARS, but no matter when I try, I can only seem to watch Banshee in short, intense bursts. I mean, I LOVE Banshee - I think the concept is great and the characters are AWESOME  (I am rather a fan of the gritty, realistic-fight-heavy setting) - but the exclusive focus means that I just can't connect properly, and I end up getting distracted and not watching it for another 3 months.

I really did love this season. I am a Devlin fan, a Rogers fan, a Christian Kane fan, a team-dynamic-show fan, and a myth/legend fan with a surplus of random knowledge that tends to pop up in shows like this. This show really did tick a LOT of boxes for me.

BUT...there were kind of a lot of things that so far, just haven't worked. Credit to everyone involved in the show, it's improved from where it was when I wrote my first review - in most respects anyway. The pacing has improved, and now that the initial world-building seems to be sorted, we're having less and less occurrences of background things needing explanation, and it's evolving to provide us with the "this is the situation. Accept this as a basic premise for this episode." That works for me. I said it in my first review, and I've said it since then - let me just accept something as being true, for a given value of true, and I won't argue too much.

On the other hand, some character decisions are irking me. Let's do the list, shall we?

Bad things:

Twists and turns. With a few exceptions, I'm still not being surprised by any of the plot twists. Generally by a third of the way through, I can figure out quite a lot of the climax. There are usually a few details I miss, but by and large, it's not complex. Take "and the City of Lights." As soon as we met Mabel, you could tell she was hiding something and would in some way end up departing - either a face-heel turn or by dying. As soon as we saw the lamps, you could tell they'd be a key feature. Or how about the girl being the killer in Episode 8, "and the Heart of Darkness?" Christmas-hating Baird needing to fix things in "and Santa's Midnight run?" There are odd exceptions - "and the Fables of Doom" did quite well, and I didn't foresee Lamia's fate - but on the whole, the plot twists have been fairly predictable. Especially for something with a magical element, I find that this series has, so far, been a little too...formulaic, maybe? Baird hates Christmas - she'll have to save Christmas. Vulnerable girl in horror-movie scenario? She's gonna be the killer. I mean, DUH.

Cassandra's treatment. I feel like I bring this up a lot, and maybe I do, so let me clarify. I don't dislike Cass as a character - I think that properly used, she'd be someone I can empathise with and really really like, not to mention a character that has the potential to deliver absolutely STUNNING emotional punches. Lindy Booth is doing a SUPERB job, and some of Cass's moments have been some of my favourite in the series. BUT...on the whole, I feel like all these things, the emotional impact, the pathos...they're being forced on me. I get that she's incredible, but...too much. Let's have a look. First two episodes, they all solve the mystery equally - but Cass does get a bit more spotlight with the whole betrayal/forgiveness thing. Number 3 - they all do their bit, but Stone's basically amounts to "huh - these old looking paintings are too old for here" and Ezekiel gets a few seconds of "Tah-dah! Stole it!" while Cass gets the whole "figuring out the path of the labyrinth" thing, and then shares the denouement with Ezekiel, while Baird and Stone are offscreen. Episode 4 she gets the same as the others, really, and episode 5...well, we see a bit of Stone being evil, which is all told by a brief art rant and some minor violence, then dear Cass gets the apple and BAM, megalomania-cal scheme to destroy power plants, scenes showcasing her genius, using that genius to beat up a trained killer despite being the same size as my upper thigh (singular) and having no previous indication of skill (knowing where to hit isn't the same as the capacity to hit it. I know where to hit to incapacitate Lyoto Machida, Fedor Emelianenko, Connor MacGregor...but if I try, I'll get my head kicked in, cause they're still faster and more experienced). Episode 6, all fair and square, and it's one of my favourite episodes. Episode 7 - Baird does some legwork, Ezekiel does a wee bit of thieving and talks to people, and Stone measures out the pentagram, but who figures out how to save the dear little kiddies? Of course it's Cass. This episode is one that I TOTALLY understand why it should be Cass. STEM fair - that's her wheelhouse. Episode 8 - Cass saves us again. It made sense for this one as well - it's just the behaviour in the rest of the episode cheapened it for me (see my review for that episode HERE). Episode 9 - Cass is the genius who figures out how to enact Tesla's design, and then turns it off, destroying the hopes of those people for at least 100 years - but even that is played sympathetically! Despite it DEFINITELY being her fault (see my review for THAT episode HERE ), we're still getting the "sometimes you just lose) speech. And the last episode - maybe I was subconsciously looking for it, but it caught my eye that Stone's Librarian character - he's just there to start off the train of the episode, and while we get a little more information about Librarian!Ezekiel, he's essentially a showcase setup for Flynn's emerging Librarian-ness. Cass, on the other hand, gets a dramatic entrance, people calling her "liege," and it's her knowledge, genius and understanding of magic that actually provides us with the solution. Again. I'm not a fan of this kind of thing - where one character always seems to have the solution. It makes sense if they are a Mastermind character (Nate Ford, for example) but otherwise...no. Leverage did it well - sometimes Sophie would pop up to work a new angle and save the others, sometimes it would all come down to Parker lifting the right thing at the right time, maybe Eliot would appear and solve the danger with punches to the face, or the whole con was actually just a cover for Hardison to empty the mark's offshore accounts. There's a reason Leverage is my go-to "team dynamic" show. Maybe we could have a code hidden in a painting, for Stone? Or maybe Ezekiel goes off on his own after an argument, decides to solve everything HIS way, and reappears at the end having saved everyone, swaggering in with the stolen thing and a smirk? Something like that?

 The things the show gets wrong. The characters getting things wrong - they're only human, and part of the arc is them learning about this new world. The show, however...the Arthurian things have gotten to me quite badly. First, the whole "Arthur was a Roman" thing - OK, a) if anything, Romano-British and defender against the Saxons - very different from a Roman soldier but b) we don't have time to argue that point - after all, there is still historical debate. So let's take that to be true. From there, GET THE SWORDS RIGHT. If we take that to be true, then Arthur was around during the 5th and 6th centuries, which we'll graciously extend to the Migration Period as a whole, which means Excalibur is a Migration Period sword, ranging from the spatha style carried by late Romans to, at the furthest extreme, the Viking-style swords common towards the 8th century. A broad, straight blade with a more rounded point than later styles, not much in the way of a cross-guard and a lobed or nut pommel. And this is the MOST developed it could really have been. Instead, we see Excalibur having the form of an arming sword, also known as a knightly sword, with a distinct cross-guard and a keener thrusting tip. These swords JUST DIDN'T EXIST in Arthurian times. Simple. If you want to go T. H. White's route, inspired by Mallory, then Arthur or Arturus cannot have been a Roman. After THAT, we have Lancelot/Dulac using a rapier or spada da lato (I'd need to be closer to tell the difference) and Galahad/Jenkins using what is DEFINITELY a Pappenheimer hilt rapier. NO NO NO NO NO. And no, it wasn't the sword Dulac had already, that was a swordstick. That sword is just WRONG. I know it seems terribly pedantic, but some people notice books, some people notice cars, some people notice clothing and I notice weaponry/fight things. For the same reason, it annoyed me to see bullets sparking off trees in the finale, and to see Eastern bloc troops with AR-style rifles. This goes hand in hand with some of the mythology and commons sense things they've missed - Fae sitting near Iron Kingdom, the threefold law being blocked by a pentagram, ALL of Baird's intro scene, the lack of ANY thought of safety protocols existing in power plants, Baird and Santa's route making no sense...things like that. The swords are my personal irritation though, cause it's not difficult. Seriously, it takes under a minute to find out what kind of sword you could have had - and you would have lost NOTHING. People who don't notice swords wouldn't notice anyway, and people who DO (like me) would have seen the CORRECT use. ARGH. We all have pet peeves, and this is mine. However, it's not the only thing, so don't think that.

Opening up too easily. So far, we've seen both Cass and Stone - one character with deep personal issues and one who makes a point, in an early episode, of being guarded, open up ridiculously fast. Stone meets a kid, suspects him of trying to straight-up murder other kids with magic, and then as soon as that's brushed off, he's spilling about "wearing the mask" and warning this kid against being the same as him - because who would want to be like this muscular, reasonably athletic yet erudite and intelligent man capable of quoting "She Walks In Beauty" AND pacing out a pentacle exactly AND throw down alongside a NATO Colonel? Yeah...dude like that gives a younger me that advice, I'm probably gonna go buy a flannel shirt and speak like Christian Bale's Batman in an attempt to imitate him. Just saying. We also saw Stone open up to Mabel in Episode 9, on a kinda flimsy connection to begin with. In both situations, it kinda worked, but...the start, especially, was weak. Even taking into account the messed up episode order, the episodes WITHOUT him opening up haven't really given him any development that would cause him to do so. I'd just like to see a little more of Stone being conflicted and actually a complicated character - cause at the minute he's not living up to his potential.

That's kinda it for the standout bad points. I know it seems like a lot, but trust me, it really isn't. The good bits will, I warn you, be less fleshed out - because as a whole, this series has been very good. The good bits are self-explanatory and immediately evident upon watching the show. Here we go:

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. The episode order has screwed this up some, but upon examination, we're seeing Baird go from "no way, this can't be real" to doing proactive research on magical problems, to taking the mickey when Jenkins scoffs at the idea of UFOs. We've seen four very different individuals start to grow together as a team, and set up a brilliant series to come. To list all the different points would take more time and space than I have, and anyone who has watched the season knows what I mean anyway. Either way, well done to both the writers and the actors - I may have criticisms about some aspects, but I cannot deny that the development has not (in most cases) been too drastic and unbelievable or too small to be worth noticing. Bravo.

The dynamic. The team dynamic is working exceedingly well - again, I have some criticisms, as of course you'll have read, but on the whole, these characters work very well together and create very believable and relatable relationships. It's not fully fleshed out yet - I would like to see some more Ezekiel/Stone interaction, because it does remind me a lot of Eliot/Hardison, and that is one of my all-time favourite interactions to watch. Baird's character development has pulled her away from being overly bossy and overbearing and is starting to show a real big sister/mother vibe to Cass and on some level Ezekiel, and a respectful partnership with Stone. The best places to see the dynamic working at peak efficiency is in "and the Fables of Doom" and "and the City of Lights" (the first half anyway). In both of those we get snarky Ezekiel doing what James Marsters said his character was for on BTVS - standing to one side and going "you're stupid and we're all going to die." We get Casstone teases, where she's just a little too focused on getting STONE to trust her, and about STONE going to chat to the nice lady - though admittedly I had a bit too much of it during the fairy take episode - and Cass being ever so sarcastic and edgy, which complements the geeky side very nicely indeed. We get Baird trying to be team mom but getting thrown off by the bizarre occurrences (I find this is when she works best - when she actually succeeds at being the team mom, I find her arrogant and boring), and we get Stone being a genius bruiser, with a bit of a soft side. This really is the sweet spot for this group, where everyone is in enough of a niche to complete the puzzle, but isn't completely defined by what they do.

The story concepts. OK, so mistakes get made at times, and yes, there are a few ones that have me making bizarre noises of frustration and grievance, but the stories have all started in a very interesting place. Food company sacrificing interns to a Minotaur, dragon treasure stolen - leading to a supernatural summit of sorts, book bringing fairy tales to life, Tesla experiment knocking a town out of sync with the universe. All of these might not make perfect sense....but they do make you want to watch, and watch you will. In the same way, the world that has been built is a very interesting one - magic runs wild, channeled through ley-lines, and it causes...things. It doesn't pull me in quite like urban noir and cyberpunk styles (shout out here to Jim Butcher and The Dresden Files, Ari Marmell and the Mick Oberon series, Chloe Neill and Chicagoland Vampires, Richard Morgan and the Takeshi Kovacs books/Black Man (aka Thirteen)/Market Forces, Rob Thurman and Leandros Brothers/Trickster series....seriously, if you haven't read the series listed here, DO SO. I'll put up a full list soon enough) but it does a good job of grabbing my attention. It also opens up the field to literally ANY kind of adventure, because hey, magic.

The thread throughout that magic is not evil - it's people trying to use it for their own ends. Power is not evil, it's about how you use it. It's there the whole time, from the magic in The Library compared to the Serpent Brotherhood, or the Libris Fabula being used to save the day instead of for evil, or the House of Refuge becoming a killer's lair, or the concept of the threefold law - good or evil, it comes back three times.

The Serpent Brotherhood. Not much to say here. Matt Frewer makes for an excellent, scenery-chewing villain, and his character is even appropriately sympathetic - he wants the great days back. Lamia makes for a GORGEOUS hitter, and I really hope she makes a comeback - I loved her interaction with Stone - please please please let that be worked in to the developing Casstone. All in all - very nice.

The Librarians is a pleasure to watch, and I have immensely enjoyed this first season. There are issues that need fixing - but then there always are. For a first series, this does very very well, and it has completed the (fairly tricky) task of keeping me interested enough to watch the show as aired. So far, only Leverage, Constantine and Castle have managed that - all others (Chuck, Eureka, Buffy, Grimm) I arrived late to the party and essentially cherrypicked episodes until I'd seen them all. From THAT, I was often hooked, but it is a much more daunting task to keep me interested consistently.

The acting in this series is simply wonderful. The core cast are fluid and seem comfortable in their roles, and whether I agree or not with the direction of a character, I cannot begin to criticize the way in which those actions and decisions are brought to life (with the exception of Christian Kane speaking French. Sorry dude.) Special mention goes out to Lindy Booth, who despite often disliking her character, manages to keep my attention on Cassandra despite myself, John Kim, who seems born to be a deadpan snarker and cocky showoff - I think that's a compliment - and John Larroquette, who has taken a character that played wrongly could have been a caricature of all such, and has elevated it to a shining example of such a person. His portrayal of Jenkins is a work of art, and his ability to combine mysterious past and hints with his despair and frustration with the Librarians-in-Training makes him a powerful driving force in the success of this series.

Overall Grade: A. It could be an A+, and it should be. ALL, and I mean ALL the ingredients are there for me to mark this as the best show I've seen for ages, but at the minute there are too many things to fix - hell, part of me looks at the review and says, maybe a high B+? But no - no matter what else is said, this show trips some switch that makes me look forward to the next episode and enjoy myself, often despite myself. I really really like this show, and I will fight tooth and nail to get a second, third, fourth season, because there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the second season will lift this series into a damn near perfect viewing experience - not only gaining the A+, but cementing itself there firmly enough that it would take a miracle to uproot it. It has already improved massively from the first review I wrote, and I don't see that trend reversing any time soon.

I cannot WAIT for another season of this - and there had damn well better be one.

Thanks for reading,

Lone Boy, OUT

[loneboyofleona]

The Librarians - Post-Episode Series Review - Season 1 Episode 10

The very first series of The Librarians has come to an end, and it has indeed made for very enjoyable viewing, right the way through. I will shortly be writing a review of the series as a whole so far, and then I will be writing a SECOND one based on the viewing of the season in the order it is meant to be viewed in. For now, though, here is my review of the season 1 finale,  "And the Loom of Fate."

This episode was...very good.

I liked the episode as a whole, though I'll admit I wasn't the biggest fan of the core concept. I find the whole "what if" episodes, of most shows, rather boring, and though not boring, this wasn't as engaging as it could have been. There wasn't enough time to properly explore the various universes, in my mind, and consequently I never really "got" it. It was still good though, and there weren't many individual things I could pick out as problems. Obviously, though....there were a few.

Bad things:

What, the everloving CHRIST, was that accent on the soldier. Seriously. Guys, you're not doing well with accents and languages. Christian Kane in the last episode, and now this? No, just no. It did not do well.

Small nitpick, but I'm a weaponry geek, so it'll show...eastern bloc troops with AR-style rifles? I didn't like it. Also, since when have bullets sparked off trees? I mean, that's not a hard one. Come on, guys.

The universes weren't properly explained, to my mind. I get that they would all have their own stamp, and Librarian!Stone WAS SO AWESOME. But Ezekiel going all scientific and professional? And Cass turning into some kind of freakin' high priestess? Ummmm....kay then. I would have had Cass as some kind of Tesla-esque figure - insanely clever but unstable. Make Ezekiel some kind of Roman emperor - making money, but also wildly abusing his position to have FUN. He just seemed too....different. I liked Stone though. That made a lot of sense. So much win. Him and Baird though? Nah.

THIS is the big one. Camelot!Dulac. I'll save the CALLED IT for below, but some thing PISSED ME OFF. The sword. No. Just NO. NO NO NO. There is NO version of the Arthurian myth that lets him use a rapier, or spada da lato. NO. If he's a Roman, then at least the chainmail armour could, theoretically be correct, but then where is the helmet, the shield, the spear, and WHY ARE YOU USING A RAPIER. ARGH. This will only matter to like 3 people in the whole world, but I am one of them. THE SWORD. IS. WRONG. Simple as. After that we get the point that Lancelot is Galahad's FATHER. Could we not at least get a nod to that? After THAT....the fencing was just terrible. For rapiers, anyway. They are THRUSTING weapons - the tip does not deviate from your opponent. Parries take the tip AWAY. The irony is the fencing shots would have worked, if only you'd had them with broadswords. ARGH. Even using a gladius or spatha makes more sense. GRRRR. I liked this concept, the execution was all wrong though. Also, where does Dulac go when he's defeated? He just kinda fades out, even though he was present before cutting the thread.

Why didn't Flynn just read Baird better? He could have just told the book that Baird's wound magically healed itself. Hell, in the fairy tale episode, the book literally read Stone back to life! It didn't detract at all, but it did seem like a plot hole.

Now on to the things I DID like. There weren't many specific things - I liked the episode in general, it just didn't have many standout excellent bits.

The opening. I loved that scene. Stone and Baird fighting, Cass doing maths, Ezekiel stealing but not being effective with outside interference, Stone shouting out historical data needed...it really showed how they mesh and how well they work together now. Many many thumbs up from me, I loved that scene. Also, Baird looked very attractive there. Just saying.

THE SERPENTS. They're back, with a perfect entrance, being used to brilliant effect! I hated seeing effective villains being overused and having mystique taken away, and I was therefore very pleased to see them being used in small doses, but driving the plot. Was wishing Dulac could have come across as more of an actual threat as Lancelot though - he was only there for a couple of seconds before Galahad came in and curb-stomped him. Still though - he makes a fantastic villain, and the cold-bloodness of his dealing with Lamia was superb, if illogical. If he'd cut one of the others, his plan might have worked, with her just providing a barrier. Cannon fodder, really.

Galahad and Lancelot. FUCKIN' CALLED IT BABY! I mean, not specifically, but I was fairly close, from a decent way back. Go me. They might have screwed up the specifics, but it's an AWESOME idea, and one I hope shows up again. Very nicely done, very nice indeed. I am an Arthurian-mythos fan, so I deeply hope this comes back in full force. Maybe with Morgause (who, btw, was ACTUALLY responsible for the fall of Camelot. Just saying. Morgan Le Fay only stole Excalibur's scabbard, which may have indirectly caused Arthur's death, but not the fall of Camelot. That was Mordred, and that was Morgause. I don't have time to give the full story, but...it was, ok.) teaming up with Dulac to bring back that age, but then turning on him to rule for herself? Something like that.

All in all, a fairly appropriate season finale. It did very well to wrap up the right threads while still giving us some unresolved lines (Casstone, anyone?). I liked it a lot, and I will be eagerly lobbying to have a second season. As my girlfriend pointed out, the ending was VERY Leverage in execution, and I'm hoping the series will be Leverage-esque in it's returning. 

Overall grade: A. A high A. Not quite A+ though, the story just didn't grab me as well as the fairy-tale episode did, and though the overall impression was good, there was just something missing. It could be my inbuilt resistance to this kind of episode, but there just felt like not enough information given - the same issues I had in my first review, where I aid they fed it to us too fast AND too slow. They did the same here - the buildup was nice, but EVERY timeline seemed rushed...including the "normal" one. The ending was good, but it felt packed into the space that was left.

I'm not sure what it was - maybe it would have been better for it all to have been one universe? One universe where Baird died, and the other three are left trying to cope - Cass is all mystic and mental, Stone is Indiana Jones and Ezekiel is trying to make it a business and enjoy himself, and as a result things are falling apart. Then she recruits them all, and ropes them into helping save the universe together - reminding us that a team needs EVERYONE, and setting up a nice way to know that the team's gonna regroup at some point - ain't nobody splitting up.

The other way of looking at it, and a perspective that I only just realised just now, is that essentially it's too early to show us the flipside of our characters. I've only just started buying into these people as fitting certain descriptions, and as being certain characters - I feel that we need more detail about them, about their pasts and personality, to understand the alternate universe versions better. Maybe this episode would have been better suited to later in the series? I'm not sure - there'S a reason I sit here and review and don't write for TV.

Like I said, very good episode that just fell short of being excellent. Stay tuned for my (eventual - I'm back into classes and other activities) review of the series as a whole, both as is and with fresh perspective having watched them all again in the RIGHT order.

Thanks for reading,

Lone Boy, OUT.

[loneboyofleona]

If you want to see infinity, look up in the snow

[loneboyofleona]

The Librarians - Post-Episode Series Review - Season 1 Episode 9

 So, this week marks the end of season 1 of The Librarians, and a highly enjoyable season it has been. We closed this opening chapter with another set of 2 episodes back to back. Unlike last week, I had absolutely no plans to try and fit these episodes into a single post. I don't really have any preamble here, so without further ado, here is the review of Episode 9 - "And the City of Lights."

This episode was....very good.

I liked this episode a lot, I really did. I thought the concept was interesting, and I was especially a fa of there not being an evil, as such - it was more a Eureka-esque concept of "mad science gone wrong." I am interested to know exactly what sort of things the librarians have to investigate - just magic, or anything going weird? That didn't bug me during the episode though - the plot was engaging enough that I kinda went "weird stuff, librarians investigate. No brakes on the fun train."

There were a few things that I had a problem with. Of course there were. If you've read ANY of my reviews, you know exactly what kind of mind I have - and you know I'm never completely happy. (Mostly. Castle has some episodes that leave me floored, Leverage did, and Constantine seems to be going that way.)

Things that bugged me:

Whatever the FUCK it was Stone was speaking, cause it sure as hell didn't sound like French. I speak French, and I could barely understand it. My dear leona, who has grown up in a french-speaking environment and speaks it much better than me....could not understand it. This is one of the very rare occasions I have a problem with the acting in one of my chosen series, and one of the practically unheard of times that I have a problem with Christian Kane's acting. I'm a huge fan of his - music, film work, TV work....but seriously? If you're gonna be speaking French again, Mr. Kane, please please please work on it a LOT beforehand. This is a really petty point that didn't dull my enjoyment at all, but it made me wince enough that it had to be here.

AGAIN WITH THE TRUSTING. That sounds way more paranoid than I like to pretend I am...but really, Stone has known a woman for all of what, 30 seconds? She speaks French and wants to travel, and suddenly he's spilling his story. Stone, in like the second episode, made the point that he has had to develop a guarded, secretive attitude, to be careful of letting people in...except we've seen jack-all proof of that, and a lot of dropping his guard to people he's just met. Maybe it's the order we're seeing this in, but still. In none of the other episodes have I seen any change that would lead to this kind of opening up. I'm not saying it's the wrong direction for his character, just that it's feeling rushed. In Leverage we had Eliot, who also was closed off and secretive, and it took ages to coax any real detail out of him. The only exception was his relationship with Aimee, and that's cause she was someone from his past - you get people showing up like that, you can't HELP but give us something about their character. Otherwise...this just felt too quick, too rushed. It needed...something else. It had echoes of Owen and Diane from Torchwood, but there...the fact that she was openly out of her time made it seem...more natural? I'm not sure what the issue was here. It just didn't work for me - it felt rushed and awkward, but it did come together at the end - basically after the kiss, it was good. I think at that point I'd just slipped into "ok, this is a thing. Accepted as a boundary condition, on we go." After that, it was great.

At halfway, I was just going "seriously, Cass saves the day AGAIN?" No offence, but...again? I mean, she did the same in the haunted house...and at the science fair. Now she's the one at the root of saving the whole town with her amazing brain. Maybe just the episode order again, but as with last week, Cass is boring me as a character. She's not evolving particularly, and she's coming across as a bit of a Mary Sue. "Cass is amazing because she's lived with the brain tumour! Cass is soooooo clever! Awwwww, yes she just doomed the whole town to AT LEAST a hundred more years of being trapped, but it wasn't her fault! Not our darling Cass!" Yeah yeah yeah. She's smart and tumour'd up, I got it. I don't know why she's grating on me like that, but she is. I think it's because she's not having to face any kind of consequence or reality. Last episode, Baird wants her out of the house to keep her safe (established as logical) and she kicks up a fuss, and is at no point proved wrong...despite very obviously BEING wrong. This episode, IT WAS HER FAULT. She's math girl - it is ENTIRELY her job to get the maths right. That's just a fact. She didn't think her answer through, she didn't check all eventual possibilities, and therefore SHE is at fault when it fails. Instead, Baird is all "sometimes, you just lose." NO. "Sometimes you just lose" is when it's something you COULD NOT foresee - not something you just didn't plan for. As an engineer...you need to check how things COULD go wrong. Cass didn't. She's not facing any consequences for betraying the team either - Stone's the only one who seems to hold it against her (sometimes), even though she did almost get them all killed. It's a shame, cause I really want to like her...but could we please give her some actual conflict in-show? The tumour works, but when it's just an informed weakness it fades, and stops meaning what it could. Can we have an episode where a decision catches up to her? Maybe a real drama one where the tumour suddenly starts having a real effect? Ya know, a "magic isn't the only threat" kind of deal.

At the end...why didn't they just bring radios? I mean, they had them before, right? We saw them using walkie-talkies, and yet suddenly they're reduced to Ezekiel trying to shout up to Stone and Mabel. Fridge logic, meine Damen und Herren - the flaws you don't notice till you're grabbing a cold one later, straighten up and go "but why didn't they just..." It's entirely possible that the energy effect was stopping them, and that's what I'm assuming, but when they're creating new rules, they need to explain them. It's like 3 lines: "Stone, your radio" "Actually, the yaddayadda field will emit copious amounts of blahblah, interfering with your radio's ratchetaratcheta. You'll need to leave it here." That simple. Not a big deal, but like the French, it was enough to make me wince.

Now, we have the good bits. In this episode, there were many. Like I said above, this was a very good episode.

Baird at the beginning, with the snark at Jenkins. Can't quote it by heart, but it was the whole "Dragons are fine, but UFO's are too unlikely for you?" I like that. Y'all know I like that. Small detail, but it shows her development, and of this I approve.

Tesla. I like Tesla. I love the idea he wired up a whole town to test a theory, and I love the idea that his plans are so awesome that even Cassandra can't fully comprehend them. I have Tesla's autobiography, in fact my girlfriend is reading it while I write this, and so I consider anything with him included to be auto-awesome.

Zeke and Cass just hitting things to solve problems. I liked Zeke's one more, because while hitting people is obvious, usually characters try to turn off machines instead of just belting them (whereas belting folk usually turns them off. At least it does when I do it.) I even had a laugh when I thought of the lamps as generators, in order to work in a joke about Fleming's right-hand-rule. (Looooong explanation, but the basic is that there's a mnemonic called Fleming's right-hand-rule that shows direction of induced current when a conductor moves in a magnetic field. The variables in this mnemonic are B (magnetic field), F (force, or motion) and I (current), and various acronyms exist to remember this. FBI is the most common, but some of us have been taught the Engineer's Creed - if in doubt, Brute Force and Ignorance. B, F and I.)

The whole plot. No evil people, nobody trying to kill anyone or feed themselves energy - just people trying to survive and get home. They even said that they only possess people for a few hours at a time. I suppose in the greater scheme of things...it could be worse.

The pacing overall hit the right notes here - only Stone felt a bit rushed. Cass changed, in my opinion, between the first and second halves - the first half was all snark and stuff, and I liked that. It felt good, and I enjoyed seeing her in that mode, especially when she was almost jealous of Mabel and Stone. It felt natural, and a nice lead to start bringing her and Jakey closer together. It was only when she got put into the role of "and here's our pet genius, our little deus ex machina!" that I was annoyed by her. Before that, it was great.

The setup was good, the false trail of aliens and bodysnatchers was just plausible enough to bite but not too engaging to be easily discarded, and we got our information in nice manageable bits, rather than a constant stream. Norman's heel turn was a little obvious (I mean, come on. Did we not see it coming?) but it made sense and it was done nicely, keeping him fairly sympathetic as it unfolded.

Overall grade: A. It was very good, and outside of a few flaws, I very much enjoyed it. Not as good as the fairy tale episode, but almost. 

I loved the final shot of Stone in Paris, wandering off as he makes of his life what Mabel couldn't of hers. It's a cliche, an overused and obvious cliche, but it worked beautifully here. Especially for a character like Stone, who must travel a million miles a day in his head and through his love of and work with art, architecture, language...this wasn't just him fulfilling her wish, this was him being catalyzed into fulfilling his. He wasn't compensating for her lack of travel - he was making sure he didn't have anything to regret. I can relate to that.

Next up is my review of the season finale, followed (very probably) by my impressions of the first series of Constantine. 

Thanks for reading,

Lone Boy, OUT

[ultravioletpenguin]

Intimidation. Cap'n Mal style.

"If your hand touches metal, I swear by my pretty floral bonnet I will end you."

[loneboyofleona]

The Librarians - Future Reviewing

So, I am very late to the party on this one but I just found out that The Librarians  episodes were aired out of order. With this in mind, a lot of things in my reviews will cease to make sense when the episodes are viewed "correctly". 

It's not fair to judge, especially harshly, a series that is being actively twisted out of the shape given to it by its creators and the people portraying those caught in it, especially when they are so very talented as those bringing The Librarians to life.

I've said all along that if there's one thing I CANNOT fault in this, it'S the acting - and so it seems only right to give these people the respect due them and revise my reviews based on new viewings - in the INTENDED sequence.

As soon as this series concludes, I will be writing two sets of reviews - one summing up my experiences with the series as aired, and a second set after watching the episodes in the "true" order.

Let TV, just as humanity, be  as it SHOULD be, not as it is.

Lone Boy, OUT.

[loneboyofleona]

The second part of the double-header, and definitely the lesser of the two (to my mind at least). A lot of effort went into this, you could tell, but it just….argh, it just irked me.

This episode was…eh.

Don’t really have much to say about this one. It was a good episode overall I think,…

[necrona]

Great review :) but I have to say I actually liked this episode and thought it was pretty ok. But then again I didn’t perceive this episode about people being equals :D but more about Cass’s insecurities and fears, caused by her own betrayal, and her need to be forgiven and accepted by the group to make her feel less guilty, which lead to some faulty perceptions that culminated with her breakdown about death. In my opinion it was just a case of miscommunication between Eve and Cass. I think Eve really wanted to protect her and, IMO if there were no betrayal, Cass would have just obeyed her and stayed with Katie, helping the team from afar. This episode she was trying too hard, overcompensating and she got lucky to win. 

Actually this was supposed to be only the 5th episode aired after the fable episode, where I don’t think there was much mention of Cass’s tumor. So the writers had probably planed for that strong gut wrenching reaction you mentioned but it got ruined by TPTB that decided to air the 9th episode right before it and flood us with her tumor problem. This being only the 5th episode might also explain Baird’s attitude about legends, that she still couldn’t get rid of. 

Baird’s decision did bother me to no end but for the exact opposite reason. I get it that she was trying to protect the weaker members (even though poor Cass got all defensive about it) but she was basically separating the team in two. One group made of strong people and the second made of two weak girls. Each time the girls were left alone (and unprotected) I was expecting the house to attack them. When Katie left and Eve basically sent Cass after her I was almost screaming at the screen because for however short a period these girls were both alone. The house could have taken either Cass or Katie without anyone knowing. Eve’s presupposition that they were safe downstairs (or in the car) while everyone else was upstairs got me grinding my teeth from the beginning to the end.

And in the end, the smoke man did attack the weaker group and if it weren’t for Katie being a psychopath that likes to kill her victims slow, Cass would have been dead a long time ago. 

PS. About the 7th episode (with the science fair) I agree that getting volcano guy to win was a really moronic move. I don’t usually take shows like this seriously but that decision was so unfair that it actually managed to get me angry.  

[loneboyofleona]

:) that's a pretty cool perspective on the episode - I hadn't even thought of it that way, and it makes a lot of sense.

The episodes being out of order is something I only just found out about - I'm going to do a redux of my impressions taking the real order into account at some point. 

Baird's CP (Close Protection) drills kind of bug me too - I'm trying to just accept them as somehow making more sense in a world of magic? :/ My training never covered smoke-men, so I dunno - but I'd agree that splitting the group up was daft - again, had to chalk that up to horror cliche, or we'd have been here all day.

Thanks for reading! :) And it's great to hear how other people saw the events.

[loneboyofleona]

This week, The Librarians gave us a double-header of our myth and magic action, in very different settings with a very different dynamic. I was initially planning on writing one review for both, but…well, no. Sorry. All will be revealed shortly. Let’s start with Episode 7 – “And the Rule of Three”

[hitter-loner-angel-trickster]

OMG i was waiting for your review. yay!. so some points.

. I believe Morgan actually calls Jenkins “Galas” leading many to believe he’s Galahad. so not exactly your theory but he DOES have something to do with the Arthurian mythos.

. The way the threefold law doled out its consequences makes no sense…so on board with you there.

. Baird asks Jenkins if the library wanted Morgan there for a reason, leading me to believe that the door isn’t open unless you belong in the library. almost like the door is there but unless you are supposed to use it, it won’t work. it was established in the episode with the dragons that the library is a refuge or meeting place for magical beings, and since Morgan is magical she can enter. 

[loneboyofleona]

HMMMM....this is intriguing...

I thought she said Elias, but couldn't tie it to any one knight....so would that make Dulacque Jenkins' father? This is going to be an interesting unraveling. 

As for the door....makes sense I suppose.

[loneboyofleona]

The Librarians - Post-Episode Series Review - Season 1 Episode 8

The second part of the double-header, and definitely the lesser of the two (to my mind at least). A lot of effort went into this, you could tell, but it just….argh, it just irked me.

This episode was...eh.

Don't really have much to say about this one. It was a good episode overall I think, but little things took me out of it enough that I didn't like it overall, and there weren't any moments I looked at and went YES! about. My style and length of review kinda mirrors this episode I think.

Good points:

-          Ezekiel Jones. From first to last, he was the only thing I liked about this episode. He was cynical, he was smart, he was genre savvy. He made sense in an episode that otherwise just didn’t. He even pointed out that “this is the point the guy in the movies says to get out of there. Movie guy is always right!” Stone got in on the action later, recommending burning the house to the ground and clearing off, but Ezekiel stole the show, especially after getting trapped in the dollhouse. What do you do when you’Ve tried getting out and attracting attention? You chill out and take full advantage of the free beer. Simple. He was even on fine form at the end, where he was hell-bent on getting a hold of the magic house. He’s still a flat character in some ways, but he’s a FUNNY flat character, and I like that about him. Flat or not, he’s good to have there.

-          The concept of the House of Refuge having been twisted for evil, rather than it being evil all along. It felt a bit better – and it kinda fit the “magic is not evil – people who misuse it are” vibe, that goes along with last episode’s use of the threefold law and the quote of “noli timere malum, sed time heroa.”

Bad points…I’m just gonna leave out the numerous horror movie cliché things here, because there were so many that just didn’t need to be there. I mean, why have them splitting up, you could literally have had the house play tricks so they ended up apart. Seriously. I’m just gonna let them slide as being an homage to all horror movies…and let’s just leave that. Bad things:

-          Baird is back to saying “but they’re stories, legends!” about the houses. As opposed to Morgan Le Fay taking advantage of the threefold law to gain power from a bunch of competitive youngsters…which makes perfect logical sense. Or dragons, that well-known sight at the local deli. Or fairy tales coming to life, cause who doesn’t have Sundays like that. Seriously. THIS IS YOUR JOB. STOP SAYING THINGS ARE IMPOSSIBLE, YOU KNOW DAMN WELL THAT THESE THINGS ARE REAL.

-          That no-one is suspicious of the girl. This comes out of the usual horror movie cliché, because within seconds of her appearing I had to ask “why is she speaking English with NO accent?” Even if they’d had her saying she was on holiday, it would have made more sense. Also, she’s COVERED in blood, but says that “the man” took her friends. Why would SHE be covered in blood? Nobody thinks to ask? Sorry, but…yeah, this was a bad one.

-          Cassandra. Ohhhh boy is this gonna make me unpopular. Cassandra is beginning to irk me, and this episode showed EXACTLY why. Stone doesn’t trust her, because she betrayed them. IT MAKES SENSE. She shouldn’t be acting like it doesn’t – she almost got them killed! Baird wants her out of harm’s way...THAT BITCH. How dare she take the weakest, most fragile, least able to defend herself, least practiced at surviving person and put them out of the conflict! What terrible, low, suspicious oh no that makes PERFECT FUCKING SENSE. Cass, honey, you got a brain tumour that makes you hallucinate. Also, you weigh the same as one of my arms and have NO self defence capabilities. Sorry, but this made perfect sense – you SHOULD be somewhere safe, and you COULD be a liability in a confrontation – and could is too big a risk when a dude made of smoke is attacking. That’s just sensible.

I liked the end, I will say that. Cass not being afraid of death cause she’s already faced it? Nice. I would have been sold, if Cass hadn’t been acting like a spoiled bitch the whole time. She says herself earlier in the show that she’s there to do maths…so why complain at being called “Math girl”? Ezekiel wouldn’t mind “Thief boy”, and I can’t see Baird being put off by “gun woman.” Hell, Baird’s title is Guardian. Get off your horse, Cass – you’re the math girl. Deal. You have no practice at fighting, so you don’t get to be in places you need to fight in. In rugby, you don’t have the skinny guys doing the short runs with heavy impacts, and you don’t have the big heavy guys running wide on the wings. People have certain jobs. Baird doesn’t do the maths, Stone doesn’t do the stealing, and Cass, you don’t do the fighting.

This is the bit where I bring back the “stop arguing about things that make sense” from last review/episode. These episodes seemed to push the message that “it’s not about what you’re good at, it’s about everyone being equal” – which to a certain level is true. Everyone is equal, in that they are all human beings and as such, have a level of respect and rights accorded to them. But that’s not the same as them being equal on every level. The kid at the science fair? He wasn’t worth less than the other contestants – he just wasn’t as intelligent, or as good in that area – and he shouldn’t have won. Cass isn’t somehow inferior to the others – but she IS unreliable, because of her brain tumour. She IS less useful in a physical fight. Baird is useless when it comes to a mathematical context. People have different skills! This isn’t a criticism of them, it’s just a fact.

For instance, I can’t sing. Absolutely useless. I can fight! I can do that real well. This doesn’t make me inferior to an amazing singer, and I won’t feel bad if he gets picked over me for a performance. In the same way, if he can’t fight, he’s not going in the ring instead of me, and he can just suck that up. The whole POINT of the team dynamic is to have these different skills – so why is Cass getting all sullen cause Baird doesn’t want her somewhere that she IS less useful? She was on point at the STEM fair last episode, and Baird didn’t bitch at her for that.

As for the being untrustworthy…well, you did betray them to someone who tried to kill ALL of them. Why would they forget that? Seriously. It’s not unreasonable.

Cass seems to be trying to pull out more empathy from me, and I don’t like it. Her tumour was initially something that made me go “damn….” But the more it gets mentioned, the less impact it’s having. If they’d not mentioned it last episode, and then not had her mention it at all this episode UNTIL the end….it would have hit me like a freight train. The whole “I KNOW WHAT DEATH LOOKS LIKE,” coming out of nowhere – I’d have been GONE. I’m talking Emelianenko’s hit to Rogers GONE. I’m talking a full-on Razor Ruddock Smash. But because it was everywhere, it just…meh.

That’s why she’s bugging me. I get it – you’re smart, and you have a tumour. You feel/felt isolated because you’re so smart, never heard that plot before. Less would be more, my dear Cass, and right now you’re piling it on so thick I feel like someone’s trying to run a con on me. If you were doing this right in front of me, I’d have my hand on my wallet so Ezekiel couldn’t have it while you were talking. I’m gonna get heat for this I guess, but that’s how I feel.

She’s basically Fred from Angel, but she’s not quite measuring up yet – tumour doesn’t play quite the same strand of pathos as “kidnapped to another dimension and now crazy” does. I’m hoping she’ll improve over the rest of the season and the next ones – I wasn’t Fred’s biggest fan initially either, but Cass is defo bugging me more right now.

Overall grade: B-. Solid idea, with some nice twists and excellent acting throughout. Lindy Booth is the only thing that makes the character of Cassandra watchable for me. Her acting is holding the character together in a lot of ways, and is managing to amplify the geeky enthusiasm without QUITE sinking into the well of overdone emotion that the character seems to be going to. The twist of the real killer was fairly obvious though, and the lack of any real standout moments does, to me, bring this episode down quite considerably. If you want to know how to do a ghost/murderer story convincingly, with some real nice turns, take a look at Lost Girl Season 4. THAT’S how you do it. (Side note, I think the same actress who plays Katie is in it too). Ezekiel being snarky and Lindy Booth’s acting saved this episode from C to C- grade, but just barely – I’ve seen them all do much better.

This episode didn’t do much for me. Not much series build, not a great episode, and the “protesting logical decisions” irritated me enough that I couldn’t enjoy the resolution properly, because it felt like a Mary Sue moment for Cass. The constant reminder of the tumour is enough to make any empathy she gets from me feel forced and cheapened, and I just feel that saving it for more strategically appropriate moments would be better, and would put her on less of a “oh, poor thing…all our sympathy, all our emotion must be surrendered to you” pedestal.

At least the structuring was good and the total story was enjoyable. It’s an unfortunate episode in that overall it was actually good – it’s just a couple of elements that grated with me SO strongly it tainted the rest.

Next up is going to be a piece about the return of Castle to our screens post-Xmas, please do read on.

Also, for all my reviews in a slightly different format, along with things I want to talk about but would have less of a viewing base on tumblr, please do visit my blog at www.loneboyofleona.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading

Lone Boy, OUT.

[loneboyofleona]

The Librarians - Post-Episode Series Review - Season 1 Episode 7

This week, The Librarians gave us a double-header of our myth and magic action, in very different settings with a very different dynamic. I was initially planning on writing one review for both, but…well, no. Sorry. All will be revealed shortly. Let’s start with Episode 7 – “And the Rule of Three”

This episode was….fine.

I mean that in the best possible way, as I’ll explain fully below. This was a good building block and a very nice setup with some brilliant threads to follow and some moments of excellence. It looks like it’ll provide a keystone for the rest of the season/series. For this, it gets high marks. Unfortunately, in doing so, the actual episode made it feel a bit…empty? To keep with the scientific theme, it felt like a capacitor – it’s storing charge, and readying us for the inevitable fast release…but the storing process lacks some punch.

Like I said, some excellent moments. Let’s take a look:

-          Baird’s proactive research. Finally, we’re seeing some practical aspects of Baird. She’s behaving now like a soldier should – gathering intelligence BEFORE it’s desperately needed. It makes sense in every way, and I particularly like it because it removes the cocky, “I know about this world and you don’t” air she had before. This episode was BRILLIANT in that regard, and I genuinely liked Baird in this episode. It’s the first time I’ve felt a connection to her, which is strange, because in pretty much everything I watch, I identify with the muscle. Eliot in Leverage, Jayne in Firefly, Spike in Buffy. Baird has previously left me cold, which made it a delight to feel a thread between us now. This leads me nicely on to…

-          Baird’s response to Morgan. Shoot her. Then, punch her. THAT’S MY GIRL. I hate when this isn’t an explored option – sheer force. Sci-fi and magic based shows can be quite bad from that point of view – forgetting that you can just unplug a computer, so to speak. Rebecca Romijn even looked more comfortable throwing a punch this time! Though her headbutt was gash. Sorry. But hey, takes a lot of practice to pit the heid in properly, so…ya know, I’m gonna give her this one.

-          The use of three as a magic number. I like that. Three shows up all over the place, from the idea of the 3 Queens, the triple goddess of the crossroads, the three fates…things like that. So I like that they used 3 as a core component. Hearing the threefold law being used was a nice touch, too.

-          I like the technomagic concept, with the spell being an app. Very very nice, I approve of that blend very much. It’s a neat way to blend the science and magic, which in an episode like this was a very important step. Personally I prefer the Dresden Files concept of magic interfering with tech, but every setting needs its own lore – The Iron Druid series even uses a system of magical proxies, set up like you would a computer program. I think that some overlap is necessary, in any case. Negative effect, positive effect, or simple analogy – but you need to address both, and it was well done here.

-          Stone quoting “She Walks In Beauty.” I have a special love for Byron, and hearing Stone use him as an example of what badass really is made me smile. It was a perfect fit for the situation, and a good match for Stone’s character as well. Though I do wish they’d mentioned the bear.

Now…unfortunately, this episode did have some things that irked me. The good news, they’re mostly episode-specific, and not problems with the series as a whole. I think. Maybe. We’ll see. Here goes:

-          Baird yawning during the speech at the start of the STEM fair. FUCK NO. This made me angry enough that I stopped the episode for 3 minutes. We get it, Baird – you’re here to hit things. Fine. You’re not interested in the STEM fair, fine. Here’s the thing – YOU ARE A SOLDIER IN UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY…AND YOU’RE IGNORING INFORMATION?! First, it’s rude. You don’t have to be interested, but at least yawn quietly. Secondly – the people who DO know about this fair? They’re all listening. Clearly, there is something to be gained here. The person is clearly a big deal, with oversight over the whole fair – maybe they would be someone to listen to, hmmmm? This annoyed me a LOT. It felt like an attempted joke, but it just made Baird seem stupid and rude, like someone swigging beer at a fancy dinner.

-          The doorway to the library. So lemme get this straight…you turn any door into a library annex portal, and it just…stays there? REALLY?! Last time it was a public toilet…what the hell would have happened to the poor bastard who got caught short?! This felt SO contrived it was untrue – I know there had to be a way to get Morgan to find out about the library, but this…no. It felt cheap and a cop-out. Sorry.

-          The “geek” stereotypes. I know, I know…it’s all part of the joke. Except…it’s SO old. The fast-talking, almost deranged blonde girl who seemed like an expy of Paris from the Gilmore Girls, the Asian guy who I think had a speech impediment? The girl with the overbearing mother, the nerdy guy who immediately got suckered by Baird’s pretty smile…ach, it didn’t ruin anything, but it was unnecessary and boring. This might just be me, but it’s a trope I don’t like, anymore than I like the Hollywood Nerd stereotype.

-          Stone and Cass bonding with the kids. Yes, I don’t like writing out Cassandra each time when I’m taking notes, so she’s Cass for now. My immediate observation when I saw a high-school-esque setting for this episode was “brave. I wouldn’t hit the high-school throwback button till we’ve got more background on our characters.” I was right, sadly. Baird didn’t have any moments of retrospection, and came off the best for it. Ezekiel just seems…flat, right now. He’s wonderfully snarky and a fresh perspective, but can we get more than “I’m a thief, snarky remark” please? Everything he gets as “development” is essentially “I steal things. ROFLCOPTER” and it’s getting tired. As for Stone and Cass….Well, ok, they clearly empathised with those kids…but they were both opening up about their pasts to kids they’ve JUST met. How often do you do that? Stone especially has made a point about being guarded and secretive. As for Cass…we get it, you’re smart and geeky. The thing with her parents was a good touch, but somehow I just can’t summon much emotion for her. I guess maybe if we saw the tumour doing more than making her babble? Cause right now...I get that it’s supposed to be serious and all, but it’s just not doing it for me. Bluntly put, it’s just not seeming lethal enough. It’s making her say funny things, but that’s all. Sorry Cass, but this just seemed like checking a box. High-school, check. Jokes about Cliques, check. Characters bonding with random kids, check.

-          The kid who won. This was SO annoying. A) where were the real judges this whole time? And B)…FUCK THIS. NO. NO NO NO NO NO. You all felt sorry for this kid with his volcano. That’s nice. Underdog win, yay, happy happy. But no. Did we not hear the speech at the start of the fair? What’s at stake here isn’t the trophy, it’S THOUSANDS of dollars of scholarship and grant money, a chance to change the world! Winners at that fair go on to do AMAZING things, create incredible technology…and you took that away from these kids, these kids who actually DID have brilliant projects, and you gave it to the guy you felt sorry for?! NO! That’s not how it works – these things are competitive for a reason! Who knows what amazing tech there was at that fair – something to reduce ALL engine emissions by half, a way to cure cancer for all we know…and you removed the option of developing that, of bringing that to the world, because you felt sorry for that one kid. FUCK YOU ALL. NO. He said himself he shouldn’t be there, and ya know what? Sometimes that’s true! People who can’t run fast shouldn’t be on the track team. People who can’t skate shouldn’t be in the NHL. And if this kid is genuinely not as smart as the rest of the kids in the fair, if his project REALLY isn’t as good…he shouldn’t have won. No way. It was a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fair. Did his project demonstrate excellence in any of those? If not, he shouldn’t have won – just like you can’t win the Stanley Cup by being a star football player.

  This actually is a criticism both the episodes last aired raised within me – which I’ll go into more depth next review. STOP PROTESTING THINGS THAT MAKE SENSE.

Like I said, this was a good building episode. Introducing Morgan (side note, I called it being Morgan without any hints other than the name of the foundation – McCabe Learning Foundation = MLF. Nice one.), showing us that she has a past with Jenkins (YESSSSSS…..My Arthurian theory is sort of gaining ground! Maybe!) and giving us that “Noli timere malum” speech (also translated that on the fly, without any research – well done me. Though to be fair, Pratchett experience helps.) was absolutely gorgeous loading of Chekov’s gun.

Other observations? Well, I wasn’t too sure about the use of a pentagram to deflect the effects of the threefold law. I kind of thought that within the pentagram was anything you brought in with you…which would kind of include the effects of karma, which is (at least to my understanding) how the threefold law mostly works. It’s not a unified backlash, it’s simply an “at some point, this comes back three times.” But I could be wrong – my magical theory is spotty at best. By the same token, couldn’t Morgan just have disrupted one point of the pentagram?

Baird needs a sports bra. I couldn’t help noticing that, really. Just saying.

Basically…this episode was fine. It set up future episodes very well and gave a decently entertaining account of itself. It wasn’t much special and it wasn’t an episode I’ll be coming back to in years to come. I was pleased to notice that most of the flaws I’ve mentioned before are now pretty much fixed – the episodes are well-paced, and there weren’t really any glaring moments of stupidity for our heroes. Even Baird’s fighting looked better.

I think this was a largely unavoidable issue – to make a good building block, sometimes you need to make the episode itself slightly less interesting.

As a set-up piece: A. Almost perfect – a little more information about the coming evil, say a look at some shadowy figures or something, and we’d be golden. Maybe seeing articles in the magic book appearing rapidly? Or seeing it shake again? Things like that.

As an episode in its own right: B. It was…an episode of a good show. That’s my lasting impression – it was part of a good show. Not a great episode though.

Overall: B+. A little bit less time devoted to the high-school episode checklist (i.e. stereotypes, bonding moments etc) and a little more punch to it would have been nice – maybe give us an actual false lead, like if one of the kids had actually TRIED to curse another, but it hadn’t worked? A little more pop would have clinched the A – as it was, it was fine.

Next review up shortly, followed by something about the most recent Castle. Also, for all my reviews in a slightly different format, along with things I want to talk about but would have less of a viewing base on tumblr, please do visit my blog at www.loneboyofleona.blogspot.com

  Lone Boy, OUT.

[loneboyofleona]

Tumblr VS Blog

This, I rather suspect, will go out to not very many, but I write it just in case.

Seeing as I'm posting reviews of both TV shows (there will be more, as soon as the episodes get broadcast following the festive lull) and of places to eat, have coffee etc, and the tv stuff is far more interesting for a tumblr audience, only these will be posted on Tumblr, whereas all types (tv, film, book, music AND location, foods etc) will be available to read on my blog, findable at:

loneboyofleona.blogspot.com

A big change of venue, as I am sure you can see - some things just aren't the tumblr thing I feel.

Hope to see you reading there as well.

Lone Boy OUT.

[loneboyofleona]

Above, we see some pictures of the 2015 model Ford Mustang GT. This is a car that I absolutely love. It's powerful, it's quick, it's everything a Mustang should be. AND it can corner! It is the evolved muscle car, that can not only rip off a quarter mile but ALSO go round bends in a road without hurling you into a cliff face in a fiery ball of testosterone-ignited and adrenaline-fueled destruction! Yay!

And it looks GREAT. The wide, low, muscular crouch of it, the headlights looking like a glare at prey....it's brilliant. You can even see the throwback styling cues, from the vented look of the tail lights to the flare as the roof curves back down into the body. It really is a very very attractive car, and would without question be the car I would own, if it wasn't for the last picture there.

That, my freaky darlings, is the Equus Bass 770...and I think it's great. It is, of course, a deliberate throwback to the '69 Charger, or the '67 Shelby GT500, and this is PRECISELY the kind of style that makes my heart beat faster. It's lower, sleeker, and altogether not as bulky as the Mustang. The Mustang looks like a bodybuilder, or a wrestler, with heavy muscle just barely contained by the skin, and the Bass is...more graceful, with a light and deliberate stance compared to the comparatively hulking crouch of the 'stang. In martial arts terms, it's the Eskrimador, the Savateur...not the wrestler. 

It's more powerful too, with the supercharged 6.2L LS9 V8 producing an incredible 630 hp, compared to the 400 from the Mustang's 5.0L V8, and weighing in at 3459lbs, it's almost 250lbs lighter.

The drawback here is cost - the Equus comes in, for a standard version, at a wallet-destroying $290 000, with the bespoke versions starting at $340 000 - in other words, a range of 9 to 10 TIMES the price of the Mustang.

Being realistic, I'd probably end up with the Mustang simply due to price - but in this fantasy world where I get whatever I want? There's really no contest. 

VERDICT: Equus Bass 770. The price might be staggering, but if I'm picking the car I would have, the Mustang just can't compare in looks, nor in performance. A clear winner.