Reviews

Hallmark shows like this and Signed, Sealed Delivered are not my usual viewing preference, but I do find them a pleasant refuge when I get too burned out on how meanspirited my own species really is. Watching WCTH started out as a reassuring fantasy of people learning to be kind to each other and a nice journey back into turn of the century Canadian frontier days. It became less historically convincing after the first season, but I'm not going to rag on that too much. It's squeaky clean, which must be nice for families with kids, but with a focus on romantic interests. After a while, I started following the show less as a short-term refuge from modern life and more as a social study. I'm sure people who like this show like it for different reasons, but its high ratings intrigue me.

It didn't take long for me to grow annoyed at the total subtraction of indigenous populations from this frontier epic, and unless I missed an extra in one of the rare city scenes, I didn't see the first person of color until season 4 when a new blacksmith came to town. Granted, I don't expect the Pacific Northwest wilderness at this time to be a hotbed of diversity, but so far you'd think North America was just a vacant paradise until white settlers showed up to bloodlessly claim it.

Now, I didn't expect this show to dive headlong into serious issues like the decimation of Native Americans or the wages of slavery or, like some other shows, address adult topics like homosexuality or addiction with a modern, gritty perspective. And it surely doesn't. WCTH does promote a gentle feminism (unsurprising given its target audience) that I do appreciate, even if it's likely not representative of its time and place.

But the bread and butter is the show's focus on ethics and morality, and not the expected hidebound religious morality (God is mentioned only occasionally). It actually does a nice job of showing people going through personal and interpersonal challenges and working through them, and showing how a community comes together and (occasionally) doesn't.

But the biggest surprise for me was how deftly it ties genuine morality to fairness, activism, and fighting abuse of power. Henry Gowan represents a corrupt survivor who serves as a persistent annoyance for the town that slinks out of accountability, (light spoilers here) first as the manager of the coal mine when his pursuit of profit results in a collapse that widows half the town, then replacing the mayor that was in his pocket, then getting an investigation into misappropriation of town resources suspended by promising the railroad a 100% tax break on their new line (the interim mayor promised only a 20% tax break, which was met with some resentment). The railroad helps manufacture and suppress evidence that prevents justice from interfering with its own profits, elevating and sabotaging members of the community according to their compliance with this goal. Even the protagonist, committed educator Elizabeth Thatcher, becomes a target for pushing the railroad representative to consider the impact of its activities on the community.

The show has quite often touched on the most pressing problem of our modern era--greed, and how it makes human beings treat their fellow man in reprehensible ways. It demonstrates how businesses can either be a good citizen within the community (Coulter's lumber mill) or a drain on its resources and damaging to its residents (coalmine, railroad). For this, I give it high marks.

The episode I'm watching right now (s4e7) is themed on a paraphrase of the Edmund Burke quote: "Bad things happen when good people do nothing". That pretty much sums up the show; it's about standing up for whatever is kind, fair, and just in every conflict, even if it does so in a somewhat oversimplified world. Even if I usually get more out of edgier shows, I appreciate any entertainment that sends this message cogently, and this one does.

I can't remember why I added this movie to my Netflix queue, but it wasn't because of the older woman/younger man dynamic. If I'd taken a good look at the poster they chose, I wouldn't have bothered, but it's a good example of this film's identity crisis. It seems to have been marketed as a "cougar romp", which it is not (the sexytime scenes are few and low-key), and takes out-of-tune detours into gross- out/obnoxious-sidekick comedy that don't match the rest of the movie, seemingly tacked on to widen its appeal. The rest of the time it does a fair (though not stellar) job of what it apparently set out to do, which is tell us the stories of the two main characters and how they come together. Despite some stumbles in outlining the particulars, the relationship portrayed feels organic and believable.

Jones and Bartha have nice chemistry together. Sandy's character arc is certainly of interest to any woman who is questioning her life choices and redefining what makes a good or 'suitable' relationship, whether or not the betrayal and divorce themes happen to resonate (certainly moreso if they do). Both she and Aram are being pressured by friends/family to make life choices deemed suitable for them by others, a situation most of us can relate to. I appreciated that Aram was not reduced to a two-dimensional cougar or divorcée fantasy object. Happily, they are written as equals, despite a few details being thrown in to remind us of the age difference. More important than the age gap is the exploration of parental/caretaker roles. While Sandy discovers after her divorce that she is able to pursue a career that matters to her, Aram hits the ground running as a competent and gentle caretaker for her two kids, a job he seems to take on out of a desire to heal from his own broken sham of a marriage. Whether or not Justin Bartha really is a genuinely lovely, decent man and human being, he always manages to come across as such, and was perfect for this role. The relationship grows into a working, loving romance, until a sad bump in the road causes Sandy to panic about their future and break it off--an agonized reaction understandable given the circumstances, but which feels by that time very much like breaking up a happy, well-adjusted family.

A few years intervene before they run into each other again, with both parties having grown and progressed in their own lives. Sandy has been promoted, and Aram has (entirely consistent with his character) adopted a son during his word travels. It seems that perhaps the timing is finally right--not least because the attraction between them is still palpable. Neither has been wallowing in misery since the break, but they are delighted to see each other. It's nice to see a romance that doesn't declare life impossible without a partner (for either party), but gets across very nicely that love is vitally important, something to be hoped for and invited in, not turned away, and to recognize it when it offers itself.

At a mere 95 minutes, I felt they wasted far too much time with Aram's unnecessarily repugnant "friend" from the coffee shop and a truly disgusting first date for Sandy. The comedy inserted to qualify this as a rom-com was badly done. Although we could certainly see how Sandy was desirable to Aram (Jones is gorgeous, and her character is succeeding at life despite the trauma of divorce), it might have been nice to see her character fleshed out a little bit more.

Overall, despite it feeling mismatched and annoying at several points, the two principals worked well together and I enjoyed watching them fall in love. I found I wanted them both to be happy whether or not they stayed together, and was pleased with the ending. This movie could certainly have been better, but when you're in the mood for a gentle romance about grownups, you could certainly do worse.

I started reading the books after the first season hooked me so thoroughly. That may make it harder for me to consider the series on its own, but I'm getting worried about how much gratuitous sex HBO is stuffing (npi) in, and the liberties with the story lines and dialogue. There are some alterations that, after a little thought, do serve to drive home a point more quickly and show the viewer what the books show in a very roundabout way. Those who have read the books will probably struggle with some of that.

This episode was particularly bad regarding the overdose of softcore porn, but hopefully they all won't be like this going forward. When you've got as many characters and as much to tell as Martin's world contains, a lot of daylight is burned on excess bootknocking. ***spoiler*** And some of it goes against character, too. We are shown Melisandre seducing Stannis with a very particular purpose in mind, in part to explain something we'll see in a later broadcast. In the book, we know it happens, but we are not shown, and this hot and heavy scene misleads us about what was likely a pretty clinical interlude, and also about Stannis' personality.***end spoiler***

Nevertheless, a lot of the acting is still very good, and I got an excellent dose of Tyrion, so it's not as if I won't keep watching. I'm pleased they chose to keep Dolorous Edd, knowing that many characters have to be streamlined out to fit the adaptation. But I do feel the tone of this episode was below the first season's, and below the books. Hopefully next one won't disappoint.

***Possible very minor spoilers herein***

Six episodes in now, Grimm seems to have really found its stride. It was a little awkward now and then in the first couple of episodes only while it was busy establishing the premise, but the writing is solid, the recurring characters are enjoyable in their own right, and the main theme--a born "monster-hunter" hearing his calling in a world recently revealed to be full of said monsters--has deftly avoided the obvious and played Good™ v. Evil™ model and instead been imagined as a much more organic and nuanced ecosystem in which the conflicts are not always as they first seem and the Grimm himself is arguably in the same category as the supernatural species he so often pursues for their crimes.

Nick is introduced as a police officer who has learned that he's among the last of a long line of Grimms, and the imminent death of his nearest relative has caused his Grimmyness to manifest mainly as the ability to recognize the not-quite-humans around him--but only when they lose their cool for a moment and display their supernatural streaks, something ordinary humans can't see. (Creepily, some of them seem to never lose control, so Nick doesn't always know what he's dealing with.) This and the ancestral knowledge conveyed to him (centuries of family research, a collection of specialized weaponry, and insider help from a reformed Blutbad) seem to be the sum of Nick's Grimm-gifts, although perhaps a natural combat instinct and desire for justice also form part of the genetic package. He's a natural cop and a tough customer, but he's also not invincible, which I appreciate. Despite the extensive documentation and conventional knowledge about the various supernatural creatures in this ecology, we realize there's still plenty to learn and, even better, that choice has a much bigger part to play than it might if worse writers were on the case. The premise lends itself to analogies of dealing with the hand we're dealt and either struggling to make the best of ourselves without losing who we are or indulging ourselves in the worst of our natures. We also have themes of how to survive and even thrive in a world we might not be perfectly suited for but on which we depend, if we are to enjoy the benefits of civilization. Suffice to say each episode might make you think, although it goes down like candy, not broccoli.

The Pacific NW location is well-chosen and beautifully shot and set up, with joy in the use of color and occasional winks to fairy tale imagery without being picturesque. It's easy enough to follow but they don't spell everything out in big grade-school letters, so there's the stimulation of piecing some things together for yourself. Each episode incorporates thoughtful homages to the stories of old but invents something new and interesting in each one, with many great Eek! moments included and reasonable though not excessive amounts of blood and gore. The fantasy is grounded on an underpinning of plausible weekly crime procedurals. And it's sophisticated and often sexy without being an excuse for soft porn. Nothing seems gratuitous. All, so far, has been in excellent balance.

Skillful casting--the acting has been uniformly good and the choices for both recurring and guest roles have been pleasing. The guest actors are well-used and often include some of my favorites (Patrick Fischler, Tim Bagley). Although Nick's character could be drawn a little more thoroughly, he works well as a sort of glass through which we see his world and we feel like we're discovering it along with him. Nick and his partner Hank have good cop chemistry, and the plots seem to work even though Hank is not yet in on the secret. Monroe (although created perhaps for convenience's sake) has been the most fun of all. Nick's fiancé Juliette is not quite fleshed out yet but I suspect the writers have special plans for her as the story continues to unfold at its pleasingly natural pace. The dialogue is smooth and funny without being too 'clever' or overly defusing the darker goings-on.

If you liked the X-Files, you might enjoy Grimm. It's worth checking out, and I hope they let it continue on the path it has found and not turn it into something suitable for being made into a video game.

I've kept up with Tara since the show started, and it has improved steadily. The last few episodes have been riveting as the show has moved from the outer repercussions of Tara's disorder to the inner workings of her personae. I'm extraordinarily bummed to see that the show is getting cancelled, but there's some hope that the current rate of change Tara is going through means there will be some critical breakthrough that will allow the show to end with, well, closure. Ultimately this is why I've watched the show, to see Tara collectively unravel the mystery of her dissociation and find the key to reunion.

I'm going to miss these characters; Kate, Marshall, Max, Neil, even Charmaine who so frequently makes me want to slap her; but most of all Tara and her changing cast of inhabitants. Toni Collette has proved her chops in this show. They haven't always given her the very best material to work with but she always runs with it like a pro. I was sorry to see Eddie Izzard taken off her case in the last episode but glad to see that he is in the credits for the remainder of the season. Their chemistry is good, and he entertainingly puts the pomp in psychopomp.

I read Sybil back when I was still in gradeschool and found it fascinating, so the subject matter was naturally of interest to me. They have in previous seasons strayed off into sensationalistic displays ***SPOILER BEGIN*** (what happens when the teenage girl alter seduces the gay son's boyfriend?? what happens when the redneck dude alter uses Tara's body to carry on with a barmaid??) ***SPOILER END*** but it's still been an enjoyable and interesting ride, and shows mental illness from the inside of a loving family, which is rare. Like one reviewer, I suspect most people assume they would simply walk away from someone like Tara and never look back, but as Marshall realizes, his parents' marriage is a love story--and besides, Tara is not _just_ "sick"; she's also attractive, intelligent, creative, and a good-hearted person.

We've usually watched Tara along with Nurse Jackie through OnDemand on Tuesdays, our network TV desert night. I like being able to catch up on a couple of episodes at a time. My husband has watched with me but has only gotten really involved this season. Let's hope it comes to a proper close, if they insist on pulling the plug.