![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Time Warp
So on Sunday I went to go see the full, two-part season premiere of Doctor Who screened in a movie theater and I really enjoyed it! It was definitely worth the hour drive to get there, and even the live (simulcast) Q&A afterwards felt worth sticking around for.
That said, I have mixed feelings about the Master's return. We don't know much of anything about how this new incarnation came to be, but the default assumption would be that he comes after Missy. This on the surface is kind of troubling since it almost seems to negate her character arc? Though nothing in the writing really alludes to her, with the only real connection being the way Sacha Dhawan portrays his more emotionally charged scenes. Really, the only reason this works for me at all is that it's very obvious Dhawan has done his homework on the character (both revival and classic) and has applied it to his performance.
There are some nice touches in the writing that also tie back to the character's history, specifically the scene where Thirteen establishes a "telepathic contact" with The Master (which, fresh off Star Wars, gave me serious force bond vibes) and the four beats ("knocks"). But it still feels disjointed from the character we saw only two seasons earlier, and people have theorized that he's actually an earlier incarnation (one set between Simm and Gomez is the popular theory) or an alternate universe version of the Master (which I find highly unlikely tbh). I think that a lot of the Master's motivations are obscured in this because of his connection to the larger season arc revealed at the end of the two-parter, so hopefully at the end of the season we'll have some clarity as to what's going on. Because I loved Missy and I know she was very popular and I'd hope the new writing team would take that into consideration when crafting the future of that character.
That element aside, I think this serial really works on a level a lot of the ones from last season didn't, in that all the companions actually felt very present and active in the story. Last season there was a recurring problem that at least one of the companions (usually Yaz) would fade into the background varying from story-to-story. I know the Classic show had this problem too, particularly during the Fifth Doctor's era, but it's still annoying to contend with as a viewer, so I'm glad they seem to have made an effort to course-correct. I also have to say, whatever quibbles I ever have with the writing, Jodie Whittaker delivers and all her scenes are a delight to watch. It's honestly bananas to me that people doubted her casting when she's been carrying this show on her back the past two seasons.
In other viewing news, I finished Dracula. It was... an experience. It was definitely a show written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. I hoped that after how good series 10 of Doctor Who was that this would be a turning point in how they construct and write shows but clearly not. It has some of the same, specific kind of bizarre story rot that Sherlock had in it's latter seasons - complete with an ending that just kind of confused and pissed everyone off. I wasn't as taken aback as others apparently were, but it's hard to argue that the third and final episode wasn't a major creative misstep on so many levels. It's especially frustrating because Claes Bang and Dolly Wells are genuinely great in this and it was honestly depressing watching them get progressively worse material. That ending scene also felt particularly bad tropey and, for me, undercut why their character dynamic worked on a show where a lot of things really didn't.
I also finished two seasons of two different anime series over the past couple of days. Golden Kamuy has been a delight that I'm really happy I dived back into, even if it does skate very close to some bad tropes in episode 11. The show feels refreshing and unlike anything else I've ever watched, and provides a genuinely informative and engaging look at aspects of Ainu culture and the pre-World War era of Japan. Also, ever since I watched Silver Spoon, I've found Hokkaido specifically very captivating and it's nice to see that region get such a major spotlight in this show. My one complaint is that I feel like the late season plot twist that re-contextualizes the whole show may have been a bit much, and reminds me of a particular plot twist in a recent motion picture, but it's early enough in the overall story I'm not particularly put off by it. If anything, it's a testament to how much affection the show's built for this (very large) group of characters over a relatively short period of time that I'm willing to put up with plot twists like that and still derive immense enjoyment from the show.
I also, after a very long break, finished the first cour of Attack on Titan season 3. I've had a very weird relationship with this show, as I opted to binge the first season after the fact instead of watching it week-to-week like some of my friends obsessively did when it aired in 2013. All of them have since fallen off of it, though I've managed to stick with it (with a lot of breaks). Part of the problem is that the show has never had particularly great pacing. The first season in particular moves at a crawl, and midway through 3A I hit another one of those patches where the show kind of sits in one spot for several episodes and spits out exposition. This was back in late 2018 when this portion originally aired, and I only just now binged the final five episodes of this block and, as a whole, they were much better than what came before. The first one had that same pacing issue, but the final four actually had a kind of forward momentum and conciseness that I'm not sure the show has quite achieved since it first started. It also nicely set up what the trajectory for the second cour of the season will be: get to the basement and see what's inside (and finally patch Wall Maria I guess). I know the show will probably sink into a lore-tangled mess sooner rather than later, but I'm enjoying the current high point.
Part of what also kept me from jumping back on until now was because the show has some very unfortunately allegory that's getting progressively harder to ignore (especially with what I know is to come). The author, Hajime Isayama, has been plagued with accusations of nationalistic leanings for years, and it's not a stretch to link aspects of this story to real life counterparts in World War II that paint imperial Japan in a very sympathetic light. I don't particularly want to get into the nitty-gritty of it here, but it was enough to make me wary of the property for a while. But now, in a post-"JK Rowling is openly a TERF" world, it feels like much less of a moral consumption issue than it once did? In consuming the show, even though I'm using legal streaming, I'm not otherwise supporting the series monetarily, so at a certain point it's just weighing pros and cons of consuming a particular "messy" piece of media in a sea of "messy" pieces of media.
Speaking of mess, I got a new comment on that fanfic I really wanted to finished by the end of 2019 (before the year decimated all my creative energy). If I can, I'm going to see if I can knock that out at some point over the next couple of weeks now that I can feel myself getting my mojo back. Feels like a much simpler goal compared to the lofty ambitions of the past October and November.
That said, I have mixed feelings about the Master's return. We don't know much of anything about how this new incarnation came to be, but the default assumption would be that he comes after Missy. This on the surface is kind of troubling since it almost seems to negate her character arc? Though nothing in the writing really alludes to her, with the only real connection being the way Sacha Dhawan portrays his more emotionally charged scenes. Really, the only reason this works for me at all is that it's very obvious Dhawan has done his homework on the character (both revival and classic) and has applied it to his performance.
There are some nice touches in the writing that also tie back to the character's history, specifically the scene where Thirteen establishes a "telepathic contact" with The Master (which, fresh off Star Wars, gave me serious force bond vibes) and the four beats ("knocks"). But it still feels disjointed from the character we saw only two seasons earlier, and people have theorized that he's actually an earlier incarnation (one set between Simm and Gomez is the popular theory) or an alternate universe version of the Master (which I find highly unlikely tbh). I think that a lot of the Master's motivations are obscured in this because of his connection to the larger season arc revealed at the end of the two-parter, so hopefully at the end of the season we'll have some clarity as to what's going on. Because I loved Missy and I know she was very popular and I'd hope the new writing team would take that into consideration when crafting the future of that character.
That element aside, I think this serial really works on a level a lot of the ones from last season didn't, in that all the companions actually felt very present and active in the story. Last season there was a recurring problem that at least one of the companions (usually Yaz) would fade into the background varying from story-to-story. I know the Classic show had this problem too, particularly during the Fifth Doctor's era, but it's still annoying to contend with as a viewer, so I'm glad they seem to have made an effort to course-correct. I also have to say, whatever quibbles I ever have with the writing, Jodie Whittaker delivers and all her scenes are a delight to watch. It's honestly bananas to me that people doubted her casting when she's been carrying this show on her back the past two seasons.
In other viewing news, I finished Dracula. It was... an experience. It was definitely a show written by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. I hoped that after how good series 10 of Doctor Who was that this would be a turning point in how they construct and write shows but clearly not. It has some of the same, specific kind of bizarre story rot that Sherlock had in it's latter seasons - complete with an ending that just kind of confused and pissed everyone off. I wasn't as taken aback as others apparently were, but it's hard to argue that the third and final episode wasn't a major creative misstep on so many levels. It's especially frustrating because Claes Bang and Dolly Wells are genuinely great in this and it was honestly depressing watching them get progressively worse material. That ending scene also felt particularly bad tropey and, for me, undercut why their character dynamic worked on a show where a lot of things really didn't.
I also finished two seasons of two different anime series over the past couple of days. Golden Kamuy has been a delight that I'm really happy I dived back into, even if it does skate very close to some bad tropes in episode 11. The show feels refreshing and unlike anything else I've ever watched, and provides a genuinely informative and engaging look at aspects of Ainu culture and the pre-World War era of Japan. Also, ever since I watched Silver Spoon, I've found Hokkaido specifically very captivating and it's nice to see that region get such a major spotlight in this show. My one complaint is that I feel like the late season plot twist that re-contextualizes the whole show may have been a bit much, and reminds me of a particular plot twist in a recent motion picture, but it's early enough in the overall story I'm not particularly put off by it. If anything, it's a testament to how much affection the show's built for this (very large) group of characters over a relatively short period of time that I'm willing to put up with plot twists like that and still derive immense enjoyment from the show.
I also, after a very long break, finished the first cour of Attack on Titan season 3. I've had a very weird relationship with this show, as I opted to binge the first season after the fact instead of watching it week-to-week like some of my friends obsessively did when it aired in 2013. All of them have since fallen off of it, though I've managed to stick with it (with a lot of breaks). Part of the problem is that the show has never had particularly great pacing. The first season in particular moves at a crawl, and midway through 3A I hit another one of those patches where the show kind of sits in one spot for several episodes and spits out exposition. This was back in late 2018 when this portion originally aired, and I only just now binged the final five episodes of this block and, as a whole, they were much better than what came before. The first one had that same pacing issue, but the final four actually had a kind of forward momentum and conciseness that I'm not sure the show has quite achieved since it first started. It also nicely set up what the trajectory for the second cour of the season will be: get to the basement and see what's inside (and finally patch Wall Maria I guess). I know the show will probably sink into a lore-tangled mess sooner rather than later, but I'm enjoying the current high point.
Part of what also kept me from jumping back on until now was because the show has some very unfortunately allegory that's getting progressively harder to ignore (especially with what I know is to come). The author, Hajime Isayama, has been plagued with accusations of nationalistic leanings for years, and it's not a stretch to link aspects of this story to real life counterparts in World War II that paint imperial Japan in a very sympathetic light. I don't particularly want to get into the nitty-gritty of it here, but it was enough to make me wary of the property for a while. But now, in a post-"JK Rowling is openly a TERF" world, it feels like much less of a moral consumption issue than it once did? In consuming the show, even though I'm using legal streaming, I'm not otherwise supporting the series monetarily, so at a certain point it's just weighing pros and cons of consuming a particular "messy" piece of media in a sea of "messy" pieces of media.
Speaking of mess, I got a new comment on that fanfic I really wanted to finished by the end of 2019 (before the year decimated all my creative energy). If I can, I'm going to see if I can knock that out at some point over the next couple of weeks now that I can feel myself getting my mojo back. Feels like a much simpler goal compared to the lofty ambitions of the past October and November.