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Reviews
Doctor Who: The Poison Sky (2008)
Better second part
The second part of the story is better. Watching it from a 2022 rewatch, it's actually amazing how much this episode predicted. A petulant man-child using "emissions" to pretend he cares about anything but his ego. And of course everyone having to seal themselves in their homes because it's deadly outside.
While it's not the best in season 4, it was fun to come back to earth to see Donna's family. The conversation around collateral damage is a good one to keep having, and it presents a good before and after between Martha and Donna. I think it's also a good contrast between the two, and shows how the shoe benefits without the sexual tension or crush. When the companion is simply a companion, the doctor is at his best.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: A Shadow of the Past (2022)
Really beautiful start
I was really excited for this. I've watched it twice through now. I think the reviews that say it's boring forget how long a slog LOTR is. And Silmarillion is not a single story but reads like, well a Bible, which is what it was based on. The whole point is that it's about the journey. We get all the way through 6 lotr books for Frodo to SPOILER: fail. Because it's not the point. The point is he tried. We skip over the journey in modern storytelling but this pacing is exactly on point for middle earth.
It's fun to see the set ups for the different groups. You can see the seeds for all the things we know will happen from the stories we heard told in LOTR. Young Galadriel looks and sounds exactly as she should and clearly has the chops to anchor the series. It's fabulous to see the Frodo/Sam dynamic reborn and all of us girls who wanted to see ourselves in the fantastic four get to see ourselves in this duo now. Both actresses are engaging and dynamic. I think they'll be a lot of fun to watch.
The people complaining about historic realism in a show about magic and dragons are just mad about everything and probably would complain about the original Jackson movies if social media had been what it is now.
This episode ends with a bang, and sets us up well for the long journey ahead. Worth a watch.
Bones: The Brain in the Bot (2017)
This stuff again
This isn't the first episode Bones has done playing off autism. For a show with a clearly undiagnosed autistic woman at the center they didn't talk to any autistic people about any of these episodes. Yes there are scientists putting effort into making us pretend to be neurotypical but they shouldn't be glorified.
For a show with one of the first autistic women characters, glorifying the idea that we should give up all the things that make Brennan who she is, is remarkably tone deaf. I turned it off after the intro.
Since there's a minimum 600 characters, put those tease arch dollars into robots to help with the stuff executive function makes difficult. Let us be who we are. We get along fine with each other.
The Sandman: The Doll's House (2022)
Fat shaming. Disappointed.
Welp. F minutes in and despair is, of course, fat. When will this trope die? I was loving this show until now. Giving 1 star to this episode because I'm just horrified. I expected better from Gaiman.
Bones: The Gamer in the Grease (2009)
Not a great take on autism
Normally I like this show. It's certainly dated now and I hate what they did to Zach and I guess that repeats here.
The thing is, Brennan is coded autistic from the beginning. Here she is a person who is very clear that she's the best in the world at what she does, and in the end she concludes that the kid who's perfect game was co-opted simply doesn't care because he's autistic. She doesn't know that. She can't. Just because we communicate things differently sometimes doesn't mean we don't care. And she would care if someone used her work for their own advancement without crediting her. It's just another moment of misrepresenting us in ways that ultimately do harm in the real world. It's disappointing.
The joke about avatar being the most important thing that ever happened to the guy that's pretending he's not both on the show and in the movie was funny tho. At least one of them would have known that it was a rip off of the LeGuin novel tho. (the word for world is forest). Not in-world realistic that not one of those sci fi loving academics would have read LeGuin's seminal series.
The Last Kingdom: Episode #2.4 (2017)
One of the best episodes on a consistently solid show
I love this episode. Watching him take his power back is fabulous, and the chemistry between both sets of brothers makes this episode. The way Uhtred and Ragnar storm into York and the way they are so solid a team is the thing we've been waiting for. On the rewatch it's bittersweet but so much of their father is in both of them and this is the pinnacle of them as a team.
And the sequence with the square, all three siblings give extraordinary performances. Just beautifully done. This is one of the few action shows that spends as much and risks as much on character development and it shows. I hope it gets more recognition.
Everything's Gonna Be Okay (2020)
Second season helps a lot
I watched it specifically because I want to support casting autistic actors to play autistic characters and of course I'm hoping the way we're portrayed becomes more nuanced and less stereotyped. I was concerned in the beginning that they were playing a lot of stereotypes and so much person first language etc. I had a lot of moments through the first season that felt like they were leaning hard into the idea of autism. I don't know if they any autistic writers but I hope they brought some in.
The second season actually does deconstruct some of those ideas tho. I think the big reveal toward the end helps a lot. I also think there's some benefit to the conversation around the fact that so many of our ideas about being autistic come from studying autistic kids and teens. An adolescent autistic person is still an adolescent and teenagers don't make great choices and teenagers can be self absorbed as they're trying to figure out how to be in the world. I think for the most part we're the canary in the coal mine. We just react sooner and stronger but we're no so different. We just communicate the same things in a different way. So seeing various representations and presentations as well as how different people mask and who gets missed and why is an important thing to touch on.
I'd say stick it out, if that's what's bothering you. The second season helps balance out the first.
The Silent Sea (2021)
Starts really bumpy but the end is fascinating
I wasn't sure what this was going to be and I wasn't grabbed immediately. I left it on because I wanted something streaming while I folded laundry. By the middle I was totally sucked in. I'm dubious on the science piece, but it asks good questions and wants us to really think about the ethical questions which is the beauty of good science fiction. If you give it a chance to settle it's an enjoyable watch. The lead is fabulous.
Another Life: Living the Dream (2019)
This show makes no sense
I'm sorry I'm really trying here, but this show makes no sense. A random moon is connected to these aliens? After the virus scare they're wandering around without suits looking for food and water? No uniforms? Just whatever unprofessional cutout polyester non flame retardant thing? JEANS?!?!?! Still using fire extinguishers so no fancy fire tech for the thing they worry about most in space, but sure wear whatever.
Did the writers do any research at all? No shade on the actors. But the writer/producing teams have lost their minds. Added a few stars because it was pretty to look at.
This Is Us: I Call Marriage (2017)
Is it fat phobia or misogyny?
I've enjoyed a lot of the episodes but this one just made me angry. Again. Kate now has yet another guy who doesn't respect her boundaries just pushing her around. It seems like the message of this storyline is that fat het women will only have manipulative, disrespectful men interested in them. When do we see her with someone who is actually respectful of her? Really infuriating.
To the point I couldn't think about anything else (except Toby encouraging Kevin to do the same thing snd of course it works because writers everywhere really think somehow women are desperate for men to violate their boundaries and not listen to them...)
Atiye: Episode #3.1 (2021)
Big surprise issue this episode
I'm mostly enjoying this show. Until this episode where the main character tricks a child into eye contact and accepting physical contact he's set a boundary about. The way that child in her care was treated was horrifying and it's supposed to make us think she's the mother of all creation? Not even sure I'll finish the series after that. Really upsetting and wrong.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Paw of the Jaguar (2020)
So much good here but one really frustrating thing
I generally like this show and usually they do well with good lessons. But there's a moment in this episode where they're talking about how strong some kids are because they didn't cry. Is that the message you're going with here? Crying isn't weakness. What a terrible message.
The rest is well done. I love the different types of relationships and community building. That one misstep is a big one tho.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts: Twin Beaks (2020)
This was the first episode that bothered me
There were a few things in this one that surprised me. I've been really enjoying the lessons in this show. This episode tho, had the main characters ask the animals if they wanted to help with a task, and then when they said no, decided their no didn't matter. They insisted that you always choose your own fate (igniting systemic and societal issues and disabilities, a really invalidating lesson for disabled kids) and then violated their consent by tricking them into helping on a task they'd given a clear no. Usually the lessons are structured so the decisions that aren't kind or compassionate are met with natural consequences in this show, but this episode violated a lot of the themes and lessons of the overall message. Disappointing.
The Expanse: Home (2017)
It's good but...
Okay, I know this is based on a book so the story existed. And the execution was well done.
But.
The ending is like incel fantasy gone wild. We belong together? She's never even met him. He's been basically stalking her the whole time and he's the only other person there. What if she hated him? So naked fantasy alien waiting for him with no other options and no place to go.
It was pretty to look at. But really kind of a gross idea.
Doctor Who: Vincent and the Doctor (2010)
One of my favorite pieces of storytelling ever
This episode is beautiful. I've never reviewed anything before but every time I see this I want to tell everyone I know. It's simple, the acting is specific and detailed and it's certainly one of the best guest stars the series has had.
They did not, as many suggest, miss out on the monster or undercut it. It's one of the best personifications of depression out there. The monster no one can see but you. The thing that no one would take seriously of think is more than a chicken. But to Vincent, it's huge and ever present and overwhelming. The story line around the alien is a lovely conversation within a metaphor about all the layers in others we cannot see. All the ways others struggle that we can never know unless we ask.
The ending is simply beautiful. The decision to let Vincent see the tardis and the future isn't one the doctor, or the series, makes lightly. It's exactly perfect and I cry every time. The epilogue is correct, and shows us the truth, that we won't win every battle, but sometimes adding to the good pile is all we can do, and sometimes that has to be enough.