dragojustine (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dragojustine) wrote2007-04-18 08:49 pm
dragojustine) wrote2007-04-18 08:49 pm
Entry tags:
TV roundup, and one of my most beloved OTPs ever.
Battlestar Galactica, Season 3
Well, this show sure has crashed and burned, yes? It sure does suck when it becomes obvious that the writers have put a great deal LESS thought, LESS care and love and planning and analysis, into the show than the average fan. When it becomes clear that they never knew where they were going and don't much care where they've been. Hard to keep caring. Not worth it.
Rome, season 2
Wonderful show. Highly satisfying. Went off the rails second half of second season, where they swapped out the actor for Octavian and made it too much about sex. Nevertheless, seeing the handoff to the next generation was fun- Macaenas was wonderful, Agrippa was beyond wonderful, Octavian's crappy family dynamics and values hypocrisy were great. The new actor, however, just can't carry it the way the old one could. You don't see the wheels turning, don't desperately want to be inside his head. He's just impassive- not interesting. It's all the actor, too- the writing for the character remained fascinating. Their answer to the problem of Livia rings true for me (but then, these writers proved awhile ago that they have a feel for BDSM). Frankly, it makes Octavian into a fascinating, screwed-up, incredibly Oedipal character. One can almost see the night his mother's lover beat him up as being the formative moment of his sexual life. It's.. .interesting, and works. I wish it was acted better, and I wish the sheer extent of his manipulation and hypocrisy were acted better, by someone we had an emotional connection to. It could have been so interesting.
I do object to the treatment of Antony in Alexandria. This show is very... credulous about the magical corrupting power of the decadent East. I would have preferred a little more canny image manipulation on the part of Octavian, a little less sudden and unexplained descent into decadence and addiction. Oh yes, and less sex. Puferoy was far sexier breathing down the back's of men's necks and getting off on dominating and terrifying them... .much less sexy actually screwing Cleopatra.
The ending was sad, if perhaps inevitable. Lucius was simply too... brittle a man. He breaks before he bends, shatters instead of bouncing. There was too much pressure, and too little ability to cope. He was made in too rigid a shape for the tumultuous times in which he lived. It's quite tragic, really. His sheer force of personality made him wonderful, and inspired devotion both in viewers and in Pullo. He seemed so much smarter, wiser, more able, more versatile, more competent, then poor unequipped Pullo... but in the end? Just too rigid, too brittle, and a tragic death was the best thing he could possibly hope for. And Pullo, who seemed so helpless, so unequipped, so lacking in basic competence, so lacking in a talent for peace- he's the one who walks into the sunset, hand in hand- not once, but twice. He has a map of the world on his face. He'll survive. And not as a tragic, brittle shell of a man, either. Not like Lucius would have survived. You know, seeing him walk away with his little son, that (despite being well past his life expectancy already!) he has a good, full, loving life ahead of him. His second one- third, I think, if you count the life before Lucius. That's how Pullo's life goes- before Lucius, while I knew Lucius, and after, having learned from him. The devotion, the loyalty, even the love. We got to see that little period in his life. It's his moral journey- the ability to love, to give himself and his life wholly to someone else, to stick with him through the tumult and chaos. To manage to be happy for him as he rose, to see his love and devotion returned when he needed it, to be able to return and lift him up when he fell, clean his wounds and heal his spirit, go with him on his quest, learn from him all there was to learn and take care of him in any way he could and then... see it end for him, beyond all fixing. See him throw his life away, and hold him in his arms, and fulfill his last wish. And then, having learned from him- learned to bend, to flow, to take on his new life on its terms and under its rules, not the rules of the old life- to move on.
Even though the two could not possibly have walked off together into the sunset, as so many fans joked, I am convinced that this series is one of the more beautiful love stories I've ever watched. It's so flawed- the actor for Octavian, and the sex, and the strange time warps and cheap battles and grating anachronisms- but these two men were wonderful.
Well, this show sure has crashed and burned, yes? It sure does suck when it becomes obvious that the writers have put a great deal LESS thought, LESS care and love and planning and analysis, into the show than the average fan. When it becomes clear that they never knew where they were going and don't much care where they've been. Hard to keep caring. Not worth it.
Rome, season 2
Wonderful show. Highly satisfying. Went off the rails second half of second season, where they swapped out the actor for Octavian and made it too much about sex. Nevertheless, seeing the handoff to the next generation was fun- Macaenas was wonderful, Agrippa was beyond wonderful, Octavian's crappy family dynamics and values hypocrisy were great. The new actor, however, just can't carry it the way the old one could. You don't see the wheels turning, don't desperately want to be inside his head. He's just impassive- not interesting. It's all the actor, too- the writing for the character remained fascinating. Their answer to the problem of Livia rings true for me (but then, these writers proved awhile ago that they have a feel for BDSM). Frankly, it makes Octavian into a fascinating, screwed-up, incredibly Oedipal character. One can almost see the night his mother's lover beat him up as being the formative moment of his sexual life. It's.. .interesting, and works. I wish it was acted better, and I wish the sheer extent of his manipulation and hypocrisy were acted better, by someone we had an emotional connection to. It could have been so interesting.
I do object to the treatment of Antony in Alexandria. This show is very... credulous about the magical corrupting power of the decadent East. I would have preferred a little more canny image manipulation on the part of Octavian, a little less sudden and unexplained descent into decadence and addiction. Oh yes, and less sex. Puferoy was far sexier breathing down the back's of men's necks and getting off on dominating and terrifying them... .much less sexy actually screwing Cleopatra.
The ending was sad, if perhaps inevitable. Lucius was simply too... brittle a man. He breaks before he bends, shatters instead of bouncing. There was too much pressure, and too little ability to cope. He was made in too rigid a shape for the tumultuous times in which he lived. It's quite tragic, really. His sheer force of personality made him wonderful, and inspired devotion both in viewers and in Pullo. He seemed so much smarter, wiser, more able, more versatile, more competent, then poor unequipped Pullo... but in the end? Just too rigid, too brittle, and a tragic death was the best thing he could possibly hope for. And Pullo, who seemed so helpless, so unequipped, so lacking in basic competence, so lacking in a talent for peace- he's the one who walks into the sunset, hand in hand- not once, but twice. He has a map of the world on his face. He'll survive. And not as a tragic, brittle shell of a man, either. Not like Lucius would have survived. You know, seeing him walk away with his little son, that (despite being well past his life expectancy already!) he has a good, full, loving life ahead of him. His second one- third, I think, if you count the life before Lucius. That's how Pullo's life goes- before Lucius, while I knew Lucius, and after, having learned from him. The devotion, the loyalty, even the love. We got to see that little period in his life. It's his moral journey- the ability to love, to give himself and his life wholly to someone else, to stick with him through the tumult and chaos. To manage to be happy for him as he rose, to see his love and devotion returned when he needed it, to be able to return and lift him up when he fell, clean his wounds and heal his spirit, go with him on his quest, learn from him all there was to learn and take care of him in any way he could and then... see it end for him, beyond all fixing. See him throw his life away, and hold him in his arms, and fulfill his last wish. And then, having learned from him- learned to bend, to flow, to take on his new life on its terms and under its rules, not the rules of the old life- to move on.
Even though the two could not possibly have walked off together into the sunset, as so many fans joked, I am convinced that this series is one of the more beautiful love stories I've ever watched. It's so flawed- the actor for Octavian, and the sex, and the strange time warps and cheap battles and grating anachronisms- but these two men were wonderful.