Coronapocalypse Day 57: My Viewing Pleasure

[lebateleur]

...Enhanced with Gratuitous Lists.

Some interesting things we’ve heard in the last 10 days in our nearly traffic sounds-free world:

• The Blue Angels flyover. (Yay, I guess?)
  
  
• Some nutjob shooting up the Cuban Embassy.
  
  
• Lions roaring.

This last one one is cool, and one that we’ve heard intermittently before. But now we hear it several times a day.


I don’t watch much TV, but I’m certainly watching more these days.

AEW
I never understood why the GC was not a pro wresting fan. After all, pro wrestling has:

• Comic book/manga-style superheroes and villains.
  
  
• Action sequences, explosions, and massive set piece battles.
  
  
• Video game-style cut scenes, powerups, and finishing moves.
  
  
• Serial drama storylines, sitcom gags, and stand up routines.
  
  
• RHPS-style crowd participation and in jokes.
  
  
• The Room-levels of buffoonery.
  
  
• Sports competition without fans who get into fistfights or riot when their guy wins or loses.
  
  
• The illusion of violence, but (unless something goes dreadfully wrong) no one who actually gets hurt.

How did he miss out on this? But he did and although he didn’t care that I and multiple friends are fans, he was never interested in watching himself.

Anyway, after most of my leisure activities were Cancelled by Coronavirus, I finally got around to regularly watching AEW.

“Wow, you’re so happy,” the GC remarked while he drifted through the room as I watched my first episode several months ago, and on multiple occasions in the weeks thereafter. And I was—with the grin to prove it—because so far AEW has been delivering everything I love about wrestling without the corporate bloat, sterility, and creative timidity of WWE.

I was enjoying myself so much that in subsequent weeks I largely didn’t notice the GC drifting through the room as I laughed or groaned or freaked out when something really dramatically or athletically excellent happened. Sometimes he’d ask a question about a wrestler or a gimmick. And then last week, he sat down and watched most of an episode with me. And then suggested finishing it the day after.

And yesterday he said, “Do you want to watch wrestling tonight?”

And we did. And when it was over he hopped online to talk about it with one of his friends. Fast forward to today, and he is enthusiastically scrolling through and showing me posts from the various wrestlers’ Instagrams.

And I am like, XD XD XD XD.

Granted, if there was ever a time to get into wrestling, the coronavirus era, which has seen the introduction of Matt Hardy and Brodie Lee, and the heel turn of Dr. Brit Baker, and Jericho on announce, and the inception of the Bubbly Bunch, and MJF’s injury promos, and last week’s insane closing match (even Le Champion could not. Stop. Grinning), this is it.

I am entertained. And now, I am entertained with 100 percent more company.


Bojack Horseman
Because I don’t watch a ton of TV, or live with an addict, and am not indifferent to the entertainment industry and the self-important people who populate it, I was not as into Bojack Horseman as some. Still, it was a good show, even if (like me) you only watched one or two episodes a month.

But. The penultimate episode? Was some of good television. What a gut punch.

I am of mixed mind whether the series should have ended there, with the implications thereof: in real life, not every Standard Issue Asshole Protagonist^TM will See The Error of His Ways^TM if given enough chances, that some life stories aren’t resolvable; that Yes, Viewer, this is all there is.

I can even envision a gut punch final episode that deals with the fallout of the above, as Bojack’s friends, critics, colleagues, and the various entities that milked his misbehavior for profit come to terms—or not—with his death.

But instead, the series gave viewers a final episode that lets Bojack survive (an outcome part of me hoped for even as the unflinchingly realistic aspects of the plot were what kept me watching) while delivering different, subtle gut punches:

• What if imprisonment is the best way to protect someone from himself and others?
  
  
• What if even the imprisoned person acknowledges this?
  
  
• At what point should you cut ties with someone who is dangerous to you—and himself?
  
  
• How much easier is it to decry rich and privileged people living above the law when you have no personal attachment to them?

And I found what I think is the final episode’s message—that no life lives up to personal or external expectations, but that an anonymous life with genuine friendships and meaningful work is more rewarding than fame or money—pretty satisfying.


The Dragon Prince
We also finished watching The Dragon Prince and holy crap, what a damn good show. I watched the first season when it first came out, and enjoyed it enough, but it certainly didn’t wow me. But by the second episode of season 2, something clicked. To be sure, some of the plot solutions don’t hold up to adult scrutiny, and there were filler scenes—although never filler episodes—but overall the series took off and consistently delivered through the final episode of season 3. Some of my favorite elements include:

• That Callum is the emotional anchor for the other characters.
  
  
• That Reyla gets to be the ass-kicking guardian of the other characters.
  
  
• Bait.
  
  
• Again, the minimal existence of filler scenes (and lack of filler episodes).
  
  
• Sorren’s character arc from amoral idiot to moral doofus.
  
  
• That Claudia gets to have the fall from grace, and that it happens for reasons other than The Inherent Weakness and Malice of Wimmin.
  
  
• Bait.
  
  
• The smooth menace of the elf mage’s voice actor. The drow of my imagination sound like this.
  
  
• That diversity of the show’s main, secondary, and background characters.
  
  
• The fact that it’s just there, without the writers’ rubbing viewers’ faces in it to Make Sure They Get How Progressive And Diverse We Are Being.
  
  
• That the writers included violence and character death in a "kids' show."
  
  
• That said violence and character death are employed sparingly but very, very effectively.
  
  
• Seriously, Bait.
  
  
• The epic climax to season three and its sly references to Tolkien and other classics of the genre.
  
  
• The deft balance of drama and humor in the dialogue and plot.
  
  
• That the season has a satisfying conclusion even as it leaves open the possibility of subsequent seasons.
  
  
• BAIT.

I very much hope they do make additional seasons so I can buy a Bait plushie and find out what happens next.


これで以上です。

Comments

[enemytosleep]

TDP was pretty fun! I definitely enjoyed it and look forward to future seasons. I had my friends start their kids on it and the kids are obsessed with it, and the parents were pleasantly surprised by the serious plot and characterizations.