Every day is exactly the same

[gwyn]

Oh, I totally forgot to mention in my last post--you remember a while ago when someone had asked me about translating my Groundhog Day/time loop fic I can't remember how this started (but I can tell you exactly how it ends) into Russian, only they had to remove the comment in order to get help translating it through some kind of fest? And I thought it was so strange but it turned out to be some kind of fandom battle where teams compete against each other, so everything had to be anonymous? Well, the translation was posted the other day (or at least, I think it's still the same person involved, though the poster had a different user name, but I can't imagine who else would have been interested in translating it), so if you were ever inclined to read that fic in Russian, you can now! Не могу вспомнить, как это началось (но расскажу, как закончится) is here on AO3.

I also forgot to mention some of the TV I've been watching during recovery. There were some shows everyone told me required absolute attention, which is not often how I watch TV these days, so I kept saving them for when I'd have time to really watch.

The Expanse was the first one, and I can see why people like it (I've only seen the first season since it's free streaming on Amazon; I'm not gonna pay 20 bucks for the second season, though), but it suffered from the same thing that pretty much all SF and fantasy suffers from that I really, really hate: it's still largely a show about men, with one or two roles for "strong" women, who are stuck representing all of our gender. One woman on a spaceship with all guys, one woman in politics surrounded by all guys…I'm just so fucking weary. And the small supporting female roles are all defined by their relationships to men--the police captain or whatever she was, the other woman, both defined by their relationships to creepy skeevy Thomas Jane, Juliette Mao by defying her father, by the men she's dealt with in the past. Maybe the second season is better, I have to hope so. I like the worldbuilding, but this hundreds of years in the future and women are still barely in the story; I have no more patience for stories where we're writing alternate worlds that suffer from the exact same myopic shit we have now.

belmanoir watched GLOW with me, I think we saw the first three, maybe four, episodes? I liked it, but I have to agree with a lot of what I saw in complaints about the show--Ruth is a terribly unlikeable person to hang your show on from the beginning. Not being likeable isn't inherently bad, there are great shows with horrible characters at the center, but she doesn't have a strong enough character to make you want to follow her on the path to redemption the way a lot of those stories do--when you have an unlikeable protagonist, you really have to beef up a lot of the other things to make them compelling. The other problem we both had was that they're spending way, way too much time on the men and not enough on the secondary female characters. Especially the wrestling dynasty girl, I want to see way, way more of her, and I don't give a fuck about the men. It's a huge mistake to spend so much time on the skeevy director guy or Piz the producer, especially in a story about these women. The '80s stuff is hilarious, though, and I love the soundtrack and I'm interested to watch more, I just hate knowing that they're going to keep spending so much time on the guys.

I've seen the first few episodes of Sens8, and I'm baffled by why people love this so passionately. But I'm hoping it gets better as it goes along; as it is right now, the only character I care about is the Mexican actor and his boyfriend, but that's not a lot of screen time. I mean I get that people like it because it's one of the few shows with main storylines of gay and lesbian and trans people, and I can definitely understand that, plus there's the international stories instead of it being yet another subset of white America, but…nothing's sparking with me so far and some of the stories are so over the top ridiculously unbelievable and stupid that I'm gnashing my teeth--but I'll stick it out at least through the first season to see if it gets better.

I watched all of the first season of Bojack Horseman and…wow, was that fucking depressing. It's billed as a comedy, of course, but I never laughed once, not even at all the fun it pokes at Hollywoodd or the guest voices or anything. It's just so goddamn bleak. It took me a while to get past the bizarro concept (the style of the world, with animals being partly humanistic and partly animalistic, and vice versa, is something that creeps me out beyond words), but I really wanted to embrace the show because I know a lot of people who love it so much, but I didn't expect it to make me wish I'd never woken up after surgery. I sometimes feel like that's all that's left of the future, this sort of miserable existence where you're just wasting time till you die, and the show made me feel that x1,000. So thanks, show, for making my already suicidal tendencies even more pronounced.

I'm self soothing by watching the first three series of The Great British Bake Off, which they won't show here for inexplicable reasons (on PBS and Netflix, season 1 is actually season 5, and season 2 is season 4, which just…why). It was interesting to see how the show evolved. I was kind of disturbed by one contestant because she was so clearly an abused woman, she showed every behavior I ever saw working at the shelter years ago--either abused by a husband or possibly a parent farther back, but since there was no husband in any of the home segments or the finale and her children said some really telling things, I'm betting it was an ex-husband. Good on her for participating, though, but it made me really uncomfortable many times because I kept wondering if the producers realized how it was coming across on screen. Still, it's fun to go back and see some of the things I've heard about in the show but never saw, and the show honestly, even when you're tense for the people you want to win, is so pleasant.

Comments

[the_shoshanna]

For what it's worth, Sense8 was a really slow start for me, too -- I only stuck it out because I'd seen a fascinating vid at VividCon, so I knew something about where the show was headed. And about eight episodes in, it suddenly all clicked -- I mean, when they're trying to introduce eight characters with independent story lines, it takes a while to come together. But around episode eight or so it all jelled so wonderfully that I stopped watching it so that I could make Geoff watch it with me from the beginning!

[kore]

Yeah, I really second this -- that show has so many people and crisscrossing storylines that most of the early eps are setup, and it's not until a lot later that it starts paying off, but it really pays off. It reminded me of Lost and Heroes somewhat -- there's the individual stories, and then the story of them all coming together, and the bigger stories they're all part of as a gestalt, if that makes sense. It's really tricky to do right. I didn't find the plot that convincing, but the cast was fantastic.

[gwyn]

I don't have strong feelings about the overall arc yet, but some of the individual storylines are painfully, painfully bad and they throw me out of the story completely. I can see why some people really do latch on to some of the specific cast.

[gwyn]

The vids were definitely a lure, but I really thought I'd take to it more. It's good to know it was a slow start for other people though. I think a lot of it isn't helped by how outlandishly ridiculous a lot of the story is, which throws me out of the overall arc because I'm rolling my eyes and going "oh for crying out loud..."

[morgandawn]

We are watching The Great British Bake Off as well and are enjoying it for many of the same reasons. Where are you getting the earlier seasons?

And the news about the Russian translation makes me so happy on many fandom fronts.

[gwyn]

I got the seasons and some of the other bake-offs from arduinna, actually. I might be able to link you to my dropbox for 1-3, but episode 8 is missing in season 3 which is really frustrating.

[morgandawn]

that would be so sweet. we're almost at the end of the ones on Netflix.

[morgandawn]

if you're talking about the UK Season 3 (which never was shown here in the US), I've put in a request from someone who had it in 2016. The ep wwas called:

3x08 "Biscuits" (446.56 MB .mp4)

we just finished US Season 3 (UK 7) on Netflix and loved it.

[morgandawn]

OK, I think I found the missing ep. Will email you the link.

[kore]

T likes the Expanse, and I wound up sort of watching it by proxy a couple of times and then got more into it about midway through season 2. You're right about how it was still male-centric, although I enjoy Bobbie and Naomi and Chrisjen a lot, and Terry Chen from Continuum. It's entertaining, but not must-see TV.

I've heard people rave about Bojack Horseman but I think if I saw half an hour of it, it would utterly flatten me, and I have enough trouble staying unflattened these days ("I spend all my energy Staying upright").

Sense8 for me has the structure of shows we're meant to binge on these days -- the first episodes are all setup and you're supposed to kind of sit through them, and then the payoff starts building up, and like shoshanna said there's eight different people and the show's about them coming together, so it's a helluva lot of buildup. This makes me sound like a perv, but when I first saw Jamie Clayton onscreen I was like WHO IS THAT, and she opened her mouth and I was smitten. And then Freema Agyeman! I liked the visuals of how everyone was connected, and I'm a sucker for found family stories, and it's fun and colourful and diverse. I have to admit I sort of ignored the plot.

Did you see Luke Cage? That was excellent, altho the second half got draggy and there was an unfortunate villain. Defenders was fun.

[gwyn]

BoJack Horseman is exceptionally well-written and well-acted, I can't fault them for that. But it is just fucking GRIM. Stanley Tucci does some of the best work of his career and you don't even see his face.

That might have a lot to do with it--I'm not a binge watcher, I hate watching like that. I lose interest after the about the third episode of comedies, second of dramas. It's a lot easier when I can parcel things out, which I should definitely do.

I did watch all but the Iron Fist story of the Netflix Marvels. None of them did much for me, even the Defenders. Some of that might have been that bingeing though.

[minim_calibre]

I strongly suggest avoiding the next three seasons of BoJack unless you find a time where you're in a better mental health space. Because, while it's got some delightfully clever absurdity that is very rewarding on rewatch and does some incredible things with animation and story structure, it also dives deeper into the self-destructiveness of extreme untreated depression and the effects of intergenerational trauma. (It was unexpectedly cathartic this season, but still gutting.)

[gwyn]

I can't fault the writing of the show, for sure--it's one of the most well-written shows I've ever watched on Netflix. And it's such a great pointed satire of Hollywood, celeb culture, and fame. I just had no idea it was so, so grim and bleak. I thought I'd actually laugh? I guess? Maybe when I'm stronger I'll be strong enough to tackle it.

[minim_calibre]

I know people who laugh a lot! I occasionally chuckle, often marvel, sometimes weep.

And by weep, I mean I ugly cry and my gut gets twisted in knots and this is not my normal reaction to anything.

[carbonel]

Which GBBO contestant is giving you the abused vibe? It's not something I noticed, which isn't to say it isn't real.

(I've watched all the earlier seasons twice.)

[gwyn]

The series two winner. I immediately cued into her behavior but when they showed her family life at the finale and there was no husband, ever, and a group of female friends or relatives around her, and she says she was married at 17, I was like oh yeah.

I don't suppose you have the 8th episode of series three, do you? I think her name was Catherine who was eliminated, but it's missing in my collection and I kind of wish I could have seen it. She was always sassing Paul, which I found amusing.

[carbonel]

Oh, right, her. I wondered about the absent husband, too. It turns out that he is a professional gambler, and was busy being in jail at the time for a money-laundering scheme. (The show organizers knew but Jo didn't want it to become a sob story.) That doesn't preclude abuse, of course.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2052654/Great-British-Bake-Off-winner-Jo-Wheatleys-husband-Richard-prison.html

And yes, I have all the show episodes and masterclasses for the BBC seasons, though I'm missing a few of the holiday specials. (I tried to buy them from iTunes and the Amazon.co.uk site, but they're apparently not available to non-UK people.)

I don't have your e-mail address, but if you want to send me a private message with it, I'll send you a Dropbox link.

[kirbyfest]

I feel much the same about Sense8, and I've watched far more of it than you. I feel like it's much-loved because of the reasons you mentioned rather than the show itself. I'll finish it off but I don't love it like so many seem to.

GBBO is the best. I love that it's a competition but not a narsty one.

[gwyn]

Yeah, I'm gonna make every effort to finish it, but...I'm not super hopeful it's going to click with me.

I usually hate competition shows and when people told me I should watch GBBO I was super skeptical, but wow I love it, despite the competition aspects.

[dorinda]

Everything I've ever heard about Bojack Horseman only confirms that I would not touch that series with a bargepole made of a dozen other bargepoles. I can get my absurdity elsewhere if I want any; I don't need it with a side of pretend-ironic nihilist despair kthx.

Agreed on GBBO being pleasant, and good comfort TV. I haven't seen much of the earlier seasons, but a bit, when it was more traveloguey and moved around to different locations. Something else I really enjoy is the GBBO "Masterclass" episodes, which I watched via Netflix--just Mary and Paul either in the tent or, for Christmas, in a Christmasy-decorated kitchen, cooking top-notch examples of things from the show. So, no competition at all, which removes even the barest levels of anxiety, and thus is best for me when I am at a low ebb.

[gwyn]

I will say that BoJack Horseman is exceptionally well-written and stupendously acted (Stanley Tucci does the best work of his career, if you ask me), but Jesu Cristo is it depressing and brutal.

Someone pointed out that Paul is flirting with Mary in the Masterclass episodes and it's hilarious when you look at it that way. But she was talking about shipping them and I was like "La la la no shut up!!"

[dorinda]

I do adore Tucci! He almost tempted me to watch, but in the end from having seen clips I knew it was not for me, alas.

[minim_calibre]

Oh, there's no ironic anything and it's not actually nihilistic. It's sincere, genuine, emotionally true despair the likes of which I have never seen elsewhere.

Wrapped in absurdity, puns, and ridiculous images, mind you, but it would be an easier watch if it were pretend-ironic nihilist despair. (I have a love/hate myself relationship with the show. By which I mean, I love it even when it hits too close to my own periods of self-loathing and despair and binge it despite it probably not being especially healthy for me. It falls into the category of "shows I have suggested my therapist watch for context" for me.)

[cupcake_goth]

I've watched most of Sense8, and ... eh? It was nice to see all the international locales, and the LGBTQ representation was great, but nothing about the show itself grabbed me. And later episodes have instances of straight-up songfic. Songfic to move plot elements along.

I have been told by friends who have watched Bojack Horseman that it is Not For Me. I didn't think it was, but it was nice having that confirmed.

[gwyn]

Oh, that's actually great to hear someone say that about Sense8, because sometimes I feel like there's something wrong with me.

Yeah, BoJack Horseman is definitely Not Safe for Certain People. It should have its own special rating.

[mackiemesser]

The Lethal Weapon series was surprisingly well-done (season 2 starts tonight, which is shy it comes to mind) but it doesn't look like it's on Netflix, unfortunately.

I dunno what kind of genre's you're into, but iZombie's kinda fun, and Cleverman has some interesting ideas.

[gwyn]

It's not so much genres as it is quality of writing and acting--I'm often willing to forgive crappiness for something that hits a lot of my buttons, but the most consistent thing that attracts me is quality of production. iZombie has been fun when I've watched it even though they started to do an arc, which is what killed my interest in Rob Thomas's last show! But I don't watch it regularly. I just keep looking for something that could be a fandom, but not finding anything. There's little that appeals to me these days. Bucky and Steve have ruined me.

[mackiemesser]

Ah, gotcha. I think the new show I was most impressed by recently was Legion; it just knew so strongly what it wanted to be that that carried it over the weak spots.

I totally get that: once you've found a thing that hits lots of buttons, it's hard to be satisfied with something that only hits one or two. I've tried out and passed on a lot of shows this season, and am hanging on to some others out of sheer habit. Nothing in the works for the next year is really grabbing my attention, either. I mean, it's kind of nice to have the time freed up? But when I'm looking for something to watch, it's a drag to be disappointed.

[silk_knickers]

I thought sense8 was beautifully filmed, and I enjoyed it greatly, but it wasn't particularly well written... I haven't bothered to catch the second season yet, even. Though I did watch the first season twice. I admired its ambition, though; I can't imagine how ridiculous the production scheduling had to have been.

I definitely enjoy The Expanse, but you're quite right that it's very "dudes in space." There is another major female character added in S2 but she barely interacts with the main storyline until quite late on.

Have you tried The Good Place? S1 was just added to Netflix, and it's a quick 13 x 22 minute run.

[gwyn]

I watched the Good Place last year, and actually effectively pimped a few people into it, much to my surprise. I'm already bewildered by how they're going to handle season 2 because they've started out so balls to the wall crazy, but it's going to be hella interesting to see.

I have every intention to finish Sense8 but I think it's going to take a loooong time.

[jb_slasher]

Yes, I am most likely never going to continue with BoJack. I watched one episode with a friend who loves it so much but for me it was so unfunny and really depressing and anxiety-inducing.

I watched the first season of The Expanse and liked it all right. I will continue with season two once I get some other shows out of the way.

First I'm going to finish season two of Parks & Recreation (it makes me so happy!) and then probably dive into Please Like Me.