let's try part of that again
Jul. 23rd, 2019 04:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mistersmearcaseHere be spoilers. Veronica Mars S4
I am not 100% sure why S4 rubbed me so wrong. I felt weirdly the same as I did watching the mini-season of Gilmore Girls, which was, and I'm not exaggerating "plagued by nagging dread." I think there must be some anxiety in coming and going with characters over a long period of time. Have I said goodbye to these character? Have I not? Be that as it may, I liked S3 of Twin Peaks, disturbing and unresolved as it was, in a complicated way that involved some anxiety as well. S4 of VM made me feel quite done with the whole thing.
Stuff I didn't like.
1) The thing between Veronica and Weevil--what was that? Was she being horrible to him to get him to spill info? Or does she just generally suck these days? Because his points were generally pretty valid, and if those scenes really were about privilege, Veronica is indeed a middle class white person yelling at a poor non-white person about not making ideal choices in life, and it's gross. Great, they got to share a moment in the last episode where Veronica gave him a "I never should have doubted you" look.
2) I didn't really need the scene with a guy running around knowing a bomb strapped onto him is about to blow his head off. That's more Saw than noir. In fact none of this felt noirish anymore. Noir requires some elan to balance the grit. There wasn't a lot of that. There was in the old series.
3) What was the point of the friendship with Nicole? Just more rubbing Veronica's nose in how unlikeable she has become?
4) Right, Mort de Logan. I actually kind of saw this coming when I read a headline that said there was a big shocker at the end of the show. When it happened, I still felt gross, both because it was...I can't come up with a better word than "mean"...and because like a lot of things in s4, it depended on someone getting somewhere at an exact moment. Patton Oswalt knew he would get in the car at exactly 5 pm? Not buying. Given that I also didn't buy the transformation of Logan into a mature and caring individual, I could have been more upset about this, but I didn't love it. For some reason, for me, it was especially gross when contrasted with the season-long MacGuffin of Keith actually just needing to take one of his pills with food or something.
5) Oh good, another show where the guy who looks like Patton Oswalt is the petty, creepy, loser-villain. Possibly I'm oversensitive about this as someone who has been told I look like him. (Never tell people they look like someone famous unless you're pretty sure it's a compliment.) But honestly, short chubby/schlubby guy turns out to be ultimate creep: wonderful.
6) I can't say I liked Veronica Mars Jr. much, which I don't know if it's the writing or the actor. And she seems likely to figure in any more seasons they do. She had kind of a Rory Gilmore Minus Sense of Humor thing going on that I don't care if I see any more of.
7) The murderheads, but at this point I'm just looking for stuff and should leave it at: the whole thing felt like a formulaic two-shades bleaker reboot and I couldn't find the joy in it. I know we all hate the world right now, god knows I do, but do we have to play teenage nihilist chicken about it?
Stuff I Did Like
1) Glimpse of Dick Casablancas. He is a more amusing douchebag than Logan. Also, and I swear I actually think this, so much hotter than Logan.
2) Kristin Bell's comic timing on her few funny lines.
3) Trae Crowder. Someone in tv casting finally, finally had the insight "let's get someone with an actual accent instead of having someone from Winnetka channel Foghorn Leghorn."
4) Clyde was kind of a good character, with some credible complexity.
5) Chemistry between Veronica and whatsisname, which I assume they're saving for any future seasons.
Them's my feelings.
I am not 100% sure why S4 rubbed me so wrong. I felt weirdly the same as I did watching the mini-season of Gilmore Girls, which was, and I'm not exaggerating "plagued by nagging dread." I think there must be some anxiety in coming and going with characters over a long period of time. Have I said goodbye to these character? Have I not? Be that as it may, I liked S3 of Twin Peaks, disturbing and unresolved as it was, in a complicated way that involved some anxiety as well. S4 of VM made me feel quite done with the whole thing.
Stuff I didn't like.
1) The thing between Veronica and Weevil--what was that? Was she being horrible to him to get him to spill info? Or does she just generally suck these days? Because his points were generally pretty valid, and if those scenes really were about privilege, Veronica is indeed a middle class white person yelling at a poor non-white person about not making ideal choices in life, and it's gross. Great, they got to share a moment in the last episode where Veronica gave him a "I never should have doubted you" look.
2) I didn't really need the scene with a guy running around knowing a bomb strapped onto him is about to blow his head off. That's more Saw than noir. In fact none of this felt noirish anymore. Noir requires some elan to balance the grit. There wasn't a lot of that. There was in the old series.
3) What was the point of the friendship with Nicole? Just more rubbing Veronica's nose in how unlikeable she has become?
4) Right, Mort de Logan. I actually kind of saw this coming when I read a headline that said there was a big shocker at the end of the show. When it happened, I still felt gross, both because it was...I can't come up with a better word than "mean"...and because like a lot of things in s4, it depended on someone getting somewhere at an exact moment. Patton Oswalt knew he would get in the car at exactly 5 pm? Not buying. Given that I also didn't buy the transformation of Logan into a mature and caring individual, I could have been more upset about this, but I didn't love it. For some reason, for me, it was especially gross when contrasted with the season-long MacGuffin of Keith actually just needing to take one of his pills with food or something.
5) Oh good, another show where the guy who looks like Patton Oswalt is the petty, creepy, loser-villain. Possibly I'm oversensitive about this as someone who has been told I look like him. (Never tell people they look like someone famous unless you're pretty sure it's a compliment.) But honestly, short chubby/schlubby guy turns out to be ultimate creep: wonderful.
6) I can't say I liked Veronica Mars Jr. much, which I don't know if it's the writing or the actor. And she seems likely to figure in any more seasons they do. She had kind of a Rory Gilmore Minus Sense of Humor thing going on that I don't care if I see any more of.
7) The murderheads, but at this point I'm just looking for stuff and should leave it at: the whole thing felt like a formulaic two-shades bleaker reboot and I couldn't find the joy in it. I know we all hate the world right now, god knows I do, but do we have to play teenage nihilist chicken about it?
Stuff I Did Like
1) Glimpse of Dick Casablancas. He is a more amusing douchebag than Logan. Also, and I swear I actually think this, so much hotter than Logan.
2) Kristin Bell's comic timing on her few funny lines.
3) Trae Crowder. Someone in tv casting finally, finally had the insight "let's get someone with an actual accent instead of having someone from Winnetka channel Foghorn Leghorn."
4) Clyde was kind of a good character, with some credible complexity.
5) Chemistry between Veronica and whatsisname, which I assume they're saving for any future seasons.
Them's my feelings.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-25 01:31 am (UTC)And much as I love the Leo character and their UST, if she gets together with him in the next reboot I will NOT be happy.