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B99, Elementary, Korra, Mockingjay 1
Nov. 29th, 2014 09:43 pmI have a lot of requirements for watching TV shows. Since I only watch TV when I draw, it needs to be dialogue heavy (English or Chinese), and sufficiently formulaic plot that I don't get drawn in (so no elaborate conspiracy stuff, no suspenseful life changes). Plus I have to like the main character (which is why I couldn't get into Orange is the new Black), and I especially don't like it when unsavory practices are legitimized or glorified (sorry Breaking Bad, House of Cards, and also How to Get Away with Murder.)
Anyways, I've really been enjoying Brooklyn 99 and Elementary, so I wanted to talk about them.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine:
The thing I love about Brooklyn 99 is how well it balances funny and calling out bullshit. Like when Peralta realizes that the cops he idolized as a kid were racist and corrupt. Or how most of the time the joke about Captain Holt is that he's too serious, but occasionally you get an episode the reminds you that he also faces inequalities re: being a gay black man. But the show succeeds because being gay and black and serious-to-a-fault do not *define* Holt -- they are merely characteristics that generate humor and honesty. I like that I can think about Santiago being a bit ocd, adorably socially awkward, and a very capable detective, all before considering her identity as a latina. I think this is achieved in part because there's 2 of almost everything on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You can't just say "he's the black cop", because both Terry and Holt are black. There's two latinas, there's 2 slightly OCD people, 2 people who obsess over food, and everyone's socially awkward in different ways. By having this reduplication, you prevent people from pegging one character as "the _____ character", and instead have Gina's self-aggrandizing humor interact with Peralta's, or have Peralta's silliness interact with Holt's seriousness, etc.
Elementary
I've seen a number of people on tumblr who list "Sherlock" as the fandom that they hate, and "Elementary" as the fandom that they love, which is pretty telling of how different the two shows are. I've written before about how Elementary really follows American crime procedural conventions -- team with core of 2 people investigate crime, witty banter ensues. One's always the cynical realist, the other is the one with the "schtick", whether it be photographic memory, ability to feel bones, writer of mystery novels, etc. But what makes Elementary *work*, what makes it special and so different from BBC's Sherlock, is that it's not about Sherlock Holmes at all.
This is perhaps best explained in comparison to BBC's "Sherlock", where *everything* revolves around Sherlock -- he chooses the cases, he sends Watson on errands, he manipulates everyone, and villains all salivate after him. He pushes himself into everyone's lives and insists on being the center of attention. Irene Adler is "Sher-locked". Moriarty obsesses over Sherlock. Even Watson's wife ends up involving Sherlock more than Watson. It's Sherlock who is the star of Watson's wedding, who has all of the agency in the primary plot.
In contast, Elementary's Sherlock treats Watson as an equal. Sherlock doesn't want to manipulate anyone -- he sees solving the case as part therapy and part personal obsession, snd Watson joins Sherlock's detective work not because of Sherlock, but because it's part of *her* personal character arc. Moriarty obsesses over Watson, not Sherlock. Not even Sherlock's drug addiction past is focused on Sherlock, but rather, on his recovery *via* counseling others. In the newest season, Sherlock takes on a new protege, and so he's even more backgrounded as a character. Which is exactly what we need re: Sherlock -- there are certain characters that, by their very design, tends to steal the show. (Steve Rogers, Sherlock Holmes, Tony Stark...) So the solution is to take them out of scenes. I've been loving the interactions of Watson with Kitty -- yet another interesting woman who's dealing with her own issues!
I love both B99 and Elementary for their handling of diversity and mastering their genre, but they approach it from such different ways ... I wonder if there's a way to draw lessons from each or to combine their successful elements in some way?! Worthy of thought.
Korra
So I watched Season 3 this Thanksgiving, and ... it's ... not bad! Zaheer is a truly interesting villain -- the type of villain that I wish Amon was. And it was fun learning more about Lin and Suyin, and seeing Kai and Jinora mature. By getting out of Republic City and making it more about "running away from bad guys" and "exploring interesting cities", we have something more structually similar to atla, and therefore, a return-to-form in terms of pacing and content. By ditching the restrictions of Pro Bending, we also have far more interesting bending battles. Mako and Bolin are proper siblings again, and there's no romantic stuff between any member of Team Avatar.
But we still have the problem of Korra.
At this point I feel like they just don't know what to do with Korra. Instead of stealing any scene she's in, Korra literally gives it away. She struggles to be Not Boring, and fails. I feel like after A:tla they set out to make something the exact opposite: instead of Aang roaming the four kingdoms dealing with external threats, it's the anti-Aang stuck in Republic City, dealing with internal threats. By season 3 they've ditched the other aspects, but they're still stuck with anti-Aang, and, not knowing what to do with her, they chose to focus on Suyin, Lin, Jinora, and Kai instead.
What makes Korra so boring? I feel like she's missing a few contrasting traits. Aang is a gentle soul but a very efficient fighter; good at airbending but needs to learn the other elements; silly but when confronted with a problem, is serious, patient and creative; doesn't care for politics, but able to leverage his "Avatar" status. Korra is missing the "but"s. Korra is bullheaded *and* a straightforward fighter; good at all the elements *and* learning isn't a challenge (I really wish the challenge of learning airbending was better integrated into S1); brash and stubborn, and when confronted with a problem, even *more* stubborn; doesn't understand politics, *and* not even sure what the Avatar is supposed to do. Sometimes we see her plagued with self-doubt, but that's never resolved with *her* making a thoughtful decision to overcome it -- either plot proves her right/wrong, or someone else tells her what to do. (Bolin similarly lacks contrast. Unlike Sokka, who is a jokester but also a good strategist, Bolin is all silliness. Pity.) There's not enough contrasts to Korra's personality to make her interesting/fun to write -- we always know how Korra will react, so there's no room for character growth -- she is basically a plot device in her own story. And so, unless the plot requires a brash bending fight, she is impotent -- poisoned, locked up, knocked-out, told to stay back, etc. Not even capable of standing up for herself. Physically and politically sidelined at the end of Season 3. (I don't think they did a good job of explaining why Korra was feeling so down after the battle with Zaheer. Thematically I understand, but in the episode it was very sudden and not properly foreshadowed.)
So what would a Korra with contrasts be like? What if: Korra is bullheaded but a devious bender; good at all the elements individually but finds mixing-and-matching a challenge; brash and stubborn, but when confronted with a problem, good at seeking out and assessing advice from friends; doesn't understand politics, but knows what she needs to learn. I think that would create a Korra who would be interesting to write, who has a way to grow, who is less predictable in every scene. I haven't watched Season 4 yet, but I hope that's the Korra that they're moving towards. (Since they've basically reset everything else...)
Mockingjay 1
Mostly spazzing.
( Spoilers )
Anyways, I've really been enjoying Brooklyn 99 and Elementary, so I wanted to talk about them.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine:
The thing I love about Brooklyn 99 is how well it balances funny and calling out bullshit. Like when Peralta realizes that the cops he idolized as a kid were racist and corrupt. Or how most of the time the joke about Captain Holt is that he's too serious, but occasionally you get an episode the reminds you that he also faces inequalities re: being a gay black man. But the show succeeds because being gay and black and serious-to-a-fault do not *define* Holt -- they are merely characteristics that generate humor and honesty. I like that I can think about Santiago being a bit ocd, adorably socially awkward, and a very capable detective, all before considering her identity as a latina. I think this is achieved in part because there's 2 of almost everything on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You can't just say "he's the black cop", because both Terry and Holt are black. There's two latinas, there's 2 slightly OCD people, 2 people who obsess over food, and everyone's socially awkward in different ways. By having this reduplication, you prevent people from pegging one character as "the _____ character", and instead have Gina's self-aggrandizing humor interact with Peralta's, or have Peralta's silliness interact with Holt's seriousness, etc.
Elementary
I've seen a number of people on tumblr who list "Sherlock" as the fandom that they hate, and "Elementary" as the fandom that they love, which is pretty telling of how different the two shows are. I've written before about how Elementary really follows American crime procedural conventions -- team with core of 2 people investigate crime, witty banter ensues. One's always the cynical realist, the other is the one with the "schtick", whether it be photographic memory, ability to feel bones, writer of mystery novels, etc. But what makes Elementary *work*, what makes it special and so different from BBC's Sherlock, is that it's not about Sherlock Holmes at all.
This is perhaps best explained in comparison to BBC's "Sherlock", where *everything* revolves around Sherlock -- he chooses the cases, he sends Watson on errands, he manipulates everyone, and villains all salivate after him. He pushes himself into everyone's lives and insists on being the center of attention. Irene Adler is "Sher-locked". Moriarty obsesses over Sherlock. Even Watson's wife ends up involving Sherlock more than Watson. It's Sherlock who is the star of Watson's wedding, who has all of the agency in the primary plot.
In contast, Elementary's Sherlock treats Watson as an equal. Sherlock doesn't want to manipulate anyone -- he sees solving the case as part therapy and part personal obsession, snd Watson joins Sherlock's detective work not because of Sherlock, but because it's part of *her* personal character arc. Moriarty obsesses over Watson, not Sherlock. Not even Sherlock's drug addiction past is focused on Sherlock, but rather, on his recovery *via* counseling others. In the newest season, Sherlock takes on a new protege, and so he's even more backgrounded as a character. Which is exactly what we need re: Sherlock -- there are certain characters that, by their very design, tends to steal the show. (Steve Rogers, Sherlock Holmes, Tony Stark...) So the solution is to take them out of scenes. I've been loving the interactions of Watson with Kitty -- yet another interesting woman who's dealing with her own issues!
I love both B99 and Elementary for their handling of diversity and mastering their genre, but they approach it from such different ways ... I wonder if there's a way to draw lessons from each or to combine their successful elements in some way?! Worthy of thought.
Korra
So I watched Season 3 this Thanksgiving, and ... it's ... not bad! Zaheer is a truly interesting villain -- the type of villain that I wish Amon was. And it was fun learning more about Lin and Suyin, and seeing Kai and Jinora mature. By getting out of Republic City and making it more about "running away from bad guys" and "exploring interesting cities", we have something more structually similar to atla, and therefore, a return-to-form in terms of pacing and content. By ditching the restrictions of Pro Bending, we also have far more interesting bending battles. Mako and Bolin are proper siblings again, and there's no romantic stuff between any member of Team Avatar.
But we still have the problem of Korra.
At this point I feel like they just don't know what to do with Korra. Instead of stealing any scene she's in, Korra literally gives it away. She struggles to be Not Boring, and fails. I feel like after A:tla they set out to make something the exact opposite: instead of Aang roaming the four kingdoms dealing with external threats, it's the anti-Aang stuck in Republic City, dealing with internal threats. By season 3 they've ditched the other aspects, but they're still stuck with anti-Aang, and, not knowing what to do with her, they chose to focus on Suyin, Lin, Jinora, and Kai instead.
What makes Korra so boring? I feel like she's missing a few contrasting traits. Aang is a gentle soul but a very efficient fighter; good at airbending but needs to learn the other elements; silly but when confronted with a problem, is serious, patient and creative; doesn't care for politics, but able to leverage his "Avatar" status. Korra is missing the "but"s. Korra is bullheaded *and* a straightforward fighter; good at all the elements *and* learning isn't a challenge (I really wish the challenge of learning airbending was better integrated into S1); brash and stubborn, and when confronted with a problem, even *more* stubborn; doesn't understand politics, *and* not even sure what the Avatar is supposed to do. Sometimes we see her plagued with self-doubt, but that's never resolved with *her* making a thoughtful decision to overcome it -- either plot proves her right/wrong, or someone else tells her what to do. (Bolin similarly lacks contrast. Unlike Sokka, who is a jokester but also a good strategist, Bolin is all silliness. Pity.) There's not enough contrasts to Korra's personality to make her interesting/fun to write -- we always know how Korra will react, so there's no room for character growth -- she is basically a plot device in her own story. And so, unless the plot requires a brash bending fight, she is impotent -- poisoned, locked up, knocked-out, told to stay back, etc. Not even capable of standing up for herself. Physically and politically sidelined at the end of Season 3. (I don't think they did a good job of explaining why Korra was feeling so down after the battle with Zaheer. Thematically I understand, but in the episode it was very sudden and not properly foreshadowed.)
So what would a Korra with contrasts be like? What if: Korra is bullheaded but a devious bender; good at all the elements individually but finds mixing-and-matching a challenge; brash and stubborn, but when confronted with a problem, good at seeking out and assessing advice from friends; doesn't understand politics, but knows what she needs to learn. I think that would create a Korra who would be interesting to write, who has a way to grow, who is less predictable in every scene. I haven't watched Season 4 yet, but I hope that's the Korra that they're moving towards. (Since they've basically reset everything else...)
Mockingjay 1
Mostly spazzing.
( Spoilers )
