Alias thoughts
Apr. 11th, 2006 12:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wisdomeagleSeason 1 only. Please not to spoil me beyond there.
Initial thoughts after the pilot -
watched this in two bursts, two nights, so pacing felt off, but my own damn fault. Immediate thoughts - liked Danny, was sad to see him redshirted, but not surprised, since I didn't recognize his name from fannish osmosis. Anyhow. I was put off a bit by Syd and couldn't really get into *why* so told Danny, since... it just seemed so dumb. Wouldn't she have known he'd get killed? She was supposedly in pretty deep and got that Agency=SCARY, so... yeah. Please don't be dumb, Sydney.
After she got traumatized and started being kickass spygirl doubleagenty? I liked her a lot. Though... so much ACTION. So many GUNS. So much music that goes doot-doot-doot-doot-dooooooot!. I am going to be *completely bored* by about 75% of each episode.
Things I liked - the tech geek. He's adorable. Why isn't he in all the scenes? Why isn't he the star of the show? Also, what's his name?
Spydaddy. I mean, wait, this daddy-daughter relationship has issues of trust and loyalty? And he tries to save her life and protect her and she's like, no go? And it's fraught and complicated and twisty and I don't yet know half the reasons why? Can we say potential OTP? I think we can!
Mostly I like asskicking take-no-prisoners Syd, and think she should have lots of moral ambiguity and gay sex.
This is really making me want to reread the Spy Girls books I devoured like crack when I was in eighth or ninth grade.
End thoughts on the pilot.
"And So It Begins"
- good title.
- Am pretty much clear on most of the names. Vaughn is Sydney's UST partner, right? And Sloane is Bad Guy Number One, and Bristow is both Sydney and her father, and Will is her BFF who's Buffycrushing on her. (Buffycrush, verb. To crush on someone utterly unattainable in the manner of S1!Xander). And Marshall is the tech who's really the star of the show. I LOVE HIM SO. He's my favorite character. He reminds me a lot of Rodney McKay.
- The plot stuff BORES ME SILLY. It's like, "dialogue, dialouge, Sydney-in-disguise... dadadadadada video game music.. BORED NOW." And just as bad is "mumblemumblemumble NUCLEAR WARHEADS mumblemumble EXOTIC LOCALE mumblemumble." If this show transcends its genre, AWESOME. Please let it happen soon.
-Really, the thirty second previously on this episode was all I needed... I think I would NOT start with the pilot if I were trying to get someone into this show. Seriuosly.
Aaaaand, we end with a cliffhanger.
I want ice cream.
Episode 3, "Parity"
Ate frozen strawberries intead.
Um. Gina Torres is hot like a hot thing. Anna and Syd should resort to fisticuffs ALL THE TIME. Dude, yes. I might've had an unclean thought or two about them....
Otherwise, Will/Syd=yes. YES. YES OMFG. I'm not sure how I feel about Will. I mean, the Sydcrush is great, and it's just the kind of thing that makes me go gooey most of the time, but right now since the audiance knows that him looking into Danny's death is going to get him killed, I'm kind of grr, angry, listen to Syd. Even though from his perspective, Syd is grieving and being irrational and he's all Logan-Cale-esque about it. (I think possibly the similarity in archetypes to Logan/Max is what's really selling me on this pairing. It's all Reporter Dude/Hot Ass-Kicking Chick. OTP!
I really enjoy Jack Bristow. In that I think he's interesting and I would like to understand him, not in the sense that I think he should have sex with his daughter. He's just so, so expressionless and that's what makes him so fascinating. Also that he does care about Syd (or at least seems to at this stage in the game).
Meanwhile, Syd/Vaughn? Well, let's just say this will be one of those cases where endless pining will-they-won't-they-UST will get old real fast. I do like the friendship and partnership between them, though.
A few stylistic thoughts:
1. I do like the intercutting between past-present and between spylife-regular life. I think it's done pretty well and makes for some dramatic and some funny juxtapositions.
2. On the other hand, the lame, lame, lameness of these cliffhangers. Or at least, the cliffhanger on "And So It Begins" which was resolved entirely in the teaser to "Parity"? Fricking lame.
(I know some people disapprove of cliffs at the end of seasons, but I don't - I think seasonal arcs can very well end with dramatic cliffs - Farscape, Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, etc. And individual episodes ending with cliffs is of course fine - once in awhile. But when you do it every week, dude, it's just lame. And it's like in the S4 AtS commentaries, where they like, literally rearranged the structure of an ep so that act 5 was next week's teaser... I just... am frustrated.
In conclusion, I find Syd hot despite myself.
episodes 4-9:
I mainlined these on Saturday instead of writing CYA. This is the point where I stopped being actively bored by the show, though I'm still puzzled as to the ABSOLUTE CRACK of how a medieval scientist who invented cell phones is the MAIN ARC of the show. I conclude I'm supposed to be paying more attention to Gina Torres's hot ass and to the double-agent arc than to anything else.
I'm so confused. HOW THE HECK does Syd manage to maintain her cover past, o, right about now? I'm pretty positive at some point it's going to start straining my credulity.
I realize that Syd and Vaughn have started having UST (my noticing this is partially based on having spoilers that they will be UST-partners, but not totally) and this makes me slightly sad, since I really enjoy them as partners. Ditto with Dixon and Syd, only they *don't* have UST. I'm pretty sure I enjoy Syd best when she's not romantically with someone; I really like the one-sided angsty-like-whoa Will-->Syd and enjoy the thought of Syd hooking up with random female spies played by Firefly regulars, but definitely, definitely too soon after FIANCE KILLED for her to be serious with anyone else.
But her friendships are very sweet. I love Francie a lot. :) (There is serious bestfriends girlslash potential there, too, which is pleasing!)
Marshall is the BEST EVER. He's so awkward and socially inept and stumbling and stuttering and TRIES SO HARD and he has inflatable furniture in his office and offers to blow up the couch for Sloane and then he gets Syd in trouble accidentally and awwwwwwww. <3<3<3<3<3
I am really liking it so far but haven't seen it transcend its genre. It's good, but not great. There hasn't been a moment that's made me sit up and take note, and I feel slightly jaded since I'm like, a beat ahead of the show in terms of suspense. This is a new experience for me; I'm getting to be a more observant TV watcher!
WILL. Will is SO CUTE. He's going to get himself SO DEAD.
after episode 13:
I'm so torn with myself over Syd/Vaughn. On the one hand, I have no theoretical objection to canon het or even to the UST machine. On the other hand... on the other hand, the complete obviousness of this particular pairing and its obvious forbidden nature are just kind of... meh.
After episode 16, "The Prophecy"
So, once upon a time, Maggie Walsh was working with a top-secret gov't organization devoted to studying the supernatural, and was kind of a bitch.
Q: So, Ari, when you watch shows, you basically try to integrate mutually exclusive canons to make sense of random guest starrage?
A: Well, yeah. Yeah, I do.
Rimbaldi WTF?! I refuse to believe this is the main arc of the season!
Also, where was Marshall this episode?
During "Q+A"
Dear clip shows,
you are UNACCEPTABLE. LOSE.
"I don't want to trivialize your relationship with her by calling it a crush." I... okay, gah, that kind of moved me! (But really, that's why we call it "UST." Perfect acronym for this situation, really!)
After 1x21
I, yeah, okay, NO.
I knew Will was going to get killed by the end of the season BUT IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY HAPPEN.
*wails*
++++++++
After the last episode.
Okay, so I totally was unshocked by Irina's appearance, but only because I knew that Irina=spymommy and that of course she was going to be making an appearance because major player later in the series. Also I realize I knew that there was a character named Sark, but on both Irina and Sark, I'm reserving judgment.
Also, WTF KILLED VAUGHN??! (Don't answer that question.) Just when I was all, "Okay, UST kind of attractive after all."
But at least not killed Will. And there is Will+Jack HUGGING. It is SO AWESOME. Love!
++
Final analysis: I liked it. The first couple of eps were REALLY hard to get into, and the techno music and the running through hallways bore me silly, and the whole concept of Rimbaldi is ridiculous, but the spy-thriller stuff is nice and I like Syd's relationships with everyone and Francie and Will and Syd = BFF YAY! with a side of awkward sex and stuff.
I really like Will.
I really like Vaughn and his non-trivial crush on Syd.
I really love Marshall and you cannot stop me! He is TEHWIN.
Sloane is awesome. The last arc with Emily and then the putting poison in her drink it was all twistedly romantic. I *really* liked Emily.
Jack is also awesome. He really is. YES.
They are all awesome! So anyone who guessed anyone is automatically FOR THE WIN.
*goes to see how people guessed*
Okay, so![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
karabair, you do, indeed, WIN. Only, what can I say? I fell for the canon UST. I do that from time to time!
Initial thoughts after the pilot -
watched this in two bursts, two nights, so pacing felt off, but my own damn fault. Immediate thoughts - liked Danny, was sad to see him redshirted, but not surprised, since I didn't recognize his name from fannish osmosis. Anyhow. I was put off a bit by Syd and couldn't really get into *why* so told Danny, since... it just seemed so dumb. Wouldn't she have known he'd get killed? She was supposedly in pretty deep and got that Agency=SCARY, so... yeah. Please don't be dumb, Sydney.
After she got traumatized and started being kickass spygirl doubleagenty? I liked her a lot. Though... so much ACTION. So many GUNS. So much music that goes doot-doot-doot-doot-dooooooot!. I am going to be *completely bored* by about 75% of each episode.
Things I liked - the tech geek. He's adorable. Why isn't he in all the scenes? Why isn't he the star of the show? Also, what's his name?
Spydaddy. I mean, wait, this daddy-daughter relationship has issues of trust and loyalty? And he tries to save her life and protect her and she's like, no go? And it's fraught and complicated and twisty and I don't yet know half the reasons why? Can we say potential OTP? I think we can!
Mostly I like asskicking take-no-prisoners Syd, and think she should have lots of moral ambiguity and gay sex.
This is really making me want to reread the Spy Girls books I devoured like crack when I was in eighth or ninth grade.
End thoughts on the pilot.
"And So It Begins"
- good title.
- Am pretty much clear on most of the names. Vaughn is Sydney's UST partner, right? And Sloane is Bad Guy Number One, and Bristow is both Sydney and her father, and Will is her BFF who's Buffycrushing on her. (Buffycrush, verb. To crush on someone utterly unattainable in the manner of S1!Xander). And Marshall is the tech who's really the star of the show. I LOVE HIM SO. He's my favorite character. He reminds me a lot of Rodney McKay.
- The plot stuff BORES ME SILLY. It's like, "dialogue, dialouge, Sydney-in-disguise... dadadadadada video game music.. BORED NOW." And just as bad is "mumblemumblemumble NUCLEAR WARHEADS mumblemumble EXOTIC LOCALE mumblemumble." If this show transcends its genre, AWESOME. Please let it happen soon.
-Really, the thirty second previously on this episode was all I needed... I think I would NOT start with the pilot if I were trying to get someone into this show. Seriuosly.
Aaaaand, we end with a cliffhanger.
I want ice cream.
Episode 3, "Parity"
Ate frozen strawberries intead.
Um. Gina Torres is hot like a hot thing. Anna and Syd should resort to fisticuffs ALL THE TIME. Dude, yes. I might've had an unclean thought or two about them....
Otherwise, Will/Syd=yes. YES. YES OMFG. I'm not sure how I feel about Will. I mean, the Sydcrush is great, and it's just the kind of thing that makes me go gooey most of the time, but right now since the audiance knows that him looking into Danny's death is going to get him killed, I'm kind of grr, angry, listen to Syd. Even though from his perspective, Syd is grieving and being irrational and he's all Logan-Cale-esque about it. (I think possibly the similarity in archetypes to Logan/Max is what's really selling me on this pairing. It's all Reporter Dude/Hot Ass-Kicking Chick. OTP!
I really enjoy Jack Bristow. In that I think he's interesting and I would like to understand him, not in the sense that I think he should have sex with his daughter. He's just so, so expressionless and that's what makes him so fascinating. Also that he does care about Syd (or at least seems to at this stage in the game).
Meanwhile, Syd/Vaughn? Well, let's just say this will be one of those cases where endless pining will-they-won't-they-UST will get old real fast. I do like the friendship and partnership between them, though.
A few stylistic thoughts:
1. I do like the intercutting between past-present and between spylife-regular life. I think it's done pretty well and makes for some dramatic and some funny juxtapositions.
2. On the other hand, the lame, lame, lameness of these cliffhangers. Or at least, the cliffhanger on "And So It Begins" which was resolved entirely in the teaser to "Parity"? Fricking lame.
(I know some people disapprove of cliffs at the end of seasons, but I don't - I think seasonal arcs can very well end with dramatic cliffs - Farscape, Stargate: SG-1, Stargate: Atlantis, etc. And individual episodes ending with cliffs is of course fine - once in awhile. But when you do it every week, dude, it's just lame. And it's like in the S4 AtS commentaries, where they like, literally rearranged the structure of an ep so that act 5 was next week's teaser... I just... am frustrated.
In conclusion, I find Syd hot despite myself.
episodes 4-9:
I mainlined these on Saturday instead of writing CYA. This is the point where I stopped being actively bored by the show, though I'm still puzzled as to the ABSOLUTE CRACK of how a medieval scientist who invented cell phones is the MAIN ARC of the show. I conclude I'm supposed to be paying more attention to Gina Torres's hot ass and to the double-agent arc than to anything else.
I'm so confused. HOW THE HECK does Syd manage to maintain her cover past, o, right about now? I'm pretty positive at some point it's going to start straining my credulity.
I realize that Syd and Vaughn have started having UST (my noticing this is partially based on having spoilers that they will be UST-partners, but not totally) and this makes me slightly sad, since I really enjoy them as partners. Ditto with Dixon and Syd, only they *don't* have UST. I'm pretty sure I enjoy Syd best when she's not romantically with someone; I really like the one-sided angsty-like-whoa Will-->Syd and enjoy the thought of Syd hooking up with random female spies played by Firefly regulars, but definitely, definitely too soon after FIANCE KILLED for her to be serious with anyone else.
But her friendships are very sweet. I love Francie a lot. :) (There is serious bestfriends girlslash potential there, too, which is pleasing!)
Marshall is the BEST EVER. He's so awkward and socially inept and stumbling and stuttering and TRIES SO HARD and he has inflatable furniture in his office and offers to blow up the couch for Sloane and then he gets Syd in trouble accidentally and awwwwwwww. <3<3<3<3<3
I am really liking it so far but haven't seen it transcend its genre. It's good, but not great. There hasn't been a moment that's made me sit up and take note, and I feel slightly jaded since I'm like, a beat ahead of the show in terms of suspense. This is a new experience for me; I'm getting to be a more observant TV watcher!
WILL. Will is SO CUTE. He's going to get himself SO DEAD.
after episode 13:
I'm so torn with myself over Syd/Vaughn. On the one hand, I have no theoretical objection to canon het or even to the UST machine. On the other hand... on the other hand, the complete obviousness of this particular pairing and its obvious forbidden nature are just kind of... meh.
After episode 16, "The Prophecy"
So, once upon a time, Maggie Walsh was working with a top-secret gov't organization devoted to studying the supernatural, and was kind of a bitch.
Q: So, Ari, when you watch shows, you basically try to integrate mutually exclusive canons to make sense of random guest starrage?
A: Well, yeah. Yeah, I do.
Rimbaldi WTF?! I refuse to believe this is the main arc of the season!
Also, where was Marshall this episode?
During "Q+A"
Dear clip shows,
you are UNACCEPTABLE. LOSE.
"I don't want to trivialize your relationship with her by calling it a crush." I... okay, gah, that kind of moved me! (But really, that's why we call it "UST." Perfect acronym for this situation, really!)
After 1x21
I, yeah, okay, NO.
I knew Will was going to get killed by the end of the season BUT IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO ACTUALLY HAPPEN.
*wails*
++++++++
After the last episode.
Okay, so I totally was unshocked by Irina's appearance, but only because I knew that Irina=spymommy and that of course she was going to be making an appearance because major player later in the series. Also I realize I knew that there was a character named Sark, but on both Irina and Sark, I'm reserving judgment.
Also, WTF KILLED VAUGHN??! (Don't answer that question.) Just when I was all, "Okay, UST kind of attractive after all."
But at least not killed Will. And there is Will+Jack HUGGING. It is SO AWESOME. Love!
++
Final analysis: I liked it. The first couple of eps were REALLY hard to get into, and the techno music and the running through hallways bore me silly, and the whole concept of Rimbaldi is ridiculous, but the spy-thriller stuff is nice and I like Syd's relationships with everyone and Francie and Will and Syd = BFF YAY! with a side of awkward sex and stuff.
I really like Will.
I really like Vaughn and his non-trivial crush on Syd.
I really love Marshall and you cannot stop me! He is TEHWIN.
Sloane is awesome. The last arc with Emily and then the putting poison in her drink it was all twistedly romantic. I *really* liked Emily.
Jack is also awesome. He really is. YES.
They are all awesome! So anyone who guessed anyone is automatically FOR THE WIN.
*goes to see how people guessed*
Okay, so
karabair, you do, indeed, WIN. Only, what can I say? I fell for the canon UST. I do that from time to time!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-11 05:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-11 06:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-11 05:03 pm (UTC)The first thing I did was C&P your post to
Welcome to the fandom -- I may be a little bit too excited that you're here, because this is exactly the kind of show that needs weird random-pairing fic and even more random crossovers and you're the one for that.
Will you be able to watch S2 soon? In my personal opinion, the other seasons are each fun in their own ways, but S2 is the point at which it's actually really really great television.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-11 05:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-12 08:36 pm (UTC)I don't know when I'll be able to watch S2; I should probably request it held at the library.
this is exactly the kind of show that needs weird random-pairing fic and even more random crossovers and you're the one for that.
Hurrah! :)
Such Alias love.
Date: 2006-04-11 10:33 am (UTC)Will? Love.
Marshall? EXTREME LOVE.
Irina? You will love.
Francie/Sydney. Love.
Slone, fantastic.
Sark? Major major love.
Re: Such Alias love.
Date: 2006-04-12 08:43 pm (UTC)Irina? You will love.
That's my impression from what little I know of her from fandom.
I mean, her fanname is Spymommy. How could I not!?!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-11 11:38 am (UTC)