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crypto: Amy Pond (Default)

I finally decided to check out The Good Wife after reaching the tipping point of positive mentions from people whose tastes I respect. So far, my main thoughts are that a) surely this is the new big femslash fandom, right? and b) the lead actors do a fine job, but cable tv dramas have spoiled me and raised the bar a couple of notches higher than what Julianna Margulies et al. are delivering. Still, it's a solid show, and intriguing enough to keep me watching.

But it did make me miss Damages, which I'd given up on a third of the way into the second season. So I've picked up where I'd left off for my fix of Glenn Close as Patty Hewes, discovering in the process that the third season begins tomorrow. Needless to say, this means I haven't had time to watch the Caprica pilot yet, nor have I seen any reaction posts on my flist so far. This calls for a poll:

Poll #2151 Serious drama is srs bzns
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 9


I am watching

View Answers

The Good Wife
5 (55.6%)

Damages and I can't wait for the new season
2 (22.2%)

Damages? No, I burnt out on that show
1 (11.1%)

Damages? Never seen it.
2 (22.2%)

Caprica, and you'll love it!
0 (0.0%)

Caprica, tentatively
0 (0.0%)

Caprica? Hell no, not after the last half season (or more) of BSG
3 (33.3%)

Spartacus: Blood and Sand and Lucy Lawless
0 (0.0%)

Something better that I'll mention in the comments
4 (44.4%)

Comments

crypto: Amy Pond (Default)
[personal profile] crypto wrote:
Jan. 25th, 2010 08:36 pm (UTC)
I am going to print this comment out and refer back to it whenever I try to pimp a show to someone. Possibly I'll just cut and paste, substituting character names where appropriate. And then people will wonder why I'm describing, say, Eric and Tami Taylor in Friday Night Lights as slashy, but -- okay, that is a drawback to my master plan....

So basically I am saying that you've worn down my last shred of reluctance. I'm not a slasher, so I did get suspicious at whether all the WC love was for its slashiness vs. it's a fun show for everyone, but I did like the vid you linked to, so! Also I worried that I'd have the Tiffani Theissen Is Busy video pop into my head every time she was on screen, but that's a risk I'm willing to take. Mainly, I have a slot available in my viewing schedule for "light and fun."

Plus, I should mention that Damages is pretty much a fake serious drama and not that thought-provoking -- it's a glossy thriller with a strong cast, but not so much about exploring the meaning of existence. ;)
k8andrewz: screen cap from Dredd (Default)
[personal profile] k8andrewz wrote:
Jan. 25th, 2010 09:56 pm (UTC)
Yayyy! And yeah, part of the awesome of the show is that while is total, total slash CRACK, it's not *just* that, and in fact, the awesomeness of the Tiffanie Amber Thiesen character is extremely refreshing. (again, saying yes, it'll be awesome when we get around to giving her more than being Peter's awesome wife, but she's doing very good at that right now.) She and Peter have such a mature, loving, communicative marriage, I'd say it's up there (well, for values of up there that include this show only being a half season old and not the srs bzns drama that FNL is) with Coach/Tami.

It's like, THEY TALK, and don't keep secrets and she's supportive, and (and this is something the creator talked about in interviews with regards to creating the character), while Peter's very much a workaholic whose obsession with Neal is epic and a basis for the premise of the show, Elizabeth isn't some stereotypical put upon spouse who feels neglected because Peter's married to his job. She knew what she was getting into when she married Peter, and she loves him for who he is and totally has his number and they both know it. The creator has mentioned in interviews that he's sort of modeled her after the Abigail Adams character in the recent John Adams HBO miniseries, a strong woman who is awesome in her own right and gets exactly who her husband is, and signed on with her eyes wide open, and is supportive and understanding without being a doormat. Well, he said it better than that, but having seen both the miniseries and WC, I get where he's coming from with her.

There's some really amusing talk in some corners of the fandom of how hard/impossible it is to focus on *just* the slash, because the relationship between Peter and Elizabeth is obviously so strong, she's impossible to write out/handwave away. Luckily, there's chemistry with her and Neal as well (not that that's hard, part of what he is is a walking, talking, blue-eyed fountain of chemistry), and even if you don't want to go the slash or OT3 (in a sexual way) route, it's definitely a fun show for everyone.

And when I say it's slashy-as-fuck, I mean that not as a slasher (I do tons of slash, but I'm far from exclusively slash-driven, I just <3 a good romance)... it's more that I think that this is the best kind of slashable show. The sort where even if you take the sucking-each-other-off possibility out of the equation, it's clear in the text that there's a deep, respect based affection between the characters (both Peter/Neal and, to a less-screentime-extent since it's not the show's focus, Peter/Elizabeth) that even if you take erections out the equation entirely (er, not for Peter/Elizabeth, obviously, they're married and totally into each other), their friendship is still epic and deeply satisfying. It's just also really, really fun to see that Neal canonically ships Peter/Elizabeth and that Elizabeth (even if you're viewing it w/out slash goggles) canonically ships Peter&Neal.

And while on the surface it would make total sense for Peter to be jealous of someone as ridiculously good looking and charming as Neal (and he is really, really ridiculously good looking and charming that stills and even vid-snippets don't begin to cover) flirting with his wife, there's such an obvious level of trust and love between them (and a certain respectful tone to Neal's flirting w/ Elizabeth) that it seems impossible that that would ever be a problem.
GAH NOW I WANT TO GO REWATCH THE PILOT.