Vee
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Everything posted by Vee
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I knew she'd do it. People who are complaining about Daenerys this season were never paying attention. Maisie Williams has done her best work these last two seasons, especially this season. -
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Jake Weary (ex-Luke, ATWT), who's had great success playing a gay ne'er-do-well on TNT's Animal Kingdom, is next playing a homophobic town ne'er-do-well in Stephen King's It: Chapter Two.
As long as they're playing themselves they can keep it AFAIC, but here:
Maurice Benard (GH) and Eric Nelsen (A.J. Chandler, AMC 2.0) are in the fun-looking horror anthology Nightmare Cinema.
She's also part of the Fast and Furious ensemble now for the last several films, which has her well-set.
I thought the final scene with Brienne and Jaime was a bit too soppy, but I understood her being overcome. I wish it had been pitched better. He was right about his overwhelming complex re: Cersei, but there needed to be more of a discussion. I didn't mind their consummation earlier, though I didn't expect it to ever happen. Varys and Tyrion's stuff was great. It was nice to see them getting real about who Daenerys is, both good and bad. But in the end I don't believe anyone will sit on the Iron Throne. I think Jon will die to stop and kill Daenerys, and the Seven Kingdoms will become citystates. The wheel will be broken by Daenerys and Jon crossing themselves out and the Throne will be no more. And that's probably how it should be. Lena Headey does so much with just a look and something in her eyes. She did the same with Dinklage last season in the Season 6 finale. Cersei is human but she can't let herself feel it anymore. They are very good together. And as I said before, Emilia doesn't get enough credit. Her face at the end - a mask of rage - just had the fury of ancients etched across it. At least Missandei went out with dignity. I thought it would be her and not Grey Worm, I've thought so for a few weeks. Appropriate that Daenerys' triumphant theme played over the credits for her.
Those farewells with Jon, Tormund, Sam and Gilly felt very real. People give Kit Harington [!@#$%^&*] for not playing the flashiest role but he sells emotion and heartfelt affection so well. It got me. I did not expect the Tyrion/Sansa relationship to be this affecting and smartly-played after years apart. It really works and so does her calling him on the truth: He is afraid of Daenerys. This is something @DRW50 (who I know doesn't watch anymore) called years ago when she banished Jorah, which I saw as well but he saw more clearly - when pushed, Daenerys defaults to the Mad Queen, like her ancestors. This has been more and more clear since she arrived in Westeros, and this season has made it manifest. I don't understand why fans complain about the loss of the White Walkers or claim it's a cheat or unsatisfying for the real threat to be something else. To me, GOT has always truly been about what comes after the absolute black and white evil is gone and we are left dealing with human nature in the ugliest and most complicated and messy way possible. It's what Tyrion and Davos said at the top of this episode: "Now all that's left is each other." That may not be as feel-good a conclusion as everyone banding together to stop the Night King, but it's the truth. It was always going to be Daenerys, IMO.
The first half of this episode - like episode 2 - is pure soap opera, all interpersonal relationships and character beats, and all well done. I'd forgotten all about Sansa and the Hound's past relationship. The Starks confronting Jon and calling him on his divided loyalties, out of love. This is what soap is about and GOT can still do it well. I'm amazed they've given so much time over to character thus far this season - however it may make action junkie fans wail and whine - when Season 6 was so high-octane and histrionic and didn't have time for much else. This season is an improvement. Everyone is great this week, especially Sophie Turner, but Isaac Hempstead Wright had an exquisitely sad moment when dreamy Bran told Tyrion he doesn't 'want' anymore and to not envy him. Some of his best work, just the look on his face. Emilia Clarke doesn't get enough credit for her talent. Watching Daenerys slowly destabilize just sitting at that table in the dining hall (Winterfell's first public gathering since the pilot) and watching things change around here was spellbinding. Still watching, so I haven't read the above post. That's how they rolled in medieval times. It's the way of things. I'm glad she said no, for now at least.
I was riveted to DAYS as a kid in the early-mid '90s - Bo and Billie, Gina/Hope, Marlena possessed, all that. The style and atmosphere was thick and brilliant. But the dialogue was so silly. To me it was always a bit of a goof. When I wanted a smart show I watched OLTL, GH and AMC. But in its 90s resurgence DAYS was undoubtedly bigger than life. The reason Reilly casts such a massive shadow over DAYS is because he was able to make it such an event. He had certain skills and scope that are undeniable. But I found his day to day writing unwatchable later on, as I grew, and especially when he came back. I think he did at least as much damage to the genre as the ways he bolstered it. And I think his deeply bizarre views on sex, sexuality and men and women were antiquated, disturbed and repugnant. That said, if it was me today? Yeah, I'd have someone get possessed again. Albeit I'd do it differently.
GH 2012 was messy as hell, lol. So much of it was bad - looking at you, Kate/Connie, Trey, etc. But the good stuff like the water crisis, flawed though it was, saved the show. The Abby/Gabby/Stefan etc [!@#$%^&*] is Ron's worst hits - DID, rape, etc. played for laughs and titillation - all rolled into one. I literally couldn't believe he was going there again after Connie, Ford, Jessica, etc. But I don't know why I was surprised.
I was one of Ron's very first boosters at OLTL. He took over the show and made it the best it had been in over a decade. Back in his first year or two I would tell anyone who would listen. He did great work there (and even some at GH, where he and Frank saved the show in 2012 IMO, and it was far from perfect even then). He also did terrible work, and I allegedly got on his shít list for being very vocal elsewhere re: the Todd/Marty rapemance, though we have never interacted personally to my knowledge. Most people working in this genre - or anywhere in the world, in life - are more than one extreme, they're a lot of things, especially when ground down by time or budget or constraints. They're human beings and nuanced, not monsters. It is a thankless job. I try to factor all that in. And I know Ron didn't get to do everything he wanted at OLTL or GH or even DAYS. But I also know a lot of his biggest mistakes are all him, and I think he got very arrogant and lazy some years ago.
Ron really loves the genre, and sometimes his skills for structuring a plot or laying it out across a canvas or timing a big reveal can still be seen in the bones of something. But he seems to have internalized the way he and Frank Valentini did things over at OLTL and GH to cut costs, where they would island characters and rotate them way too mechanically. There's a healthy amount of rotating storylines and then there's not seeing a key plotline for 1-3 weeks, while a ton of stuff happens offscreen. The latter is his habit in recent years. That's not even getting into how bad his OTT excesses have gotten, and his shrugging off murder, rape, etc. He has talent, but it's so buried for me these days beneath the camp, the cutting corners and the casual disregard for stuff that can really assassinate characters. You can always tell when the bus is coming for someone with him, or when he thinks the comedy or shock value of something will be worth the cost to a character he thinks can 'handle it'. I just don't trust him anymore and I haven't for years.
We have this convo every few years, lol. Carlotta had been open and accepting on gay issues throughout the 90s and 2000s. When Patricia Mauceri turned fundamentalist she tried to make her character do the same. The scene she protested was a bit campy and silly - Carlotta going all in as a supportive mother when she mistakenly believes Cristian (not his roommate Fish) is gay - but it was ultimately harmless, and it was not a betrayal of the character. The problem was that PM a) tried to rewrite it herself and then b) refused to play it. AFAIK she is now relegated to preaching the gospel in sermons on YT, which is sad for someone with such a long and celebrated career as a character actress. But no, I don't blame the show. OLTL was not without many flaws at that time, but it was on her.
She tried to rewrite the scene and refused to play Carlotta as being accepting of gay people when there was a long history of it. She made her own bed.
I had no idea the role was intended for Saundra. That explains a lot. I always liked her. She of course had a bit part as Angelina/Isabella Santi, Antonio's bio-mom in Malone's terrible final story in 2004, before replacing Patricia Mauceri after that whole unfortunate Kish flap. I just loved PM as Carlotta so that made me very sad.
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