tv chatter
Feb. 11th, 2025 04:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
impyApparently when I wasn't looking, Netflix decided to try and justify their newest price jump (ugh!) by dropping new seasons of things I did want to watch. Mums and I started S2 of The Night Agent, but either I'd stayed up too long on Sunday (possible), it's off to a really slow start (likely), or something because we only watched two episodes so far. Kinda a bummer since we burned through S1 and I liked it enough to go from listening while at the computer to turning around and watching to sitting on the couch and definitely watching. But that's not what we're here to discuss today.
Nope, they also dropped S4 of Sweet Magnolias, which is a show that walks the line of being absolute cheese and genuinely enjoyable for me, but I also enjoy cheese so... Basically, I mostly like the show, but it always leaves me wanting more in some way. Mostly, it leaves me wanting it to trust the audience more, I think. I have issues with it, but it has moments I love so I stick with it. It is also infinitely better than the book series it's based on, at least when compared to the three or four books I read from the series. Holy Jesus fuck, reading spoilers for what happens in later books is just the hardest of no's from me, and I truly hope the show decides to also say no.
Anywho, due to the various strikes, it's been awhile since I watched S3, and I don't really remember a ton about it beyond pretty much hating them keeping our main trio apart for far too long. Luckily, there's a recap at the start of the season, and that did get me mostly up to speed.
So why in the hell did we spend the entirety of episode 1 playing the "hit the audience over the head with it's been a year!" and info dumping about the magical things that changed in that year? There are subtle ways to do this. There's also just plain putting "One Year Later" on the screen.
There are also subtle ways to share important information rather than having really unnatural conversations about how great it is that Maddie's now a popular author, or that Peggy's the Mayor and oh shit, the town is in TROUBLE but we can't let the town know because... it's better if everyone is mad at everyone else, I guess? Or somehow Dana Sue has stepped back from her restaurant, that she loves, to run the um... whatever foundation to help the town, and also teach vo-tech at the high school and ... you get the idea, right? At every turn we're hit with just the most unnatural of info dump conversations and it's frequently repeated as if you could've missed the first time, or the second, or even the third. *twitch*
Speaking of Twitch, seems we're giving online D&D RP group to Kyle and his friends, because... that wouldn't be weird at all? I think it's simply a case of everyone's personal lives are going OH SO WELL and wouldn't it be awful if something BAD happened and again, subtle as a sledgehammer to the temple when Helen warns Maddie and Dana Sue not to say Maddie's former mother-in-law's name three times, lest she be summoned. Naturally they pay her no mind and do it, and sure enough the show decides to kill off the wrong husband.
Here's the thing. From a story standpoint, I do remember feeling bad for Bill by the end of S3. He'd spent a good chunk of S1 and 2 being the absolute worst, but if memory serves, he'd tried to turn shit around in S3, only to be met with everyone telling him what a shitbag he was and would always be, even though his actions had said otherwise. They sent him packing, off with Ronnie's insane sister, and honestly, Bill deserved better. Especially when you realize the actor who plays Ronnie? Yeah, he got busted for inappropriately texting (AHEM) underage girls. And by busted I mean there was a short period of time where I genuinely thought he'd face at least getting fired from a show where there are teenage girls on set, one of whom he interacts with on a regular basis, but no. Apparently his ass gets to stay on the show because instead of killing Ronnie, which would not be a huge sorrow to me, he's going to be the asshole who makes Bill's death all about him.
Because yeah, they killed Bill off screen, and sent his mama to town to try and figure out whether it was BS or not that he wanted to be buried in Serenity (the fictional town where this show is set) rather than back home in Texas. On the plus side, his mama is played by Judith Ivey, so even as she's being a complete asshole to one and all, I can't hate her.
Also, I admit I'm only three or four episodes in, and I totally get that she was a monster-in-law, but the show is being really weird in not having ANYONE grasp why she's so upset that... no one else is upset that her son is dead. None of his kids seem all that broken up (which is some bullshit because we know for a damn fact that Katie still loved her father something fierce and unlike her brothers I don't recall her having a real "fuck you" kind of moment towards him, and she's supposed to be old enough where death would actually sink in on some level), and everyone is basically just going on like it's another normal day after like, half an hour of grieving. Which, yeah, Bill was an asshole, but he did try and change, and if nothing else, if you're fine in your grief, maybe take the time to look out for the one person you KNOW isn't? I'd be more forgiving if this show didn't act like everyone in town is a goddamn saint and would be able to rise above their dislike of Bill enough to see that his mother, loathsome though she may be, needs someone to comfort her. Sigh. It takes Maddie entirely too long, and for Bonnie to spell it out, for anyone to catch a clue.
Next annoyance is Noreen. I take back every nice thing I said or thought about JLS playing Noreen in S1, because everything thereafter has proven all her haters correct. She's just bad and since Noreen is finally getting a bigger arc this season, I think, it's gonna be painful. She just lashed out at Bonnie and ohmygod, I swear I've seen children at play doing a better job, but she also just failed at the OHMYGOD, What?!? reaction to a shocking reveal. I had to stop watching then because oh god, this is gonna be painful as hell and not for the reasons the show thinks. She's so bad and I'm so mad they paired her off with Jeremy because I like him but JLS is godawful at this point. Which is a shame, because from a storyline perspective, I like her.
Onward! We're gonna drag the Helen/Erik thing out forever, aren't we? They didn't even TRY to give Helen's temp boyfriend a shot, which is one of my least favorite things. If you're gonna play keepaway on a couple, at least try and make me invested in their other partner. I don't give a shit about Erik's girlfriend, but at least they're trying to give her the absolute minimum of a character. It's not working because they're a sucking void of chemistry, which I don't know if I remember being the case previously, but she's also boring the shit out of me in general so there's that. It could be that of all the Magnolias, the only 'ship I really give a shit about is Helen/Erik, and this game of keepaway is insane, and the only way it works for me is if I can try and get invested in their doomed relationships. But the show doesn't even TRY.
There's also one storyline I'm afraid is coming down the pike, but I refuse to say it aloud or write it down because I need this to not come to pass.
Finally, this is a general complaint for the show and has been pretty much from day 1, but the male characters spend 99% of their time catering to the women in their lives, or talking about them in ways that are nowhere near realistic and it's just distracting. I think it's meant to be wish fullfilment but it just reads as terribly cheesy. Which is weird since they do have moments where it'd make total sense, and I'm fine with those, but in general having it ALWAYS be about the women at the expense of everything else is just distracting.
In happier news, the season starts with two Halloween episodes, which I love (even if we don't quite nail the Halloween vibes, at least they tried), I adore the friendship between Maddie's mom and Cal's mom, and their not in-laws, but outlaws, and I need them to team up again soon because they just seem fun.
I liked the surprise Halloween wedding, especially when you find out that it's Cal's holiday and it would make sense for it to be even more special now. I agree with everyone else it's about damn time Ty/Annie happened, and I loved how smug Helen was that she knew before Dana Sue and Maddie. Honestly, every time Helen gets to remind us she's the kids' godmother is a goddamn treasure.
While I think of the show as a spring/summer show, I'm loving the fall vibes because of course I am.
I'm hoping Isaac gets the support and love from his extended family now that they know the truth and that this isn't drawn out too much because holy fuck, does this poor boy need a goddamn hug and a big ol' family meal where he's the star.
I do also really love how the show let Dana Sue and Helen be upset that they were left out of Maddie's wedding planning but didn't have it take over everything. I probably would've let them sit on their feelings another day or two instead of pouncing the morning after, but in general both sides got to explore messy feelings and it didn't involve a multi-episode breakup. Huzzah!
Made it through eps 4 and 5, I think? *looks it up* Ah, yes. So. I'm still worried we're gonna get that plot point I do not want, as we've dropped like two more bits of foreshadowing, but they're far more subtle than this show specializes in so maybe not.
Anyway, yeah, no, Isaac has not gotten his hugs and family meal. Instead he ran off to Ohio (it's killing me he's from Ohio since the official Charleston motto, and possibly the official SC motto, is "Go back to Ohio!") to spend time with his father. Which he did, dramatically right before Bill's funeral started. Like went to the church, got snubbed by Noreen (bitch, what the fuuuuuuuuuuuck? He lost his biological father, your fefes are just hurt. Suck it up til after the funeral and realize that as lies go, this isn't one to lose your best friend over), and then no one thought to include him with the family, or at least closer to the family section even though there was room. o_O I will say at least Erik offered to have Isaac sit with him and Genevieve but I was really kind of hoping Bonnie would want him with the family. Gimme something to root for, Bonnie. But no, she's gonna pick a fight with Ty later and then try and slap Maddie and my sympathy is gonna run out any second now so... eh.
I liked Bill's dad, and I loved Maddie's realization that Bill apparently had changed, or at least was in the process of being a better man, and how she wished she'd known that version of him. I will be snotty and point out that he was trying at the end of last season and no one believed him but what the fuck ever, my amount of Bill sympathy has run very low.
I still cannot with Ronnie in general. Annie being able to put aside her feelings to let Ty go out on tour (we're just gonna roll with that, k?) and then immediately breaking down when he wasn't able to see her was actually kinda perfect. I still do not give two shits about Kyle and Lily (Lilly? I dunno), nor do I really love the forced next generation of Magnolias with CeCe/Annie/Lily because Lily had, just prior to that, shown she was kinda a shit friend. Grudges, I hold them at no additional cost.
Helen and Erik both used Bill's death to dump their insignifigant others, hallelujah, though in different ways.
And this season is giving me a hurricane episode or two. I've never heard about not putting heavy stuff in front of windows for a storm, but maybe that's a thing. I'd think Helen would've had her windows covered and boarded up, but that does not seem to be a thing anyone is doing which is weird as fuck although maybe that was kinda done at Sullivan's, because why else would you let two small-ish children sit in a booth by a window that wasn't boarded? Oh, yeah, because Hollywood still has yet to figure out how storms work. Like Helen wouldn't have been able to get Dana Sue and Maddie out of her house until it was all squared away; she would not have been moving boxes and expensive electronics away from windows at that late hour. No ma'am, they would've had all that shit done and dragged her away. I'd far more believe she was still at home because she had business calls to make that couldn't be made in public (lawyer!) and even that ehhhhhhh.
Also, not one person has commented on the oddity of the storm showing up in November. It's not unheard of, but around here it's really fucking rare. Once Halloween hits, you're usually good to go aside from that one year we ran through til December. But EVERYONE commented about each storm being weird as hell. I promise you, this town would've been squared away and talking about the unusually late storm.
But hey, it gave us Erik going out into the storm (dumb) to race to Helen's rescue, even though she should've been smart enough to just stay home because once the rain starts coming down fucking sideways, you don't venture out just to hang out with your buds. You stay home so as not to risk anyone else's life, dammit. How am I the adult here? What the fuck is going on? How do writers still not understand that yes, hurricanes are dramatic enough that you don't have to invent problems?
Sigh.
But I'll be damned if I don't love to bitch about them. Points are awarded for this not being a surprise pop up storm that would be far better suited to being a tornado than a hurricane.
Gonna watch more later, so we'll see what happens.
Nope, they also dropped S4 of Sweet Magnolias, which is a show that walks the line of being absolute cheese and genuinely enjoyable for me, but I also enjoy cheese so... Basically, I mostly like the show, but it always leaves me wanting more in some way. Mostly, it leaves me wanting it to trust the audience more, I think. I have issues with it, but it has moments I love so I stick with it. It is also infinitely better than the book series it's based on, at least when compared to the three or four books I read from the series. Holy Jesus fuck, reading spoilers for what happens in later books is just the hardest of no's from me, and I truly hope the show decides to also say no.
Anywho, due to the various strikes, it's been awhile since I watched S3, and I don't really remember a ton about it beyond pretty much hating them keeping our main trio apart for far too long. Luckily, there's a recap at the start of the season, and that did get me mostly up to speed.
So why in the hell did we spend the entirety of episode 1 playing the "hit the audience over the head with it's been a year!" and info dumping about the magical things that changed in that year? There are subtle ways to do this. There's also just plain putting "One Year Later" on the screen.
There are also subtle ways to share important information rather than having really unnatural conversations about how great it is that Maddie's now a popular author, or that Peggy's the Mayor and oh shit, the town is in TROUBLE but we can't let the town know because... it's better if everyone is mad at everyone else, I guess? Or somehow Dana Sue has stepped back from her restaurant, that she loves, to run the um... whatever foundation to help the town, and also teach vo-tech at the high school and ... you get the idea, right? At every turn we're hit with just the most unnatural of info dump conversations and it's frequently repeated as if you could've missed the first time, or the second, or even the third. *twitch*
Speaking of Twitch, seems we're giving online D&D RP group to Kyle and his friends, because... that wouldn't be weird at all? I think it's simply a case of everyone's personal lives are going OH SO WELL and wouldn't it be awful if something BAD happened and again, subtle as a sledgehammer to the temple when Helen warns Maddie and Dana Sue not to say Maddie's former mother-in-law's name three times, lest she be summoned. Naturally they pay her no mind and do it, and sure enough the show decides to kill off the wrong husband.
Here's the thing. From a story standpoint, I do remember feeling bad for Bill by the end of S3. He'd spent a good chunk of S1 and 2 being the absolute worst, but if memory serves, he'd tried to turn shit around in S3, only to be met with everyone telling him what a shitbag he was and would always be, even though his actions had said otherwise. They sent him packing, off with Ronnie's insane sister, and honestly, Bill deserved better. Especially when you realize the actor who plays Ronnie? Yeah, he got busted for inappropriately texting (AHEM) underage girls. And by busted I mean there was a short period of time where I genuinely thought he'd face at least getting fired from a show where there are teenage girls on set, one of whom he interacts with on a regular basis, but no. Apparently his ass gets to stay on the show because instead of killing Ronnie, which would not be a huge sorrow to me, he's going to be the asshole who makes Bill's death all about him.
Because yeah, they killed Bill off screen, and sent his mama to town to try and figure out whether it was BS or not that he wanted to be buried in Serenity (the fictional town where this show is set) rather than back home in Texas. On the plus side, his mama is played by Judith Ivey, so even as she's being a complete asshole to one and all, I can't hate her.
Also, I admit I'm only three or four episodes in, and I totally get that she was a monster-in-law, but the show is being really weird in not having ANYONE grasp why she's so upset that... no one else is upset that her son is dead. None of his kids seem all that broken up (which is some bullshit because we know for a damn fact that Katie still loved her father something fierce and unlike her brothers I don't recall her having a real "fuck you" kind of moment towards him, and she's supposed to be old enough where death would actually sink in on some level), and everyone is basically just going on like it's another normal day after like, half an hour of grieving. Which, yeah, Bill was an asshole, but he did try and change, and if nothing else, if you're fine in your grief, maybe take the time to look out for the one person you KNOW isn't? I'd be more forgiving if this show didn't act like everyone in town is a goddamn saint and would be able to rise above their dislike of Bill enough to see that his mother, loathsome though she may be, needs someone to comfort her. Sigh. It takes Maddie entirely too long, and for Bonnie to spell it out, for anyone to catch a clue.
Next annoyance is Noreen. I take back every nice thing I said or thought about JLS playing Noreen in S1, because everything thereafter has proven all her haters correct. She's just bad and since Noreen is finally getting a bigger arc this season, I think, it's gonna be painful. She just lashed out at Bonnie and ohmygod, I swear I've seen children at play doing a better job, but she also just failed at the OHMYGOD, What?!? reaction to a shocking reveal. I had to stop watching then because oh god, this is gonna be painful as hell and not for the reasons the show thinks. She's so bad and I'm so mad they paired her off with Jeremy because I like him but JLS is godawful at this point. Which is a shame, because from a storyline perspective, I like her.
Onward! We're gonna drag the Helen/Erik thing out forever, aren't we? They didn't even TRY to give Helen's temp boyfriend a shot, which is one of my least favorite things. If you're gonna play keepaway on a couple, at least try and make me invested in their other partner. I don't give a shit about Erik's girlfriend, but at least they're trying to give her the absolute minimum of a character. It's not working because they're a sucking void of chemistry, which I don't know if I remember being the case previously, but she's also boring the shit out of me in general so there's that. It could be that of all the Magnolias, the only 'ship I really give a shit about is Helen/Erik, and this game of keepaway is insane, and the only way it works for me is if I can try and get invested in their doomed relationships. But the show doesn't even TRY.
There's also one storyline I'm afraid is coming down the pike, but I refuse to say it aloud or write it down because I need this to not come to pass.
Finally, this is a general complaint for the show and has been pretty much from day 1, but the male characters spend 99% of their time catering to the women in their lives, or talking about them in ways that are nowhere near realistic and it's just distracting. I think it's meant to be wish fullfilment but it just reads as terribly cheesy. Which is weird since they do have moments where it'd make total sense, and I'm fine with those, but in general having it ALWAYS be about the women at the expense of everything else is just distracting.
In happier news, the season starts with two Halloween episodes, which I love (even if we don't quite nail the Halloween vibes, at least they tried), I adore the friendship between Maddie's mom and Cal's mom, and their not in-laws, but outlaws, and I need them to team up again soon because they just seem fun.
I liked the surprise Halloween wedding, especially when you find out that it's Cal's holiday and it would make sense for it to be even more special now. I agree with everyone else it's about damn time Ty/Annie happened, and I loved how smug Helen was that she knew before Dana Sue and Maddie. Honestly, every time Helen gets to remind us she's the kids' godmother is a goddamn treasure.
While I think of the show as a spring/summer show, I'm loving the fall vibes because of course I am.
I'm hoping Isaac gets the support and love from his extended family now that they know the truth and that this isn't drawn out too much because holy fuck, does this poor boy need a goddamn hug and a big ol' family meal where he's the star.
I do also really love how the show let Dana Sue and Helen be upset that they were left out of Maddie's wedding planning but didn't have it take over everything. I probably would've let them sit on their feelings another day or two instead of pouncing the morning after, but in general both sides got to explore messy feelings and it didn't involve a multi-episode breakup. Huzzah!
Made it through eps 4 and 5, I think? *looks it up* Ah, yes. So. I'm still worried we're gonna get that plot point I do not want, as we've dropped like two more bits of foreshadowing, but they're far more subtle than this show specializes in so maybe not.
Anyway, yeah, no, Isaac has not gotten his hugs and family meal. Instead he ran off to Ohio (it's killing me he's from Ohio since the official Charleston motto, and possibly the official SC motto, is "Go back to Ohio!") to spend time with his father. Which he did, dramatically right before Bill's funeral started. Like went to the church, got snubbed by Noreen (bitch, what the fuuuuuuuuuuuck? He lost his biological father, your fefes are just hurt. Suck it up til after the funeral and realize that as lies go, this isn't one to lose your best friend over), and then no one thought to include him with the family, or at least closer to the family section even though there was room. o_O I will say at least Erik offered to have Isaac sit with him and Genevieve but I was really kind of hoping Bonnie would want him with the family. Gimme something to root for, Bonnie. But no, she's gonna pick a fight with Ty later and then try and slap Maddie and my sympathy is gonna run out any second now so... eh.
I liked Bill's dad, and I loved Maddie's realization that Bill apparently had changed, or at least was in the process of being a better man, and how she wished she'd known that version of him. I will be snotty and point out that he was trying at the end of last season and no one believed him but what the fuck ever, my amount of Bill sympathy has run very low.
I still cannot with Ronnie in general. Annie being able to put aside her feelings to let Ty go out on tour (we're just gonna roll with that, k?) and then immediately breaking down when he wasn't able to see her was actually kinda perfect. I still do not give two shits about Kyle and Lily (Lilly? I dunno), nor do I really love the forced next generation of Magnolias with CeCe/Annie/Lily because Lily had, just prior to that, shown she was kinda a shit friend. Grudges, I hold them at no additional cost.
Helen and Erik both used Bill's death to dump their insignifigant others, hallelujah, though in different ways.
And this season is giving me a hurricane episode or two. I've never heard about not putting heavy stuff in front of windows for a storm, but maybe that's a thing. I'd think Helen would've had her windows covered and boarded up, but that does not seem to be a thing anyone is doing which is weird as fuck although maybe that was kinda done at Sullivan's, because why else would you let two small-ish children sit in a booth by a window that wasn't boarded? Oh, yeah, because Hollywood still has yet to figure out how storms work. Like Helen wouldn't have been able to get Dana Sue and Maddie out of her house until it was all squared away; she would not have been moving boxes and expensive electronics away from windows at that late hour. No ma'am, they would've had all that shit done and dragged her away. I'd far more believe she was still at home because she had business calls to make that couldn't be made in public (lawyer!) and even that ehhhhhhh.
Also, not one person has commented on the oddity of the storm showing up in November. It's not unheard of, but around here it's really fucking rare. Once Halloween hits, you're usually good to go aside from that one year we ran through til December. But EVERYONE commented about each storm being weird as hell. I promise you, this town would've been squared away and talking about the unusually late storm.
But hey, it gave us Erik going out into the storm (dumb) to race to Helen's rescue, even though she should've been smart enough to just stay home because once the rain starts coming down fucking sideways, you don't venture out just to hang out with your buds. You stay home so as not to risk anyone else's life, dammit. How am I the adult here? What the fuck is going on? How do writers still not understand that yes, hurricanes are dramatic enough that you don't have to invent problems?
Sigh.
But I'll be damned if I don't love to bitch about them. Points are awarded for this not being a surprise pop up storm that would be far better suited to being a tornado than a hurricane.
Gonna watch more later, so we'll see what happens.