notes on things I have watched in the last several weeks

[kate_nepveu]

Haywire: the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I & the kids were staying with Chad's parents, and I escaped for a couple of hours to watch a movie. I was going to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but then I saw glvalentine's review of Haywire and decided to see it instead: partly because it was shorter and partly because it sounded really interesting.

I liked this less than Genevieve, for two reasons. One, I missed the first few minutes and spent most of the movie wondering if it provided some kind of context for the main character's goals and situation. I'm not sure why I felt vaguely aswim—maybe just sleep deprivation?—since in the end it was pretty simple: she was betrayed, she escaped, she finds out why, she makes them pay. I think I wasn't sure what she knew at any given time. (It is a Soderbergh movie, which means non-linear and lots of significant verbal omissions. One of which convinced me that a certain character was doing completely the opposite of what it turned out to be, which didn't help matters.) Two, I'm not that fond of the type of action movie this is. I love competence porn in capers or action movies, but I like either character development or a reveal to go with it (Ronin, The Bourne Identity, Ocean's Eleven). Haywire is instead in the "main character gets revenge and returns to status quo" mold, which I find unsatisfying. I didn't get a strong hook as the movie unfolded (character development), and I didn't have any reason to revisit my conclusions at the end (reveal). Instead I felt, as the credits came up, "That was it?", and was left with more abstract admiration than enjoyment.

So, if you like that kind of thing, you need to see this, and if you don't, it's worth background watching when it comes on basic cable in a few years.

The other two episodes in season two of Sherlock: "The Hounds of Baskerville" was very silly and not at all scary and entertained me in a way that almost entirely failed to engage my brain. Thus, I have nothing else to say about it.

"The Reichenbach Fall" was mostly terrific: I liked the updating of the conflict, and that Moriarty toned the swoopy down, and

SPOILERS

that when I said "no, that's ridiculous, a few lines of computer code can't do that," I turned out to be right. But I have no faith that the fake death scene will be explained in any plausible way, and I absolutely do not believe Sherlock when he said that Molly always mattered and he trusts her—wish I could, see not a thing to support it. (So true that this season is trying to answer the complaints about the treatment of women in S1 and completely missing the point.) Also I badly want John to have worked out that Sherlock faked it, that the very insistence on him watching the whole thing is a tell that it was a magic trick (nevermind the convenient bike accident), because oh, John.

Those are fairly minor niggles; mostly I was riveted and indeed watched the scene with cringing-actor-Moriarty on FF because it was just too effective at making me massively uncomfortable.

Face Off: this is, of all things, an original reality show on the SyFy network, in which contestants design and execute special effects makeup. I saw some commercials for it and then found the whole season free on demand on my cable system one day when I was out of DVRed things to half-watch while dealing with the Pip. Anyway, I like seeing the different designs and all the craft involved, and generally find the judging clear, educational, and reasonable. Despite my best efforts, though, I find myself having opinions about the contestants as people, which I was trying to avoid because I know how manipulatively these shows can be cut to create interpersonal conflict. There's very little of that, however, so if you like how-to kinds of shows this is worth checking out.

White Collar: I dropped this show for a long time but the second half of this just-concluded season has also been maternity-leave TV fodder. Most of it was background noise, and I actually watched a couple episodes mostly on FF, but I thought the season finale was genuinely strong. (Well, except for the worst green-screening I have seen in quite some time.) And wow, Beau Bridges has a talent for playing characters who get on my last nerve (I watched SGA before SG-1 and so was introduced to General Landry in a much more confrontational posture).

Comments

[avram]

I'm pretty sure they're going to offer some kind of detailed explanation for Sherlock's survival. Whether it's going to be plausible, I dunno. The preceding episodes just hint so strongly at it.

I mean, "A Scandal in Belgravia" tells us that Sherlock can fake a death convincingly enough to fool Mycroft. And "The Hounds of Baskerville" is all about how you can trick people by controlling their expectations. And in that "death" scene it's clearly very important to Sherlock that Watson be standing in a very particular spot, possibly at a very particular time.

Hm. I've been thinking that he somehow needed to plant a fake body, but maybe, if he figured he could survive the fall (how tall is that building, anyway?), he might have come up with a way of covering his pulse points to make it seem like he had no pulse. Then, when they took his body inside, there was Molly ready to handle things.

It's either that or he grabbed some of the see-what-you-expect drug when they were at Baskerville, and the bicyclist was a confederate who dosed Watson with it.

[kate_nepveu]

Anything but using that drug, seriously.

[tavella]

I think they've worked out the explanation; it's extremely likely stage magic of the 'grand illusion' type, given the need for Watson to have his view partially blocked. Some way of arresting his fall so he doesn't hit dangerously hard, pressure on the arm to stop the pulse temporarily, a pack of accomplices to run into Watson, block him from the body, and quickly move it. There's some other possible configurations, but that's the most likely, and they certainly hinted hard at it.

My problem is that I severely doubt they will actually deal with any of the logical emotional consequences of this, particularly to John. They've already wildly imbalanced the partnership compared to the original text; Doyle's self-sufficient doctor with an normal social network has become entirely dependent on Sherlock. Sherlock, however, demonstrates via this that he doesn't need John at all; not to help him (he can roust up an entire pack of confederates to orchestrate an illusion at a few hours notice), and not for companionship (at least if they go anywhere near canon, where Sherlock disappears for years to take care of business.)

[kate_nepveu]

I think Sherlock needs John to be a better person. Which doesn't help with the Mary-Sue imbalance issue, mind you.

[tavella]

Yeah, but their idea of him being a better person is pretty questionable. Of all the possible backup plans, the one he picks is "tricking my best friend into thinking he just saw me kill myself". There seems to be this odd tendency of treating it as if he *did* kill himself or made some sacrifice, when instead he's essentially getting to skate free, no longer having to deal with reporters, the police, the consequences and instead being free to do the part he likes, hunt down criminals without interference. The 'suicide note', the tears... that wasn't him despairing or sad, it was a *performance*.

It's everyone else who is left in the shit. Sure, he's sacrificing John's company for some period of time, which is probably significant to him, but compared to the immense pain John is demonstrably in, it's not much.

[tavella]

What, Sherlock's been consistently contemptuous of Molly, and when he suddenly needs her to risk everything for him (for one thing, it's the end of her job and her medical license when he comes back, and quite possibly prosecution given she signed official documents), he's all "but you aaaalways mattered" and you doubt his sincerity? Yeah, me too. I guess it depends on whether you brought the Christmas apology -- I thought it was entirely too heartfelt-sounding to be real. I'd have found a half-assed awkward apology a lot more believable as Sherlock recognizing he'd hurt someone he cared about as opposed to Sherlock realizing he might have pushed Molly too far and into cutting off his access to the morgue and body parts. Especially since the very same episode has him and Mycroft dispassionately puzzling over all the little people caring so much and discussing how "caring isn't an advantage."

Really, I thought his behavior at the end, most especially his treatment of John, was the most convincing example they've written of Sherlock being genuinely sociopathic. Most of the time the writing bounces between him being high-functioning autistic and asshole who just can't be bothered to make the social effort.

[damerell]

Perhaps we should doubt his sincerity. But does she?

As you put it, sociopathic. He's quite capable of exploiting Molly, alas.

[tavella]

Oh, no, she clearly buys it. Which is where I disagree a bit with Kate; he does trust Molly; he trusts that she can be easily manipulated into helping him and so thrilled by him paying attention even briefly that she won't reveal the trick.

What has made me really cringe is all the various "Molly matters" commentary that took it as sincere and were burbling over Sherlock finally realizing how great she was. I kept wanting to comment "Life tip: when the guy who has been jerking you around suddenly shows up and tells you how much you mean to him, and so you should help him commit crimes, _say no_."

[kate_nepveu]

I don't doubt that he was supposed to be sincere. I just think that the universe in which that statement is true is not the same universe as the rest of the show.

[veejane]

I think White Collar is very silly, but my do they have a New York budget. I really enjoyed all the footage on the Roosevelt Island tram. (And all the clothes, but those are in every episode.)

[kate_nepveu]

Hee. I am typing to you from a NYC hotel room with a view of the Manhattan bridge! And of a graffiti-covered water tower on the roof of the next building over.

Yes, it's very pretty, though honestly the green-screening on that jump was egregious.