That was the Wednesday that was.
Jul. 29th, 2009 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lagilmanDay started with uncomfortable heat and humidity, and discovering that Word had eaten about half of yesterday's wordcount due to massive Fail on the part of autosave and a surprise reboot. Since I hadn't been happy with the scene, I took it as a Sign. The chapter continues to fight me, so I put it aside to contemplate its sins for a while and am working on other deadline-y stuff instead.
Afternoon brought three waves of thunderstorms that cleared the air out considerable, and evening brought sweet-simmered chicken [boneless chicken thighs, browned, and then simmered for half an hour with garlic, red peppers, chives, white wine and fresh sage and saffron, served with wilted spinach and crusty bread to mop up the remains], and Leverage.
All in all, I'd call it a good finish to a bad start.
[by the way, for you "Castle" fans on Twitter? @WriteRCastle. I'm just sayin'....]
and now, the Leverage discussion...
I was both loving this episode, and less than enthralled by it. I suspect a lot of my objections will be soothed by the DVD's "missing scenes" version that will explain why Hardison was fishing their keys in the first place, and why the courtroom tables were cleared of everything except the small bottle of germicide, but there were so many "um, where was the editor?" moments in this script that I was really distracted. And I so very much did not believe that they could a) arrange for the perp to get sent to the hospital that easily or that b) they'd happen to have an entire floor (or even a ward) available to steal. But those are things you roll with, in a caper (had this script been a novel, you could have run with the explanations and had fun with it. In tv-time, not so much).
However, the characters were in fantastic form, the idea that the team swoops in not because they're hired but because they're pissed off at a crime pleased me, and the idea that they were running on a bare bones plot with no time to polish it up or add in details was used to decent effect here, giving a sense of barely-held-together panic (although their shooting schedule probably contributed to that, too).
I'm not sure I followed all of Nate's psychological exposition, but it was fun to listen to, and we saw again why Nate is their leader -- he's a true Mastermind, pulling together a wide range of knowledge and an understanding of what his people can do, and keeping them all in motion even as the game changes. And yeah, he is creepy and sadistic and I suspect we're going to see more of that this season, until he gets hit with a come-to-Jesus moment. Also, I want to nominate him for an Al Calavicci Bad Hat award. I'm just sayin.
And we are not seeing him with a cup in his hand. Beware the mug... [someone has an icon of him with mug, captioned "who the hell put coffee in my coffee mug?" But I digress...]
Parker was lovely -- she's still quite insane, but they're socializing her, slowly, and you can practically see her soaking information up like a sponge. Terrifying to think what she might do with it. Hardison and Sophie didn't get so much development this time but hey, ensemble cast: they'll get another script, another week
The side plot with Elliot and the abused kid could have been mawkish, except the moment when E. realized that there was nothing he could do -- and then being able to pass the problem on to someone who _could_ do something. That was nice. I like it when they show the characters are not superheroes, they're not invulnerable, and they're not going to be able to fix or control everything, even when they really really want to/should.
And I really want an Al Calavicci Bad Hat award icon, now. *nods*
Afternoon brought three waves of thunderstorms that cleared the air out considerable, and evening brought sweet-simmered chicken [boneless chicken thighs, browned, and then simmered for half an hour with garlic, red peppers, chives, white wine and fresh sage and saffron, served with wilted spinach and crusty bread to mop up the remains], and Leverage.
All in all, I'd call it a good finish to a bad start.
[by the way, for you "Castle" fans on Twitter? @WriteRCastle. I'm just sayin'....]
and now, the Leverage discussion...
I was both loving this episode, and less than enthralled by it. I suspect a lot of my objections will be soothed by the DVD's "missing scenes" version that will explain why Hardison was fishing their keys in the first place, and why the courtroom tables were cleared of everything except the small bottle of germicide, but there were so many "um, where was the editor?" moments in this script that I was really distracted. And I so very much did not believe that they could a) arrange for the perp to get sent to the hospital that easily or that b) they'd happen to have an entire floor (or even a ward) available to steal. But those are things you roll with, in a caper (had this script been a novel, you could have run with the explanations and had fun with it. In tv-time, not so much).
However, the characters were in fantastic form, the idea that the team swoops in not because they're hired but because they're pissed off at a crime pleased me, and the idea that they were running on a bare bones plot with no time to polish it up or add in details was used to decent effect here, giving a sense of barely-held-together panic (although their shooting schedule probably contributed to that, too).
I'm not sure I followed all of Nate's psychological exposition, but it was fun to listen to, and we saw again why Nate is their leader -- he's a true Mastermind, pulling together a wide range of knowledge and an understanding of what his people can do, and keeping them all in motion even as the game changes. And yeah, he is creepy and sadistic and I suspect we're going to see more of that this season, until he gets hit with a come-to-Jesus moment. Also, I want to nominate him for an Al Calavicci Bad Hat award. I'm just sayin.
And we are not seeing him with a cup in his hand. Beware the mug... [someone has an icon of him with mug, captioned "who the hell put coffee in my coffee mug?" But I digress...]
Parker was lovely -- she's still quite insane, but they're socializing her, slowly, and you can practically see her soaking information up like a sponge. Terrifying to think what she might do with it. Hardison and Sophie didn't get so much development this time but hey, ensemble cast: they'll get another script, another week
The side plot with Elliot and the abused kid could have been mawkish, except the moment when E. realized that there was nothing he could do -- and then being able to pass the problem on to someone who _could_ do something. That was nice. I like it when they show the characters are not superheroes, they're not invulnerable, and they're not going to be able to fix or control everything, even when they really really want to/should.
And I really want an Al Calavicci Bad Hat award icon, now. *nods*
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 04:30 am (UTC)It seems to have a Mission: Impossible vibe to it, which is cool. I'm adding this to my weekly viewing.
aside - A brief "Castle" note
Date: 2009-07-30 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-30 07:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-02 03:41 am (UTC)I am addicted to the BBC stuff.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-02 12:54 pm (UTC)(I also seem to have no trouble accepting actors in completely different roles -- I tend to see characters, not actors, even when it's an actor I'm fannish about. *shrug*)