(no subject)

So apparently Marvel is casting Robert Redford as Nick Fury's boss in the upcoming Captain America. Which doesn't really work for me on multiple levels. One, I thought the whole point of casting Samuel L. Jackson in the first place was going "yeah, he's the badass leader of the biggest, baddest spy agency around and he's a black man. Diversity!" If he's reporting in to a white guy, then what was the point? And I didn't mind the World Security Council in The Avengers; that was more of an oversight committee and Nick Fury clearly was able to go "yeah, fuck you guys, I'm doing this thing instead".

Plus, Powers Boothe works as "he's even bigger hardass than SLJ and somewhat evil!" That's good casting. Just bring him back. Robert Redford--that's kinda the opposite of the feeling I get sometimes when, say, Hollywood casts Kevin "Ma and Apple Pie!" Costner as Superman's dad or Sean Penn as a violent criminal who brutalizes women. There, I go "yeah, sounds about right." But Robert Redford as an leader in the military-industry complex? Yeah, c'mon. He's just such a limousine liberal that I can't buy it at all.*

Nick Fury: Sir, the Chitauri invaders are attacking New York!

Robert Redford: I don't like that kind of racially loaded language. You should refer to them as 'undocumented tourists.'

Nick Fury: They've destroyed the Statue of Liberty and replaced it with a giant golden idol of Thanos!

Robert Redford: They're sharing their cultural expression with us. What's next, are you going to tell me graffiti isn't art?

Nick Fury: Oh no! They've covered Manhattan in a hive!

Robert Redford: Well, we white devils stole it from the Native Americans--or First Nation--anyway. Call up the United Nations, I want to hold an immediate international summit to discuss the creation of a Chitauri state.

Nick Fury: Thank Christ! The Avengers are here! Go get 'em, guys!

Robert Redford: I would appreciate it if you only thanked 'unspecified and possibly fictious creator deity or deities.'

( * )

The Lost Girl where Bo's mom hates her until she doesn't

Oh, Lost Girl, you were doing so well.

First things first. I suppose we can take Trick's statement that Bo/Lauren is "short-term" while Bo/Dyson is "long-term" to be a sign that, even for "the good Fae," they can still harbor some prejudices. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if he told Lauren "you're a credit to your people" after that performance. But good on Dyson for actually being halfway mature about the whole thing. Gold star! You're well on your way to being tolerable!

Honestly, the whole "wolves mate for life" thing... that's gotta be bullshit, right? Let's check Wikipedia:

The gray wolf is generally monogamous, with mated pairs usually remaining together for life, unless one of the pair dies. Upon the death of one mated wolf, pairs are quickly re-established. Since males often predominate in any given wolf population, unpaired females are a rarity. If a dispersing male wolf is unable to establish a territory or find a mate, he mates with the daughters of already established breeding pairs from other packs. Such wolves are termed "Casanova wolves" and, unlike males from established packs, they do not form pair bonds with the females they mate with. Some wolf packs may have multiple breeding females this way, as is the case in Yellowstone National Park.

Yup, bullshit. "So what?" you say, "it makes for a good story." Well, no. It puts an undue pressure on Bo to get with Dyson, regardless of her own wishes, because Lauren can find someone else while Dyson can't. And it lends itself to some really hinky Twilight shit (what if a werewolf finds him or herself mated to an abuser? Or a pedophile? Or a drug user? Do they just have to grin and bear it because the alternate is a life without love?). Besides which--doesn't it just sound CREEPY that Dyson is going to wait for Lauren to die so he can fuck Bo again? I mean, that's the game plan, right? And that is not healthy. But I should probably let this slide until it becomes more central to the narrative.

Not a lot to talk about, otherwise. I'm actually going to call into question two of the narrative choices here: one is having Kenzi go with Bo instead of Lauren. I get the reasoning, but I would find Bo introducing HER GIRLFRIEND to her homophobic fundamentalist mommy a lot more interesting than Bo introducing her BFF to her homophobic fundamentalist mommy. And there'd probably be less "Kenzi can be pretty elitist for someone who supports herself through credit card fraud" to aggravate me. Oh, people who work for a living are so quaint! Cool people just free-load! Ha ha, SHUT UP!

And the whole thing with there being some evil tornado Scarlet Witch person out to kill people--yawn. I suppose I should give them some credit for not having it be the revenge instrument of a beleaguered nerd, but having the central metaphor be one about how Bo needs to forgive herself and killing that dude wasn't her fault--gawd. If we had to put up with a Freak of the Week, why not have it be something Dyson and Tamsin were investigating?

I guess I just don't buy into this whole pandering Oprah-y "you need to forgive yourself!" bs. When has Bo EVER angsted over all those people she killed for more than thirty seconds, or at all? Yeah, I know a lot of them were scumbags, but not all of them. Wasn't there even an episode last season where one of her victims' relatives confronted her and instead of taking responsibility or trying to explain things, she just pinned it on some other guy? "Forgiving herself" was never the issue--it was acknowledging that she hurt people and taking responsibility for it. It feels like she forgave herself a long time ago, so temporarily going "woe is me!" just comes off as her feeling sorry for herself.

Even in this episode, she castigates her hometown for not supporting her AFTER SHE MURDERED SOMEONE. It's like O.J. Simpson being upset he can't get a date. Yes, whathisface's death was unintentional, even unavoidable, but there was no way for the townspeople to know that. It seems like the stronger narrative would be for Bo to come to understand just how SCARED people were of her and even how right they were to feel that way, but though there were nods in that direction, they were overwhelmed by the gimmick of her abusive mother having dementia.

And, you know, that could be a valid plot. Imagine an episode of OUAT where Cora shows up with Alzheimer's and Regina vacillates between confronting her over her faults and just enjoying FINALLY getting the affection from her mother that she's wanted for so long. But there was so little time spent on this, supposedly the point of the episode, that you could feel the five-act structure creaking. Hell, I actually have a friend who's gone through a similar experience, but it wasn't NEARLY as simple as going "well, you were awful to me, but now your memory's fucked so you're being nice, Imma gonna remember you that way and all my issues are resolved!" If you're going to do an abuse plotline, at least commit to it far enough to resolve it a little better than that.