brOTP forever

[swatkat]

Things you should never have to hear, ever: "[Your baby cousin brother]* needs to develop better kissing skills on-screen."

* He is 22, and an actor.

+

I watched the HIMYM special two-parter, and I'm left with nothing but mixed feelings. Because yes, I will ALWAYS ship Barney and Robin together and so it's great that all the ship teasing is over and they're together, it's great that it was a part of Barney's evil master plan all along, but on the other hand OH GOD, how did they manage to make BARNEY AND ROBIN this BORING? One of the great things about HIMYM is how it plays around - even now - with the sitcom structure and does a lot of really interesting things; the way it plays with narrative structure, the way it flips around gender roles, and so on. That was the principal appeal of Barney/Robin to me - that they are two unconventional people, and that this was an unconventional ship. It was not something that had started off as an 'endgame' ship, but emerged out of the chemistry between the two actors. And to think that we're left now with a conventional ~romantic Ted Mosby (tm) proposal and the possibility of marital bliss (even if we do see the two of them trying to escape; but I'm not sure if I should expect them to actually call it off and be a bro-some couple ANYWAY)... I don't know, it makes me sad.

I don't know why I was expecting anything else - after all, this IS the show that turned Robin's lack of interest in having children into a sobfest about how she can't have children.

The Robin/Patrice storyline also left a bad taste in my mouth - even if Patrice was a part of the plan all along, it still does not undo Robin's behaviour, and I honestly do not know why they thought it was good narrative choice? At one point, with the firing, the show was thisclose to doing a Fringe and having our female protagonist sacrifice her dignity and integrity because of ~love - I'm glad it did not go that far, but that does not really make it much better.

I'm not much of an actor fan, but I have to admit, every time Alexis Denisof shows up as Sandy on the show, my heart grows three sizes. Sandy is SUCH a sleaze, and AD plays it with SUCH gusto. ♥

The Ruby/Red backstory episode (1.15) of OUAT was pretty great, even if the CGI wolf was hilariously bad. I also fail to feel much sympathy for David or Mary Margaret - instead I'm waiting for the inevitable fallout for Regina, who really can be an incredibly horrible person and will have a lot to pay for in the future.

Comments

[kerithwyn]

I also fail to feel much sympathy for David or Mary Margaret

Yes, this. I have super-low tolerance for cheating story lines, destined love or otherwise. That whole thing made me dislike both characters intensely.

Red, otoh, should rule everything. And have hot sex with everyone.

[swatkat]

It's not the cheating that bothers me, it's the combination of ~destined twu wuv and the dithering and the drippiness on the part of both David and Mary Margaret! I understand that it's a deliberate contrast to their FTL selves, but I don't find it remotely interesting or sympathetic.

[beccatoria]

Yeah, the David and Mary Margaret storyline sort of...swerves into something I didn't expect shortly after this - but it was also something that I didn't really like until it ended and wasn't half as awful as I expected. TL;DR I'll be interested to see you reflecting on the season at the end since so far your opinions have basically mirrored mine. Ultimately, I ended up feeling more satisfied by the end of S1 that there was a useful dramatic point to be made with David's total uselessness and Mary Margaret's eventual response to it, and whether or not TWU WUV really does conquer all, but I wish they hadn't taken so bloody long and irritating a path to get there; the payoff isn't big enough to make me forgive what came before (unlike S2 Regina...)

[swatkat]

I just watched the next episode, and I must say the seeming reawakening of Snow in Mary Margaret is promising. They were both very boring throughout, though, and I kept wishing we could have more of Emma growling at Regina instead.

[hibernate]

Yeah, I have to admit that while I really quite like Snow and Charming, their Storybrook alter egos are not super interesting in season 1. I'll forgive this show for a lot of its cheese because ~fairy tales~, but their kind of passiveness mostly annoyed me. I does get better, though!

I ♥ Ruby.

I am always torn between enjoying Regina being a horrible person (why is it so attractive, why??) and wanting her to have the best redemption arc NOW.

[swatkat]

I'm all for the cheese! In fact, I'm watching the Regina in Wonderland (with the Mad Hatter for company) episode, and I admit - I'm in love. LOVE. It is ridiculous and OTT and exactly what my fannish soul needs.

Ruby ♥


I am always torn between enjoying Regina being a horrible person (why is it so attractive, why??) and wanting her to have the best redemption arc NOW.

It's the faces that she makes when she's having feelings, and also the sheer joy that she expresses when she thinks she's won by doing something horrible. In fact, the only thing that makes David and Mary Margaret's drippiness palatable is the thought that Regina probably made them like that on purpose as a part of her ridiculous revenge plan. Snow IS her nemesis, after all.