Firefly
I was initially unsure about this show; a lot of people seem to rave about it, and I'm not an especially huge fan of Joss Whedon, so I thought I might find it to be overrated and underwhelming. Unfortunately, it's as good as everyone says it is. The "unfortunate" part being that there's only 14 episodes and it's so painfully good that the thought of not having more and just ending in the middle of nowhere of the story is almost unbearable.
The "space-western" mashup works surprisingly well, despite occasionally being a bit forced and awkward (holo-pool tables in shady space bars, anyone?). The show can be slightly cheesy at times, but it often deconstructs or parodies classic sci-fi/western tropes as much as it plays them straight, bring a really nice mixture of cleverness and entertainment. The writing is excellent, the characters feel unique and are brought to life perfectly by the actors portraying them, and the dialogue is insanely quotable. ("Corpsified" is my new favourite word.) I'd go so far to say that it's almost impossible to pick a favourite character, as each of them is so well-written and portrayed. Even characters such as Jayne, who really should have no redeeming features, still (eventually) manage to feel humane, and you still end up rooting for them by the end.
What makes it so much worse is that the last episode is insanely good. I'd really enjoyed the series up to then, but "Objects in Space" really upped the bar with some impressive cinematography, character development and overall awesomeness. It's the first time we see River truly develop as a character and not just be the resident crazy person/brainwashed killer. Jubal Early was also a really interesting antagonist, I wish we'd gotten to see more of him. If the show had been allowed to continue to develop on this level I believe it could easily have become truly brilliant. As it is, I feel like the final line of the final episode managed to perfectly sum up the fate of the show as a whole:
Spoiler (click to read)
"And here I am, just floatin' through space..."
Arrow
Having seen about half of the first season, I'm liking it so far. It does have something of a rough start, and the acting is often quite wooden (Laurel in particular), especially in the beginning, but it definitely gets better as it goes along. Being somewhat familiar with DC, I've picked up a fair amount of the references/names so far, and I'm really interested to see how they'll develop. The backstory of the notebook(s), Malcolm and Oliver's mother, and Oliver's stay on the island are particularly interesting.
Spoiler (click to read)
I knew that the series would feature Deathstroke in some capacity as soon as I saw the guy with the orange/black mask in the island flashbacks, but the reveal of Slade Wilson still surprised me. Interestingly, it's Bill Wintergreen, his partner, who loses the same eye that Deathstroke in the comics is missing--though at this point Bill is supposedly dead...
I'm a bit surprised that Deadshot was killed off after only one episode, given that he's a pretty major DC character. I also found the episodes involving Helena Bertinelli a bit disappointing. It felt incredibly cliched that Oliver and Helena would near instantly fall in love after finding out they're both vigilantes, despite them fundamentally disagreeing in their methods, only to fall out again for the same reason. It would have been much more interesting to stretch this arc out for several episodes and have them just be friends, instead of randomly throwing this in for two episodes and then suddenly have her disappear without explanation.
Though, they seem to have taken a similar approach with the character of Felicity Smoke, and I'm really enjoying her character. I like that she's refusing to help Arrow and Diggle, beyond finding Walter instead of outright joining them upfront, it adds some variety to the characters (though I suspect she will become a "permanent" member of the team eventually). I'm also interested to see how the Roy Harper thing will develop. Thea's nickname of "Speedy" is obviously intentional, and it seems deliberate that Roy wears a red hoodie when we first see him.
All in all, while the beginning is pretty rough, the concept is really interesting and it definitely has potential to get better (and indeed is improving), and I'm certainly interested in continuing.
Last edited by Mr Vertigo (March 27, 2015 (07:33pm))
Retribution (3rd place in BRAWL 2015)&Smeagol make the most of being surrounded by single, educated women your own age on a regular basis in college
AquaMorph I dunno women are expensive
