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That's why they call it the blues.
Not so guilty pleasures.
Reviews
Veronica Mars (2004)
Best father/daughter relationship
I watched Veronica Mars quite sporadically when it was on E4, usually after school. A couple of years ago, I decided to order the box set and watch it from start to finish. It was even better than I could ever anticipate. First of all, it's a brilliant neo-noir. The dialogue and voice over narration is smart, quick and full of irony and humour. And the best part is, it is all coming from the mouth of a cute and little blonde. You totally buy it because she's charismatic, compelling and intelligent but best of all she's flawed. Sometimes she makes terrible choices and gets it wrong. I have to say that the show's main strength is Veronica as a character, played wonderfully by Kristen Bell- this role was meant for her.I adore the relationship between her and Keith, so enduring and sweet, it's the emotional centre beneath all of the snarky sarcasm. I know the show has been praised for its feminist undertones, and rightly so, but I think the character of Logan often gets overlooked in that respect. Here is a male character (also a love interest) who isn't conventionally great looking, who looks like a high school student and who isn't hyper-masculine. Okay, he saves Veronica once or twice but generally she's the person saving his @r$e. There is even an episode where it is implied that he literally wet himself out of fear, while being held at gunpoint. Even his tortured, bad boy archetype is acknowledged, with a wry and knowing wink, being constantly referenced. There has been some criticism about the setting and the plot lines being unrealistic. I agree that Neptune, "a town without the middle class", and all that goes on within it, is rather far fetched. The show isn't anchored in the real world. But neither was Buffy. Veronica Mars still deals with real world problems, with universal themes and topical issues. I don't really care that it is highly stylised, too polished, that it is set in sunny California, a world so far removed from our own it may as well be on Mars (puns!). Everyone can relate to being an outsider, to the authority officials being corrupt or just unhelpful, to a culture of date rape and slut shaming, gang violence and to good ol' fashioned financial troubles.
My favourite tiny detail- you see Veronica wearing clothes she has worn before. It's like, "hey look, she wore that jacket a couple of episodes ago. Finally, a teenage girl with a finite wardrobe!"
True Grit (2010)
Brilliant. The best thing the Coens have done so far
I have come away with mixed feelings about a lot of their work. Some of it I like and some of it I don't but, I have to say, I think their True Grit is wonderful! I felt it was simultaneously a real, gritty Western, in and of itself, as well as being a homage. I thought the acting was flawless, especially from the two leads, the setting and cinematography was breathtaking and the dialogue could be quick, witty and very moving. I could not stop looking at Hailee Steinfeld. What great casting! She had the perfect look and attitude for this role. It stirs such deep emotions in me and while I was watching it, I was reminded of watching Badlands for the first time. Of watching The Shawshank Redemption for the first time. The themes are universal, the narrative very simple but I think it's a rare thing and will hopefully become a modern classic. I LOATHE John Wayne and never ever want to see or hear from the original ever again. True Grit is one of my newer favourites and I do NOT have many of those.
Firefly (2002)
An enjoyable watch but not Buffy
Firefly was surprisingly better than I anticipated. I am generally indifferent to Sci-fi (and I do mean real sci-fi with some science involved. I love Buffy but it is not Science Fiction and defining it as such just infuriates me)I've never been able to sit through a whole episode of Star Trek. My childhood memories of Star Wars are quite blurry. Yet, I enjoyed Firefly immensely and managed to watch the entire series and Serenity in a day.
BUT I completely agree that the IMDb rating seems ridiculously high! I don't see how it is better than Buffy, Supernatural, Veronica Mars and Boardwalk Empire. I would give it a very reasonable 7/7.5. We can only base these scores off what the show was not what it could have been. I imagine that over several seasons it would have developed into something brilliant and unfortunately there just isn't enough character development or back-story. Having said that, there are some phenomenal characters in Firefly such as Mal and Kaylee. Although, if you're looking for impossibly attractive people this series is lacking.
It really is noteworthy how much of an impact this short-lived series has had. Overall, I'm left with an overwhelming impression of promise, infancy and incompleteness. Worth watching.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997)
Emotional attachment x 100000000
Into every generation, a TV series is born: one show in all the world, an awesome one. It alone will give us the strength and skill to fight medically inaccurate medical dramas, police procedurals which ALWAYS follow the same procedure and 90210. To stop the spread of this evil and diminish their ratings. That show is Buffy.
In the 90's, Joss Whedon created a cultural icon. Miniature Buffy's can now be bought on Ebay. Bookshops now sell the comic book continuation of the series. Academics reference Buffy in university lectures. There is now a such thing as 'Buffy Studies'.(We will ignore the excruciating 86 minutes of Kirsty Swanson's "acting", it was tantamount to Waterboarding)Sounds familiar, you say? The same thing can be said for Batman, Superman and Spider-Man. Except, there is one important difference; Buffy is teenage girl. This quote, from Spike, in the episode Touched, says a lot about the kind of hero Buffy is.
"You listen to me. I've been alive a bit longer than you, and dead a lot longer than that. I've seen things you couldn't imagine, and done things I'd prefer you didn't. Don't exactly have a reputation for being a thinker. I follow my blood, which doesn't exactly rush in the direction of my brain. I've made a lot of mistakes. A lot of wrong bloody calls. A hundred plus years, and there's only one thing I've ever been sure of: you ... Here, look at me. I'm not asking you for anything. When I say "I love you", it's not because I want you, or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are. What you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand, with perfect clarity, exactly what you are. You're a hell of a woman. You're the One, Buffy."
If you have written Buffy off to be a load of feminist crap with a ludicrous title, well, you'd only be right. Minus the crap part. The show also offers violent, dramatic and well choreographed fight sequences, witty dialogue and popular cultural references, some diverse and beloved character, subtext (both subtle and obvious) and well- thought out story arches with a BIG finale. Most importantly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer gives us ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, people who don't give up trying until literally the end of the world. In Buffyverse,to quote Abraham Lincoln, we have faith that right makes might.
Having watched Buffy religiously in my childhood, I revisited it this year and realised just how much of the shows deeper meaning and metaphor I missed in my innocence. Now when I watch my box set not only am I visited by a deep and aching nostalgia but I have a new appreciation for the humour and innuendo I could not understand as a child. The show really is a something you should not be deprived of due to misconceptions or stubbornness. However, if you are looking for a series overview, this one feels the most fitting.
Buffy Anne Summers
1997-2003
She saved the world a lot.