Fall Season TV Review: Sleepy Hollow

I really didn't have high expectations for Sleepy Hollow. For one thing, every time I saw a synopsis of it I thought, haven't we done this before? It wasn't even just that it was a story about Sleepy Hollow, there's a ton of those already, but that everybody kept talking about it being a mix of a period piece and a modern police drama but not explaining HOW. I'm going to go ahead and call that bad marketing. That is not remotely a good description of the show, as it turns out. Basically, Ichabod Crane actually is the man who beheads a horseman, and then the both of them are buried and come back to life in modern day America. Of course, now he has to deal with 2,000 years of culture shock AND a headless horseman.

It's got a few parts fish out of water, a couple parts vast apocalyptic backstory, put in a dash of conspiracy theories, a couple cups of buddy cop comedy, and at least one helping of "main characters who don't follow orders" drama. And it's predictable as all get out, because it doesn't just follow one formula, it follows them ALL.

And I really liked it.

Every time a character showed up you could peg almost everything that was going to happen to them before the end of the episode. The only surprise was when Abbie (the female lead) reveals her "tragic backstory that connects her to the main storyline and also reveals that something has been up with her all along and her mentor knew it but kept it from her" in the first episode.

There was a brief moment of playing "dead or bad guy" with one character, but it would be spoilers to explain to you how that worked out. But the thing was, I didn't care that I knew everything that was going to happen and could practically quote the show before the characters actually said their lines. Between the actors and the directing (and some seriously good art design) I just wanted to go along for the ride anyway.

Abbie is fantastic, she's easily one of my favorite characters on TV in a long time. She's having none of anybody's crap, and somehow the Nicole Beharie doesn't make that a stereotype. Ichabod is snarky and amusing, and he could come off really insufferable in the hands of a different actor, but Tom Mison makes it work. I cringed when the conversation between the two inevitably turned to slavery, expecting such a cliche and some really overly sappy remarks. Instead they both traded some sarcasm and Abbie threatened to shoot him, and he basically shrugged and said "alright, stranger things have happened today."

I didn't even get that obnoxious anachronistic feeling of "too enlightened for his time" that period romance novels tend to fall into so that you can like the main character even though traditionally they'd believe some things we now view as horrible. I'm sure history majors are clutching their remotes and flinging things at the screen, no doubt, but I could let it go.

I was also quite wary because Kurtzman and Orci have had some pretty big missteps when it comes to movies lately (don't get me started) and their welcome was wearing a little thin. But maybe tv is their natural home, because I'm sold on it and I'll definitely be watching.

Winged Reviews: The Last Olympian

My newest review is up at Winged Reviews, see why The Last Olympian is my favorite of the Camp Half Blood books!

Hex

Normally, I review seasons of tv shows, mostly because I watch them too quickly to really do much else. This time I'm reviewing about two and a half episodes, because that's all it took before I gave up. I'm tempted to say the fan equivalent of "it's not you, it's me." Maybe Hex wasn't for me. Maybe it wasn't the right time. But really, while there are some things the show had going for it, in the end it was just too much of a big mush. There are shows that have recovered from such lackluster opening episodes, even shows with terrible first AND second seasons that then become great. I never really got the sense that Hex was one of those, and that's why I watched until something distracted me and never put the disc back in the dvd player.

The acting is good, and I think that's why I ended up with this in my Netflix queue in the first place was that several of the actors are more well known for other things (most notably Michael Fassbender, though he's really neither here nor there for me, just recognizable). The school principle is actually Colin Salmon, who I've really loved on Arrow this season. He was definitely the highlight of the episodes I watched.

But the actors can't really rise above the material or the general tone of the production. The story is a mishmash of old tropes and cliches that I've seen a million times before. Oh, the rich white woman is sleeping with a slave and she's fallen into using Voodoo! She uses it to summon a demon! The manor where she did the summoning has now been turned into something where impressionable young women are available to reenact the whole story, this time a boarding school! The main character is drawn to the demon because he's a sexy, sexy man but he's dangerous so she also has to stop him, or does she? I'm already bored.

That's not even mentioning the fact that the show has a preoccupation with sex that could have been interesting if it was done in anything other than the most exploitative and cliche way it possibly could have been.

Basically, the only thing in the first few episodes that made me take notice was when they killed off a main character that I wasn't expecting would die, but then she came back as a ghost immediately so meh.

I read a summary of what happens in the show in later episodes and I really think I made the right call. If I had continued watching it and saw those things happen after I'd invested time and energy I might have broken something and my dvd player has enough problems.

The Last Unicorn Screening Tour

Last week on August 12th I was lucky enough to attend one of the screenings of the amazing new Last Unicorn Screening Tour. When they announced the tour last year, I was hoping that they would bring it to D.C. since most events like this come my way eventually. And they didn't disappoint, one of their first stops was The AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The tour is really fantastic for people who are fans of the movie, and I would suggest to anyone who is a fan of fantasy or animation as well. Or even 1980's movies, since it was shown as part of a retro 80's lineup at AFI. They're actually showing a brand new digital print of the film, so it's clearer and more gorgeous than has been seen on screens since 1982 when it premiered. I actually asked my mom and she told me that we didn't go see it in the theater when it came out, so this was my first time seeing it on the big screen. It was very beautiful, and like all good films there are a lot of things that you'll probably discover that you'd never noticed before.

The best part though is that the author, Peter S. Beagle, was there to do a Q&A session after the show as well as sign items and meet fans both before and after the film. I've actually met Beagle before, several years ago at Dragoncon in Atlanta, Georgia. I bought a new copy of his first book, A Fine and Private Place, and spoke to him for a while about why I loved it and how it reminded me of some very specific good memories. Meeting him was one of my favorite experiences at that convention, because he really took the time to talk and came across as a very genuine and charming person. But I had been under the assumption that I had been lucky to come to his table when there wasn't a line, and that's why I got the personal attention.

I learned last week that this wasn't the case, it's actually that Beagle is always wonderful to his fans. He will take the time to talk to you, learn a bit about you, tell you a story, and make you feel like the most important person in the entire line. This time we talked about screenwriting, and he gave me the best piece of advice about the film industry I've ever heard: "Just be patient. If you're patient, you'll outlive the bastards." It's my new motto.

Photo from lastunicorntour.com

The Q&A was also wonderful, he spoke about several other books he had written and his experiences throughout the years as an author. I hadn't realized how many different types of writing he had done, or how often his works have been adapted to other formats. I really enjoyed him telling a story about why he wrote "Come Lady Death." Apparently, he was in a writing workshop with someone who hated fantasy in all it's forms. When another woman wrote a fantasy story, this other member of the group ripped into it simply because of it's genre. So Beagle went home and wrote the best fantasy story that he could to submit for the next week. He said that the other gentleman grumpily told him it was a well written story, but that he hated it anyway. "He also taught me that I could write a story in a day and a half if I was angry enough."

I've had some similar experiences in writing workshops, so I definitely appreciated the sentiment.

There was also a raffle and giveaways of I think five or six items, mostly copies of Beagle's books. I didn't win anything but I was okay with that because the bulk of what was given away I already owned (and I had several in my bag at that very moment to get signed later).

The tour is going to be in Southern California next, and some of the shows are sold out but you can still get tickets to a few at the tour's website. I spoke briefly with Connor Cochran of Conlan Press and he said that they hope to return to many of the cities where they've brought the tour because often people have found out about the screenings too late to get tickets, and they've been sold out in quite a few cities. So keep your eyes peeled, they may come to your city and if you missed it they might come back and give you a second chance. It's well worth it. Just make sure you give yourself plenty of time for the autograph line, so that everybody gets their one on one time (including you!)

Winged Reviews: The Sea of Monsters!

Be sure to check out my latest review on Winged Reviews, The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan!

Winged Reviews!

Hello!

So, I'm thrilled to announce that I'm now working with my good friend Daphne as a full time reviewer at her website, Winged Reviews!

Winged Reviews is a blog focused on young adult fiction, which is one of my favorite genres. My first set of reviews is going to be of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. But you can read my intro post right now!

You might wonder what this means for this blog, and really the impact will be minimal. I've not been keeping to my schedule for the last few weeks because of a lot of stuff going on at home, but this month should mark a return to form:
Tuesdays: Opinion column
Wednesdays: Television review (either series or episodes, depending on what I'm watching at the time)
Thursdays: Movie review (classic films and new releases)

The only difference is I may not post a new book review every month like the previous schedule, I may direct you back to Winged Reviews for those or if I've read a book that doesn't fit there I might review it here. It'll be a bonus instead of a scheduled feature. That part I'm just going to play by ear until I find the right pattern.

But for now, you should be over at Winged Reviews checking it out!

Book Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series

I've really been meaning to read the Percy Jackson books for years. Two years ago, I actually ended up trying to pass some time in a hotel room while I was on a business trip and the first movie happened to be on. Now, I really didn't have any expectations for the movie, the reviews of it weren't that good and the people I knew who liked the books weren't particularly thrilled by it either. But there was nothing else on and I was rather bored and homesick, so I watched it and I actually thought it was quite pretty. It was enough to make me more certain I wanted to read the books anyway, but I still didn't get around to it.

Then they recently released the first trailers for the second film, The Sea of Monsters. And it reminded me that I wanted to read the books so I finally got it together to read them. Plus I really wanted something fun, simple, and quick. I expected to only read the first one but I ended up reading all five over one weekend.

I really enjoyed these books, even though it might have been easier to read them if I hadn't seen the first movie at all. Because it's a bit hard to remind yourself that Percy is only 12 in the first book, and not 16 like he is in the movie (I don't know what age he actually is, he looks 16). So some of his actions and behaviors are bit dumb unless you remember that he's 12.

The books take a very modern sensibility towards the mythology they include, and so don't except to get some sort of really good education on Greek myths. But it's understandable, in the story itself, how and why that is. Olympus changes as the world changes, that's part of the point, and the gods and monsters adapt to the world they live in. So I really liked the way things were done, because I enjoy the Greek myths but I feel like not a lot of people want to really take any liberties with them anymore.

But my favorite thing about these books was that all of the characters, both the good guys and the bad guys, had complex motivations. Except perhaps Kronos, even the villains were partially right about what was wrong with the world they reside in, it's just that their choices to deal with those motivations are wrong. And Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are often conflicted and confused, and sometimes they make the right choices for the wrong reasons or the wrong choices for the right reasons. In the end, the war is between two sides that both have very valid points to make and that's the kind of complexity that most young adult books don't bother with.

There are a few things that are very "middle school reader" about them, notably Percy's inability to deal with girls and how that's written into the story. But as much as I might roll my eyes at his obliviousness, he's never really maliciously stupid about anything, he's just young and written that way. Normally I'm the first to say that "he's just a 14-year-old boy" is no excuse for a character being stupid and being badly written, because a main character in any fiction shouldn't be held to the same standards as a real person, otherwise why bother reading about them? I don't forgive some of Harry Potter for this, and I hold Legend of Korra on a much lower level because of the way they handled it. But Percy never crossed over into being poorly written, just being a little bit complicated. I especially thought the way they handled the portion with Calypso was really well done.

I also liked that this was, in a sense, a series about how parents actually aren't always right. Sometimes parents are jerks, and sometimes they mean well but they still do stupid things that aren't good for their children. Sometimes they're just doing the best they can. I can see how some parents would be bothered by the idea, but I think it's good to teach kids that their parents don't always have all the answers, and they're not always right, and sometimes they're still thinking of things in the past instead of the future. But even thought family is complicated, it's family.

Overall, a very good series and I'm looking forward to the new series being finished so I can pick those up.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I feel like the internet has already written libraries worth of reviews and commentary about this movie before I even got a chance to see it. So I'm not entirely sure what I can add that hasn't been said. First though, I should point out that I have not actually read The Hobbit and so this review is from the perspective of someone who has read none of the books, but did greatly enjoy the Lord of the Rings films. I'm not unfamiliar with Tolkien's world, the assistant manager at the bookstore where I worked when Fellowship came out was the "read every book every year" type. I would ask him questions about Middle-Earth and he would tell me all about it. But I discovered that I had a lot more fun hearing Kyle tell me about the world than I did actually reading the books.

Also, I have a rule that is opposite most people: if I haven't read the book when they announce a film version I want to see, then I won't read it until after I've seen the movie. I've found that for me at least, it helps me to distinguish the two as different art forms and go into the movie with a more open mind. I almost always pick up the book afterwards if the movie is good or the storyline is interesting, but I wait so that I can judge the movie in it's own merits.

Which is why even though I've been told that The Hobbit is a more fun read than The Lord of the Rings, I haven't picked it up yet because I knew they'd get around to making a movie. Apparently this was the right choice, because a lot of people seem pretty upset about changes that were made. I can't analyze that, so this is how I felt going into this almost completely fresh:

Wow, that movie was beautiful and really, really long.

There's just nothing else you can come out of it thinking, really. Every frame is absolutely stunning (except perhaps a few of the effects that were somehow not as well made/rendered as the previous films). The acting is top notch, from every single actor. They are giving it their all, and that is a great achievement for them and for Peter Jackson as a director.

The set design is fabulous, the cinematography is gorgeous. There is a lot to like, and I did in fact like the movie. I did like it, this is not me saying I hated it.

But this is me saying that the script needed another draft and the editing was not particularly great. I'd be intrigued to see if fans are going to make an edit after it comes out on DVD, because I think if you gave me a couple days I could probably chop 30-45 minutes out of the movie without changing the story. The only thing that would change would be the pace, and with it the tone. If scenes didn't drag, then you'd feel more tense and anxious about the events. And if the movie didn't have twelve endings, maybe you'd feel worried for our heroes when they're cornered in the climax, rather than thinking "AGAIN? ALREADY?"

I get that it's an adventure story, but how poorly thought out was this quest that they're in mortal danger just trying to walk through a field? Sure, the world is dangerous. But there's not a pause anywhere in between the long and drawn out battles and danger. When you maintain a level of tension too long, it has the opposite effect of what you want, you get used to it and you get bored. Add on the fact that it felt like many of the shots were direct references to the earlier films, and you don't have as much excitement as you could.

I don't want this movie to be Lord of the Rings in tone or in story. But I do want it to be like those films in the fundamental ways that made them great. I wanted it to give us characters first, and action next. I wanted more interpersonal relationships. I mean come on, we all know Fili and Kili could have been more great than they were, the seeds were there, there just wasn't enough follow through.

I'm hoping that since the post-production hasn't been finished on the second two films that Jackson goes back to the cutting room and starts snipping. It wasn't even about scenes that were unneeded (though there were some of those) it was about how every scene went on a little too long. They just need to trim some heads and tails, and it would be so much better.

Like I said, I liked the movie, I'll be seeing the next two in theaters for sure. I just like my films a bit shorter.

Face Off on SyFy

I pretend that I can say "I don't watch a lot of reality tv" but the truth is I do. It's just mostly I watch the shows where it's talent or art based, where there's an elimination after a challenge each week. Project Runway, Top Chef, that kind of thing.

Since I'm a filmmaker, and a sci-fi fan, the show Face Off seems tailor made for me. Because this format of reality show has been around so long, there are a lot of them that are getting to a point where they're just silly and almost nonsense. Mostly that's because of the contestants and the challenges. The contestants aren't artisans, they're reality wannabes, and the challenges aren't artistic they're just crazy. Look to the quickfire challenges on Top Chef. Last week they made everybody make a dish with a product placement item AND they all had to share one knife AND the dish had to be something that related to their heritage. Television Without Pity rightfully called that out as a bit overwrought.

Face Off doesn't really replicate exactly the experience of a professional makeup artist. There's not really a way to do that in a competition, that would be more of a documentary. But they do manage to come close, and while I don't really understand the judge's tastes half the time the show does show actual talented artists being talented.

Special effects makeup is no joke, and it's much harder than most people think it is. Last month I had to make a short film in a limited amount of time, and the story required the lead to have her knees skinned and bleeding. I had to do the effect myself and I'd say I probably spent more time on that than I did writing the script.

The show also doesn't spend a lot of time focusing on silly drama and setting up stupid moments for people to get angry at each other. Sometimes these moments happen, but if you've ever had a job you know working together is tough. The challenges themselves are usually pretty good, though there were a few this season that didn't really let the makeup artists shine, like the Dr. Seuss challenge. While it might seem like the dancing challenges, or the underwater stuff is a stretch the fact is the makeups that these people will be doing will have to go through a really difficult process to actually get on film.

The only thing I would change, if I was in charge, would be to actually have a few challenges where the makeups have to be actually shot in film lighting. Frequently something looks too cheesy to really work. Obviously the judges are experienced enough to understand the way something would look under proper film lighting. But the audience doesn't have that skill, and I think it would really help to see the difference. Also, because I love anything that helps a regular audience understand more about the skills it takes to make a good film. It's hard for people to really get lighting and gaffing but this would be cool.

In this last season, there was a bit of a controversy where they eliminated a contestant and then had a small competition to bring someone back. When that contestant started doing well, sometimes staying instead of beloved fan favorites, a lot of people started saying she was out and it was unfair for her to come back. I think that's pretty ridiculous, since bringing back an eliminated contestant is an old trope in the reality tv world. Almost every show I watch has done it, and Top Chef has made an entire extra show about it called Last Chance Kitchen. This season, the winner of that will actually be put back in the competition during the finals.

So at the end of the day, when that contestant was brought back, she earned her spot and she earned her wins after that as well. But I guess nothing makes people complain more when their favorites get eliminated, I know I still haven't forgiven Project Runway for a few things.

Long story short - this is a great show and even if you're only tangentially interested in how movies are made, make-up, or sci-fi you should absolutely be watching when it comes back in January.

Random side note, writing a review like this without giving away spoilers is way too hard.

Once Upon a Time: Final Part!

Read Part One Here Read Part Two Here Read Part Three Here Here's the last installment of my reviews of Once Upon a Time. Next week, I'll explain why I gave up on the show Revenge halfway through and switched to watching Supernatural. Heart of Darkness: I was very happy with this episode, because it really started the plot moving somewhere and because the show was letting itself stay in that dark mood it had gotten into with Red-Handed. Everything in this episode is about building on the fact that Rumpelstiltskin has a very long plan in mind for everyone and he's been playing everybody at every moment from the beginning. Even if I wasn't already invested in seeing how Rumpel and Belle worked out, I'd be in it just to see what game he's playing. Sadly I knew it was probably too much to hope that the show continued on this theme.

Hat Trick: My best friend commented about this episode that the story was interesting and Jefferson was an interesting character but where the hell had he been all this time? I completely agree. This episode just proved over again that the show has no sense of it's own cannon and they're not even trying to make things make sense half the time. We're supposed to have this small, close-knit town that only has one cop and never bothers to hold elections for Mayor (yes, I know, part of the curse) but that there can be a mansion on the edge of town that is still close enough to town to see things through a telescope and nobody's mentioned it before?

Yeah, yeah, magic telescope. But land without magic, right? I just can't make it make sense. And because of this episode I started questioning every single logical inconsistency in the whole show. Like, how is Henry aging if time is stopped? How has he not noticed that he's growing and he's with a different group of school kids every year because they're still 8 years old and he's 9 now?

Anyway, I liked the way they bring in the Wonderland mythos, and I actually was okay with Regina in this episode because she was just being a general unstoppable bitch queen and that was cool by me.

Unfortunately, Emma is still doing her whole "Lalala, I'm not listening, I don't believe anything even when people who have nothing to do with this start to say the same things Henry is saying and there's mounting evidence blah blah THIS ISN'T REAL AREN'T YOU LISTENING TO ME??" *sigh* Getting old.

The Stable Boy: I finished watching this episode and all I could think was "you have GOT to be kidding me."

THAT is what's fueling Regina? She's killed countless people, her own father, cursed everyone, destroyed their entire world, because she's holding a grudge against a TEN YEAR OLD? A ten year old who was manipulated by her abusive mother? You blame SNOW instead of your HORRIBLE AND ABUSIVE MOTHER?

Screw Regina, she's one of the worst characters ever put on television. I can't even talk about this episode, it was so stupid.

The Return: Oh thank goodness they're back to Rumpelstiltskin and his story. Especially because this part deals with Bae and finally reveals to us what Rumpel's long game has been all this time. He's created every single step of all of this, creating the curse, convincing Regina to use it, bringing Snow and Charming together, everything has been to bring him back to Bae and we haven't even finished seeing what all he's going to do and I can't wait. Also, seeing Mr. Gold opening up to Archie was amazing and what a brilliant moment for two brilliant actors.

The Stranger: This episode was one of those where I think that it again is showing us that the writers didn't actually have a large plan from the beginning because the way they cover up the differences between the new story (August going through the cabinet) and the original pilot are a bit clunky at best.

Also, August does go about things the wrong freakin' way, but Emma, goodness. I'm so over her. I'm tired of her refusing to listen or even acknowledged anything. She's being stupid and I hate watching characters be stupid repeatedly just because the writers aren't sure how to have somebody gradually come to believe something and grown and change over the course of time. And I hate where they're going with how Emma is dealing with Regina and Henry.

An Apple Red as Blood: I'm just going to start ignoring the plot holes I kept finding in the show by watching it all in such quick succession. I'm glad we're finally to the kick-ass Snow White stuff again, and that Snow is finally told what went wrong to make Regina hate her.

I'm also glad that somebody is finally telling Emma that she's being stupid and not really dealing properly with this feud with Regina and how she's mishandling this if she wants to keep Henry around. Thank you Archie for always being the voice of reason. Also, the second that Regina brought that apple out, did ANYBODY actually think anything different was going to happen with it?

A Land Without Magic: If they had taken this plot and all the revelations and character development in it and stretched it out over five episodes, ditched a few stupid things earlier on, and still ended in the same place this show would have been so much more awesome than it was. But seriously, this is what happens when you don't plan ahead. Showrunners, you need to be Rumpel, not Regina.

Emma believes suddenly because of one throwaway comment that wasn't even all that unusual or strange (but is also completely inexplicable coming from a doctor). What a lame way to deal with that particular necessity. But the payoff for Rumpel's plan and how everything tied together in the end? Perfection. The resolution of his storyline was amazing.

There's a ton of great stuff in this ep. Please, could the second season be a-planned ahead and b-this good and c-focused on Rumpel and Belle with Regina being a side character?

Overview!
So, my general feelings on this whole show! Basically it was a show that has a LOT of promise and the premise is strong. With Jane Espenson involved, I know that it will at least be strong enough for me to watch the second season. But I really want them to go in with a solid plan, this isn't a mythology and a story type that you can just make up as you go. Or at least, not the way they've been doing it. You either need to go full on Babylon 5 or just be early X-Files and go monster of the week. You can't have both, you know?

And I want to see them really step it up when it comes to the art direction. I realize that they're going for the Disney version of these fairy tales. But Belle and even Snow White show that you can do that but not make it cheesy and dumb. And since the show was a hit they can spend a little more money on getting some good wigs this time around I hope.

Once Upon a Time: Part Three

Read Part One Here Read Part Two Here Here's more of me going through each episode of Once Upon a Time with quick reviews of a few sentences each! I'll actually finish this week (probably tomorrow) and next week I'll be posting about the show Revenge. Fruit of the Poisonous Tree: I hated this episode, to be honest. I feel like it was yet another failed attempt to give Regina some dimension and make me think she was as interesting or cool a villain as Rumpel. Sorry, it was just her harping on and on about "Emma, you need to think about RESPONSIBILITY with Henry!!" Shut up already Regina. Also, the fact that Emma falls for the Regina's plot in this ep just makes me want to shake her. I hate watching people do stupid things and embarrass themselves and that's what this entire episode was full of.

Also, the picture we get of the King in the Enchanted Forest doesn't really make him out to be particularly consistent. He shows up and he's this great and wise man who wants nothing more than the health and happiness of the people in his kingdom. But then he's a stupid oaf to his wife (well, kind of, he's just a bit dense really). When he thinks his wife loves somebody else, he goes all jealous and weird. Wait, how does that make any sense with anything we know about him? Yay, inconsistent characterizations!

Skin Deep: Okay, so at this point I'd gone through a lot of episodes that would have made me stop watching a show just to get to this one. I already knew pretty much the entire plot, and thanks to tumblr, I'd seen half of it too in gif form. So I was a little worried that it wouldn't live up to what I had built up in my head.

I was wrong, it was every bit as wonderful as I thought it would be. The acting in it is top notch, and I can even get over how silly it is for Rumpelstiltskin to be sparkly all the time because Robert Carlyle is just amazing. This is exactly what I want from stories like this, a villain with layers and dimensions, who still makes the wrong choices sometimes. Or are they even wrong? He has a reason for turning Belle away, we know him too well to think it's as simple as it seems. Not to mention that it is true, he doesn't believe he can be loved because he loathes himself so much. How powerful is that story?

Kudos to the show for really taking Beauty and the Beast and giving it a good twist and making it so much more interesting and fun to watch. The only problem I have is that we don't get any indication of a reason for Rumpel to believe Regina's story at the end. Why the hell would he take anything she says at face value? Did I miss something?

This is one of the rare cases where I was following the story in the real world as much as the Enchanted Forest. Rumpel's reactions to the theft of his cup were so perfect and so moving. His interactions with Regina made her interesting and made me care. It was just a perfect episode, and I hope that the show realizes this is it's best episode and strives to be like this more often.

What Happened To Frederick: I had absolutely no idea what was going to happen in this episode, as a counterpart to Skin Deep. I didn't have the faintest clue, and I'd never even looked up any spoilers for it. So it was all relatively new to me, which was fun. I quite enjoyed what they did with Abigail/Kathryn and I think it was the best way they could have treated that part of the story. It was a good resolution of a lot of different threads. I actually quite liked Snow's character here, because she has character. She has specific values and she's going to stick to them, despite how drawn she is to David. The only problem I have is the town's reaction to Mary Margaret, which I'll get into in a bit.

Dreamy: Holy cheese on toast on a cracker, talk about flipping things around. Normally I wish we could avoid the real world stories and focus on the fairy tales, and then this happened.

There's a lot about it I could have liked, but SERIOUSLY? First off, let's remind me all over again how stupid the fairy are in this world with their little twirly outfits, so sugar coated and silly that it undermines every single scene they are in. I was okay with the dwarves being hatched from eggs and all that, I could live with it. I even enjoyed Belle's cameo. But the pink sparkly duffle bag of fairy dust and everything else about this just made me roll my eyes repeatedly. It was trying so hard to be serious when it was so ridiculous.

Meanwhile in the real world, Grumpy is quickly becoming my favorite character. Yeah, he does some stupid stuff but it's all understandable. He's honest, he's a realist, but he's also just smitten with somebody and he sometimes says the wrong thing. His resolution to his problem is quite honestly perfect, and I actually cheered when it happened.

However, this episode was also the focus of the "everybody in town is slut shaming Mary Margaret" storyline. It was so stupid. First of all, there's not any indication in any episode that Mary Margaret and David actually did anything more than meet up and make out. They keep saying she had an affair, but it never seemed to me like they were sleeping together, just kissing a lot. Nobody in town even seemed to KNOW Kathryn before David woke up, and they knew Mary Margaret and liked her before this. So their extreme reaction was just painful to watch because it was so unrealistic. I was glad it was resolved quickly because it was stretching it's credibility.

Red-Handed: I knew going in that Red had something cool in her backstory, but I figured as much anyway because there's a wolf in that story and wolves tend to make things pretty cool (with a few notable exceptions). I admit I was about five minutes in before I figured out what the twist was, but I definitely didn't care. Red was awesome, Granny was amazing, and even Snow was pretty impressive. The episode went a lot of places I didn't expect it to go and was pretty gorey for this show. I was disappointed with Ruby's final decision, because I thought they could have gone somewhere more interesting with it. But in the end, it was another really strong episode, and I think it's like Skin Deep, if the show could just be like this all the time it would be really great.

Part Three Overview: This is when the show really won me over into being a fan, instead of being on the fence. But it was because of episodes like Skin Deep and Red-Handed. The side characters were starting to really make a difference and make me love them, but I still don't care about Regina and I still think that the art direction for The Enchanted Forest is designed to keep me from taking the show seriously, and is working against it.

Once Upon a Time: Part 1

Since I've been having so much trouble having enough things to review, I'm going to stop doing this whole "review an entire season at once" thing I've been doing. But at least in this instance, I watched too much of the show at once for me to just do one episode. So we're going to talk about the first part of the first season of Once Upon a Time. We'll go through each episode really quickly and then do a quick overview. Sound good? I hope so because that's what I'm doing. I think it should be obvious, but while I'll try to avoid spoilers a few might end up in there. Spoiler free overview: The first half of this season is slow and takes a LOT of time to get going, but there are at least a couple characters I cared about enough to give it more time.

Pilot: There was JUST enough in the Pilot to keep me watching and not really a lot more. I was instantly a fan of Snow White/Mary Margaret and I wanted to know more about Prince Charming. The thing is that the episode made so little impact on me that I can't even think of things that I can write here about it. It just was a pilot, it set things up. Including the sheer amount of bad wigs we're going to be treated to in the Enchanted Forest.

The Thing You Love Most: As far as I'm concerned, this episode is the only one where I cared about Regina at all. This episode gave me so much hope for her character, because for her to do what she does here then I really want to know more about her back story (at least at this point I did). This episode also really started to set up Gold/Rumpelstiltskin as a character I desperately wanted to know more about. In general, it was because this follow-up episode was so strong that I kept watching the show in general. Especially finding out the link between Mr. Gold and Henry.

Snow Falls: Every bit of interest I had in Regina was pretty much used up in this episode. I was excited to see Snow and Charming in the real world, thinking that perhaps this was going to be a story of him rediscovering himself and they slowly fall back in love with each other. Instead it's Regina again with the "no wait, there's a secret wife so we can have a love triangle" play. Boring. The Enchanted Forest story was really fun and interesting though, and made me like Snow even more.

The Price of Gold: The one thing I noticed right off the bat about this show was that I found Mr. Gold to be a much more fascinating villain than Regina. Regina just kept giving speeches about "responsibility" and how Emma gave up Henry and blah blah. I really didn't care, at all. Though this episode is one that brings out a lot of the plot holes that the show has with their whole "time doesn't move here" piece. Has Ashley been pregnant for 28 years? Was Cinderella still pregnant in the Enchanted Forest when they moved over and that's why? The thing about this show is that the less you're asked to think about the actual system of magic, the easier it is to enjoy.

Anyway, the point of this is that Mr. Gold is still amazing. Rumpelstiltskin's appearance in this episode was so classic and perfect. Emma goes back and forth in this one, but in general she did well and I liked her. And I loved the fact that they're setting up this favor she owes Mr. Gold, they better pay that off well.

That Still Small Voice: The bulk of the Storybrook parts of this episode were so boring and terrible. Regina is back to stomping around and yelling about responsibility and "I'm in charge of this town" while still not being able to think more than a step or two ahead of anything. She can't even out think a ten year old. If I hear her say "Emma, I just want what's best for HENRY" one more time I might scream.

But the Enchanted Forest story about the origins of Jiminy Cricket? WOW. Impressive acting, a dark story, everything about it was really great. Well, except for the Blue Fairy's costume but seriously, that is just something I cannot get over and cannot forgive. How wretched is that thing? But this was another episode that made me keep watching just on the strength of the other characters outside of Regina.

Part One Overview: At this point in the season, I desperately wanted to know more about Snow, Charming, Jiminy, and Rumpelstiltskin. I could take or leave Emma and Henry, I see their importance and I find their relationship interesting but it's already starting to fall into repetitive cycles instead of growing and changing. Snow and Charming are fun and interesting in the Enchanted Forest, but I hate what's going on in Storybrook.

But in the end, as long as there's more Rumpelstiltskin then I'll keep watching the show. Because there's also still a chance that he'll kill Regina and take over so I'll watch for that.

Chalice by Robin McKinley

Robin McKinley's name always catches my eye at the bookstore, but try as I might I've never really fallen in love with her the way so many of my friends have. I didn't enjoy Sunshine very much, and while I found Deerskin to be an enjoyable book, I can't say that it was one that I'll pick up again and again either.

Of course, it was her name that jumped out at me when I saw Chalice at the bookstore too, but it was the beautiful painting on the cover that convinced me it was worth at least reading the inside flap. This didn't seem to be yet another fairy tale retelling, but instead a new world with it's own magic and characters. That finally convinced me to give it a try.

The highest praise that I have for Chalice is that the book takes all the things that I disliked about Sunshine and does them perfectly. It is again a first person narrator, but Mirasol is likable and interesting. She has important things to say and new observations about her surroundings. She learns and changes as the story progresses, but still retains the things that make her a good person and an admirable heroine.

Another thing that Sunshine attempted but didn't quite manage was resisting exposition about the world the story takes place in. Rae spoke matter-of-factly about the things in her life that we would find different and strange, because she didn't find them different or strange. When you use a first person narrator who is supposedly telling their story to a contemporary audience, then they wouldn't explain things that might confuse us because to them it's normal. If I were writing my own life's story right now, I wouldn't stop to explain or describe what a blog is, or email. These things are part of our world and it's taken for granted that everybody knows what they are. If I grew up in a world where man-eating ferns were a way of life, I wouldn't stop to say, "Now, the ferns...they ate people." I would just say, "I almost got caught by a fern that night."

In Chalice, this particular literary style is done exactly as it should be. While we get most of the information about what a Chalice is and how the system works, we're never treated to a history lesson or a flat explanation. Mirasol talks about listening to the "earthlines" but we're never told what they are, who can hear them, or how they work. We find out what we need to do when the earthlines don't behave as they should, and cause a catastrophe.

We learn what a Chalice does because Mirasol is new to the job and afraid she isn't doing it correctly. But because Mirasol is our narrator, we really only learn about the role of the Chalice, and a little about The Master because they are directly linked. But there is an entire political structure, a Circle of people with titles and tasks, that we never really learn about because it doesn't concern Mirasol at the time. What does Talisman do? Or Weatherauger? On the one hand, I desperately want to know, but on the other, if the book had told me it would have rang false.

The story itself is compelling, and it moves at a very fast pace. It isn't told in a strictly linear fashion, because it is more of a memoir, so it jumps from one occasion to another depending on what Mirasol would be remembering or trying to explain. This means that we start with a bit of mystery, some intrigue, and some brilliantly planted moments that come back again and again as the story progresses.

The only qualm I might have had with the book is that is very much a love letter to honey and beekeeping, which I'm sure some people will greatly enjoy. Since I personally don't like the taste of honey, that didn't grab me the way it was probably meant to. But, I have to say, the descriptions of the honey itself are so vivid and enticing that it made me wish that I loved it as much as McKinley seems to. I think that's a testament to the writing.

Chalice is easily the best book by McKinley I've ever read, and one of the best books I've read in a very long time. I hope that she returns to the world, the politics, and the magic system that she's created here so that I can learn more about it, even if she doesn't return to this particular set of characters.