In the wider world there were several terrible acts in the lead-up to Christmas, events containing horror that is difficult to articulate and almost too appalling to mention in a blog that's mainly concerned with dissecting TV shows. I feel it would be inappropriate to discuss them in any great detail on this particular forum; suffice to say that you know of what I'm speaking, and that my thoughts and prayers were with the victims over this holiday season.
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It was a quiet Christmas on this side of the world, but a pleasant one. I got a nice hoard of pressies: a tote bag that references my all-time favourite passage ("a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction"), an illustrated copy of The Secret Garden (my favourite book, and Inga Moore's artwork suits it perfectly), Wake by Elizabeth Knox (steadily becoming one of my favourite NZ authors), season one of Arrow on DVD, a Christmas decoration from a set that I've been collecting for several years now, and a silk scarf (between this and the bag, no prizes for guessing what my favourite colour is).
Oh, and we had a FANTASTIC Christmas dinner courtesy of Aunt Judith:
But perhaps my three best Christmas presents were what my favourite TV shows deigned to give me. Namely:
1. Korrasami becoming canon.
I was on a high for an entire week – which isn't actually as much fun as it sounds. I kept waking up in the middle of the night and finding it impossible to get back to sleep because I was so pumped with adrenaline. It's still difficult to believe Bryke actually went through with this, and it's going to be an excruciating wait for any comic book continuation.
2. Teaser trailer for Orphan Black.
With The Legend of Korra coming to an end, new shows are vying for attention as "much watch" material, and Orphan Black is at the top of my list. I'll admit that the second season was a bit of a step down from the first, but as long as Tatiana Maslany is juggling half-a-dozen characters who each have depth and complexity and their own unique strength, then I'll be right there to watch it.
3. Shirtless Colin Morgan in bed.
Hey, I can be shallow. (And yes, I deliberately chose a screen-cap with Gillian Anderson in it. His character slept with a woman in her forties. Get over it and stop erasing her!)
Things that happened in 2014
I live a very quiet life, so there's nothing that really stands out in the grand scheme of things, but I did manage to wrangle myself an interview with Laini Taylor (author of Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy) and travel to Sydney with my friend to see Wicked (the first big holiday I've had in years).
The Hobbit trilogy came to a close; not necessarily in a disappointing manner, but simply as the final instalment in a tale I never felt all that invested in. Perhaps that is the greater disappointment, as my early twenties pretty much revolved around the original trilogy, and yet the ending credits of The Battle of the Five Armies was met with a nonchalant little "huh" from me.
The final season of The Legend of Korra and the second season of The Fall were aired, and ended being perfect mirror-images of each other in regards to my response to them. After a rough start to Korra, it ultimately left me in total euphoria; whereas after a strong beginning and even better build-up to The Fall, the final five minutes left me incredibly frustrated. Hopefully my review on The Fall will be up soon so I can discuss it all in greater detail.
Sleepy Hollow on the other hand, was more of a disappointment, having exchanged its spooky atmosphere and twisty plotting with standard Monster of the Week plots and too much emphasis on characters and relationships no one really cared about.
Likewise, I don't regret calling it quits with Once Upon a Time, though I haven't discounted tuning in again if Mulan, Aurora or Ruby make a return.
I'm still picking my way through Arrow, and may watch Reign when season two comes to a close, although certain creative decisions have certainly caused a severe waning of interest (if you're familiar with either of those shows, I'm sure you know what I'm referring to).
Oh, and my thoughts on the Doctor Who and Downton Abbey Christmas Specials should be up soon(ish).
But my one regret is that I didn't read nearly as many books as I wanted to. My Amazon.com ranking fell from the Top 500, and I've yet to make my big comeback.
Things to look forward to in 2015
The second season of The Musketeers. I don't have to wait long, and despite my casual tendency to avoid dude-centric stories, I make an exception for The Musketeers due to its commitment to diversity and genuine regard for its female characters. It didn't start off that way, with three women killed off in as many episodes, but it has since been filled with interesting and likeable women who are treated with respect by the narrative and the main characters, and who are all given important roles to play in the unfolding story.
Even its villain, the quintessential Femme Fatale that is Milady, is portrayed with far more complexity than her original author allowed. The show does not excuse her crimes, but certainly given her enough backstory for the audience to see that much of what she does is down to sheer survival.
Peter Capaldi jumping ship to Doctor Who is a loss, but hopefully Marc Warren as Rochefort will fill his shoes nicely.
The premiere of Agent Carter. Of all the Marvel women (perhaps with the exception of Black Widow) it's Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter who has risen as the most popular of the franchise – or at least has managed to avoid fandom ire, unlike Natalie Portman's Jane Foster. I suspect at least part of this has to do with the fact that Steve's Time Skip means she's no permanent impediment to any major slash ships (I'm dreading the backlash against Sharon), but hey – if it results in her own show, I don't much care what the reasons for fandom's appreciation is.
The previews have demonstrated there's going to be an eye on feminist issues of the time (woman being ousted from work in order to give returning veterans their jobs) and as someone pointed out on some post or other, in this context Steve plays the part of Peggy's Lost Lenore, whose death inspires her to (eventually) found S.H.I.E.L.D. HE got stuffed in the fridge for HER development. That's a neat inversion of how these things usually roll.
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. This seven-part miniseries is based on one of my favourite books and feels like it's been in production for years. I don't think they've given it an official release date yet, only that it'll finally air in the coming year. Given the sheer volume of Susanna Clarke's novel, I'm already foreseeing a lot of material will be cut, but as long as my two favourites – Stephen Black and Arabella Strange – are given their due, I'll be happy. Besides, Faerie and the Napoleonic Wars? How can you go wrong with that?
Penny Dreadful. The teaser trailer was released just the other day!
The first season completely blew me away, particularly Eva Green as Vanessa Ives, a role that finally does her intensity, beauty and sheer talent justice. It was notable for being a veritable buffet of Gothic tropes, and the combination of story-arcs and characters from Frankenstein, Dracula and Dorian Gray worked far better than it had any right to.
It was dark and beautiful and mysterious and grotesque and I loved nearly every second of it. Just give us a bit more Sembene and we're all set!
Angel Coulby's next project. I'm not sure what it will be (and I'm not counting her voice-work in the upcoming Thunderbirds), but she's been lying low for a while, and whatever she does next will definitely be on my watch-list. Here's hoping that she doesn't take nearly two years to re-emerge like... others did.
Plus an early birthday present: tickets to my guiltiest of all guilty pleasures – Andrew Lloyd Weber's The Phantom of the Opera. It's FINALLY coming to Christchurch, and I'll get to see it for myself in May.
So happy New Year everyone; here's hoping that 2015 will take more steps forward than it does back.
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