Witches of East End Thoughts
Mar. 1st, 2014 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaI'm actually quite enjoying it.
I'd read a comment a while back about how it was all about romance, and the women only talked about their relationships/guys and there was no real focus on their relationships which really put me off trying the series. Now having watched three episodes I have to wonder what show that person watched. I mean things could change and it could still end up going in that direction but thus far I'm pretty pleased with what we've gotten. Maybe it's just a case of lowered expectations.
But thus far I've felt like there has been a lot of emphasis on the relationship between the family. Sure, Freya's main storyline is firmly about her love triangle but Ingrid's is more about her feelings about magic and her trying to deal with the consequences of the spell she cast. And neither Joanna or Wendy have a romantic storyline yet and are all about family and dealing with the central mystery of who is trying to kill them. Their main relationship issue is with each other. Every episode has had various combinations of the family interacting in ways and about things other than romance/guys.
Some thoughts:
• I really am enjoying the relationships between the four of them. Joanna/Wendy feels the strongest thus far and I find them the most interesting but I also really like Wendy's interactions with her nieces, especially Ingrid, and the Joanna/Freya relationship. The weakest thus far I think are Joanna/Ingrid and Ingrid/Freya. With the latter, while they've had a fair number of scenes I don't really have a handle on their relationship like I do some of the others and it'd be nice for them to get more focus.
• I like the family curses and just their existence because it adds an interesting layer instead of just 'witches'. Joanna's curse in particular is pretty fascinating (if creepy).
• I like how Joanna's reactions make complete sense. Her being in denial about how extreme the danger was and determinedly all anti-magic makes complete sense. She's lived dozens of lives, only to lose her daughters at a young age because of their magic use, and has then been forced to do everything over again. And again, and again. Her trying to break the cycle by attempting a life without magic and then clinging to living without magic so hard even with danger around really made character sense to me. I mean she says it herself - this is the longest her daughters have ever lived.
• I love that thus far every time one of their lives has been in danger they have either saved themselves (Freya) or been saved by one of the others (Freya, Ingrid, Joanna).
• I don't really have much of an opinion on Freya/Dash vs Freya/Killian. Except maybe a wish that they would take up less screen time though I don't really mind the storyline. As far as them as characters right now I like Dash.
Episode 3:
• I liked that Joanna knew that Wendy had been teaching the girls magic behind her back and yet wasn't angry about it.
• I liked Ingrid being so focused on trying to save the person she inadvertently doomed and trying the spell despite Wendy's admonishments not to.
• I loved that Wendy didn't just accept that Ingrid wouldn't try the spell like she appeared to and followed Ingrid to the library.
• I'm calling it now: Adam is totally a goner. I can't believe that Ingrid would pursue a relationship with him, regardless of whether she bought the whole 'live in the moment' mantra her aunt was pushing, considering the giant sword hanging over everyone's heads.
I'd read a comment a while back about how it was all about romance, and the women only talked about their relationships/guys and there was no real focus on their relationships which really put me off trying the series. Now having watched three episodes I have to wonder what show that person watched. I mean things could change and it could still end up going in that direction but thus far I'm pretty pleased with what we've gotten. Maybe it's just a case of lowered expectations.
But thus far I've felt like there has been a lot of emphasis on the relationship between the family. Sure, Freya's main storyline is firmly about her love triangle but Ingrid's is more about her feelings about magic and her trying to deal with the consequences of the spell she cast. And neither Joanna or Wendy have a romantic storyline yet and are all about family and dealing with the central mystery of who is trying to kill them. Their main relationship issue is with each other. Every episode has had various combinations of the family interacting in ways and about things other than romance/guys.
Some thoughts:
• I really am enjoying the relationships between the four of them. Joanna/Wendy feels the strongest thus far and I find them the most interesting but I also really like Wendy's interactions with her nieces, especially Ingrid, and the Joanna/Freya relationship. The weakest thus far I think are Joanna/Ingrid and Ingrid/Freya. With the latter, while they've had a fair number of scenes I don't really have a handle on their relationship like I do some of the others and it'd be nice for them to get more focus.
• I like the family curses and just their existence because it adds an interesting layer instead of just 'witches'. Joanna's curse in particular is pretty fascinating (if creepy).
• I like how Joanna's reactions make complete sense. Her being in denial about how extreme the danger was and determinedly all anti-magic makes complete sense. She's lived dozens of lives, only to lose her daughters at a young age because of their magic use, and has then been forced to do everything over again. And again, and again. Her trying to break the cycle by attempting a life without magic and then clinging to living without magic so hard even with danger around really made character sense to me. I mean she says it herself - this is the longest her daughters have ever lived.
• I love that thus far every time one of their lives has been in danger they have either saved themselves (Freya) or been saved by one of the others (Freya, Ingrid, Joanna).
• I don't really have much of an opinion on Freya/Dash vs Freya/Killian. Except maybe a wish that they would take up less screen time though I don't really mind the storyline. As far as them as characters right now I like Dash.
Episode 3:
• I liked that Joanna knew that Wendy had been teaching the girls magic behind her back and yet wasn't angry about it.
• I liked Ingrid being so focused on trying to save the person she inadvertently doomed and trying the spell despite Wendy's admonishments not to.
• I loved that Wendy didn't just accept that Ingrid wouldn't try the spell like she appeared to and followed Ingrid to the library.
• I'm calling it now: Adam is totally a goner. I can't believe that Ingrid would pursue a relationship with him, regardless of whether she bought the whole 'live in the moment' mantra her aunt was pushing, considering the giant sword hanging over everyone's heads.
