Hellcats and Haven Thoughts
Sep. 11th, 2010 09:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaHellcats 1x01 ‘A World Full of Strangers’
This episode had some issues, and I think the show has huge potential to hit my embarrassment squick though this episode didn’t as much as I feared, but despite that and the bad press I’ve read I thought it wasn’t bad at all. While I didn’t love it I did like it enough that I’m going to keep watching. In large part because it’s a show about women and their relationships with each other and I love that. There are guys of course – Dan (Marti’s blond townie friend), Lewis (hot, black cheerleader), Derrick (coach Sharon’s boyfriend), Red (new football coach) – but really, it’s all about the girls and that's exactly what I want.
• I find Savannah really endearing. She’s just – cute. I like Marti too.
• I really liked the Savannah/Marti relationship and already find myself shipping them. When Marti said: “I’m a bottom myself.” I immediately wanted a Savannah/Marty fic where Savannah learns it actually isn’t a joke and then there’s hot sex with Marti as the bossy bottom. They are my favourite part of the show thus far.
• I also liked Marti/Lewis and I could see myself shipping them. I do not ship Marti/Dan at all.
• Alice could be interesting, as could her relationship with Marti, and I want to see more about what her relationship with Savannah is.
• I’m neutral about Sharon right now. I don’t really have a feel for her as far as her relationship with her cheerleaders go and I’m not really interested in her romantic life.
• D.B. Woodside, who plays Sharon’s boyfriend, is pretty hot and seems sweet I don’t really care about him either.
• Neutral is better than I feel about Red who is actively not working for me. He’s clearly supposed to be all arrogant/charming in that way that is oh so popular right now (sigh), but he just can’t pull it off (and is certainly nowhere near the league of say Nathan Fillion). The pen exchange fell really, really flat and IMO there is no chemistry between the actors. I think Ben Browder who was originally cast in the role could have pulled it off, and I admit he probably would have been enough to make me interested in not only Red but Red/Sharon and Sharon herself. I love Ben and find him a very engaging actor. It sucks that he’s not a part of the show – though I don’t think that it affected my opinion of Red because I’d forgotten which actor had originally had the role, just that I liked him and he’d left. My dislike is all about Jeff Hephner’s portrayal of Red which was just really that bad.
Haven 1x09 ‘As You Were’
This was a really good episode even though I also found it pretty depressing.
• I didn’t see Audrey being the shape-shifter coming until Nathan held her hand so that was an excellent twist. The shape-shifter did an excellent impression of her (in being her). I guess it truly does become the person whose form it takes. Which actually I find kind of sad –that means the shape-shifter is never its own self but only the person it’s wearing. It was clear when it was Vaughn that he loved his wife – would he have still loved her as Audrey or would its life as Vaughn been more like a memory? I got the feeling that it wasn’t actually planning on going on a killing spree – the way it acted as Audrey (keeping everything calm and people together) and the way it had expected her to help it implied that. I mean sending it’s wife away was suspicious, and basically trapping everyone there, and, okay, locking Audrey up instead of just coming out to everyone kind of does all add up to it having less than trustworthy motives. Still I felt sad for it when it was killed. I’ve kind of half-way convinced myself that the Chief was right about it planning a killing spree but if so it had to have been because it had to by its nature.
• Eleanor was actually the one person of the supporting cast I didn’t want to die because I really wanted more of the Eleanor/Audrey friendship. I’m pretty annoyed over it especially since it felt very – random and pointless. I don’t think it was necessary at all to kill her. She could have just been injured, or she could have scared herself without ever having run into the shape-shifter and it still would have gotten everyone back into that main room. I mean, the shape-shifter seemed to regret killing her and as if it hadn’t wanted to but Eleanor had discovered her – but that makes no sense! It clearly didn’t find Audrey’s body, so what it saw ‘Audrey’s’ face shift? In the dark? And when it hadn’t shifted even once before that time? It doesn’t make sense to me.
- Plus I don’t think the episode actually needed a death. It did very well in building the suspense throughout without leaving behind a pile of bodies. Eleanor’s death, so close to the end of the plot, came seemingly with no reason. It just really irritates me. The fact that it’s currently the only female reoccurring character who gets it while the three minor male ones survived also irritates me. The whole thing irritates me. Sigh. When I was picking who I wanted to be the shape-shifter my choice was actually the Chief. I’d thought it would be Julia until she grabbed the cheese knife.
• The gentleness on Duke’s face when he put the hat on Audrey and said “gotcha” made me ship them more in that one little moment then in all their interactions before. It just made me flail a bit. Plus after she jumped she spun around and ended up with her back pressed against his chest and for a split second there he held her hand in his and it just really worked for me. Even though I don’t really buy that Audrey would jump freaked out like that (they’d have had to build up her being freaked out more.) I also really liked their final scene and his gift for her.
• Duke being the little boy in the picture with Lucy makes me really wonder why he never said anything to Audrey before this. Or why we didn’t get him reacting more to her face when they first met.
• Then there is Audrey/Nathan. Their partnership and friendship is really being built slowly and believable. I loved that not only was there no jealousy from Audrey, not even a hint, about the Nathan/Jess relationship but that Audrey was even playing cheerleader to them and was becoming friends with Jess herself. But it looks like Nathan’s revelation that he can feel Audrey’s touch (which was a moment I loved) has changed things for him – which is not unexpected and is exactly how it should be. Still I loved the friendship mostly sans-UST that they had going and I hate to see it going away.
- I think that even if Nathan had never have looked at Audrey as a romantic possibility before now that he knows that he can feel her – that she can make him feel – he won’t be able to help but see her in that light. (Not that I think there was no UST in the previous episodes because there was some.) With their friendship and partnership (a rather singular thing in his life) and his respect and like for her as a base it’s just inevitable that it will turn romantic. I can already see it starting. He can’t feel, anything, and I can’t imagine how that must be for him. Now with Audrey, who already holds such an important place in his life, he can suddenly feel again. He’s going to want to feel that again, and it can only grow, and I can’t blame him at all. It’s only been an episode since he learned that he can feel now under certain circumstances (though we don’t know how long) and that desire in him to feel more has already started. I don’t mean to say that that is the only reason he would want to be with Audrey, or the most important. But it is the reason why he would pursue a relationship with her.
• The scene where he figures out that Audrey is the shape-shifter was very well done and very interesting. I loved that scene. For the first part, I loved his expression when he realised the truth – when he became suspicious, when he took her hand and knew the truth – and then there was the pain in his voice when he replied “No I’m not.” and when he was talking to the chameleon. What’s interesting is that he kissed her after he learnt that ‘Audrey’ was the chameleon. His reaction when they found Audrey’s unconscious body was very emotional and maybe even a bit more than expected (and Duke seemed to see it as well).
This episode had some issues, and I think the show has huge potential to hit my embarrassment squick though this episode didn’t as much as I feared, but despite that and the bad press I’ve read I thought it wasn’t bad at all. While I didn’t love it I did like it enough that I’m going to keep watching. In large part because it’s a show about women and their relationships with each other and I love that. There are guys of course – Dan (Marti’s blond townie friend), Lewis (hot, black cheerleader), Derrick (coach Sharon’s boyfriend), Red (new football coach) – but really, it’s all about the girls and that's exactly what I want.
• I find Savannah really endearing. She’s just – cute. I like Marti too.
• I really liked the Savannah/Marti relationship and already find myself shipping them. When Marti said: “I’m a bottom myself.” I immediately wanted a Savannah/Marty fic where Savannah learns it actually isn’t a joke and then there’s hot sex with Marti as the bossy bottom. They are my favourite part of the show thus far.
• I also liked Marti/Lewis and I could see myself shipping them. I do not ship Marti/Dan at all.
• Alice could be interesting, as could her relationship with Marti, and I want to see more about what her relationship with Savannah is.
• I’m neutral about Sharon right now. I don’t really have a feel for her as far as her relationship with her cheerleaders go and I’m not really interested in her romantic life.
• D.B. Woodside, who plays Sharon’s boyfriend, is pretty hot and seems sweet I don’t really care about him either.
• Neutral is better than I feel about Red who is actively not working for me. He’s clearly supposed to be all arrogant/charming in that way that is oh so popular right now (sigh), but he just can’t pull it off (and is certainly nowhere near the league of say Nathan Fillion). The pen exchange fell really, really flat and IMO there is no chemistry between the actors. I think Ben Browder who was originally cast in the role could have pulled it off, and I admit he probably would have been enough to make me interested in not only Red but Red/Sharon and Sharon herself. I love Ben and find him a very engaging actor. It sucks that he’s not a part of the show – though I don’t think that it affected my opinion of Red because I’d forgotten which actor had originally had the role, just that I liked him and he’d left. My dislike is all about Jeff Hephner’s portrayal of Red which was just really that bad.
Haven 1x09 ‘As You Were’
This was a really good episode even though I also found it pretty depressing.
• I didn’t see Audrey being the shape-shifter coming until Nathan held her hand so that was an excellent twist. The shape-shifter did an excellent impression of her (in being her). I guess it truly does become the person whose form it takes. Which actually I find kind of sad –that means the shape-shifter is never its own self but only the person it’s wearing. It was clear when it was Vaughn that he loved his wife – would he have still loved her as Audrey or would its life as Vaughn been more like a memory? I got the feeling that it wasn’t actually planning on going on a killing spree – the way it acted as Audrey (keeping everything calm and people together) and the way it had expected her to help it implied that. I mean sending it’s wife away was suspicious, and basically trapping everyone there, and, okay, locking Audrey up instead of just coming out to everyone kind of does all add up to it having less than trustworthy motives. Still I felt sad for it when it was killed. I’ve kind of half-way convinced myself that the Chief was right about it planning a killing spree but if so it had to have been because it had to by its nature.
• Eleanor was actually the one person of the supporting cast I didn’t want to die because I really wanted more of the Eleanor/Audrey friendship. I’m pretty annoyed over it especially since it felt very – random and pointless. I don’t think it was necessary at all to kill her. She could have just been injured, or she could have scared herself without ever having run into the shape-shifter and it still would have gotten everyone back into that main room. I mean, the shape-shifter seemed to regret killing her and as if it hadn’t wanted to but Eleanor had discovered her – but that makes no sense! It clearly didn’t find Audrey’s body, so what it saw ‘Audrey’s’ face shift? In the dark? And when it hadn’t shifted even once before that time? It doesn’t make sense to me.
- Plus I don’t think the episode actually needed a death. It did very well in building the suspense throughout without leaving behind a pile of bodies. Eleanor’s death, so close to the end of the plot, came seemingly with no reason. It just really irritates me. The fact that it’s currently the only female reoccurring character who gets it while the three minor male ones survived also irritates me. The whole thing irritates me. Sigh. When I was picking who I wanted to be the shape-shifter my choice was actually the Chief. I’d thought it would be Julia until she grabbed the cheese knife.
• The gentleness on Duke’s face when he put the hat on Audrey and said “gotcha” made me ship them more in that one little moment then in all their interactions before. It just made me flail a bit. Plus after she jumped she spun around and ended up with her back pressed against his chest and for a split second there he held her hand in his and it just really worked for me. Even though I don’t really buy that Audrey would jump freaked out like that (they’d have had to build up her being freaked out more.) I also really liked their final scene and his gift for her.
• Duke being the little boy in the picture with Lucy makes me really wonder why he never said anything to Audrey before this. Or why we didn’t get him reacting more to her face when they first met.
• Then there is Audrey/Nathan. Their partnership and friendship is really being built slowly and believable. I loved that not only was there no jealousy from Audrey, not even a hint, about the Nathan/Jess relationship but that Audrey was even playing cheerleader to them and was becoming friends with Jess herself. But it looks like Nathan’s revelation that he can feel Audrey’s touch (which was a moment I loved) has changed things for him – which is not unexpected and is exactly how it should be. Still I loved the friendship mostly sans-UST that they had going and I hate to see it going away.
- I think that even if Nathan had never have looked at Audrey as a romantic possibility before now that he knows that he can feel her – that she can make him feel – he won’t be able to help but see her in that light. (Not that I think there was no UST in the previous episodes because there was some.) With their friendship and partnership (a rather singular thing in his life) and his respect and like for her as a base it’s just inevitable that it will turn romantic. I can already see it starting. He can’t feel, anything, and I can’t imagine how that must be for him. Now with Audrey, who already holds such an important place in his life, he can suddenly feel again. He’s going to want to feel that again, and it can only grow, and I can’t blame him at all. It’s only been an episode since he learned that he can feel now under certain circumstances (though we don’t know how long) and that desire in him to feel more has already started. I don’t mean to say that that is the only reason he would want to be with Audrey, or the most important. But it is the reason why he would pursue a relationship with her.
• The scene where he figures out that Audrey is the shape-shifter was very well done and very interesting. I loved that scene. For the first part, I loved his expression when he realised the truth – when he became suspicious, when he took her hand and knew the truth – and then there was the pain in his voice when he replied “No I’m not.” and when he was talking to the chameleon. What’s interesting is that he kissed her after he learnt that ‘Audrey’ was the chameleon. His reaction when they found Audrey’s unconscious body was very emotional and maybe even a bit more than expected (and Duke seemed to see it as well).
