Dept. of Life Changes
Tuesday, 19 August 2014 11:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaffy_rSons and Re-Runs
Real life can be a series of hairpin turns, elevator drops and left field incursions, as my son found out this past week. He's been chafing at his current job, not happy with being lower management (the worst-protected, least-respected level of management) in a company that sprang the raise on him, demanded he take a position in a newly-created office with next to no preparation, then proceeded to foul up his raise and much, much more. Not my story to tell beyond that; but it was enough to get him looking for a new job or a couple of part-time jobs, something that would approximate the pay, or at least come close, but leave him the flexibility to start taking college classes again.
He found a new position, fewer hours, no benefits, and of course BB and I worried about the lack of medical coverage. He said he'd go for ACA insurance pool coverage and besides, he was going to gain more in better mental health than he was losing in wages and coverage. OK, we thought, but I said, look, think about it over the weekend before you give your two weeks' notice, which he was intent on giving.
And so of course, come Monday, before he could give that notice, he was let go. (Not without one apologetic manager telling him he was the hardest worker she knew and that she was going to give him a glowing recommendation if he wanted it.)
Of course, the roach-brained little management tosser who did this would probably have been unhappy to realize that he hadn't screwed my son over, since FB already had the new job lined up, but let's face it - getting kicked to the curb by one's employer, even one as as gifted in misology as FB's former Legrees, always sucks like cosmic vacuum and stinks like right-wing feces. The man is more than a little freaked, given he had a number of car-related costs that he was already juggling hard to deal with. And yet, as he's put it, he'll be working in a place that won't give him nightmares anymore, and he'll figure out the finances. He's become mature. He knows that he can panic, and freak, and still come out the other side. To all this, a bemused and still slightly worried mother says - Go, FB!!!
In other news: A Town Called Mercy was several degrees better than I recall it having been when I first saw it. Somehow the moral arguments seemed less obvious and forced than I thought they were the first time I saw it. The Kahlar doctor was, again, a strong point in the story, with a valid, if awful, point of view. The Gunslinger could still have benefited from being more of a character and less of a plot point, but, all in all, yeah, definitely a B. That's better than the grade I gave it the first time I watched it.
The Power of Three had an initially clever and ultimately risible central conceit, but all the messages and themes that provided its superstructure - time and patience and how humans learn from, grow because of, and are affected by both, and the the intersection of excitement and mundane life as mirrored in the damned cubes - all of that was wonderful. As were Kate Stewart, Rory and Amy. So was Brian, although I wish they'd not made him quite so much of a pleasant-to-laugh-at-as-well-as-love caricature. The final scene still pisses me off, because the writer didn't take the slight extra effort to needed, as the writer, to either get the helpless human victims off the spaceship or, at the least, have the Doctor express at least notice that, while he saved millions of heart attack victims on Earth, he couldn't save the original victims. A little irk, but mine own.
Won't watch The Angels Take Manhattan because I only have one heart, and getting it broken again is not what I want so soon before S08. So it's on to The Bells of Saint John tomorrow night.
Real life can be a series of hairpin turns, elevator drops and left field incursions, as my son found out this past week. He's been chafing at his current job, not happy with being lower management (the worst-protected, least-respected level of management) in a company that sprang the raise on him, demanded he take a position in a newly-created office with next to no preparation, then proceeded to foul up his raise and much, much more. Not my story to tell beyond that; but it was enough to get him looking for a new job or a couple of part-time jobs, something that would approximate the pay, or at least come close, but leave him the flexibility to start taking college classes again.
He found a new position, fewer hours, no benefits, and of course BB and I worried about the lack of medical coverage. He said he'd go for ACA insurance pool coverage and besides, he was going to gain more in better mental health than he was losing in wages and coverage. OK, we thought, but I said, look, think about it over the weekend before you give your two weeks' notice, which he was intent on giving.
And so of course, come Monday, before he could give that notice, he was let go. (Not without one apologetic manager telling him he was the hardest worker she knew and that she was going to give him a glowing recommendation if he wanted it.)
Of course, the roach-brained little management tosser who did this would probably have been unhappy to realize that he hadn't screwed my son over, since FB already had the new job lined up, but let's face it - getting kicked to the curb by one's employer, even one as as gifted in misology as FB's former Legrees, always sucks like cosmic vacuum and stinks like right-wing feces. The man is more than a little freaked, given he had a number of car-related costs that he was already juggling hard to deal with. And yet, as he's put it, he'll be working in a place that won't give him nightmares anymore, and he'll figure out the finances. He's become mature. He knows that he can panic, and freak, and still come out the other side. To all this, a bemused and still slightly worried mother says - Go, FB!!!
In other news: A Town Called Mercy was several degrees better than I recall it having been when I first saw it. Somehow the moral arguments seemed less obvious and forced than I thought they were the first time I saw it. The Kahlar doctor was, again, a strong point in the story, with a valid, if awful, point of view. The Gunslinger could still have benefited from being more of a character and less of a plot point, but, all in all, yeah, definitely a B. That's better than the grade I gave it the first time I watched it.
The Power of Three had an initially clever and ultimately risible central conceit, but all the messages and themes that provided its superstructure - time and patience and how humans learn from, grow because of, and are affected by both, and the the intersection of excitement and mundane life as mirrored in the damned cubes - all of that was wonderful. As were Kate Stewart, Rory and Amy. So was Brian, although I wish they'd not made him quite so much of a pleasant-to-laugh-at-as-well-as-love caricature. The final scene still pisses me off, because the writer didn't take the slight extra effort to needed, as the writer, to either get the helpless human victims off the spaceship or, at the least, have the Doctor express at least notice that, while he saved millions of heart attack victims on Earth, he couldn't save the original victims. A little irk, but mine own.
Won't watch The Angels Take Manhattan because I only have one heart, and getting it broken again is not what I want so soon before S08. So it's on to The Bells of Saint John tomorrow night.
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Date: Friday, 22 August 2014 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 23 August 2014 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 23 August 2014 10:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 23 August 2014 06:16 pm (UTC)Will do!
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Date: Friday, 22 August 2014 06:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Saturday, 23 August 2014 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 11:03 am (UTC)But I'm glad he is better off. That he has found something to get him by and found a way to the other side. Kudos to him! And let him know I'm sending nothing but good vibes!
I'm glad you like ATCM a little better this time, though I must agree about the ending of TPoT. It has often left me headscratching. But you know me...I'll handwave damned near anything, lol!!
*SQUISHES YOU*
Good to hear from you, darling. Love you!! And all the love to FB and BB as well!
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 02:18 pm (UTC)I think it's a little like World War I; the generals on all sides were often horrible, but they were able to keep the war going because of an endless amount of cannon fodder.
I'll tell FB that he's got Kentucky in his corner!
I know I'm ready for Who, and definitely in a Who mood; last night I dreamed of Clara and Madam Vastra fighting Sontarans and some other unholy race of metal villains (not Daleks, nor Cybermen; something insectoid and apparently out of my own head.) Part of it was because I'd read one of your latest, I suspect; must go back and comment on it.
*hugs back, hard*
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Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 11:19 am (UTC)*Loves*
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Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 11:28 am (UTC)Enjoy your rewatch!
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 02:21 pm (UTC)Definitely relishing the rewatch. As I mentioned to
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 03:48 pm (UTC)A Town Called Mercy was okay--a very solid, but IMO kind of average Who episode. Nothing in it really jumped out at me as being either wonderful or horrible.
Power of Three I thought was a great episode with a terribly lazy ending. As much as I liked Rory's dad and enjoyed having him around for a couple of episodes, I felt like the Ponds' story had ended at the conclusion of season six, and their presence in season seven felt like they were being dragged out past their expiration date.
Angels Take Manhattan was another hot mess, albeit with an incredibly emotional ending. It didn't particularly move me, and still doesn't, because I felt like that ending wasn't really earned--either in the episode itself, or the six episodes that preceded it. It felt like a very unnecessary post-script sort of fate for the Ponds. I'm glad Amy and Rory spent the rest of their lives together, but I would rather have had them growing old in Leadworth in the 21st century. The whole notion that "the Doctor can't ever see them again" also felt like a silly and unnecessary plot twist. /rant
I look forward to your commentary on the 7.2 episodes. : )
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 05:18 pm (UTC)Having the new job waiting for him as of next Tuesday is a life-saver, both for his bank account (eventually), and his sanity (right now.) And he's right, a slightly less than full-time job does give him the chance to start earning credits toward an education degree; he wants to be an early childhood teacher, and it's something at which I think he'd excel.
I felt like the Ponds' story had ended at the conclusion of season six,
Whereas I'm so very fond of them that I wanted more time with them. Heh. And I felt that S06 (which, again, I'm in a minority about, because I loved all of it) was more about the discovery of who River was; I wanted to see more about the ponds as they grew and matured, and fruitlessly hoped for more of them with their daughter. But that's me.
Angels Take Manhattan was indeed a hot mess - and yet it leaves me in tears every time I watch it, even when I know that so much of it was useless and needless. That's the draw of characters I care for, interpreted by actors with the chops to do it, and my respect as a viewer.
Moffat shouldn't squander those things ... but then, I am a very cheap date.
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 06:04 pm (UTC)Yay for rewatches! Good you liked A Town Called Mercy more :) I hadn't liked Asylum and Dinosaurs too much at first watch, so Mercy was when I really got into the season. Power of Three… yeah, closure problems =P
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 07:27 pm (UTC)It's a shame that Power of Three was marred by that plot point, because the rest of it was really solid and, as I said, I thought it had some really high quality aspects.
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 07:44 pm (UTC)Yes—it had everything to be a really good episode… Oh well.
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Date: Wednesday, 20 August 2014 11:50 pm (UTC)A Town Called Mercy is one that really improved for me on re-watch, though I'm still convinced that the Doctor should avoid America, if only for the reason that he runs into the worst fake accents there (at least ATCM had some American actors in it, if I recall correctly, but... eek)
The Power of Three is one of my favourite episodes from series 7, and one of my favourite episodes, full stop. The rush ending is awful though. I always stop the tape a few minutes before. It feels oddly similar to the ending of Dinosaurs on a Spaceship to me. Just sort of... tacked on.
I feel that Dinosaurs and The Power of Three both had more than enough in them to have been double-features, and probably would have benefited from it.
(I feel that of most of the "movie" episodes of the first half of series 7)
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Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 03:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 03:54 am (UTC)It could have too, and with very little change to the plot of 7b. All it needed was a throw-away line about the Ponds being a bit more settled now that they've adopted a child. Amy could've come back for a cameo, telling the Doctor that she completely endorses him travelling with Clara, and she'll always be ready for a TARDIS trip, but she understands if it's too painful for him to watch her growing old.
And there could have been much hugging and less angst.
Probably there are many things which are problematic with this AU ending, but I still like it better than Brian stuck at home watering the plants and slowly realizing that his son is never coming home.
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Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 02:56 pm (UTC)*thinks*
No, none that I can see.
And if you really wanted a little angst to go with the goodbye, you could have had them on one last trip - even the Angels trip, excised that crap and manipulative (because, yes, I cry every time I see it) cemetery scene, have Amy and Rory wake up in the cemetery, have them all go for that game of darts; have Amy and Rory say, "This is the last one, Doctor; this one proved to us that we were willing to die to save the world in a way that we never felt so deeply. And we realized we can't do that any more. We're not you. We want to be able to enjoy our lives in a way you can only imagine. River, we'll want to see you any time you can see us - but we can't deal with you, Doctor. You're too dangerously tempting. So please don't ever visit us again."
Voila! A hat full of angst, but it's their own agency to step away, they make decisions that are just as hard, but without the contrived crisis that we had in the last scene of TAtM, and they still have their families.
(That's another thing that's always bothered me; after the Ponds' wedding, we never see Amy's parents again, it's never suggested that Amy's parents would suffer as much once their daughter disappeared, all of that. Once again, Amy's half of the world is left out as, apparently, unimportant.)
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Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 06:08 pm (UTC)It's better in stereo, but you'd probably have to go to Minneapolis for her half. (HINT, HINT)
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Date: Thursday, 21 August 2014 06:36 pm (UTC)(As for Minneapolis, I fear that trips of that kind now require technical prep that can be very daunting, in terms of oxygen maintenance.)