The Good Wife – Drone Attack Edition (Season 3 Episode 9)

I know that last scene between Alicia and the military judge is supposed to be somewhat of a rebuke to Alicia (just look at Alicia’s expression), but I found the military judge’s effort to shame Alicia – “six children were killed, kids just like yours and mine, and you never even mentioned them during the trial!” – frankly a load of BS.  During the trial, the military analyst testified that “collateral damage” in the form of civilian deaths is acceptable if the drone attack was targeting someone considered high-valued enough. In other words, the US military presumably would have been just fine with six or even more children being killed if they thought the person they are targeting is important enough according to the “kill chain algorithm”. (That is one of the most chilling phrase I’ve ever heard). Of course the staff sergeant deserves to be punished for her crimes, but for the judge to say that holding her, and only her accountable is a just verdict – I don’t really buy that. And what the heck was that part about “their mothers are mourning them now”? Fathers don’t mourn when their children are killed? Or is that just the judge playing the “we’re both mothers here” card? She’s contemptuous when Will and Alicia brought up the gender issue, but isn’t she just playing the same game here?

Will’s pickup basketball game as the nexus of a bribery scandal? The Good Wife is an unpredictable enough show, and the characters very seldom simply black and white that I don’t immediately dismiss that as impossible. Very sweet (and maybe too trusting!) of Diane though to immediately assume that of course the charge against Will is not true, and Peter is just investigating Will as payback because Will is sleeping with his wife. Why in the world is Alicia only changing her keys now??? Surely David Lee must have told her how ugly custody battle can be, and after years of marriage with Peter, Alicia must have known what Jackie is capable of.  I really miss Peter, too much time is being invested on the Cary-Kalinda-Dana triangle, they could have given some of that screentime to the State Attorney.

Cute Penguins versus Deranged Penguins

Cute, normal penguins with  Morgan Freeman’s soothing but authoritative voice.

Deranged penguin with Werner Herzog’s also soothing, but slightly creepy voice. “He’s heading towards certain death”.

I Watch Korean Drama – Friend, Our Legend

The voiceover from the first scene of Friend, Our Legend still haunts me to this day, months after I saw the drama. I wonder if part of the reason Jin Sook couldn’t choose Dong Soo has to do with the fear of being expected to be too much for Dong Soo. Part of me thinks it’s really touching and romantic when he told Jin Sook that in his whole life, there are only two people who have given him dream and hope to live – the art teacher and Jin Sook. But another part of me thinks it’s scary to be the be-all-and-end-all for someone, too much pressure and expectation, too much fear that you’ll fall short and end up ruining the other person’s life. And there’s also the way that Dong Soo seems to be idealizing Jin Sook too much, that in some ways, he doesn’t really see her in her entirety, good qualities and negative qualities, flaws, warts and all, the way I think Jun Seok ultimately does. I guess in the end, no matter how much my heart breaks for Dong Soo, I think Jin Sook probably made the best choice she could. (And no, my heart didn’t break for Dong Soo just because he’s played by Hyun Bin, he is truly a heartbreaking character).         

The sky is crying again The sky that understands the way of the world It can be confirmed that the sky understands better than me The sorrow present in the human world So, I determine that the sky has to cry often But, when the sky is crying It’s the first time I felt love It’s like the drizzling rain that stops And reveals the clear blue sky Looking at me, she shows a beautiful smile If only that smile, that beautiful smile Can stay in this world forever It doesn’t matter what I’ve become

                                                                                                                                                                     

The Good Wife – Will’s Secret

That’s Will’s secret? He stole 45K from a client to pay  a gambling debt 15 years ago (but he put it back!)? Ehhh. We’ve been teased about this since the Will-Blake showdown in Season 2, and that’s it? Sure, it’s wrong and unethical and could get Will disbarred and everything, but I’m with Alicia here, Will’s big, dark secret has been teased so much, anything short of he’s a mass murderer who imprisons women and children in his basement would probably be a bit of a letdown in any case.  So Peter and the state attorney’s office is investigating whether Will was bribing Judge Baxter (Will’s buddy who was the corrupt judge from Season 1 who took money from a private prison to send juvenile offenders there). It’s an absurd charge, of course, since Will was probably the one most angry and disappointed when he found out what his friend was doing. On the other hand, Will did lend Baxter $100,000 (and he told Kalinda that Baxter only paid back part of the money). Friend or no friend, a lawyer giving that huge sum of money to a corrupt judge, obviously eyebrows will be raised. I’m not clear what the charge would be though, since during the case Alicia had with Judge Baxter, it was established that Lockhart-Gardner’s lawyers very seldom work on juvenile cases. I’m guessing Peter wants to make the case that Will was bribing Baxter with the 100K to get preferential treatments for the firm’s clients, but if there is no client, where’s the bribery? I understand why Will is keeping Alicia in the dark about the state attorney’s office investigation, but this is sooooo going to blow up in his face. Alicia is NOT going to appreciate yet another guy she’s with keeping a secret from her.                                        

Downton Abbey Season 2 (Part II)

Let’s get right to it – William and Daisy. I understand why Mrs Patmore gave the advice she did at the beginning when William was first going to war, she couldn’t have foreseen what happened next. Daisy herself isn’t blameless, she should have been more clear and honest about her feelings with William before there was any plan for him to go to war (there was that interlude where William was not called up because of Violet’s meddling/effort). And as a viewer, I do have a soft spot for poor William and don’t want to see his feelings hurt.  But all that said, I can’t really get over the icky feeling that Daisy was essentially emotionally blackmailed to marry someone she doesn’t want to marry. Granted, everyone is acting based on good intentions; Mrs Patmore and William’s father want to grant William’s final wish and make his last days happier, and William himself only wants Daisy to be taken care off after he’s dead. But sometimes good intentions can be just as suffocating as force. As for William himself, is there anyone watching who didn’t think that William would be the one to die after he made that speech about playing his part and serving his country?

I appreciate the fact that the show did not go the “evil, scheming Lavinia” route that was hinted a bit in the first few episodes. But ye gods, is she an insufferable character. Maybe this is my personal bias, but I’m not a fan of these “long suffering, willing to sacrifice everything, including their own happines, for the man they love” characters. But then again, maybe Lavinia was doing her own emotional blackmail at the end, ensuring that Matthew’s feelings for Mary would be poisoned forever. Hah! Maybe Lavinia is more devious that I thought.

I really enjoyed the Cora-Isobel battle for supremacy. Kudos to the show for not just rehashing the Violet-Isobel battle from Season 1. That battle was highly entertaining as well, but probably too much to repeat it this season. I’m much more in sympathy with Isobel’s view on the issue of what Downton Abbey should be used for, but on the other hand, her son is not Lord Grantham yet. It’s quite tackless of her to act as if she’s already the mistress of Downton. It’s still someone else’s house, regardless of her good intentions or how selfish she thinks the owner of the house is behaving.

Should we expect romance blooming in the coming season for Carson and Mrs Hughes? It seems like it, from some of the things said and glances exchanged when Carson was considering leaving to work for Mary and Richard Carlisle. It’s interesting that although Mary is the most snobbish and stuck-up of the three daughters, she’s the one who seems to have the closest relationship with the servants (with Anna and Carson).

I’ve been quite negative about this season, but to be honest, this show is still better than most things on TV. Maybe because Season 1 was close to being perfect, so my expectation was very high for this season. I will still look forward to the next season, but with a reduced expectation.

Downton Abbey Season 2 (Part I)

Real life intervened, but I finally caught up with the last 2 episodes of Downton Abbey. Well, there’s still the Christmas special, but frankly, I don’t think a whole lot will happen in that episode, since there will be a third season after all. My review in one word – baffling. There’s so many WTH plot development I don’t know where to start. But let’s start with Lord Grantham and Jane the maid. Seriously?? Your wife was too busy with war effort and you had to lunch by yourself a few times, and that made you decide your life is missing something? And the way to fill it is by flirting (and almost much, much more) with the maid while your wife is lying sick? I know aristocratic men throughout history were never the most scrupulous when it comes to these kind of things, but, umm, what about realistic character development? I’m actually one of those people who think Julian Fellowes was a bit full of it making Lord Grantham such an epitome of honor and noble-ness in Season One, but still, you can’t potray a character one way, and without any warning, just make him someone else altogether for the sake of plot development. Well, I guess you can if it’s a character that exists solely for the purpose of furthering the plot (Lavinia, Mrs Bates etc etc), but not when it’s a main character that you still want the audience to care about in future seasons. And Grantham’s flaws aren’t even that interesting, it’s so cliched and predictable and boring.

Finally some resolution on the tedious Sybill-Branson romance. Yup, good riddance for both of them, go live happily ever after in Dublin. Too  harsh? Maybe. I’m just disappointed because Branson’s character had so many potential when he was first introduced to illustrate the tension between the classes. But woopps, he fell in love with the upper-class daughter and suddenly it’s all about LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. And the show also shortchanged Sybill, after a few scenes about her wanting to be a nurse, suddenly she is a nurse, we see her being a nurse a few times and that’s that. Really, it was that easy for her, the daughter of an Earl who presumably was brought up with every comfort in the world, to adjust to being a nurse during the war, seeing all kinds of horror she must have been unfamiliar with?

I’m more interested in Edith’s development. She’s the one who has grown the most among the three daughters. So she really did love Patrick, wasn’t just to be the mistress of Downton. I understand why Mary was quite cruel and unfeeling about the whole thing, she really believes the man was an impostor, and it must be Matthew’s future that loomed large in her mind. But still, she knew how Edith felt about Patrick, I thought she was unnecessarily cruel when she talked about all the memories of them growing up with Patrick is so commonplace and cliched anyone could fake it and pretend to remember them. Well, I’m sure Edith has more special memories of Patrick.

I actually like the Mary-Richard Carlisle dynamic, it’s interesting and promises a lot of fireworks in the future. Hopefully they won’t turn him into a cartoony villain and make him starts physically abusing Mary or something like that – I like his villainy and manipulation the way it is now. I predict we won’t see any resolution of the Mary-Matthew story until the last season, whatever number it may be , so maybe we get to see more of the battle of wills between Lady Mary and Sir Richard. I’d put my money on Mary ultimately prevailing – hopefully the show won’t go the deus ex machina route this time like with Lavinia and Mrs Bates.

Anna and Bates – well, I’m a sucker for those two, what can I say, I got teary-eyed at the wedding and the “first night” scene. I admire Anna’s practicality, it’s not just about love, it’s also about having a formal position as his wife in case Bates is arrested by the police, which he was in the last scene. Not sure what’s in store for those two, I don’t think the show would want to keep Bates in prison and out of sight for too much of Season 3, so it will be probably resolved early on.

To be continued in Part II (William-Daisy, Matthew-Lavinia, the war, and the rest of the main casts).