a99kitten's Musings

Finally decided to watch an episode of The Walking Dead tonight. I’m behind from last season and this is the final season so I want to watch it. I want to see how they wrap it all up. But I have been very hesitant. I did not put my finger on why until tonight.

Judith gets sad and says “they’re all gone” and starts to cry. And so did I. Not because of the characters on the show she is referring to but because this is the first time I am watching this show alone – without a buddy.

This show started in 2010. I remember making Angelus come inside so I could lock the door because it was creeping me out.

And Smokey – he *always* went to sit outside on the deck when I would watch because he could sense my stress. I think he really hated this show. He could pick on my stress easier than anyone. But I always made sure to skoosh him and tell him it was just TV. And I always tried to hide my jumping and screaming at the show. But he always knew.

I cannot believe this show has been on since 2010. My life has changed so much while I watch these characters – and go see them every year at their panel at SDCC.

But I cannot believe I am now watching the end of it alone. Not sure I will make it through. We’ll see how it goes.

AT SDCC this year I was in Ballroom 20 all day Saturday for OUAT and the CW Hero block. They were really why I wanted to be in there. I have been in B20 for the OUAT panel almost every year because it always proceeds something else I want to see. Now, I do watch OUAT but for the past 2 years, I have not watched it during the season and then I remember that I really like the show and binge watch it through the summer. I like it but there are so many other things to watch and I have limited time to do it in (need to upload SO much content to my brain!) And sometimes the storylines get a but silly. But that’s OK – it’s fairy tales!

But, just like every other year when I sit through the panel, I walk away loving the cast and wanting to watch the show immediately! So when I got back from SDCC, I made it my mission to catch up on this season before the new eps starts in Sept. And I just finished the last episode last night. I LOVED this season! Loved it!

The thing about OUAT is it depends very hard on the “True Love Trumps All” mantra and sometimes it gets a bit goofy. And to be honest, my favorite characters are Rumple and Regina :) And they were great as usual this season!

I thought the forced lesbian storyline of Red and Dorothy was dumb. If you want to introduce a gay character/storyline, do it over time. Not just BOOM in your face in 2 episodes. Seemed forced and I think perhaps an overreaction to politics. But whatever.

Thought the Hades storyline was fun. I LOVE Arthurian tales so that was an interesting take on the whole storyline (and the nod to the Connecticut Yankee was cute.) More info on the Dark Ones was great. And I pretty much loved that Gold finally made Belle realize that she likes him BECAUSE of his dark side, not in spite of it. Because I’ve been saying that all along! When he was no longer the Dark One – he went back to being the scared weakling he was before. And no one really likes that. I don’t care what they say. And his dealing with his ex-wife – heh. Loved that.

And now I am VERY excited to watch the new season!

Just watched tonight’s episode of Big Bang Theory. Wow. You caught me off guard guys. I’m still sniffling.

I hate to admit that I had kind of forgotten that the actress died. And when Howard mentioned his Mom, I thought to myself right then “oh, that’s how they will deal with it. Have her away, etc. She didn’t appear on the show so maybe even find another voice.” Yes. I thought it during tonight’s episode. It’s Hollywood. They do that.

Then Mrs. Wolowitz died. And I got instantly sad. The actors did a great job of being very sad and remaining in character.

When Sheldon said “When I lost my own father, I didn’t have any friends to help me through it. You do.”, it made me cry and smile at the same time. When my brother died, my friends are the ones who got me through it.

Them. And Big Bang Theory. I watched repeats every single night for several months. It was the only thing I could watch without getting sad. The only thing besides my huskies that could make me smile at all.

That was a great episode tonight.

Now I need to go get all this dust out of my eyes.

RIP Carol Ann Susi AKA Mrs. Wolowitz #fuckcancer

Very excited about the new season of Sleepy Hollow!!! If you did not check it out last season, I suggest you do.

Tom Mison as Ichabod Crane is fantastic. His blend of 1700s fish out of water in nowadays Massachusetts is great. Plus he’s cute :) The chemistry of the cast is awesome (especially between Crane and Abbie) and I cannot think of a single thing that I do not love about the show other than it had a short season in its first season out.

I also love Ichabod’s constantly pointing what is wrong with today’s world. This clip from an episode in the upcoming Season 2 where Ichabod comments on banking and credit is a prime example :)

Seriously – check out the show. Comes back on Fox 9/22

I finally watched the last 2 episodes of S4 of Game of Thrones last weekend. As usual with GoT, the 2nd to last ep of the season was WAY crazier. Like…amazing crazy. Jon Snow and Ghost continue to be my favorites of all time.

But since this finale was rounding out Book 3, I was hoping to see some things that we did not get :/ And I was very bummed about this. I really felt the story they left was a key one – Catelyn??? KEY. (we’ll ignore the Arya and Hound changes right now.) And would certainly create quite the stir. And I’m left thinking that the storyline is actually not at all important for the books, so all of the future possibilities I imagined with it are non-existent, since I imagine GRRM would have insisted it be kept in if it played a large part going forward. Very Big Bummer. Although I still hope it does. But I must say, I was looking so forward to that :(

Then today I read, for the 2nd time this week and from different sources, the “spoiler” about upcoming story lines. None of it was a surprise and makes perfect sense and I assumed half of it already. BUT…in 1 of the news stories, it said how the upcoming season 5 (which should be following the story lines of Book 4) would have important details from Book 5. Huh?

So now I’m starting to think we will fast forward Book 4, which is actually pretty much fine since it was my least favorite, and head to Book 5? And since we already got things not in the books so far (hints for Book 6?), will the show veer more off the books?

All I know is the end of Book 5 made me want to throw my Kindle across the room. So I really wish GRRM would finish Book 6! And is he delaying on purpose for the show? And if the long unkept secret spoiler of Jon Snow is true (the days before the internet were kind sorta better in a way), I think we need a LOT more story and fast!

Heading to SDCC this week (SQUEEEE!) and will be trying to get into Hall H for the GoT panel. And by trying to get in I mean waiting in line for a wristband on Thursday night and hoping to get a spot in a line on a lawn (if you are on the concrete, you could be in trouble) so we can eat pretzels and energy bars for hours on end and then run but not run for seats…but then once you are in – YOU ARE IN!

HBO is having a pop-up store dedicated to GoT and there is an interactive Survive the Realm at the Omni Hotel. Will definitely try and check out both of those as well. Oh! And don’t forget getting the flocked Ghost Funko POP!! I need 2 of those :) Ned Stark will also be at SDCC…in the form of Sean Bean for a different show starting in August. I just might need to check that panel out as well. I’m still bitter about Ned…

But they never, ever give away spoilers at their panels so not expecting much in that area. Although I am imagining that the In Memoriam they do every year, and which had people almost crying (and not just me!) last year for Robb and Greywind, will cause a break out in applause and cheers for Joffrey. Muahuahuahua!

Plus Jon Snow will be there :) Now if they could just bring Ghost!!!!

I just watched the last episode of Veronica Mars. Yes…I realize I’m a bit late to that party.

I admit that I never watched when it was first on. And I also admit that when the panel for the new movie coming out was scheduled for Hall H at SDCC, I was pretty annoyed. How could they put that in pre-Walking Dead and Game of Thrones?!?!?! But we had to sit through it so whatever. The cast came out and the place went crazy. Ho-hum. But after listening to the cast, their interactions and watching some brief footage, I was intrigued.

I have watched many shows and movies that I was not previously interested in after attending the panels at SDCC. And it is always because of how the cast interacts. If they are fun and engaged, it makes a HUGE difference.

So I looked for the show on Netflix – no luck. It’s on Amazon but is not part of Prime you you have to pay to watch. It was on Hulu but I already pay for NFLX and AMZN Prime so was not signing up for Hulu. Then I found it on SoapNet (via DTV) – yay! And they were JUST starting Season 1 on Saturdays (they run it a few times a week but the episode sequences are all different.) The downside was that I got 3 episodes a week. So I recorded 6 over two weeks before I started watching any. I watched the pilot episode and was HOOKED!!!!! So I’ve been watching since July. And finally finished tonight as the last episode of season 3 aired today. And I’m sad it’s over. NOW I understand why so many people were bummed when it was cancelled. At least I have the movie coming out soon!

The writing was smart and witty. Yes – it’s about a high school girl (and then college in S3) who works as a “junior” PI for her Dad. But the stories are great. Each season has a season-long story arc. But each episode also has individual story lines.

Kristen Bell’s delivery was perfect. She is so perfect in this role and now thinking of her playing a dingbat in Forgetting Sarah Marshall is very wrong (although the voice of Gossip Girl works as my blog title suggests :) ) She plays a strong female character who is smart as a whip but adorable too but she is not perfect and does make mistakes and has boy trouble (to say the least…but not the Edward/Jacob kind so don’t worry.) Plus she loves her dog! And carries a taser. Perfect. She is the PI equivalent of a vampire slayer.

The entire cast is great. Well..let me take that back. I didn’t like Duncan. At all. He was way too wooden and I cannot see what Veronica would ever see in him. . But everyone else was great. And a bevy of famous guest stars – Paul Rudd, Amanda Seyfried, Harry Hamlin, Steve Guttenberg, Ed Begley Jr, Sam Huntington, Leighton Meester (Blaire!), Kevin Smith, Aaron Paul (for you Breaking Badsters), Jane Lynch, Laura San Giacomo, Armie Hammer, Alyson Hannigan (Willow!), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia!) and even Patty Hearst (oh yeah also Richard Grieco which made me laugh!) But so, so many of the characters, even small ones or minor recurring ones, are so fantastic.

I also love that they portrayed a great relationship between Veronica and her Dad. Keith Mars is pretty much the perfect dad without being a fake perfect TV guy.

I say again that it is sad that shows like this (well written, well acted with fun/interesting story lines) get cancelled so quickly but so much crap gets made/renewed (as I see an ad for another season of The Bachelor.)

If you haven’t watched it, and were thinking about it, I say do it before the movie comes out! And if you weren’t thinking about it – maybe you should. Apparently SoapNet is going off the air as of 12/31 so you can’t watch it there. If you have Hulu – go! If not, there is always Amazon:

Also, Team Logan forever…and ever :)

Mmmmm…..Hawaii….

Mmmmmm….Don…..

Mmmm…….Hawaii….

Gah. Betty. How do they make her look that fat and frumpy? Also…describing how your husband should molest your 15 yr old houseguest? Eww.

Mmmm…..Don……

Roger cracks me up.

Why does Peggy dress like that? The 60s had *really* cute clothes.

Sally is the reason people don’t want teenage girls.

Mmmmm……Don….

Why do we barely get any Joan? And how can her chest be THAT big and not fall over?!?!?!

I totally get Don’s vibe with that Hawaiian ad idea. Pretty simple actually. Morons.

I think the NYC hippies might be even dirtier than the SF ones. Good grief you losers. If I was Betty I would have smacked that kid in the head.

Mmmmm…..Don…..(minus any funeral vomiting that is….)

Betty…with dark hair? Huh? Also…nice son.

Awww. Cute Don has a male friend who he seems to like and can talk to. Good for him.

What the? DON!? Oh man….Don….what the frack?

Sill though….mmmmmmm……Don….

The End.

I watched Season 1 of Homeland over the past couple weeks. It’s a Showtime show so it was a short season – 12 episodes. If you haven’t seen it but want to watch it, stop here as I will spoil the entire story for you…….

OK….

You’ve been warned…

I was very, VERY into it for the first 4-5 eps. LOVED it. Fantastic show! But when Carrie slept with Brody, that seemed a little shark jumpy. I mean come on? A CIA agent who thinks that a US Marine has turned into an Al Qaeda operative sleeps with him? (and a Ginger no less!) But OK, maybe she is THAT into catching him and thought she could get intel? Or that in need of a physical connection (we did hear her wonder to Saul if she was going to be alone for the rest of her life.) But still??? Sigh…OK, I’ll let it go. But then when they go to her family’s cabin in the woods and she basically seems to be falling for him, I have to go HUH? YOU THINK HE IS A TERRORIST. Also married with kids, but we’ll ignore that over the fact that YOU THINK HE IS A TERRORIST!!!

Then they throw us a loop with the other marine is still alive thing and *maybe* Brody isn’t a terrorist and *only* a married man with kids. But….then….nope. Terrorist. And no…the storyline we get to see about why he has turned did not warm my heart or make me think he was just confused. Sad the kid died. All the kids. Awful. And yeah – the government (including the VP) lied to the public about the op (and that never happens.) But hello – the father is a HUGE TERRORIST. Who kidnapped you, kept you hostage, tortured you and had you beat your other marine friend to a pulp. But yeah – we should feel sorry for them. And you. And understand your dilemma. And that you turned to Islam while there because it’s the religion of peace. (?)

So then the explosion and Carrie is injured, very likely some PTSD kicking in and she’s off her illegally obtained bi-polar meds. *thumbs up for the unstable, bi-polar CIA agent with a gun* But now she is a complete loon. And her loonyness seems to have been triggered by the explosion followed by being off her meds? BUT, then Brody “betrays” her (you trusted A TERRORIST?!) and she loses it. Completely.

Last we see she has agreed to electro-shock therapy as the only solution. Even after her best friend begs her to reconsider. Great plan – kill parts of your brain. Oh…and she definitely lost her security clearance (even though in reality she was 100% right with her findings even in her looniest of loon stage.) so that means she won’t be a CIA agent anymore? So….what will she do on the show?

BUT….let me get this straight….this chick who is this super smart agent and has been through so much with Al Qaeda and in Baghdad, etc etc got THAT upset by a stupid frackin’ guy??? And a TERRORIST to boot?!?!?! Ugh.

I have to say the last 2 episodes (of Season 1) annoyed the hell out of me. I loved the spy and political parts of the series. And the cast is great. But the complete meltdown of Carrie was a huge disappointment in character development.

I don’t subscribe to Showtime so I will find a way to watch the season 2 premiere on YouTube but if it annoys me as much, I’m out. I have a lot of shows and movies I’d like to watch but don’t have time for. Don’t need to waste my time on one that annoys me.

If you have not checked out yet, or as other TV shows wind down, and you find yourself with an hour or 2 a week with nothing to do, I HIGHLY suggest:

Season 2 just started on HBO (2 eps in.) I am probably 30-40% through Book 3. Book 2 – which season 2 of the show is going to follow – is CRAZY! Book 1 was awesome! And Book 3 is getting even CRAZIER. HBO just renewed the show and I read that they will probably break up Book 3 into Seasons 3 (and hepefully picked up season 4.) I am very stressed as I read it. But I cannot put it down either.

The casting and acting of the HBO show is amazing. Truly amazing. There are a lot of characters to keep track of but it’s very worth it. The GOT panel at last year’s San Diego Comic Con was GREAT! The actors were very engaging. Although I do wish they would have brought the direwolf puppies :)

Do yourself a favor. Check out this show. And the books if you are so inclined. House Stark rules!! (yelled out just like San Dimas Highschool Football rules!) :)

Just watched the season finale of Boardwalk Empire. I can say I don’t think I will like the show much anymore. And to say this episode borrowed HEAVILY from The Godfather would be a massive understatement. I was just waiting for the priest to ask Nucky if he renounced Satan.

Jimmy was my favorite character on the show. Sadly, he reminded me of my brother. A good, smart kid with bad parental guidance who made some bad decisions sometimes which ended up haunting him in ways I just don’t relate to but tried. Plus I think the floppy hair :) Jimmy had a LOT more weird issues. But I always liked him. I saw a tweet on Sunday after it ran on the East Coast that said RIP Jimmy. And I knew I didn’t want to watch it. I kinda knew how it was going to go after last week’s disturbing episode. I saw that train wreck coming last season! YUCK! Husband asks how do I spot these things so far in advance? Not sure. Overactive imagination? Should worked in da pictures kid.

But this? Jimmy was such a main character. 2nd main character of the show.  How could they kill him? Now I know.  And I now officially hate Nucky. I always liked him. No more. Hopefully his lying piece of crap brother betrays him once again and he realizes what an idiot he was. Of course, these are fake people that I’m getting all worked over. Well, actually they are not but I am assuming we don’t know their day to day troubles from the 20s.  I commented to my husband mid-way through the season that all of Jimmy’s gang were famous gangsters – Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky. But no Jimmy. So it didn’t look good for him long-term. But I hoped. Husband reminded me of that as we started this episode.

But Jimmy was basically Nucky’s son. Would Michael Corleone have taken out his son? NO. He took out his idiot brother for betrayal. But we all know he would not have taken out his son. I am having a hard time seeing how I could care about this show anymore. But after Margaret got her Kay moment and realized what Nucky was, I loved her bit of payback even if they also wrote her off the reservation too. Basically…not a fan of the twists they added towards the end of the season. Yes, we are dealing with gangsters. But did we all transport to bizarro world?

I probably shouldn’t have watched it. Don’t think I was quite ready for that kind of storyline. And not sure it will stay on my DVR next year/season. And I do hope Michael Pitt gets a lot more work. Great actor.