forever we try

Finished Black Sails! ...And the fourth season (especially the season/series finale) was so good I can't think of much else to say; it was incredibly well-plotted and ridiculously satisfying and if you love pirates or Treasure Island or gritty, playing-fast-and-loose-with-the-facts period pieces or complicated, not-necessarily-heroic characters who grow and change over time or lots of canonically queer characters or unexpectedly hopeful endings or any of those things in any combination, just watch it. Do not pass go, watch it and then come back here and we can talk about how amazing it is.

I actually wanted to do a from-episode-one rewatch as soon as I finished the last episode, and luckily for me my sister also wanted to start watching it, so we're working through about an episode a night (she works and I'm heading back into classes next week). It's interesting, having just blown through season 4, to go back to season 1 and see how different everyone is starting out: Eleanor's more or less secure in her role as the head fence/pirate queen of Nassau, secure enough to be a little cocky about it; Max sure isn't guileless but she comes across as much more innocent. Silver is a little shit (enjoyably so, but still); Jack is either going through a rough patch or nowhere near as competent as he thinks he is (yet); Vane is also nowhere near as competent as he thinks he is; Anne is exactly as competent as she thinks she is but saddled with Jack and Vane (and also about to be thrown into a major tailspin re: Max). Season 1 is also a good bit funnier than, I think, any of the other seasons--there's that absolutely hilarious part during negotiations in the third episode when Gates has to keep pulling Flint outside to remind him to at least try to be diplomatic. Come to think of it, a lot of the humor in the first season is thanks to Gates. He's a wonderful character, and knowing how the season ends I'm appreciating him a lot more this time around. 

You get the sense in the first season that everyone is just starting to get a feel for these people and how they interact with each other and what their core characteristics are. Sure, the main pieces are already in place, but the tone is a little more unsettled and a little more fluid...is it a funny, swashbuckling adventure story (sort of a TV-MA Pirates of the Caribbean minus all the magic) with some darker undertones or are the darker undertones the whole point? I mean, obviously there are plenty of dark and tragic and horrible things going on from the beginning, and though the later seasons get darker none of them are hopeless or humorless, but the first season, and, say, the first three episodes of the first season especially (right up until the last couple scenes of episode 3) feel lighter by comparison in a way I obviously didn't catch on to when I first watched them.

Oh, and of course now I have an ungodly amount of Black Sails fics saved to my "Marked For Later" list on AO3; I've been working my way through and might try to have a rec post up at some point. So far this one is a great exploration of the Jack & Anne & Vane relationship pre-canon, and this one focuses on Abigail Ashe (one of my favorite minor characters) finding her way forward after season 2. 

I blew through the new episodes of The Punisher over the weekend. No huge spoilers, or even really an actual review, but I loved almost everything and whoever came up with the Frank & Amy relationship must have tapped into my brain waves at some point, because they're EXACTLY the kind of surrogate-dad-and-daughter duo I love--both are damaged in their own ways, and both are (sometimes very) resentful of each other, but as they learn to work together they also learn to love each other, and it's just wonderful. I could read about a million fics focused just on them, though the little bit of Karen & Amy interaction was also great, and the Frank/Karen scenes were, as always, achy and perfect. 

Okay, but is this month flying by or what?! Midterms happen this week for me, though I'm lucky enough to have only one class this semester with a midterm assignment--one six-page essay with no secondary sources required--and no midterm exams. So I have been able to catch up with a few of my shows and watch a new movie or two in the meantime. 

Penny Dreadful

Two more episodes to go before the series finale, which I was spoiled for around the the time it first came out--so, well before I was even interested in watching. And now that I am watching and emotionally invested, I'm just very much Not Ready. At all. I mean, I'd much rather have it end after three mostly-solid seasons that see it drag on to the point that they're beating a dead horse with a dead horse, but I've fallen in love with so many of these characters, and the platonic and found family dynamics are lovely, and I know I'm going to miss this show badly once it's done. It's not perfect (not by a long shot, in some ways), but for me it's been just the right mixture of stylish, over-the-top Gothic horror and genuine emotion. I've been rationing out the last few episodes, so I still have a little time left. Not much, though...

Iron Fist

sholio  convinced me to give this another try, and after trying to get back into s1 and failing miserably, I went ahead and skipped to s2 (since I've been spoiled for most of s1 anyway). I definitely think I made the right choice--the first episode of s2 was about 100x more engaging and did end up pulling me in. I love Colleen, found myself shipping Colleen and Danny more than I first expected I would, and I think Ward's very much in the vein of former-asshole-trying-to-do-the-right-thing-while-still-being-a-bit-of-an-asshole, aka one of my favorite tropes ever. I'm honestly a little relieved to finally have found a way in, since I do love messy emotional dynamics and this show promises to be chock full of them.

Black Panther

FINALLY got around to watching this, and I have nothing to say that hasn't been said before, but: it was beautiful and awesome and both realistic and optimistic when it came to its characters--one of the things I loved most was that just about everyone (with a few exceptions) is genuinely principled when it comes to their beliefs, so even if you don't necessarily agree with them, you see where they're coming from and can sympathize with them. The worldbuilding was also fantastic and so, so intriguing from a fic-writing standpoint--I could read about a thousand different stories set in this world. (Though I haven't had time to browse through the AO3 tag yet. Sigh.)  

Guys. GUYS. 

This'll be a fairly quick post, since I woke up at an ungodly hour to finish up some homework and now can't get back to sleep, and also I don't want to spoil season 2 for anyone who hasn't seen it, but...oh my God. It was so good. So, so GOOD. Full of unexpected friendships and character combos, character arcs that go even further than they did in season 1 (I'm looking at you, Steve Harrington), and so many terrifically creepy moments. Also, Max Hargrove. She's angry and closed off, yet so desperate for friendship, and I love her with all my heart. 

There's also more glorious 80s music, including two of my favorites, "Time After Time" and "Every Breath You Take". And a scene near the end that literally had me pausing my laptop to scream about it for a few minutes. What makes me happiest is that they took season 2 as an opportunity to dig deeper into everybody's characters, to introduce new characters who are complicated, interesting, and lovable, and to explore some the repercussions of season 1. 2017 may have been crappy otherwise, but it's the year for movie and TV sequels.