VM, Hex, Ryan's Hope

[gwynnega]

Nothing coherent to say about this week's Veronica Mars, except it was probably my favorite ep of the season so far.

The last couple of Hex eps have been pretty good, although I still don't buy Ella as a 500-year-old badass. Every time she does that lip-curling "I'm so dangerous" sneer, I just want to punch her. Also, the anti-Messiah kid isn't terribly interesting either. The show seems unable to come up with strong leads - Cassie, Ella, etc. - whereas the supporting cast (Thelma and, in this season, Leon and Roxanne) are much more interesting and convincing. And I really wish they hadn't killed off Jez the evil priest. He was lots of fun.

But as usual, I'm squeeing lots and lots about Ryan's Hope! Sure, Siobhan getting attacked by a shark was a rip-off of Jaws, but when Siobhan was swimming along and that shark fin first glided across the water, I went Eep - and Sarah Felder's doing a brilliant job portraying terrorized Siobhan. (Meanwhile Joe, her clueless lug of a boyfriend, feeds bread to the seabirds. Jack would never have let this happen, Siobhan!) But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the storyline is Sarah Felder in her one-piece bathing suit - as apparently a young woman with an average body and actual hips and ass was allowed to play a romantic lead on TV in 1979. It's so refreshing to see the non-cookie-cutter looks of the actors on Ryan's Hope.

Also extremely good and creepy on today's show was mobster Uncle Tiso showing up at Ryan's Bar - preceded by his goons scoping out the place with barely perceptible menace. No one writes mob storylines with Claire Labine's subtlety. Decades before The Sopranos, she created mobsters who seem like kindly uncles you'd like to share a drink and a meal with, except for that certain unsettling quality they give off...

Comments

[usedtobeljs]

Shark! Shark! (I don't like 'em, although I'm sure they serve some purpose... They live just off the coast here. ;-))

[hugs]

[gwynnega]

The Ryan's Hope shark definitely gives me the creeps (especially when it wants to bite my favorite character)! :-)

::hugs::

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

I had to leave for art class halfway through that ep, so I'll catch the rest later.

But man, no New Yorker would gleefully feed seagulls. Those fuckers will mug you and steal your food, you don't need to hand it out. Seriously, one stole an entire bag of peanut butter sammiches out of my BFF's beach bag one year at Jones Beach. So basically I thought Joe looked sweet but retarded when he started that up.

[gwynnega]

Hee. "Sweet but retarded" is about the best that can be said about Joe these days - especially since he didn't bother to clue Siobhan in that there might be a shark in the water!

Sarah Felder is surprisingly good at playing the horror damsel in distress. I think she had a part in Wolfen - I'll have to see if it's rentable!

p.s.

[gwynnega]

I was just looking up the guy who played Tizo, and he had a pretty interesting career as a film-noir character actor. Check out the photo of him as a young guy!