osprey_archer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
osprey_archer) wrote2016-05-13 10:15 am
osprey_archer) wrote2016-05-13 10:15 am
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Good bye to Castle and Agent Carter
Man, this hasn't been a good week for my shows. Castle gets canceled - which is honestly kind of a relief; I'm glad someone realized the show couldn't go on without Kate Beckett - and also Agent Carter.
I would have been devastated if Agent Carter had been canceled last year, but season 2 was kind of a mess, so I'm not broken-hearted. A little sad that they won't have a chance to pull things back together in season 3, but then, how often does a television show get better in season three?
I do have a couple of thoughts about how they could have made season 2 better.
1. Have a clear idea what zero matter does. I don't mean that the characters needed to figure it all out, but the writers needed to have a clearer sense how it worked. As it was, zero matter seemed to do whatever the hell they needed it to do that episode, which really drained the tension out of the finale. Will they find a way to contain the zero matter???? Well, uh, they seem to have surprisingly good control over zero matter whenever it's plot convenient. I bet they will.
2. This is the big one: cut down on the romantic storylines. Cut out Sousa's new girlfriend Violet entirely (they could always have Ana Jarvis nurse Peggy after she's wounded. Or, hell, give Sousa some medical school background) and cut the romantic part of the Jason Wilkes plot line.
I have the strong feeling that the writers introduced him to deflect criticisms of Agent Carter's lack of racial diversity in season one, and as far as I can tell their thought process was "An interracial romance! Nothing says 'we're not racist!' like an interracial romance!"
Which would be all well and good if they actually intended to follow through with the romance part, but as it was it all felt like a bizarre bait and switch. He's introduced as a romantic prospect... and then he becomes incorporeal! And now they can make him corporeal again, but only in an electromagnetic cage thing! And now he's a traitor! But only because he's afraid for his life! Or maybe evil? No, not evil, but our running time is coming to an end and he's not a romantic possibility anymore. Because reasons.
IMO the writers have shipped Peggy/Sousa from day one and never meant to follow through on Peggy/Wilkes, and in that case they should have dropped that whole romantic angle on the Wilkes subplot. It's not like Peggy needed to have a romantic interest in Wilkes to go to great lengths to save him, especially given that she feels responsible for Wilkes's plight.
If the writers desperately wanted an interracial romance, they could have made the Samberly character a black guy (and more compatible with Rose).
There are a bunch of other things they could have tweaked - the season, as I said, was kind of a mess - but I think those two things alone would have made it more cohesive and focused.
I would have been devastated if Agent Carter had been canceled last year, but season 2 was kind of a mess, so I'm not broken-hearted. A little sad that they won't have a chance to pull things back together in season 3, but then, how often does a television show get better in season three?
I do have a couple of thoughts about how they could have made season 2 better.
1. Have a clear idea what zero matter does. I don't mean that the characters needed to figure it all out, but the writers needed to have a clearer sense how it worked. As it was, zero matter seemed to do whatever the hell they needed it to do that episode, which really drained the tension out of the finale. Will they find a way to contain the zero matter???? Well, uh, they seem to have surprisingly good control over zero matter whenever it's plot convenient. I bet they will.
2. This is the big one: cut down on the romantic storylines. Cut out Sousa's new girlfriend Violet entirely (they could always have Ana Jarvis nurse Peggy after she's wounded. Or, hell, give Sousa some medical school background) and cut the romantic part of the Jason Wilkes plot line.
I have the strong feeling that the writers introduced him to deflect criticisms of Agent Carter's lack of racial diversity in season one, and as far as I can tell their thought process was "An interracial romance! Nothing says 'we're not racist!' like an interracial romance!"
Which would be all well and good if they actually intended to follow through with the romance part, but as it was it all felt like a bizarre bait and switch. He's introduced as a romantic prospect... and then he becomes incorporeal! And now they can make him corporeal again, but only in an electromagnetic cage thing! And now he's a traitor! But only because he's afraid for his life! Or maybe evil? No, not evil, but our running time is coming to an end and he's not a romantic possibility anymore. Because reasons.
IMO the writers have shipped Peggy/Sousa from day one and never meant to follow through on Peggy/Wilkes, and in that case they should have dropped that whole romantic angle on the Wilkes subplot. It's not like Peggy needed to have a romantic interest in Wilkes to go to great lengths to save him, especially given that she feels responsible for Wilkes's plight.
If the writers desperately wanted an interracial romance, they could have made the Samberly character a black guy (and more compatible with Rose).
There are a bunch of other things they could have tweaked - the season, as I said, was kind of a mess - but I think those two things alone would have made it more cohesive and focused.
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But yeah, best to put Castle out of its misery. I vaguely wonder how the finale is going to end, since this is it.
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