Suburgatory's Horrifying Christmas

I've been catching up on Suburgatory recently, and I like it quite a lot in general, but I thought last night's Christmas episode was almost a total misfire. The whole thing was tonally weird and felt like some sort of bizarre fever dream, from Ryan's freak-out to Dalia's music video.

But it was the Carmen plotline that made me go from "bemused and perplexed" to "staring at my screen in horror." They wrapped up a person and gave her as a gift. AFFLUENT WHITE PEOPLE LITERALLY WRAPPED UP A LATINA DOMESTIC WORKER AND GAVE HER AS A GIFT. I mean, I know they made clear that where she worked was her choice, but I still cannot get past the optics of it. And her choice was not exactly good: Did she want to work for the mean racist or the clueless racist who claimed to love her?

Now, the show has done similar things in the past in order to skewer the characters' oblivious white privilege, but when they've worked, it's because Tessa or George or Lisa or SOMEONE objects or at least looks like they're aware of how completely awful the other characters are being. But in this case, George was an active participant and enabler - GEORGE! - and no one else was there to be horrified. I'd like to give the writers the benefit of the doubt here, because they have made this sort of device work in the past, but whatever self-awareness presumably existed in the framing of this story did not come across in the episode itself at all.

I'm certainly not writing off the show as hopelessly racist or anything; every show has its missteps. But this episode did not leave me with warm fuzzy Christmas feelings toward the Chatswin crew.

Trailer: Star Trek Into Darkness

Eeee! (But that title... is there supposed to be punctuation? Star Trek: Into Darkness? Does that make it better? Slightly?)

Morning Coffee (12/6/12)

Grammy nominations!

I couldn't find a whole story about this, weirdly, but the New York Times is revamping the children's bestseller list. One notable difference: YA and middle grade will have separate lists. Good!

People seem upset about this new Cosmo/Harlequin joint imprint but I honestly can't figure out why.

I adore Taylor Swift, but . . . heh.

"If caring about the mother of your child includes killing her, then the word 'care' has no applicable meaning."

The Rise of the Backdoor Fantasy Story

This book is actually on my Christmas list - and I ALMOST NEVER read self-published books - but the headline just cracks me up: New York Times Reviews Self-Published Book

“Person of the Year” Nomination for Higgs Boson Riddled with Errors

Let's talk about Homeland.

There's been a ton of talk about this past Sunday's episode of Homeland - a lot of people thought it was the worst ever, potentially jumping the shark in a fatal manner, while a few loved it. And I . . . I don't know, I was going to say my feelings are mixed, but that sounds more conflicted than I feel. I suppose I mean that I thought it was okay! Certainly not the best episode. But I didn't hate it. Real-world plausibility is always an issue with this show - with the vast majority of shows, really - and I think that's something that either bothers people or doesn't. Personally, if things make sense within the universe of the show, I don't tend to care whether they would make sense in the real world. (There are, of course, exceptions, usually when a show deals with subject matter I know well and implausibilities or errors just become distracting.) Todd VanDerWerff makes this case in his review.

Far more interesting, though, is the discussion of whether the week's plot worked within the show itself. I see why people thought it was ridiculous. But I also don't really care, because when it comes down to it, plot isn't that important to me. Todd, again:

Watching TV for plot is a fool’s game, and it’s just going to end with you being disappointed. But watching TV for long-term character arcs can be very rewarding, particularly if you’re in the hands of writers who keep an eye on the characters in a way that keeps them more or less consistent. It’s all but impossible to blow through plot at the level Homeland does without running out of room (and I think the show is probably screwed next season if it tries to keep the Brody storyline going without a major reboot), but it is possible to keep the big character moments coming, and the show has done an excellent job of that this season.

So. Did it work on a character level? I thought it did. Much as I love Emily Nussbaum's conspiracy theory, and I do, I'm not convinced that it's necessary, not convinced that Brody was acting out of character at all. I think he does love Carrie, though I don't think that's the most important thing in his life or anything. (In general, I think they both have real feelings and are both playing each other all the time, which is a fascinating dynamic to watch, especially with such skilled actors.) But we've been watching this man quietly unspool for two seasons, and when you're unspooling, the thing that pushes you over the edge into a full-out meltdown doesn't have to be the most important thing in your life. It can just be one more thing.

And one more thought on Emily's theory: I love her idea of Carrie killing Brody in a Buffy-like way in a theoretical sense, but Damian Lewis leaving the show would make me very sad. He is so phenomenal, and his chemistry with Claire Danes is so fascinating, that I'm not entirely sure the show could work without him.

Morning Coffee (12/5/12)

Time magazine has named John Green's The Fault in Our Stars its best novel of the year. Congratulations! It completely deserves it. (And yes, for those playing along at home, that IS a YA novel at the top of a list of all novels.)

Westeros, Westeros, What Are Your Houses? is one of the best things I have ever seen, and if it were a real book, I'd buy it.

Interesting: Why American Television Needs A Break From Violence, Conspiracies, And Maybe Even Serialized Storytelling

NH Produces Weirdest Political Story of 2012, All Time. Is anyone surprised?

Unicorn lair 'discovered' in North Korea

Ooh, here's a trailer for NBC's upcoming drama Do No Harm.

A Twitter friend pointed me to this documentary series (free on Amazon Prime) and it looks amazing: The Story of the Costume Drama.

Ann M. Martin picks her top ten Baby-Sitters Club books. They're all . . . very early in the series.

TV Trailer: Da Vinci's Demons

Because what the world needs now is hot Da Vinci. (I tease, but obviously I will watch every episode.)

Tell the Wind and Fire!

Sometimes, news comes out that seems like it was written JUST FOR ME. Like that day last week when a bunch of networks all ordered historical dramas. But this is real, I swear! My friend and one of my favorite authors, Sarah Rees Brennan, is writing a modern retelling of A Tale of Two Cities with magic and doppelgangers and, if I know Sarah at all, more agency given to the female characters. I LOVE A Tale of Two Cities. And magic. And doppelgangers. And Sarah's writing. We have to wait for 2014 for this, but hey, that gives everyone time to read/reread the original! I AM SO EXCITED.

Morning Coffee (12/4/12)

SO excited about the royal baby. But this makes VERY GOOD POINTS: Kate Middleton's pregnancy: 10 stories I don't want to read

Ashton Kutcher actually looks... pretty good in the role... but are we really going to call this thing jOBS? Really? Are we sure?

Suzanne Collins's next book will be an autobiographical picture book about the Vietnam War, which . . . sure, actually, whatever she does will be under such a microscope that she might as well do something that's important to her.

Speaking of, J.K. Rowling's first post-Potter novel, The Casual Vacancy, will be a BBC TV show.

I'm not even particularly into Tolkien, but oh my gosh, this Bag End dollhouse is amazing.

Lauren Graham is writing a novel.

Here, have some pictures of famous writers and their pets. Why not?

Quidditch beer pong. That is all.

A few belated thoughts on Gone Girl

I know everyone's pretty much over talking about Gone Girl by now, but because of all the hype, the waiting list for it at my city's library was very long and so I only just finished it this weekend. So if anyone still cares about my opinion of it at this point: It was okay, I guess? It was certainly cleverly constructed, and I think that was basically my problem with it. It felt like the form and the author's cleverness were foregrounded, and the actual characters and plot were almost incidental. At a certain point, I just kept thinking "Sure, Gillian Flynn, you're smart. Is that what you want to hear?" It read very much like the literary equivalent of a parlor trick, and it was a good parlor trick, but as a novel it seemed pretty mediocre.

I might have liked it better were it not marketed as a mystery. (Important point: I have no idea if Flynn herself thought of it that way, just that that was how it was sold.) Because it was . . . just not very mysterious. The details of how the whole thing was executed were interesting to read, but the basic "solution" seemed transparent from the beginning. (It did make me wonder whether people who found it more surprising/compelling have read fewer mysteries in general. That might explain some of the "This is so unique and shocking!" hype. And that's fine! I don't expect people to have read the same things as me. I'm just trying to figure out why my reaction was so different from many of the reactions I read.)

I am curious to see what the movie ends up being like, because I can't imagine how the trick of the book could possibly be pulled off on screen - mostly because of that specific text that figures so largely in the book. But maybe they've figured this out. We'll see.

Oh, one more thing - a lot has been said about the unlikeability of the characters, but I don't think that was the main thing that made me fairly cold to the book. As usual, I care much more about whether characters are interesting than whether I like them.

Morning Coffee (12/3/12)

Ah, Monday, here we are again.

I desperately want a geeky skirt or six.

Jane Austen Bandaids!

This story about INTRIGUE and SCANDAL at the 1962 National Book Awards is completely fascinating.

Well. THIS is quite a voice cast.

Apparently Flavorwire wants to drive people nuts, because they rated New York's 100 Most Important Living Writers.

Should Missy Franklin be allowed to continue on her school's swim team?

Not good: Greeks turn to the forests for fuel as winter nears

Remains Of World War II Military Pigeon Ignites Code Mystery