Monday Media Musings - 1/18/21

[owlmoose]

Watchmen (2009 movie): I saw this back when it first came out, but T had never seen it nor read the comic, and I thought it would be helpful for him to have the backstory in mind before we start finally watching the TV series (we've now seen the first two episodes, which I'll write about later). I had forgotten how faithful this adaptation was to the original, except for a significant difference in the final plot twist. I think it's easy to underestimate just how big a deal the comic was when it first came out, just how influential it was; now, of course, and even in 2009, this sort of superhero deconstruction is very familiar to us. I will say this: when I first read the comic (in the early '00s, I think), I didn't really buy Adrian's theory that the world would come together thanks to the threat of an alien invasion, or an international attack by Dr. Manhattan as in the movie -- it rang a little false to me. Watching it today, in the throes of a deadly pandemic that has killed almost two million people and counting, in the face of which we can't even cooperate within our own country, much less globally, it rings even more false.

To All The Boys I've Loved Before: Another rewatch, this one to discuss at our weekly TV night with friends. T and I had both seen this one before, but it had been awhile and we decided to refresh our memory. Sex and dating and drama in high school was fraught enough before the mobile internet, so I can't even imagine how much having a video camera with you everywhere you go, and the existence of social media, complicates things. Anyway, the movie was still cute and heartwarming on a rewatch, although the final confrontation between Lara Jean and Jen felt less satisfying than I remembered. Also, why didn't Lara Jean ask Peter about the scrunchie earlier? One of those weird plot holes that you don't notice the first time around. I'd forgotten how long it takes for the truth about how the letters got out to be revealed. I also found myself wondering: is there ever a fake dating story where they don't end up real dating by the end? Nothing against fake dating, it's a trope I enjoy (and have written!), but I'd be curious to get recs for stories where the reversal is pulled off well.

Batwoman, S2 premiere: I totally missed that Batwoman was back until I got an alert about the new episode from the CW app on my iPad this morning. (Of the other new and returning CW DCU shows, The Flash and Superman & Lois have their premieres in late February; the rest are being held until later in the spring or summer.) Ryan Wilder is promising as the new Batwoman, and I enjoy Mary and Luke as a team. But I'm still tired of Alice as the antagonist so I'm just really not pleased to see her ties to Ryan's backstory. The one upside of losing Ruby Rose and Kate Kane was the hope that Alice would no longer be as key to the story, but now we're stuck with her as the villain for another season at least. Unless they take Alice's character somewhere new I don't know how well the show is going to hold my interest. I am also dubious about the choice to kill Kate Kane off. At least the plotline of Tommy masquerading as Bruce Wayne is already dispensed with -- dragging that out any further would have been painful.