Monday Media Musings - 10/18/21

[owlmoose]

I know this looks like a catchup post (and it's also true I haven't posted in awhile), but this really does all represent shows I watched (or seasons I finished) last week.

Arrowverse update: Caught up on Supergirl as of now, undecided as to whether I'll try to catch up on anything else. The Nyxly plot is fine, but I have to imagine that Lex Luthor is going to emerge eventually. It's the final season -- who else is going to be the ultimate Big Bad? I imagine he's the "secret admirer" hinted at in the closing moments of this episode.

Ted Lasso, Season 2: We watched this second season with our TV group (except for the last two episodes which we ended up watching on our own). I know some corners of the internet didn't like this season as well as the first, but I thought it was fantastic, taking some of the characters in new directions and building on everything that happened before. There are lots of character developments that I could talk about, but I'll limit myself to two: Ted and Nate.

One concern I've had about Ted Lasso is a fear that the writers will make Ted too perfect, just a paragon of a man. So I appreciated that they showed Ted as being skeptical of therapy in general and Dr. Sharon specifically. Besides his own history of trauma, it seems like there's a part of him that wants to believe that he has the ultimate key to solving any human puzzle. So when he comes up against a problem he can't solve, like Dani's yips, it's hard to accept that Sharon might have better insights than he does. The way he grows to accept that Sharon can help not only him but his players is really satisfying, and I love the relationship the two of them build by the end.

It becomes clear pretty quickly that all is not well in Nate-land, when he's bullying the new kit man straightaway. Then the danger signs get worse: he picks on Colin as another bullying target, he reacts badly to the hiring of Jamie and especially Roy, he lets one day of media praise (for, admittedly, a really strong coaching move) go entirely too far to his head, and he starts displaying all sorts of entitled behavior. The first time we see this, in the storyline with trying to get the front table at the restaurant, it seemed nice: Nate is learning to assert himself and get what he wants. But it turns dark quickly, culminating in the moment where he forces himself on Keeley (and then gets peeved when Roy doesn't freak out about it, in one of the worst quiet displays of toxic masculinity I've ever seen), in his behavior around the team's difficulty executing the false nine maneuver, and of course in the reveal that he's the one who leaked the information about Ted's panic attack. His final fight with Ted is a bit heartbreaking, and then the final face-heel turn was brilliant and brutal. You have to wonder how long Rupert has been quietly fanning the flames of Nate's narcissism, to lure him away from Richmond.

Of course the unspoken subtext is that Nate is desperate for approval from his dismissive father, and I hope this gets explored more in Season 3.

Black Widow: Finally watched it now that it's on the regular Disney+ subscription. I find I don't have a ton to say about it. I'd say it falls somewhere in the middle of the MCU movie scale. The plot was fine, some decent action, Florence Pugh's Yelena is the best thing about it, it's hard to care much about the family themes when we already know Natasha's eventual ending. I think it would have worked much better in actual chronological order, not as an extended flashback. Still, it was nice to finally get a bit of real backstory on Natasha.

Jesus Christ Superstar: This production is part of the 50th anniversary tour and was my first time seeing live theater since The Last Ship in February 2020. I probably wouldn't have sought out live theater just yet, but my season subscription is starting up and the theater requires masking and vaccination, so we decided to go. JCS might be the musical I've seen live the most times, and it's almost certainly the one I know the best -- we owned a copy of the original concept album when I was growing up, and I listened to it a lot, so I have it effectively memorized. The vibe of this one was interesting, almost more like a concert staging than a play, with all the main performers using hand-held mikes. Some effective use of the cross motifs and especially glitter -- gold for Jesus, silver on Judas's hands at an opportune moment. I didn't love every choice they made, but overall it was enjoyable.

Major League Baseball: The playoffs continue, but the Giants are done, after a 107-win series, one of the most incredible division races in baseball history, an epic five-game series with the Dodgers (I watched them all except for game 4), and a blown call on a checked swing that will go down in infamy. It was a hell of a ride, and I'm excited to see what the team puts together for next year.